Abyssus Abyssum Invocat

by Carlo Zen

  The Feldgendarmerie must have been conceited.

  Those types do exist. There’s no doubt because I know idiots who make a mess of things due to the difference between studying a language and actually speaking it. Even though I worked in HR, I had to struggle with the same issue. We had to be able to speak English or we couldn’t do our jobs. There are so many people who brag they’re good at languages even though they couldn’t score that many points. And the parade of idiots who then fail to communicate in the language they’re supposedly good at is never-ending. It was so sad I always wanted to scream, Know your limits!

  “In that sense, it’s really great that we have Visha.”

  Tanya nods emphatically in response to Weiss’s remark and responds with “Indeed.”

  Near-native ability in a language might seem vague and difficult to grasp from a pure data perspective, but when someone can comprehend an essential point, you can really tell the difference.

  I never thought I’d be tormented by language issues during a war. Geez, the people who thought to build the Tower of Babel and the god who destroyed it can all eat shit. Anyone driving up communication costs is an enemy of society.

  A question from Serebryakov, however, sends Tanya’s righteous indignation out the window. “But, Colonel, may I ask why you want Lieutenant Grantz to do the interrogation?”

  “What?”

  “The subtleties of emotion appear in more than just words. I realize you’re busy, Colonel, but if we could capture those subtleties, wouldn’t it be better to have you with me?”

  Lieutenant Serebryakov suggests that in order to grasp the emotions the prisoners reveal, it would be better for me to interrogate them personally. Certainly, under normal circumstances that might be the case.

  The Federation soldiers’ will to fight is a serious problem.

  The Federation Army is putting up a repetitive, crude, yet fierce resistance along the entire front. If we could get a handle on their combat psychology, we might even be able to crack their mental defenses. I’m sure the General Staff would be terribly interested in that.

  The Imperial Army is desperate for accurate intelligence.

  But Tanya spits, “Listen, Lieutenant Serebryakov. Look at me.”

  “Huh?”

  Her subordinates look puzzled.

  “Look at me, guys.”

  As she is about to say, You don’t get it? she realizes this is a waste of time. Apparently, not a single one of them has any idea what she’s getting at. She inadvertently sighs at their lack of understanding.

  Of course, she collected the members of the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion based on their fanaticism for war, not for their empathy or thoughtfulness… If she chose them for their combat abilities, she can’t very well be upset at them for their ignorance of emotional subtlety.

  Although it is annoying.

  “Guys, I look like a kid!”

  “…Mm.”

  Grantz apparently has no clue what I’m talking about, and Serebryakov looks confused. If both the lieutenants are no good… She turns to her vice commander but immediately thinks to herself, Tch, he’s worthless, too?

  She’s explained this to some extent before, but apparently they all forgot. Maybe they shoved it into a corner of their minds because it didn’t have anything to do with combat. This is the problem with war freaks.

  “Major Weiss, I’m a child. They may not take me seriously based on my appearance. I’d really like for you to realize such things before I have to say them…”

  “Huh? Oh! V-very sorry, Colonel.”

  THE SAME DAY, THE SALAMANDER KAMPFGRUPPE’S GARRISON, THE COMMANDER’S ROOM

  And so, Tanya holes up in the space she’s been allotted for her personal use to think. Coffee is on hand.

  The smell, out of place on a battlefield, hangs lightly in the Kampfgruppe commander’s room. The mellow fragrance of the arabica beans from Colonel Uger, the brew’s unadulterated flavor. Normally, she keeps the beans refrigerated and drinks in tiny sips to make it last; this coffee is a rarity from her personal stash. But just for today, she’s gulping it down like standard-issue muck water; she can’t even taste it.

  What she’s staring at with a pale face are the transcripts of the prisoner interrogations First Lieutenants Serebryakov and Grantz did. Tanya was somewhat prepared. She had guessed the report’s conclusion to some extent at the time she ordered the survey.

  Still, she can’t help but grit her teeth. Subjectively, we’ve been fighting Communists. Which is why we’ve been fighting to break the Communists’ spirit. And why we’re doing that even now.

  But the Federation soldiers are fighting for their homeland in the name of ethnic nationalism.

  “I’m such a fool.”

  It’s impossible for Tanya to ridicule herself even if she wants to. She’s that huge of an idiot. Who is? Me. I am.

  Overlooking the fact that we were failing to fight what we should have been? A fool who understood neither the enemy nor myself? Yes, me of all people.

  At that moment, Tanya von Degurechaff screams in her room.

  “Those bastards got us!”

  We’ve been tricked.

  “Damn Communists, of all things—of all things—you took our cause away!”

  Usually, Communists endlessly criticize nationalism. They crow that the truth of the world is not represented properly in ethnic nationalism, when it’s actually a class war, as viewed from the perspective of scientific history. How careless of me to assume they followed such a creed! Embarrassment is only the beginning for something like this. I’m so angry I want to shoot my past self.

  “Why didn’t I realize something so obvious?! How did I miss it?!”

