novelraw Chapter 351
Chapter 351
Chapter 351
"……."
Hm.
Command authority.
Huh?
Every head of the 101st Class friends turned toward me. Leo and Tsheringen looked back at me with eyes that had rarely grown that wide. The five 98th Class Team A seniors who had arrived with Mecklenburg were likewise struck dumb by this insanity and staring blankly at me.
"A fly could walk into your mouth and you wouldn't notice."
As I stood there with my mouth hanging open, Mecklenburg jerked his chin and threw my own words back at me. But right now, that wasn't the issue….
'Wait, hold on.'
What did I just hear? I hastily collected myself and forced out words that would at least sound like something a human being might say."Your Excellency, now is not the time to alter the chain of command."
[You'd just come back with a more efficient plan and argue against whatever I ordered anyway, wouldn't you?]
"……."
I can't exactly say that's not…. I can't deny it because that was fully my intention. But it's not as though I always have the right answer—you could be right too, couldn't you? The moment I thought that, the reply came immediately.
[I know this will sound irresponsible coming from a senior. This is not a decision made on a whim. Setting aside the matter of pride, the ultimate responsibility for the command authority I delegate lies with me, and I am fully aware that I am placing a disproportionately heavy burden on a mage far my junior, unfitting of his position. I know this decision will look like a rash abdication of the duties and responsibilities I should rightfully bear.]
"……."
[Nevertheless, the reason I say this now is because, as you well know, we have reached a watershed moment.]
That's right. We were at the juncture of whether or not all of Munich-Freising's allied dioceses would be pulled here.
[I know you are still in a position where you have much to learn. But I also know that the success you have shown before was not merely beginner's luck. To put it bluntly, I do not believe my operation can save more people and kill more enemies than yours.]
You lack field experience, but your strategies have been successful—that was the meaning behind her words. I was truly grateful for the high evaluation, but because this alone was something I hadn't anticipated, my thoughts were growing complicated.
[98th A Captain, 101st Captain. Do you object to the decision to transfer field command authority to the Vice-Captain of the 101st?]
"No objections."
The answers came simultaneously, without a shred of hesitation. No further words followed, so I knew it was now my turn to respond. Then Mecklenburg tapped the artifact at his ear to cut his communication and gestured for me to do the same. When I followed suit and cut my line, he spoke calmly.
"Accurately judging the capabilities of one's subordinates is also a quality a superior must possess. For the highest-ranking field commander especially, it is the most important ability of all."
Then he rubbed his face with his hand and said in a voice that trailed off.
"…Well, I'm sure you already know that without me saying it."
"……."
"If this operation goes wrong, the responsibility will fall on Her Excellency Albertina Hohenzollern, who handed you full command authority. If you're worried about being punished as a member of the 101st, that won't happen, and we don't have time, so make your decision quickly."
"…Your thought process is very like you, Senior. That's a concern too, but wouldn't one normally also feel burdened by the fact that even a slight misstep on my part could cause others to suffer the consequences and be punished?"
When I countered, the 98th Class Team A members looked at me with baffled expressions. The very act of me talking to Mecklenburg like this must have been something they couldn't adjust to at all. Regardless, only then did Mecklenburg make an 'ah, right' face.
I tapped the artifact again and turned on the broadcast channel to speak.
"37 minutes. Effective immediately, the Vice-Captain of the 101st Class has received field command authority."
[…Huh?]
[Askanian?]
Confused questions came from teams that hadn't managed to cut their artifacts in time. The strategy room at command also went briefly silent before repeating what I'd said to everyone.
[Effective 37 minutes, the Vice-Captain of the 101st Class assumes overall command of the Corniviano coordinate system.]
Someone from the 98th urgently called out to Mecklenburg.
"Captain."
"I already said I have no objections."
At that, the person raised his Wand and cast Sound Insulation Magic. Mecklenburg, catching what he was trying to do, immediately shattered the Sound Insulation Magic and spoke to his teammates with his usual sharpness.
"Did you not see what happened to the Brandenburg Archdiocese?"
"……."
"You were not there, but I was. In this situation, Her Excellency Albertina Hohenzollern's decision is the best possible choice."
I could see Leo's brow furrowing.
'…I should be touched….'
But it's a bit frightening. What did he eat to suddenly be this forthright? I wasn't the only one thinking that—everyone here seemed to share the sentiment. The expressions of the 98th Class Team A and my friends were something to behold. From their perspective, the guy who'd been drilling them with intensive training—disguised as mental conditioning—just days ago was now doing this. Mecklenburg snapped his head toward me and spoke.
"This isn't the time to stand around slack-jawed. As you yourself said, the council of bishops may have already left this field and gone to call for reinforcements. You'll need to formulate a different strategy accordingly, so think fast."
