I Was Mistaken as a Great War Commander

For a moment, I thought I had misheard, but the certainty in Prien’s eyes was unwavering.

“…The binoculars.”
“Yes, Lieutenant!”

Taking the binoculars from Prien, I surveyed the ravine entrance and furrowed my brow.

True to Prien’s words, a company-sized unit was advancing.

But why were they in the Edelkrahl Ravine, an area we had mined?

Puzzled, I examined their formation and let out an incredulous chuckle.

‘They’re marching in a staggered column. And far ahead of the main group, two soldiers are walking point.’

Those two soldiers walking point were essentially a mine-clearing team.

If no explosions occurred on their path, it meant there were no mines.

So Jeremy’s unit was following in the footsteps of those leading soldiers.

‘Those soldiers in the lead… don’t seem to be doing it willingly.’

Enhancing the binoculars’ magnification, the fear was evident on the faces of the lead soldiers.

Would they have volunteered for such a role while trembling in terror? Absolutely not.

There was a high probability that some form of coercion was involved.

Panning over, about 30m behind, I saw a soldier blatantly aiming his rifle at the lead soldiers.

Stray from the lead, and they would be immediately executed.

Jeremy must have issued a similar order to have his subordinates’ lives used to check for mines.

‘Using his men’s lives to verify minefields…’

It was a truly diabolical notion.

While history was replete with even more extreme acts in warfare, it was still appalling.

Sighing, I lowered the binoculars and addressed my surroundings.

“The target is approaching. All squads, prepare for combat.”

No sooner had I spoken than the platoon members crouched down, retrieving their rifles from over their shoulders, and checked the mana cylinders slung across their other shoulders.

That cylindrical device, containing various mechanical components and gauges, was an advanced Imperial war equipment.

Its function was to pre-store the user’s internal mana for use at will, allowing some individuals to wield up to twice their normal mana capacity in combat.

In other words, Imperial soldiers could fight twice as effectively as soldiers from other nations.

Of course, this was a slight exaggeration based solely on numerical values, but it was no overstatement that the invention of the mana cylinder, regarded as the culmination of magic engineering, had made the Empire a great power.

‘In fact, no nation can defeat the Empire in an all-out, one-on-one conflict…’

The problem was that this overwhelming national power had earned the Empire the fear and resentment of neighboring countries.

Recalling the reasons for wanting to desert the Empire, I checked the gauge on my own mana cylinder like the others.

After confirming it was functioning properly, I assumed a prone firing position at the edge of the cliff, with the soldiers aligning themselves alongside me.

As Jeremy’s company gradually entered deeper into the ravine below, I whispered audibly to the soldiers:

“I’ll take out the enemy commander. As soon as I open fire, lay down suppressing fire to cut off their escape route. Prepare mana rounds.”
“Mana rounds, ready!”

Like me, the soldiers responded in hushed tones, channeling mana into their hands gripping the magazines.

This was a temporary act of imbuing the rounds with mana, enhancing their destructive power and penetrative ability.

Mana-infused rounds surpassed most conventional spells and required only the channeling of mana, without complex incantations, making the difficulty level exceptionally low.

Just as the development of firearms led to the decline of medieval knights, the proven effectiveness of mana rounds reduced magic to a relic of the past, with only a few combat-applicable spells remaining.

It was a prime example of technological progress undermining romanticism.

‘Speaking of which…’

If I succeeded in assassinating Colonel Jeremy here, wouldn’t that accumulate another merit?

With the Princess watching from behind, I had to fight, but earning another achievement here would eliminate my chance of deserting the Empire.

Then what should I do? Feeling Celvia’s gaze, I opened my rifle’s scope.

Shouldering the rifle and peering through the scope, I spotted Colonel Jeremy marching at the center of the formation.

The magnification wasn’t high enough to make out his face clearly, but judging from the single individual in a high-ranking officer’s uniform, it had to be Jeremy.

If I succeeded in assassinating Colonel Jeremy here, an accelerated promotion was undoubtedly inevitable.

But that was the last thing I wanted. I didn’t wish to be further entangled with the Empire.

‘Then…’

Even when presented with the opportunity, I just had to play the fool who failed to assassinate Colonel Jeremy.

‘I’ll feign a missed shot.’

Having made my decision, I slightly adjusted the rifle barrel to aim at the soldier walking abreast with Colonel Jeremy instead.

Taking a deep breath, holding it, generating a mana round, and squeezing the trigger.

Bang!

