I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 126 Responsibility and Punishment [4K]

Lieutenant Wendy was in a very bad mood as she walked through Horseshoe City.

Because she discovered that since Captain John was promoted to major and became the commander of the 1st Battalion, she, as Captain John's loyal follower, had not been able to become the most valiant magic soldier under the captain's command as she had hoped.

Instead, after the captain was promoted, she herself was promoted to the sinecure of captain of the guard team.

During each battle, she could only stay in the command post with the original members of Squad 14 to protect the captain's safety.

Although Wendy knew that the captain valued her, which was why he gave her this position.

But seeing that the five newly recruited company commanders were able to lead their troops into battle and win victory after victory, while she herself could only watch helplessly from the temporary stronghold, she became anxious.

She immediately became extremely anxious.

Because those five men were clearly there to steal Captain John's most loyal follower!
She was initially pleased that the captain had transferred away that scheming Hawke, leaving her only to deal with Leia and Siegfried, the two newcomers.

But now, the number of people trying to steal this glory has surged to seven!
This is a major crisis, absolutely the biggest crisis I've ever faced!
"No, I have to do something!"

Feeling increasingly threatened with her position, Wendy immediately asked Captain John to transfer her to another post.

But when he thought about how, before they arrived at Faoken Bay, he had made the same request to Major John when he learned that he had been promoted to captain of the 1st Battalion Guard, only to be rejected without hesitation, he realized that...

Wendy couldn't help but hang her head in frustration.

No matter how much I wanted to make a contribution, I couldn't change anything without the captain's approval!

Damn it, this has completely turned into a dead end!

Wendy was filled with frustration as she pondered what she could do to change the captain's mind.

As she passed by a centaur shop, she unexpectedly saw several soldiers from the 1st Division, led by a second lieutenant, ransacking the shop.

Meanwhile, the centaur resident dressed as a shop owner was bound hand and foot with rope by soldiers of the 1st Division. He was also laid on the ground, with a soldier stepping on his head and a steel gun pressed against his forehead.

It was as if the soldier would immediately shoot and kill the person who dared to make any random noise!
He could only watch in utter despair as the soldiers looted his shop.

How wicked, how depraved!

How could a soldier rob civilians and even use firearms?

Isn't this a provocation against himself, a staunch practitioner of Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
stop!

I have to stop this damn behavior of theirs!

Increasingly angry, Wendy didn't hesitate and immediately roared at the crowd in front of her:
"Stop it!"

"Huh? This uniform? You're from the Mobile Magic Soldier Battalion?"

The leading soldier captain glanced at Wendy's Air Force lieutenant uniform, raised an eyebrow in surprise, seemingly not expecting that these arrogant magic soldiers, who were usually too lazy to even talk to them, would have their eyes on the same prey as them.

But after much deliberation, considering the reputation of the 1st Division and himself, the captain still frowned and said coldly:
"Lieutenant, we arrived at this centaur shop first. Isn't your action a bit too rash?"

Just after the soldier captain finished speaking tough words and barely managed to save face for the 1st Division, considering the enemy's terrifying combat power, he decided to take the initiative to back down and give them a way out in order to prevent things from escalating.

Upon hearing this, Wendy suddenly glared at him angrily and said in an icy tone:

"Don't compare yourself to us, you scum. You people who only harm the people and undermine the unity of the empire, do you even deserve to be called soldiers of the empire?"

"you!"

The soldier captain's face suddenly turned extremely ugly. Such words, which were almost a direct denial of his soldiers' dignity, would probably be unacceptable to any soldier in the 1st Division.

Just as he was about to have his men surround this audacious mage soldier, hoping to use their numerical advantage to show the enemy who the true master of Horseshoe City was compared to their mere 1000-strong mage force.

The next second, a gust of wind whistled past.

Immediately, the soldier captain felt the world spin around him. When he came to his senses, he was horrified to find that the female air force lieutenant who was originally ten meters away from him had suddenly crossed the distance between them and knocked him to the ground in an instant.