He was right. If the council of bishops had already left this place and we were rummaging through an empty field like hunting for mice, that was the path to failure. We needed to start by thinking about where the bishops might have gone. I adjusted the artifact to connect to the 91st A, then looked at Leo and Mecklenburg in front of me and spoke.
"We need to clearly distinguish between what we can and cannot do. First, we cannot shatter this Space Magic and simply eliminate it. Correct?"
"Correct."
Mecklenburg answered curtly.
Why can't we break it? Just as understanding principles is crucial in learning, if we blindly accept that it can't be broken, we won't be able to apply any clues or devise a proper strategy, so let's trace through it from the start. What we know is this: you cannot warp into a space created by Space Magic.
This isn't because warp magic is fundamentally impossible, but because plugging a point P0(a, b, c) into the warp formula we know doesn't take us to P1(a, b, c). Instead, we can use another coordinate (0, b, c) to reach R0. That's an alarmingly oversimplified analogy, so let me offer another: if you spread out two maps of the same space and mark a point on Map 1, the ink lands on Map 1, not on Map 2. Naturally, even if you stack the two maps together, the ink remains only on Map 1. In magical theory, this is referred to for convenience as 'the coordinate systems are different.' Therefore, all Space Magic generates a new coordinate system.
Now consider Mecklenburg's assertion. Earlier, Mecklenburg said this place 'appears not as a simple spatial overlay, but as though a robust coordinate system has been newly constructed.' Since Space Magic generates a new coordinate system, doesn't his claim ultimately contradict itself? Can something be A when it is not A?
First, 'coordinate system' and 'robust coordinate system' cannot be considered synonymous in academic terms.
Next, as always, academic definitions carry a certain gap from real-world application. If I slammed my Staff down right now and deployed a Space Magic field with a 1-meter diameter, it would academically possess a new coordinate system, but in practice, no one would describe such a spell as 'constructing a new coordinate system.' Such magic has a short duration, is one-time use, and has extremely low structural stability against internal and external impacts. In the field outside academia, when one says 'construct a new coordinate system,' it typically refers to a sophisticated system on par with the Imperial Standard Warp Coordinate System our government has built, or the Pleroma coordinate system. In other words, when a Space Magic field has long duration, is not single-use, and has sufficient structural stability for habitation, it can be called a 'newly constructed, sophisticated coordinate system.'
Therefore, according to Mecklenburg's assertion, the field before us now was equivalent to someone among the council of bishops placing a 'new coordinate system' on top of the map called 'Corniviano coordinate system.'
'No, more precisely.'
They had cut out part of the original map, inserted a different map in its place, and merged the two into a single map.
Why? Earlier we established that 'you cannot warp into a space created by Space Magic.' Despite it being normal that you can't warp to an unknown coordinate system, we had chanted the archives' warp coordinates and landed in this field—so the only permissible answer for this critical variable was that inserting a coordinate system between other coordinate systems must be someone in the council of bishops' unique ability. If so, let's verify further. I looked at Narce and asked.
"In your assessment, Farnese, are there mental manipulation drugs dissolved in the air of this space? Given that the distance between coordinates has widened, I assume it's been diluted."
"Hmm… they are dissolved. Although they've been diluted quite significantly."
Good. Proof complete. Up to here, I had retraced Space Magic theory and finished all speculation regarding unique abilities. Unfortunately, the information available to us was woefully insufficient, so we had to squeeze out whatever we could from these clues.
'Hmm…. It would be nice if we could do exactly what Narce did before—smash Pleroma's coordinate system to nothing.'
That wasn't working, and since it had already been attempted with zero effect, Mecklenburg had speculated that someone was using Space Magic as a unique ability in the first place. Can't transfer it, can't destroy it….
Good. Now there was a fork in the road before me. Let's verify. I took a breath and spoke rapidly.
"No matter how I think about it, the command post tests really do come in handy at times like these. How many minutes has it been since we entered the archives?"
[Three minutes now.]
"Please send any team that can provide immediate support to this location."
[We'll send the 91st B to Corniviano coordinate 790:345:495.]
[Moving now.]
Two responses came from both artifacts with a slight time gap. Ulrike, who had been beside Heike but had at some point moved behind me, whispered in a tense voice.
"Could you explain your entire thought process… no, I suppose not?"
"No, I can't. We'll debrief after we're out."
"…Yeeah…."
Ulrike answered with a roll of her eyes. Thought occurs in an instant, but conveying it to others takes dozens of times longer, so there was no time to explain every line of reasoning now. But I understood perfectly why she was asking me for an explanation. She didn't want to be dead weight and wanted to internalize my strategy at 200%—her anxiety-ridden expression said it all—and that was something I couldn't simply let pass. I smiled, took her by the shoulder, and whispered.
