01x12 - How to Use a Victory

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T: Tanya Degurechaff, of the rd Aerial Mage Battalion.

T: I need to speak with General Zettour.

Gu: Oh, Major...

Gu: I'm sorry, but the general is away.

T: General Rudersdorf, then.

Gu: I'm sorry.

Gu: All the chief strategists are unavailable.

T: Is there some important meeting?

Gu: I believe they're at the beer hall.

T: The beer hall?

Gu: They were shouting about a victory toast.

Gu: I wish I could join them,

Gu: but you know how it is...

Gu: Did something happen?

Gu: Major Degurechaff...

Gu: No, nothing really.

Gu: She wanted to see General Zettour.

Gu: I told her he's probably at the beer hall.

Gu: Major Degurechaff.

Episode How to Use a Victory

Gu: I don't believe you take milk or sugar.

T: Correct. No, thank you.

Gu: Maybe it isn't right, after all.

Gu: Dallmayr to celebrate our victory.

Gu: It's used by the Imperial family.

Gu: Evidently, you visited General Zettour.

Gu: Your contribution to this victory has been incalculable.

Gu: If you have something you wish to say,

Gu: I'd like to hear your unfiltered opinion.

T: My unfiltered opinion, huh?

Gu: Is something...

T: It's true that our forces have earned a splendid victory.

T: The entire world has no choice but to pay attention to our gallantry.

T: For this one moment,

T: the Empire's glory and victory may be real.

Gu: This one moment?

T: Victory.

T: Such a tempting thing.

T: Naturally, everyone wants to savor a taste,

T: but why is Strategic HQ

T: not making use of this victory?

Gu: The major went to Strategic HQ?

V: From the way she was acting, she might have gone to yell at them.

Gu: Well, no need to worry.

V: But she's clearly different than usual—

Gu: Don't worry.

Gu: I can't imagine the major breaking the rules.

Gu: Right now, she's probably drinking wine in the banquet hall—

Gu: Well, maybe not.

Gu: Anyone have some lotion?

Gu: I got too much sun.

Gu: I think there was some among Warrant Officer Teyanen's stuff.

Gu: Not making use of our victory?

T: If you'll excuse my saying so, it seems to me that

T: our Strategic HQ knows how to win a victory, but not how to use one.

Gu: What does that mean?

T: I'm sure the members of Strategic HQ

T: are drunk on the sweetness of victory.

T: Of course, the soldiers who did their duty on the front lines

T: have the right to celebrate a moment's respite.

T: But if the officers who only guided the w*r's course

T: innocently revel in victory, that would be

T: a mistake and a dereliction of duty.

T: It would be a criminal failure to act.

Gu: Major, enough.

Gu: That's going too far.

T: Lieutenant Colonel, you were the one who asked my unfiltered opinion.

Gu: Even if Mars, the god of w*r, loves you, that is arrogance.

T: I'm afraid, sir, I don't believe that God loves me at all.

Gu: You are a rare officer, gifted with foresight and decisiveness.

Gu: But I suppose, at their core, people do not change.

Gu: Western theater forces filed a complaint about your attempt to disobey orders.

T: I simply tried to act within the authority I've been granted.

Gu: I know you aren't the kind of soldier who would disobey orders.

Gu: But the authority Strategic HQ gave you

Gu: wasn't intended to generate friction with locals.

Gu: You are free to be proud of your achievements,

Gu: but we cannot have you thinking you accomplished them alone.

Gu: The Republic has lost its capital.

Gu: Any further resistance is meaningless. And would be harmful, in fact.

Gu: What reason is there to continue the w*r?

Gu: A modern state uses its military to impose its will via violence.

Gu: Sacrificing the nation itself to continue the fight is madness.

T: You are completely correct.

Gu: Then why do you say that the w*r will continue?

T: If I may be permitted to give my opinion...

T: Generals Zettour and Rudersdorf are logical pragmatists,

T: highly skilled in political and military matters.

