On this day, with the announcement of Flamel and Aerys' participation in the war, it was no longer a simple one-on-one war with the Sabbath.
This war transformed from the East-West war between the Sabbath and Austin into what would be known as a "World War."
The outbreak of World War was the first event of its kind in the history of this world.
While multiple nations had been involved in wars before, a "global war" that threatened the existence of several countries had never occurred until now.
Austin and the world would soon change into a hellish place filled with the stench of blood and death.
Aria became convinced of Austin's defeat on the day these two countries declared war.
She then began her behind-the-scenes efforts to get as many of her subordinates to safety as possible.
I think she considered this her final job.
However, there were also commanders who refused to give up easily, searching for any way to continue the fight.
A few politicians were desperately trying to negotiate a ceasefire even if it meant licking boots in diplomacy, wearing grim expressions as they fought to hold on.
But only one person, that man alone…
"…Huh?"
Upon hearing the report, it's said that he let out an excited voice.
"Heh, thanks for the report."
"C-Captain Bern? Why do you have such a cheerful expression?"
"Well, isn't that obvious?
…Maybe some of you felt something off about what I said just now.
Is it really appropriate to call a war where multiple nations gang up to simply trample a defeated country a "World War"?
Normally, this would be nothing more than an act of domination.
Austin is simply being tormented as the vanquished victim destined to perish in history.
However, because of this man… Because of Bern Valou's presence in Austin—
"In other words, we just got more toys to break, right?"
He elevated this act of invasion into what would become known as the "World War."
***
Flamel and Aerys' declaration of war sent shockwaves through Austin's leadership at the time.
It was unclear whether we could even win against the Sabbath. Fighting three countries at the same time would be nothing short of reckless.
Most politicians began to abandon the idea of victory and started looking for ways to lose the war in a way that would benefit the people of Austin.
Of course, they weren't just sitting idly by as Flamel invaded.
Fogman, who was Prime Minister at the time, hurriedly went to the Flamel vanguard headquarters himself to negotiate a ceasefire.
He was apparently determined to achieve peace no matter what the amount of reparations had to be.
However, what awaited him was a hail of bullets.
Despite approaching unarmed under a flag of negotiation, he was immediately shot dead.
Flamel adamantly refused to enter into peace talks.
His successor as Prime Minister was Fogman Jr., a young man who was just 18 years old.
In Austin, political offices were hereditary. Positions weren't appointed to individuals but to "families."
The Fogman family had a long line of prime ministers. When their eldest son comes of age, he becomes prime minister as head of the family.
When the head of a family is too young, it is often the case that a substitute is chosen from another influential family.
With his incredible enthusiasm, Fogman Jr. overcame the opposition of those around him and became Austin's prime minister.
In these extraordinary times, many people were uneasy about the fact that the head of domestic politics was only 18 years old.
In fact, many people in key positions attempted to flee the country and disappeared without a trace amid the chaos.
Witnessing this, many officials began to realize that the fall of Austin was becoming a very real possibility.
However, Fogman Jr. shocked everyone by defying expectations and rising to prominence.
In this crisis, his youthful enthusiasm made him a dependable leader.
Inspired by his vigor, a handful of politicians remained in Austin, striving for the nation's people.
Although Fogman Jr. was not directly involved in the war, he was highly praised in later years for his contributions to Austin's hardships from behind the scenes.
***
Let's briefly touch on Austin's political system at this point.
Austin did not have an electoral system, and politics was run by nobles on a hereditary basis.
Although there was an emperor, they had no involvement in politics and left everything to the nobles.
The emperor's usual duties were to live luxuriously, eating and sleeping, occasionally appearing before the people to deliver speeches.
Well, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. You could say that in a way, they were assigning the right people to the right job.
Instead of the emperor meddling in politics and doing as they pleased, it was far more stable for the government to be run by nobles who had been well-versed in politics through a hereditary system.
And the emperor had one other duty: overseeing the nobles carrying out the administrative work.
Though the emperor was more of a figurehead, as the highest authority, they had the power to discipline any noble who was performing their duties improperly.
Thus, the emperor would sometimes use subordinates to check the work of politicians or even personally investigate cases.
