"Did you hear that?"

"Well, I heard that."

"There was a rebellion of the Ishbals in the capital of the eastern region, and the rebels launched an attack on the capital."

"How so? I don't know if the troops have been increased a few days ago? Why didn't the rebellion be suppressed? ”

"There's no way to do it, it's been 7 years, and the methods that should be used are almost exhausted, and there are more and more troops, but they haven't suppressed the rebellion."

"A few days ago I arrived in Leyphapur, and now it has spread to the eastern capital......"

"The Ishbal rebellion has completely swept the eastern region, and if it is not effectively suppressed, the neighboring countries will probably ......"

"Repeat the tragedy of last winter's rebellion in the eastern part of the Draguma Empire?"

It was the middle of the day, and some of the staff at the Central Library were eating a buffet while talking about the recent expansion of the Barr rebellion.

As ordinary idlers, especially in this special period of the country, these military staff who have long spent a lot of time in the archives of the Central and Central Archives and the Archives of the Central and Intelligence Rooms are more sensitive and prescient to certain topics and news than the average department.

The same applies to those office soldiers who deal with materials and archives all day long.

"What are you talking about, so lively?"

Just as the soldiers' discussion was in full swing, Estes arrived.

Aqua blue hair, touching beauty, and an increasingly upright posture plus ......

"Is it about the Ishbal rebellion?"

"Yes, Colonel Estes."

Plus that's a consistently confident smile and energetic mannerisms.

During his more than a year at the Central Archives, Estes became very popular.

"Don't mind if I listen to your conversation?"

I sat down at a very casual place and ate a work buffet as hearty and delicious as everyone else.

"Of course, as always, I promise that nothing you say will come out of my mouth~ So just say psychological things as you always have~"

"Is there still a job this afternoon, Colonel?"

"Well, yes, the Judge Advocate General's Office has just dealt with a group of deserters who escaped from the Ishubar front, and we need to cooperate in sorting out the dossiers of these soldiers for trial."

It's been almost two years, and Estes has been working at the Central Archives for almost two years, and for two years he would come to dine with his subordinates and colleagues from friendly units at this time of noon every day, one of which was to strengthen his relationship.

"By the way, Carol, is there any news from your intelligence department lately? I heard that there have been rebels in the eastern capital area, is this reliable news? ”

Second, it is necessary to find out whether the officers and soldiers of the intelligence department, the general staff, and the military justice department, which are also the most well-informed in the country, have received any latest intelligence and information here.

"That...... Captain...... This is the news we just got here...... I ......"

Originally, Carol wanted to hesitate, but when she saw Estes's irresistible eyes with a strong desire for knowledge, she finally relented.

"Well, in fact, it's not just the eastern region, from the information we have obtained, the northern region adjacent to the eastern region and even the peripheral areas of the central region have found traces of rebels."

Carol, who was originally a soldier of the Intelligence Service, was not qualified to come to the cafeteria of the Central Archives to eat, but after hearing that this Carol was a little prince of intelligence, Estes met Carol on an errand trip to the Intelligence Service and brought him and her girlfriend in the Secretariat for a light lunch......

"And I have heard from my colleagues in the gendarmerie that the standard weapons of the southern Ayerugh army have been seized from the Ishbals, and that there are those above who believe that the rebellion in the east is a planned rebellion supported by the Ayerug, and that the policy of ammunition suppression is to be further strengthened."

After that, it's a matter of course.

Take other people's short hands and eat other people's short mouths, this is not ~ The Carol in front of him just eats Estes and eats too much, and his mouth is short, and he is embarrassed to close it, so he directly becomes the quasi-dog leg that Estes planted in the intelligence department.

"It would be bad if that were the case, the rebellion at home and the collusion abroad...... By the way, Misha, remember that your home is on the eastern border, so it doesn't matter to you, right? ”

But Estes didn't let Carol be a dog for nothing, no, every day at lunch and morning and afternoon refreshments, Carol can openly bring his girlfriend Misha to the Central Archives with the best food in the Central Archives Department to have a free lunch.

Compared to the Archives' delicious free lunch buffet, Carroll's intelligence service's frightening work ration cafeteria and Misha's Secretariat's high-priced working meals were nothing to eat.

"Some time ago, armed Ishbals attacked our town, burning down a dozen houses and a few granaries, but fortunately no one was injured."

"Isn't there a local garrison?"

"The main forces of the garrison have been transferred to the Ishubar front. There are no guards in the town at all, there is no way at all. ”

"Wilbur, how's it going over there? The gendarmerie and the local guard units can't and don't do anything, right? ”

Compared to Carol, who smelled the smell of fish from across the door of the Central Archives and came to Estes to eat on the Estes territory, Wilbur of the Gendarmerie Command was much more powerful.