  I’m aware that I’m not controlling my emotions very well.

  But…there are times when you just want to pound the table and scream. I’m so disappointed in my rawness and my contemptible carelessness. This is the definition of an untenable position.

  What a stupid situation.

  I should have known how easy it is for Communists to cast off their policies! I keep asking myself how I could have forgotten—it’s that grave of a mistake.

  Unconsciously, or perhaps she has merely closed her eyes…

  “This is the worst.”

  …Tanya von Degurechaff weakly curses her failure.

  They got me.

  Now I can’t scoff at people who get tricked by Commie propaganda. They really had me going, meaning I’m no different from those schmucks.

  No, I know how the Communist Party works, so my error is incomparably worse… I’m simply incompetent. This is the fruit of indefensible stupidity. No matter what I say to excuse myself, I can’t trick my own heart.

  I shouldn’t have been going on about analyzing the situation in enemy territory with such a worldly-wise look on my face.

  I have to oppose the mobile offensive.

  It’s not even an issue of winter anymore.

  Penetrating farther into enemy territory will only unite the enemy further.

  “Annihilating their field army? Impossible.”

  I need an alternative to suggest instead. And quickly—as soon as possible.

  “Let’s take a historical view. There are extremely few instances where a relatively small regular army was able to get guerrillas under control… And even the examples of success that we have are only limited victories.”

  In Vietnam, even the American empire’s overwhelming matériel resources couldn’t solve the issue. In Afghanistan, the Soviet and American armies proved how difficult it is to maintain control over mountainous regions. It was only an option to burn down whole resisting cities like the Mongols during eras when the law of war didn’t exist yet.

  Nowadays, our hands are tied.

  If you look for an example of counterinsurgency that ended in victory, you have the British Army in their colonies in Malaya, but those were colonies, so…hmm?

  “Colonies? Yes, colonies. Where the suzerain stat
e is the minority. You can rule with small numbers through military, but…”

  Ohhh, thinks Tanya, forced to realize that her brain is depressingly rusty.

  It’s simple, isn’t it?

  To be perfectly honest, there’s no need to take them all on.

  “We’ll divide and conquer.”

  “Hoo-hoo-hoo.” Tanya laughs because she has it completely figured out. But in one respect, it’s also the plain truth. If you succeed in dividing the enemy, the number you have to fight is smaller. If we do it right, we might even be able to use some of them as allies.

  And for better or worse, the Federation is a multiethnic state.

  If, beneath the pretty words ideal Communism, the party is suppressing the self-determination movements of different ethnic groups…it might be possible to forge an alliance. If we’re merely speaking about the possibilities, any of the ethnic minorities within the Federation could potentially become imperial allies.

  “After all, we’re not asking for their land. Frankly, the Empire is like a big hikikomori. Its interests don’t come into conflict with ethnic groups within Federation territory that want independence.”

  That’s how we solve it.

  “I found the answer! I found the way out!”

  All I can do is race forward.

  [chapter] II Strange Friendship

  SEPTEMBER 15, 1926, IMPERIAL CAPITAL BERUN, IMPERIAL ARMY GENERAL STAFF OFFICE

  The moment Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff enters the General Staff Office, she heads straight for the office of Lieutenant General von Zettour, with whom she has an appointment.

  Even describing them generously, her steps can’t be called light. Of course, the flight over the long distance from the east to the capital is tiring. But even the physical fatigue of transferring between transport planes and flying herself for part of the trip is nothing compared to her worn-down mental state.

  Out the window, the sky is overcast.

  If Being X is maliciously pulling strings, then he has an appallingly good understanding of our situation.

  I really hate when the sky is like this. It expresses my mental state too accurately.

  But if the sky represents my current feelings, then will it clear up?

  Will that day come eventually?

  No, I have to get past these gripes.

  Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff must admit her mistake as the deeply shameful truth that it is. It’s humiliating and a complete blunder, but she would hesitate to hide it.

  Only people who are truly incompetent hide their mistakes.

  A hopeless fool. Oversize garbage. Execution by firing squad wouldn’t be enough punishment. No matter what words I use, they don’t cut it.

  Accidents happen when small mistakes are repeatedly covered up. An organization that hides small mistakes will eventually be done in by a mishap too huge to conceal.

  Humans are creatures who make mistakes.

  If you don’t admit your mistake, that mistake will crush you.

  Which is why, or more like, “therefore…” The only way to deal with imbeciles who hide their mistakes is to shoot them. I’d really like to shoot inept workers, but imbeciles who hide mistakes must be shot.

  That’s a self-evident truth.

  Rather than a saying or axiom, it’s more something proven by humans through the experience society has acquired.

  Though it may not be perfect, I have a modern intellect. Rather than be the bungler who hides her mistake, I am forced to be the bungler who reports it.

  Thus, even if Lieutenant Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff is ashamed, she has to redeem her failure.

  “I’ll be frank, General. We killed too many. But luckily…it’s not so late in the game that we have to give up on changing policy.”

