I Was Mistaken as a Great War Commander

Knock knock—

Cedric looked up from eating a sandwich and doing paperwork in his office.

Glancing at the wall clock, the hour hand was already at 5 PM.

‘…Then the one knocking must be Captain Daniel Steiner.’

Around lunchtime, Daniel had requested a meeting regarding the operational support for the Northern Front.

Cedric, who had been wanting to see him anyway, told Daniel to come at 5 PM, and he had knocked precisely on time.

“Come in.”

At Cedric’s permission, Daniel opened the door to the office.

Seeing the inside of the Chief of Operational Planning’s office for the first time through the open door, Daniel felt an odd sense of oppression.

The Chief’s office was strangely devoid of any unnecessary objects.

No matter how much he looked around, there was nothing but a coat rack, bookshelves, fountain pens, a telephone, a desk, and various documents.

Usually, one would display at least one personal item like golf balls or stamp collections for hobbies, but there was no sign of anything like that here.

Only the bookshelves lining both walls were filled with countless confidential documents in file form.

“You’re here.”

The voice was flat yet sharp.

Cedric, seated in front of an elegant mahogany desk, glanced at Daniel before finishing off his sandwich.

Seeing this, Daniel inwardly tensed as he walked to the center of the office and saluted.

“My apologies for the discourtesy of disturbing your meal. However, I have an urgent matter to discuss and had no choice but to be rude.”

After popping the last bite into his mouth, Cedric took out a handkerchief, wiped his hands, and looked at Daniel.

His lone eye seemed to be asking Daniel to state his business in the somber silence.

“…To avoid wasting your precious time, I’ll be direct. I request that you withdraw my aide, Second Lieutenant Lucie, and Cadet Prien from the Northern Front support.”

From Daniel’s perspective, both of them were unsettling presences he wanted to distance himself from as much as possible.

However, unaware of Daniel’s true feelings, Cedric could only be puzzled.

After swallowing the sandwich, Cedric asked a question.

“Why is that?”

If only he could say, “Lucie is a spy, and Prien is not in her right mind.”

Sighing inwardly, Daniel came up with a plausible excuse.

“My aide and Cadet Prien have only just become adults. I cannot take girls who have barely shed their maiden status to such a dangerous battlefield.”
“I can understand your aide, Second Lieutenant Lucie, but I heard you took Cadet Prien with you when you were a private on operations before?”
“At that time, the operation was intended for the defense of our homeland’s territory. Compared to this Northern Front operation, which will penetrate deep into enemy lines, it was a relatively low-risk mission.”

Caught off guard by the unexpected response, Cedric blinked once.

‘Unexpected.’

He had thought Daniel was the cold-blooded type who wouldn’t worry about such minor issues as long as he could get promoted.

But seeing him stand up to protect his subordinates revealed a rather humane side.

‘Even a porcupine is said to be affectionate towards its young.’

Caring for one’s subordinates was an essential virtue of a commander.

While it made Cedric think more highly of Daniel, he could not grant his request.

“I refuse. The Empire’s ideology is to reward merit and punish wrongdoing, focusing on equal opportunity. Thus, not sending young women to the battlefield goes against the Empire’s ideals.”

Up to this point, Daniel had anticipated as much.

“Then, at the very least, please exclude Cadet Prien from my unit’s roster. She is a cadet still undergoing training at the military academy. I see no reason for me to take an individual cadet with me.”

It was reasonable that there was no need to deploy an untrained cadet to his unit.

However, Cedric saw infinite potential in Prien’s ‘uniqueness.’

“Captain Daniel. She is no ordinary cadet. You must have witnessed it when you fought alongside her. Prien’s magical power, unlike that of regular soldiers, has a ‘color’ to it.”

Daniel could not deny this. After all, when Prien had shot and killed Colonel Jeremy, she had imbued her bullets with her magic right next to Daniel.

“Prien’s magic is pitch-black, a color through which light cannot pass. Considering that most magic is either transparent or accompanied by a faint bluish glow, this is a highly anomalous phenomenon. A kind of mutation, if you will.”

Cedric removed the monocle he had been wearing and placed it on the desk.

“Let me digress a bit. Since ancient times, black has been an omen of misfortune – a symbol of the devil. Even the superstitions about black cats and crows bringing bad luck stem from this.”

Cedric laced his fingers together on the desk.

“Of course, these are mere superstitions. In this day and age, if someone were to make a fuss about you having black hair or eyes, they’d rightly be called insane, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Indeed.”
“But magic is different. Especially if a child born into a priestly family exhibits black magic, they would undoubtedly face religious condemnation.”

