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

Chapter 313 The Hidden Identity, Anna's Plan

Seeing the conflicted expression on the deputy head's face, Anna immediately realized that her impromptu suggestion had successfully made the other party waver on the matter of evacuation.

But she also knew that this alone was not enough to make the other party make up their mind.

After all, carrying out an assassination under the Demon King's nose doesn't sound very plausible.

However, considering that once they leave, they may not have the opportunity to set foot in the empire again for several years, or even more than ten years, they will completely lose the possibility of finding the truth about their origins.

Therefore, Anna felt she had to use her extraordinary wisdom to persuade them.

Thinking of this, Anna immediately took a deep breath, a glint of wisdom flashing in her eyes, and then said righteously:

"That's right, in order to ensure that the peace negotiations proceed as expected, and also to prevent the Special Operations Department from being completely disbanded by the higher-ups due to the defeat in the first battle."

"I believe that we should not only not withdraw now, but should continue our infiltration and assassination missions!"

Upon hearing this, the other three people in the room immediately looked at Anna with disbelief.

"Um, Captain Anna, this...this isn't quite right..."

The green-haired girl, Margaret, spoke timidly. In fact, this poor girl, who was positioned as a support member of the department, was on the verge of tears.

Just thinking about the scene last night where she witnessed the Demon King crush her leader's head from a distance makes her legs feel weak.

When she first heard the order for the deputy head to evacuate, she was somewhat relieved that she could finally leave this hellish city.

But she never expected that her team leader would not only oppose the withdrawal, but also plan to continue the assassination even though there were only three of them left.

What is the difference between this and committing suicide?
"As expected, I should have listened to my magic teacher and gone back to my hometown to grow peas instead of continuing my studies."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have been recruited into the military early because of my unique technique, nor would I have joined the Special Operations Department, and I wouldn't be here."

"I regret it so much, Mom!"

Margaret sighed inwardly with a look of despair.

Anna, however, paid no attention to Margaret's cowardly demeanor. Her emerald-like eyes were calmly fixed on the deputy head in front of her, whose expression was unpredictable.

But his peripheral vision remained fixed on Reus, who seemed lost in thought.

In fact, through the ability to sense the equality of all things, and through the special training of the previous two months.

Based on daily observations and the details revealed by the instructor during his conversation with Royce.

Anna had already vaguely guessed that Royce, who seemed to be just an assistant member in the department, was not as ordinary as he claimed.

Otherwise, the other party could never be so familiar with the training process.

Because, even in the early stages of training, Reus did show the same level of unfamiliarity as them.

However, Anna sensed that the other person's magic during training did not exhibit the disorder that would result from unfamiliarity with the spells.

Instead, it always runs smoothly.

In addition, the magic circuits in the other party's body were not damaged during the training, but in order to hide himself, he pretended to be in the same state of fatigue as everyone else.

And this time, upon realizing that the Demon King was not in seclusion, the other party arrived at the suburbs where he was located in less than two minutes.

And before I could even react, they had successfully escaped with me, without even being discovered or noticed by the Demon King.

All of this was enough for Anna to be convinced that Royce must have some unknown secret.

"So, Royce, are you actually an agent sent by the minister to monitor department members and carry out secret missions?"

"Or do you have an even more mysterious identity?"

Anna murmured to herself, but quickly dismissed the thought, a resolute glint in her eyes.

For her, Royce's true identity and purpose were not important.

Right now, all she needs to do is successfully persuade the other party and get them to agree with her idea of ​​continuing the mission, so that she can get the opportunity to go to the Binot family to find the truth. That would be enough.

Thinking of this, before the deputy head could hesitate and look to Royce for his opinion, Anna's voice rang out again:

"Of course, I know that everyone is worried about the power of the Demon King. After all, his reputation for dominating all magic has become a recognized existence in the magic world. If we rashly carry out the assassination according to the original plan in the face of such a terrifying existence, we will probably only become prisoners in his hands."

"Furthermore, the fact that all seven of our members have been captured by the enemy means that we can no longer carry out the multi-front assassination mission."

