Beep-beep, tick.
It took some time for the reply to arrive from the queen across the sea in the New World.
[……His abilities always exceed our expectations.]
Relief came over her, and at the same time, even fear.
[He is a monster of war, Sydney. But at this moment, he is the monster who will save our homeland.]
[Our judgment was correct. Though we ceded the Intelligence Bureau’s authority and handed over enormous interests, the price has returned to us like this, as a miracle for all to see.]
[…Even so.]
The queen remained calm.
[We must not let our guard down. A cornered rat will bite the cat. Watch how Major General Brusilov responds, and spare no support that Brigadier General Jaeger requires.]
The queen’s warning was accurate.
The cheat key known as Max Jaeger had broken the enemy’s spine, but cutting off their breath completely was a matter on an entirely different level.
Wouldn’t one normally die instantly if their spine were broken? Well, monsters were apparently different.
Immediately after the encirclement was completed, a bloody mopping-up battle continued for several days.
And in the course of it, the Imperial Army was forced to realize once again, to the bone, why the Confederation’s renowned commander known as “Alexandra Brusilov” was held in such awe.
Tap-tap, tak.
Several days later, Sydney struck the telegraph key with a heavy hand.
[Your Majesty. The enemy’s resistance is beyond imagination. As soon as the encirclement closed, Major General Brusilov skillfully linked the ruins of the urban districts on the outskirts of Londinium with the marshlands and fortified them.]
[The Jaeger Division is pressing forward with overwhelming firepower, but even while bleeding, the enemy does not easily yield so much as an inch of ground.]
The mopping-up operation fell into a stalemate.
In the marshes, the tanks lost their mobility, and among the collapsed concrete buildings, the International Volunteer Brigade lay in ambush like tarantulas, taking the lives of Imperial soldiers.
Even if Max used the [Minimap] to grasp the enemy’s position and rain down artillery fire, there were limits.
Even if the system told him where the enemy was, in the end, it was people who had to plunge into that mud, pull the trigger themselves, and be drenched in blood.
Let alone giving individual orders in a large-scale battle involving more than ten thousand men—that was impossible.
Even with all manner of cheat skills, including [Indomitable Mind] and [Hand of Coordination], staying up all night for days on end, twenty-four hours a day, left him outnumbered and outmatched.
“Vicious bitch. Her retreat route’s been cut off, and yet her unit still won’t collapse.”
Even Max Jaeger clicked his tongue in disbelief.
Tap-tap, tap-tap!
At dawn, when well over a week had passed since the start of the battle, Sydney sent another transmission.
[I report, Your Majesty. Major General Brusilov has finally broken open a retreat route.]
[Using the northern marshland, the weakest point of the encirclement, she succeeded in extracting the remaining main force.]
Sydney’s fingers trembled slightly. The beast she had thought completely finished off had escaped.
But strength returned to her keystrokes.
[Of course, as the price for that, the International Volunteer Brigade’s heavy weapons and rear guard units were thoroughly crushed. The International Volunteer Brigade has suffered a blow that renders it virtually incapable of recovery.]
The enemy had been miserably defeated. Abandoning enormous numbers of troops and all their supplies, they had no choice but to flee under cover of night into the rugged terrain to the north.
Victory clearly belonged to Max Jaeger.
Although Brusilov had escaped, that was only significant in the sense that she had “survived.”
Beep-beep, tick.
[Thank heaven. The fact that the International Volunteer Brigade has collapsed is, by itself, an overwhelming victory for us.]
Deep relief could be felt in Charlotte’s reply.
She was right. With Brusilov’s retreat, even Londinium’s final defensive line had collapsed.
Clenching her trembling hand, Sydney reported the last remaining state of the war.
[That is correct, Your Majesty. Now that the International Volunteer Brigade has withdrawn, Londinium’s defense forces consist entirely of the ragtag militia scraped together by the Citizen Labour Party and defeated remnants.]
What that meant was obvious.
[There is nothing left to stand in our way.]
[At last, Londinium—our city—is right before our eyes.]
*
A wind mixed with the acrid smell of gunpowder and the stench of blood blew in.
A temporary command post set up on the outskirts of Londinium.
I stepped into a warehouse building half-destroyed by shellfire.
“Brigadier General! Have you returned, sir!”
