Mistaken for a War Hero

Chapter 60
The Conditions of a Loyal Subject

『 Translator – Divinity 』

The next morning.

“This is the place that man mentioned.”

Daniel, accompanied by police officers, stopped in front of a shopping mall.

He had come here to investigate after the man who introduced himself as Morten confessed in the chapel yesterday that he had been “trying to incite a rebellion in the capital with the prince.”

Frankly, Daniel had dismissed it as the ramblings of a madman, but since he had received a report related to rebellion, he couldn’t ignore it.

So, as soon as morning came, he requested assistance from the local police station and arrived here.

“It looks like an ordinary shopping mall from the outside…”

Superintendent Baretti, the chief of detectives, tilted his head in confusion.

Daniel agreed, but he couldn’t be too careful.

“If that man really was the leader of a secret organization, disguising the building and their identities to avoid suspicion would be a basic tactic. It might not be the testimony of a madman, so we should be cautious.”

Seeing Superintendent Baretti nod, Daniel walked into the shopping mall.

The mall doors were open, but for some reason, there was no employee to greet them.

Only bloodstains were splattered on the product displays.

Seeing the bloodstains, Daniel reflexively drew his revolver from its holster.

“Damn it, it seems that man was telling the truth. Everyone, arm yourselves!”

At Daniel’s shout, Superintendent Baretti and the other officers drew their pistols.

In that tense atmosphere, Daniel bent down and looked around.

‘Footprints…’

Footprints that seemed to be from military boots led towards a specific direction.

Following the trail with his eyes, he saw a metal door leading to the basement, wide open.

Judging from the carpet and furniture carelessly thrown around, it must have been hidden from public view.

“Major Daniel? Did you find something…?”

As the Superintendent approached with the police officers, Daniel raised his hand to stop them.

After carefully examining the surroundings once more, Daniel stood up.

“It seems like some kind of armed group has infiltrated the basement. They were hiding in the basement for a while and came out relatively recently.”

“Sir? How do you know that?”

“The footprints. The footprints going in seem to be quite old, covered in dust, but the ones coming out are fresh and distinct.”

Superintendent Baretti, taking Daniel’s words as advice and looking around, said with admiration,

“Indeed, you’re right. Then…”

“There could be a dangerous situation. Request backup from headquarters.”

With a tense nod, the Superintendent picked up his radio.

“This is Superintendent Baretti. I need backup. I repeat, I need immediate backup at the red-roofed shopping mall by the river in District 13, near Fianmari Village.”

A voice on the other end acknowledged the request.

Hearing that his request for backup had been accepted, Daniel walked towards the basement.

He wanted to see what had happened here.

Although reluctant, Superintendent Baretti had no choice but to follow Daniel into the basement.

After descending the rough stairs for a while, they arrived at a fairly spacious area.

“This is…”

Superintendent Baretti turned on his flashlight and found numerous desks and telex machines.

Half-burned documents were scattered across the floor.

Just as he was wondering what they had been doing here, Daniel picked up one of the documents lying on the floor.

His brow furrowed as he read it.

“It seems the man who called himself Morten was telling the truth.”

The document contained an outline of the operation to threaten politicians and journalists and incite the citizens.

Just as it became clear that this was a case of treason, they heard a commotion from somewhere.

Turning their heads, they saw that the noise was coming from a room blocked by a partition.

Daniel signaled to Superintendent Baretti and the other officers, then walked towards the room.

With his finger on the trigger of his revolver, he flung open the door and froze in surprise.

“Mmm! Mmmmph!?”

“Uuugh…”

Numerous people, their arms and legs bound, were moaning with gags in their mouths.

Some of them, upon seeing Daniel, were startled and crawled backwards like caterpillars.

Superintendent Baretti’s face turned pale as he took in the scene.

“What is this…?”

“I don’t know either. Please remove their gags first. We need to hear what happened.”

Superintendent Baretti nodded, put his gun back in his holster, and removed the gag from the man closest to him.

The man, with a terrified expression, shouted,

“P-Please spare me! Major Daniel Steiner! Please spare me! I won’t get involved in anything like this ever again! Please…!”

Daniel was taken aback by the man’s overreaction.

‘Why is he begging me to spare him?’

Superintendent Baretti was equally confused.

Wondering if the man was rambling in a panic, he removed the gag from another person.

And then,

“Major Daniel! Please spare me! I beg you! I have a family to feed! Sob… Please forgive me!”

Others were also terrified and begging Daniel for forgiveness.

Superintendent Baretti, seeing this, looked at Daniel with suspicion.

Daniel, noticing the Superintendent’s gaze, said with a cold sweat,

“Superintendent? I understand what you’re thinking, but I swear to God, I didn’t do this.”

However, Superintendent Baretti’s suspicion didn’t waver.

Even the surrounding police officers seemed to feel a sense of fear towards Daniel and were subtly stepping back.

“…Everyone? I really didn’t do this. Please believe me.”

Daniel pleaded earnestly, but his words didn’t reach the police officers.