T: They are great soldiers.

T: As are you, Lieutenant Colonel.

T: Our Strategic HQ is a

T: powerful fortress of logic and knowledge.

T: And therefore, due to logical reasoning,

T: everyone believes the w*r is at its end.

T: But it must be said that this rationale is incomplete.

Gu: Incomplete rationale?

T: The members of Strategic HQ are far too rational.

T: And thus, they have completely missed the point.

T: Rationalism isn't the only thing that drives human action.

T: We are foolish creatures...

Gu: Are you saying that humans

Gu: are still beasts, lacking in reason?!

T: If I may be permitted to speak freely, then that is completely correct.

Gu: And what evidence do you have for this statement?

T: History.

T: I mean my own history.

T: My personal experience, but...

Gu: Tell me.

T: I have seen

T: the eyes of men, burning with hatred.

T: I have seen the moment when my talented men

T: gave in to anger and lost their reason.

T: I have seen a chain of revenge,

T: driven only by hate.

T: And so, I realized...

T: No, perhaps it's more accurate to say that I remembered.

T: I have personally

T: experienced an insane reaction against rationalism.

T: No matter how much we modernize,

T: no matter how social norms affect us,

T: humans are foolish creatures

T: who sometimes prize feelings over reason.

T: A human being who's overcome with hatred will keep struggling,

T: without regard for self-interest or reason,

T: regardless of what they may lose or gain.

T: That is why I cannot help but speak up.

T: We should not become intoxicated by a temporary victory!

T: All flames of hatred

T: must be extinguished.

Gu: E-Excuse me.

Gu: This information is still being verified,

Gu: but remnants of the Republican Army are active on the southern continent.

Gu: As a freedom-loving Republican citizen...

Gu: As a proud Republican citizen, I swear

Gu: I shall not lower my weapon until the day of victory!

Gu: My comrades-in-arms

Gu: lend me their power, as well.

Gu: The fate of the world rests on our shoulders.

Gu: And thus, I now...

Gu: As a member of the Free Republic, on behalf of my homeland,

Gu: I swear I will fight the Empire

Gu: until the end!

Gu: Didn't the Republic fall?

Gu: Damn it!

Gu: What are they doing?!

Gi: I can't reach Johann...

Gi: Will the w*r keep going?

Gu: This is the Imperial Army with your three o'clock w*r update.

Gu: We should go attack the southern continent now.

Gu: The remnants of the Republican Army, led by General Du Lugo,

Gu: Is it okay to let this drag out?

Gu: are calling themselves the "Free Republic."

Gu: They declare they intend to fight our Empire to the end.

Gu: How long will this go on?

Gu: I heard the w*r would be over by next Christmas.

Gu: At least, that's what I was told.

Gu: In the end, we'll barely get any break.

V: Back to the front lines like normal,

V: covered in mud and eating cold food?

Gu: "Extremely difficult battle. Little pay.

Gu: Spend your days in combat and unfathomable danger.

Gu: If you return alive,

Gu: you'll receive honor and glory."

V: The words on the recruitment poster?

Gu: Yeah.

Gu: Except for the last part, it was all true.

Gu: You seem upset.

Gu: You hadn't drunk for a while. Has it not left your system?

Gu: I'm told this Free Republican Army is steadily expanding its forces.

Gu: Survivors from the Allied Kingdom and the Entente Alliance

Gu: have begun to join them.

Gu: The peace treaty being drafted back home

Gu: has been sent back to the drawing board, obviously.

Gu: Ultimately, the problem

Gu: is our failure to defeat all of the enemy.

Gu: Now, our only choice is to send troops to the south.

Gu: Our military is army-based...

Gu: Any expedition crossing the sea will be under a heavy load.

Gu: We must send the minimum number of forces.

Gu: A small, elite force, huh?

Gu: Let's use that battalion, then.

Gu: Yes, you're right.

Gu: What?

Gu: No, I don't think it's anything.

Gu: We're all friends here.

