Happiness Comes Knocking!

Happiness Comes Knocking!

"So, sir, you came to surrender?" Having quickly recovered, Bolt instinctively asked. Yet as he spoke, his eyes stared uncertainly at John ahead of him.

There was no other reason. In his understanding, those who could join the Empire's air force and become commanders of Mage Soldiers were mostly graduates of the Empire's military academies.

Such people had received the Empire's harsh education since childhood. Loyalty had practically been carved into their bones.

For the sake of the Empire, they could stop at nothing, and they did not fear even death.

Otherwise, the Mage Soldier corps would not have been known to the outside world as the Demon Corps.

And the Seventh Air Force led by the Empire's White-Haired Demon General, Dormammu, was unquestionably an elite unit within the Imperial Air Force. The selection of its commanders was even more stringent.

Therefore, even after hearing John's apparent willingness to defect, Bolt showed little excitement. Instead, he could not help suspecting that the man before him had some other scheme in mind.

"Surrender? Heh, you think far too highly of yourself. If I hadn't been set up, how could I, John Maslow, have fallen to this state? With me and the thirty Mage Soldiers under my command, let alone a tiny trench like this—even on the frontal battlefield, without an Anti-Magic Device, you Allied Forces would be nothing but moving targets!"

John sneered disdainfully, watching Bolt ahead of him furrow his brow, seemingly growing angry.

He knew that his words had successfully caught the other man's attention and left this dead fatso with the deeply ingrained image of a tough guy. If he kept belittling the Allied Forces, there was a good chance things would backfire.

So the cunning Warrant Officer John promptly stopped while he was ahead. He sighed to himself instead, putting on a helpless expression as he lamented:

"Still, even someone as gifted as me has to admit that blades from friendly forces often wound more deeply than enemy bullets. As you can see, Colonel Bolt, after receiving the mission assigned by the Empire to infiltrate behind Allied Forces lines, I understood from that very moment that my foolish superior had no intention of leaving me a way to live."

"This made me begin to think and doubt whether the education I had received in the first half of my life, and the vow I had once made to study for the revival of the Empire, held any meaning at all."

"Was an Empire so rotten truly still worth staking my life on?"

"Before setting out, I had thought about and struggled with this question more than once."

"Until, along the way, I caught sight of the soldiers' lost eyes, and the moment they kept opening their pocket watches to look at photographs of their families, giving them one final kiss."

"Then I realized that all of this was wrong."

"They should not have to sacrifice their lives on meaningless missions for the infighting of those damned politicians. Nor should they die in pain and despair for the lie called glory fabricated by those damned nobles."

"So, at the moment I became the sinner who would drag these pitiful soldiers into the mire called death with me, I finally woke up."

"They should not die for the lies of those vile politicians, much less be dragged by me toward empty death."

"Compared with the Empire, now rotten and crumbling under the corruption of a pack of filthy nobles, the Allied Forces, dedicated to justice and peace, might be a more correct choice for these lost soldiers."

"So, carrying that conviction, I stopped them from carrying out that foolish suicide plan."

"So, I laid down my weapons and my guard, and came alone to this battlefield."

"So, I had that captain find you. And the purpose of doing all this was to seek an answer from you."

Of course, every last word of that had been John talking out of his ass.

After all, from the moment John had transmigrated until now, less than two full days had passed. He had not even left two butt prints on the barracks benches. Where the hell had all those feelings about the Empire come from?

The only reason he had spouted so much nonsense was to build up his righteous persona.

So his colleagues would feel more recognition and respect for him, raising his value and helping him fetch a better price when he switched employers.

As for whether it worked, heh, did the Allied Forces soldiers before him, all staring at him in unison with admiration and respect in their eyes, not already prove it perfectly?

So, if you're smart, you dead fatso, hurry up and recruit me. As long as your terms aren't too outrageous, I guarantee I'll spill every classified secret related to the Empire, brother!

Quit talking nonsense and slap the employment contract right in my face. Please, slap it hard. Don't be polite with me, all right?

Feeling Bolt's scrutinizing gaze, John urged him madly in his heart.

But outwardly, he still met the man's gaze with a solemn and sincere expression, as though the status and power he could obtain after changing sides were no more than drifting clouds to him.

As though he truly were a good superior worried about the future of a group of little workhorses, and that was why he had done all this.

"So this guy really came to surrender?"

Listening to John's speech, Bolt's face remained as still as an ancient well, but a towering tsunami had risen within his heart, refusing to settle for a long time.

It was not that he had never suspected this was the other side's trap.

But whether it was the information on Mage Device scans his adjutant had just reported, or the verdict from the reconnaissance spell, every result showed that there were no Mage Soldiers above them.

As everyone knew, the explosive magic of Mage Soldiers was terrifying. Once activated, it could use mysterious explosive force to erase an entire hilltop in an instant.

