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

Chapter 221 Nightmare, No-Fly Zone

"Hmm? They actually managed to lure out an Imperial agent hiding within the military? But they failed to capture him alive and instead let him commit suicide..."

At four o'clock in the morning, ten kilometers away from the outer perimeter of the Cangyuan Ancient Forest, a special operations force was on its way.

Upon hearing the report from the communications soldier, Roxie, sitting in the back seat of the military jeep, immediately raised an eyebrow in surprise.

But soon, as if she had thought of something, she replied to the other party through the communication device that she knew, and then smiled at Will, who was sitting upright beside her, and said to him in a meaningful tone:

"Colonel Will, just half an hour ago, our main force stationed along the lower reaches of the Falling Moon River discovered an Imperial agent named Elliott Wayne. Come to think of it, you seem to be quite familiar with him."

"I remember that the other party served as a communications soldier in the Independent 1st Battalion you led for a period of time. Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, the reason our army's intelligence was leaked should be because the other party used his position to secretly transmit it at that time."

"General, are you doubting me?"

Hearing Roxie's almost blunt doubt, Will, despite being so tense he felt like he was suffocating, maintained a calm demeanor and his tone remained unchanged:

“Although I don’t know why you think that way, it is indeed my dereliction of duty that I failed to discover the other party’s true identity in advance and capture him alive. I am willing to accept any punishment you may give me.”

"Really? That's a very tempting answer, isn't it?"

Roxie chuckled as she spoke, but her gaze toward Will was filled with coldness.

Then she abruptly drew her pistol from her waist, and before Will's eyes could widen, pressed the muzzle directly against his temple. Her voice was calm, yet it was as cold as ice, sending chills down Will's spine.
"So, if my punishment for you is execution by firing squad, do you have anything to say about that, Colonel Will?"

"!"

Will's breath hitched, but considering that Elliott's sacrifice meant that although he was guilty of dereliction of duty, according to the Kingdom's military regulations, he would at most be demoted, and it was impossible for him to be executed.

Furthermore, there's the matter of him becoming an Imperial agent, and the secret meeting he had with Team Leader Hassan after returning to the Kingdom of Victoria, who used the Shadow Warrior technique to create a clone and reach his residence.

All of this was completely undetectable to the Allied forces.

And, most importantly, since becoming an agent of the Empire, he has never, in a true sense, sent any intelligence to the Empire.

The last intelligence was also transmitted through Elliott's mouth, and now, in order to avoid being unable to withstand interrogation, the other party has chosen to end his own life.

In this situation where there is no way to verify the truth, even if Roxie had some doubts about himself.

There is absolutely no way the other side would risk killing a descendant of a nobleman to forcibly kill him.

Therefore, the other party's threat can only be a test of oneself!

Will, having quickly grasped this point in his mind, immediately felt a lightening of the oppressive emotions in his heart. He slowly turned his head to look directly at Roxie, whose expression was icy cold. Bearing unprecedented psychological pressure, he calmly addressed her:

“If you, General Roxie, believe me to be an Imperial spy, then you may kill me immediately; I will not resist.”

"After all, I shouldn't be sitting in this position now, having abandoned my soldiers and teammates and escaped using my unique technique after the assassination attempt in Bahamut failed."

"Everything I have now is a gift from you out of your kindness, and if you want to take it all back now, I will have no complaints."

"I only hope that after my death, you can clear the Hoffman family's name by investigating the truth."

After saying that, Will stopped talking and slowly closed his eyes under Roxie's gaze.

It was as if he would accept whatever punishment Roxie might impose on him without hesitation.

This posture, which seemed to convey absolute trust, caused even Roxie to hesitate for a moment.

But her rational mind as a commander told her that, given John Maslow's extraordinary talent, there was no way he would have deliberately let Will live during that battle.

"No, it's also possible that they did it on purpose. They guessed that I was involved, or that the teacher would question Will's loyalty to the kingdom and treat him as a spy, so they sent someone to secretly detain and interrogate him in an attempt to obtain intelligence about the empire."

"If I or my teacher really do this, then once the other side learns of Will's disappearance through agents planted in the kingdom, they can immediately spread rumors that I and my teacher are secretly persecuting the kingdom's nobles, thereby damaging our reputation and weakening our power through the manipulation of our political enemies, so as to complete the plan to restrict us?"

Of course, what the other side did not expect was that after the defeat at the Battle of Walden, he did not become discouraged or choose to go to the easier front to gain military merit.

Instead, they immediately requested permission from Her Majesty the Queen to provide support for the Faoken Bay mission.

Therefore, this prevented the opponent's psychological warfare plan from succeeding.

After learning of this through intelligence sent by Elliott Wayne's Imperial spy, the other side deliberately arranged for this agent to have more opportunities to contact the Independent 1st Battalion, thereby deepening their suspicions about Will.

Furthermore, during the previous Battle of the Dark Corridor, due to a misjudgment of the spy's true identity, a plan to split up the forces was devised, ultimately leading to falling into the enemy's trap.

In fact, by arranging Elliott's suicide, he created the illusion that the other side did so to cover up the activities of a real spy who was hiding within his own ranks and holding an important position.

Ultimately, he fell into a deeper trap, and due to misjudgment, he once again fell into the opponent's series of psychological warfare tactics.
"..."

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Roxie's mind, but she quickly dismissed them all.

After hesitatingly glancing at Will, she remained silent for a long time before finally releasing her index finger from the trigger. She then moved the cold pistol away from Will's forehead and smiled as she spoke:

"Every Victorian knows of the Hoffman family's reputation for loyalty to the kingdom, and I am no exception."

"And as the sole heir of the Hoffmann family, your loyalty to the kingdom is beyond doubt."

