Chapter 15

The Tyrannical Superior

‘Why are they looking at me like that?’

As I wondered why all their gazes were fixed on me, I belatedly realized that my reaction had not been normal.

Someone had just died right in front of me, yet I had remained far too calm.

‘What should I do?’

Meursault had said I was free to act unpredictably, but he probably had not meant that I should behave like a psychopath.

‘Should I pretend to be shocked, even if it’s late?’

I wasn’t confident in my acting skills, though...

“Ah, I was so startled that I froze. That was truly frightening.”

“......”

Apparently, my acting was terrible, because the officers’ expressions grew even darker.

At this rate, those NPCs would see us as nothing more than a psychopathic father-and-son pair.

Judging from their faces, if they made it out of this officers’ meeting alive, they would go around telling everyone that the Commander’s son was a deranged psychopath.

In that case, I might as well contribute to that impression.

It was too late to repair my image with my level of acting ability.

Besides, leaving a strong first impression would make these officers behave themselves around me in the future.

“My mother told me a lot about all of you.”

As I spoke with a bright smile, several of the more timid officers jolted in their seats.

It was probably because my face was still covered in blood.

“Starting from this side... You’re Uncle Josef, correct? I heard you took very good care of my mother. And beside you is Uncle Luigi.”

I began with the pro-Hayden officers, meeting each of their eyes as I greeted them one by one.

“I heard you were an exceptional marksman. I wonder whether Uncle Franz has gotten married by now. Mother said Uncle Moland was always wonderful at listening to her worries, and that she was grateful to him. And...”

This time, I turned toward the pro-Daphne faction.

My eyes met those of their leader, who had been watching me with a complicated expression.

“She said that although Uncle Anton appeared cold on the outside, he truly loved this zone. I heard Uncle Max was close enough with the ordinary soldiers to speak with them without formality. As for Uncle Bartom, whom she called the most honest person... Ah, I see he has passed away. And she often wondered how much Uncle Radu’s child had grown. I’m so happy to finally meet all of you after hearing so many stories.”

I clasped my hands together and spoke as though I were genuinely delighted.

“I know everything about all of you—your families, your relatives, the dogs you raise in your yards, and even your neighbors! So I hope we will get along well from now on.”

After finishing, I smiled politely at them.

The fingertips of the pro-Daphne officers began trembling faintly.

I had no idea why even the pro-Hayden officers had gone pale.

***

Inside the ordinary soldiers’ barracks—

“Hey, did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“They say Major General Meursault shot Lieutenant General Bartom dead during yesterday’s officers’ meeting.”

“What?”

Tallulah, a soldier who had been lying around the barracks with a bored expression, sat upright.

“Then what happened to Major General Meursault? Attacking a superior is a serious crime.”

“He was confined to quarters.”

“He shot his superior and only got confined?”

“But Lieutenant General Bartom was in the wrong.”

“What the hell did he do for people to say he was in the wrong even after being shot dead by his subordinate? And during an officers’ meeting, no less. His Excellency must have been there too.”

Apparently deciding this was not something to discuss loudly, the first soldier lowered his voice.

“From what I heard, Lord Haydam forgave Bartom for acting disrespectfully, but Bartom didn’t even say thank you. So Major General Meursault shot him.”

“You shoot a superior because he didn’t thank you? Is that man a psychopath?”

“Oh, it wasn’t Meursault he failed to thank. It was His Excellency’s son.”

“Then he deserved to get shot.”

The moment he heard that the target had been the Commander’s son, Tallulah’s attitude changed completely.

“That bastard Bartom never knew the difference between honesty and rudeness. I wanted to shoot him a few times myself. But His Excellency had a son?”

“Apparently. He’s been married to Lady Daphne for over ten years, so it would have been stranger if he didn’t.”

“There were rumors that his son was still young and had been raised in secret because it was dangerous. I guess they were true.”

“Hey, but the son is even more incredible.”

“Why?”

“He’s only about ten years old, but when a man was shot dead right in front of him, the only thing he cared about was the blood that splattered on his face.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous. He was probably too shocked to react.”

“There’s more, so listen, you bastard. After that, he smiled brightly with his face covered in blood and called every officer by name, one after another. It was like he was saying, ‘I know everything about all of you, so don’t try anything.’”

“That’s fucking terrifying... But where did you hear all this?”

“I heard Lieutenant General Max told everyone the moment he returned from the meeting.”

“That man still can’t keep his mouth shut. At this rate, Major General Meursault will shoot him too.”

“Oh, and apparently, starting next month, they’re going to invite the child soldiers to a meal once a month.”

“Out of nowhere?”

“The young master said he wanted to eat with children his own age.”

“Is he already trying to build his own faction? If that’s true, he really isn’t ordinary.”

“That’s what I’m saying. He’s definitely not ordinary. Hey! Loner!”

The veteran soldier looked toward a junior soldier at the back of the barracks and called out teasingly.

“What are you going to do? Starting next month, you’ll have to eat with the psychopathic young master.”

At the back of the barracks, the soldier called Loner was cleaning his gun.

Darling Outsider—Stay-at-Home-Wife—let out a faint chuckle.

‘That guy used his head because he wants to meet me.’

Since T-Bastard had successfully completed the Illegitimate Child route according to plan, all that remained was for him to pull Stay-at-Home-Wife out of this miserable barracks and promote him.

