Inés narrowed her eyes.
"I have, and I know you're going to blow through it all on another stupid venture."
Alexander chuckled, "That's where you're wrong. That money I get, I'm giving it to you."
Inés stared with her mouth agape.
Her utter confusion snuffed out the fire in her eyes.
"W-what? You can't be serious… you'd never give me authority. You ignore me at every turn."
Alexander shook his head.
"I didn't ignore you, but I couldn't obey you either. I needed to do what I had to, and now that it's done, I'm handing the reins to you."
Inés' jaw tightened.
"So you haven't learned your lesson. You just ran our ship into a rock and handed me the wheel!"
Alexander grinned.
"Precisely, now you get to fix all the holes in the ship. Or don't, but know that you had the power to fix this and chose not to. Meaning you're no better than me."
Inés reached for Alexander's collar, stopping an inch away from snatching it.
"You arrogant child." She spat the words like a curse. "I should strangle you where you stand, spare the world another manipulative bastard."
She sighed, straightening out her uniform.
"But I'll stir your ship, under one condition."
"And that is?"
"That you never get to stir again. Everything goes through me, every recruit, every grain of wheat… nothing moves without my signature."
Alexander raised an eyebrow.
"And if I refuse."
"Then this ship sinks, I won't waste my time to save it if you're just going to crash again."
Alexander hummed, massaging his chin.
"Alright, counter condition. You become the general of my support core and leave the royal army."
Inés hesitated, her eyes narrowing.
"Resign my commission?" She whispered, taking a step back. "You want me to throw away my commission, my career… for this circus?"
Alexander stepped closer.
"What? You'd rather spend decades shifting through mountains of paperwork and never reach the rank of colonel?"
He stepped closer.
"I'm offering you the chance to shape an entire branch in your image. To create doctrines, to move the mountains themselves. I refuse to let this fail, which means I refuse to let you fail."
He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"But, if you're stirring this ship, you can't have another one in storage. It's all or nothing."
Inés stood in silence, warring with herself.
His offer was ludicrous.
Throw away her hard-fought career of 15 years for a boy-commander and his band of loyal idiots?
This unit wasn't guaranteed to see tomorrow, let alone decades.
And yet…
Alexander was right.
She'd be lucky to see the rank of Colonel before retiring.
She'd spend the remainder of her career counting cans and listening to idiots babble about tradition.
Never leaving her office.
Hell, this was the reason she jumped at the opportunity for this assignment.
To get away from it all.
And now she was being offered something she couldn't dream of.
"You're insane," she finally whispered.
Her voice lacked its usual anger.
"Maybe, but the only difference between being insane and genius… is that genius has its limits."
Inés let out a long shuddering breath.
"I don't know how you do it." She shook her head, "I came to call out your madness, and now I'm contemplating my place in it."
"It just works, doesn't it?" Alexander squeezed her shoulder. "The method to my madness."
Inés rolled her eyes.
"Fine, I accept."
"Ah, I knew–"
Inés cut him off, removing his hand.
"I'm not finished. First, I want the rank of brigadier general, commissioned and signed by you. Witnessed by every officer on base."
"Done."
"Second, you will not overrule my command, your orders go through me."
"Of course."
Third, you will never make a promise you can't pay, I don't like debt, and I will not have you incurring debt on my dime."
"…uh."
Inés narrowed her eyes at his hesitation.
"Okay, what if I take on the debt personally? In the future, if I promise something, it'll be out of my pocket."
"Can we get it in writing?"
Alexander sighed. "Done."
Inés straightened her jacket, "Good, I'll start my work when I get my commission."
Alexander watched her walk away with a satisfied expression.
He had just solved his logistics without ever picking up a single book.
"I must say, you take a very unique approach to leadership."
Alexander turned to see Davout approaching from behind an unfinished building.
"Why take years to learn what she already knows? You're happy, she's happy, and Charlotte should be happy."
Alexander crossed his arms.
"Or was that not your intention? For me to offload the boring part."
Davout chuckled.
"I think I've misunderstood you, Alexander."
He stroked his mustache.
"Have you? What's your new understanding?"
"You're a man of many faces, owner of none… except maybe one."
"And that is?"
Davout paused with a smirk.
"Isn't it obvious? A victor… you'd do and say anything if it got you closer to winning. From lying to your people, to promoting your critics."
Alexander laughed, extending his arms.
"Hahaha… you catch on fast, old man."
— — —
The next day Inés was sworn in.
In front of the entire base.
The change was immediate and absolute.
Everything was punctual.
From the moment you woke up to the time you finally closed your eyes.
Sentries were placed strategically throughout the fort.
From the gate to the infirmary.
Marines marched in formation to every destination, from drills to the mess hall.
The food was no longer a haphazard mix of meat, bread, and soup.
It was a carefully constructed ration that maximized calories and cost savings.
Nothing was wasted.
And first sergeant Wagner hated every second.
He watched as his chaotic training was streamlined into quiet grunts against static targets.
"What the fuck is this?"
He grumbled to Klaus, gesturing towards the training grounds.
Klaus scratched his chin.
"Order."
He finally answered.
"The men are eating, the fort is cleaned, the bills are paid…"
Wagner punched his palm.
"But this isn't what war is about! War is chaos, it's screaming as you stab a man in the neck with a knife from your ration pack. This is… this is baby shit. They're worried about tracking mud in the barracks, or missing meal time."
He pointed at Klaus.
"And it's all because of the whore in the commander's office. She's all high and mighty cause he gave her a damn sword on the collar. I'm telling you, she's going to ruin this unit."
"I don't know, I've never seen the men this organized before. I think it's for the best."
"It's unnatural."
Wagner grumbled, pacing around Klaus.
"We both know what war looks like and we both know what happens when men aren't prepared. They hesitate and die. It almost happened to the damn commander, but see now he understands."
He threw a hand in the direction of Alexander's office.
"Inés has never seen anything closer than an after-action report. She shouldn't control how I run this unit, because that's the result."
He jabbed a thumb toward the training ground.
Marines jabbed their bayonets in sync.
It was like a dance, a robotic dance of one move.
Klaus narrowed his eyes.
He had to admit, the drill wasn't the greatest.
It wouldn't help against a blitzing demon or a charging ogre.
And goddess forbid a man ran into a mage with that technique.
He'd be fried in seconds.
"Still, orders are orders."
Wagner scoffed, "Orders are orders? Seriously? Why am I even talking to you?"
He turned, heading straight for Alexander's old office, now owned by the general on base.
Klaus frowned.
"Wagner, DON'T."
He flipped Klaus the bird,
The two sentries, women from the support core, shakily aimed their bayonets at Wagner.
"H-halt…" one whispered, her voice barely audible.
Wagner glared at her, before kicking in the door.
The door swung open and splintered, slamming against the wall before dropping off the hinges.
As he stepped past the sentries they shakily pointed their bayonets at him.
"Y-you can't do that… It's wrong."
The other whispered, following behind him.
Inés slowly looked up for a stack of papers.
Wagner stood in front of her desk, pushing the papers aside.
"You paper pushing bitch, what the fuck do you think you're pulling on my training grounds?"
Inés looked past him at the trembling sentries.
The women were in uniforms that were too big, holding their rifles like life lines.
"Did you even attempt to stop him?"
Her question was devoid of empathy and warmth.
The first sentry stammered, approaching Wagner.
"Y-you have to file the p-proper paperwork, general's orders."
She looked back at Inés with an expectant expression, her eyes hopelessly wide.
"You have got to be shitting me."
Wagner chuckled in disbelief, "Look, tell your tin soldiers to fuck off, and while you're at it, join 'em."