Gu: What do you want to say?

Gu: Are we doing something wrong?

Gu: The deployment to the south

Gu: assumes that no other country joins the w*r.

Gu: If another does...

T: In a cursed world, engulfed by flames of w*r,

T: there was a nation known as the Empire.

T: With its vast military power,

T: talented strategists, and high mobility, it overwhelmed the Dukedom of Dakia,

T: the Entente Alliance, and the Republic.

T: Threats to its safety were removed, one after the next,

T: and everyone was overjoyed.

T: But that is why they could not imagine

T: how much the surrounding countries feared

T: the inception of a massive power in the continent's center.

Gu: I can't believe it...

Gu: Jeez, they should give up already.

T: The Empire went to such lengths to display the sharpness of its sword,

T: that it was incapable of imagining the terror that its sword inspired.

T: Of course, everyone wants peace.

T: So, to protect peace,

T: they take up their g*ns and

T: thrust themselves into battle, hoping to achieve it.

T: So that this cruel w*r would end,

T: everyone except the Empire wished

T: for the evil enemy called the Empire to be eliminated from the world.

T: Could there be any greater paradox?

T: Ironically, their desire for peace

T: caused the w*r's intensification, rather than its end.

T: It's true that

T: the U.S. is presently recruiting volunteer deployment units

T: to be sent to allied countries.

T: But you're the minimum age for volunteers, Mary Sioux.

T: You can take more time to decide.

M: No, I volunteer.

Gu: We're very happy you feel that way,

Gu: but if you go to the b*ttlefield, you may be hurt or even k*lled.

Gi: I'm prepared for that.

Gu: I'm sure that your mother and your late father

Gu: would want for you to live in a peaceful place.

Gi: I know that.

Gi: But that's why

Gi: I want to do what I can!

Gi: To protect that peace!

Gu: It appears you won't change your mind, will you?

Gu: I understand.

Gu: Then, make your declaration as you volunteer.

Gu: I declare that for sake of the peace I must protect,

Gu: and for sake of the family I love,

Gu: I will give my whole power!

Gu: To make a world where no one else has to experience the sadness...

Gu: of losing their family to the Empire.

Gu: And to enact God's justice!

Gu: I swear by my good heart, which believes in the Lord!

Gu: May the Lord's grace be with me!

Gu: Attention, everyone!

Gu: A message from the battalion commander!

T: Everyone, we've gone from an armistice to a sortie.

T: The brass just does whatever it wants.

T: But since it's our job, we have no choice.

T: We must follow our orders and crush the enemy.

T: But now, our enemy is the whole world.

T: There's no way to avoid a cruel w*r,

T: and no end to how long we must fight.

T: That is why I want to say once more...

T: If there is a God who rules this world,

T: it is a stern, solemn,

T: and infinitely good being.

T: A being that is far too great...

T: God keeps forcing us to confront these cruel fates.

T: As if those were the rules of this world.

Gu: We could only deploy two divisions and a support unit.

Gu: Even the Republic's local security force could handle that number!

Gu: If their allies start sending troops, too...

Gu: Orders for troops on the ground?

Gu: Already sent.

Gu: Upon arrival, our forces will maintain constant mobility at all times.

Gu: The enemy will split up to attack us, and we will defeat them in detail.

Gu: Major Degurechaff's rd Battalion will take point.

Gu: But with a force this size...

Gu: Even the major...

Gu: I believe that is quite a reasonable opinion.

T: Thus, I declare once more...

T: Oh, God...

T: I'll slice you into tiny pieces and feed you to the pigs!

R: But there's nothing...

R: nothing to worry about at all.

T: Our b*ttlefield is no place for that piece of sh*t God!

T: I think it's time we took over God's work.

T: We soldiers will take God's place.

T: Put the arrogant a*s, God, out of a job!

Gu: Yes, ma'am!

R: If I may speak freely...

R: She is a monster in the form

R: of a little girl!

T: All right, troops...

T: It is time for w*r!