MBD | Chapter 22

Things were rocky from the start. Everhart realized he made a mistake and apologized right away. But Karl Heinrich didn’t seem to care.

“Sunbae? Just call me lieutenant.”

“Once a sunbae, always a sunbae. It’s actually uncomfortable for me if you keep saying that. Feel free to call me whatever.”

“I’m not uncomfortable.”

“But I am.”

Everhart didn’t expect Karl Heinrich to be this insistent.

There was a strange edge and wall to his formal demeanor.

“Alright then.”

“So just like back at the academy…”

“Isn’t that your problem, Lieutenant? I’m a lieutenant now. What would others think if I just called you casually?”

“Uh… just asking, but sunbae, did you miss a promotion because of me?”

“If you’re here to mess with me, you’ve come to the right place, hoobae?”

Karl Heinrich smiled coldly.

The unit he led had shown excellent performance in the civil war several times.

In the original story, Everhart didn’t come to Graupfeld, so naturally, Karl Heinrich should have been promoted.

But appointing Everhart as a lieutenant and then making Karl Heinrich a lieutenant too would look a bit odd, wouldn’t it?

Anyway, as a result of such desk administration, Everhart was appointed as a lieutenant instead of Karl Heinrich.

“I didn’t mean to take your spot, but I’m sorry.”

“Lieutenant Everhart.”

“…”

“I think you need to explain why you crawled all the way here.”

“When we’re alone, let’s speak casually…”

Before Everhart could finish, Karl Heinrich approached and pressed him against the wall by his shoulder.

“What do you think I’ll do if you speak casually?”

His low, cold voice was like a growling beast. The sharp presence of Karl Heinrich sent chills down Everhart’s spine.

As soon as he was grabbed up close, he felt it. Everhart had also worked hard to build his body through tough training over the past year, but not as much as Karl Heinrich, who had been on the front lines.

Looking closely, there were scars all over his arms, presumably from the past year.

“If you don’t want to pack up and return to Feldheim by today, it would be in your best interest to explain why you’re here.”

“What power does a mere lieutenant have to make such threats?”

“You think I’m joking, don’t you?”

Unlike Everhart, who had just been assigned, Karl Heinrich had served at Fortress Feldburg for a year.

Karl Heinrich was well-respected and knew very well how to manipulate or trap people.

A unit is ultimately a place where people live, so if public opinion turns against you as soon as you arrive, Everhart would be the only one to suffer.

Moreover, the 1st Tank Company that Everhart was assigned to had been managed by Karl Heinrich until recently.

It’s obvious who the soldiers would trust more between a rookie commander who became a lieutenant right after graduation thanks to family connections and a capable lieutenant they’ve seen for a year.

“I’m not joking.”

“…”

“Oh, what? You said you didn’t want to speak casually when we’re alone? Then don’t.”

“My not speaking casually doesn’t mean you have to speak casually, Lieutenant.”

“Then you speak casually too. Who said you can’t?”

Everhart, while annoyed, kept an eye on Karl Heinrich. Karl Heinrich snorted, finding it ridiculous.

“I can’t tell if you’re fearless or just bold.”

“So let’s talk without this.”

He roughly brushed off the hand on his shoulder. Karl Heinrich sat back on the bed.

Everhart’s gaze fell on the canteen on Karl Heinrich’s locker.

“Can I drink this?”

Karl Heinrich handed over the canteen. As soon as he opened the lid, a strong whiskey aroma wafted out.

He knew that Karl Heinrich carried alcohol instead of water in his canteen while in the military, but the smell at the opening felt strangely unsettling.

Everhart gulped down the whiskey and wiped his mouth.

“Sunbae… I mean, Lieutenant Stein, what do you think about the Graupfeld Civil War?”

The answer to this question was already clear in his mind, but it was something he couldn’t do anything about here.

From what Everhart had learned, the Graupfeld Civil War had been ongoing for over ten years.

When a problem arises, you try to solve it, but when it repeats for a long time, you tend to compromise rather than solve it.

The relationship between the Graupfeld Free Union and Eisenwald was just that.

There had been several times when Eisenwald tacitly guaranteed the interests of the Free Union.

