Chapter 51

The Truth

In truth,

there was something Anton had overlooked before meeting privately with Darling Outsider.

He had mistakenly assumed that the boy with the ridiculous name “Darling” would readily open his mouth.

It was not that Anton had underestimated him merely because he was young. Rather, the child soldier was already infamous throughout the unit for constantly using Haydam’s name to show off, so it could hardly be called an unreasonable mistake on Anton’s part.

According to what Anton had heard, merely mentioning the first syllable of Haydam’s name was enough to make the boy excitedly launch into tales of his adventures with Haydam—stories whose truthfulness was highly questionable.

And yet, here he was in front of Anton, pretending to be some amnesiac patient with an absurdly convenient story.

Ten-year-olds these days are truly terrifying…

Haydam was like that, and so was the boy before him.

Neither of them revealed the slightest opening.

Haydam had probably ordered him to keep everything concerning his past tightly sealed, but…

Fortunately, Darling Outsider had clearly reacted differently when he saw the photograph Anton had shown him.

The person in the picture was none other than Luna Moon.

If he lived with Haydam in the slums, he should recognize Luna Moon’s face.

Anton had introduced the woman in the photograph as his hidden daughter, expecting that it would draw some kind of reaction from the boy.

In order to extract the truth from Darling, Anton had gone so far as to claim that Haydam’s deceased mother was his own secret daughter.

“What is it? Do you perhaps recognize her?”

Darling had frowned while looking at the photograph, so Anton had hoped that he had recognized Luna Moon and felt offended.

However, Darling Outsider’s subsequent response was rather anticlimactic.

“This isn’t a photograph. It’s a picture of a portrait.”

As he spoke, Darling pointed at the frame surrounding the portrait shown in the photograph.

Of course, no actual photographs of Luna Moon remained. The image Anton had handed him was a photograph he had taken of the portrait that had been gifted to Haydam.

“Is that truly what matters right now?”

“Then what does matter? Anyway, your daughter is beautiful.”

Darling casually handed the photograph back to him, leaving Anton increasingly confused.

Does he truly know nothing about Haydam’s past?

Anton wondered whether he had recognized Luna Moon but was merely pretending otherwise.

However, Darling Outsider showed no discomfort whatsoever at hearing Anton claim a woman with Luna Moon’s face as his own daughter.

Unless she was genuinely someone he had never seen before, that indifferent expression was not something a child could convincingly fake.

That left only one possible conclusion.

After a long silence, Anton spoke.

“You truly have not known Lord Haydam for very long.”

“What? You finally believe me?”

“Yes. I have decided to believe you. I would rather not imagine that there is another child like Lord Haydam.”

“……? Right. Sure.”

Darling clearly had no idea what Anton meant, but he nodded anyway, pretending to understand.

If that too was an act, then the boy was even more frightening than Lord Haydam.

Anton decided that further conversation would be meaningless.

“We will end our discussion here. I will have you taken back to your barracks before it grows too late.”

“No, that’s all right. The barracks where I’m staying aren’t far from the abandoned church, so I can walk.”

Anton had been about to offer to escort him to the entrance.

Instead, he fixed Darling with a sharp stare.

“How do you know that?”

“What? Know… what?”

“Where we are.”

Anton had deliberately passed through the slums and blindfolded Darling before bringing him to this secret location.

It was not because he wanted to hide the meeting from Haydam.

Haydam would have immediately realized that Anton had taken him.

Anton had concealed the meeting in case any other officers from the pro-Daphne faction saw them.

They still did not know that Anton had one foot in Haydam’s camp.

And they could not be allowed to know.

Therefore, Darling Outsider should naturally have had no idea where this place was.

Darling scratched the back of his head and muttered,

“Oh. Was I not supposed to let you know that I recognized it?”

“What are you…”

Anton frowned, then suddenly realized something extremely important.

“Wait. If you know about this place, then Lord Haydam must also—”

There was no possibility that Haydam did not know something this child knew.

The moment Anton shot to his feet, the tightly shut door was violently thrown open.

A small foot, apparently the one that had kicked it, appeared first.

Then its owner walked inside.

Haydam Goodman.

Haydam’s gaze immediately went to Darling Outsider.

With his usual impassive expression, he looked the boy up and down.

“You look unharmed.”

Anton’s face filled with bewilderment at Haydam’s appearance.

He had known Haydam would discover the meeting, and he had never truly intended to hide it from him.

But I never imagined he would know about this place as well.

