“Pathetic! To not be able to do something this simple, what good are you!”
“Then, please show us how it’s done, Major Simanto!”
Another Lieutenant raised his voice.
“Y-You bastard! Do you not understand that I said I am on the side that gives orders!?”
“Isn’t the one who doesn’t understand you, Major Simanto!”
Yet another Lieutenant raised his voice. Then, everyone’s expression changed all at once. Glaring at Major Simanto, as if the dam had broken, they began to rattle off complaints one after another.
“Just because you can’t do it yourself, yelling at others to do it is terrible.” “If you’re a superior, isn’t it your job to offer solutions?” “Exactly, if it can’t be done, you need to report ‘it can’t be done’ to your superior.”
“……Gh.”
Under that verbal assault, Major Simanto took several steps back. Why was he meeting with this? When he was a Lieutenant, an order from a Major, two ranks up, was absolute.
Was it because the times were different? Was this that “Generation Gap” thing? No, that wasn’t it. These guys were only Lieutenants because they were like this. It was because he clung to his superior’s orders and accomplished them that he had the status of Major… no, of the next Lieutenant Colonel.
“Y-You bastards…! I am a Major, you understand? I am your superior officer by two ranks, and I possess the authority to demote you, you know?”
““““ …… ””””
When the Lieutenants fell silent in unison, Major Simanto, looking triumphant, shouted with renewed vigor.
“Actually, listen here. Because of my recent achievements, there is already an informal notice out for my promotion to Lieutenant Colonel next term. To talk back to someone like me… you’ve got some nerve, don’t you? I am in a position to punish you! All of you!”
Yes, I am the next Lieutenant Colonel. Why should I fear these pieces of trash? If a superior says ‘do it,’ you do it. I have to beat that into these garbage subordinates.
“……Sigh, how idiotic.”
“Wh-What was that!?”
The one who let that slip was Lieutenant Lavernon.
“I can’t take this anymore! We all united as one to defend this fortress. By all rights, we should be receiving a grand commendation. And yet, demotion? Punishment? over this? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“T-This kind of thing? You bastard, this meeting with the Kumin tribe is an event that will be etched in Imperial history! And you call that ‘this kind of thing’? W-H-A-T!?”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m saying if it’s that important, why don’t you just hurry up and order Lieutenant Hazen to do it? Since Major Simanto is incapable of doing it.”
“Guh……”
He’s the type of guy who chatters fluently only when listing reasons why things can’t be done. This is why these guys are useless.
“Honestly, forcing impossible demands on us just because of your petty vanity and pride, instead of asking Lieutenant Hazen, is a nuisance.”
“You bastard…! Are you quitting today? With that kind of abusive language, a simple demotion won’t cut it, you know?”
Their rudeness and disrespect have crossed the line.
“Then, I will be quitting as well.”
“Me too.
I’m done with this.”
“Me too.”
“Me too, me too.”
“One, breaking away.”
“Ahhh, how stupid.”
“……Guh.”
The group of Lieutenants said their piece one by one and walked out.
“Y-You bastards! W-Wait! Waaaaaaaait!”
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……And then, there were none.
“……”
Major Simanto stood frozen in place for a while. Everyone was gone. All the active Captains had been killed in action. If there were no suitable Lieutenants left……
!?
“Uwaaaaaah!”
He clutched his head and screamed instinctively. Why did it come to this? Why on earth, why, how?
He squeezed his brain tight, but no reliable pawns came to mind anymore.
“Eh… then, what do I do about this? What am I going to dooooo!?”
He couldn’t stop talking to himself. If he didn’t speak, he felt like he would lose his mind.
There was only one conceivable choice. Give instructions to Lieutenant Hazen and make the meeting with the Kumin tribe a success.
“Huuuh!? That’s impossible, isn’t it?! Im-poss-i-ble!”
After making such a grand show of things, to do that now… Colonel Gedol would surely be greatly disappointed and disgusted. If that happened, the recommendation for Lieutenant Colonel would certainly be off the table.
“……Guh! Ughoooooooh!”
