The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 4: Dabit Deus His Quoque Finem

by Carlo Zen

  The imperial soldiers calmly descended.

  Before his eyes was an enemy unit carrying the imperial flag.

  They all landed softly, beginning with the girl leading them. And the enemy commander with the courageous smile seemed, from where he was looking, to be no more than a child. Someone’s daughter was trampling the capital.

  How could such a blunder happen before Loria’s very eyes? And in the capital with Josef himself present? If Loria was the one sowing unbounded fear as the administrator of the purges, then Josef was the one giving the execution orders.

  When the leaders of the Federation Army heard that the capital had been attacked right in front of Josef and Loria, they all braced themselves for the doom to come.

  Dozens of soldiers’ heads literally rolling? In the Federation, that would be considered a peaceful solution. The fact that Federation Army officers took their focus off the front lines, even for a moment, to worry about the political situation in the rear really spoke to how deeply the terror had been pounded into them.

  “…Wonderful. How lovely.”

  But Loria, feared by the Federation officers, currently felt…nothing akin to anger but rather joy. The words that spilled from his trembling lips as he gazed at the sky were pure and genuine.

  Usually, he wore a strange, insincere smile that you might call the Communist grin. But now that mask had been torn off so entirely that he hesitantly expressed that most rare, pure, highest form of rapture.

  The object of his gaze was the sweetest face tensed with conviction.

  Just the thought of making her surrender drove Loria’s self-control to its limits.

  The more he looked, the crazier he went. Seized by an indescribable emotion, he sensed that his mind was transforming in an indescribable way.

  Oh, this is love at first sight.

  He wanted her. He wanted to pin that little girl beneath him. Ahhh, I want to know—I want to know so badly, I can’t take it.

  Loria had eyes for only her now. Nothing else mattered to him anymore.

  “…I want her. I must have her. I’ve got to have her.”

  He’d seen her. He’d found the object of his longing.

  From now on, all others would look like puppets. He was sure of it. No one could replace her.

  Her bold expression was as pretty as a picture. It was radiant even in the war-torn streets of Moskva. Even unadorned, she had a beauty that couldn’t be hidden.

  And that voice, how charming! Her songlike prayer rang out like a soothing bell. Even singing the imperial anthem, her voice was magnificent.

  I’ve got to make her gasp with that glorious voice.

  Ah, no, that’s fine, but…maybe before that I could make her twist up that pretty face. Ooh, wait, it would also be great to make that dignified visage blush in pleasured embarrassment.

  Agh, this is too much. I need her. I’m going to explode.

  I must have her at any cost. He wanted to get his hands on her no matter what. He wouldn’t say he didn’t want power. But what a tiny, trivial urge that was compared to this one.

  This was love.

  “I will have her. Ah, yes, she will be mine.”

  My perfect doll. Ah, I can’t wait. I’m so impatient I practically want to reach out to her right now. Brilliant; so this is romance. I’m so giddy, and at my age. Or perhaps restless? Anyhow, I’m sure this is what they mean about being unable to just sit still. I feel full of the drive and determination to overcome any struggle right now.

  “I’ll stop at nothing. I don’t care what it takes. Yes, I’ll do anything.”

  To reach his goal, he would stop at nothing. He wouldn’t even consider stopping. To have her, he would make a deal with any devil.

  He would compromise with any political rival. He would make use of any dissidents. He wanted her so badly he would even spare the mages he’d sent to Sildberia for execution.

  No, that’s exactly what I should do. If I can take her away, I don’t care who makes it happen, even if they’re a menace to the ideology.

  Ah, soon. I want to pick that flower as soon as possible.

  MARCH 17, UNIFIED YEAR 1926, THE COMMONWEALTH, LONDINIUM

  The misfortune of others tastes sweet as honey. Or at least, personal suffering tastes like arsenic. But for once, in a truly rare occurrence, the heads of the Commonwealth’s government couldn’t revel in another country’s misery.

  Well, not that they sympathized, but still.

  “…There’s no mistake, then?”

  The rasping question of the first lord of the admiralty contained an extraordinary amount of exhaustion. The navy had been prepping in high gear ever since the war started, but there were already skirmishes breaking out along the trade lines.

  Maintaining those lines of commerce was chipping away at even the first lord’s tough psyche.

  And then this report. He wanted to hole up in bed with a bottle of wine even though it wasn’t his fault—that’s how bad the news was.

  “Yes, sir, it’s the latest via the embassy.”

  Of course, bearing such news, Intelligence was an unwelcome messenger. Anyone wants to welcome someone with good news, not bad. So rather than being timid, it’s better to be detached.

  Having decided thusly, Major General Habergram of the Foreign Strategy Division worked to suppress his expression and drily gave the report.

  An albeit small number of mage units had invaded and attacked Moskva. The first notice was an emergency report made by an Intelligence officer who had just been assigned to the embassy.

  Imperial mages are circling over Moskva. The first time he heard it, he figured it was some kind of propaganda operation. Circling was for demonstration purposes.

