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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Betrayed General Betrays
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About ten years after I fell into this world.
"General Viktor."
"Mm."
I had become a general of the kingdom.
Not just any general, either—I'd even climbed as far as the position of Temporary Commander-in-Chief.
Right before the Ruth Kingdom's army launched its war, we were so short on officers that we had to call back even retired ones. That summons reaching me was how it all began.
Thanks to the cheat-like abilities of my Minimap and Tactical Map, plus the well-trained soldiers who'd risen alongside me, I racked up some eye-catching achievements.
Of course, I never forgot the lessons from officer academy, always keeping my conduct above reproach. The result? When the previous Commander-in-Chief stepped down due to injury, he recommended me as his successor.
Sure, this position was only temporary, granted because we were at war. But the treatment was fitting—I could command every soldier except the Royal Guard.
I could see their intent: make me the scapegoat if we lost. But all I had to do was win.
Even the nobles who'd thrown tantrums about how a mere commoner couldn't possibly be Commander-in-Chief had gone quiet lately. I could crush the Empire's forces without a care.
...The problem was that my shoulders had grown too heavy to just slip away as originally planned.
"Time to douse the lights, sir."
"Ah, right."
Anna, my adjutant, poked just her face through the gap in the curtain covering the tent entrance.
She handled everything that didn't need to reach me personally. Maybe that's why.
Her faintly smiling face was shadowed by deep dark circles.
When she'd first become my adjutant, she hadn't trusted me at all. Now, she shouldered the grueling work without complaint—one of the people I was truly grateful for.
"The adjutant should rest first."
"You should too, sir..."
"Tch."
"...Thank you."
Anna bowed once and slowly exited the tent.
Right now, the Ruth Kingdom was in its second year of war with the Dragonia Empire.
When I'd played as the Empire, I'd conquered the Ruth Kingdom in three months flat. Yet here we were, still locked in a siege at the kingdom's capital.
"Hmm."
Looking back, I'd more or less achieved my initial goals.
In a Ruth Kingdom where incompetent generals lost their heads left and right, I'd risen to Commander-in-Chief. Aside from the nobles obsessed with power games, most people were favorable toward me.
Even my adjutant Anna's attitude had shifted dramatically from our first meeting. I must've done something right.
Of course, if I'd started in the Empire, I wouldn't have to scramble like this every day.
Subpar technology, scarce resources, constant noble meddling.
I was feeling firsthand why the game had made the Ruth Kingdom such a tough pick.
Explaining every troop movement to capricious nobles was a hassle, and convincing them of our advantageous position wore me out.
Every summons to the palace felt like debating dozens of opponents one-on-one. I always returned drained.
"Haa..."
Letting out a sigh of regret, I focused on the towering stack of documents still waiting.
I still wanted to defect to the Empire, but my original plan of doing so "naturally" had a big hurdle: justification.
It didn't matter that we'd been at war with the Empire.
They flew the Empire's banners, but those troops belonged to the Noble Faction, opposed to the Emperor.
For someone like me hoping for the Emperor's patronage, letting them live might not even be advantageous.
The key was making my surrender seem not like betrayal, but an "unavoidable decision to save the soldiers' lives"—even after surrendering, if I wanted to be of use.
History judges surrenders heavily on that process, and it wasn't easy.
I couldn't throw soldiers into the fire just for my own gain. I needed a scenario where I'd fought my best but still lost.
No such ideal situation had arisen yet.
Maybe because they were a loose collection of vassals without the Emperor's oversight.
The Empire's attacks were so simplistic and sloppy—even without my Minimap, I could've predicted them. Losing to those guys would trash my reputation.
The early war, when our numbers were hopelessly outmatched, was my last real chance to surrender honorably. But back then, I barely had any troops to work with.
In the end, was I stuck burying my bones in the Ruth Kingdom?
Better to carve out Empire territory in this war and use that power to conquer the world.
It wouldn't be easy, but it didn't feel impossible.
