Ensign John Has Great Wisdom!

"Hmm? Colonel Jett, you have a solution? Why not tell me directly?"

Hearing Dormammu take the initiative to ask, Colonel Jett stopped keeping everyone in suspense and smiled as he revealed the method he had just thought of.

"Yes, General. My method is actually very simple: a 'joint operation.'"

A joint operation—how had he not thought of that?

Dormammu immediately came to a realization.

A so-called joint operation was generally a mission that required a large number of personnel, yet due to unforeseen circumstances lacked senior officers to lead it. It required two commanders of the same rank to temporarily combine their respective units and carry out the mission together.

Though it appeared to consist of a chief commander and a deputy commander, everyone in the military knew that in a joint operation, the so-called deputy commander did not play much of a role and received relatively little credit.

After all, this position was usually prepared for noble offspring with deep backgrounds who had come to the military to gild themselves.

It was merely for the sake of appearances that the Empire's Military Affairs Department had given it the elegant name of a joint operation.

But compared with the overreaching decision Dormammu had issued earlier, a joint operation undoubtedly complied with military regulations.

If this were applied to John, then even if Dormammu's political enemies wanted to stir up trouble, they would not be able to find any fault with it under that justification!

This method clearly suited Dormammu's current needs perfectly!

"I understand, Colonel Jett. Your proposal is excellent. Then, what do you think about the candidate for deputy commander?"

"As for the deputy commander, I think this person must first possess considerable intelligence and adaptability. Only then can they keep up with Ensign John's nimble thinking. Otherwise, they would only become a burden to Ensign John."

"Second, this deputy commander must possess outstanding combat ability. After all, the chaos in Bahamut Town is plain for all to see. If a team has two commanders who need soldiers to protect them, that would undoubtedly make the mission more difficult."

"Not bad. That is indeed how it should be."

Colonel Jett spoke at great length, and after hearing him, Dormammu could not help nodding.

Clearly, Jett's words had earned his approval. From Jett's unusually diligent performance, he had also vaguely guessed that his capable subordinate had already chosen someone in his heart for the deputy commander position in this joint operation.

But for the sake of fairness, Dormammu added to the crowd,

"What Colonel Jett said is precisely what I was thinking. Therefore, if any of you have outstanding talents under your command who meet these qualifications, feel free to name them. So long as their abilities are suitable, I will consider them."

"..."

At those words, everyone's thoughts immediately became active, and they could not resist recommending their trusted subordinates to Dormammu.

Clearly, they wanted to use this joint operation to establish a connection with Ensign John, who was destined to rise like the sun at noon, so that their own careers could proceed more smoothly.

Thus, even several colonels who ordinarily did not like drawing attention to themselves threw away their pride and began putting forward applications.

Some even exposed the embarrassing incidents of other candidates in an attempt to prove that their own subordinate was the most outstanding person.

For a time, the entire command post became extraordinarily noisy, as though it had turned into a marketplace.

Yet just as everyone belittled one another, trying to seize a chance to participate in this mission by stepping on each other,

Colonel Jett's voice suddenly rang out from the crowd in the next instant.

"Ahem. Speaking of which, I do happen to have a suitable candidate here. And I believe that compared to the people all of you have recommended, my subordinate may be more suitable for carrying out a mission alongside Ensign John."

"After all, whether it is me, my subordinate, or Ensign John, we all come from the Imperial First Military Academy. So when it comes to tactics and orders, my subordinate should be able to coordinate with Ensign John better than anyone else, shouldn't he?"

"General, you should know that very well too, shouldn't you?"

"You mean... Hmm, that is indeed the case."

Listening to Colonel Jett's words, Dormammu seemed to recall something, and a trace of hesitation flashed through his eyes. If his judgment was correct, the soldier Jett spoke of—the one who had also graduated from the Imperial First Military Academy with John—should be the final descendant of the unusual Binote Family.

Likewise, she was someone upon whom His Majesty the Emperor had placed great hopes.

Though her abilities were indeed impressive, her shortcomings were equally obvious.

On top of that, there was her personality, which quite a few higher-ups had criticized.

Was it really appropriate to have her participate in John's mission?

Thinking of this, Dormammu could not help feeling worried.

But when his gaze swept over the baffled John, and he considered the two miracles this young man had created, it was as if he had thought of some possibility. His gaze instantly became resolute. No longer hesitating, he made the decision on the spot.

