Abyssus Abyssum Invocat

by Carlo Zen

  At any rate, their current situation is exceedingly vague.

  According to their official orders, they’re a support unit.

  The 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion was sent as patrol personnel as part of the Northern Sea operation. Therefore, the failure of the operation to stop the RMS Queen of Anjou doesn’t translate to the end of their deployment.

  Theoretically, their mission is ongoing even now. On the other hand, that’s all it means.

  Additionally, the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion’s position as a unit directly under the General Staff deployed to the north is unique. As a result, I suppose?

  The bureaucratic consensus within the military machine is that the General Staff lent them the unit for the mission to stop the RMS Queen of Anjou. For that reason, even if they wanted to divert the unit to a different mission, the theory of the organization went that they would fall off the promotion track if they broke the contract.

  I guess the inertia of bureaucracy is formidable? Contrary to our official orders, we aren’t even being incorporated into the patrol rotation.

  Thus, in order to not waste time, Tanya takes up her pen again. She writes the letters of consolation to the bereaved families that are her duty as a commander.

  But in terms of word count, letters of consolation aren’t very long. Lieutenant Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff is unexpectedly running out of things to do before it’s even lunchtime.

  “…I get that we’re experiencing some issues, but having nothing to do is actually pretty unbearable,” she grumbles with a bitter grin.

  I don’t count myself as a workaholic, but in this sort of ill-conceived situation, my thoughts tend to wander. If I don’t have something that requires an immediate judgment call, maybe it’s not so bad to leisurely ponder the long term.

  But the future is grim. Maybe spirited speculations on your bright future can be productive, but having to expect a dark one is no fun.

  Of course, whether it’s fun or not is just an emotional issue.

  I have no intention of ceasing to think just because I’m upset.

  If I’m going to stop thinking, I’d rather take my pistol and blow my brains out.

  That said, there are some realities that…can’t be changed no matter how much you think. Just as I’m running out of high-quality coffee beans, the Empire’s resources must also be dwindling.

  That goes for human resources, too. Tanya is compelled to frown bitterly.

  The 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion is short ten members.

  The only people who can say it’s only ten are the ones who have zero understanding of human capital management.

  To find a parallel, it’s like the massive numbskulls who fire all their veteran sales staff and replace them with low-salaried part-timers and then wonder why things aren’t going well.

  Ten members, rich in experience and accomplished as well, were taken from us. From a department of only forty-eight. For now, while our duties are limited, it shouldn’t be a serious problem.

  But…there’s no telling when we’ll get replenished.

  “I guess we’ll be able to fill our slots with…newbies who have only the bare minimum of training…”

  It’s a predictable situation… No one has any veterans to spare.

  No, they probably just stubbornly refuse to give them up. I mean, if they asked me to pull a few, I’m sure I’d give them a flat no.

  After all, veteran experience and optimized unit coordination aren’t something you can achieve in a day. It’s possible to turn know-how and accumulated experience into a manual, but acquiring that knowledge and mastering it through experience take time.

  That’s the first thing you have to remember when using human capital.

  “Going by that principle…I really just have to cultivate them? It’d be better if I could simply get some mid-career hires somewhere…”

  It’s only natural for someone working in personnel to fret about filling vacancies. But when there’s a war on, getting replacements doesn’t go very well.

  Although officers have a measure of discretion within the army, they don’t get to choose their subordinates. You can complain when something sucks, but it’s virtually impossible to simply take what you want.

  …The situation is very different from the time we pulled together an augmented battalion from a mix of Eastern Army Group and Central troops.

  And so, Tanya’s mind is completely occupied by the word replacements. Unfortunately, there’s no time you’re less likely to have a great idea than when you really want one.

  Just as she notices her thoughts going down a dead end, there’s a knock on the door. She raises her head.

  When she looks toward the door, it’s her vice commander standing there with a message. The fact that it isn’t a messenger but Weiss himself means it must be fairly important news.

  “What is it, Major Weiss? If you’re not in a hurry, I’d appreciate if you’d stay and have a cup of coffee.”

  “How kind of you. I think I will.” He bobs his head and doesn’t seem nervous. If he was tense, he probably would have refused a leisurely teatime.

  So it must not be an emergency, she figures. As she offers him coffee, she tries to guess. Then what could it be?

  “Colonel von Degurechaff, these are orders from home.”

  Ohhh. She doesn’t have to think for that to make sense. So the General Staff has gotten word of our failure? Is it a reprimand? Consolation? Or word of a new mission?

  Well, whatever it is… Tanya straightens up.

  “Hmm…? Redeployment orders?”

  “Yes, ma’am. As soon as our replacement unit arrives, we’re to take up a position on the eastern front main lines along with the reorganized Kampfgruppe. We’ve also been instructed to incorporate the replacement troops we’ll receive.”

  She takes the papers from Weiss and looks them over. I see, so it’s a proper notification.

  But there is something giving her slight pause.

  “Redeployment and reorganization in parallel? And on top of that, reorganizing on the main lines in the east? With no orientation training?”