In the ensuing silence, Superintendent Baretti gulped and said,

“For now, I’ll record in the report that Major Daniel Steiner knows nothing about this.”

“Superintendent? I’m telling you again, I really didn’t do this.”

“Yes, of course, Major. It wasn’t you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Superintendent Baretti took off his police cap and bowed deeply to Daniel.

It was a gesture to assure him that they wouldn’t harm him and that he shouldn’t worry.

It was a political maneuver not to antagonize a powerful figure who could do such a thing.

However, Daniel, who genuinely had nothing to do with this incident, was frustrated.

He ran a hand over his face and sighed softly.

‘I just wanted to enjoy my vacation…’

He felt resentful for being caught up in such a ridiculous situation.

***

Late at night, in the office within the Imperial Palace.

‘They’re taking over the capital…’

Princess Sylvia was looking down at a map of the capital spread out on her desk.

Red X marks were drawn on the map, indicating the locations where pro-princess politicians and journalists had been threatened by armed groups.

‘It was good that I gathered the information, but…’

The problem was that there was no consistency.

If their headquarters were located within the capital, there would surely be overlaps in their areas of operation.

However, as if mocking her attempts to track them down, they would appear in completely unexpected locations.

‘If the armed groups are operating as a cell-based organization…’

As Sylvia had initially suspected, it was likely that their headquarters was located outside the capital.

‘But how do I find it?’

The Empire was vast.

She couldn’t possibly search the entire Empire.

Moreover, Sylvia suspected that they had been established for quite some time.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to move in such an organized and systematic manner.

At least three years ago, they would have established their headquarters and started their activities, making them even harder to find.

Because of this, the pro-princess politicians and journalists were becoming increasingly limited in their movements.

They were lying low, as they were likely to be threatened or harmed by those men.

‘I have to find them somehow.’

But there was no clear way to do so.

Sylvia, holding her forehead with her hand, narrowed her eyes.

‘If only he were by my side at a time like this…’

Daniel Steiner.

The man who had seized Nordia with his brilliant tactics and strategies.

If that desirable talent had been by her side, he might have been able to find the prince’s secret organization.

But Daniel had applied for a long vacation and left the capital.

As if he had no interest in the successors’ war.

Therefore, Sylvia couldn’t summon him.

‘I don’t understand what he’s thinking.’

She had expressed her interest in him in the limousine on the way to the Imperial Palace, and she thought he would finally become her man, but then he suddenly went on vacation at this critical time.

Just as she was anxiously tapping her desk, she heard a knock.

Sylvia adjusted her posture, cleared her throat, and said,

“Come in.”

The door to her office opened, and Lieutenant Colonel Hartmann, the chief bodyguard of the Imperial Guard, entered.

Hartmann saluted briefly and approached Sylvia.

“Your Highness, you were working this late?”

“It’s a matter of life and death. But what brings you here?”

“I have an urgent matter to report, so I came to see you despite knowing it’s late.”

A report? Sylvia nodded, urging him to continue.

“Then I’ll tell you. The headquarters of the prince’s secret organization, which Your Highness has been trying to track down, has been captured.”

Sylvia’s eyes widened.

Unable to believe it, she shot up from her chair.

“Is that true? I mean, are you sure about this information?”

“It’s a direct report from the police station in charge of the Betargen Barony in the southern part of the Empire. Judging from the documents they sent, it’s not false information.”

If they had captured them, it was no different from gaining a huge advantage in the succession struggle.

Overjoyed by the sudden stroke of luck, Sylvia couldn’t help but raise her voice and ask,

“Who is it? Who achieved such a great feat?”

“Well…”

Hartmann bowed slightly and whispered to Sylvia.

“Although he claims not to be involved, circumstantial evidence points to Major Daniel Steiner.”

Sylvia was dumbfounded.

“…Daniel?”

Wasn’t Daniel on vacation in his hometown?

But then again, it didn’t make sense for him to take a long vacation at this critical time in the capital.

‘Seeing him actively contributing in so many areas, Daniel must be eager for a promotion.’

A capable staff officer, hungry for promotion, taking a vacation when the next Emperor might be decided?

It was absurd.

‘Then Daniel was…’

…pretending to be on vacation while carrying out a mission for her.

‘Come to think of it, Daniel said I would become the Empress before.’

She remembered what Hartmann had told her when she went to the north disguised as a war correspondent.

Daniel, surrounded by the prince’s assassins, had maintained his belief that “it is the princess, not the prince, who will become the Emperor.”

‘He hid his intentions from me and went on vacation…’

It made sense if he was following the strategy of deceiving even his allies to deceive the enemy.

Finally understanding all of Daniel’s actions, a faint smile appeared on Sylvia’s lips.

‘Before, he risked his life to protect me…’

And now, he was doing things he wasn’t even asked to do to make her the Empress.

Sylvia, who had unknowingly become fond of Daniel, murmured,

“He’s truly an extraordinary person, that Daniel Steiner…”

In Sylvia’s eyes, Daniel was not only a capable staff officer but also a truly loyal subject.