"Then the deputy commander for this joint operation will be selected by Colonel Jett. In addition, if any of you have objections, you may discuss them with Colonel Jett yourselves after the meeting."

"I believe he will give all of you an answer that satisfies you."

After saying that, Dormammu did not waste any more words. He cast a meaningful look at the utterly bewildered John, then moved past the subject and began discussing postwar governance in the remaining regions of Walden with everyone.

Only after two hours had passed did the meeting officially end. John, who had kept a stiff smile on his face the entire time, was surrounded by praise from the Empire's higher-ups as he left the command post.

After shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with every superior who had come forward to greet and flatter him, promising that he would definitely visit these esteemed officers when he had the chance,

John, having dealt with those bastards, used going to the bathroom as an excuse to make a piss escape.

He then made his way to the broad, deserted river behind the garrison.

Sitting on the grass by the bank, he stared blankly at the swiftly rushing river before him. The fake smile he had maintained instantly vanished, replaced by unprecedented gloom and despair.

He was truly stupid. Truly.

He had known that Colonel Jett, that bastard who had ruined his job-hopping plan, could not possibly have been holding in anything good.

Yet he had foolishly chosen to believe him.

And he had successfully fallen into the other man's trap, forced to accept this mission that was certain to kill him.

If he had known this would be the result, then when that old bastard Dormammu had forced him to speak earlier, he would never have put on such a show. Otherwise, he would not have fallen into his current predicament.

Nor would he need to confront the most dangerous existence in the game head-on.

Leaving him with no choice but to watch helplessly as he walked toward death.

At this moment, John had no doubt that his misfortune stat might have been pulled to its maximum by some hateful god the instant he transmigrated.

Otherwise, he truly could not think of any other reason to explain his current situation.

"Bastard! I only wanted to stay alive! Why, why is it so hard?!"

John lay sprawled on the grass in dejection, staring hopelessly at the blue sky overhead.

But after only a brief silence, he suddenly sat up and gritted his teeth as he slammed a fist into the grass.

Now that it had happened, regret was meaningless.

Although he did not understand why his flawless plan had failed again and again, sitting around waiting for death had never been John's style.

What was more, he knew how the script would unfold. In other words, no one knew better than him how to deal with the current predicament.

So long as he used his clever brain, John believed that everything could still take a turn for the better.

Even the freedom he longed for might not be impossible to obtain.

"Let me think. Think carefully." John's eyes flickered as he continually recalled the information related to Sellviya.

He tried to find a way to deal with that violent dragonkin girl from the scant background descriptions of her in the game.

But the more he thought about it, the more despair John felt.

There was no other reason: for a commander whose identity as an "Imperial lackey" had already been firmly established, her background was undoubtedly Deadly Class.

As a child, she had witnessed her parents being slaughtered by Imperial nobles. In her youth, she had been sold by slave traders to a madman at the Imperial Research Institute, where she underwent inhuman magical modification experiments. The friends she had finally made in captivity had ultimately died before her eyes in order to help her escape alive.

If John had suffered this kind of blow from family, self, and friends alike,

then after enduring such misery, he would surely hate the Empire to the bone just like Sellviya did.

Even though the great noble who had massacred innocents to claim military merit had already been ordered hanged after the current Emperor officially took the throne and the truth came to light.

The illegal magical modification experiments of that time had also been abolished by official Imperial decree.

And the Empire's former policy of dividing people into ranks according to race had now been completely prohibited, replaced with a unified status as citizens.

Still, the hatred accumulated within Sellviya would undoubtedly never diminish.

With her extreme personality, it was only natural that she would hate the Empire even more because she could not personally kill her enemies.

After all, it was precisely this bone-deep hatred for the Empire that had made Sellviya cast everything aside and join the Allied Forces the moment she encountered the game's heroine.

From this, it was clear that if John truly went to Bahamut Town as the so-called commander-in-chief of a joint operation to carry out this so-called suppression mission, and faced that monstrous dragonkin girl,

then there was no doubt that she would kill him immediately.

Before her terrifying strength—strength capable of shrugging off bullets, overturning an armored vehicle, and stomping it flat—John felt that all he could do was pray that she would leave behind a reasonably intact corpse beneath her dragon claws.

