Episode 191 Shadow Peace –
Lumière, the capital of Innovation Francia.
Revolutionary Army General Headquarters.
I looked the man standing in front of me up and down with extremely pitiful eyes, and then called him out.
“Commander Mirbo.”
“Yes old! “His Excellency the Marquis de Lafayette!”
Damien stiffened and answered stiffly.
A sigh comes out of my mouth.
“Ha… won’t your discipline be heightened only in front of me?”
“I am very sorry, Your Excellency the Marquis de Lafayette. I’m not sure what you’re talking about…”
“Don’t you write the report in a hurried manner as soon as the date comes? Don’t you leave your desk during working hours and go out to play…”
Damien was breaking into a cold sweat. I couldn’t come up with any excuse either.
“I think you’re the only one who doesn’t know that the gaze of your subordinates, who had some respect for you during wartime, is suddenly turning colder.”
I glanced at Damien and exaggeratedly spread my arms and said.
“Where is Damien de Mirbeau, the master of the defense of the great savior of Dilus, and why is Han Liang sitting in the position of commander of the southern army?”
Ah, actually, I know.
Damien de Mirbeau was like this from the beginning. It takes a crisis to do things properly, but where is the crisis in times of peace?
Compared to wartime, the size of the military has been reduced and the workload has drastically decreased. To be honest, even if you try to feel tense, I know it’s hard to do so. I know.
But…
“The commander who is supposed to take the lead in managing and preventing military discipline from being disturbed during times of peace is taking the initiative to do so, so what should I do with you?”
“I am very sorry, Your Excellency the Marquis of Lafayette…”
I looked at Damien who was embarrassed and pretended to place my hand on his neck.
“What should I do? “Can I blow off the hair branches?”
“Oh no! We will correct it immediately! Even in peacetime like in wartime! “I will lead the kids quickly and maintain an iron discipline that is worthy of Krafte’s envy!”
No, to catch someone. This is why generals get criticized by their soldiers.
“That went too far. Just manage your schedule so that you can spend your working hours doing the work assigned to you, and at least don’t show that we’re having fun. Don’t let the subordinates think that we should work while the commander is having fun. Do you understand?”
“Yes old!”
“Okay, Commander Damien de Mirbeau.”
I nodded, then pointed my finger to my eyes and then looked at him.
“Don’t forget, I’m watching. “I hope you haven’t forgotten what my fiancee does.”
Damien was almost hissing, then saluted urgently and shouted.
“I will keep that in mind! “His Excellency the Marquis de Lafayette!”
“Okay, let’s disperse.”
“Yes old! “I’ll just leave now!”
I glanced at the back of Damien de Mirbeau’s head as he ran away in a huff and then sighed.
That guy is by no means incompetent, but when I see him repeat the same thing while getting scolded like this every time, I wonder if an uncontrollable instinct of laziness is flowing through his veins…
“Well, I guess it’s peacetime. “Honestly, after living in war for so long, I’m having a hard time adjusting.”
I turned my head and looked at Louis Desais, who was sitting in a chair in the corner of the office, leisurely sipping coffee, and smiled and answered.
Louis Desget, commander of the North, and Damien de Mirbeau, commander of the South.
They are both my direct subordinates and commanders who lead the army, so it can be said that they are equal and direct competitors.
Normally, you should avoid calling two people of the same rank and only killing one person… I intentionally
called Damien and woke him up in the hopes of provoking him, but Damien didn’t even think about the fact that Deje was there. It seemed like he wasn’t doing it.
I just want to escape from the scene that is breaking me right now.
I answered while gently touching my chin.
“Does that guy have no pride?”
Louis Desais is also a member of the old royal guard, so he is a nobleman in his own right, but he is nothing compared to Damien, a count from a noble family.
And to be honest, his reputation is that he is the second-in-command of the revolutionary army and a master of defense, but in reality, he is the one I trust and use as the actual second-in-command.
They don’t even try to hide it, and most people within the revolutionary army know it. If you were in Damien’s position, your pride would be hurt.
“I broke down like this in front of you and you didn’t even care?”
“Hahaha, sure.”
Louis Desget looked embarrassed and scratched his face with his fingers.
“Honestly, as someone who considers me a competitor, I am a bit envious of General Mirbeau’s reputation.”
I snorted and sat down across from Desai.
“You’re a lucky guy. I also know how to enjoy fame and show it off. You should learn that too. “He quietly does his job faithfully and is trustworthy, but he’s quiet so it’s not noticeable.”
Dejet answered while drinking coffee.
“Well, His Excellency the Marquis knows. “I don’t really want to start a war of nerves with the Confederate army.”
I laughed.
So, this is why I use Louis Desget as my second-in-command, not Damien de Mirbeau.
Damien de Mirbeau has an impact and is famous because he does it when he does it, but if he is not constantly managed, he will not display his abilities properly.
On the other hand, Deze is very trustworthy because he knows what to do and always does it better than average.
I took a sip of my slightly cooled coffee and opened my mouth.
“Actually, you don’t have anything to point out either. “It’s not as big as the Confederate army, but I’ll sort it out later and send it to you.”
“Oh my. “I guess it was impossible to completely avoid Lieutenant Colonel Darby’s keen gaze.”
Deje smiled bitterly.
I took Giselle Darby, who was Damien de Mirbeau’s chief of staff during the war, and put her in charge of the inspection department directly under the General Headquarters.
Giselle Darby, who had been suffering under the endlessly lazy Mirbeau even though the war was over, was so excited that she began to work so passionately that she thought it might be a bit too much.
It is also a very appropriate role for someone who is fundamentally sincere and disciplined.
“Well, I’m not expecting it to be met perfectly. “What we want is to maintain a certain level of discipline even during peacetime.”
