After running for a considerable time, I arrived at a clearing in the forest.
Leaving footprints on the white ground, I walked to the center of the clearing and bent over, resting my knees on the ground.
Breath accompanied by heat flowed out of my mouth repeatedly.
“I feel like I’m going to vomit….”
After running at full speed for a few minutes, my head started to spin.
I didn’t want to run this much, but it was unavoidable.
I thought it was imperative to put as much distance as possible between me and Selvia.
“If the princess hears that I’m applying for asylum, it will be a big problem….”
It was the princess’s nature to eliminate traitors no matter what.
So disappearing like a ghost without the princess knowing was the best course of action.
“How far are you planning to run! You little….”
“Huh….”
As I tried to catch my breath, I heard the voice of an Allied soldier.
Turning my body calmly, I saw the six soldiers I had seen earlier panting as they approached.
Seeing them not aiming their guns at me, they seemed to have a willingness to talk.
Not wanting to fight either, I exhaled in short breaths and raised both my hands.
“…Let’s calm down and have a conversation. I am Lieutenant Daniel Steiner, Deputy Operations Officer of the Empire General Staff Headquarters. State your affiliation and names.”
Alright. I naturally mentioned my affiliation and rank while introducing myself.
Since I had mentioned being an Operations Officer of the General Staff, they would have figured out that I was a person of strategic value if they weren’t idiots.
“Do you think nobody knows you?”
However, oddly enough, the Allied soldiers merely frowned as if they found it bothersome.
“Never mind that; where is the princess? Depending on your answer, I might let you live, so be careful with your words.”
“…The princess, you say?”
The mention of the princess by the Allied soldier froze my thoughts.
How did that guy know that the person I was with was the princess?
Selvia is not a fool. She wouldn’t have been going around bragging about coming to the Northern Front disguised as a war correspondent.
Thus, very few people knew that Selvia had come to this Northern Front.
Those few would be the individuals that Selvia deemed to be ‘trustworthy.’
Given Selvia’s character, which is extremely cautious in selecting talent, they couldn’t have performed the role of spies.
So who used this information to launch an attack?
As I pondered, I had a small revelation that made me murmur softly.
“The Crown Prince.”
If it’s family, the situation changes.
He would be able to observe Selvia’s every move up close.
In fact, the Crown Prince Arno von Amberg had many times quarreled harshly with his sister Selvia over succession to the throne.
It seemed that the disputes between the two were not merely surface-level.
“Trying to assassinate his own sister. What a madman.”
Shaking my head, I lowered my hands.
Knowing the truth, there was no longer a need to surrender.
The soldiers in front of me were not affiliated with the Allies.
They were the Crown Prince’s assassins, disguised to deceive that the princess had been attacked by the Allies.
Thinking that all of this was the Crown Prince’s setup chilled my head.
“Was it the Crown Prince’s orders?”
At my words, the soldiers froze. Thanks to that, my speculation became clearer.
“Now that I see, your Allied uniforms are very clean.”
“…What does that matter?”
“Usually, guerrilla warfare for an ambush sends in veteran soldiers. Sending rookies drastically reduces the success rate of the operation. But you are all dressed in new uniforms like rookies. Do you think that makes sense?”
If they wanted to disguise themselves properly, they should have made their uniforms look like those of seasoned veterans.
The soldiers could not refute my point and soon let out a hollow laugh.
One soldier, who seemed to be the squad leader, stepped forward.
“Seeing that you figured it out so quickly, you must be an elite as rumored. Then, you must know how the situation is going? Join us, and I’ll guarantee your path to success.”
“We? Are you referring to the Crown Prince?”
“…Use honorifics. It’s His Crown Prince.”
Seeing the soldier growl, I couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief.
The soldier frowned at my laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
“I feel sorry for you, seeing you clutching at a rotten rope. The Crown Prince? He’s not fit to be the Emperor. The princess is the one who will become the Emperor, not that dimwit.”
Given that I knew the future, I was offering sincere advice, but the soldiers seemed displeased and tightened their grips on their guns.
“Honestly, thank you for telling me. We don’t need to talk anymore….”
From now on, it’s a race against time. While the soldier was talking, I drew the revolver from its holster.
At the same time, I focused mana into my central nervous system to accelerate my nerves.
In an instant, my vision broadened significantly, and my pupils contracted.
What appeared in my sight was a world flowing in slow motion.
The startled soldier was trying to raise his gun, opening his mouth to curse, and a few were rushing towards me—it all looked like a slow-motion film.
Taking a deep breath, I aimed the revolver at their heads and pulled the trigger.
The explosion of gunpowder and the bullets flying seemed surreal, as if I were gliding in zero gravity.