The round pierced through the soldier’s head as it tore through the air.

Immediately after, the platoon’s gunfire resounded deafeningly.

Glancing back, around 17 Allied soldiers had collapsed in pools of blood from the initial volley.

An impressive first salvo.

However, the enemy commander was still alive.

If they confirmed the number of casualties from the initial volley was around 20, they would easily deduce they were facing a platoon-sized unit.

As far as I knew, Jeremy was a wily rat. He would undoubtedly deploy a mana barrier immediately before attempting to flee, either forward or backward.

In that process, more soldiers would likely perish, but would Jeremy, someone willing to use his subordinates as human minesweepers, even care?

If Jeremy managed to escape from here, I would fail the mission as an officer.

‘Come on, flee, Colonel Jeremy!’

Peering through the scope, I watched Jeremy’s flustered company.

One of the officers began shouting orders before dropping his weapon.

‘…Huh? Why are they dropping their weapons?’

Confused, I continued observing as the enemy officers and soldiers dropped to their knees one by one, raising their hands.

An unmistakable gesture of surrender, indicating an unwillingness to continue fighting.

Next to me, Prien, who had also opened fire, seemed equally perplexed as she tilted her head.

“…They’re surrendering?”
“No, it could be a deception tactic. If we go down there, they might attack with their guns…”

Before I could finish, the officer shouted something and threw his rifle towards the minefield.

The soldiers followed suit, discarding all their firearms in the direction of the apparent minefield.

“…It’s a definite surrender.”

The reason was unclear, but since the enemy had surrendered, the operation was over as of this moment.

“Everyone, stand down. We’re going down to apprehend them.”

After descending into the ravine, I ordered the platoon members to restrain the prisoners before approaching Jeremy – or rather, his doppelganger in uniform – and demanding an explanation for the surrender.

“You shot the Colonel dead!”

The man in Jeremy’s uniform glared at me accusingly.

“We were ambushed. Moreover, if your intelligence is so accurate that you even knew to disguise yourselves, then it was clear we couldn’t win. Whether we fled forward or backward, it was either the minefield or certain death.”

In other words, the soldier I had killed with my first shot was actually the disguised Colonel Jeremy himself.

Having lost their commanding officer in an instant, the demoralized company deemed the enemy had the upper hand in every respect, prompting their immediate surrender.

‘Damn it…’

As I wiped my face in disbelief, the soldier clenched his fist in resentment.

“Fucking hell…! Damn you Imperial bastards! If we had known you were just a single platoon, we would have fought back! You demonic scum…! Deceiving us all! May you burn in-”

Whack! The soldier collapsed face-first into the snow.

It was Prien, who had struck the back of the soldier’s neck with her rifle butt.

After coldly regarding the fallen Allied soldier, Prien turned to me and saluted.

“Platoon Commander! We have restrained 87 enemy soldiers, excluding the 18 killed in action!”

Hearing Prien’s words, the reality of a platoon defeating a company began to sink in.

As I stood in silence, exhaling a frosty breath, Prien added:

“…Aren’t you pleased to have earned such a merit? Ah! For you, Lieutenant, such an achievement must be commonplace. Forgive me!”

What was she blathering about? As I furrowed my brow, a camera shutter clicked noisily.

Instinctively closing my eyes, I turned towards the source of the shutter sound to find Celvia standing there.

Lowering her camera, Celvia regarded me with an admiring gaze.

“Congratulations. You executed the operation flawlessly, from the planning to eliminating the target.”
“Wait, that photo you just took…”
“When I return to the capital, I’ll order… no, request that it be published. Shouldn’t I gladly assist a war hero who led a platoon to defeat an entire company?”

I wanted to refuse, but she was the Princess – I had no right to reject her.

Seemingly pleased with me, Celvia stepped closer and playfully nudged my waist.

“How does it feel to be a war hero?”
“……”

It felt utterly dreadful.

Yet, I could not express such sentiments to the Imperial Princess.

Composing myself, I spoke as dispassionately as possible:

“I merely did my duty for the Empire; being called a war hero is undeserved. What I did was simply one of the countless battles occurring on the frontlines. Publicizing this particular engagement might be seen as undue glorification.”

I was implying that I did not want this merit publicized in the capital.

However, upon hearing my words, Celvia initially seemed surprised before offering a faint smile.

“Indeed. As I’ve heard, you truly are an exemplar of a soldier. So much so that I wish to recruit you as soon as possible.”

…It seemed I had been misunderstood. Perhaps it was just my imagination?