Chapter 14

The Officers’ Meeting

We stood outside the top-floor conference room, where the officers’ meeting was already well underway.

Meursault checked the time and the pistol inside his coat before speaking.

“It has been about an hour since the meeting began, so their tension and concentration should have started to fade. Let us enter now.”

The moment he finished speaking, Meursault knocked on the conference room door.

...Wait. Why did he just check that he had his gun?

Knock, knock.

“It’s Meursault. I’ve brought him.”

The Commander’s familiar voice came from inside.

“Enter.”

As soon as the Commander granted permission, Meursault threw open the door without the slightest hesitation.

I stepped inside.

Eight sharp gazes immediately fell upon me.

At the same time, system messages appeared before my eyes.

[The effect of the title “Lunamoon’s Friend” has been applied to the target.]

[The effect of the title “Lunamoon’s Friend” has been applied to the target.]

[The effect of the title “Lunamoon’s Friend” has been applied to the target.]

[The effect of the title “Lunamoon’s Friend” has been applied to the target.]

‘This part is the same as the game.’

The title had affected four of the eight officers.

Among the officers of the Cola Zone, four belonged to the pro-Hayden faction, while the remaining four belonged to the pro-Daphne faction.

The officers of the pro-Hayden faction, in particular, had fought alongside Lunamoon on the same battlefield.

So this result was only natural.

The pro-Daphne officers had probably failed to trigger the title effect merely because they did not like Lunamoon, but there was still a high chance they knew about her.

Meursault mainly handled military strategy, logistics, and accounting, so perhaps the setting was that he had never personally met Lunamoon, who had served as a military doctor.

Or maybe he simply had no interest in women other than Daphne.

“Ah...”

Just as I had expected, it wasn’t only the pro-Hayden officers who were reminded of Lunamoon upon seeing my face.

Different emotions began surfacing across the elderly officers’ expressions.

“So, in the end...”

The first to speak was the white-bearded leader of the pro-Daphne faction.

“You found the child of that military doctor.”

The moment those quiet words left his mouth, officers from both factions began speaking over one another as though it had been a signal.

“I thought it might be so from his appearance, but is he truly that woman’s child?”

“‘That woman’? How dare you refer to the hero of the subjugation campaign that way!”

“Isn’t calling a deserter a hero a little excessive?”

“W-What? A deserter? A deserter?! You insane—”

“Leave them be. How could people who worship a woman who never even set foot on a battlefield as though she were some noble saint possibly distinguish between a hero and a deserter?”

“What did you just say? A woman who never set foot on a battlefield?!”

The voices on both sides grew louder.

Then the oldest-looking officer of the pro-Hayden faction opened his mouth and spoke quietly.

“Have all of you gone senile? You’re raising your voices in the presence of His Excellency.”

The conference room fell deathly silent.

Commander Hayden, seated at the head of the table, merely looked entertained by the situation.

‘This isn’t the first time Lunamoon has been mentioned during an officers’ meeting.’

I reached that conclusion because there was familiarity rather than anger or embarrassment on the Commander’s face.

The elderly officer had criticized them for “raising their voices in front of the Commander,” not for “mentioning Lunamoon in front of the Commander.”

The Commander was even curling one corner of his lips into a faint smile.

For a moment, I wondered whether he had actually been waiting for them to bring up Lunamoon.

“May I speak now?”

“My apologies.”

“My apologies.”

Only after the officers bowed so deeply that their foreheads nearly struck the conference table did Commander Hayden continue.

He gestured for me to approach.

When I stood beside him, his calloused hand, covered in countless small scars, closed around my shoulder.

“Allow me to introduce him. This child’s name is Haydam Goodman. He is my one and only son.”

At the name Haydam Goodman, the expressions of the pro-Daphne officers twisted.

Only the leader of the pro-Daphne faction nodded without any visible change in expression.

Silence followed.

The Commander’s remaining eye lazily swept over the officers.

“I found my long-lost child. Are none of you going to congratulate me?”

“Of course not. Congratulations, Your Excellency.”

“Congratulations.”

The pro-Daphne officers who had grimaced weren’t oblivious enough to remain silent, so they also offered their congratulations.

I thought the introduction might end without requiring me to do anything.

But the Commander, who had been smiling at the officers, turned his head toward me.

“Well, Haydam. You tell us.”

Huh?

Tell them what?

“Is your mother a deserter or a hero?”

Everyone in the room except me froze.

‘This bastard...’

I had wondered why he had remained silent even though they had been one second away from tearing each other apart over whether Lunamoon was a deserter or a hero.

He had been waiting for a chance to solve this sensitive issue without getting his own hands dirty.

I was still only a ten-year-old child.

No matter what answer I gave, none of the officers could seriously hold it against me.

That was why Commander Hayden had asked me as casually as though he were asking what I wanted for lunch.

He wanted to hear what I thought of my mother while also testing my ability to resolve a difficult situation.

‘Well, this isn’t bad for me either. No, I actually need this.’

What kind of child wouldn’t be offended after hearing someone insult their mother as a deserter right to their face?

Even so, the Commander had asked for my opinion.

In other words, he was giving me an opportunity to present myself before the officers.

Looking ahead, I saw that most of the officers were also curious about how I would respond.