In essence, the emperor performed a role akin to a political audit.
It is said that the temperament of the emperor, who was in charge of that auditing department, has been "always straightforward" for generations.
As a result, despite being a hereditary aristocracy, Austin's politics were relatively clean.
Though, I suppose there was a bit of corruption.
***
Back to the topic of Fogman Jr….
Fortunately, he was a capable prime minister despite his impulsive tendencies.
Immediately after his father was shot, he visited the General Staff Headquarters and gave the order to "estimate a strategy to defend against three countries in order to extract peace and negotiations."
He then rewrote the logistics transport program extensively, worked through the night to reallocate resources, and established a defense line against Flamel.
He also mobilized the local population near the Flamer border to dig trenches and simultaneously conscripted young men for service.
Local recruits were quickly trained in firearm use and stationed in trenches.
The terrifying thing about firearms is that even amateurs can achieve some level of effectiveness with them. Understanding this, Foggman Jr. arranged for a large number of guns and ammunition to be transported to the sparsely manned Flamer border.
Austin had accumulated experience and know-how in trench warfare during the ten-year East-West war. Retired veterans who remained in the capital were mobilized to build a defense network against Flamel.
Local residents facing imminent destruction fought desperately, from women to the elderly, desperately fighting in trenches.
On the other hand, although the allied forces of Flamel and Aerys did have riflemen equipped with firearms, the majority of their ranks were knights wearing swords and armor who had no experience with modern warfare.
Their initial enthusiastic charge into battle was met with the established defensive network of Austin—knights and their horses were startled by gunfire. Heavily armored soldiers were too slow and became easy targets for grenades, stumbling over fallen comrades and unable to advance.
Even the few gunmen Flamel brought were equipped with outdated single-shot rifles, a generation behind the rifles used by Austin and Sabbath during the early stages of the East-West War.
Given this performance gap, it's no wonder Austin's hastily assembled army, numbering only 3,000 local conscripts, less than a twentieth of Flamel's advance force of 80,000, managed to defeat them decisively without having even a single layer of their trenches breached.
This historic victory greatly boosted morale on the Austin side, prompting a wave of volunteer soldiers to gather on the border.
As a result, the defense line was successfully stabilized before Austin's main forces even arrived.
Subsequently, Flamel began to understand the importance of riflemen. They gradually pushed the front lines forward, but managed to avoid a complete breakthrough against Austin.
***
It is to be commended that a young man who had only recently lost his parents was able to act so quickly.
His swift decision-making was no doubt also fueled by youthful recklessness. There were some mistakes along the way.
For instance, when he suddenly reallocated military supplies, ammunition intended for the Battle of the North ran short, causing the strategy that Bern had devised to fall apart.
As a result, Bern was forced to revise his plans on the fly.
Additionally, the poor legibility of his orders led to delays in transport, causing further issues.
It turns out Fogman Jr. wasn't the perfect superhero he appeared to be.
Nevertheless, in this urgent situation demanding speed, he continued to issue practical orders in almost the shortest possible time.
The shortage of ammunition was somewhat unavoidable, and had he not acted so quickly, Austin would have likely suffered more casualties from the Flamer forces.
Fogman Jr.'s competence was a stroke of luck for Austin.
***
Meanwhile, in Austin's General Staff Headquarters…
Even after receiving the order to submit a strategy to negotiate peace with the three countries, they hadn't thought of anything.
Unfortunately, Austin's General Staff was inferior compared to other nations.
In fact, during this critical time, they left all decision-making to Fogman Jr. and did nothing themselves.
That said, they did have their excuses.
Even if they were told to come up with a strategy, they knew there was no way to win with such a massive disparity in forces.
Furthermore, the few sharp-minded staff officers who might have been present promptly fled the country upon hearing news of the Flamer invasion.
The remaining staff officers in Austin were either overflowing with patriotism or a bit slow-witted.
And, as expected, the General Staff was made up of hereditary nobles.
While they held high status, they were, in essence amateurs when it came to modern warfare.
They had learned about handling cavalry and swordsmanship from their parents, but such knowledge was outdated.
They were unable to adapt to modern warfare and left the conflict to the front-line commanders, who were all commoners.