The military police headquarters was eight streets away, but he, the lieutenant of the military police captain, was stunned, and he was embarrassed to take the army bus to Estes's canteen every day to eat.

Every time I come, I only eat good and expensive food, as if I have never eaten in my life.

"Huh? Where are we? Ha, it's not good. I heard about it half a year ago. The bomb pressure operation in the eastern region was very unsmooth, and although it was still clear that the Ishbal region was still under our control, in fact, every time our troops went to patrol the city, it was very auspicious, and at least three of the soldiers who went to a squad could not return. ”

Finally gobbling down the chicken leg in his mouth, Wilbur continued

"The gendarmerie has dealt with many soldiers who have fled from the eastern service units, and these soldiers have said that it is difficult to find out that the rebels of the enemy in Ishbal are hiding among the general population, and that the local Ishbal people mostly support and sympathize with these warriors who have taken up arms against us. Our troops and soldiers were shot and killed there, while the local population refused to hand over the prisoners and even clashed with our search force, and in Ishbar, the normal policing mission has long been out of order. ”

"Really...... Has it come this far? Rebellion ......"

It should be said that in the past two years as the director of the Central Archives, Estes's harvest has also been very huge, because of his long-term cultivation and training in the ice and snow of Saibei, and the crazy fight like a beast, his cognition and understanding of many things have become outdated.

Not studying well for 7 years is always a thing that does more harm than good to a young person.

"The other day I also looked through and counted the amount of money that our Amessdoris has spent on dealing with the rebellion in Ishubar in the seven years since the rebellion began, and the results of the investigation are shocking. In the past five years, the central budget expenditure of Amerstoli has accounted for 30 percent of the total central budget expenditure to support the restoration of law and order in the eastern region. The total military expenditures used for the reorganization of the Eastern Military Region, pensions for the wounded and sick of the troops, the purchase of arms, subsidies for duty, and the payment of salaries to conscripted troops account for 60 percent of the central financial expenditures. There is a trend of increasing this year. ”

The two years of idle time in the Central Archives are the two years that Estes thinks are the most idle, although he spends at least three hours a day exercising, playing slash threesome with the two sisters of red and black pupils.

There are very few opportunities to exercise on a regular basis.

For two years, Estes was chained to the jurisdiction of the Archives by his position all day, and was not allowed to travel casually.

Although he would return to the barracks every afternoon after work to have dinner with the soldiers of the Chasseur and spend the night together, he had not led his soldiers out to fight for two years.

Ever since he put himself in the Central Archives, his father seemed to have forgotten about it, and he had met him at the family banquet every weekend, but his father seemed to have turned a deaf ear to all kinds of hints and complaints about him, and still kept Estes in the archives and did not let her move.

On weekends, my father and mother spent most of their time together, and Estes wanted to mention to his father that he would take the troops to the front. But the father, as if on purpose, called his mother over every time Estes was about to speak.

What do you want Estes to do? You can't say it in front of your mother

'Father! Let me take the troops to the front! I'm already in the Central Archives and I'm getting rusty! On any front, let me defend the borders of the motherland! ’

If he said this, he didn't know if his father could promise Estes, but his mother would definitely be worried anyway

As he grew older, Estes became less and less likely to want his mother to worry about him.

Look at the wrinkles on his mother and father's faces and the gray hair that occasionally catches Estes' eyes.

Growing up, Estes really didn't want them to worry so much anymore.

Let the mother live happily every day with the cheap brother who has not grown up for two years, such a day may not be bad for a kind mother. ’

I also want to mention a little bit about Estes's cheap brother, Selim, it's been two years, and that little ghost doesn't know if there is a chromosomal problem, as if he has stopped growing, although he has been in the first grade of elementary school to the third grade of elementary school, but he is still the same.

Nothing has changed in every way

"Hey, you seem to have been back for a long time today."

Every time I had to stay at home, Selim, the stinky little imp who had been thinking about my mother all day long, would tell me to go back to the barracks in an old-fashioned tone like an adult.

"What's the hurry? Didn't you practice with me today? ”

And Estes naturally proposes to deepen communication with his younger brother every time, and goes to the outskirts of the city to 'play' in front of Selim

They 'play' once or twice a week on weekends.

As a result of this intimate exchange, Estes's strength has been enhanced, and in the past, Estes could only resist Selim when it was dark, but now Estes can also withstand Selim's strange spells from the front during the full moon.

What the? You ask why you have no idea why Selim's strength and appearance have not changed?

In other words, people will definitely change their appearance in 2 years?

"Colonel! Colonel Estes! ”

Estes, who was eating lunch, had not yet been warmly invited to dine by the 'greedy people' from other departments around him

Major Black Lily ran over panting, sweating profusely, to see if something was going on.

"What's wrong, Major Black Lily?"