"To rashly infiltrate the Imperial First Military Academy, which is guarded by numerous powerful figures and even the Demon King himself, to rescue people is almost no different from suicide."

"But in my opinion, there is still a chance for things to turn around!"

"!"

Under the curious gazes of the crowd, Anna took a deep breath, then picked up the list of assassination targets on the table, pulled out the character information icon at the bottom, and slammed it onto the table.

"Oh!"

Amidst everyone's gaze, a photo of a young man with black hair, black eyes, and an expressionless face came into view.

His true identity is:

"The Empire's newly promoted Lieutenant General—John Maslow!"

Amidst the tense stares of the crowd, Anna whispered the name of her assassination target, then slowly explained her reasons:
"According to intelligence, this newly promoted commander of the Empire, who helped the Empire complete the counterattack in the Battle of Walden and Faoken and led the Empire to an unprecedented victory, was a graduate of the Empire's First Military Academy and received the Iron Wreath Medal personally awarded by the Demon King."

"Furthermore, according to intelligence recently sent by our agents, the other party visited his alma mater a few days ago after the awarding of medals and was secretly received by the Demon King."

"Before that, the Demon King had not allowed anyone to set foot in his mage tower for four whole years."

"Based on this, we have good reason to suspect that the other party has likely gained the Demon King's favor due to Faoken's excellent command, and it's even possible that the other party has been included in the Demon King's candidates." "Therefore, as long as we can capture John Maslow through assassination, and then, in the name of the Amika Federal Bureau of Investigation, use John Maslow as a hostage to make a hostage exchange request to the Demon King."

"At that time, we will not only be able to successfully clear our name of any suspicion that we sent someone to carry out the assassination, allowing the peace negotiations to proceed smoothly, but we can also take the opportunity to shift the Empire's hatred to the Amaka Federation, so that after the Empire signs a peace treaty with our delegation, its attention will be drawn to the Amaka Federation across the ocean."

"This will buy us enough time to build our third-generation anti-magic device and achieve our true goal of scaling it up."

"At the same time, by contacting the higher-ups, we ordered the strategic planning department to recalculate, find out the Demon King's true seclusion time, and at that time, choose to carry out the hostage exchange."

"At that time, after the hostage exchange is completed, we can take advantage of the Demon King's seclusion to safely evacuate with our members, or even launch a plan within a plan. During the handover, we can use Royce's Shadow Domain Surveillance Technique to take John Maslow away while the enemy is unprepared, or kill him on the spot."

"This is my plan!"

"!"

Upon hearing Anna's plan, the deputy head on the other end was immediately astonished, his gaze towards Anna filled with shock.

He never imagined that this kid, whom he thought was just a brat with fighting prowess and talent, would possess such astonishing wisdom, and that he could find a way out of a situation where death seemed inevitable.

All I can say is, he truly deserves to be called the most powerful forbidden child of the Splinter family.
It's truly breathtaking!
"..."

However, unlike the deputy head who was completely shocked, Royce's eyes flashed with surprise when he heard Anna's plan, but he quickly frowned.

After a moment's thought, he directly posed his question:
“Anna, I don’t think we have the ability to successfully capture John Maslow.”

He paused slightly, then slowly added:

"First of all, you only know part of the information about this newly appointed commander of the Empire, so you may not know what kind of person he is."

"Although judging from their military career, they have mostly demonstrated talent in command and domestic affairs, rather than much military prowess."

"But as far as I know, judging from the assessment standards of the Imperial First Military Academy, John Maslow's personal combat strength should not be underestimated, as the top graduate of the 59th class, or even the unprecedented perfect score graduate."

"His true strength is at least at the level of a transcendental mage!"

"Furthermore, given that the other party underwent the magic soldier modification experiment, mastered the Empire's magic eye technique that can detect the flow of magic power, and has never revealed their unique technique, it is enough to show that the other party is by no means an ordinary person."

