Chapter 18: The Creeping Shadow ⑤
For a while after that, I was ordered to do office work and found myself wrestling with paperwork at the Imperial Ceremonial Battalion headquarters. Since I’d originally worked here as an NCO doing desk work, it was all familiar stuff. My previous life was much the same.
Not having computers or email is a bit tough, but thanks to that, the deadlines are lax, which is a relief. Even urgent documents might have a deadline of the day after tomorrow. Having to write everything by hand is a pain, but it’s nice that each task moves at a slow pace.
“Lieutenant Fonkt, you look like you’re enjoying yourself.”
Lieutenant Krimine, who had come to visit my office, said as much, so I stretched while still seated.
“Well, I’m in an execution squad, but I don’t have to kill anyone. Plus, the pay is the same. Isn’t that the best?”
I thought I’d given a perfectly normal response, but Lieutenant Krimine tilted her head.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to execute someone than do paperwork?”
“Don’t say such terrifying things.”
I don’t think she’s the one at fault here; it’s this world where life is cheap. After all, watching executions is entertainment here.
Lieutenant Krimine peered at my desk.
“What kind of documents are you working on?”
“It’s a report stating that someone, somewhere, was executed for some unclear reason. I’m formatting it for submission to the Imperial Household.”
When we’re free, we’re also mobilized for maintaining public order in the Imperial Capital, sometimes carrying out hangings for thieves, so if you look at the battalion as a whole, we’re killing someone almost every day.
The law dictates the death penalty for robbery on the first offense, and even pickpockets and burglars can get the death penalty for a second offense, so executions are incredibly frequent. Yet, the fact that crime doesn’t decrease at all is, in a way, astounding.
It probably means poverty is just that rampant.
“How about we do a joint execution by firing squad with the Second Company sometime?”
I wish you wouldn’t talk about killing people like it’s a workplace volleyball tournament.
However, this also serves as marksmanship training and is encouraged by the Imperial Household, so Lieutenant Krimine isn’t at fault for anything.
“I don’t mind just firing the guns, but cleaning the barrels and washing the uniforms is a pain.”
“They’re black uniforms, so no one cares about gunpowder stains. Lieutenant Fonkt, you’re quite the neat freak.”
The main ingredient in black powder is saltpeter, potassium nitrate, but I wonder if it has any ill effects on clothing? It also contains sulfur and charcoal, so it bothers me, and I end up washing them.
I put down my pen and looked up at Lieutenant Krimine.
“By the way, have you found out anything about the ‘Yuo Neville’ matter?”
“The Battalion Commander inquired with Lord Humazov for us, but apparently, they don’t know who used that name. It seems the Neville family’s existence isn’t even known in the northern regions.”
“Figures.”
This is a world without television, let alone newspapers, so even if you live in the same empire, different regions are like completely different worlds. People know nothing about each other.
I tapped the report on my desk with my fingertip.
“Perhaps the report submitted to the Imperial Household was swapped somewhere along the way. I could rewrite the report here myself, and it’s also possible for you, Lieutenant, to swap a report I’ve written.”
“You could just say, ‘I’ll submit it for you while I’m at it,’ and take it, after all.”
“Exactly. It’s all a mystery.”
In this current matter, we don’t even know if the mastermind is pro-Emperor or anti-Emperor. It’s possible that multiple conspiracies are intertwined, or that misunderstandings and confusion are complicating the situation.
We can make guesses based on the information we have, but we were taught about the dangers of doing so at the military academy.
“Unlike tabletop exercises, actual battlefields have an element of uncertainty that cannot be seen. It’s much the same outside the battlefield too. If you judge based only on what you can see, you’ll be tripped up by what you can’t.”
“Ah, I learned that. What was it again?”
“It’s the ‘Fog of War,’ Lieutenant Krimine. From General Gspentaf’s ‘Introduction to Strategy’.”
The exact same term existed in my previous life, so I remember being rather impressed during a lecture at the military academy.
In my previous life, the one who coined ‘Fog of War’ was… huh, who was it?
It doesn’t seem like Moltke, and Jomini wouldn’t say something like that. I’m not too familiar with the subject, so no other likely names come to mind. It’s like my memory is foggy.
There’s no point dwelling on it, so I’ll just stick to the knowledge from this current life.
“We underlings won’t understand anything even if we get caught up in a conspiracy. We have to accept what we don’t know and get used to acting without understanding.”
“I don’t understand, but I understand.”
“Yeah.”
I’m starting to not know if I understand or not myself.
Getting up from my chair, I gazed out the window.
“People fear the unknown and try to turn it into the known. But what they should fear most is mistaking the unknown for the known.”
“I’ve never heard that before. Whose words are those?”
I tapped my chest with my fingertips.
“Mine.”
“Oh.”
Rude as ever…
The reason I don’t fear death much is because, for me, death isn’t unknown. After all, I’ve experienced it once.
If I reincarnate, then death isn’t the end, and if I can just stay dead, that’s not so bad either. Life is a pain, you know.
“In short, it’s pointless for underlings like you and me to overthink things. The Battalion Commander will probably figure something out eventually.”
“He knows all sorts of things we don’t, after all.”
Field officers in the Orthodox Empire are high-ranking military officials with access to various secrets, completely different from us company-grade officers.
Not just in the Ceremonial Battalion, but most Imperial officers are ordered to retire as captains. Only about ten percent can be promoted to major.
After all, while there are countless platoons entrusted to second lieutenants and lieutenants, a battalion commanded by a major is formed by gathering about nine to sixteen of those platoons. So, that many majors aren’t needed.
The reason the Imperial Ceremonial Battalion calls itself a ‘Battalion,’ even if only in name, is because a battalion-sized unit is necessary for the assignment of a field officer.
For that reason alone, Major Gehenbach, our Battalion Commander, is a special existence, and we place deep trust in him. There are likely many officers who would even kill the Emperor if the Battalion Commander ordered it. My colleague, Lieutenant Meinen, was one of them.
“That’s why, until the Battalion Commander gives me an order, I’ll just fiddle with paperwork here and collect my salary.”
“Such low aspirations…”
“How rude to a soldier loyal to his duties.”
This girl, she’s quick to speak ill of me, so I can’t let my guard down.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and the voice of an NCO from the company could be heard.
“Lieutenant Fonkt-dono, are you in?”
“Yeah, don’t mind me, come in.”
The NCO saluted and looked at me and Lieutenant Krimine.
“Ah, perfect timing. An order from the Battalion Commander for you both to come to his office immediately.”
“Understood, thank you.”
I wonder what it is?