Similar to Selim, Black Lily's appearance hasn't changed at all in the past two years, and compared to Selim's shadow spells, doesn't Black Lily also use Black Flame?

Doesn't Estes still use alchemy?

Everyone has something special, especially the strong, and that strong person doesn't have some special habits?

Like Estes's father, Kim Bradley, has a habit of wearing eye patches, and Estes asked his father why he wears eye patches before.

Daddy's answer was that it was his habit.

You see, that strong man didn't have his own marks and characteristics? Like Sister Armstrong's thick lips, Lieutenant Colonel Gran's bearded black charcoal face. The squinting eyes of Teacher Kimbri, the chess and reflectors (eyes) of Gulaman Tutor.

Which guy isn't a bit special? As long as they don't affect Estes one by one, why do you have to get to the bottom of it?

"Is there something wrong with our regiment?"

Recently, Estes told the Chasseurs to strengthen their training in urban combat and street fighting, so they asked the troops to leave the barracks on the outskirts of the city to go to the city for training and 'actual combat training'.

Needless to say, the objects are naturally those idiot young master soldiers of the Central Army and the gendarmerie brothers.

"When our soldiers were training in the city, the soldiers of the third squad of the ninth squadron were detained by the gendarmerie people, and later the soldiers of this squad and the gendarmerie theory were forcibly detained, and now they have been arrested and sent to the gendarmerie headquarters."

"Bump! Bastard! ”

After listening to Black Lily's report, Estes was so angry that he almost smashed the table.

Apparently accustomed to sparring with Selim and the red pupils and black pupils, Estes had no idea how hard the table really was.

"That's how our people were arrested?! How much resistance is there?! ”

That's what Estes cares about most

"Yes, our squad beat the squad that was going to arrest them with their bare hands, and then the gendarmerie sent a squadron to arrest people, and we were defeated."

"Stupid! Isn't it appropriate for you to say that the essence of urban warfare is to turn to zero?! How did a squad get caught?! ”

In order to train his soldiers in urban warfare, Estes deliberately communicated with the gendarmerie command and his father in the hope that the upper echelons would allow Estes to conduct this kind of surprise test that would help improve the city's guard force's ability to respond to emergencies.

Feeling that the Central Army had been idle for a long time and had no combat effectiveness, his father agreed to Estes's request, allowing and guaranteeing that the soldiers of the Ai Hunting Regiment would be allowed to make trouble twice a week without harming the personal safety of the guards.

And this week for the first time.

Estes hasn't thought of a second plan yet.

"Where are they being held?"

"Central Gendarmerie Command."

"Well, the second topic of the week is him. Wilbur! ”

"Oh...... Be! ”

"Are you trying to run away? Eat the food of three people in our archives every day and still want to run?! Honestly, what squad is on duty in the cell of the gendarmerie headquarters today? ”

"Valenhill's Sixth Squad."

"Ensign Valenhill? Didn't he go home and get married? ”

"Well, so now I'm the acting captain of this squad for the time being."

"Yes, then you don't have to leave tonight, the one who invited this goods into the house, and you are not allowed to release it tonight"

"Captain, are you going to ......?"

"That's right, tell the 3rd Brigade, the topic of today's exam is - how to enter the gendarmerie headquarters without triggering the alarm and rescue the friendly troops of a squad captured by the enemy!"

"Commander...... Isn't this topic too difficult? That's the Gendarmerie Headquarters. ”

"Why do I want you to think about it? Tomorrow morning, when the wake-up horn sounds, I will see all the enemy prisoners of the 6th Squad on duty in the cell of the Gendarmerie Headquarters tonight, and that the 9th Squad will be returned and not allowed to alarm the City Defense Command. ”

"Commander, today's question is too difficult."

"It's time to play hard, tell the sù brothers, if my estimate is good, we may soon go to the front. The security situation of the Ishbals is close to collapse, and it is no longer possible to maintain order in the country by the maintenance of general security. ”

"The head of the regiment means ......"

"Our president is a man of steel, and he will not back down from an enemy who dares to defy his will, you see. Six months at the earliest, up to one year. The big war is about to begin. ”

"So, what are we supposed to do?"

"Prepare for urban combat, now none of our troops are suitable for urban street fighting, which is why I forced you and the Central Army to play a confrontation game in the city...... Okay, that's it, I'm going to Master Hawke's house to learn alchemy. Never come to the teacher's house to come to me for anything, the teacher doesn't like the military. ”

During his two years in the Central Archives, Estes, who had no time to fight, read a large number of various alchemy books, and ran through all the alchemists' homes that had come to the Alchemist Exchange Center.

The famous, the not-famous, Estes almost knew about it.

And the one that interested her the most was the alchemy of Mr. Hawk Ai, the alchemist of the flames.