Roughly understanding what Cedric was getting at, Daniel nodded.

“Cadet Prien did not enlist voluntarily, then. There must have been external pressure.”
“You catch on quickly, which is good. Yes, Cadet Prien was abandoned by her family. They essentially forced her into the military to prove she is not the Devil’s child by demonstrating her patriotism – in other words, sending her to die fighting the enemy.”
“And the reason you’re suddenly telling me this is…?”

Cedric opened a drawer and took out a letter.

It was Prien’s application to support the Northern Front.

“Desperately trying to deny her abandonment by her family, Cadet Prien found someone new to rely on. And that person seems to be you.”
“Sir? I am by no means someone Prien can rely on.”
“Is that so? According to her letter, you gave her considerable consolation in the detention center and did not discriminate against her for using black magic when you conducted operations together in the north.”

Daniel found it rather absurd.

At the detention center, he had merely exchanged some idle chatter as a pastime, and he hadn’t been surprised by her black magic because he already knew about it from his game knowledge.

However, from Cedric’s perspective, Daniel’s true feelings were not particularly important.

“Captain Daniel Steiner, let me put it plainly. While black magic may face religious condemnation, it should rightly be praised by the military for its strategic value. Do you understand what I mean?”

Black magic, which does not let light pass through, could easily facilitate optical camouflage simply by dispersing it around the user.

Hence, Cedric was implying that due to its strategic value, Prien should be groomed as a suitable asset for the battlefield.

‘But why me?’

Daniel wanted to refuse, feeling it should be assigned to someone else more capable, but Cedric’s gaze was resolute.

If he tried to argue further, he might needlessly incur Cedric’s wrath.

Eventually, Daniel resigned himself and saluted.

“I shall follow your orders, sir.”

Satisfied, Cedric returned the salute.

“Good. If that’s all, you may leave now.”

Lowering his hand, Daniel turned and walked towards the door, exiting the office.

Watching him leave, Cedric leaned back in his chair and chuckled softly.

‘He reminds me of the former Chief of Staff. Tense before his superiors, yet unafraid to speak his mind.’

Cedric knew that such individuals would never be swayed by power.

It had been a long time since he had encountered a talent he wanted to nurture so badly.

○

At the same time, Prien and Lucie had gathered in Daniel’s personal office.

Lucie had come to organize documents as quitting time approached.

As for Prien, Daniel had told her to wait in his office while he met with the Chief and reported the outcome.

Rustle—

Prien, leaning against the wall, stole a sidelong glance.

There was something enviable about Lucie’s composed demeanor as she sat at her desk, skillfully organizing documents.

‘The position of Daniel’s aide should have been mine…’

It felt like she had been robbed of her rightful place, leaving her displeased.

Sensing her gaze, Lucie paused her work and looked up.

Their eyes met.

“……”
“……”

In the eerie silence, Lucie spoke first.

“What are you pondering so intently?”

With a curt tone, Prien replied.

“Just wondering what motivated Second Lieutenant Lucie to apply for the position as Daniel’s aide.”
“There was no particular reason. If I had to give one, it would be for the glory of the Empire.”

It was a straightforward answer.

In truth, she had applied because being Daniel’s aide was the perfect cover for her role as a spy, but she could not reveal that.

While Lucie had successfully concealed her true intentions, Prien could only tilt her head in puzzlement.

For some reason, she felt Lucie was lying.

It was not intuition, but rather an instinct – Prien’s unique ability to discern truth from falsehood, albeit imprecisely.

“Second Lieutenant Lucie? I was raised by my father, a priest. So I attended Mass every day. After Mass, there would usually be those who wished to confess their sins and stayed behind. They would then enter the confessional with my father to receive penance.”

Surprised by the sudden tangent, Lucie paused her document organization.

“As a child, I used to play a game of guessing which among the many people attending Mass would go for confession. I was quite accurate. No matter how piously and diligently they prayed, those concealing sins had a shadow cast over their faces.”

Clap. Lucie closed the document and calmly regarded Prien.

Prien, too, met Lucie’s gaze without averting her eyes.

Tick-tock—

In the silence so profound that the ticking of the wall clock could be clearly heard, Prien approached Lucie’s desk and placed her hands on it.

“And yet, strangely, I see it.”

Slowly lowering her head, Prien stared intently at Lucie’s face.

Their emotionless gazes clashed, freezing the air around them.

In that icy atmosphere, Prien quietly parted her lips.

“The shadow cast over your face, Lieutenant.”