A few days later, he was summoned by the corps headquarters.

  It was strange. It was a single summons, not a general rotation. Various thoughts crossed his mind, but he prepared with a light heart at the thought of leaving the cramped trench for a while. Even if it was a purge, for a low-ranking officer like him, it would at most be a dishonorable discharge or a prison camp.

  However, the place he was summoned to was the corps command room.

  A General Class officer and his aides, whom he had never seen before and were not his direct superiors, stood lined up behind a large desk. It was an extremely oppressive composition.

  Karen was nervous. He looked at the mark on the left arm of the officer on the far right.

  Intelligence department.

  Is it an inspection?

  At the thought of words like torture and execution flashing through his mind, blood rushed to the blood vessels near his skin, and his whole body turned red.

  The aide next to the General saw him turn red and spoke.

  "Soldier, relax. On the surface, we're here to commend your achievements from a few days ago."

  The General Class commander opened his mouth.

  "Are you the one who discovered the approach of the enemy observation officer?"

  "Yes, sir."

  Karen answered sharply. The General smiled gently and said.

  "Colonel Karen. Let's start by commending your achievements. Based on your report, we investigated and found about 100 similar situations across the entire front. Enemy observation teams dug tunnels up to No Man's Land and conducted corrected fire. If it weren't for your observation and execution, we would have faced a massive counterattack within a week. You stopped that."

  When the General applauded, the surrounding people followed suit. The awkward applause made Karen feel even more awkward.

  The intelligence aide asked.

  "The report says you caught the anomaly due to increased shelling accuracy. Is that true?"

  Karen answered.

  "There was no attack after the suppression fire, and the shelling intervals were constant. It's a typical corrected fire method, but it was abnormal for them to be so leisurely in enemy territory when it wasn't a training exercise."

  The General asked again.

  "Couldn't the enemy's calculators be good?"

  "The trench ground on the Alliance side is thick, so the hemolysis point temperature is low. Calculator speed is proportional to steam pressure, so I judged that such fast calculation was impossible."

  The General commander nodded as if satisfied.

  The aide asked abruptly.

  "According to the records, your mother was from Trusen. Do you know the language and culture well?"

  Karen was momentarily flustered by the sudden question but soon answered.

  "Native level."

  The General commander smiled broadly.

  "We have no intention of making an issue of your background. Your performance over the past three years has sufficiently proven your loyalty. Your parents entered the quarantine release review a while ago. If they pass, there will be an official apology and compensation from the state."

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  Karen was skeptical but expressed his gratitude for now.

  "Thank you."

  He clearly realized that this was not simply a place for commending achievements.

  The General flipped through the documents in front of him and asked.

  "Was your original branch intelligence?"

  He seemed to be reading Karen's personal information.

  "Yes, sir."

  The situation was becoming more and more of a maze. It felt like the blind man's hand was reaching out to him.

  The intelligence officer held out a paper. It was a security pledge.

  "From now on, the content must not be spoken outside this room. Signing is your freedom, but..."

  There was a bone in the aide's words. Karen thought of his parents' review mentioned earlier and signed silently.

  "We intend to deploy you on a mission to infiltrate enemy lines."

  The intelligence aide said.

  "Our military intelligence network was destroyed, and the list of trained personnel has already fallen into enemy hands. So we need a new person. A completely new person whose face is unknown."

  "Is it urgent enough to deploy a field officer?"

  "Check the details while moving."

  The General waved his hand, issuing an order to leave.

  "If you go to the assigned steam car, your partner will guide you to the operation site. Dismissed!"

  Leaving the command post, Karen took an internal combustion engine car to the steam car station. The Major in the passenger seat used the authority of the intelligence department to throw his weight around. Thanks to that, they passed through checkpoints quickly and arrived at the station in an hour.

  Boarding the military steam car, Karen checked the security clearance of the private officer's room assigned to him and broke the seal.

  The document contained the details of how the intelligence organization within Trusen was arrested. They were exposed while approaching various areas such as military facilities, civilian research institutes, and even remote residential areas.

  'What on earth is Trusen doing?'

  The Alliance tried to dig up something by pouring in massive resources, but even the intelligence authorities seemed unaware of its true nature.

  The steam car accelerated rapidly.

  Knock, knock. With the sound of knocking, the locked door opened.

  A woman wearing the armband of the Praetorian Guard assault squad entered.

  High, pointed ears, large eyes that seemed to take up half her face, and long arms reaching down to her thighs. Typical features of the purebred 'Arhan' race of the League. It was in contrast to Karen's blunt ears.

  "Greetings. I am Mutterini Orc Tyrn. You are Colonel Karen, correct?"

  Tyrn greeted him, balancing her body against the acceleration. It was a gender-neutral voice.

  Karen asked a bit sharply. He was wary of the opponent who had trespassed into a private officer's room with a security clearance.

  "What is it?"

  "I am your local infiltration partner."

  She smiled broadly and gave him the order sheet along with her personal information documents.

  Karen read the documents and frowned. The Mutterini family was a top prestigious family that had even produced the current Prime Minister in the League. A young lady from such a family dropping into the middle of enemy lines?

  Karen shook the document.

  "Your career is blank except for enlistment and commissioning. A Major in three years, is it the power of the family?"

  Tyrn smiled broadly and skillfully changed the subject, pointing to the document Karen was reading.

  "How far have you read?"

  "Up to the possibility of weapon development. But it's not impressive. In the industrial age, a single new weapon won't turn the tide of war."

  Karen continued.

  "A while ago, the Alliance deployed armored steam cars for trench breakthroughs, but they didn't see much effect. The enemy is already cornered. It would be more helpful to pay attention to supplies than to invest resources in such uncertain places."

  Tyrn nodded as if agreeing with his opinion and then spoke.

  "But Trusen will be able to supply supplies or troops after 6 months when the tidal force changes. Furthermore, the League is thinking about what comes after, even if the war ends within 6 months."

  Karen understood. Although isolated on another continent, Trusen was a powerful nation.

  "Plus, looking at some leaked data, there's talk of constructing a circular accelerator of ridiculous size. Intelligence says the diameter is over 20 fathoms."

  Hearing her words, Karen calculated simple physics in his head at a sudden thought.

  "Mass accelerator. Should I call it an intercontinental ballistic body using rotational force? Roughly physically possible."

  Tyrn agreed.

  "It's the same judgment as the Intelligence Department."

  "From now on, this is content not in the documents."

  Tyrn gave a detailed briefing. The Alliance was concentrating all its capabilities on high-temperature physics and high-pressure process control. And they were collecting uranium, which was almost useless except for being heavy.

  While talking, the steam car entered a deceleration section. The sound of steam release for deceleration interrupted the conversation.

  Tyrn, who had cut the conversation short until the deceleration was complete, guided Karen to the prepared airship waiting area.

  Karen asked.

  "Why explain this verbally? This document already seems to be top secret."

  Sadness stained Tyrn's eyes.

  "Because I escaped in a hurry, I couldn't transmit the rest as a report."

  Karen did not pursue it further. Because he felt that the emotion that flashed across Tyrn's face was not an excuse for a simple mistake. In the heavy silence, the steam car reduced its speed with a rough rupture sound. White steam announcing deceleration covered the view outside the window.

  When the train stopped, the two silently packed their bags and went out to the platform. A waiting military vehicle picked them up and ran straight for the runway.