"I don't have time to explain everything, but I'll tell everyone here what they absolutely need to know, so don't worry. And, Luise. Remember what I said before?"
"……."
Even if you can't do it, we'll hold you up.
I couldn't say something that soft out loud in the middle of live combat, but neither did I believe that being harsh in this moment would help this 18-year-old bring out her full potential. Whether she recalled what I'd said—her face was still tense, but—Ulrike gave a smile that was far softer than before. Just then, something like a faint light appeared in the distance.
[91st B, moved to Corniviano coordinate 790:345:495.]
"Mm."
Good. Got it.
From the 91st B's movement, I made my decision on which fork to take. As if they'd immediately noticed my expression change, Leo and Mecklenburg began boring into me with their gazes from that moment on.
"Understood. 91st B, please stand by at your position. First, can command hear me? Cease the air manipulation in the Munich-Freising archives. If the 98th C exits the Munich-Freising archives, they will arrive at the field where we are, instead of returning to that archives building. So please remain where you are."
[…91st B, stand by….]
[Relaying now.]
Sounds of various people contacting their respective teams could be heard. I tapped the artifact to extend the line to the 91st B as well, then looked at the 101st and 98th Class Team A members around me and continued.
"First, let me establish one thing. The 98th B entered Munich-Freising's archives and is still in that space rather than floating free, and the 91st B, which moved to Corniviano coordinate 790:345:495, arrived at the field where we are. What can we deduce from combining these two facts?"
"I believe someone said this isn't the time for a capability test."
Mecklenburg's cool remark reached me. He was saying this because he already knew the answer to my question. Everyone else was completely lost. No matter that I couldn't explain every thought process, they needed to know the bare minimum to operate efficiently. Leo, who had been watching us without expression, answered briefly.
"It means their unique ability has hit its limit."
I snapped my fingers and nodded. At his words, even those in the 98th Class Team A and a few of the 101st who had been wearing slightly puzzled expressions seemed to grasp what Leo and I meant and adjusted their faces. Good. Everyone understood without a lengthy explanation.
"Just as they left the 98th B behind in the archives when they went to search for the council of bishops, they can keep generating spaces to shake us off. If the 91st B hadn't arrived at this field, it would mean the council of bishops had already abandoned us in this field and fled elsewhere—but since they didn't, it means the council of bishops is still here, and with high probability will remain so for the next several minutes, during which reinforcements won't be able to reach them."
"……."
"In other words, the ones trapped here are the bishops."
"Until some of them recover enough strength to deploy Space Magic again, that is. And only if being stranded in this enormous swathe of land, where the distance between coordinates has expanded two hundredfold, counts as being trapped."
I nodded at Mecklenburg's slightly sarcastic addendum, characteristic of him.
"Trapped is trapped. Two hundredfold. Now I have a rough sense of the size—it'd be about one-tenth of Berlin."
"……."
"Shall we set the target time at five minutes? I once rummaged through Berlin in seven minutes, so surely this is manageable?"
"…Even two minutes would be late."
"Confident, are we."
I cut off Mecklenburg, who had been doing fine until I goaded him once and immediately started spouting nonsense. The bravado. Of course, since we didn't know when they might flee, finding them even a second faster was correct, but right now, I also had to consider everyone's mental fortitude.
"First, Farnese, and Wittelsbach. Within the 101st, you two are the linchpins of this operation. Additionally, Her Excellency Alexandra Schumacher of the 91st possesses the ability to manipulate air. I will reorganize personnel around these three."
At that point, someone from the 98th spoke urgently.
"Wait, five minutes is far too tight. When Sir Askanian took the command post test, there was a predetermined answer and the clue of a newspaper article, but right now we've been given no clues at all! The field isn't an exam!"
Remarkable that someone was already crumbling mentally over five minutes. And after Mecklenburg and Hohenzollern had offered zero objections to transferring command, for someone like this to pipe up now—I was truly at a loss for words. I answered firmly.
"I said five minutes because of physical limitations, but in truth, as His Excellency Mecklenburg said, they may flee in as little as two minutes. And…."
I looked at Heike and continued.
"You said no clues have been given, but I disagree. Sir Ainsidel."
"Yes."
"Do you know which direction the wind was blowing three minutes ago?"
At that, Heike grabbed a fistful of grass and closed her eyes. After a moment, she spoke quietly.
"…South to north. Same as now."
"Good. Where they'd need to flee has now become obvious."
If they wanted to evade without leaving any traces of Magic Power.
I smiled at the flustered face of the 98th Class objector. Then I immediately looked around at everyone and raised my voice.
"Her Excellency Albertina Hohenzollern, please rendezvous with Narce Farnese. His Excellency Mecklenburg and I will rendezvous with Wittelsbach. Each group will circle west and east respectively and move north."