  “…Yes, the General Staff says to lead the unit they’ve formed.”

  After reading the orders, Tanya sighs in spite of herself. This is almost exactly what I was griping about earlier!

  “So we’re stuck having our veterans replaced with newbies! That’s just one step down the path to a giant failure… What the hell.”

  No. She shakes her head. If she pushes the shock from her mind and employs some self-control, she can understand what the higher-ups are trying to do. The General Staff probably doesn’t have anywhere they can secure human resources, either.

  But just because she can understand doesn’t mean she can accept it. Even considering what this war situation demands, it’s not enough time!

  As the commander, she’s had to lodge a complaint.

  Kampfgruppen are created via ad hoc formation.

  These words say it all: ad hoc formation.

  Confusion will be inevitable once the quickly scraped together band of officers and men has to carry out an operation. She can describe what she wants from them, but it will be hard to avoid a breakdown somewhere. And that’s why she wants the core to be her own forces that sync perfectly with her.

  But they won’t even give her an orientation period?

  “Any more than this is just going in circles. I guess we should be happy we’re getting replacements, but the unit they’re allocating doesn’t look so great. They say they modeled this Kampfgruppe on the Salamanders, but as far as I can tell, it’s probably best not to have very high expectations.”

  “…At face value, it seems to have been fortified.” Weiss’s observation is half-right. Just the other half is wrong.

  “To some extent, I’m sure that’s true. But there are too many newly established units. Even if the foundation is veterans, you know what will happen if the ratio of newbies is too high, right?”


  In stories, in heroic tales, one might encounter new units that turn out to be elite. Or we could probably give up on education and at the last minute send in elite units made up purely of veterans and instructors.

  Conversely, if you’re fighting a war like usual, it’s extremely difficult to imagine forming a new unit containing only veterans.

  “I want to hope the core personnel are decent, but no one wants to give up any veterans. We probably can’t expect too much.”

  “You’re right about that. I see, so it must be made up of whatever units they had on hand back home. In that case, they’ll be weaker than they look.”

  He must have understood. An awkward smile appears on Weiss’s face. Well, that’s the only possible response to this sort of reality—a vague smile.

  We’re not replacing our losses like we want and instead are getting units so new it’s unclear if they’ve been tried in live combat yet.

  “It makes me think of General von Romel. I remember how he always used to say he wanted units that were easy to use.”

  It was the catchphrase of my former superior officer. He used to grumble over and over how badly he wanted a decent unit.

  Now I understand what he meant quite well. No matter how they gloss things over at home, without proper manpower, it’s going to be hard to continue fighting a war. How sad that the day has come when I can sympathize with the gripes of my former superior.

  “Ahhh, man,” grumbles Tanya as she pours herself another cup of coffee with a sigh. “Do the best with what you have. They’re simple words, but doesn’t it feel like a last resort? Don’t you kinda get the feeling they’re just shoving the whole issue off onto us in the field, Major Weiss?”

  “But, ma’am…all we can do is train the new recruits.”

  “I guess. It’s going to be a struggle. Training the mage unit will be up to you. I hope you’ll turn them into troops we can use.”

  “I’ll do my best. Still, I think in this case…it’s really a fight against time.”

  I absolutely agree. Even without Weiss pointing it out, I know that training new people is a challenge in any era.

  Humans don’t work the minute you install them, like programs. You can allow them to grope along and spit out errors, but it will still take a huge amount of time.

  Time and effort are essential for fostering newbies no matter what.

  But even if you understand that necessity, it’s still one of the most difficult jobs. Normally, in the military organization, personnel will be deployed once they’ve completed the minimum training…but as the war continues on and intensifies, the standards have greatly shifted.

  Currently, I really wonder if they’ll be at a usable level.

  “How much time can we take to retrain them? The orders didn’t specify… So what do you think, Colonel?”

  “I wouldn’t expect the usual standard. Even if we’re being sent to a war zone, we probably won’t be in the hottest area, but… Well, they definitely won’t let us have six months. We can probably expect them to tell us to train during the winter lull, since it’s a test operation.” She swallows the rest: It’s probably hopeless. “I want to give you as much time as possible. I genuinely want you to train them hard.”

  Unfortunately, there’s a limit to what gets decided based on my opinion.

  “The problem is what the General Staff is aiming for with this formation. It seems like they want Kampfgruppen that can be formed in a short amount of time for special missions.”

  The Salamander Kampfgruppe was a great preliminary run.

  Having been formed quickly, it achieved adequate successes in multiple field tests, such as proving its concept, supporting the main army’s flank in the east, and getting a handle on the enemy’s status.

  Tanya’s personal view is that she showed the brass the utility of composite units made up of troops from multiple branches of the org. And that seems to have been acknowledged as the truth.

  But, she does end up thinking. As she told Weiss, she thinks the General Staff has put too much emphasis on the ability to form them quickly.

  “The existing types of units, formed with specific scenarios in mind, aren’t flexible. Kampfgruppen are different in that they can be formed in an optimal way on the fly.”

  “So they really have a lot of potential, then. I imagine they’ll be especially useful for putting out fires.”