Only the officer who had personally used the word “deserter” was sweating profusely.

‘Was Lunamoon a deserter or a hero?’

The essence of the question was whether calling Lunamoon a deserter should be treated as an offense.

In other words, the Commander was effectively asking me to decide whether the man who had insulted my mother should be punished.

‘Commander Hayden could have punished the officer who called Lunamoon a deserter on the spot.’

But he had not.

Despite possessing absolute authority.

Judging from the atmosphere, the controversy over whether Lunamoon was a deserter had not arisen for the first time today.

‘Then there must be a reason he has never treated it as a problem before.’

Think.

Had the Commander punished a pro-Daphne officer for making that remark, the pro-Daphne faction would have gained justification to question my mother’s origins.

At the very least, rumors would have spread throughout the military that an officer had been thrown into confinement merely for pointing out that Haydam Goodman’s mother was a deserter.

The reason people called Lunamoon a deserter was probably that, instead of being formally discharged, she had temporarily gone into hiding to avoid scrutiny and then died before she could return.

Even if she had her reasons, that did not mean it wasn’t desertion.

If Lunamoon being a deserter became an issue, it would disadvantage me as well.

What soldier would trust the child of a deserter?

Therefore, my mother could not be a deserter.

At the same time, she could not be a hero either.

It was obvious how the pro-Daphne faction would react if I declared Lunamoon a hero.

They would belittle me as an emotional and unfair child who had punished an officer during their very first meeting merely because he had called my mother a deserter.

That left only one possible answer.

“Whether you consider my mother a deserter or a hero, isn’t what truly matters that I am unquestionably His Excellency’s child?”

A satisfied smile appeared on the Commander’s lips.

Apparently, that was the answer he had wanted.

“You heard him.”

The Commander stared directly at the officer who had used the word “deserter” and twisted his lips.

“Haydam says he will forgive your rudeness, so you should refrain from making an issue of his mother’s circumstances as well.”

“O-Of course. Naturally.”

The officer stammered in confusion.

The Commander’s gaze grew even colder.

“Is that all?”

“Pardon? Ah... I apologize for my disrespect, Lord Haydam. I am truly sorry.”

Even to me, the officer’s apology seemed fairly respectful.

Yet the Commander’s expression remained severe.

“I asked if that was all.”

“Pardon...? Th-Then, what else...?”

The officer looked bewildered, unable to understand what the Commander wanted.

At that moment, Meursault, who had been standing near the entrance, drew the pistol from inside his coat.

Without the slightest hesitation, he shot the officer.

The gunshot slammed against my ears.

My first thought was simple.

‘So that’s why he checked his pistol.’

The bullet struck the center of the officer’s forehead.

Blood erupted upward as he died instantly and collapsed onto the conference table with a heavy thud.

“Fuck.”

What the hell was this?

The other officers were also frozen in shock.

Every one of them looked as though they wanted to demand whether Meursault had lost his mind.

But before they could speak—

“My, Meursault. What is the meaning of this?”

Commander Hayden asked as though he had been waiting for the moment.

“Drawing a weapon in my presence was bad enough, but shooting your superior? Have you lost your senses?”

The Commander immediately reprimanded Meursault.

However, his tone was so gentle that anyone listening could tell this was exactly what the Commander had wanted.

Despite having just shot his superior dead, Meursault showed no change in expression.

He holstered the pistol and immediately dropped to one knee.

“My apologies. Lord Haydam showed mercy and forgave his insolence, yet he refused to express his gratitude until the very end. I could not tolerate such behavior.”

“That still does not justify shooting your superior. You will remain confined to your quarters for a while.”

“Thank you for your merciful punishment.”

With those words, Meursault left the conference room, apparently to begin his confinement for real.

The absurd performance ended as quickly as a sleight-of-hand trick.

Silence once again descended upon the conference room.

Only the corpse of the officer who had been shot occasionally twitched.

I felt something warm on my cheek.

When I touched it, I found blood.

The officer had been sitting nearby, so some of it must have splattered onto me.

‘This insane dictator NPC bastard.’

There weren’t enough NPCs to work to the bone as it was, and he had killed one merely because the man had failed to say thank you.

‘Of course, the gratitude thing was just an excuse.’

The fact that he hadn’t thanked me was nothing more than a convenient justification.

The Commander had clearly wanted to shoot the pro-Daphne officer who constantly insulted Lunamoon.

At first glance, the officer might have seemed foolish for insulting Lunamoon as a deserter in front of the Commander.

However, judging from how casually the officers had discussed Lunamoon in his presence, the Commander had never interfered before, even when the pro-Daphne faction spoke disrespectfully about her.

Just as I couldn’t recklessly answer whether she was a deserter or a hero, the Commander probably couldn’t openly settle the question either.

But now he had no choice but to act.

Because I—the son born between him and Lunamoon—was standing here.

He had instilled fear in the officers in order to establish my authority.

Moreover, the actual execution had been carried out by Meursault.

There would be no reason for anyone to direct blame toward the Commander.

‘It was an extremely clever choice.’

Thinking that, I wiped the blood from my cheek with my sleeve.

Then I felt their gazes.

And soon, I realized that the officers were staring in horror...

Not at my psychopathic dictator of a father.

But at me.