F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 166: Commander

"Soldiers, I have gathered you here for something important..." Evelyn speaks while looking at all of us. I look at her, still full of doubts about this girl.

"Gallian, any problems?" a comrade asks me quietly as I shake my head no and turn my attention back to our "commander," who still seems suspicious to me.

"My...teammates here have discovered angels, and by analyzing the map and their formation, I have deduced the area where they will appear in a few days. It’s an area where traps have already been set."

"So when this squad returns, we will gather a group of...220 soldiers and go wait on standby in this place to catch any angels we find." She says something surprising.

No one had noticed that angels were already around here. That starts murmurs among the ranks, but Evelyn stamps her foot hard on the ground, calling everyone’s attention.

"Be quiet and wait for me to give you permission to speak..." she says with a serious tone as I see three girls arriving. But one of them alerts everyone immediately—an angel—causing everyone to stir before Evelyn raises one of her hands.

"These three here are my companions. They are Eve, Syl’Vyr, and Faye. I know the ’race’ of two of them might be something some of you have doubts about, but I’m sure the skilled ones here can tell they aren’t exactly what they seem."

"However, I will not give you answers. You just need to know they are our allies. And Faye is an angel, but she is not an enemy. She will be the healer who will use healing magic to cure soldiers wounded in battle."

"Syl’Vyr is a mage and Eve is a swordswoman who will also help in the battles we have ahead. What matters here is not their race, but what they will do for us." She gives a whole speech that sounds good in theory, but we’ll see the results in practice.

"Does anyone have any questions?" She lets us speak, and I am the first to raise my hand. She looks at me and rolls her eyes.

"You again?" When she says that, everyone looks at me, but I am not intimidated by it. If I have doubts and she allowed me to ask, then I will take the chance.

"How many enemies will we have? You said you already found angels, but where exactly will we fight and how many are there? Also...kill or capture them?" I ask a very valid question, and she, as commander, cannot refuse to give this kind of information.

"...We have 100 to 150 enemies, more or less. It’s not an exact number, but it’s within that range. We will fight them in this area here..." She opens a map and lifts it, showing a large red circle in an area of dense forest.

’Dense forest...that’s good for us since it hinders the angels’ flight...’

"In this place we have steel net traps. They will make flight impossible when activated, so the angels will be forced to fight... And about killing or capturing...we’ll do...both."

"We will...fight to kill, and capture only those we can..." When she says this, I notice something. She always seems to hesitate when we talk about killing.

"You are our general. Do you happen to see a problem with killing our enemies?" I ask while she stares fixedly at me.

"No..."

"Have you killed before?" I continue asking questions.

"That depends on what we’re talking about, but I believe I can say yes. I have killed something before..." She dodged the question.

"Animals and monsters don’t count, General. Have you ever killed an angel before?" When I ask that question, she falls silent, while that Eve girl stares fixedly at me as if she wants to hit me.

"I have never killed an angel..." When she admits that, murmurs start all around. Our commander, the person who will lead us, has never even killed one of our enemies.

"...SILENCE!" Before the murmurs can grow louder, she speaks with great authority, silencing everyone. It reminds me a lot of Esther, and everyone really did stop.

"What does it matter if I have never killed an angel? Unlike you pathetic commoners, I am a noble. Why would I need to dirty my hands with the filthy blood of low-class winged rats?"

"I have no obligation whatsoever to explain myself to you. I give orders and you obey. That’s all there is to it, understood?"

"..."

"I SAID, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yes, General!" everyone says as she regains control of the situation. I see this as not bad, though the fact she has never killed an angel is problematic.

But everyone’s thoughts turn in one direction: she is a noble. She really must have never needed to fight in the war, and if she never fought in the war by choice, naturally she would never have killed an angel.

’Hmm...’ I decide to ask one last, more practical question.

"General, what will we do with the bodies of the slain angels?" All the soldiers around quickly understand why this question is being asked. If she says something like bury them, it means she doesn’t have the mentality of a leader. What kind of leader shows such kindness to our repugnant enemies?

"...First, I want to inform you that to fight our enemies, I will take the best of the best! There are two thousand soldiers here, and I need 220 of you for this mission."

"We will ambush the angels, and we must prevent them from escaping at all costs, so naturally you can attack to kill them... We will take some resources from the camp to wait there."