Everhart took out a document from his bag and handed it to Karl Heinrich.

Since Karl Heinrich was also a major shareholder of EberTech, he had every right to see this.

“There’s a company called Pelion that recently proposed investing in a magic stone mine to EberTech. But why would a mere transportation company suddenly develop a magic stone mine? It was suspicious, so I looked into it, and it turned out to be managed by the Graupfeld Free Union.”

It wasn’t just Graupfeld. As magic storage technology began to take off, the demand for magic stones literally skyrocketed.

Magic stone mines were a jackpot if discovered, so exploration and investment in mines began to heat up all over Eisenwald.

“If it’s just mine development…”

“What if there’s already a mine? And at an unbelievable scale.”

Finding a magic stone mine wasn’t the end. Extracting it and refining it to be usable required quite advanced technology.

“You must have thought about it too, right? That those guys are hiding something. You were almost sure it might be a magic stone mine, weren’t you?”

“The materials you provided, Lieutenant, are just speculative.”

“No, there’s a magic stone mine. And it’s massive. Do you think the military will just sit by if this gets out?”

Absolutely not. The upper echelons of Eisenwald wouldn’t just watch.

The Free Union was already split in half. There was a radical faction wanting to develop the magic stone mine and gain independence from Eisenwald, and a moderate faction wanting to quickly compromise and secure rights to avoid war if the military decided to invade.

Karl Heinrich lowered his head and looked at the materials with Everhart’s certainty.

Everhart approached Karl Heinrich, who was looking at the materials without much thought.

Feeling it was too close, Karl Heinrich slightly raised his eyes. In response, Everhart’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

But seeing him seemingly unaware, Karl Heinrich sighed and examined the documents. Everhart’s voice came from above his head.

“The Graupfeld Civil War will end in two years.”

A massive sweep operation will begin, pouring in enormous resources.

The military can’t ignore geopolitical factors, so even if a new unit comes, it can’t completely replace what the existing unit was doing.

Ultimately, those who benefit are the mid-to-high-level officials who have been entrenched for a long time.

In the original story, Karl Heinrich also gained a lot from the Graupfeld Civil War. And this time, he’ll probably take it a step further.

With Everhart, the eldest son from one of the Five Great Nobles, standing firm, who would dare to treat him lightly?

Everhart pointed to the documents and boasted to Karl Heinrich.

“Do you get what I’m trying to say? Lieutenant Karl Heinrich.”

Power really is something, isn’t it?

The upper echelons will start seriously suppressing the Graupfeld Civil War in about a year.

‘It’s never just about deploying the military and ending it.’

If that were possible, why waste another year?

This included the military’s massive blunders, having never fought a proper war.

The military’s main purpose is to protect the country and its people from external attacks and to safeguard sovereignty.

But the Eisenwald government forces? They were nothing more than armed thugs or private organizations with guns, protecting internal interests rather than external enemies.

The soldiers at Fortress Feldburg were relatively better, but soldiers and officers in other regions were just a gathering of hopeless brothers.

Rotten fish heads flocking together to play leader—there’s no way things could run smoothly.

But there was another factor making the suppression of the Graupfeld Civil War difficult.

It was the problematic magic stone storage technology.

The development of magic stone guns that even non-magicians could fire was underway. The military was just beginning to discuss whether to accept non-magician volunteers.

On the other hand, the Free Union, short on resources, couldn’t afford to be picky about magicians or non-magicians.

Generally, processed magic stones were linear magic stones. The situation began to change with the emergence of non-linear magic stones processed in a completely different way through the Magic Stone Tech Revolution.

A standard rifle made from non-linear magic stones could turn an adult male into a soldier in just one day.

In contrast, it took at least a week to train a soldier in magic firearms in the existing military. Moreover, they needed to have at least some magic power.

‘Only 30% of the population has magic power.’

Excluding women, even if an adult male with magic power wasn’t necessarily required to join the military, the number of soldiers was always lacking.

But over there, they could just hand a gun to a passerby and say, ‘Hey, you’re a soldier from today.’ Isn’t it natural that they would have an advantage in a war of attrition?