novelraw Chapter 191: Shadow Peace - Innovation
Chapter 191: Shadow Peace - Innovation
Episode 191. Shadow Peace - Innovation
The capital of Francia, Lumiere.
Revolutionary Army General Headquarters.
I scanned the man standing before me up and down with an utterly pathetic look, then called out to him.
“Commander Millbeau.”
“Ye, yes! His Excellency the Marquis Lafayette!”
Demian, completely stiff, answered rigidly.
A sigh escaped me on its own.
“Hah……. You only seem to be disciplined in front of me, don't you?”
“I-I apologize, His Excellency the Marquis Lafayette. I don't quite understand what you mean….”“Rushing to write reports at the last minute in a slapdash manner, leaving your post during work hours to go gallivanting….”
Demian broke out in a cold sweat but couldn't offer any particular excuse.
“It seems you're the only one who doesn't realize that the gazes of your subordinates, who respected you somewhat during the war, have grown cold.”
I glared at Demian and spoke, spreading my arms wide in an exaggerated gesture.
“Where did the great savior of Dilrus, the Master of Defense Damien De Millbeau go, and why is some loafer sitting in the Southern Army Commander's seat?”
Ah, well, I actually know.
That Damien De Millbeau was always this kind of person. He only works properly when a crisis is upon him, but where's the crisis in a time of peace?
Compared to wartime, the army has been downsized and the workload has drastically decreased. Honestly, I know it's hard to maintain tension even if you try. I know it well.
However…….
“When the commander who should be taking the lead in managing and preventing the loosening of military discipline in peacetime is instead setting an example by shattering it, what am I to do with you?”
“I-I apologize, His Excellency the Marquis Lafayette….”
Looking at the flustered Demian, I made a gesture of bringing my hand to my neck.
“I'm asking what I should do. Should I just send your head flying?”
“N-no, no! I will rectify it immediately! I will treat peacetime as wartime! I'll work the men sharply and maintain an iron discipline that the Krafte Army would envy!”
Good grief, who's he planning to crush? This is why generals get cursed at by their soldiers.
“That's going too far. Just manage your schedule so you can get your assigned work done during work hours, and at the very least, don't make it obvious that we're slacking off. Don't let the men below think, 'The commander is slacking, so why should we work?' Understand?”
“Ye, yes!”
“Good, Commander Damien De Millbeau.”
I nodded, then pointed to my eyes with my fingers before pointing them at him.
“Don't forget, I am watching. I expect you haven't forgotten in the meantime what my fiancée does.”
Demian practically shrieked, then hurriedly saluted and shouted.
“I-I'll keep that in mind! His Excellency the Marquis Lafayette!”
“Good, you're dismissed.”
“Ye, yes! I will take my leave now!”
I stared blankly at the back of Damien De Millbeau's head as he scrambled away, then finally let out a sigh.
That man is by no means incompetent, but seeing him repeat the same mistakes every time he gets scolded like this... I wonder if an uncontrollable instinct for laziness flows through his veins...
“Well, it is peacetime, after all. Honestly, having lived through war for so long, I'm not adjusting well either.”
I turned my head, saw Louis Desaix sitting in a chair on one side of the office, leisurely savoring his coffee, and replied with a faint smile.
Northern Army Commander Louis Desaix and Southern Army Commander Damien De Millbeau.
Both are my direct subordinates and commanders leading an army, so they are of equal rank and could be called direct competitors.
Normally, one should avoid summoning two people of the same rank and tearing only one of them apart, but…….
I intentionally summoned him and chewed him out to provoke him a little, but Demian himself didn't seem to give any thought to the fact that Desaix was here.
He just wanted to escape the scene of me scolding him.
I stroked my chin slightly and replied.
“Does that man have no pride?”
Louis Desaix is also a noble in his own right, being from the former Royal Guard, but he can't compare to Demian, a Count from a fief-holding noble family.