Even in the game, I'd conquered the world with nations far weaker than the Ruth Kingdom.
My heart wasn't in it, but I had few options left.
"Hah, whatever."
For now, I decided to focus on the task at hand.
I'd been wrestling with paperwork by lantern light for a while when—
"Hm?"
The Minimap's border flashed red multiple times.
The intuitive danger signal made me instinctively grab the sword leaning nearby.
Checking the Minimap, a cluster of red dots was heading straight for my position.
"Assassins?"
Considering I was in the heart of the army camp, that was odd.
I'd encountered assassins hiding their presence with magic or enchanted tools before, but sneaking through the army ranks head-on was sheer idiocy.
-Shing.
The dots were closing fast, so I stood from my chair and drew my sword.
Green dots representing allies began appearing around the red cluster, but the reds didn't slow at all.
For some reason, our troops were just getting pushed back.
The Minimap had never been wrong once, making this all the harder to understand.
Enemies to me, but not to my own forces? A riddle.
A few possibilities came to mind, but...
"Out of the way! By order of His Majesty the King!"
"Ah."
A familiar shout from afar cleared up the mystery.
At least they weren't here to assassinate me or spy.
Not quite up to such heavy responsibilities, though.
Sheathing my sword, I sat back down as the voice's owner flung open the tent flap and strode in.
"Good to see you like this, Viktor."
"Guard Captain Andrei. What brings you here?"
The unwelcome guest was Andrei, captain of the Ruth Kingdom's Royal Guard.
One of those who'd always resented my rising status, he was the epitome of highborn arrogance and non-combat incompetence.
With his golden hair and blue eyes giving him a princely look, he was popular in high society, or so I'd heard.
Unlike his usual uniform, he wore gleaming new plate armor, a jewel-encrusted sword at his left hip.
Andrei approached my desk with a vile smirk.
The man who'd ranted about killing me every time I suggested retreat—now grinning like that—gave me a bad feeling.
"Come in!"
The Royal Guard filing in behind him, watching our exchange, wore stiff new leather armor and clutched bundles of rope instead of weapons.
They looked tense, short on combat experience, but their gear was unmistakably master-crafted finery.
Even these guys probably boasted heroic tales to women.
"I've never been this glad to see you. Know what this is?"
Suppressing my rising disgust, I eyed the scroll in his outstretched right hand.
The paper looked expensive, and the gold thread binding it—a symbol of royal decree—hinted at serious contents.
"Curious? Of course you are."
He unfurled it and shoved it in my face.
The contents were anything but ordinary.
"...An arrest warrant?"
"Correct. His Majesty orders your arrest."
The scroll concisely commanded the arrest of me, Viktor, current Temporary Commander-in-Chief.
As a simple mission order, it didn't state the reason for my arrest.
A king's decree, they said—but a 14-year-old monarch ordering an allied commander's arrest mid-war? Unlikely.
The nobles who'd been checking me all along, no doubt.
Power was precious, but this?
Arresting your own war commander out of nowhere defied my common sense.
"Do you grasp what this means?"
"Better than you, at least."
He set the scroll down and leaned in uncomfortably close.
I wanted to smash that sneering mug, but with the king's warrant, I couldn't act rashly.
The guards watching us would pile on at Andrei's word.
"You don't get it? This isn't a mere arrest."
"...Then."
Grinning mockingly, he snatched a rope from a nearby guard and approached me, still seated, to bind my limbs himself.
"It's classified, but you look so wronged—I'll tell you. You're to be the sacrifice for peace."
He whispered the bombshell in my ear as he tied me.
"Peace?"
Hearing this palace loafer who'd never seen real combat spout about peace irked me, but I held back to pry more info from his babble.
"In exchange for handing you to the Empire, we get a year's truce. Peace arrives."
"A truce."
"Yep. Your life for a year? Pretty good deal."
Andrei was spinning a tale that could sound despairing: the kingdom I'd poured years into had cast me aside.
I bowed my head to hide my rising smile.
This was my chance.
A chance to escape this dead-end.