#104

“Huaaahm~!”

At the garrison headquarters in Chernburg City, under direct imperial control.

The guard captain let out a lazy yawn while trying to swallow his boredom as he watched the typically dark guard area.

“Are you sure this is alright? We received orders from above to strengthen security…”

“Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine.”

The guard captain waved his hand dismissively at his adjutant’s words and said with a grin.

“It’s been two years since the armistice with the Republic, and even those rebel bastards have been quiet lately. If I make the kids work for nothing, I’ll just get cursed at.”

“But the orders…”

“They’re Commander Keiren’s orders. He’s just harassing the soldiers like we’re still at war. Let’s just take it ea~sy.”

After all, this was under direct imperial control.

This was the safest unit in the empire, targeted by neither rebels nor magic nobles.

After saying that, the guard captain let out another lazy yawn, and.

Shunk-!

He had to think again about what had just happened as he looked at the military dagger protruding from his chest.

“Ad-adjutant…? You bastard, what are you doing…!”

“That’s why I told you, Captain.”

Splat-!

Looking down at the guard captain collapsed on the floor, the adjutant who had served him for years bared his teeth.

“Security should always be thorough.”

His watch pointed to midnight.

Seeing this, the adjutant—no, the Revolutionary Army member—fired a signal flare into the sky.

Pheeeeew-!

Red light soared up, tearing through the night sky.

At the same time, red flags began rising throughout the darkness-covered city.

“It begins.”

The panicking defense force, and his comrades mercilessly slaughtering them.

The revolutionary member clenched his fist as he watched.

The war had begun.

The time had come for the flames of revolution to burn the empire.

***

“Rebel infiltration confirmed across the imperial capital’s direct territories!”

“Intelligence Department keeps reporting in. Six locations confirmed so far! Over 30 outposts have lost contact!”

The time had come.

Simultaneous terror attacks and raids across the imperial capital’s territories.

Plus riots breaking out in slums with poor security and in prisons.

“Though we expected this outcome, seeing it firsthand still makes me sigh.”

“Tell me about it.”

I agreed with Erich’s words after receiving the report.

We sent out emergency notices like crazy warning about raids, yet only three garrisons properly understood?

I roughly knew there’d be a big difference between frontline and rear units, but not to this extent.

Once this is all over, should we overhaul this side too?

“Prioritize dispatching Special Magic Unit members to garrisons where mages have been confirmed. Check local personnel and get the armored trains moving.”

“The 3rd and 2nd Battalions have already all been redirected to the outer areas.”

“What about civilian evacuation?”

“Proceeding together with imperial army cooperation. However…!”

“Commander!”

Amidst the chaos, an intelligence agent came running in urgently and shouted.

“Mage with four stroke or higher imprint confirmed among rebels! Based on the spell structure, they’re definitely from the Knight Order!”

“These sons of bitches!”

“So they’re done playing nice, huh?”

It seemed the Revolutionary Army bastards had really prepared properly for this operation.

Revolutionary Army forces with numerical superiority, and Knight Order members disguised as one of them scattered throughout.

And to make matters worse, agents and support personnel dispatched from the Republic.

These guys were now mobilizing all their available combat forces to pull this off.

“Eugene.”

The battle map spread out in the center of the command post.

Looking at it, Erich turned to me and said.

“With just our forces, we can only hold this back for about three days at most. Suppressing it is out of the question in this situation.”

“……”

“It’ll be difficult, but we should request cooperation from imperial army units stationed at the border…”

That would indeed be the proper course of action to stop what’s happening now.

However, I replied firmly.

“No, there’s no need for that.”

“No need?”

When Erich frowned and asked again, I answered immediately.

“The armistice with the Republic ends soon. And during these 2 years while war was halted, they’ve been sharpening their blades to bring down the empire.”

“……”

“If we pull back defensive forces trying to stop a civil war in this situation, we’ll be handing an opportunity to the Republic.”

If we redirect imperial forces, the Republic will immediately break the agreement and strike the border.

They must know this well, which is why they timed this for when the armistice agreement is ending.

Though Intelligence Department’s operation moved up their invasion timing, we couldn’t shake up their grand strategy itself.

“If they’ve attacked defensive facilities, let them occupy them. They’ll try to drag us out by conducting delaying actions to tie us down as much as possible.”

These ongoing attacks aren’t their real objective.

After saying that, I pointed to the center of the chaotic battle map—the imperial capital.

“The real target is here, the capital. It’ll be the imperial palace where the emperor resides.”

Boom-!

Right at that moment, an explosion was heard from below the command headquarters.

“An attack? In this situation?”

“It came from the lower floor guard post! The elevators connecting to ground level have been blown up!”

They first neutralized the elevator-concentrated area to isolate the emperor in the towering imperial palace.

‘About time they’re coming, huh.’

Finishing that thought, I immediately gathered equipment and ran toward the airfield.

“Holy shit, that’s…!”

“As expected.”

The faces of the Special Magic Unit members who ran out together immediately grew shocked.

The imperial palace rising in the center of the capital.

Here where no aircraft should be able to enter, an airship revealed itself.

Taking advantage of the chaos from attacks breaking out everywhere, it had arrived here hidden in the clouds.

Whoooosh…

An airship with a massive gas envelope that seemed made for festival promotion.

However, as that aircraft approached, it immediately revealed its true form by burning away its camouflage gas envelope.

“That’s…!”

The Red Wings emblem appearing in the sky.

Along with it, the magical power field that unfurled broke through the anti-aircraft fire from the defense positions and was charging this way.

“Everyone combat ready!”

As I opened my mouth, Special Magic Unit members lined up on both sides of me.

Dozens of first-generation members led by my adjutant Leopold.

They aimed their gun barrels in perfect unison at the charging airship and fired magic bullets.