This secret chamber beneath the abandoned church had once been used as a bunker by the former Commander-in-Chief.

Only the former Commander-in-Chief and Anton’s direct subordinates knew of its existence.

Even Daphne does not know about this place.

Anton suddenly remembered how Haydam had known even the name of the newborn puppy next door to his house, and a chill ran down his spine.

When Haydam had claimed to know everything about them, he had not been bluffing.

“Is kidnapping children the final thing you intend to do before retirement?”

Haydam’s voice snapped Anton back to his senses.

“…Kidnapping? We merely had a conversation.”

“He looks healthier than I expected, but his appearance doesn’t exactly suggest that you merely talked.”

Darling Outsider’s clothes were indeed in complete disarray because he had panicked and attempted to escape immediately after seeing Anton.

Anton clicked his tongue softly.

“It is a misunderstanding. The moment he saw me, he apparently imagined something unpleasant and caused an enormous commotion…”

When Haydam’s pitiful gaze fell on him, Darling Outsider suddenly began spewing nonsense.

“N-No! He threatened me! He kept telling me to tell him the truth! I didn’t even want to come, but he dragged me here by force!”

“Wh-What?”

What kind of bastard is this?!

Anton had treated Darling with considerable kindness, so he was rendered speechless by the shameless accusation.

Haydam, however, showed no agitation whatsoever as he addressed Anton.

“Ah… don’t worry. I know better than anyone that this bastard is pathetic. Seeing how bold he’s acting, you must have treated him quite kindly.”

“……”

It was fortunate that Haydam did not suspect him.

However, Anton found it increasingly impossible to understand why Haydam kept someone like this at his side.

Darling Outsider began grumbling beside them in a dissatisfied voice, but Haydam lightly ignored him and asked Anton,

“But did you truly miss your son’s graduation ceremony because of this idiot?”

“That child would not have cared whether I attended or not.”

“……”

“Judging by your silence, I suppose that really was the case.”

“Plato did not seem particularly disappointed, but…”

It was not especially surprising to hear that his son had not missed him.

Then Haydam continued.

“Anton, you will regret missing today for a very long time.”

“I will?”

“Your son’s graduation speech received a standing ovation.”

A standing ovation?

Anton had heard that his son Plato had quite a number of followers.

However, most of them were younger cadets who did not understand Plato’s true nature.

As far as Anton knew, the graduating cadets in his own year regarded him as a freak and preferred not to associate with him.

Why would those graduates give Plato a standing ovation?

A sudden feeling of foreboding came over Anton.

“May I ask… what was his speech about?”

At that question, a catlike smile appeared on Haydam’s face.

In that instant, Anton instinctively knew that his ominous premonition was correct.

“Ask your son yourself if you’re curious.”

“Lord Haydam! Don’t tell me you interfered with my son’s graduation speech!”

Anton asked in shock, and Haydam replied with an infuriating smile.

“That’s why you should have attended your son’s graduation ceremony.”

A few hours earlier, at the graduation ceremony.

“Respected Lord Haydam, and all you ordinary graduates.”

Despite beginning with such an ominous opening line, the speech that followed was fairly conventional.

“It is a tremendous honor for me to stand here as the representative of the graduating class, even though we have many outstanding cadets among us—including Cadet Lucas, who left us with the memorable declaration that anyone who assumes defeat without even trying has no right to attend this academy, and Cadet Bones, who insists that he alone was not fooled by Lord Haydam’s acting.”

Hmm…

No.

Perhaps it was not that conventional after all.

Even from the stage, I could see Lucas and Bones trembling as they clenched their fists in the front row.

The Commander-in-Chief, seated beside me, had his eyes closed and one hand over his mouth, apparently trying to suppress his laughter.

Still, the graduation speech that followed was ordinary enough.

“Today, we stand at one of the most extraordinary moments of our lives. It is a precious occasion on which we celebrate the dedication and effort that brought us this far, while offering our hopes and blessings for the journey ahead. During our years here, we graduates have…”

Even the principal, who had been sweating nervously, relaxed when he heard the more conventional content that followed.

Plato continued delivering a stale, predictable graduation speech for quite some time.

For about five minutes.

“Through this academy, we have learned many things and grown into better people. However, everyone here knows that this opportunity is not granted to all.”

This was where the actual subject I had wanted him to address began.

I glanced at the Commander-in-Chief.

He was watching Plato with interest, his chin resting on one hand.

But what is this man really thinking?

Even after being told that the apocalypse would arrive in ten years, he seemed strangely relaxed.

