The Difference Is Like Between a Dog and a Cow

140 – Kayef’s Chiefs (3)

“Lieutenant Colonel Enoch!!”

Bell Meyer ran out of my room in a hurry. In her hand was today’s newspaper from Kayef.

[The body of an officer is found in the capital.]

“This…… No way…… !!”

“First of all, change your clothes and come out. Let’s see what happened and then decide.”

Speaking in a calm voice, Belle tried to say something about her, but then she shut her mouth and she went back to her room.

I have already read the newspaper in question.

The story that the body of a captain belonging to the Eastern Corps was found at a waterworks treatment plant on the outskirts of the capital this morning.

It was the Wilson Times reporter who delivered this news in the first place.

Sarah Ronald, the head of the Press Office, with whom I have a close relationship, personally sent me to check the facts.

I first asked her for her ’embargo’, and the Wilson Times accepted my offer.

Though the number of copies released today will decrease.

Since it is completely unknown how the current situation is going, it was not very good to hastily publish a report.

“f*ck… ….”

I put a cigarette in my mouth. How long has it been It was the first cigarette I asked for in months after I quit properly.

A captain belonging to the Eastern Corps.

I inhaled the cigarette smoke deeply at that title, which felt only ominous to be a coincidence.

“Please, Nikolai…… Be safe.”

***

Once Bell Meyer quickly finished getting ready to go out, we went straight to the scene of the incident.

When I showed my identification card with my name and rank to the soldier from the National Military Police blocking the road, he rolled up his arms and saluted.

“Glory to the motherland!”

“Who is managing the site now?”

“This is the head of the Central Inspection Department, Lannister Cale.”

“Thank you.”

I passed the gendarmes, found Lieutenant Colonel Lannister talking to an old man, and approached him.

“So you’re saying you heard the gunshot clearly…… ?”

“Yes! Because it is! At first I thought it wasn’t a gunshot. I wondered if the pipe at the treatment plant was damaged…… When I woke up in the morning, this…….”

“Ah, Lieutenant Colonel Enoch. Are you here?”

“Colonel Lannister.”

He had a very serious expression. Judging from the conversation I heard as I approached, the reason why the unknown captain died was probably not just because he stumbled.

“First of all, thank you for your testimony. See you again a little later. You two this way.”

The lieutenant colonel bit the old man and took Bell Meyer and I to the back of the dump.

As the name of the waterworks treatment plant suggests, water tanks that store water drawn from outside were installed in various places.

“This is where the body was found.”

“What about the identity of the body?”

When I asked, Lieutenant Colonel Lannister answered with a bitter breath.

“It is unrecognizable because the damage is severe, but from the military uniform I was wearing and the name written on the name tag… ….”

“Nonsense.”

I didn’t say anything. Belle Meyer slumped down, as if her legs had given way.

“It was purely on my orders to be flagged by the media as a lost foot. In any case, a national event is just around the corner, and if the story comes out that a soldier was killed by someone, it will be heinous in many ways.”

“That can’t be…… ! Rather, shouldn’t it be canceled even more in this situation!?”

Bell’s voice was incomprehensible. If it were common, it would be. As long as it’s general.

Will there really be a coup d’état on the prince’s birthday?

From noble mtl dot com

Even the assumptions I’m currently making are speculations.

The fact that the 9th Infantry Division and the directly-controlled cavalry brigade will be mobilized for the coup may also be tainted information that Nikolai delivered yesterday.

It is only said that the probability of a coup d’état will occur, but it is impossible to be certain.

You also don’t know when, where, or how it will happen.

It can happen right in the middle of the event, it can happen a few days before the event, or it can happen after the event is over.

It is literally pitch black.

Until now, we have fought against foreign enemies, but now we must deal with internal enemies.

It’s not just that.

Until now, our strength has always been superior.

When we were second lieutenants, during our first operation in the 3rd Magic Battalion, we dealt with bandits. After that, when he belonged to the 8th Assault Magical Infantry Battalion, he was also a bandit.

Afterwards, they raided the Limansk arsenal and dealt with the Soviet Imperial Army, but the company-level troops were defenseless compared to the two battalion-level friendly forces. They were clearly inferior to us.

Then what about the Quernen War?

It was said to be a quasi-regular military level, but at least it was an illegal armed group based in the system.

After recapturing Portmork and Maniopol, Ukraine completely occupied the islands in just a few days based on overwhelming numbers.

