Academy Genius Commander

30 – The Giving Prince (4)

Count Benner listened to my answer and replied in a very satisfied voice.

“It’s really nice to see them preparing with all their might for the war with about a year and a half left. As expected, the meticulous preparations of an officer who was awarded the Silver Knight’s Sword medal directly by His Majesty the Emperor at that age are very good. Young people these days should watch and learn from you.”

“It’s an undeserved word.”

“I don’t think that’s something a guy at that age who is a captain or even a battalion commander would say. My only daughter is also said to be a genius who will appear once every 10 years in the body of a woman at the Imperial Academy, but her light will fade in front of you.”

When he heard that, he lowered his body and tried to show a humble appearance, but Count Benner firmly said that he would not allow further humility and objection.

“Let this old man give you some advice. Since you came to this position from a commoner, or rather, an orphan, you seem to have developed a habit of lowering yourself to avoid making as many enemies as possible. Don’t lower yourself too much now. That would make more enemies. Do you know why?”

“I do not know.”

“It is simple. You have already accomplished too many feats for your age. So, unlike before, everyone will be wary of, envy, and jealous of Peter Yeager. Most of the nobles will refrain from doing crazy things against you under the protection of His Highness the Crown Prince, but some of them will see your achievements as something they could do if they were in the same situation, and will only look for a chance to gain credit. Furthermore, if only you were gone, he would think that he would be able to achieve success like Peter Yeager. An attitude of more than necessary humility will make those who think like that think you easy.”

Even in Korea, where I lived, articles like this were often posted on the Internet.

The guys who ate because they weren’t good enough or human beings did what they normally do, but it turned out that the other person was either the son of the chairman or a high-ranking person who hid his identity.

When the identity of the high-ranking person is revealed, the end result is that the person who suffered agap-jil instills life lessons in the correct way of education.

However, when I look at the entire Reich Empire, I am a newbie who has just entered the ranks of high-ranking nobles, and there are a lot of nobles and officers with greater authority above me.

If I pretended to be unnecessarily humble here and looked easy on myself, I could be eaten by nobles who were consumed with jealousy and inferiority complexes.

From now on, I think I will have to show a dignified appearance within the scope of not being seen as arrogant.

“I will engrave it on my heart, Count.”

“It’s good to be proud, but accepting one’s own shortcomings is also a virtue of generals who left their names in history. In addition, this time I will make a request to you, or a proposal that you must accept. Please read this.”

The Count handed me a scroll with an official letter written on it, and inside it was written:

[To Captain Peter Yeager, recipient of the Silver Knight’s Cross, who led the victory of the Rhineland Front to defend the Empire and raised the status of the Imperial Academy. The Imperial Academy recommends you one of two options. First, honorary graduation without taking the graduation exam in recognition of achievements. Second, instead of exempting graduation thesis and theory exams, acquire a formal diploma by revalidating your capabilities as a commander. Please choose between the two options and inform the Academy of your decision. -Rector of the Imperial Academy, Lieutenant General Mansfeld von Braun-]

Not to mention quite a few students, even the student council president, who comes from the most prestigious aristocrats among the academy students and is selected as the best in many ways, is the president of a high-ranking person who only sees at the inauguration ceremony of the president.

This is because most of the academy’s practical affairs and rituals are handled by the director right before retirement, and the president is the one who is in charge of personnel rights such as deciding where to place graduates at the staff headquarters or appointing professors.

To have my graduation exam taken care of by someone who was so tall and far-flung in my student days, I really don’t know how everything in my life will turn out.

When Count Banner decided that I had read it all, he said in a firm voice.

“If you’ve read it all, tell me directly. I want you to go to a place where you can re-examine your capabilities as a commander.”

Why is there an easy way to graduate at the moment, but if you think about my achievements and awards so far, there shouldn’t be any disadvantages even if I receive an honorary diploma…

why? I thought about whether I should go to the stage of revalidation, but I think I’ll hit the mirror if I ask if I shouldn’t choose to graduate with honors here.

“All right. But I want to know why you asked me to come to the place to revalidate my capabilities.”

“It is simple. Your reputation has already spread throughout the Reich Empire, but not many people have seen with their own eyes how capable Peter Yeager is. So those who still have nothing but air in their heads go around claiming that it was all luck, it was a coincidence.”

In Korean jargon, it was called mental victory.

However, the problem is that mental victory or nonsense, if left unattended, will turn into solid bullsh*t that is too confident to handle and will block my path.

So, it must mean to prove your ability as a commander in front of many people so that rumors do not come out.

“Now, because of the support of His Majesty the Crown Prince and His Majesty the Emperor, no idiot would openly take issue with it in front of you. However, if these false facts continue to spread, there will be people who accept them as facts. So, I saw that proving your outstanding abilities as a commander in this graduation exam could be a good way to get rid of all doubts.”

“All right. But listening to what you said, it seems difficult to prove that I am competent against a single student.”

Hearing that, Count Benner grinned and said,

“Even if there are many talented students in the academy, how long will they last if they fight against a genius who has risen to the rank of captain at your age? The president of the academy often said, ‘You have to show students that this is what real combat is all about.’ Because you are the one who says We will use this opportunity to prepare for battalion-level mock battles, which students will encounter most often in actual combat. So, your opponents will be the battalion commander and his battalion who are serving active duty on the actual front.”

“Then, since I am also the battalion commander, am I going to call my troops and have a mock battle?”

“That’s right. However, if that happens, your territory will be temporarily empty of troops. So, in preparation for that, one battalion will be borrowed from the division stationed in Schlieffen, a neighboring province, to temporarily perform security and border defense tasks, so rest assured.”

I didn’t have the slightest intention of pulling it back, but I felt a little goosebumps when I saw him kindly get rid of the element of excuses like ‘It seems difficult’.

But Count Benner said with a meaningful smile, whether he knew my feelings or not.

“Of course, even if you lose here, you will graduate, but Captain Peter Yeager, whom His Highness directly supports, will be defeated. It’s an act of dropping Your Highness’ honor to the ground. So we must win.”

Certainly, there would be no such disgrace if an officer endorsed by someone the size of the crown prince was defeated by a battalion commander of the same rank.

Of course, he wouldn’t lose to the crown prince to this extent, but the cost would be more than he thought.

I gulped and swallowed nervously, and Count Benner looked at me and smiled.

“The mock battle will be held in the valley of Mt. Pelain near the academy in two months. You and the opposing battalion commander will fight inside the basin, and there will be many high-ranking people such as students from the academy, high-ranking officers, and nobles around it. To see if the newly rising star of the Reich Empire will fall or shine brightly.”

“I will do my best to meet your expectations.”

“It’s a good attitude. Instead, if you achieve a landslide victory in this mock battle, let’s try for a promotion to major during this year’s year-end personnel evaluation. It’s unprecedented, but if you show that you can command a battalion perfectly because the merits you achieved on the Rhineland front last time are so great. The head of the personnel department at the staff headquarters will be able to convince you. Then I’ll go see you.”

Saying that, Count Banner turned his back and left the workshop.

A month later, 512 infantrymen from my battalion came up to the capital after exchanging duties with soldiers from the next unit who had volunteered.

I spent a month there training my infantrymen in dead square tactics.

And time passed, and the day of the mock battle with the official promotion to battalion commander approached.