The whole process was so swift that he only truly felt the pain in his right leg now, as if he had been struck heavily by a steel rod.

The intense pain instantly covered his forehead with a fine layer of cold sweat, but compared to the pain, the soldier captain felt more shock and anger.

But before he could angrily order his soldiers to teach this reckless mage a lesson...

The next second, a gun barrel was suddenly pressed against his forehead. The coldness of the gun barrel, made by the Empire, instantly dispelled all his thoughts.

He immediately looked at Wendy with disbelief. She had somehow pulled out a magic gun from behind her and was holding the muzzle to her forehead, her expression cold and filled with an incomprehensible anger.

Before he could even question whether the other man was insane, daring to point a gun at friendly forces, Wendy's icy voice slowly rang out, reaching the ears of every army soldier around:

"If you scum don't want your captain to be killed by me, drop all the looted goods you've stolen and get out of this shop right now, along with your scum captain!"

"I'm only giving you three seconds to think it over!"

……

ten minutes later.

Inside the council chamber of Horseshoe City's lord's mansion, Major General Tony Leila, commander of the 1st Division, sat at the head of the conference table, staring blankly at the council chamber's door.

His eyes flickered, as if he were making some kind of decision.

"Tap, tap!"

With the sound of footsteps coming from outside, the heavy wooden door was slowly pushed open under Tony's gaze.

Immediately, the figure of that troublesome major who had been causing him so much distress reappeared in his sight.

The other person remained as composed and calm as before, with a pair of deep black eyes that were strangely captivating, like a soaring eagle, giving off an inexplicable sense of arrogance and sharpness when they met eyes.

How alike they are! From their imposing, assertive demeanor to their righteous indignation, Major John is practically a carbon copy of a young General Dormammu!
In fact, this major seems to be doing a better job than the young general.

Is it really necessary for me to be an enemy of someone who is destined to wield great power in the future?

Tony was lost in thought.

But feeling the scrutinizing gaze from the other party, he suppressed his inner thoughts and instead spoke in a deep voice:

"Major John Maslow, are you aware that ten minutes ago, Lieutenant Wendy Brown, the captain of your guard unit, attacked friendly forces conducting routine post-war cleanup operations in Horseshoe City and openly threatened them with firearms?"

"I think that as the other party's superior, you need to give me an explanation for this, don't you?"

"Major General Tony, before I formally answer your question, I may need you to explain to me whether the act of looting property belonging to the Empire and using force to suppress Imperial citizens is also included in the post-war cleanup work?"

John stared at the major general at the far end of the conference table, his eyes showing no sign of panic.

Although at the beginning, after hearing that Wendy Pig had publicly threatened friendly forces and even pulled out a magic gun to point at them, and that this incident had already spread throughout the 1st Division.

He immediately realized that things were about to get very serious.

However, after learning the inside story of Wendy's actions and the actions of the 1st Army Division after entering Horseshoe City through Lunebo, who was in charge of gathering information.

He didn't blame Wendy for her impulsiveness, but instead began to think about how to deal with the situation.

He would definitely protect Wendy himself, after all, no matter how stupid this idiot was and how much trouble he always caused, she was still one of his men.

If his soldiers make mistakes, then the officer, as their superior, must naturally take the corresponding responsibility.

Otherwise, what qualifications would he have to be the other party's superior?
John believes that while Wendy's actions were somewhat rash, her intentions were good.

This also proves that, under the influence of Maslow's quotes that they unintentionally created, the members of Squad 14 have accepted the idea of ​​protecting the people and are willing to spontaneously put this belief into practice.

This was indeed good news for John.

Moreover, he currently needs an opportunity to test Major General Tony in front of him, so as to make a decision on the other party's future arrangements.

So, will you give me an unexpected answer, or one of those boring, generic ones?
Major General Tony, from the Lyra family.

John murmured to himself, a dark, indescribable glint in his eyes.

He hid his true emotions beneath the darkness of the night.

"This……"

Seemingly not expecting John to use this as a starting point to ask him a question, Major General Tony frowned slightly, momentarily at a loss for words.