  Everyone marveled, thinking it was propaganda to boost morale and brag about their wins against the Federation—marveled because they had managed to approach the capital of a country they were at war with.

  “Moskva’s main government organizations have been thoroughly raided.”

  But as things grew clearer, the wonder turned to fear and awe. It was supposedly just a small mage unit, but at some point, it became a regiment. Then it was multiple units that split up and charged simultaneously, and the incident was judged to be an actual attack rather than a demonstration.

  What made it definite was the scale of the destruction.

  According to personnel at the embassy in Moskva, at a minimum, the secret police and Revolution Square had been blasted to smithereens. They weren’t sure if it was true or not, but reports said an imperial flag had been planted in the square as well. At the same time, other unconfirmed reports came in, saying a huge attack had been carried out on the Kremlin and that it was driven to the brink of surrender.

  The city was apparently in extreme panic, but because of that, details about the extent of the damage were unclear.

  It was certain, however, that the perpetrators were imperial mages. Even if it was a regiment, that meant a hundred people at most. It was also possible to describe it as a penetrating sneak attack performed by a relatively small unit. That said, according to the report, the damage it dealt was intense.

  This was where the tricky bit came in—a nightmare for those in charge of defense: There was no guarantee that the Commonwealth would avoid the losses suffered by the Federation.

  “We need to rethink our air defense.”

  It was a bit late, but the officials had recognized how frail Londinium’s air defense was. The seawall was still in fine shape; no maritime invasion would be allowed. The Commonwealth Navy would protect its waters.

  But unless they could chase off invaders from the sky, they didn’t mean a thing in this instance.

  “Can we stop a regiment’s worth of enemy units?”

  “I’m…not entirely sure if we could stop an invasion…”

  Meanwhile, the faces of the army staffers being made to deal with the issue were one shade away from pale. Their air defense system, which really covered only the cap
ital, at best, envisioned slow-flying bombers. They had built security positions, such as the radar sites on the southern edge of the mainland…but they weren’t designed with agile mages coming from afar on the scale of a regiment or a battalion in mind.

  If, hypothetically, they were targeted in an attack on the scale of the one that happened in the east, it would be incredibly difficult to prevent an incursion of the skies over the capital.

  And then what would happen? The Commonwealth would be exposed to the same disgrace as the Federation. The mere thought was horrific. And the staffers could see that they had no way to eliminate that possibility.

  …And due to that realization, their moods plummeted.

  “So we might be exposed to the same disgrace that befell the Federation?”

  “At present, we can’t completely rule it out…”

  That much goes without saying for everyone. With that irritation behind his fist, the prime minister pounded the table and cut off the complaints. What they needed were countermeasures.

  “That’s fine. I want to hear how we’re going to deal with it.”

  If there’s something you want, I’ll listen, so hurry up and tell me. If you don’t and anything happens, you’ll be the one taking full responsibility. Even a high-ranking military man must accept his fate and obediently list the necessary equipment when faced with a glare like that.

  “Strengthening the air defense screen will be our highest priority. Additionally, we’d like to station fighter plane and mage units in a Homeland Defense Corps.”

  And the chief of the General Staff switched gears with a promptness that could be described as ease. Just the other day, he’d been full of confidence, but changing his mind was the one thing he could do quickly.

  Or perhaps I should say he has a talent for learning his lesson? That’s far better than the generals who stick to the classics and never learn. The prime minister decided to approve of him.

  “But doing that will limit the number of troops we can send to the southern continent! The Inner Sea Fleet and the headquarters of the regional forces down there have submitted repeated, jointly signed requests.”

  “We still have a strategic buffer region up until Areq. I don’t think there’s any reason to sacrifice ourselves for the Republic.”

  The foreign secretary hurriedly protested, but the army’s response was indifferent. Well, from their perspective, they were obliged to be considerate of the Foreign Office. But that didn’t mean they had an obligation to accept this crisis threatening to seriously trample their honor.

  The Foreign Office had its own position, its own reasons for bringing up the Free Republic’s constant requests for more reinforcements on the southern continent. The Free Republic wasn’t about to let its ally leave the battle lines and vice versa. The army also understood what was important. But the army had its own reasons and interests.

  “I agree, but that can only work so well.”

  The one who chimed in with a slight additional reservation was from the naval staff. Hearing the comment, everyone recalled that the navy staff had a good impression of the combined forces of the Inner Sea Fleet and the remnants of the Republican Fleet.

  At the very least, they wanted to maintain the strategic buffer region to some extent in order to protect the canal and the colonies. To that end, it would be best if they could have the remnants of the Republic continue fighting, whatever state they were in.

  …Well, this train of thought is why the Republic hates us. Of course, it goes both ways.

  “Conversely, what if we tried the same thing?”

  Let’s change the subject. That must have been the chancellor of the exchequer’s thought. He proposed looking at the issue from a different angle with a flexible suggestion.