The soldiers standing guard all snapped salutes at once. I peeled off my bloodstained gloves and tossed them aside, nodding roughly.
I felt like I was going to die of exhaustion. Not as a figure of speech—I really felt like I was going to die.
I had spent several days and nights without sleep. I had run the unit while staring holes into the [Minimap] and forcing my brain awake with [Indomitable Mind].
No matter how much support the system provided, it couldn’t completely erase physical fatigue. Every joint in my body ached.
‘Still, it was more than worth it.’
Alexandra Brusilov. It was a shame I couldn’t completely tear that monstrous woman apart, but just grinding down the main force of the International Volunteer Brigade meant my mission had been accomplished at 120%.
“Everyone worked hard. I’m going inside the command post to get some…”
I was just about to say I needed rest.
“……Brigadier General Max Jaeger.”
A cracked voice came from one corner of the command post.
When I turned my head, Sydney Wellesley was standing there in a haggard state.
Just how long had she been standing there? Her blond hair, always so neat, was disheveled, and the hem of her coat was a mess of dust and dirt. She looked completely different from usual.
‘Status Analysis.’
[Name: Sydney Wellesley]
[Status: Extreme relief, fatigue, awe]
[Emotion: He came back alive. He really did it. My homeland, Her Majesty’s Londinium… is right before us.]
At the atmosphere that had changed a full one-eighty, I let out a small laugh.
“Your face has shrunk to half its size, Director. I’m the one who rolled around on the front lines, so why do you look like you’re about to take to your sickbed?”
Sydney’s shoulders trembled faintly. Normally, she would have immediately shot back, but the woman before me now was different.
Step, step.
She slowly approached me. Then, with her fists clenched tight, she bowed her head with utmost courtesy.
“……Thank you.”
A short, weighty sentence.
“You made the impossible into reality, Brigadier General. As the Director of Intelligence of the United Kingdom, no… as one citizen of Victoria, I offer you my heartfelt respect.”
Her bowed blond hair trembled.
The proud Intelligence Director had openly lowered her head. The weight of that struck me all at once.
“Raise your head. Why are you acting so creepy?”
I replied bluntly.
“I only followed my superiors’ orders. And since I promised to let the government-in-exile’s army take the vanguard, I opened the way while I was at it. There’s no need for business partners to suddenly get sentimental.”
Sydney slowly raised her head. Complex emotions rippled in her lavender eyes.
“More importantly… the last promise is the only thing left now, isn’t it?”
I stepped close to her.
As the distance narrowed to about a handspan, Sydney flinched and held her breath. Amid the smell of blood and earth that struck my nose, her distinctive, elegant scent drifted in.
“When dawn breaks tomorrow, my provisional division and the government-in-exile’s 1st Infantry Regiment will charge into Londinium.”
“……!”
“As promised, your side will lead the way. Whether you plant the flag on the parliament building or return to the palace and bawl your eyes out, do as you please.”
At the words I tossed out indifferently, transparent moisture finally gathered at the corners of her eyes. It looked as though it would spill over at any moment, but she bit her lip hard and forced back her tears.
“……I will keep that in mind.”
‘Status Analysis.’
[Name: Sydney Wellesley]
[Status: Disarmed, dependence, elation]
[Emotion: If this man hadn’t been here, we would never have seized this chance. Even that frightening and humiliating deal now feels like nothing but a lifeline of salvation….]
*
The next day, on the arterial road at the outskirts of Londinium as dawn broke.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!
The heavy clatter of tracks shook the earth.
Half-track armored vehicles and trucks airlifted in from the United States seized the road in a single file.
“All units, maintain advance speed!”
“Right sector clear! No remnants!”
It was not the Imperial Army at the front.
Uniform shoulder patches clearly bearing the flag of the United Kingdom of Victoria. It was the government-in-exile’s 1st Infantry Regiment, armed with American-made semi-automatic rifles and submachine guns.
Londinium was being taken over moment by moment. With the Red leadership having fled, there was almost no resistance in the city.
Before long, the red flag in the central square was lowered, and the Union Cross, with white and red lines crossing one after another over a blue background, was raised.
The soldiers and citizens watching that scene cheered. They shouted hurrahs at the tops of their lungs, and soon put their arms around one another’s shoulders and sang the national anthem together.
