Chapter 122

I Was Mistaken as a Great War Commander

After persuading the protesters, Daniel felt anemic and knelt on one knee.

It was because the blood loss had momentarily drained his body of strength.

As the startled crowd watched, Freyen quickly ran over to support Daniel.

After performing first aid through healing magic, Freyen shouted loudly to the crowd.

He asked anyone to call an ambulance right away.

Daniel tried to dissuade him, saying he wasn't in such a serious condition, but Freyen, with his medical knowledge as a medical officer, absolutely refused to agree.

Freyen earnestly requested the crowd once again to call an ambulance, and several people nodded and reported to a nearby hospital.

Thanks to this, an ambulance arrived shortly after and transported Daniel and Freyen.

Safely arriving at the hospital, Daniel received a detailed diagnosis from the medical staff, but the doctor in charge of the diagnosis was inwardly surprised.

The efficacy was so different from ordinary healing magic that the doctor clicked his tongue and decided there was no need for surgery.

However, he gave the opinion that it would be good to stay in the hospital for a while to monitor his condition, and Daniel accepted this and was temporarily hospitalized.

Now, a day has passed.

"Lieutenant Colonel Daniel."

Freyen was quietly looking at Daniel, who was sleeping with his knee bent beside the hospital bed.

Looking at Daniel with a bandage wrapped around his forehead, his heart sank with mixed feelings.

"...Honestly, I don't know. What you can gain by pushing yourself this hard, I mean."

Carefully extending his hand, Freyen grasped Daniel's hand.

"But I believe that Lieutenant Colonel Daniel wouldn't make the wrong choice. Surely you're struggling with complex political interests that a fool like me can't understand."

Freyen's eyes half-opened.

Along with that, his old-fashioned eyelashes also lowered.

"I don't know what kind of fight you're in, but I wish I could be of help. Just like how Lieutenant Colonel Daniel saved me when I was on the verge of collapse back then."

Freyen remembered.

The conversation he had with Daniel, who was just a lieutenant then, in the military police detention center.

"At that time, I was about to give up everything. Although I was trying hard to deny it, I actually knew. The fact that I had been abandoned by my family and clan."

A normal father wouldn't send his innocent daughter to the army.

That couldn't be called love for a daughter no matter how you looked at it.

Nevertheless, Freyen didn't accept the fact that he had been abandoned by his family and clan.

Because the moment he accepted it, he felt like he would collapse and never be able to get up again.

Unfortunately, at that time, Freyen's standard of life was not himself, but his family.

"I tried to gain my father's approval, but it didn't work out well. I couldn't even complete the training process properly and ended up in the detention center. So I cried a lot? Because I thought everything was over now."

At that time, Daniel, sitting in the next seat, frowned and spoke to him.

─ You seem to have forgotten that an imperial soldier shouldn't show tears carelessly.

Although his tone was irritated, Freyen knew that its essence was warm.

Daniel, who told him not to cry, had a short conversation with Freyen, and Freyen received considerable comfort from that conversation.

"You told me my will was noble. I don't know why I was so happy about that, given that I enlisted under pressure from my family. Maybe..."

It might have been because it was the first sincere compliment he had heard in his life.

For Freyen, whose every action was denied just because his magic was black, Daniel's sincere praise was special.

Smiling shyly as if embarrassed, Freyen lifted Daniel's hand to caress his own cheek.

"I don't know how happy I was when I got to go on operation support with Lieutenant Colonel Daniel later. What was even better was that Lieutenant Colonel Daniel had no prejudice against my magic."

Not only did he have no prejudice, but Daniel also told Freyen that his magic was excellent.

This was because the black magic that didn't allow a single point of light to pass through had the effect of concealment in itself.

Moreover, this time, didn't Daniel tell Bellaf in their conversation that Freyen was a dedicated and capable subordinate?

For Freyen, who had lived isolated from not only his family but also the world, Daniel's existence, which affirmed him, was like a ray of light descending from heaven.

So he couldn't dislike him.

It was a fate that he had to like him.

Freyen, who was savoring Daniel's warmth felt through his cheek, slowly closed his eyes.

"From now on, I..."

Just as a confession that wasn't quite a confession was about to be made, the door of the hospital room slid open.

Wondering who it was, Freyen opened his eyes to see a man wearing a trench coat standing there with a fedora on his head.

The man, seemingly embarrassed by the scene before him, froze for a moment before soon taking off his fedora and entering.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your time together. I'm Voelm, the editor-in-chief of the Melbarton Newspaper Company. I have something urgent to tell Lieutenant Colonel Daniel, so I came to see him."

A newspaper person? Not sure why he had come, but thinking this wasn't the right time, Freyen stood up.

"The Lieutenant Colonel is currently sleeping. Even if it's urgent business, it would be better if you visited after the Lieutenant Colonel has rested..."

While Freyen was speaking, Daniel's hand on the hospital bed twitched.

He had reacted to the surrounding noise.

Slowly opening his eyes, Daniel looked alternately at Freyen and Voelm in the room and frowned.

"...What is it?"

To the question asking what brought them here so early in the morning, Voelm answered first.

"Lieutenant Colonel Daniel. I came to see you because I have something urgent to tell you regarding yesterday's incident."

