I Was Mistaken as a Great War Commander-Chapter 143

Back Alley Near Lamplamp Hotel

“Huff! Huff...!”

Ferman, wearing a wool beret, was running, gasping for air.

There was only one reason he was fleeing.

He had witnessed a red-eyed woman slaughtering his comrades.

Well—rather than witnessing, it was more accurate to say he’d heard their screams.

Ever since Lucy had used illusion magic to kill Haron, Ferman had sensed something was off and bolted without looking back.

And shortly after he got outside, his comrades' screams rang out from within. He could more or less guess what was happening inside the hotel.

“Shit! What the hell went wrong...!”

Ferman’s plan had been simple.

All he wanted was to assassinate Daniel Steiner, return to the Allied Nations, get recognition, and claim his reward.

Tempret had gone on about ideals and patriotism or whatever, but Ferman had no interest in playing along with that sentimental crap.

He hadn’t thought it would be such a dangerous mission either.

No matter how infamous Daniel Steiner was, Ferman had been sure that a single man couldn’t stand against thirty veteran agents who were used to killing.

But they had run into an unexpected obstacle.

They didn’t even make it to Daniel Steiner—his adjutant alone had wiped them out like dogs.

“I don’t know how things turned out like this...”

But at least he was still alive, and for now, that was enough.

Ferman raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his brow and caught his breath—only to freeze.

A human silhouette was approaching slowly from the other end of the alley.

At first, he assumed it was a lost passerby. But as the distance closed, something felt wrong.

The dark-skinned man’s eyes were fixed directly on him—cold and clear.

“No way.”

Panicking, Ferman reached into his coat to draw his pistol—but he was too late.

The man, faster than Ferman, had already drawn his gun and had his finger on the trigger.

“Son of a—”

Pew!

The silenced bullet punched clean through Ferman’s head.

He collapsed as he was, mid-motion, his face slamming into a puddle on the alley floor.

The man approached without a word—Hamtal. He lowered his pistol and pulled the trigger again.

The second shot buried another bullet into Ferman’s head, splattering blood.

A clean kill.

Hamtal tucked the pistol back into his coat, then pulled out a radio and pressed the transmit button.

“Got the runner. What about the rest?”

He released the button and waited. A response came quickly from the other end.

— The screaming has stopped. No more gunshots. No one's come out of the hotel.

That meant Lucy Emilia had eliminated every single Allied spy inside.

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It was... startling, even for Hamtal.

He hadn’t expected Lucy Emilia to kill them all on her own.

“She’s supposed to be an Allied test subject, but still...”

Back when the Pallentia Branch was destroyed, Hamtal had looked through the documents and intel they’d gathered.

He’d taken what was useful, planning to hand off the rest to Internal Security.

And if anything in those files had been damaging to Daniel Steiner, he’d intended to erase it.

By chance, he had gotten his hands on classified documents related to the “Lucy Project.”

They contained approximate details on where the facility behind the project was located—top-tier classified intel.

Hamtal had concluded that ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ if it ever came out that Daniel Steiner’s adjutant was a test subject from the Allied Nations, it would be a disaster.

So he took those files and left the abandoned textile factory.

Since then, he’d wrestled with a question:

Would it be right to kill Lucy Emilia for Daniel Steiner’s sake?

According to those documents, Lucy Emilia wasn’t human.

She was a monster—something beyond the realm of people.

Leaving such a creature at Daniel Steiner’s side didn’t sit well with him.

So he’d been working on a way to eliminate her, even if it meant taking casualties.

But after what she’d just done... it looked nearly impossible.

She had just butchered nearly thirty Allied spies in the blink of an eye.

Even if Hamtal and his squad got involved, the outcome wouldn’t change much.

“And besides...”

He didn’t know the reason, but Lucy Emilia was currently protecting Daniel Steiner.

Their goals were aligned—for now—so there was no reason to antagonize her.

Still, one thing bothered him: he wasn’t sure if Daniel Steiner truly understood the situation.

“If Lucy Emilia changes her mind in this situation...”

Daniel Steiner could end up dead without even knowing why.

Now that Hamtal had witnessed her full capabilities, there was only one logical choice.

Having made up his mind, he raised the radio and pressed the button again.

“Prepare to return to the Capital. Lucy Emilia is currently siding with Daniel Steiner, so we’ll reduce the escort unit to a minimum. Once we’re back, our top priority will be pinpointing the location of the facility behind the Lucy Project.”

