Saga of Tanya the Evil (幼女戦記)

The tea I promised.

My, my. You have excellent taste.

From our Ildoan friends?

We must be grateful for our allies' friendship.

For the moment, at least.

Once again, I thank you for your support.

Well done, as always, Lt. Colonel Degurechaff.

You did everything you possibly could to support the main offensive.

I simply threw my soldiers' lives into the enemy's gaping maw.

No talent was needed on my part.

Which implies that the fault lies with the man who gave the order?

A fascinatingly biting remark, that.

In my position, it's best for me to respect formality and say nothing.

You never change.

You never, ever change.

I believe in myself.

And I always follow my own path.

Rather than entrust my fate to people like Being X,

I believe in my own right to make decisions.

As a person living in modern times, I take pride in that.

I hate to interrupt our fancy tea party, but I have bad news.

Andromeda has failed.

Th-They weren't able to make it past the southern cities?

They didn't even make it that far.

They were able to make a lightning strike all the way to Josephgrad,

but then their supply lines broke down.

And the Federation Army strengthened its defenses.

They can't go any further.

Then the resource-rich areas we were targeting...

They'll never make it.

This story is a work of fiction. People, organizations, locations, laws, names, etc. have no relation to any real-life counterparts.

I'm surprised.

General Rudersdorf doesn't fail like that often...

He didn't get the supplies he needed, I assume.

The railways department did the best they could, it seems, but...

So I was right, and we just didn't have enough supplies at all?

That is my assumption.

Not enough men, not enough food, not enough ammunition.

While I was at HQ, it was my job to make things work with what we had.

I heard that you were sent here after an argument with High Leadership.

Correct.

Do the people back home not know the truth?

Lt. Colonel...

The Empire is addicted to victory.

It's almost sad.

We must be victorious in the battles within.

And for that, we're going to have to learn to do the unpleasant.

Sir, you do mean...

If we're to be able to focus on the east,

we must be victorious in the battles to the west, as well.

By the west, are you referring to the western air war?

A little further to the east than that, actually.

I knew it...

I'd rather not shoot my own allies if I could avoid it, but...

I'm going to ask you to be my co-conspirator.

If I may, I am a soldier of the Empire.

I am a part of a military organization, and I have a duty to follow lawful orders.

I cannot betray my duty.

Doing so would be treason against both the army and the Imperial family.

I will fulfill my duty.

Neither a yes nor a no, huh?

Wonderful.

Any other answer, and I would have been forced to kill you.

You seem to be laboring under a misapprehension.

Well, whatever.

First, you need to see what it's like back home.

See the reality of the Empire.

Episode Seven Purgatory

June 29, Unified Year 1927

We're here!

Time for leave!

Lieutenant Colonel Degurechaff!

Welcome back!

Colonel! You've returned as well, I see.

The Rerugen Combat Team is on leave back in the capital.

It makes sense for me to be here.

You're right.

Everyone! I've prepared a resort for our leave!

May I speak to you, Lieutenant Colonel?

Major Weiss, prepare the leave certificates and coupons.

Lieutenant Serebryakov, prepare the cars.

Ma'am!

I will now distribute your leave certificates and coupons!

Everyone, line up!

I trust them completely, but...

It's necessary.

For now, let me tell you three things.

Yes, sir.

First, Strategic HQ and High Leadership are in an uproar over

who takes responsibility for the failure of the large-scale offensive in the East.

The army is being asked for the impossible again.

"End the war immediately. With an incredible victory."

I see. Then we need complete air superiority in the east.

And that's the second thing.

The air situation in the west has badly deteriorated.

We're looking at pulling back forces not just from the east,

but the southern continent as well.

It's that bad?

And one last thing.

We may have you do an air raid on another capital.

A direct strike on Londinium?

No, not there.

Another strike on Moskva, then?

No, Lieutenant Colonel.

Your target will be...

No, I won't say it here.

You won an incredible victory during Operation Iron Hammer.

At the time, I was part of the peace negotiations in Ildoa...

That was the real goal.

If only those damn politicians would've accepted the military's peace proposal.

So if we want to change things, we need to wake up the politicians?

Imperial Strategic HQ

Lieutenant Colonel Degurechaff.

I've come to receive new orders.

It's been a while, Lieutenant Colonel.

I'm glad to see you're doing well.

It seems you're doing well too, sir.

I keep getting stuck with more useless work, but yes.

You did excellent work in the east.

Still, I apologize for my unit's difficulties during Project Andromeda.

We can skip the formalities.

No matter the reason, the fact that I failed doesn't change.

And that's why I want your honest opinion as a frontline officer.

Yes, sir.

At a minimum, we managed to reorganize the battle lines.

But that's not enough.

Merely stopping the bleeding won't be enough to win.

Over the long term, we may be forced to make unavoidable decisions...

Stop.

I'm not Zettour.

I don't have his bad habit of enjoying long speeches during debates.

Your conclusion. I want your conclusion first.

Sir, I am simply a mage and a lieutenant colonel.

I completed the strategy curriculum during training,

but I've spent too long on the front lines.

Your conclusion, or you leave the room.

Choose.

All right. I will defer to your preference.

I see no way to win this war.

No one on the front lines understands how command intends to fight this war.

How do we intend to end it? Do we have any practical plan to do so?

Are we to destroy the enemy's field army?

Occupy their important cities?

What is our goal?

What goal is the Empire, as a nation, pursuing?

Victory.

"Victory"? But to end this war, what kind of victory are we to—

Victory.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

So...

The military's only been ordered to bring "victory"?

Correct.

Is that... so?

So High Leadership is incapable of even coming up with a concrete objective?

Correct.

But that's ridiculous...

Correct.

If it weren't for the fools who deprived us of the option to quit,

this war would've been over a long time ago.

We can cry. We can pray. But that will not change.