But Mage Soldiers were not omnipotent either. Because explosive force had to penetrate deep into the earth and connect to the Stellar Core in the planet's depths before it could be extracted and transformed into an annihilating form, creating lava explosions capable of destroying everything.

Therefore, when casting, Mage Soldiers generally had to be above the target location, with deviations usually no greater than fifty meters. So if Mage Soldiers truly wanted to attack, they would inevitably expose their presence.

But Bolt had detected no Mage Soldiers now. Thus, the possibility he had initially suspected—that the other side was trying to stall with words while Mage Soldiers cast explosive magic and wiped them all out—did not exist.

So this guy really had come to defect?

And he had even brought thirty Imperial Mage Soldiers to defect with him?

"!"

Realizing this, Bolt's breathing grew heavy, and his mung-bean eyes widened to their limit.

The way he looked at John changed, as if he were looking at a ravishing beauty clad in fiery sheer gauze, waving constantly at him while letting out one seductive call after another.

His entire body began to buzz with uncontrollable excitement.

There was no helping it—these were Imperial Mage Soldiers!

They were the strongest military unit acknowledged by every nation in the world, one whose exact training methods the various Kingdoms had spent centuries trying to uncover without success!

It was precisely by relying on these unreasonable monsters that the Norman Empire had risen from a tiny country to the colossal behemoth it was today.

Even the Western Federation feared its terrifying military strength and had no choice but to form an alliance for self-preservation.

The combined strength of sixteen nations had been gathered in an attempt to halt the Norman Empire's advance.

And all of this stemmed from the Empire's Mage Soldiers, known as the Demon Corps!

Yet now, this military unit that could drive any nation in the world mad had, by a stroke of fate, fallen into his hands?

And through this Mage Soldier commander who called himself John Maslow, might he even be able to obtain the proper method for cultivating Mage Soldiers?!

What did that mean?

It meant that the day Bolt would be granted a marquisate and rise to the rank of prime minister had arrived.

If he dared to dream a little bigger, then even the king's throne was not something he could not sit upon!

"!"

The more Bolt thought about it, the more hurried his breathing became.

The intense thrill and excitement made him feel as though electricity were flowing through his entire body, instantly raising goosebumps all over him.

Even the erectile dysfunction that had plagued him for years seemed to have miraculously recovered at this moment.

At that instant, Bolt deeply realized something.

The young man before him was no prisoner at all. He was Bolt's godsend!

And one who had delivered himself right to his doorstep at that!

Accept him. He absolutely had to accept him!

Of course, Bolt had not been blinded by this happiness that had fallen from the sky.

Because he knew that before he truly obtained the specific method for cultivating Mage Soldiers from the other party, everything was empty talk.

After all, while the man's conduct did indeed resemble that of someone who had seen the world, it could not be ruled out that he was merely a down-and-out commoner in disguise.

If Bolt gave him benefits immediately, only for the intelligence department to later discover he was just a commoner, then Bolt's old face would be completely disgraced within the Allied Forces.

Still, there was no harm in first giving him a way out, settling this fellow in the trench, and slowly questioning him about the details afterward.

After all, I am not really here to defend this lousy trench. I am here to deal with the Empire's Black Eagle Special Forces.

But since it is already evening and the Empire has yet to attack this bait, then barring any surprises, they will probably act tonight.

And by then, I should have obtained the information I need from this fellow claiming to be a Mage Soldier captain. Whether he lives or dies will be no more than a matter of my thought.

Still, considering that he is the captain of those Mage Soldiers, killing him outright might easily trigger a mutiny among them. It would be best to spare the brat's life.

Anyway, as long as I get my hands on the core cultivation intelligence, no matter which road I take, my future will be bright!

In the span of a few breaths, countless thoughts turned over in Bolt's mind. Then his gaze fell upon John ahead of him once more.

But unlike his earlier scrutiny, this time his face was filled with a warm smile. He even spread his arms wide in an exaggerated gesture and called out sincerely to John:

"Ah, my dear Warrant Officer John, your sense of justice truly moves me. I never expected those damned Imperial bastards to persecute such an upright commander. It truly breaks my heart."

"But we Allied Forces are different from the Empire. Whether generals or soldiers, from top to bottom we stand united with a shared goal: to liberate all those who are still suffering oppression within the Empire. This is our eternal faith."

"So, Warrant Officer John, I can tell you clearly that your choice is correct. We Allied Forces welcome righteous people like you at any time."

"If you do not mind, please come with me to the camp tent so we can discuss this in detail. It would be best if you could call over your thirty subordinates as well."

As though he had imagined the scene of bringing those thirty Mage Soldiers under his command, Bolt excitedly licked his dry lips. His eyes stared fixedly at John ahead of him, his voice brimming with unprecedented excitement and anticipation.

"I believe we will certainly have very much to talk about, won't we, my dear John?"

(End of Chapter)