  “I thought total war was decided by the weight of the enemy corpse pile.”

  He’s right.

  General von Zettour’s understanding of total war is completely correct. There’s no better strategy than to pile up enemy corpses.

  But if the premises change, then the correct answer also changes. That’s why she has to report the mistake she discovered.

  “As you say, sir. But I think decreasing the number of our enemies with words is cheaper than using bullets.”

  If someone is an enemy, there’s nothing to do but kill them. But that’s only if they’re really an enemy.

  For better or worse, Tanya is partial to streamlining. If there is a lower-cost option, that’s the correct one.

  “We need to keep the home country’s resource situation and production capacity issues in mind. We need to rethink our habit of approving the indiscriminate scattering of bullets.”

  Words are a much lighter burden for logistics than bullets.

  Divide and conquer.

  The first thing in support of that great principle is words.

  Words, language, names, and propaganda played a critical role in the rule of the colonies of those only-partial-to-sports-and-war tea nuts, right?

  “If we don’t have to send them from the home country, then that certainly is cheaper.”

  Considering the labor and materials that went into making a single bullet, plus the costs of transporting them to the front lines, this was the correct approach to prepare.

  From the logistics perspective, Lieutenant General Hans von Zettour thinks Tanya’s idea is fine.

  “But, Colonel. The issue here is not only cost but also utility.”

  With the expectation of results as a proviso.

  “Utility, General?”

  “Bullets have a physical function. Ideological arguments haven’t been very effective in the countryside—even with the General Staff and Supreme Command working together.”

  It’s only natural that a decent soldier would want to drive a wedge into the hostile Federation. It’d be weirder not to.

  The Imperial Army is a precise apparatus of violence.

  The Empire is on the ball when it comes to waging war. As part of that, the General Staff has been working on pacification efforts from the early stages. General von Zettour himself had even ordered a study on psychological warfare and inspected the results.

  But honestly, there were no results. We haven’t had any successes. Which is why while admitting that he understands where she’s coming from, Zettour declares, “Frankly, Logos falls silent in wartime.”

  “General, don’t you think that unlike law, Logos can be heard during wartime?”

  “…Maybe in theory, but you know…” His next remark is difficult to categorize as affirmative. “To be candid with you, we started in with the same anti-Communist pacification program as we use in the home country almost immediately after the war started, but…we haven’t gotten any results. There’s probably room to consider it research, but it’s not ready to be counted as a practical option.”

  Logos, words, reason, logic. It’s terrifying, but Zettour is shaking his head that they haven’t been fruitful.

  “Anti-Communist pacification efforts, sir?”

  Those words speak to how, though words are a weapon, they’re far from perfect. Ahhh. Tanya sighs as she opens her mouth.

  That’s a terrible misunderstanding.

  The weapon known as words is complete. No, she can declare that it has even been combat proven.

  The Imperial Army and its General Staff fail to realize that because of their intelligence. Intelligent people, due to their superior intellect, often fall prey to this fallacy. Illusions that trap you because you’re reasonable are so insidious.

  …I’ve realized that textbook knowledge is often a fantasy because some smart, reasonable person wrote it with reasonable individuals in mind. Humans are usually the virtual opposite of reasonable.

  “Yes. The Feldgendarmerie is taking the lead with it. If you’re interested, I can give you the verification results.”

  “General von Zettour, I predict that that is precisely our bias. Please toss these anti-Communist pacification efforts str
aight into the trash,” Tanya quietly declares, although it does pain her slightly that she was also a prisoner of the anti-Communist view in the beginning.

  Of course it does.

  After all, she herself was so sure they were up against Communists that she believed it to be self-evident. But she should have been deeply skeptical and required proof for everything.

  Yes, it’s necessary to treat axioms, self-evident premises, and the like as assumptions.

  We committed the folly of assuming our enemies were Communists. In reality, not a single enemy soldier has given any indication of seriously believing in Communism. It’s a contradiction.

  We should have observed more closely and realized. The price for letting our assumptions cloud our eyes is enormous for an already huge error.

  But I’ve figured it out now.

  So I have a duty as an intelligent being. The unproven axiom and the contradiction occurring in reality must be reconciled.

  “I don’t think the ideology matters one bit.”

  As Zettour urges her to explain, the look in his eyes is one of confusion.

  “It’s not reason that’s important, General, but the people’s emotion.”

  As a weapon, words work just like bullets. Shooting where there’s no target is just a waste of precious resources.

  An apparatus of violence must use its weapons effectively.

  “Our pacification efforts shouldn’t be something that chips away at their hostility toward us but something that divides them.”

  “You’re saying it’s not ideology sustaining this war?”

  “Exactly. The enemy’s mainstay is nationalism masquerading as ideology. We’re missing the mark by criticizing their ideology, so it makes sense that we’re not currently seeing results.”

  Going by what she’s seen in the field, Tanya has given up on ideology-based attacks as wasted bullets. If you have a contradiction that can’t be resolved, it’s almost certainly an issue with your premises.