Stomach acid regurgitated from the sheer stress. Of course, he would also be blamed for the fact that every single Lieutenant boycotted him. No, it wouldn’t be strange if he was branded as unfit for management.
“Hawawa… if that happens, my promotion to Lieutenant Colonel is in danger! Is-in-dan-ger!”
He screamed for a while. If he didn’t let his voice out to calm his spirit, it felt like everything inside his stomach would flow backward.
“I have to do something… I have to do something…”
Gnawing on his fingernails until they were about to crack, Major Simanto muttered. Leave it to a Second Lieutenant? …No, no good. That’s not a job a rookie who has only been assigned for a few years can handle.
“Damn it. Captain Lorenzo… that useless trash. Being suspended at a time like this! Nng… Captain Lorenzo… Captain Lorenzo!?”
He said it himself, then repeated his own words over and over.
“Haha! That’s right! Why didn’t I realize it? I can just make him do it.”
Major Simanto danced with wild joy. There was one Captain-rank officer left. Moreover, a direct subordinate. Since everything was due to his lack of supervision, he should just make him take responsibility for everything.
He immediately opened the door and ran at full speed to Captain Lorenzo’s room. Then, he banged on the door and screamed.
“Captain Lorenzo! Are you there? If you are, answer me!”
“Wh-What is the matter!?”
Wearing a surprised expression, Captain Lorenzo came out.
“What is the matter, you ask……Guh.”
He almost started screaming in anger but panic-stopped himself and shut his mouth. If Captain Lorenzo boycotted him like the other Lieutenants, he would truly be out of moves.
“Umm, I was just wondering if you were doiiing okay~. You know, as your superior, I was worriiied.”
Major Simanto put on an excessively oily, sugary voice.
“W-Well… since I am under suspension, I don’t know if I should say I’m ‘doing okay,’ but my body is healthy.”
“That’s good to heaaar. No really, I was worried you might be depressed.”
“……Thank you very much.”
“Soooo… umm, I have a proposal for youuu.”
“What would that be?”
Major Simanto whispered with a full-force upward glance and duck-lips.
“If you listen to what I say, I might even lift your suspension for yooou?”
“……No, that’s fine.”
!?
“Whaaaaaaaat!? Why!? Why is that!?”
Major Simanto desperately held back Captain Lorenzo, who had immediately tried to close the door.
“I have accepted my suspension. I appreciate your kind offer, but I must decline.”
“W-Whyyy!? Captain Lorenzo. I thiiink Colonel Gedol is misunderstanding things. You acted with good intentions for the Empire. I believe it was just a small mismatch of buttons.”
“……Then, why is it a condition of exchange?”
“That is… well… look, it’s that thing. When in trouble, we help each other, right?”
“I apologize, but I am currently under suspension. I hope you can resolve the matter yourself.”
“P-Please! Can’t you do something!?”
Major Simanto could not back down. He had worked himself to the bone for the sake of rising in the world. He had bowed his head, which he didn’t want to bow, over and over again. He couldn’t afford to stumble over a pebble like Lieutenant Hazen and stop his promotion now.
“……Sigh.”
Captain Lorenzo sighed deeply, as if giving up.
In that instant, Major Simanto pumped his fist in his heart, thinking ‘Yes!’. He gloated inwardly that this man couldn’t refuse a desperate plea. What a hopeless, soft-hearted fool.
“However, unless you get Colonel Gedol to lift the suspension first, I can’t do anything.”
“……Can’t we make it so that Captain Lorenzo was the one who insisted on it?”
“O-Obviously not. Even I’m not that much of a pushover.”
“Guh……”
What a useless man, Major Simanto spat poison in his heart. Unlike himself, who was taught that a superior’s word is absolute, these subordinates calmly defied their superiors.
Honestly, young people these days, Major Simanto thought.
“Fine. I’ll take care of that later. Don’t worry, I will definitely get your suspension lifted.”
“……My worry isn’t whether you’ll lift the suspension, but whether you will speak properly to Colonel Gedol.”
“I said I would! Do you doubt the words of a superior!?”
“Either way, until I receive a formal order from Colonel Gedol, I cannot move. That is military regulation.”
“Guh……”
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