You might wonder what the purpose of the General Staff was, but over the last decade, the nature of warfare had shifted so drastically that in a way, they were unfortunate victims of circumstance.
The only strength the General Staff had was that they understood their own limits.
In fact, they had participated in the early stages of the war and had commanded troops on the front lines.
What had they instructed their forces to do? They spent enormous sums organizing cavalry units and repeatedly sent them on direct charges at enemy trenches.
As a result, the horses couldn't handle the trench's topography and either stopped or fell over, becoming easy targets.
They regularly treated the Sabbath soldiers to horse steaks. After six months, they were eventually removed from the battlefield.
With such a past, it's no wonder they did not want to involve themselves in war during this crisis.
They resigned themselves to the fact that they would only hinder any efforts, which is somewhat noble in its own way.
Therefore, even Fogman Jr.'s requests were delegated to the frontline staff officers.
They asked the already-burdened frontline staff to come up with a strategy against Flamel.
But with the limited information available on the front lines, there was no way they could devise a grand strategy.
And in desperation, the frontline staff officers… or rather, Bern Valou, wrote this reply in just five minutes:
"───It's okay to mobilize women and children, but please ensure that infantry are trained and ready."
It turns out that the General Staff had not even begun recruiting soldiers until they received that reply.
Fogman Jr.'s competence was truly a blessing for Austin.
***
Now, returning to the medical department…
I struggled to maintain my composure for a while after hearing the despairing news from Aria.
Such hopeless information couldn't be spread within the military.
With a decisive battle against the Sabbath imminent, the collapse of the Austin Army would truly be a catastrophe.
"…Are you alright, Arunoma?"
"Hey, Little Platoon Leader. It's been a while."
A few days later, I managed to meet with Arunoma thanks to Aria.
He was sitting cross-legged in a small prisoner cage, dressed only in his underwear, looking vacant.
It looked like he had been fed properly, but his cheeks had grown slightly hollow.
"Man, I'm really in trouble. The military police came out of nowhere, and it turns out it's because I'm suspected of being a spy."
"That's unfortunate…"
"Exactly. They'd have realized I wasn't a spy right away if they'd just searched my belongings. I wish they'd cleared my name sooner."
"I only heard you were detained recently. I'm sorry for coming to see you so late."
"No worries… If the Little Platoon Leader came to see me, does that mean my release is near?"
"…"
Arunoma must not have been informed that Flamel had entered the war.
Suspected of being a spy out of the blue, he looked exhausted.
"I believe in you, Arunoma. I've also pleaded your innocence to Captain Aria on your behalf.
"Thank you for that."
"But… they did not accept your release. All I could arrange was this meeting."
"Oh, I didn't want to hear that… So, this life will continue for a while longer."
"…"
After hearing that his release was still uncertain, Arunoma's expression turned crestfallen.
Even he was reaching his limit after enduring such treatment.
"Don't worry, Arunoma. I will find a way to get you out of here."
"…Little Platoon Leader?"
"Please just wait a little longer. I won't let you be imprisoned in such a shabby place."
I leaned closer to him and whispered softly.
His release was unlikely given the current situation.
"…No matter how long we wait, it'll be difficult for you to be released. But, there are other ways to get you out of this cage."
During a war with Flamel, there's no way we could just let Flamer soldiers roam free.
"I believe in you, Arunoma. So please, believe in me."
"Little Platoon Leader, what are you…."
From our conversation last night, I knew Aria would be working behind the scenes to help him escape.
In other words, it was like a staged escape play.
I subtly hinted at this, trying to reassure him.
"Don't worry too much, Little Platoon Leader. For me, this kind of hardship is nothing."
"But, the way things are…"
"It's a trial for the protagonist. Rather, it's a great setup before a big performance. There's no need for you to rush into danger."
However, Arunoma sensed what I was planning to do.
He admonished me gently, his tone becoming a little stricter.
"It's okay, the suspicion will be cleared soon."
With that, he closed his eyes and fell silent.
Even though he knew there was no chance of being released anytime soon,
"I'll wait here as long as it takes. That's why, Little Platoon Leader, I hope you'll remain innocent forever."
That's what he said to me.