‘But will T-Bastard actually keep his promise to me?’

Stay-at-Home-Wife still did not know that T-Bastard was Dopamine Addict, so he was honestly a little uneasy.

T-Bastard had clearly promised to summon him to the mansion and give him a position as a close aide, as long as he wasn’t completely useless...

“Hey, this bastard’s senior is calling him, and instead of reporting your name and rank, you’re just standing there grinning?”

“Seriously, this useless piece of trash. Come here and take your beating.”

“Ah! I’m sorry, sir!”

Darling Outsider.

Just as Dopamine Addict had predicted, he was completely useless.

***

“—And that is the rumor about Lord Haydam currently spreading throughout the zone.”

After hearing the rumors about me from Meursault, I was considerably shocked.

“When you put it like that, I really do sound like a psychopath.”

“It isn’t exactly inaccurate.”

Meursault, who apparently intended to speak the truth even if it killed him, answered without hesitation.

“No matter how one looks at it, calmly reciting people’s personal information with a smile after watching someone die in front of you is not normal.”

“No matter how one looks at it, you’re even less normal for suddenly pulling out a gun and shooting someone.”

Despite my retort, Meursault merely gave a faint smile.

“But how did you think of reacting like that in the moment?”

He seemed to have realized that my behavior during the officers’ meeting had been calculated.

“To be honest, I expected you to panic. I was also rather looking forward to seeing it.”

This bastard?

“Meursault, you were the one who told me not to let them look down on me.”

A deep smile spread across Meursault’s lips at my answer.

For a moment, he almost looked proud of me.

“That is correct. You did well. Although rumors have spread throughout the zone that Lord Haydam is a psychopath, His Excellency was extremely pleased with you, so there is no need for concern.”

“Are you sure that means I don’t need to worry?”

For reference, I had started speaking informally to Meursault.

Since I still held no official rank, I had to address him politely in front of others, but I had been told that I could speak comfortably when we were alone.

Not by Meursault.

By my father.

“By the way... You did that deliberately, didn’t you?”

“What are you referring to?”

“Shooting Bartom right there. Because you committed an act of insubordination, the sudden revelation that the Commander had a son was completely overshadowed.”

That was right.

Normally, people would have gossiped about me as the Commander’s “illegitimate child” for quite some time.

But at the very moment my existence was announced, a major general had summarily executed a lieutenant general.

A hidden child of the Commander, whom most people had never met, was hardly as stimulating as a shooting incident between superior officers they had seen every day until yesterday.

Neither the Commander nor Meursault had told me, but there must have been an agreement between them.

If anyone acted disrespectfully toward me during the meeting, Meursault had permission to shoot them dead.

This incident would damage Meursault’s reputation.

But what mattered to him was not his reputation.

It was making me the Commander’s successor so Daphne could finally be free.

Meursault looked impressed by me once again.

“I thought this during the meeting as well, but you possess remarkable political instincts.”

Of course I did.

It wasn’t as though I had served as the Commander of this zone only once or twice.

“Don’t ever do something like that again.”

“You need not worry about that matter either. His Excellency and I had already discussed it beforehand.”

“No, Meursault.”

He seemed to think I was saying this because I was worried about him.

That was an excessive interpretation.

There was only one reason I was telling him never to do it again.

“They’re all going to become my soldiers someday. I don’t want to lose even one of them.”

“...Is that what you were thinking?”

Perhaps the words sounded deeply moving, because Meursault looked at me with more emotion than I had ever seen from him before.

I merely considered manpower precious.

“Come to think of it, I heard you intend to hold a banquet with children your own age.”

“That’s right.”

“How may I assist you?”

Neither I nor the Commander had asked him to help, yet he was the one who offered first.

He was acting even more favorably toward me than before.

Then again, he was an NPC whose ultimate goal in life was to create a family.

It made sense that he would be pleased to see me value human life.

In any case, the work would become much easier with Meursault’s help.

Taejeong was supposed to help me inside the mansion, but he currently seemed overwhelmed simply learning how the household worked.

This was perfect.

“I’m going to prepare the banquet food myself.”

“Cooking... A classic method of winning people’s hearts.”

Meursault’s analysis that cooking was a classic method of winning people over was entirely correct.

People generally interpreted someone who gave them food as being friendly toward them, and they naturally came to like that person in return.

But what if you did not merely give them food, but personally cooked it for them?

And what if the person cooking held a far higher rank than they did?

Then they would feel respected.

Just as they developed affection because they perceived goodwill, they would begin respecting the other person because they felt respected themselves.

What I needed most right now was not obedience.

It was respect.

That way, when those children grew up and heard about the Second Apocalypse, they would not doubt my orders or consider them unreasonable.

Meursault knew nothing about the Second Apocalypse.

Still, he probably understood that what I needed most at present was people, so he seemed pleased by the idea of winning them over through cooking.

“Then what shall I do? Choose the menu? Assist with the cooking? Where should we begin?”

Meursault asked enthusiastically.

I smiled as I answered.

“Hunting.”

“...Pardon?”

I looked beyond the zone’s walls, where alien monsters must have been swarming, and spoke cheerfully.

“Let’s start with hunting.”

“...So we’re beginning by procuring the ingredients. Understood.”

For some reason, Meursault sounded as though he were answering through clenched teeth, but I ignored it.

There was a reason I absolutely had to leave the inner zone and go hunting this time.