Besides, frankly, in terms of fame he's called the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army or the Master of Defense, but the one I actually trust and use as my de facto second-in-command is Desaix.
I don't even try to hide it, and most within the Revolutionary Army know it too. If I were in Demian's position, my pride would be wounded.
“He's getting torn apart like this in front of you, yet he didn't seem to mind you at all, did he?”
“Hahaha, that's true.”
Louis Desaix looked awkward and scratched his face with a finger.
“To be honest, from my perspective of secretly considering him a rival, I am a bit envious of General Millbeau's fame.”
I snorted and sat down across from Desaix, saying.
“He's a lucky guy. He knows how to enjoy and show off his fame. You should learn that too. You're faithful and reliable in your duties, but you're so quiet it barely shows.”
Desaix took a sip of coffee and replied.
“Well, Your Excellency the Marquis recognizes my efforts. And I don't particularly want to get into a war of nerves with the Southern Army.”
I let out a soft laugh.
Right, this is why I use Louis Desaix as my second-in-command, not Damien De Millbeau.
Damien De Millbeau makes an impact and has a lot of fame because he gets things done when it counts, but he doesn't use his abilities properly unless he's constantly managed.
On the other hand, Desaix figures out what he needs to do on his own and always performs above average, so he's highly reliable.
I took a sip of my slightly cooled coffee and opened my mouth.
“Actually, you're not without points to address either. They're not as major as the Southern Army's, but I'll organize them and send them to you later.”
“Oh my. It seems it was impossible to completely escape Lieutenant Colonel Davi's sharp gaze.”
Desaix gave a bitter smile.
Giselle Davi, who had been Damien De Millbeau's chief of staff during the war, was brought over by me and put in charge of the Inspectorate directly under the General Headquarters.
As if on cue, Giselle Davi, who had already been suffering under the endlessly lazy Millbeau now that the war was over, was so delighted she began to work with an enthusiasm that seemed almost excessive.
It was also a very fitting role for someone so fundamentally diligent and disciplined.
“Well, I don't expect you to satisfy everything perfectly. I just want a certain level of discipline to be maintained, even in peacetime.”
For all I know, Giselle Davi would probably find items to red-line even in my own work attitude during peacetime.
“Somehow, the Abyss Corporation makes me uneasy.”
In the chaos of Francia that began with the Civil War, there was always the known or unknown intervention of the Abyss Corporation.
It wasn't just Francia; the Iberian Peninsula, now unified by Kroxx, was the same, and even the Eastern Empire was suffering at the hands of demons.
Would they be pleased with the state of the Central Continent, which has ended all its wars and regained stability and peace?
At the very least, I don't think so. In that case, preparing for the potential threat of demons is something we must naturally do.
“……Well, perhaps it's just the groundless fear of a soldier who can't adapt to peacetime. Maybe, for me too, the war was just too long.”
“Haha, it was long. Most of the members of the Revolutionary Army now are people who grew up watching war for half their lives.”
I gave Desaix a small, wry smile.
Half a lifetime.
For me, it was more than that. Before my regression, I was defeated in the civil war against the Revolutionary Army and executed around this time.
The civil war caused by the revolution continued until then, but for Francia, a war with the Empire, and perhaps even a war with Krafte, was in store after that.
After my death, could Francia have truly overcome that threat? Even if they did, how much chaos and sacrifice would there have been…….
And how much profit would the demons have reaped in the meantime?
I shook my head to clear it and answered.
“I know. Honestly, it's hard for me to imagine my life outside of a battlefield. Still, well…….”
I clenched and unclenched my hand.
There's nothing in my hand right now. And yet, my hand, calloused into the shape of a sword hilt from gripping and swinging it countless times, remembers the sensation of a sword that isn't there.
I pushed away the sound of cannon fire and the pandemonium that felt like they would still ring out if I closed my eyes.
A war of over 10 years. For me, a war of over 20 years.
