I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 110: With these five people, it's like a fish out of water.
"I have already reviewed your resumes, and they are all quite impressive. Therefore, I have great confidence in your abilities. The reason I called you all here today is simply to have a preliminary discussion with you so that we can prepare for the upcoming mission. Regarding this support mission for Faoken, I wonder if any of you have any thoughts?"

After a slight pause, John added:
"Please feel free to speak your mind. This conversation is just a private chat and will not be recorded or included in any formal military operations meeting, so there's no need to be so nervous."

"call!"

Seeing the crowd who breathed a sigh of relief because of his words, he had a strange bad feeling in his heart.

But John still steeled himself and turned his gaze to Barnapo on his left, saying in a deep voice:
"Captain Barnapo, as the only captain among all the company commanders, why don't you start by sharing your thoughts?"

"Reporting to the battalion commander, I personally believe this will be a very difficult support mission."

Upon being called upon, Barnapo did not flinch, but immediately stood up and expressed his opinion:

"To be honest, when I learned that I had been transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Legion and was to go to support Faoken Bay, my first thought was that I should buy myself a coffin in advance."

"After all, the intensity of the battle on the Faoken Gulf front is something anyone playing by the roadside in the Empire could easily understand by asking them."

"Moreover, under the cover of the dense rainforest of Faoken Bay, it is difficult for the magic soldiers' explosive magic to accurately hit the enemy's positions, and jungle warfare is what we are least good at."

"So to be honest, when I first heard that I was going to provide support, I was actually very resistant to this mission."

Excellent, this analysis is well-reasoned and hits the nail on the head.

As expected of the only captain among the five, Barnapo is truly something else!
Listening to the other person's analysis, John secretly praised them, but on the surface he still smiled and said:

"Oh, what changed Captain Barnapo's opinion?"

After saying that, John couldn't help but let out a narcissistic smile.

He felt that the other party must have been attracted by his glorious record.

He only applied to join the 1st Battalion because of his reputation for defeating the Allied forces three times.

After all, given his rank and experience, he is perfectly capable of serving as the deputy battalion commander.

How could he possibly risk his life to join, let alone become a mere company commander?
Hmm, not bad, not bad, Barnapo, you old rascal, you have a good eye...

"It's Commander Olaf's gun barrel, Battalion Commander."

Seeing John's stiff expression, and seemingly realizing he hadn't gone into enough detail, Barnapo added expressionlessly:

"At the time, Commander Olaf gave me a death order, saying that I had to go with you no matter what, or he would kill me on the spot."

"I submitted the application voluntarily in order to live a few more days."

"..."

John's smile froze completely, and he stood there motionless, as if he had turned into a stone statue.

The atmosphere fell into a deathly silence, but it was quickly broken by an uncontrollable laugh:

"Pfft!"

Looking in the direction of the sound, one could see Marda Ivanov, the only female officer among the four lieutenants.

She had lowered her head quite far, and her short, golden hair, reaching her ears, fell down under the force of gravity, obscuring her face and making it impossible to discern her expression.

But her bright red ears and constantly trembling shoulders clearly spoke volumes without her words.

Seemingly realizing she hadn't been able to control her laughter, Martha quickly pinched her thigh hard while making a pained expression on her face, trying to excuse her impulsive behavior:

"I'm so sorry, Battalion Commander, I suddenly have a stomachache, boohoo, haha!"

But in the end, upon seeing John's face, which was almost turning green, she couldn't help but burst out laughing again.

"idiot!"

Seemingly speechless at having been stuck with such a foolish and funny woman, Martha was standing next to a thin, high lieutenant named Lunepo Antony, with slicked-back blond hair, but with small, narrow eyes and prominent cheekbones, making him look somewhat gloomy.

He immediately and impatiently pushed up his glasses with his middle finger.

Then, with his arms crossed, he whispered a sarcastic remark at the grinning Martha.

Upon hearing this, Martha immediately became displeased, her smile vanished, and she slammed her hand on the table, glaring angrily at Lunebo:
"Lunebo, you bastard, who are you calling an idiot?"

"Is it wrong for anyone who responds to be insulting them?"

"You bastard, do you want to die? Let me tell you, I've put up with you for a long time. I haven't even settled the score with you for stealing my credit last time. If you've got the guts, come out and have a go. See if I don't teach you a lesson!"

"Fools are always so self-righteous!"

"You're the idiot, your whole family are idiots!"

……

"I'm doomed, I'm doomed, I'm definitely going to die!"

