In front of the Crown Prince’s office in the imperial capital, Reichsburg.
I’d been called to His Highness’s, no, His Majesty’s office often enough to be sowhat familiar with it, but I couldn’t help feeling nervous every ti I was summoned by such high-ranking individuals.
While organizing my thoughts about what to say upon entering, the butler by my side said,
“Your Highness, General Peter Yaeger has arrived.”
At the sa ti, the door opened, and for so reason, the Crown Prince had a slightly regretful expression.
Wondering if I had made a mistake or sothing had gone wrong without my knowledge, I raised my level of nervousness and showed my respect.
“Welco, General Yaeger. And you others, withdraw and make sure no one else approaches this room.”
“Yes, understood.”
The butler beside quickly left the room, closing the door, and His Highness, placing a hand on my shoulder, spoke with a hint of regret.
“I understand that you are busy with official duties, but try to visit more often in the future. I know you’re not fond of alcohol, but co by to chat about personal matters, if nothing else. Next ti, bring your son Friedrich and Lieutenant Colonel Laura as well.”
After naming Friedrich, the Crown Prince often took care of him.
Imdiately after Laura gave birth, he sent the finest ingredients supplied to the palace for her recovery, claiming a duty to care for him since he nad him, even sending toys, a stroller, and a crib.
He even visited the child’s first birthday party held in the province, gifting him a finely crafted, expensive dagger and expressing his wish to make him a page to the first son of the Crown Prince when he cos of age.
However, one must not be mistaken; there were over ten other families that the Crown Prince took care of in this manner.
“If Your Highness permits, I will bring Laura and Friedrich along next month.”
“Do make sure to do so. What kind of relationship do you think we have?”
“Thank you. I will not forget Your Highness’s kindness.”
The Crown Prince nodded as if very pleased with those words.
“Also, please send Louise occasional letters about the 7th Division’s status and your daily life. She really cares about the 7th Guard Division that bears her na.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Then I will write a letter tomorrow to update her on our status.”
“No, I will extend your leave by one more day with my authority. You should visit her in person.”
Then, the Crown Prince responded with a aningful expression.
“She really cherishes the 7th Guard Division you lead. While typical royalty might just lend their na, she is different. She even takes the ti to read books on military science because she wants to truly understand the 7th Guard Division.”
According to the empire’s laws, won could enlist as officers or soldiers if they were physically fit, knowledgeable, and capable of learning.
However, in a class-based society, most noble young ladies had no interest in military science, let alone knowledge of it, as there tends to be a reluctance for won to join the military.
Yet, the young ladies of the Reich Empire admire the splendid image of knights in the poems of bards.
So, I knew that Her Highness the Princess seed to care about us especially, but I thought she was just like any princess who admires the common stories of knights.
“As the commander of the 7th Guard Division, if the Princess wishes so, I will gladly go and have a talk with her.”
“Just to ntion, don’t bring Lieutenant Colonel Laura or Colonel Kerzhit out of consideration.”
“Yes, I understand. I didn’t expect Her Highness would want to co alone. But since Your Highness says so, I will follow.”
Probably, Her Highness Louise would feel more comfortable dealing with won like Anya or Laura than with , but since she was interested in military science and even read books about it, she seed to want to et , who had served as a professor at the Staff College.
“I would like to chat more if I could, but let’s do that next month when we have ti. The reason I called you today is that important intelligence ca in from the Intelligence Departnt a few days ago.”
If it was sothing worth calling for by the Crown Prince, could it be about the spies we dispatched to Ostarica or the lieutenants engaged in espionage?
Or was it about the military reformation or how they were preparing for war?
Was he going to talk about everything I was thinking about?
“According to the investigation by the Intelligence Departnt’s Ostarica section, Matthias and the four others have safely been commissioned as officers in the Ostarica army.”
“It seems they are performing their mission quite well. This should make the expedition to the Grand Duchy of Ostarica go more smoothly.”
“You’ll be even more surprised if you hear the whole story. They were commissioned a year ago, and Matthias has already been promoted to Captain.”
It seed my pride was thoroughly trampled, and the Crown Prince’s consolation was effective.
Even if they were lieutenants and took with them bundles of classified information, it wasn’t easy to quickly rise through the ranks in Ostarica, given the stigma of dishonorable discharge and being expelled from their families.
“According to the person who gathered this intelligence, they are quite trusted among the Ostarica officers.”
“They must be acting quite fiercely. It seems like they’ve accomplished so military feats.”
“They participated in a battle between the Grand Duchy of Ostarica and the Grand Duchy of Chekovia. They fought at the forefront without sparing their lives and were fortunate enough to take the head of a Chekovian regint commander. They also grind their teeth at the re ntion of the Reich Empire, vowing to take their revenge.”
After saying that, the Crown Prince and I laughed.
Because the more the double agents, including Matthias, pretended to hate the Empire and devoted themselves to Ostarica, the greater the shock would be when the Grand Duchy of Ostarica was betrayed.
“Ha! What the head of the Intelligence Departnt said was even more ridiculous. According to what the employees under the Ostarica Intelligence Director reported, they are so convincingly dangerous to the Empire that they requested imdiate permission to assassinate them. They’ve fooled even our allies, so the Grand Duke of Ostarica would never suspect them of betrayal.”
“When they return, instead of a battalion commander position, we should temporarily assign them to the Intelligence Departnt to add instructor experience to their career by having them give lectures on espionage.”
“That’s a good idea. It will greatly enhance the average capability of the empire’s Intelligence Departnt.”
I didn’t ntion it, considering the Crown Prince’s fondness for them, but I inford His Majesty and my father-in-law about five certain ways to detect if those five were to betray us.
So, even if the five double agents, including Matthias, tried to trick us, we wouldn’t be fooled in return.
We had already established and approved a contingency plan for the worst-case scenario.
“Also, according to the Intelligence Departnt’s report, the Ostarica side has confird that all the second-class secrets carried by Matthias and his group are true. So, they will only be stumbling around instead of making proper preparations.”
“Yes, by the ti Your Highness and I lead the expeditionary force, the doctrines of the Empire’s battles, tactics, and strategies will have completely changed.”
“I understand why the Duke of the Swiss Confederation used double agents. If you properly plant a few good spies, you can endlessly deceive the enemy. Above all, just imagining those who are fooled makes one feel good. Isn’t that right, General Yaeger?”
It was said in an old Korean saying that the most entertaining thing in the world was watching a fire from across the river, and I agreed with that saying.
It wasn’t my business if soone else’s house—no, the enemy’s house—was burning, and since it was a fire across the river, it wouldn’t harm us.
So, it was enjoyable just thinking about it, and it would be even more fun to see the burning site in person.
Upon saying that, I quietly nodded my head.
“So, how are the preparations going? Or rather, the strategy must be properly established.”
With those five lieutenants dispatched, it was as if all the pieces were in place, but now there was just one more move left.
And that is…
“As you know, Your Highness, my brother, Lieutenant Colonel Max, has barely avoided divorce and has been on standby without an assignnt for a year.”
When he heard that, His Highness’s expression darkened a bit…
“Now, through Lieutenant Colonel Max, we plan to spread rumors that our empire is attacking the Duchy of Luxenia. And my brother will secretly find out that Lieutenant Colonel Matthias and the others have defected and are doing well, and he will act as an opportunist trying to seize the chance, just in case.”
Adding another double agent to a situation already infiltrated by double agents might seem foolish, but since those five were performing well and were truly trusted, my brother would also be easily accepted.
“I’m really looking forward to it.”
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