  “…Indeed. I don’t think it’s a bad idea, myself, but…”

  He’s thrown out a lifeline, so I should take it. With that thought, he decided to include it in the debate.

  “It seems difficult. Even just from what we know of their positioning, the Imperial Army has three battalions of mages in the capital.”

  But the army’s reply was immediate. From the looks of it, they had considered the same idea but not proposed it because they had already reached that conclusion.

  “…What a grand welcome.”

  “It appears to be the instructor unit, the technical arsenal, and a battalion of replacement recruits.”

  They seem to have an awful lot of fighting power to spare. The First Lord of the Admiralty heaved a sigh in spite of himself, representative of all the officials’ growing distaste. Even though it made sense for those units to be in the capital, they couldn’t help but lament their presence and wonder why it had to be that way.

  “We can assume the instructor unit will have real competence. Regardless of what would happen if we were met by the recruits, if the instructor unit intercepted, we wouldn’t be able to break through with equal numbers.”

  On top of that came Intelligence’s nail in the coffin. From what the reports said, the instructor unit was made up of the elites of the elite. Though it didn’t appear on the front lines very often, its members were all experienced veterans, so they were used to combat.

  On the contrary, since they weren’t exhausted, analysis indicated they would be even stronger than any random unit.

  “Isn’t that why we’d make it a sneak attack?”

  It was a bit late in the discussion, but the chancellor of the exchequer raised a question. Certainly, that was the point of a sneak attack. Since the Empire’s attack on the Federation could be classified broadly as something akin to a sneak attack, then there was a chance, wasn’t there?

  That was the gist of the question.

  That said, the comment was from a civilian.

  “Because of the Battle of the Rhine, the Empire already has anti–air warning lines on the former Rhine front. It would be extremely difficult to get through their interception screen without being detected.”

  If you know even a little about the Battle of the Rhine—in other words, if you consider that any soldier would know about the defensive positions on those fronts—then you know that it would be hard to pull off a sneak attack.

  The warning screens on the Rhine were so tight that even the Imperial Army had to attempt to brute force their way through rather than sneak attack. Just because the Empire already won on the Rhine front didn’t mean they were required to abandon their defensive positions.

  If anything, they’ve probably stuck fast to their warning lines. General Habergram has actually performed repeated inspections and never found a hole. In that case, it would be nearly impossible to get through without being detected.

  At that point, it might actually be more worthwhile to purposely engage the warning lines in a harassment attack. They could get support from the navy and send in marine mages, but the chance of success was deemed low.

  In any case, it was out of the question to subject the fleet to enemy air superiority in enemy territory. And considering how valuable marine mages were, it was too big a risk.

  Well, they didn’t even have to think about that, because there was no way the navy could be pulled off the front lines anyway.

  “It is each service’s conclusion that it would be too difficult for us to attack.”

  In the end, all the Commonwealth could do was buy time and build up its strength for a counteroffensive. They didn’t want to admit it, but if the Empire and the Federation didn’t crush each other, the Commonwealth might not get its chance for quite a while. You could say the situation was rather uncomfortable.

  “…All right. How should we handle the Federation?”

  But in that case, a war of attrition between the Empire and the Federation was an absolute necessity. Annoyingly, the Empire had already shaken things up quite a bit with its attack on the Federation capital. The Federation would have to station many troops in the rear for defense, which meant their activities on the main lines against the Empir
e would be limited.

  That was the biggest reason the Commonwealth couldn’t delight in the Federation’s misfortune.

  “It seems they’ve already reassigned units to defend the capital.”

  In other words, loyal and decently competent troops had been diverted from some other place. The Commonwealth would much rather have had them on the main lines fighting the Imperial Army to the death.

  “The imperial units that participated in the attack have already withdrawn.”

  “The Federation is being vague, but it seems the units they sent in pursuit were either shaken off or downed.”

  “We’re of the same opinion. Intelligence has concluded that contact was lost.”

  And the fact that the units that participated in the attack retreated safely indicated the possibility of a reoccurrence. There was a fear that the elites of the Imperial Army would strike a capital again.

  A despotic nation like the Federation would definitely not allow the same thing to happen twice. It would do too much harm to the nation’s political and military authority.

  They certainly didn’t imagine the Federation military officers were itching to literally send their own heads rolling. Naturally, they would be burdened with operational restrictions and end up with tons of idle soldiers.

  On top of that, the news that the Imperial Army attacked Moskva and then leisurely returned to base would boost imperial morale without a doubt. Considering there was no way the Commonwealth’s morale would rise, that was something else to be cautious of.

  “Can we control the information?”

  “A cover-up would be futile. Every pub is already buzzing with the news that Moskva has been trampled under Imperial Army boots.”

  The story had already made too big an impact to try to regulate the information now. The men Habergram had dispatched to pubs were reporting back with all sorts of stories about how the Empire invaded.

  For instance: The Imperial Army calmly flew through the sky over Moskva singing the imperial anthem and raised their flag in triumph.