I don’t know, but I think Giselle Darby will find things to draw a red line in my work attitude during normal times.
“I feel uneasy about the Abyss Corporation.”
There was always Abyss Corporation’s involvement, knowingly or unknowingly, in the chaos in Franzia that began with the civil war.
Even if it wasn’t Frangia, the Iberica Peninsula, now unified by Crocs, was like that, and even the Eastern Empire was suffering from demons.
Will they like the situation in the Central Continent, which has ended all wars and restored stability and peace?
At least I don’t think that’s possible. In that case, it would be natural to prepare for possible threats from demons.
“…Well, I don’t know if it’s just the soldiers’ inability to adapt to the peace period. “Maybe the war was too long even for me.”
“Haha, it was long. “Most of the members of the current revolutionary army are people who grew up watching war for half their lives.”
I grinned at Deje.
Half a lifetime.
To me, it’s more than that. Before returning, it was roughly around this time that he was defeated in the civil war with the revolutionary army and executed.
The civil war caused by the revolution continued until then, but Franzia was prepared for a war with the empire and possibly even a war with Krafte.
Will Franzia after my death be able to overcome that threat? Even if we overcome it, how much confusion and sacrifice was there during that time… and
how much profit did the devils make in the meantime?
I shook my head to clear it and answered.
“I know. Honestly, it’s hard for me to imagine my life outside of a battlefield. Still…”
I clenched and unclenched my hands.
There is nothing in my hands right now. Nevertheless, my hand, which has been dented into the shape of a sword handle from holding and swinging the sword countless times, remembers the feeling of a sword that does not even exist.
I pushed out of my head the sounds of gunfire and screaming that I still felt like I could hear if I closed my eyes.
A war that lasted over 10 years. For me, it was a war that lasted more than 20 years.
However, there is no eternal war, and now that the long war is over, it is an era of peace.
The National Assembly was busy waging war as the National Assembly did, and became busy processing reforms that had been postponed.
We had been struggling to pay for the war, but now that we are receiving compensation and our military spending has been drastically reduced, we can now move forward with motivation. I
am also steadily preparing for my marriage with Christine…
I said with a secret smile.
“Wouldn’t it be better for us to maintain an awkward peace by stealing our wages rather than shedding blood to pay for our meals?”
“Hahaha, I agree. “There’s a saying that the happiest army is the one that doesn’t make sense!”
Deje also answered with a smile, so we all leisurely sipped our coffee and enjoyed the peace.
Okay, that would be enough.
Even if you prepare, you cannot remain caught up in the battlefield forever.
* * *
Abyss Corporation.
Capital Pandemonium.
A city covered in purple fog and where the sun never rises.
Baal, CEO of ‘Pride’ company, walked down the hallway, glancing through the window at the gloomy cityscape illuminated only by artificially developed magic engineering lights.
What hangs on his shoulder, as always, is his crown, which was split into pieces when he defeated the Demon King.
Carried on his back was the sword that, as always, cut down the Demon King with his own hands.
It is the symbol itself from hundreds of years ago that announced the end of the old era and the birth of a new era.
He was the pride and glory of the demon race.
Nevertheless, Abyss Corporation has recently faced a series of failures.
The policy of creating chaos and profiting from the divisions between continents has provided the Abyss Corporation with enormous wealth and a technological monopoly over hundreds of years.
However, there is no eternal progress and gain, and eventually the races on the continent gradually began to develop along with them.
The gap between the Abyss Corporation and the continent has been gradually but significantly narrowed over hundreds of years.
And at that moment, due to the presence of the Irregular, the strategic advantage that the Abyss Corporation enjoyed began to crumble one by one.
What remains after that are countries that have a common hatred of demons and a precarious peace between them.
Abyss Corporation can no longer exert the unrivaled influence it once had.
They cannot control the continent and take advantage of their profits as much as before.
The system that had led to their prosperity for hundreds of years had failed. If you fail, you must change.
However, the power distributed among the seven companies and the differences in interests of each company are preventing such innovation.
These idiots are trying to maintain the status quo just because their company may lose money even though things are going downhill.
-Abyss Corporation fundamentally prohibits all disputes between the seven companies.
The first principle that opened a new era for the Abyss Corporation, born from the civil war against the Demon Lord.
Even he himself, who defeated the Demon Lord and founded the Abyss Corporation, had to follow those rules and did so.
However, paradoxically, the reason why that principle was established in Abyss Corporation has been forgotten over a long period of time, and not only is there a dispute, but subtle checks and oppositions have continued tacitly.
The only ones left are those who believe in the principles and dare to challenge the pride of the man who created the current Abyss Corporation.
The CEOs of the remaining six companies are implicitly blaming Pride, which has drawn up the grand strategy for Abyss Corporation, for the recent failure.
Now, hundreds of years later, that regulation is actually blocking Abyss Corporation’s innovation.
then.
The pride of the demon race, just as it did when they defeated the demon king hundreds of years ago.
As a ‘Pride’, he just has to open a new path again.
Baal entered the prison.
And then he opened his mouth, looking at the devil who was restrained inside, looking thin and haggard.
“Paimon.”
The limp red-haired demon raised his head and looked at Baal.
The emotion in the eyes of the devil, who lost his position as CEO of Sloth Company due to the fiasco at Iberica and has been imprisoned for responsibility and has been paying the price, is neither anger nor frustration.
A devil with madness and longing that never changes, or cannot change, even though he has been trapped in the position of ‘sloth’ for hundreds of years.
Baal asked, twisting the corner of his mouth at that sight.
“Do you want innovation?”
Paimon laughed so beautifully that it gave us goosebumps.