But no war is eternal, and now that the long war is over, it is an era of peace.
The National Assembly, for its part, became busy handling the reforms it had postponed while busy with the war.
Until now, they had been struggling to pay for the war, but now that they're receiving reparations and military spending has been drastically reduced, they can finally move with motivation.
The wedding with Christine is also steadily being prepared…….
I smiled faintly and said.
“Wouldn't it be better to protect this awkward peace while being decent salary thieves, rather than shedding blood to earn our keep?”
“Hahaha, I agree. There's a saying that the happiest army is the one that has to justify its keep!”
Desaix laughed and replied as well, and we all leisurely savored our coffee, enjoying the peace.
Yes, that should be enough.
Even if we must prepare, we can't remain captive to the battlefield forever.
*
Abyss Corporation.
The capital, Pandemonium.
A city shrouded in a dense, violet fog, where the sun never rises.
Bael, the CEO of Pride Inc., walked down the hallway, glancing through a window at the gloomy cityscape, lit only by the artificial lights of Magitek.
Draped over his shoulder, as always, was his crown, shattered when he executed the Demon King.
Strapped to his back, as always, was the sword he used to cut down the Demon King with his own hands.
He was the very symbol from centuries ago that heralded the end of the old era and the birth of a new one.
He was the pride and glory of the Demon Race.
Despite this, Abyss Corporation has recently been facing a series of failures.
The policy of sowing discord to create chaos on the continent and reaping profits from it had provided Abyss Corporation with immense wealth and a technological monopoly for centuries.
But there is no eternal progress or profit, and eventually, the races of the continent also began to develop, catching up to them.
The gap between Abyss Corporation and the continent had slowly but surely narrowed over hundreds of years.
And with the appearance of an irregular at that moment, the strategic advantages Abyss Corporation had enjoyed began to crumble one by one.
What remained in the aftermath were nations that shared a common hatred for demons and a precarious peace among them.
Abyss Corporation can no longer wield the unrivaled influence it once had.
It can no longer sway the continent and secure its profits as it did before.
The system that had led their prosperity for hundreds of years has failed. If it has failed, it must change.
However, the decentralized authority among the seven companies and the differences in their respective interests are preventing such innovation.
It's clearly declining, yet there are idiots who insist on maintaining the status quo just because their own companies might suffer a loss.
-Abyss Corporation fundamentally prohibits all disputes between the seven companies.
The principle of Article 1, which opened a new era for Abyss Corporation, born from the civil war against the Demon King.
Even he, who had executed the Demon King and founded Abyss Corporation, had to follow that rule, and has followed it.
But paradoxically, the reason that principle was established for Abyss Corporation was forgotten over the long years, and while outright disputes were avoided, subtle checks and opposition have tacitly continued.
All that's left are those who, trusting only in the principle, dare to challenge the pride of him who created the current Abyss Corporation.
The CEOs of the other six companies are implicitly shifting the blame for the recent failures onto Pride Inc., which has crafted Abyss Corporation's grand strategy.
Now, hundreds of years later, that very rule is ironically hindering Abyss Corporation's innovation.
In that case.
Just as he did when he executed the Demon King hundreds of years ago, the pride of the Demon Race.
He, ‘Pride’ himself, must once again open a new path.
Bale stepped into the prison.
And he looked at the demon restrained within, gaunt and haggard, and opened his mouth.
“Paimon.”
The limp, red-haired demon lifted its head and looked at Bael.
The emotion in the eyes of the demon—who had lost the position of CEO of Sloth Corp due to the great failure in Iberica and had been imprisoned to pay for his sins—was neither anger nor despair.
A demon who, despite being confined to the position of 'Sloth' for hundreds of years, harbored a madness and a craving that never changed, no, could never change.
Seeing this, Bale twisted the corner of his mouth into a smirk and asked.
“Do you desire innovation?”
Paimon smiled, beautifully and chillingly.