"And when all this is over, we will take the captured prisoners to my mansion. The underground prison can hold up to 500 prisoners, but we will hardly have that many."

"So I want after this mission for everyone here to start cutting down the trees near this camp so we can build housing here with wood. I will also help cut down trees with you and help with the building."

"I am a novice artisan, so I will also build relics for us to use in our missions, among other things. And I will create separate control posts where I will give some of you better functions..."

"During the fights, you need to cooperate and listen to my orders. No rebellion or insubordination. I know what I am doing, and even if you don’t like me, your lives are still in my hands, and I will keep you alive as best I can."

"I will alternate between living here with you and living at the mansion and—"

"General, please answer my question." I interrupt her. She is dodging my question.

"..."

"What will you do with the corpses, General?" The soldiers’ anxiety grows. The more she retreats, the less reliable she seems.

"I want you to collect the corpses. I will dismantle their bodies and use their flesh, feathers, and wings to make puppets to fight alongside you and to help improve the village’s defenses... In short, think of it as me building golems from the bodies..." When she says this, everyone is shocked.

It’s not the answer we expected, but soon most are relieved, and even I approve. It shows she has a better strategic vision than I expected.

"I thank you for—" I try to thank her for the answer.

Slap

Before I can finish my thanks, she comes up to me and gives me a strong slap that echoes through the area.

"You are being far too bold with all these questions, and you even dared to interrupt me. Are you trying to undermine my authority?"

"No, General—"

"Did I ask you to respond?"

"..." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"You will come with us. You will be on the front line of attack against the angels." She gives me the most dangerous part of this mission. I just nod my head in acceptance.

"Dismissed. I want the best gathered here in one hour at most so I can prepare you for the fight. And you, Gallian, start bringing all the weapons and armor to this place. By yourself. Also bring part of the supplies we will take." She turns her back and starts to leave with those three.

"...Man, she hates you," a comrade says, patting my shoulder as he speaks, and everyone starts to leave.

"Yeah...I think she hates me..."

...

...

...

I enter an empty tent, collapsing to the floor exhausted from pretending. My heart races as I start to break out in a cold sweat. Eve, Syl’Vyr, and Faye enter, not finding all my acting strange.

"Evelyn-sama, are you all right?" Eve asks, understanding what I was trying to do.

"I-I’m...fine... Just...I feel sick... It’s nothing to worry about..." Having to speak so naturally about killing others and dismantling their bodies makes me nauseous because it makes me imagine myself doing it. Dismantling the body of a sentient being is different from taking apart a monster’s corpse.

"L-Lyn, are you really going to do that?" Faye asks with a somewhat hurt expression. She is still an "angel," so it probably isn’t nice for her to hear that I’m planning to do that to other angels.

"I will... I need more puppets..."

"Evelyn-chan, that’s kind of..."

"Kind of what, Syl’Vyr?" Eve interrupts Syl’Vyr, who gives her a dirty look. I stand up, looking at the three of them, realizing only Eve agrees with what I will do.

"Y-You’re not on my side?" I ask, looking at Faye and Syl’Vyr with hurt.

"Evelyn-chan, it’s not that we’re not on your side. It’s just...it’s strange. It doesn’t suit you, you know? You are so kind and hardworking... But seeing you planning to do something you would never have done before seems unnatural." Syl’Vyr tries to explain, but it doesn’t seem much better.

"...Get out."

"What?"

"Get out, Syl’Vyr and Faye. Get out of here. Go outside and do something. I’m busy. I need to plan the fight." I expel them. They both look surprised until Eve steps in front.

"..." They realize that, in my view, this was about choosing a side, and only Eve chose my side. They both end up leaving to avoid a fight while Eve hugs me.

"I understand you, Evelyn-sama. The other two don’t understand because they are new. They are not against you. They just haven’t seen how they treated you in that castle, how insecure you were about your safety..." Eve comforts me while I say nothing.

"They just don’t understand what your struggle to survive is..." Eve calms me with her words. She is right. She understands that I need this to survive in this dangerous world.

"Th-Thank you, Eve..." I give her a little kiss on the cheek, then turn away, embarrassed at being so weak.

"I-I am going to plan a few things. You can stay here... But I need quiet to concentrate..." I murmur as I pick up the map to look for other blind spots and places we can hide for the ambush.