However, the bullets moved steadily towards the soldiers’ heads.
Just as I moved the revolver’s barrel to finish off the last soldier, the neural acceleration wore off, and the world regained its original speed.
Bang—!
With nearly simultaneous gunfire, the soldiers’ heads exploded one after another.
Before they could even scream, the soldiers fell over like logs.
However, the last one. The soldier I faced as the neural acceleration wore off was still rushing towards me.
“You bastard—!”
I wanted to aim, but my hands were shaking violently.
The recoil from using the neural acceleration was putting strain on my body.
This was a useful ability that had allowed me to graduate as the top of my class at the officer academy, but the severe strain on my body right after using it was a definite drawback.
Moreover, it was the mana cylinder that had enabled me to take down five men simultaneously; if it weren’t for that, I would have been done, having my neural acceleration wear off in the middle.
The mana consumption was extreme too.
“Damn….”
My head was throbbing, and my body felt like it was trapped in a quagmire.
However, if I didn’t kill that guy, I would die. Focusing my mind fiercely, I pulled the trigger.
Bang! The gunshot rang high in the sky as the arm of the soldier charging at me exploded.
It was a miss. The soldier, screaming at the loss of his arm, still continued rushing towards me.
Instantly, the soldier who approached me thrust his weight against me, pushing me back.
“Ugh!”
I fell backward, and the soldier who then mounted me pulled out a military knife, aiming to stab down at my head.
Realizing the danger, I reflexively grabbed the soldier’s wrist.
“Fuck! Bastard! Demon bastard! Die!”
The soldier spat as he hurled curses without restraint.
But I didn’t have the strength to retaliate against those curses.
All I could do was hold onto the soldier’s wrist and push him away.
“Ugh…!”
But it wasn’t working properly. I couldn’t muster any strength in my hands.
I could see the tip of the knife creeping closer to my eyes, and I couldn’t stop it.
Fear coursed down my spine.
“What? Am I really going to die like this?”
They say that before you die, you usually experience a flash of memories, but all I felt was a sense of emptiness.
I wanted to deny my death, but the strength was slowly slipping away from my hands.
That’s when it happened.
Bang!
With the gunshot, the soldier pinning me opened up his head.
The soldier immediately slumped forward, collapsing against me.
I hurriedly snatched the dagger and plunged it deep into the soldier’s neck.
Just to be sure, I confirmed the kill.
After that, I pushed the soldier aside and slowly raised my upper body.
After catching my rough breath, I turned to the side and saw a group of people dressed in Imperial Army uniforms wearing gas masks.
“Imperial Central Army… among them, the Imperial Guard?”
If it’s the Imperial Guard, I could roughly guess who sent them.
Sure enough, behind them, Selvia came running, albeit a little late.
Seeing her face filled with worry made me feel guilty for doing something reckless.
Unaware of my feelings, Selvia approached closely and knelt down.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
I nodded my head.
“I’m not hurt. Thanks to the Imperial Guards, I’m fine. So….”
As I hesitated in my speech, Selvia seemed to catch on, looking down.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to deceive you. I just thought that as royalty, you wouldn’t be able to know who I really am, so I disguised myself as a war correspondent.”
Sorry, but I knew that from the beginning. Still, let’s pretend for now that I don’t know.
“So, did you learn a lot about me?”
That was meant to lighten the sinking atmosphere.
“Of course.”
However, it seemed Selvia took my words seriously.
“First, at the point of the operation plan, you rejected the opinion of your superior, Captain Heinz, and established a new logic. Given that it was justified, you possess a strong will not to succumb to power and an eye that penetrates the battlefield.”
That was just something I said randomly because I wanted an honorary discharge.
“You quickly identified Colonel Jeremy, who was disguised as a soldier in the Edelkrall Gorge. It wouldn’t make sense for you to have succeeded in killing Colonel Jeremy with the first shot if that wasn’t true.”
That certainly didn’t make sense. I had shot and found out it was Colonel Jeremy.
“Lastly, you possess a spirit of sacrifice that would allow you to dedicate yourself to the Empire’s citizens at any time. You risked your life just to save a mere war correspondent.”
I thought it was a chance for asylum, so I just made a hasty excuse to escape—what was she saying?
None of it made sense, but I couldn’t bring myself to deny it while looking into Selvia’s earnest eyes.
To begin with, the moment I reveal the truth, I would be facing execution.
“Lieutenant Daniel Steiner.”
Selvia, holding my hand, solemnly declared.
“On behalf of the Imperial Family, I dare to say that you are a treasure of the Empire.”
I felt incredibly burdened, as if I were going to die.