  “Exactly. In other words, Major Weiss, I’m thinking…that you need to be prepared for them to expect the sort of convenient unit they can send on errands. And as long as they do, it’s hard to hope for a generous training period.”

  If the mobility and firepower to cover those vast lines can be arranged by adjusting a single unit, Kampfgruppen will be a good fit for mission-oriented orders.

  To be frank, they’ll be super-handy. If you’re a commander, you’ll be thinking, I want a ton of those ASAP.

  People who work on logistics like Lieutenant General von Zettour and people from Operations like Lieutenant General von Rudersdorf are sure to be desperate for Kampfgruppen. The new type of unit scratches their itch.

  Which is why Tanya can understand the line of thought for the General Staff.

  “The guys in the General Staff must be thinking to develop the know-how to form a ton of these at the drop of a hat. We’re going to be forced to go along with this major research initiative, so we should probably brace ourselves.”

  “…If it works out, the army will have a lot more options, huh? As a soldier, I’m honored if I can contribute to my fatherland in such a way.”

  She needs to finish her mug of coffee, but reality is so harsh, she can’t possibly drink. It’s unbearably awful, but we’re going to have to work our asses off. We’re going to suffer terribly.

  After all, the higher-ups’ objective is to locate problems through trial and error. There’s no way we’ll have an easy time of it in the field like that.

  “It’s like we’re playing house and being told to sample their cooking. And though this is a presumptuous thing to say…the ones cooking aren’t even going to sample it themselves.”

  It may be necessary to go through various processes to turn an idea into something concrete, but this just makes her want to cradle her head in her hands.

  “It’s no good,” she says, and they both wince.

  “Then should we tell them it’s inedible?”

  “That would be like whining that you hate it without even trying it. Unless, Major Weiss, you want to make a direct appeal?”

  “Please have mercy, ma’am.”

  “Right.” Tanya nods and gives a little sigh.

  Weiss’s resigned exhalation should probably also be called a sigh.

  “We don’t have a choice.”

  “Yeah, I guess not.”

  Awash with emotions, she laments openly. One of the bad things about the army is that your preferences become irrelevant.

  The pair can only grumble: “How uninspired. We’re stuck.” The officers simply admit to each other that there’s nothing they can do.

  That said, neither of them had any work they had to rush to do. And so they have time to sigh but no time for training and reorganizing; it hits them how poorly resources are distributed.

  If you give it enough thought, things can’t go on like this. As Tanya is looking for a topic to chat about over their coffee, she finally realizes something.

  “Actually, Lieutenant Grantz was once a replacement. What if we left training up to him?”

  “…I never thought of that. But…” Weiss nods with interest. “Before, I might have argued against it. Now, though, Lieutenant Grantz has built up experience commanding a company. He’s made a lot of mistakes, but he might actually make a great instructor.”

  “So it’s worth considering?”

  Weiss nods yes. “Training new recruits will probably be good experience for him.”

  “Undoubtedly.” Tanya nods.

  Teaching someone else is a learning experience
for the teacher, as well. Tanya has been reminded of that numerous times since meeting Serebryakov on the Rhine front.

  Once a conscript, she’s now a fine magic officer, too.

  Tanya is about to comment on the delights of helping with personal development when there is a polite knock on the door.

  “Huh? Come in!”

  Speak of the devil. Well, surely it’s nothing like that.

  Peeking in with a sudden briskness is Lieutenant Serebryakov, whom I was just reminiscing about training.

  “Lieutenant Serebryakov, come on in!”

  She salutes and walks over with a smile. She must be in a great mood. Maybe she’s at that age where any little thing has you giggling?

  On the other hand, the Serebryakov I know is a pragmatist. I do wonder if there’s been some sort of good news.

  Tanya asks with her eyes, and Serebryakov must understand, because she begins explaining.

  “Colonel, we’ve received a report from the air fleet.”

  The air fleet?

  Maybe it’s not my place to wonder, but why is the air fleet reporting to me?

  Though I’m clearly perplexed…my adjutant pays it no mind. She hands me an envelope, and her face brightens with a proud smile. “It’s aerial reconnaissance photos. I won them off the air fleet playing cards.”

  “Are you betting military secrets? Visha, I don’t mean to criticize you, but you might want to take it easy. No, this is even more serious than that. Encouraging intelligence leaks is worse than most types of gambling.”

  Weiss’s grumbles are legitimate. But the documents Serebryakov brought made those worries seem trivial.

  Inside the envelope are several aerial photographs.

  I don’t even have to look at the data, analysis, and other notes written on them.

  “The RMS Queen of Anjou? It’s as absurdly huge as I remember.”

  The giant ship is so magnificent, it makes others look small. It’s the most famous ocean liner by far. We have lots of data on it, so there’s no way to mistake it.

  The air fleet analysts must have felt the same way. It’s natural that they declared it the RMS Queen of Anjou in red ink.

  Just then, Tanya notices something.

  In the notes on the margin of the photo, there are some doubts written about the status of the ship’s mooring.