"I just noticed that you haven't said a word since you got in the car, and the atmosphere was a bit dull, so I just made a joke to lighten the mood. I didn't expect you to take it so seriously. Hmm, that surprised me a bit."

"Although this was not my intention, I did make a rather inappropriate joke, and I hope you can understand."

Are you sure this is a joke, and you don't really want to kill me?
The force with which you just pressed the gun to my head didn't sound like a joke.

Will cursed inwardly, but outwardly maintained a loyal demeanor and spoke earnestly to Roxie:

“General, this joke is not funny. Honor is of paramount importance to me and the Hoffman family; it is above life itself. Therefore, I hope that such tests will not happen again. Otherwise, even with the favors you have bestowed upon me, I may still harbor resentment towards you.” “I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful next time.”

Hearing Will's extremely loyal statement, Roxie immediately spoke apologetically, but her gaze toward Will remained unchanged from beginning to end, still indifferent, and even more wary than before.

Now, after a series of defeats against John Maslow, she has lost her absolute confidence in her own judgment.

Schemes that she could easily see through in the past now become more complex when they are associated with John. She can't help but wonder how far he has gone in his predictions, and then unconsciously overturn her own ideas and start anew.

This almost endless game greatly increased her mental exertion, even making her feel somewhat suffocated.

It was precisely because of this situation that she made the decision to lead her troops away from the main force and head to what was most likely John Maslow's actual command camp, attempting to launch a decisive battle between the two commanders and capture him alive.

Although doing so would most likely lead to an unprecedented defeat, or even annihilation, for the Fifth Army, which lacks a matching commander.

But at this moment, Roxie was perfectly clear.

She absolutely could not let John Maslow go.

Once John, who has rendered outstanding service to the Empire on this battlefield, returns safely to the Empire, then no matter how fierce the factional struggles within the Empire may be, William XIII will surely overcome all opposition and promote him from a minor major to a rank truly befitting John's achievements.

Then, the other party will inevitably become a nightmare she can never escape!
It might even bring their path to perfection to an end.

"Therefore, John Maslow, even if it means abandoning the Fifth Legion, I will capture you alive!"

If it really comes to the point where I have no other choice, I will not hesitate to kill you!

Roxie murmured to himself, a chilling glint flashing in his eyes.

Ignoring Will beside her, she immediately picked up the communication device and connected it to Orion, who was marching with the Silent Assassin unit. Without hesitation, she gave him the order:

"Orion, immediately activate phase teleportation to send the members of the Silent Thorn unit to the beacon along the outer perimeter of the Cangyuan Ancient Tree. Coordinate with the logistics team to set up anti-air magic devices. Make sure they cover the entire Cangyuan Ancient Tree forest completely, leaving no edge untouched. Understand?"

"Yes, General!"

"!"

Anti-aircraft device?

Logistics troops?

When did the other side send its logistics troops equipped with anti-aircraft devices?
Why don't you know?
Could it be...

Will, who was standing nearby, felt a sudden tremor upon hearing the instruction. He then subconsciously looked at Roxie beside him, only to meet her cold, sharp eyes.

Immediately, under Will's gaze, Roxie suddenly smiled, and then uttered a sentence that sent chills down Will's spine:

"I apologize, Colonel Will. Because the true identity of the enemy spy was not yet certain, I kept the fact that we were carrying anti-aircraft devices a secret from everyone except Orian. The logistics unit that was temporarily transferred set off ahead of us and arrived at the Cangyuan Ancient Forest Forest first to set up the coordinates that could be used for teleportation."

"You shouldn't blame me for deliberately withholding information from you, right?"

"General, you are joking. How could I blame you for such a thing..."

"That's good. After all, if the Empire was able to plant a spy in the Fifth Legion and have him remain hidden for so long without being discovered, there might be other suspicious individuals as well, right?"

"indeed so……"

"Well, I'm glad you understand. Also, since the entire Silent Assassin unit has been deployed, I have no soldiers left to protect me. So, the responsibility of protecting me as a staff officer will probably fall to you, Colonel Will."

Roxie spoke with a smile, leaning lazily against the soft sofa. She lit a cigarette seemingly casually, but her eyes were always fixed on Will, silently observing his every move.

After confirming that the other party did not show any signs of nervousness or have any impulse to suddenly abduct her, a barely perceptible hint of disappointment flashed in her azure eyes.

In fact, she never completely dispelled her suspicions about Will.

Although the other party's behavior from beginning to end proved that he was a soldier loyal to the kingdom.

But Roxie prefers to trust his intuition, as was the case this time when he questioned his own judgment, wondering if John Maslow might do the opposite and set up headquarters in a completely different battlefield, and hesitated about it.

Driven by an inexplicable intuition, he resolutely led his troops to this location.

She had no idea what the probability was of making a successful prediction based on intuition.

But I suppose it won't be a disappointment.

If you absolutely have to ask why...

"Perhaps it could be said that John Maslow and I both had a desire to completely defeat each other strategically and make the other a stepping stone for our ascent."

"call!"

Watching the smoke from his breath quickly dissipate in the gust of wind rushing in through the car window, Roxie, seemingly struck by a thought, stared at the rearview mirror and a playful smile suddenly appeared on his lips. He then meaningfully reminded the silent Will beside him:

"Colonel Will, a fire is about to break out. Are you prepared to fight the flames?"

"Be prepared at all times, General Roxie."

"Very good~"

……

　I'm experiencing writer's block. I can't finish writing this 10,000-word chapter before midnight, so I split it up and am still writing. I'll upload one 4,000-word chapter first, and the other one, 6,000 words, is expected to be finished and uploaded around 3 PM.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)