“God save our gracious Queen, Long live……”
I quietly watched the scene through my binoculars.
“Brigadier General.”
Hannah, standing beside me, called to me in a gentle voice. She, too, was watching the cheering in the square with a proud smile.
“We did it.”
“This is only the beginning.”
Retaking the capital was nothing more than the beginning. Galich had fled north with his forces, and though defeated, Brusilov still remained.
However.
‘It’s still a good enough time to taste the fruits of victory.’
*
That night.
I was assigned an entire antique annex within the royal palace of Londinium.
It wasn’t on the level of borrowing a single room. It was a magnificent residence with a huge chandelier, the finest marble, and red carpets—just the sort of place where the royalty of a nation or the highest-ranking state guests would stay.
I had thought I’d lived fairly luxuriously in the finest mansions of Soissons and Elancia. But a building of the United Kingdom, boasting hundreds of years of history, was literally on a different level.
“This is why one becomes a war hero, isn’t it?”
I walked into the residence’s drawing room, where firewood crackled pleasantly in the fireplace.
Kicking off my heavy military boots, I sank into a plush, top-quality sofa. I poured the finest United Kingdom whiskey sitting on the table into a top-quality glass, lightly swirled it, and closed my eyes.
Top-quality.
I chewed over the word.
The marble, the bricks, the fireplace, the liquor, the sofa. Everything here was top-quality.
Literally, a perfect top-quality night after successfully leading the operation to retake Londinium.
‘Shared Vision.’
As it happened, I felt like it would be just right if there were a top-quality woman as well.
[Skill “Shared Vision (Lv.1)” is being activated.]
[You are receiving real-time visual information from the designated target (“Sydney Wellesley”).]
Bzzzt—.
The noise cleared, and my vision slowly brightened.
The background was some basement. It was definitely a facility I was seeing for the first time, yet somehow, it felt familiar.
‘This feels like déjà vu….’
I recalled it without much difficulty.
A Class-1 secure communications room. The scene reflected in my eyes now was the spitting image of what I had seen in Weymouth.
‘Well, I suppose it’s essential if the Intelligence Bureau is going to work.’
It was only natural that Londinium would have a similar facility. It seemed Sydney had restored this place first as soon as the city was retaken.
Bzzzt! Beep-beep-beep!
As always, Sydney was sitting in front of the telegraph.
[Your Majesty! It is joyful news beyond compare. At last, our Allied Forces have retaken the capital, Londinium!]
Tears welled in Sydney’s lavender eyes. Her fingers striking the key trembled with elation.
[As Brigadier General Jaeger promised, our government-in-exile forces entered the city first. The United Kingdom’s flag has been raised over the square once again!]
[The enemy leadership, with Galich at their head, has abandoned the capital and fled to the Highlands. I will pursue them at once and bring them to judgment!]
Beep-beep, tick. Tick.
A reply came at once from the New World across the sea. Queen Charlotte, too, must have been spending the night wide awake before the telegraph.
[You have done well… Truly, you have done well, my Sydney. Londinium has finally returned to our embrace.]
[I offer boundless gratitude to the Empire that forged this miracle, to our army, and… to Brigadier General Jaeger.]
The queen’s sincerity flowed over the perforated paper tape.
[I will gladly pay every price promised. The lease rights to the colonies, the exclusive rights to the reconstruction projects—compared to his merits and the homeland we have regained, they are nothing but a bargain.]
Tap-tap, tap-tap.
[Yes, Your Majesty. His capabilities surpassed imagination.]
[He is the savior of our homeland. It was truly right for us to trust him.]
Heh.
At the successive praises from the two women, I twisted my lips into a smile.
It felt strange. The two of them were a queen and an intelligence director. In other words, they were at the apex of power. Ordinarily, they should have been steeped to the bone in cold-blooded political struggles.
And yet, at this very moment, they were so immersed in the emotion of retaking Londinium that they were paying no heed to anything else.
Beep-beep, tick.
Soon, Charlotte’s final reply arrived.
[I will return to the mainland soon. In my Londinium, I wish to greet you and Brigadier General Jaeger in person.]
[I love you, my Sydney. Rest well tonight.]
‘…The queen is coming, is she.’
I mulled over what that meant and deactivated the skill.
[Skill “Shared Vision (Lv.1)” has ended.]