Revealing Lucy Emilia’s true identity to Daniel Steiner—and providing him with her weakness.

That was the only help the secret organization Black Crow could offer him now.

****

The sunlight filtering through the window made Daniel slowly open his eyes.

An all-too-familiar ceiling greeted him.

He blinked a few times in silence before sitting up, frowning.

“...What the hell kind of dream was that?”

In the dream, Daniel had been walking Kelly—the golden retriever—through the park.

A peaceful life. Just the kind he’d always wanted.

“But then, all of a sudden...”

He blinked, and Kelly transformed into Lucy, who started approaching him.

Panicked, Daniel had yelled at her to stay away—but Lucy just clung to him like a dog, panting with her tongue out.

“It was like Kelly’s soul had entered Lucy’s body...”

Why he’d dreamed something so bizarre was beyond him.

He sat there in a daze for a moment, then scratched his head.

“Forget it. Don’t overthink it.”

Letting out a sigh, Daniel started to rise from bed to wash up—then stopped.

Something felt off inside his ear.

He reached up and found something rubbery.

When he pulled it out—it was a standard-issue military earplug.

“Earplug? Why the hell...?

Daniel looked around, confused.

"Lieutenant?"

No response.

No, not even a trace of someone’s presence.

Did she head out first?

That seemed plausible enough. Daniel got out of bed.

There was no point in dawdling. He decided he’d shower quickly and step outside.

Maybe I’ll start the day with a coffee at that café nearby.

With the sunlight so warm and gentle, it felt like something good might happen today.

****

After finishing his shower and neatly dressing in his military uniform, Daniel hummed a tune as he took the elevator down to the hotel lobby.

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, he froze.

“...What the hell?”

The sharp, metallic scent of blood hit him—followed by the sight of thirty mangled corpses strewn across the floor.

It was as if some savage battle had taken place. None of them had a single intact limb; all lay collapsed in a grotesque heap.

They say that when you’re too shocked, you forget how to scream. That was exactly where Daniel was now.

But he quickly snapped out of it. Drawing his revolver, Daniel moved forward with measured steps.

He heightened his senses, ready to trigger Neural Acceleration at any moment. His voice came out steady.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Of course, no answer.

Who could’ve done this? Don’t tell me...

As he started forming theories, sirens began to wail outside the hotel.

Police?

Daniel relaxed a bit. At least it looked like he’d live.

He turned toward the hotel entrance, walking that way.

“Move in!”

“This way!”

Before long, heavily armed police stormed through the entrance.

They caught sight of the corpses littering the floor and gasped sharply. Then they turned to look at Daniel, who was calmly walking toward them.

Each of them wore the same expression: absolute horror.

“Ah. Thank you for your hard work. I’m sure this is... quite the shock...”

Startled, the officers all raised their pistols and aimed them at Daniel.

“D-Don’t come any closer!”

“Stop! Freeze right there!”

“Drop the revolver! Drop it now!”

Daniel, now breaking out in a cold sweat, halted on the spot.

He realized he was being misunderstood. Carefully, he placed his revolver on the ground and raised both hands.

“Wait, hold on. I can explain everything. This wasn’t me—”

As Daniel tried to explain, a man who appeared to be the inspector shouted furiously.

“You dumbasses! Why haven’t you lowered your weapons?! That man is Colonel Daniel Steiner!”

“B-But he’s the only one standing after this bloodbath—!”

“You morons, look at what the dead ones are holding in their hands! Does it look like Colonel Steiner attacked innocent people!?”

One by one, the police officers hesitated and slowly lowered their guns.

Just as the inspector said, all the corpses were armed.

Still, their eyes remained filled with fear as they stared at Daniel Steiner.

Wait a second...

Daniel had a bad feeling about how this situation was unfolding. He spoke again, this time with deliberate calm.

“Everyone. Please believe me. I had nothing to do with the people lying here on the floor. I beg you—stop looking at me like that...”

Daniel tried to explain as clearly and rationally as he could—but the officers didn’t believe him.

And that included the inspector as well.

The inspector deliberately avoided Daniel’s gaze as he brought the radio to his lips.

“Headquarters, this is Inspector Derento of the Wartime Public Order Patrol. We’ve got a mass casualty incident at the Lamplamp Hotel lobby on 8th Street. Approximately thirty are confirmed dead. And the one who survived and came out on top is...”

He swallowed hard, as if he couldn’t believe what he was about to say.

“One man. Colonel Daniel Steiner.”