Meanwhile, as Martha and Lunepo were arguing fiercely, in the corner of the conference table, a short young man named Iguodala Gehrman, with naturally curly brown hair, was hugging his knees, his face pale, trembling in his chair, watching Martha and Lunepo argue with fear.

Looking at the fear that was almost overflowing in the other person's eyes, John had no doubt that if someone suddenly pulled him from behind or made a face and suddenly screamed, it would be a disaster.

This lieutenant, who looks extremely timid, might just faint on the spot.

Honestly, how did this cowardly guy survive the brutal battlefield?

Furthermore, what about his record of single-handedly killing 1631 Allied soldiers and occupying enemy trenches alone without supplies for three days until reinforcements arrived?
The supervisory forces do not help people falsify their resumes, do they?

John was plunged into deep confusion and bewilderment.

"Marda, go and beat him up! I've had my eye on that kid Lunebo for ages. If you can beat him, I promise I'll treat you to drinks later!"

"Lunebo, you too! You're a man, how can you lose to a woman in terms of momentum? Anyway, you're going to be a scapegoat in Faoken in a few days. You're going to die sooner or later, so what's there to be afraid of? Just beat her up!"

Seemingly enjoying the spectacle, Lieutenant Miles, with a full beard, shifty eyes, and a lewd expression, immediately fanned the flames with glee.

However, a pair of shifty eyes kept glancing at John, who sat in the head seat.

I wonder what kind of plan he was having.

So, things really did develop in the worst possible direction, just as I had predicted?

"Having these five people is like a fish out of water!"

Looking at the noisy conference room in front of him, which resembled a bustling marketplace, Major John, who could see through everyone's true thoughts, couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

But after noticing that Martha and Lunebo seemed to be really about to get into a fight, they realized that Martha and Lunebo were about to start arguing and fight.

He suppressed his frustration and irritability, then abruptly stood up and slammed his hand heavily on the conference table in front of him:

"Oh!"

"That's enough, shut up!"

As John's cold, sharp voice rang out from the meeting room, everyone who had been arguing or complaining stopped and turned their attention to John.

Before they could even consider whether their plan to deliberately make a fool of themselves and be replaced had worked, John's cold laughter slowly reached everyone's ears:

"Gentlemen, in your eyes, am I, John Maslow, a fool?"

"I'm curious, just how arrogant do you have to be to come up with the naive idea that as long as you deliberately play dumb in front of me, you can incur my displeasure due to your respective personality flaws and be screened out as substandard products, thus humiliatingly but effectively avoiding this appointment?"

"!"

Upon hearing this, the lieutenants, whose thoughts had been seen through, immediately lowered their heads guiltily or fidgeted with their fingers, none of them daring to meet John's gaze.

Seeing everyone's reactions confirmed his suspicions, John became even angrier.

He looked at the group of traitors in front of him with a mixture of anger and amusement, wanting to point his finger at them and curse them as cowardly cowards.

But when he thought about how he was in an even worse position than them at the beginning, he lost the urge to blame everyone and instead sighed.

Then, under the astonished gazes of everyone, he calmly began to speak:

"I have seen what you are thinking through your performance, but I will not criticize you for it."

"After all, this mission to support the Gulf of Faoken is indeed quite difficult."

"No, 'difficult' is not enough to describe the danger of this mission. After all, any normal person would know that this is tantamount to suicide."

"It's normal to feel resistant to a mission that is almost certain to result in death because of the fear of death. After all, nobody wants to die, not even me."

"But I have a reason to win this war. Therefore, if I want to achieve this goal, I must ensure that my five company commanders will obey my orders without question during the mission and lead the Empire's fearless magic soldiers to carry out the mission I assign with absolute force!"

"These are the subordinates I need, not five people who have lost their dignity as Imperial soldiers in order to shirk their mission!"

Facing the ashamed or embarrassed expressions on everyone's faces, John slowly pulled five blank application forms from his file folder, tossed them onto the table under the silent gazes of the crowd, and then calmly began to speak:

"I don't need subordinates who are outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant, therefore, I will not force you to comply."

"These are five application forms. If you decide to withdraw, write your names on them. In ten minutes, I will write down the names of those who withdraw and remove them from this task, and select someone else to participate."

"You only have this one chance. Whether you stay or leave is up to you."

"I'm going out for a smoke. You all have time to think this over. I hope you won't make a decision you'll regret!"

After saying that, ignoring Barnapo's hesitant expression, John walked out of the conference room without looking back under everyone's gaze.

"Squeak!"

……

(End of this chapter)