Damn it, wasn't this already a dead end, bastard?!

John irritably clawed at his hair, unable to stop lamenting inwardly.

Just as he hesitated over whether he should simply grab a bucket and run during the mission,

he suddenly caught sight of two little flowers growing side by side at the riverbank, and a devious idea instantly formed in his mind.

Wait, there seemed to be no need for him to go head-to-head with that violent dragonkin girl, did there?

After all, this was a joint operation, wasn't it?

Wasn't that muscle-crazed Jett going to assign him an assistant? He could completely have that unlucky bastard draw the fire!

"That's right! An unlucky bastard—an unlucky bastard!"

Reason seized the high ground of intelligence, and John's eyes widened instantly. His face was immediately filled with wild joy.

Believing himself to be the smartest man under heaven, he had now found a turning point in this certain-death situation!

Although this decision did not seem particularly friendly toward the person whose name and gender he did not even know, the person who was about to become his deputy commander,

Ensign John, who prided himself on being despicable and shameless, was not the kind of hero willing to sacrifice himself for so-called justice.

Feeling guilty afterward, burning some paper money for the other person during holidays, or helping look after their family would already count as a fit of kindness for him.

Besides, the other person might not actually die.

Considering the terrifying combat power that bastard Jett had displayed earlier, anyone under his command surely could not be a combat-ant-five weakling like John.

But none of that mattered. What mattered now was that he needed to think of a suitable excuse to avoid going to Bahamut Town himself and arrange for his deputy commander to lead people there alone.

Otherwise, when the supervisory forces reviewed the matter, he would surely be charged with neglecting his mission, sent before a military tribunal, and ultimately still unable to escape death.

Hmm, a reasonable excuse, an excuse...

Got it. The encirclement policy!

Couldn't he simply use the policy of encircling the town as his explanation?

That way, he would have sufficient reason to split up from that unlucky bastard. The other man could go to Bahamut Town as the sacrificial ghost and draw the fire of Sellviya, that violent dragonkin girl.

Meanwhile, John could head directly to the rural areas around the town, using the collection of intelligence and the dismantling of the local Kingdom nobles' influence over the Bahamut Town region as justification for his own actions.

Then, he would only need to wait for Sellviya to proactively clash with the troops led by that unlucky bastard, causing the mission to fail, before finally shifting the blame onto him.

Not only would John avoid being killed, he would not be implicated. Instead, he could emerge unscathed and even screw over that musclehead Jett hard.

That would avenge Jett for ruining his job-hopping plan!

And at the same time, he could lower Dormammu's opinion of him and achieve his original goal of lying flat!

It was a perfect decision that killed several birds with one stone!

A genius. Anyone capable of thinking up a plan like this had to be a genius!

"Hahahaha! Every move has been calculated, the advantage is mine, and victory is nothing more than something already in my pocket!"

The more he thought about it, the more flawless his plan seemed. John, convinced that he possessed great wisdom, excitedly sprang up from the grass.

But in his emotional excitement, he forgot that he was sitting beside a river.

His body staggered, and he immediately toppled uncontrollably toward the river ahead. His pupils contracted to the limit.

He suddenly remembered something.

He fucking could not swim!

"Before the army could achieve victory, its general died first. This time, I'm really fucking done for!"

Looking at the river that was about to make intimate contact with his handsome face, such a thought surfaced in John's mind.

But before he could hold his breath to reduce the water he swallowed and prepare to call for help afterward,

an inexplicable pulling force from behind him forcibly stopped his fall toward the river.

Immediately afterward, John felt his neck tighten, and his whole body was uncontrollably flung backward into safety.

Saved from death, John was both surprised and grateful. Without even having time to straighten his appearance, he immediately stood up, intending to thank this unknown kindhearted person.

"Whew, I'm saved. Tha—"

Yet when John looked gratefully at the kindhearted person before him, the instant he glimpsed the hair color of the girl standing with her back to him, the smile on his face froze.

It was a head of beautiful silver hair, stirred by the faint spring breeze and shining with captivating luster beneath the afternoon sunlight.

But this dreamlike scene did not make John feel the fluttering that a romantic encounter should have brought.

Instead, it made him feel an unprecedented chill from the bottom of his heart.

And it made him realize just how malicious this world was toward an unlucky bastard like him.