After all, allowing soldiers to plunder enemy civilians and their property after a war has always been a common practice within the military.

Because the essence of war is a game of interests between the two sides. High-ranking commanders gain honor and control over resources, mid-ranking officers get the opportunity for promotion and titles, and low-ranking soldiers get the opportunity to become officers and earn money.

The financial gains of the lower-ranking soldiers mostly came from post-war looting.

Furthermore, due to the restrictions of the laws of war, soldiers were not entitled to plunder the wealthiest nobles.

Then it becomes clear what targets they can plunder.

However, the actions of the magic squad this time overturned the rules that everyone had agreed on in the past, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they betrayed their class.

He didn't know whether the lieutenant named Wendy Brown did it from his own heart, or whether the young major in front of him, whom he couldn't understand either, had given him a secret instruction.

However, he had to use this incident to teach this young man a lesson, so that he would understand who the highest-ranking official in Horseshoe City really was!
Thinking of this, Tony immediately stopped hesitating and spoke in an icy tone:

"Although it's not explicitly stated in military regulations, these are all unwritten rules. Besides, compared to such trivial matters, isn't the act of Lieutenant Wendy Brown drawing his gun on friendly forces more important?"

"After all, if everyone followed her example and drew their guns on their allies, then before we could even engage the orcs, the Empire's army would lose a large number of soldiers due to internal strife."

"Without a doubt, this is an extremely serious and heinous incident, therefore, I believe that Wendy Brown must be severely punished."

After a slight pause, meeting John's calm gaze, Major General Tony added in a cold voice:
"Of course, if you, Major John, have any concerns about morale, then I can certainly help you with the punishment."

"Then there's no need to trouble you, General. I will naturally keep my men in check. Besides, the conflict you mentioned is, in my opinion, completely unfounded."

"Back in the Iron Horse Mountain battle, Lieutenant Wendy's magic gun was overloaded due to her participation in the magic soldier demolition plan. Before the gun was fully repaired, she was unable to fire any bullets or use spells to launch attacks."

"Therefore, in my opinion, this so-called serious incident of drawing a gun on friendly forces is completely unfounded. At most, it can only be considered as soldiers who are on good terms playing around and strengthening their relationship in their daily lives."

John spoke with a smile, his tone exactly like that of a homeroom teacher who was good at smoothing things over when classmates got into fights.

Playing around?

Do you want to hear what nonsense you're spouting?
When have those arrogant magic soldiers of the Empire ever given a second glance to army soldiers?
If you're going to make up a joke, at least make one that's convincing, right?

Tony was almost laughing in anger. He never expected that John would be so shameless as to utter such nonsense that even the other man himself wouldn't believe in order to fool him.

If it weren't for the fact that the other party had saved his life before, based solely on what the other party had just said, he would have demoted this guy who dared to fool him to a common soldier and sent him to the front lines to be flesh and blood fillers in the trenches.

Of course, he wasn't qualified to do that either, since the two sides were different types of soldiers, and he had no authority to handle it; he could only report it to the other side's superiors.

Suppressing his chaotic emotions, Tony originally wanted to angrily rebuke the other party for talking nonsense, so as to complete the punishment of the mage who had stirred up the conflict, and then make John Maslow understand that he was the true ruler of Horseshoe City.

At that moment, John, contrary to his usual behavior, relented:
"Of course, considering that Wendy Brown did not intend to fire at friendly forces, her actions still violated military discipline and she should be punished accordingly."

"Therefore, I intend to transfer him from his original position as captain of the guard unit, Major General Tony. This transfer will serve as punishment for Lieutenant Wendy's impulsive behavior. I wonder if you are satisfied with this?"

……

I've finished being a groomsman for my buddy, and everything's taken care of. I'm exhausted today, so I'll just write a 4000-word chapter to mark the occasion and give myself a break. Starting tomorrow, I'll officially begin updating chapters in bursts, starting with 6 chapters a day, except for the 9th, because I need to take the train back to Anshan on the 9th. That's all~
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(End of this chapter)