The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 11: Alea Iacta Est by Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki

Author:Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki [Zen, Carlo and Shinotsuki, Shinobu]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yen On
Published: 2023-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

“It’s no longer a matter of what I’d like to do. Ildoa forming an alliance of armed neutrality with the Unified States takes them from acceptable risk to a nonperforming loan for the Empire.”

General Zettour would’ve let them slide if they were nothing more than a bomb that would never go off. The risk of a possible explosion was about as much as he could tolerate from their ally.

However, was this the case if they were going to put pressure on the general’s timeline? Time was of the essence, and the Empire didn’t have a moment to spare.

“We don’t have time. This is our biggest problem, Colonel. The most I can do is continue our struggle, even if it is in vain.”

Despite knowing this wasn’t something he could say aloud, for the Empire to take the initiative—even if it was only to lose—it would have to prioritize defusing this bomb while Deputy Director Zettour was the only man on watch. It was the same as tearing down wooden houses in the path of a raging fire. Another problem was that the necessary pieces hadn’t fallen in place yet. If Ildoa was going to make itself a nuisance on this front, it needed to be dealt with, even if it meant overturning the entire warfront. Sometimes, planned destruction was the only way to avoid collapse on a larger scale.

This was why a dispassionate General Zettour continued down this path. Leading the army was his job, and he would see to it.

“It is hard to accept Ildoa’s self-righteous raison d’état. We need to fix their misunderstanding that this is an ordinary war. This is a world war, Colonel… This is a world war.”

As his nation’s leader, he was advancing the plot his country would follow in an all-too-natural manner.

The words left his lips in a cloud of smoke.

“You know about his plan too, I imagine.”

“I’m not sure what you are talking about, sir.”

“The Ildoa attack plan Rudersdorf had you craft while he was still alive. I read through everything he had filed away in that little safe of his… Don’t try to play it off like you don’t know about it.”

He shot the colonel a glance like a test proctor. Realizing he couldn’t feign ignorance, Colonel Lergen capitulated.

“My assumption is that it was a front-loaded attack plan…”

As far as Colonel Lergen could tell, the Empire’s power was depleting at a rapid rate. Even worse, they would have to cross the mountain range on their border to make it to Ildoa. It was clear to him that the fight needed to end quickly. The Imperial Army was in no condition for a follow-up attack. They needed to end the fight in a single decisive blow if they wanted any hope for victory.

“My guess is that the attack would be a gamble. One that placed our bets on speed and took past mistakes into consideration.”

“That’s a wise guess, Colonel. It’s almost exactly what Rudersdorf had in mind.”

General Zettour grinned as he confirmed Colonel Lergen’s conjecture.

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