“Fire-!”

With Leopold’s shout, they unleashed a volley.

Kwaboomboomboom–!

The magical power field instantly shattered and the airship caught fire.

However, from various parts of that burning airship, glowing eyes targeting us began appearing one by one.

Revolutionary Army imprint mages.

Over a hundred mages aboard the airship began unleashing magic in response to the attack just now.

Kwaaaboom–!

The dock was engulfed in smoke with a tremendous explosion.

And when the smoke cleared, the Special Magic Unit members with weapons drawn gritted their teeth.

“Damn it.”

Despite being on fire, the Revolutionary Army’s airship had succeeded in reaching this landing pad.

The Revolutionary Army group that jumped from the airship had landed right in the middle of the imperial palace and were aiming their weapons.

And three figures that emerged from among them.

“What’s this? There are more than expected? Wasn’t the Special Magic Unit supposed to all move to the outer areas?”

“The organization scale was beyond imagination. However, it’s within Sir Randall’s predicted range. These here are all the defensive forces.”

“……”

Two mages who spoke without hiding their Westraine accent.

They looked at Claude between them and said.

“Beyond there, guarding the emperor is just one half-baked six stroke mage geezer and the scarecrow Imperial Guard Knight Order.”

“Sir Randall can handle those sufficiently.”

“In other words, once we deal with these guys here, the rest will be a piece of cake.”

So Randall has already headed for the emperor.

The Imperial Guard Knight Order would be guarding him, but it was uncertain how long they could hold against a seven stroke mage.

Need to hurry.

“Now then”

Shing-

The two mages who stepped forward each drew their weapons.

Two daggers on one side.

A bastard sword slung on the back on the other.

Just as the two Republic mages took combat stances with their antique-looking weapons.

“The infamous Devils of Magic Bullets. Let’s see just how skilled you…”

Clang-!

Claude’s sword strike from behind cut off their words midway.

“Wh-what?!”

“Supreme Leader Claude?! Why are you…!”

“…Why, you ask?”

A growling voice as if having endured long-held resentment.

Along with that voice, Revolutionary Army members who had been mixed in among their ranks began aiming their guns at their allies.

“What the hell?!”

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing!”

“Pointing guns at allies, what’s with this sudden…!”

Though they claimed to be the same Revolutionary Army, at least to my eyes they weren’t.

The ones aiming guns at their comrades were original members who had been with Maximilien from the start.

The ones looking bewildered at the guns aimed at them were members who had flowed in from the Republic’s side.

‘According to plan.’

While I was thinking that, the Special Magic Unit members commanded by Leopold formed fire support formations as if to assist them.

The movements were without waste, as if this formation had been planned from the start.

“This was our intention from the beginning.”

“Wh-what?!”

“You crazy bastard, betraying us at this critical moment…!”

“How long did you think we’d dance to the Republic dogs’ tune?!”

“This is our revolution! Get out, you puppets of the enemy nation!”

Amidst the turmoil breaking out among the Revolutionary Army members who had infiltrated the imperial palace, Claude pressed forward against the two mages instead of saying anything more.

Clangclangclang–!

The two fell back along with Claude’s continuous strikes.

Six stroke imprints emitted brilliant light from their arms as they gritted their teeth.

Two six stroke imprints.

This would be difficult for Claude to handle alone.

“Everyone, support Claude’s faction while eliminating the intruders.”

After finishing that thought, I slowly walked up beside Claude who was in a standoff.

“We’ll handle these ones.”

The hero of the revolution and I standing side by side.

Claude glanced at me and finally spat out grumpily as if still dissatisfied.

“Don’t forget. Our cooperation is…”

“Yeah, just this once. I know that well enough.”

Such a chatty one.

Matching Claude’s movements, I drew Heresy from its holster.

Whuuum-

Along with the sensation of magic circuits activating, my and Claude’s magic imprints simultaneously glowed red.

[Wings of Crimson] and [Red Wings]

The two wings spread to either side took the form of a bird taking flight.

***

“It has begun.”

Buckenheim Territory.

Duke Buckenheim smiled with satisfaction upon receiving reports of the situation in the imperial capital and imperial direct territories.

Even if the Special Magic Unit had grown stronger, they couldn’t easily stop this chaos caused by mobilizing even the Knight Order.

Then this time they could succeed.

It meant they could kill the emperor sitting in the imperial castle and change the master of the empire.

“Now that urgent matters are settled, I should think about what comes next.”

The next plan.

Saying that, the duke began pleasant deliberations.

“First, I should think about what to do with the Republic.”

From the moment the emperor dies, there would be no reason to maintain cooperation with that Randall fellow.

If he moved the Knight Order, they could easily catch rebels exhausted from war with the imperial faction.

“Then after that, I need to take control of the military.”

If their massive patron the emperor dies, Keiren would be like a shoe with its straps cut off.

If he took his preciously beloved daughter hostage, that guy wouldn’t be able to refuse the hand I extend.

“Heheheh.”

There’s so much to do in my later years.

If only I were a bit younger, things would have gone much more smoothly.

Right as Duke Buckenheim had that thought and rose from his seat.

“Y-Your Grace-!”

A messenger who suddenly arrived brought shocking news.

“Ci-citizens in each territory have simultaneously risen in rebellion!”

“…Rebellion? What nonsense are you speaking?”

For a moment his mind couldn’t process the absurd report.

Rebellion? Against magic nobles?

That couldn’t be.

“The rebels should be in the capital now trying to kill the emperor…”

As he thought that and turned his head, Duke Buckenheim’s eyes immediately grew wide.

In the center of Buckenheim City which he directly ruled.

The rebels’ red flag was flying.

“Impossible.”

He couldn’t understand at all.

Just what in the world was happening now?

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