Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

Schneizel nodded in return, then lowered his hand from his chin, sat up, and took a deep breath.

"Tsk, why are you suddenly interested in military affairs?" he muttered to himself. "I admit that you're a bit inferior in domestic affairs, but in this regard, it's better to leave you a seat in the audience."

"Alright! Please be quiet!" Schneizel raised his voice, then turned his gaze to the two servants at the door. "Turn on the monitors!"

Soon, an electronic display screen appeared in front of the closed door of the conference room. As the snowflakes dissipated, Lieutenant Colonel Caronville, sitting in a chair, and Colonel Cary, standing beside him, appeared before everyone in the other world.

"Good evening, Your Highness..." Caronville's voice sounded weak and listless.

"Is there anything we should be aware of, Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Your Highness... The city was swarming with enemies that day, and a whole bunch of warplanes were dropping weapons on us... The vanguard has suffered heavy losses; only about two thousand men are still capable of fighting, and that doesn't even include those who can't pick up a gun..."

"This is outrageous! What have you done?" At the conference table, Maren, as always, was the first to lash out. "Yesterday's report only mentioned 600-plus casualties, how did it become such a mess today?"

"Major General!" Kari interrupted the lieutenant colonel, "The lieutenant colonel hasn't neglected his duties; we've been doing our best to maintain the front line for the past dozen or so hours. But, quite unexpectedly, we lack air combat units, and our intelligence is very limited. We can't figure out how many troops the enemy has deployed outside the city. It seems they are far more numerous than us..."

"Don't plead for this kid!" The major general was still furious after hearing his old subordinate's words. "If you ask me, these cripples from outside the Empire should be thrown into those bomb craters to pave the way for our triumphant return!"

"Enough! Marendor!" Schneizel seemed to have had enough of the major general's temper. "Lieutenant Colonel, do you have any new battlefield footage you want to release? If you think it can help you avoid getting scolded."

“Ah…no problem, Your Highness.” Caronville picked up the tablet.

……

Battlefield images flashed and changed on the screen, and there was a murmur of discussion in the conference room. However, if you looked closely, you could see that some people in the room would occasionally be startled by certain scenes on the screen, their pupils would dilate, and their shoulders would even tremble. The sudden falling shells, the fleeting enemy planes, and the tanks that ran rampant on the road were all scenes that moved everyone.

"So, this is what happened to you today?" Schneizel's expression remained unchanged.

"Yes, Your Highness. We are facing an even more difficult situation than yesterday. Although we still have enough supplies, we really lack the confidence to withstand their next offensive. If we don't send more fresh troops, the landing site..."

"Wait? You just said the next wave of attacks?"

"Ah...ah, yes, for some reason, the enemy suddenly stopped their attack around 18 p.m. today. We are still cleaning up the battlefield and dealing with the aftermath."

"Heh, how interesting..." Maren sneered and wiped his mouth. "Since the 'vanguard' is fighting so fiercely, then, Your Highness..."

The major general lowered his head slightly and turned his body toward Schneizel.

"Could you allow my troops to set off through the portal right now to relieve the vanguard and give them a good rest?" The major general's face was full of arrogance. "Although my legion will be here in District 11 for a while, I currently have the 41st Army Group with nearly 100,000 men at my disposal. Taking this wretched place will be a piece of cake."

“No need to rush, Marendor.” Schneizel waved his hand dismissively and smiled. “The vanguard still has a lot of potential to be realized. If you try to seize their positions now, you’ll only be forcing them to grow faster.”

The prince's insightful answer immediately raised a question mark on the major general's face.

“Ahem, Major General.” Dr. Flock, who was sitting next to him, reminded him first, “I understand. His Highness’s implication is: Are you ready? For example, with a map or something? If not, the vanguard will give you some time.”

"Ah, ah cough cough cough..." The major general raised his eyebrows, concealing the slight embarrassment on his face, and then turned to look at the display screen.

"Oh, it's nothing, Kari. Have you figured out the situation in this city? I don't want you to lead us astray!"

“We can send the map over immediately, but…” Colonel Kari looked somewhat troubled, “If I may be so bold, I would like to ask first, have any of you participated in the war against the EU?”

The colonel's words suddenly caused the nobles and generals to look at each other in bewilderment.

"Let's not even talk about how you and I went together to drive those Siberian rabble out of their homeland." The major general's mouth still didn't stop. "So what if we fought the EU? Are we supposed to bring back all the legions from Europe to save the day? Kari, did you have this little brat next to you rip your brain out?"

“No, no, no…” Kari shook his head. “What I’m trying to say is that we’ve identified the city we’re taking, and its name might be familiar to you.”

"what?"

"Its name is BERLIN!"