"Moreover, in order to demonstrate his high regard for this newly promoted commander and to prevent assassination attempts by the conservatives, after the awarding of the medal, the emperor of the empire assigned a large number of elite members of the surveillance force to protect this newly promoted lieutenant general at all times, with a number of at least two hundred people."

Meeting Anna's calm gaze, Royce slowly extended two fingers, then solemnly gave his judgment:

"Therefore, in conclusion, if we were to assassinate John Maslow, we would be facing two hundred elite assassins, each of whom is at least a mid-level mage and has at least five years of combat and teamwork experience."

"We also have to deal with a strategist who overwhelmed our Morning Star, killed our Romantic General, and whose assassination skills forced our Assassin Star to abandon military affairs and switch to scientific research. In terms of strength, he faced the full-scale bombardment of the Crimson Sun Crown, yet miraculously survived that absolute attack that could destroy 30 kilometers of ground buildings and even launched a counterattack. Although his strength is not at the Grand rank, even Grand rank cannot kill him head-on. Moreover, his unique techniques have never been revealed until now. He is a truly monster-level existence!"

"In the face of such a monster, do you think we are currently only a mid-level combat mage, a high-level support mage, and a mid-level support mage?"

"Is there really a chance to capture them and successfully complete the subsequent hostage exchange plan?"

Reuss's words struck everyone like a hammer blow, plunging the previously excited atmosphere into a deathly silence.

Even Anna felt a chill run down her spine and her throat tighten when she heard about John Maslow's almost inhuman achievements.

But after a long silence, she took a deep breath and gave her answer firmly:

"can!"

Seemingly feeling that this statement wasn't convincing enough, Anna paused slightly before adding:
"Of course, this is not due to my blind confidence, but rather the result of my careful consideration."

"First of all, the assassination I planned is different from the infiltration assassination you all expected; it is a disguised infiltration."

"And the most crucial element of this plan lies with Margaret!"

"Eh? Me?"

Margaret looked flustered, and then began to cry out:
"I...I really can't do it, Captain, I'm begging you..."

"Don't be nervous, Margaret. I don't intend for you to infiltrate in our place. In this plan, you only need to unleash your unique spell on us. The actual actions will be carried out by Royce and me!"

Anna calmly waved to Margaret, indicating that the other woman didn't need to be so nervous.

"..."

At the same time, upon hearing this, as if he had thought of a certain possibility, Royce was first stunned, then he suddenly looked up at Anna in front of him, his gaze fixed on another intelligence sheet that she had taken out at some point.

As if to confirm Royce's judgment, the next second, Anna, whose face had inexplicably turned into a smile, slammed an information sheet on the table containing the image of a woman whose hair color and appearance were extremely similar to hers.

Then, she slowly revealed the other person's name and her true plan:
"Leah Binot, a major, is the only living bloodline heir of the Binot family, and also the sworn enemy of my family, the Splinter family."

"According to intelligence, the other party had been following John Maslow during the Battle of Walden and had become one of his trusted lieutenants."

"Therefore, as long as Margaret can use magic to successfully disguise me as Leia Binott, I can easily bypass the Ravenbeak troops stationed at the Imperial Hotel and infiltrate John Maslow's side."

"And attack them while they are completely unprepared, capture them, and then carry out the subsequent plan!"

"And because my physique is similar to Leia Binott's, my disguise will be foolproof when combined with Margaret's unique spell."

"And John Maslow will be captured by me, which will be the biggest opportunity for our army to get out of trouble!"

"Furthermore, there will be absolutely no surprises in this matter!"

Facing the gazes of the crowd, some filled with elation and others deep in thought, Anna spoke with unwavering conviction.

Meanwhile, just as the Special Operations Department was plotting to infiltrate the Imperial Hotel and capture John, John, unaware that he had become the assassination target of Anna, the female protagonist of the game, arrived at the headquarters of the Holy Light Cult in Elena by car with Carrie, who had a serious expression, and Serbia, who had a cold face. They slowly stopped at the entrance of the main hall.

"Squeak!"

……

(End of this chapter)