Chapter 461: So, Is This Real?
At that moment, Lucia was in a heated exchange with Mr. Girard, each of them scolding Stein.
"He even has a revolver," Mr. Girard said, his eyes fixed on Stein as he spoke to Lucia. "We don't know where he's hidden it, but one day I saw him fiddling with it in the backyard."
"My God, Stein," Lucia said, her eyes wide as she looked at her brother. "Where did you get a gun?"
"I bought it with my own savings," Stein replied. "I didn't spend a single cent of the family's money."
"It was money he earned from selling newspapers," Mr. Girard explained angrily. "We thought he was saving to help with the household expenses, but instead, he used it to buy a gun."
"You should give it up. It's too dangerous," Lucia said, her expression filled with concern as she looked at Stein. He was still too young to be handling a gun, and more importantly, no one had taught him how to use it properly.
"No," Stein answered confidently. "I need a weapon to protect myself and this family."
Lucia rolled her eyes in frustration. She didn't know how to respond.
At least the Germans never found out about the gun when they occupied the area, or the whole family would have been in trouble. The Germans would have suspected them all of being spies for the Entente powers, and Lucia's own cover as a spy would have been blown.
Lucia gritted her teeth, walked up to Stein, and stared at him with a threatening look. "You need to hand it over."
"No," Stein immediately refused.
"The Germans have already surrendered," Lucia said, offering a reasonable excuse. "It's safe here now. You don't need the gun anymore."
"But Belgium hasn't been fully liberated yet," Stein stood tall. "We've only recovered a third of the land!"
"But that's none of your business..."
"It's everyone's business."
"At least wait until you're eighteen..."
"But by then, Charles might have already liberated all of Belgium, and the war could even be over!"
...
While the two of them were at an impasse, Mrs. Girard suddenly appeared at the door, out of breath. "Lucia!"
"Wait a minute, Mom, we need to make Stein hand over the gun today," Lucia said angrily, still glaring at her brother.
"Is... is it true?" Mrs. Girard gasped, seemingly out of breath either from running or from excitement. "Are you really Charles's girlfriend? Are you two actually dating?"
The once noisy room fell completely silent.
Mr. Girard, who had been grinding coffee beans, looked at Mrs. Girard in shock, then turned his confused gaze to Lucia.
Lucia immediately realized the cat was out of the bag. She hesitated before replying, "I... I was going to tell you at dinner!"
With a loud crash, Mr. Girard lost his balance and fell. The coffee grinder smashed, spilling coffee grounds everywhere, and the room filled with the smell of freshly ground coffee.
Lucia hurried over to help Mr. Girard up.
"No, no, I'm fine," Mr. Girard said shakily as he stood up.
Stein looked at Mrs. Girard and then at Lucia, before suddenly laughing. "I get it now. This is all a play you two are putting on to make me give up the gun. Nice try!"
Mrs. Girard's voice trembled with excitement. "So, is it true?"
Lucia slowly nodded, her heart conflicted. Was it really true, or was it all just a lie?
Mrs. Girard rushed forward, hugging Lucia tightly. "Oh my God, I'm so happy for you, darling."
"This... this is amazing! I can't believe it's real, it's like a dream."
"Do you know? I saw Charles the other day, he was in the square, surrendering."
Mr. Girard dusted off his pants, stood tall, and looked at Lucia with pride. "I saw him too. He received a sword from the Germans and even lectured them."
"Those Germans were silent in front of him."
"They looked relieved, as if they were happy with his promise of humane treatment."
"He's such an exceptional man, a genius commander!"
For some reason, hearing all of this made Lucia want to cry. Tears welled up in her eyes.
Stein seemed to be starting to believe it. His expression was complex, alternating between joy, suspicion, excitement, and worry.
After thinking for a moment, Stein suddenly exclaimed, "What are we waiting for? We should go to Antwerp—Charles is there!"
"No, Stein," Lucia quickly disagreed. "He's very busy. He's commanding troops in battle. I shouldn't disturb him now."
"Yes," Mr. Girard agreed. "He's doing what a man needs to do."
"But Lucia is already here," Stein countered. "Antwerp is only 59 kilometers away. If Lucia is Charles's girlfriend, shouldn't she at least go and see him?"
Mr. and Mrs. Girard exchanged glances.
Stein seemed to have a point. If Charles was too busy to see her, he could refuse, but if Lucia was already in Ghent and didn't go to see Charles, wouldn't that mean she didn't care about him?
Lucia didn't want to go because it was all a lie. Charles didn't see her as his girlfriend; all she felt was bitterness and pain.
But if she didn't go, wouldn't people begin to question her "relationship" with Charles? And worse, her cover as a spy might be blown.
...
In Antwerp, Charles was organizing new training for the armored and mechanized divisions.
Tijani looked at the training schedule, puzzled. "Leap tactics, urban combat, trench warfare, trench filling..."
Tijani couldn't understand. He placed the documents down on the table and looked up at Charles in confusion. "Isn't this something infantry should be doing? These look like trench battles. I thought armored and mechanized units weren't supposed to have such tasks."
Tijani thought infantry would be the best for following tanks. They knew how to coordinate with them, and on the battlefield, they should follow the tanks to break through enemy lines.
These high-casualty trench battles should be left to regular infantry.
Charles calmly responded, "If it were before, maybe you'd be right."
"What do you mean?" Tijani didn't understand.
"Behind the enemy's lines are anti-tank trenches, General," Charles said, stretching his stiff neck. "Tanks can't cross anti-tank ditches. The only solution is to have soldiers clear the path in front of the tanks and fill the trenches."
"But we could still use regular infantry for this," Tijani protested. "They are experts in trench warfare."
In truth, Tijani didn't want to "waste" his troops on attacking enemy trenches.
Charles shut him down with one sentence. "Regular infantry can't coordinate with tanks, General."
Tijani seemed to understand Charles's reasoning. The protection between infantry and tanks is "mutual."
If infantry is stuck, tanks need to push ahead to clear the path, while infantry provides cover behind them. If tanks are stuck, infantry must go ahead to clear the way, and tanks provide firepower support from behind.
If regular infantry is used, the result would be a stalemate trench battle.
Tijani was ecstatic. He quickly pulled out his notebook, sat down at his desk, and wrote down this new "insight."
Just then, a guard hurried in and reported to Charles, "Brigadier General, Lucia is here. She's outside!"
"Lucia?" Charles thought, puzzled. What was she here for? Was there important intelligence?
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