He had come to get approval for publication, needing to report faster than other newspapers.

Understanding this, Daniel exhaled softly and raised his upper body.

"Freyen? I have something to discuss with this person, so please leave now."

"Understood."

Freyen answered without protest and left the hospital room.

As Freyen's footsteps receded after closing the door, Voelm opened the briefcase he had brought.

From it, he took out several developed photographs and handed them to Daniel.

"These are the best shots from yesterday's photos. Please look at them and tell me which one to put on the front page."

Daniel nodded and received the photos.

The first photo showed Daniel facing off against the protesters.

The second was of Daniel shouting at the protesters with blood flowing from his forehead.

Seeing this, Daniel secretly swallowed.

'Was this how I looked?'

It was too fierce, even for him.

'It's scary...'

Clearing his throat, Daniel looked at the next photo.

This time it was a scene of Daniel embracing and comforting a man from the protest group.

The image of blood flowing from his forehead was the same, but the humane aspect was emphasized.

'It captures both the violence of the protesters and the consideration I showed in one frame.'

Thinking this was exactly it, Daniel snapped his fingers.

"Put this photo on the front page of the newspaper."

"Understood. Then, would a headline like 'Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner Shows Mercy Even in the Face of Protesters' Violence' be alright?"

After thinking for a moment, Daniel handed the photo back to Voelm.

"Change it. You need to emphasize that it was the 'anti-war' protesters who committed the violence. Also, the word 'mercy' has a structure of looking down from above. It could provoke backlash."

"Then how about..."

"'Anti-war Protesters Turn into a Mob, but Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner Shows Consideration for Them' would be good."

Voelm nodded and received the photo, then Daniel continued.

"For follow-up articles, keep mentioning the violence of the anti-war protesters. We need to create the impression that people who protest against war are mobs in the eyes of the public. That way..."

Daniel looked up at Voelm and narrowed his eyes sharply.

"They won't dare to hold such worthless protests again."

Voelm, who had come out of the hospital, took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat that had formed on his forehead.

'Talking to that person somehow makes it hard to breathe...'

He wasn't sure if it was just his feeling, but there was intimidation lurking in every word, making it difficult to have a casual conversation.

After wiping off all the sweat and putting the handkerchief back in his pocket, Voelm looked around and found Tom.

He was a founding member of the Melbarton newspaper and also the person Daniel Steiner had planted in the protest group this time.

His mission was over, so he was waiting in front of the hospital to join and return to the office.

"Tom!"

When Voelm called, Tom turned his head.

But he looked noticeably tense for some reason.

Finding this strange, Voelm approached and spoke to him.

"Why are you trembling so much?"

"Well... the task Lieutenant Colonel Daniel asked me to do..."

"You completed the mission well, didn't you? What's wrong?"

Tom shook his head as if that wasn't the case.

"I didn't throw it."

This made one of Voelm's eyebrows twitch.

"...What? What do you mean you didn't throw it?"

"It's exactly as I said. Just as I was about to throw it, another guy picked up a brick and threw it. I remembered his appearance and immediately reported it to the police, but..."

"Was he caught?"

Tom nodded.

"Y-yes. He should be detained in the police station holding cell now, caught as a criminal in the act."

This was fortunate news, so Voelm sighed.

"It's not bad that the culprit was caught. If the culprit is someone who has been active in the protest group for a long time, the Imperial Daily won't be able to say it was 'Daniel Steiner's self-staged act'."

The fact that the culprit was caught in the act was good news.

He never thought there would actually be someone who threw a brick.

'I thought it was strange that Lieutenant Colonel Daniel was bleeding so much...'

Come to think of it, if it was a fake brick, it should have shattered upon impact, but it didn't break.

'It was a real brick...'

It was a stroke of luck, if you could call it that, that it had grazed his head.

According to the doctor's opinion, there should be no abnormalities in his body.

'Anyway, that's that, and...'

Voelm glared at Tom.

"Go tell Lieutenant Colonel Daniel the truth right now. No matter how small a lie it is, we don't know what will happen to us the moment it's discovered that we deceived Lieutenant Colonel Daniel."

"I guess I should, right? Alright..."

Just as Tom, agreeing with Voelm's words, was about to enter the hospital.

"Wait. Wait a moment, Tom."

Voelm, who had stopped Tom, was lost in thought for a moment.

Feeling something strange, Voelm quietly opened his mouth.

"Tom. Didn't we agree to become a government-controlled media that reports lies for Lieutenant Colonel Daniel?"

"...That's right, isn't it? You cried and wailed that night saying you had made a deal with the devil."

"But have we ever lied?"

The report that Baron Hendliem was associated with Campbell of the Liberal Social Party was true.

Although Daniel denied it for political use, the Melbarton newspaper had never lied.

Even in this protest incident, since it was confirmed that a member of the protest group threw the brick, it wasn't a lie that they had committed violence.

After reviewing all of this, Voelm opened his mouth somewhat sourly.

"...We're just telling the truth, aren't we?"

Silence fell between the two.

Tom, who had been blinking blankly, slowly opened his mouth.

"Huh? Now that you mention it..."

Because it wasn't wrong.