However, this was not the case.

All sorts of big names will be involved.

A brigade commander? No, even such ranks are ridiculous. How many generals would have been bribed.

Perhaps, like the Republic of Korea in the original history, the King’s closest bodyguards and even the Capital Guard Division to prevent a coup might have fallen into their hands.

This situation is more unclear, complex, and difficult than any situation I’ve ever been through.

“…… So I had to dig a trap. Make sure they stage a coup on the occasion of His Excellency’s birthday.”

At my words, Lieutenant Colonel Lannister nodded his head.

“The National Military Police were also investigating this matter. The rebels are planning to take this opportunity to uproot them. Even His Excellency the King knows.”

“But… ….”

Bell slurred. Her clenched fists trembled as she shook.

“But…… !! Captain Nikolai! I don’t know who killed him or how. It’s not like you’re going to die like a dog right here!!”

“Captain Bell! Keep your voice down!”

“Mr. Bell Meyer… ….”

“I don’t know. This means that they were members of the same unit. Until just the other day ago, we exchanged friendly greetings on the street…… !!”

Bell Meyer ended up bursting into tears. She sat down on her floor and her tears were dripping.

Looking at her like that, I could only bite my lip.

Captain Nikolai Hilbert was killed.

This is an undeniable fact.

A slip-and-fall? The man’s face was so mangled that he could not be identified, how could he say he wasn’t murdered.

That moment.

‘That’s right, that note…… ?’

The last conversation he had with Nikolai before parting yesterday passed through his head.

-I’ll decipher this by tomorrow.

It was strange.

There are not only a couple of strange things.

Are you sure you were aiming for Nikolai? Even the place we met was Nikolai’s hostel. It is a place quite far from here.

Since he said that he will decipher the code, he has no reason to leave the room.

Then, there are two hypotheses.

First, for some reason, Nikolai was attacked while leaving the hostel.

Second, after he attacked Nikolai waiting in the room, he killed him here.

“Colonel Lannister, have you checked Captain Nikolai’s quarters?”

“As soon as the identity is confirmed, the military police are dispatched to investigate. It will be revealed soon.”

“Then, what about the unusual findings at the waterworks treatment plant here? Did you have any notes or papers?”

“It doesn’t appear to be there yet. Could you please tell me if there is something specific? I’ll pass it on to the investigators…….”

It was then.

The military police investigators who were investigating not far away waved their hands at the Lannister and shouted.

“Inspection Manager!!! I found something here!!”

We moved to the place where they were, without anyone else. It was an external waterway attached to the wall of the waterworks treatment plant.

A passage that brings water from the river adjacent to Kayef.

And there.

“I found a pistol. But I don’t think it’s our army’s ceremony, right?”

“This is…… It’s a Logan pistol made by Reinhardt.”

I had no choice but to stop there.

Logan P02.

A Reinhalt automatic pistol.

“Three bullets are missing.”

“Judging by the bloodstains around it, it is believed that Captain Nikolai suffered a gunshot wound here.”

“Why is this…… Here… ….”

It was the pistol I gave to Captain Luna Aire before we parted ways.

***

“Lieutenant Colonel!!”

“Here is Belle! With Lieutenant Colonel Lannister!”

I ran straight to Captain Luna Aire’s quarters. Could it be that she was also attacked?

‘Please, please!’

I sincerely hoped that the worst had been avoided, and arrived at Kayef 14th Street, where the officers of the Magic Brigade were living.

But in front of Luna Aire’s inn.

The National Military Police in black were already crowded.

Thump, my heart sank.

“Do not enter!!”

“I am Lieutenant Colonel Enoch Levandel of the 8th Assault Magical Infantry Battalion!! Move!!”

“Colonel Enoch?”

The person who appeared in front of him was Lieutenant Colonel Kamarov, who had once faced Lieutenant Colonel Lannister.

The captain of the military police task force, who is said to be among the best in the national military police.

Blackhound (черная гончая).

Kamarov.

“Nice to see you anyway. I was going to call for a statement about this case.”

“You mean a statement?”

“Captain Luna Aire has been arrested for the murder of a soldier.”

“Yes?”

Shortly, Captain Luna Aire, who had been arrested by the gendarmerie in her quarters, appeared.

“You must have already heard the news. She is the prime suspect in the murder of Captain Nikolai Hilbert, whose body was found this morning.”