"What!--"

The meeting room erupted in chaos. Of course, the nobles who had never fought against the EU were still filled with confusion.

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant Colonel.” A general wiped his large nose, his eyes somewhat glazed. “Yesterday you told us that our enemy speaks English, which is nothing. But I’d like to ask, why does our new enemy have a city with the same name as our old friend? Do you think we only remember that the capital of the EU is Paris?”

“Let me say something,” Caronville said, pursing his lips. “I know this is somewhat difficult for everyone to understand, but please calm down, because we both feel that this matter is not so simple.”

Suddenly, a Britannian soldier's information sheet appeared on the screen; his name was William Styler.

"Please take a look, everyone. I have found this sergeant, who is the only one under my command. He grew up in the German province of the EU. Today, when he came to report on the battle situation to me, he told me something very strange."

Immediately afterwards, two color photos replaced the removed information sheet, appearing on the upper and lower halves of the screen.

In the photograph above, a mother stands in the center, bending down to stroke the head of a brown-haired boy beneath her. Behind her, on a bustling street, a grand city gate with six rounded stone pillars spans the air. At the very top, four silver-white warhorse statues gallop before a similarly silver-white chariot. The goddess of victory stands atop the chariot, holding aloft a scepter, the Iron Cross and wings at the top of which gleam in the sunlight.

The layout of the street in the photo below is very similar to the former, but the street appears extremely dilapidated, and the scene is much more somber. Scattered shell craters and patches of charcoal dust are everywhere. Several infantrymen in Britannian uniforms are accompanying an armored vehicle through a city gate—a city gate almost identical to the one in the photo above! The only difference is that the statue at the top is missing, as if it had been removed by someone or destroyed in the war.

The conference room bubbled and gurgled like a pot of confused air. Schneizel, sitting at the head of the table, also began to look somewhat doubtful. But what puzzled him most was that Odysseus, the eldest prince who knew nothing about military affairs, seemed to be very interested in the classical city gate in the picture.

"When Sergeant Steller came to see me today," the lieutenant colonel continued, "he gave me two photos. The top one was taken when he was a child in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, within the EU. The bottom one was taken yesterday evening in this 'Berlin' area. And according to our review of enemy maps and reports, we can confirm that this gate is also called the Brandenburg Gate..."

……

……

"He also mentioned something to me. The sergeant doesn't recall seeing a palace-like building near the Brandenburg Gate in the EU. But here stands a rather imposing building. I don't think we might have accidentally sent a portal to the EU… but…"

"Heh, calm down, everyone." Schneizel raised his hand, trying to calm everyone down a bit. "No need to rack your brains over this. You can just find someone to answer this kind of question."

His Highness raised his voice.

"Lieutenant Colonel, do you know that some soldiers nowadays have more influence than the Knights of the Round Table?"

“Ahem…” Caronville chuckled sheepishly, immediately understanding the prince’s meaning. “I was just about to request that a prisoner-of-war interrogation video be sent over…”

……

The screen now displayed a dimly lit room. A table, two stools, and slivers of sunlight streaming in from the window were presented to the audience.

Section 30, Chapter 18: New History and Old History

The image shifted a few times, a slender hand gripping the edge of the frame and moving it to the left. Clearly, it was a video recorder on a table.

A female military officer wearing glasses walked in front of the camera, bent down, looked at the video camera from left to right, and then turned and walked away.

"It's adjusted, Lieutenant Colonel."

"Yes, bring that person in." On the left side of the screen, Caronville slowly walked out and nodded to the female officer.

The lieutenant colonel approached the table and calmly sat down. Immediately afterward, there was a loud, ear-piercing creak of the door hinges. The female officer, who had just turned and left, led a soldier in a green uniform with his hands handcuffed to the table and pressed his buttocks onto a stool.

"Now, please sit still, sir." The female officer slightly raised her chin, casually tossing a few words at the soldier as she drew her pistol from her waist and easily pushed the slide.

"Don't overthink it; history can't be made in an interrogation room."

The soldier didn't say anything, straightened his chest, swayed his shoulders, and leaned back in his chair.

“No need to be so nervous, beautiful.” The soldier turned and smiled at the female officer. “I’ll just sit here and not go anywhere. Let those guys by the door take a nap. I’m not a VIP…”

In an instant, the female officer's strong hand grabbed the soldier's head with lightning speed and dragged his neck backward.

"Hey! Lefel!" The lieutenant colonel seemed to be getting impatient.

"Alright." The female officer sighed, but didn't let go immediately. She slammed the soldier's forehead onto the table with a loud thud, then withdrew her arm.

“Hmm, this guy’s got a tough head.” Lefel straightened up, gripped his gun, and coldly watched as the soldier slowly climbed up from the table, lightly wiping his forehead—a tiny, inconspicuous bloodstain remained between his fingers.