Was it because the apocalypse was not something that could be prevented merely through effort?

Or had the warning not yet felt real to him?

Perhaps he seemed so calm because he trusted me, a regressor, too much.

There were ten years left until the Second Apocalypse.

To me, who had experienced it merely as Phase One of a game, ten years felt frighteningly short.

However, to the Commander-in-Chief, who had spent the past decade searching for his lost lover and child, ten years might have seemed like more than enough time to prepare for the end.

While I was lost in thought, Plato continued his speech.

“Only a small number of privileged children are permitted to enroll here. I would like to use this opportunity to say that, for the future of the Cola Sector, this must change. From now on, the academy should admit every eleven-year-old child—not only the children of a few officers or those fortunate enough to receive their sponsorship.”

The audience erupted into murmurs at Plato’s declaration.

Of course they’re confused. Plato, of all people, is telling them to give up their privileges.

The reason I had chosen Plato’s graduation speech to introduce this proposal was simple.

It was rare for the academy’s graduates, their parents and sponsors among the officer corps, and the Commander-in-Chief himself to gather in one place.

Of course, there probably were not many people who would take such a declaration seriously when it came from a child who had only just graduated.

But what I was trying to create was an atmosphere.

An atmosphere in which the Commander-in-Chief would be forced to grant his reluctant approval.

There were now approximately nine years and nine months left until the Second Apocalypse.

Even if we began pushing eleven-year-olds into the military academy immediately, they would barely finish its six-year curriculum in time to undergo two or three rounds of practical training.

Opening the academy to everyone without discrimination was a backup plan I had devised because the residents of this sector would never believe me if I suddenly announced that another apocalypse was coming.

It was obvious that if more people were to survive, we needed more elite soldiers.

That was also why I intended to take only a small force on the upcoming subjugation campaign.

Rather than waste troops meaninglessly, I wanted to put them through additional training and transform them into genuinely useful combat personnel.

Of course, it would have been faster to ask the Commander-in-Chief directly instead of using Plato.

However, I needed to preserve the final reward from the three-reward strategy for when I made him get divorced.

There were also advantages to using Plato.

If the Commander-in-Chief, who had never attended the military academy, personally declared that every child would be admitted without discrimination, the backlash would have been severe.

But it felt entirely different when the proposal came from Plato, the academy’s top graduate.

Furthermore, Plato was the son of Anton, the leader of the pro-Daphne faction.

The officers of that faction, who benefited the most from the current admissions system, would be left uncertain whether they were supposed to support or oppose Plato’s proposal.

And with that slippery old fox Anton absent from the ceremony, this was the perfect opportunity to obtain the Commander-in-Chief’s approval without obstruction.

If the proposal passed, I could also push Stay-at-home Wifey and Taejeong into the academy when they turned eleven next year.

I didn’t coordinate this with the Commander-in-Chief beforehand, but by now he should have realized why I set all this up.

My plan was extremely simple.

Plato would use his graduation speech to demand mandatory military-academy enrollment for every eleven-year-old child.

While the privileged beneficiaries of the current system were confused and unable to decide how to react, the Commander-in-Chief would reluctantly approve the proposal.

It was a very straightforward plan.

Though I still have no idea why I needed to come up onto the stage for something this simple.

At that moment, Plato’s eyes met mine.

Why was I making eye contact with someone who was supposed to be facing forward while delivering his speech?

He had stopped looking at the audience and was staring directly at me.

I have a bad feeling about this.

No sooner had I thought that than Plato’s next words struck me squarely in the chest.

“Some may claim that giving everyone an opportunity would lower the quality of the academy. But everyone, please look at Lord Haydam.”

Every person listening beneath the stage turned to look at me.

What the hell was this bastard planning to say by dragging me into it?

“There is not a single cadet here who is unaware that Lord Haydam recently achieved two overwhelming victories in the academy’s training simulations. However, there is one fact that none of you know.”

The graduation hall filled with murmurs at the suggestion that there was something they did not know.

Bones and Lucas were also staring toward us, wondering what Plato was talking about.

“You seem to believe that Lord Haydam was raised in the Commander-in-Chief’s residence and received a proper education…”

The words that came from Plato’s mouth did not disappoint my worst expectations.

“Until recently, Lord Haydam was an orphan wandering through the slums.”

The smile vanished completely from the Commander-in-Chief’s face—the same man who had gone so far as to shoot Lieutenant General Batum dead to bury the truth of my origins.