Although the Commonwealth of Red Dusk had already reached the conclusion that they couldn’t miss this final opportunity to ‘flawlessly’ capture their neighboring territory and resources, the way in which they should execute the plan still sparked a lot of debate.
Initially, everyone was very excited to come up with multiple ways to bring Emilia down while leaving no trace, and putting the blame on her own people at the same time, but as the discussion progressed… it seemed like everything was full of flaws.
The location where the meeting would take place, Huono town, might have been close to their border, but it was still almost twenty-five kilometers away from their outermost military post.
Naturally, it was impossible to just instruct a few snipers to take everyone out, no matter how talented or lucky they were.
Bombing the place was another ‘sure fire’ way to accomplish their mission, but it also carried the risk of other countries being able to spot and log their activity. With such a critical flaw, the commonwealth naturally couldn’t afford to take the risk.
Sending in a suicide bomber was also very likely to get discovered early. Plus, even if it worked, any kind of scrutiny of the corpses, materials, or the scene of incidence might lead to the premature exposure of their plan.
The chief of the intelligence division sighed. “I guess that leaves us with just one option… let’s have a specially selected group from our army disguise themselves as the ‘rebels’, sneak into the Empire of Blue Dawn, and finish the job personally.”
Having had all their plans already rejected none of the others argued against this ‘last resort’, and only turned to look at the frowning president’s face.
The man hummed solemnly before nodding. “I normally wouldn’t bet everything on just a few men. After all, men make mistakes. But since we can’t afford to miss this opportunity… Let me ask you this, Tom… are you willing to lead the operation for our Red Dusk?”
It took the intelligence division’s chief almost a full minute before he managed to comprehend the president’s words, and when he did, his smiling expression froze. “O-Of course I will look through the whole plan, and—”
The president slammed his fist on the table. “I don’t mean that, Tom! What I need you to do is head in there personally… and see to it that everything goes well. We cannot take chances here, understand?”
Faced with the president’s powerful gaze, the intelligence division’s chief had no choice but to nod in agreement. “I know. I just didn’t expect that the president would allow me to have such an honor at this age, but thank you.”
Although there was no sarcasm in his words, anyone present could tell that he was far from satisfied with how things played out. But it wasn’t really much of a surprise.
After all, while the soldiers sent to the Blue Dawn may not have been instructed to commit suicide, there was still a very high likelihood that some of them would die.
No matter how careless the empress was with the security around her, she couldn’t be completely defenseless. Plus, with how fierce she had been in some of the videos that had been leaked so far… if they were even a little sloppy with their ambush, the aftermath might be gruesome.
Moreover, to ensure that their ‘origins’ couldn’t be traced back to the commonwealth, every troop being sent was compulsorily required to get implanted with a timed explosive that they had to activate before engaging.
This ‘security measure’ could only be disabled if they managed to escape safely back to their own country, and required the approval of both the president and the military general.
Needless to say, even if they were extremely lucky, more than half the troops being sent out were expected to perish in one way or the other.
For the chief of the intelligence division who believed he had served the commonwealth more loyally and better than anyone else, this was undoubtedly more of an insult than it was an honor.
But even if everyone could read between the lines, they all pretended to remain oblivious.
Tom couldn’t help but scoff. ‘Does this bastard finally realize that his popularity is continuously declining, and he’s unlikely to win in the next elections? But if he thinks he’ll get rid of me so easily… he’s got another thing coming.’
Unfortunately, no matter how dissatisfied some people were with the ‘inadequacy’ of the method, they all had no choice but to accept it and move on.
After all, the plan was so perfect that even if it failed, all they would lose would be a few ‘disposable’ men. If it succeeded, however… their commonwealth of Red Dusk would finally start expanding once more, and not by a small margin, either!
Plus, if the news of the ore veins in their neighboring regions turned out to be true… perhaps their commonwealth could finally ride the momentum and turn into a superpower that none could dare look down on!
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Even though he wasn’t very happy with his direct involvement in the ambushing team, Tom was still quite diligent when it came to the execution of the task.
After all, while he may be somewhat famous as the ‘capable and charming’ chief of the commonwealth’s intelligence division, it was far from being enough to really contest for something like the presidential elections.
Of course, if one were to factor in the achievement of being the hero who brought down the neighboring tyrant and made it possible for the commonwealth to finally expand once again, that would naturally no longer be the case.
Naturally, for people to know of his achievements, the president’s orders of ‘taking this secret to their grave’ could definitely not be followed.
If no one even knew about it, what was the point of achieving anything in the first place?
Tom decided that if he was going to risk his life, the greatest winner from this conflict definitely had to be himself. Even if it brought some conflict and resistance against his country, he felt that he was more than capable of handling it all given his experience and skill.
Of course, all of this would have to wait until he was done getting rid of Emilia, that tyrant. Without her gorgeous little head in his palm, there was no way he could so easily convince everyone and take the helm of the commonwealth.
Imagining the look on the faces of his superiors when he rose far above them in both status and popularity, the man almost started grinning from ear to ear.
The other soldiers dressed in commoner clothing couldn’t help but shake their heads ruefully as they saw the man standing idly in a corner while they waited for their drilling equipment to cool down a little.
”What were the superiors thinking, sending in a rookie like that?”
One of them chuckled. “Hey, don’t insult rookies. At least they are young, strong, and enthusiastic. Look, he can’t even tell we’re talking about him from this distance… what a moron.”
Finally feeling some of the derisive looks being thrown his way, Tom frowned impatiently. “What the hell are you guys looking at? Get back to work!”
The soldiers were naturally dissatisfied at being reprimanded even though they were doing everything they should. None of them were foot soldiers at the lowest rank, after all, and were all hard-working and respected individuals in their own right.
When was the last time they had been reprimanded like this?
It would still be okay if it was from someone like their general, but when a ‘desk-lizard’ like this man started pointing fingers at them, it obviously stuck them on a wrong nerve.
”If you’re so dissatisfied, why not come here and help us out?”
”Yeah, stop being a lazy idiot, ‘captain’. The general told us you would be leading us, not standing aside and shouting like a clown!”
The disbelieving and indignant reaction from the man finally seemed to alleviate some of the depression in their hearts from being forced to take a ‘suicide mission’ like this one.
After all, even if it was for the good of the commonwealth, and they were all loyal soldiers, no one was truly happy to die and leave their family and friends behind.
Now that they were already halfway through into the empire on this suicide mission, did they still need to suppress their temper and wrong themselves? Obviously, it’s not like this guy could run all the way back to file a complaint about them, right?
Not that it would matter at this point.
Ignoring the indignant squawks of their ‘leader’, they couldn’t help but groan amongst themselves.
”If only we didn’t have to carry this dead weight, sneaking into Blue Dawn and killing that little bitch would be such a piece of cake.”
”We can at least take solace in the fact that he seems to know how to hold a gun and shoot, can’t we?”
Suddenly, the tallest man among the bunch leaned forward with a devious grin on his face. “I heard that the empress of Blue Dawn is young and hot, isn’t she? What do you say, brothers, wanna capture her alive?”
Although the tradition of the soldiers getting to keep the ‘spoils of war’ had long since become ‘archaic and outdated’ in most places, the Commonwealth of Red Dusk was one of the few that still honored it.
The other soldiers couldn’t deny that they were somewhat tempted by the idea. “If she looks even half as good as her pictures… the mission only said we have to kill everyone and can’t leave any witnesses, right?”
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