“OK, let’s begin.” Caronville took a deep breath.

"Remember this: we all speak English. Don't try to fool me with your attempts to make things up in the encyclopedia of mother tongues."

The soldier nodded.

"What's your name?" the lieutenant colonel began to ask formally.

"Aitani Davis".

"age?"

"32 is old."

"What's the name of this city? Spell it out."

"...Berlin." The soldier hesitated before answering.

"What's the name of that thing on the east side that looks like a city gate?"

"...Brandenburg Gate." There was still a slight hesitation before giving this answer.

“Hmm, very good.” Caronville nodded, took two pieces of paper from his pocket, one in each hand, each with a small colored square on it, and held them up in front of the soldier.

"Which of these two flags do you pledge allegiance to?"

Everyone in the conference room remained silent. But no one noticed the sudden change in the eyes of Odysseus and Schneizel, the two princes of the empire.

Schneizel frowned, desperately searching his memory, because one of the flags in the picture seemed vaguely familiar.

A dark blue rectangle was squeezed into the upper left corner of the flag, with what appeared to be some small white dots inside—or rather, tiny stars…

The remaining area is filled with horizontally arranged red and white stripes.

Odysseus's reaction startled the general beside him. He sprang up from his chair, his eyes gleaming like an eagle spotting its prey. His arms, which had been lazily draped over the armrests, suddenly clenched into fists and slammed onto the table—a gesture he would never have made in previous military meetings!

Schneizel was also taken aback by his sudden and intense reaction. The second prince withdrew his gaze from the display screen and turned his head toward Odysseus.

"Why are you suddenly so agitated..."

……

……

……

Before he could get distracted, the actions on the screen drew him back in.

“This striped square, right?” Caronville asked. “So, what’s the name of your homeland? Please give it the full name if possible.”

"The United States of America, abbreviated as USA, you can just call it America."

On the screen, Caronville was stunned.

As if time had stood still, not only on the screen, but the entire conference room suddenly fell into complete silence...

"America? He just said 'America'!" The words echoed in the minds of everyone present.

America, that is, "the Americas".

The two continents occupied by the Britannian Empire are called the Americas! This is a massive cloud drive (over 10,000 books) compiling the latest popular books from Feilu's bestseller list and other Feilu and Hedgehog Cat novel resources from across the internet.

This book is for exchange and learning purposes only. The copyright belongs to the original author and publisher. If you like it, please support the original version.

In another world, there was a country whose name contained the word "America," the same word as the sacred empire's homeland! This was like a suffocating poison to any of the empire's nobles, delivering a fatal blow to their minds and souls!

How absurd and ridiculous it would be if such a fact were made public!

Schneizel suddenly felt a headache coming on. He leaned back in his chair and covered his forehead with one hand.

……

"Are you alright? Do you need some water?" On the screen, the soldier with the surprised look in his eyes moved his lips slightly and uttered a playful remark.

“Ahem, that’s enough, let’s get back to our story…” Karonville took a few breaths, trying to hide his embarrassment. “So, you’re now defending your homeland, this city called Berlin?”

"Defend? The motherland?" The soldier was starting to get confused. "Are you kidding me? When did Berlin become American? This is the capital of a country called Germany, and now that country has been defeated by us, we're managing the security here... Dude, were you just dug out of the ground?"

“Germany?” Caronville ignored the last insulting remark, as it was not a valid point of interest.

"yes……"

"Don't try to fool me, sir. Are you sure it's a country called 'Germany' and not 'German Province'?" The lieutenant colonel lowered his head slightly, narrowed his eyes a little, and his pupils seemed to glow with a terrifying red light, like a sharp dagger pressed against the soldier's nose.

But the soldier seemed unfazed by the aggressive look, instead playfully raising his eyebrows and slightly covering one eyelid.

"Did you really come from some third-rate comic book?" The soldier shook his head, raised his voice, and looked away with a contemptuous laugh. "A 'Third Reich' that has spent the last six years clearing cemeteries across the territories of its neighbors, and you call it a 'province'?"

……

The lieutenant colonel suddenly drew a gleaming pistol and pointed it at the soldier's forehead!

"I'll ask one last time! This place really isn't called the German Province?! And you're a prisoner of war! You'd better behave yourself in front of your master's gun! I don't need circus clowns to liven things up!"

The soldier seemed to be frightened, raising his handcuffed hands and turning his head around.

"OK, whatever you say goes... Well, if you kill me right now, I don't think what I said will become a lie."

The lieutenant colonel was expressionless at first, but then suddenly smiled and put down his pistol.

"Thank you for your honesty, soldier."