I Was Mistaken for a Great General of War

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The woman holding Daniel’s hand introduced herself as Ref.

Apart from her name, she didn’t share anything else, but Daniel wasn’t too curious, so he didn’t pry further.

After their introductions, the two headed to a nearby convenience store, as Daniel suggested buying Trump Cards, having heard that Ref’s gambling game was some kind of poker.

Ref, who had followed Daniel without much thought, ended up paying for two packs of Trump Cards and returned in front of the bar.

“…Hey.”

Ref, utterly confused by what was happening, looked up at Daniel.

“Why did you buy Trump Cards? Two packs, no less.”

“You mentioned that those over there are cheating, right? So to beat them, we can’t rely on ordinary methods.”

Daniel opened the Trump Card box, pulled out some cards, and selected a few.

After putting the remaining cards back in the box, he handed it to Ref.

“You keep this. Consider it a token of good luck.”

Ref accepted the cards with a puzzled expression, while Daniel slipped the previously selected cards into his sleeve.

As Ref contemplated this, Daniel twisted the doorknob and opened the bar’s door.

Inside, the raucous bar scene unfolded in front of them.

Sniffing the faint smell of alcohol and the savory scents of various snacks, Daniel stepped inside.

As Ref followed, patrons one by one turned to look at Daniel.

They were wary of a foreigner entering with a woman who had just caused a scene and was thrown out.

Observing this through his sunglasses, the bar owner approached Daniel.

“What brings you here? If that lady has hired you as a mercenary, then…”

“I’ll have a rum. Oh, if you have tequila, then give me that instead.”

Thanks to Daniel’s calm drink order, the bar owner was left speechless.

After glancing at the dumbstruck owner, Daniel flashed a warm smile.

“Don’t worry. I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m just looking to enjoy a drink and do some gambling.”

Was he hiring a player? The bar owner finally understood and shouted across the crowd.

“Pramcol! This guest wants to play a round!”

In a remote corner of the bar, Pramcol, leaning against the wall and stacking chips at a table, looked up.

The lanky Pramcol glanced at Daniel once and then cracked a thin smile.

“Fish are always welcome. Come over here.”

Having received permission, Daniel stepped closer and pulled out a chair to sit down.

The bar owner followed and took a seat at the table as well.

“Well then…”

The bar owner began.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the gambling we do here is mainly poker. Also, there’s no limit on betting. If you understand, nod your head.”

After Daniel nodded, the owner slammed a hefty pouch hanging at his waist onto the table.

Peeking inside, Daniel saw an abundance of old chips.

“Decide how much you want to gamble. I’ll exchange it for chips.”

“Oh, the lady behind me will cover for me.”

Ref jumped at the mention, shaking her shoulders.

She suspected something like this would happen, but now that it did, it was more unpleasant than she anticipated.

“…How much do you need?”

“Bet as much as you trust me.”

How can you trust someone you’ve just met? Ref thought incredulously, yet realizing she had to see this through, she opened her wallet.

“Fine. I’ll bet it all.”

As Ref pulled out all the bills from her leather wallet and handed them to the bar owner, he was momentarily taken aback by the considerable amount but soon collected himself.

After rummaging through his pocket, he took out dozens of chips and placed them on Daniel’s table.

“Here you go.”

Nodding, Daniel reached into his pocket.

“Oh, but can I ask a favor?”

“What is it?”

Daniel pulled out the Trump Card box and handed it to the bar owner.

“The lady wants fair gambling. It seems she’s suspicious of cheating. I don’t really believe it, but just in case, could you exchange the Trump Cards?”

The bar owner had no reason to refuse, so he accepted the box.

After checking the cards inside, he nodded.

“Looks like you bought these from the adjacent shop. These aren’t rigged, so we’ll use these. Pramcol, you don’t have any issues with this, right?”

At the bar owner’s question, Pramcol shrugged playfully.

From his demeanor, Daniel deduced that Ref’s suspicion about cheating wasn’t related to the cards being rigged.

If they had rigged the cards in advance and played poker, they would have done everything to prevent the cards from being swapped.

‘Then what kind of cheating could it be?’

There was no need to rush. He could figure it out as they played.

“Well then, let’s begin.”

The bar owner announced that the poker was starting and dealt two cards to Daniel and Pramcol.

After the basic betting, they moved past the flop, turn, to the river stage.

As all five cards were laid out, Daniel took a moment to check his hand.

‘Two Pair.’

The odds of landing a two pair in poker were quite low.

It was a hand worth betting on.

While pondering, Pramcol blurted out without a hint of psychological warfare.

“Raise.”

That was an indication to increase the stakes.

After a brief silence, Daniel called and revealed his hand.

Pramcol’s hand was ‘Triple.’

Daniel, holding two pair, lost, and Pramcol gleefully took the chips.

“I thought that lady brought you as a player, but I’m disappointed.”

Daniel just smiled faintly, saying nothing in response.

They played five consecutive rounds, all of which ended in defeat for Daniel.

This started to make Ref anxious.

‘What is he doing? This fool…!’

It was hard to tell if he was spending someone else’s money recklessly, but seeing Daniel call even with one pair rather than folding was stomach-churning.

In contrast, Daniel’s mind remained as tranquil as a mirror.

Because he had figured out what trick Pramcol was using.

‘He’s using shallow tactics.’

Over the five rounds, Pramcol had barely scraped by with victories.

There are plenty of card sharps in a gambling den, but to consistently win by the narrowest of margins?

This hinted that Pramcol had an accomplice among the onlookers.

‘The accomplice is probably signaling my hand.’

Realizing this, Pramcol was theatrically winning by a hair to avoid suspicion.

Now that Daniel understood how he was cheating, he just had to turn that to his advantage.

“Your skills are impressive.”

With what was almost a backhanded compliment, Daniel readied for the sixth round against Pramcol.

Receiving the cards from the bar owner, the dealer, Daniel progressed into poker until they reached the final round: the river.

His five cards indicated a no pair.

It was a garbage hand to fold on.

However, Daniel calmly pushed all his chips into the center.

“All in.”

This shocked Pramcol and the onlookers alike.

Even Ref, watching from behind, was taken aback.

‘Are you insane! What are you doing!?’

While she tried to comprehend, Pramcol snickered.

‘Is he trying to bluff? Sorry, but I can see all your cards.’

Pramcol, feeling sorely compassionate and thinking he would let Daniel win just this once, opened his mouth.

“Call.”

Pramcol pushed most of his chips into the center.

At that moment, Daniel concentrated his mana within his central nervous system, accelerating his nerves.

In the slowed time, Daniel reached into his sleeve, swiftly swapped his cards, and ceased the nervous acceleration.

The change happened so quickly that Pramcol, not even suspecting Daniel had swapped hands, revealed his cards.

“Two Pair. What do you have?”

He asked the question out of politeness, knowing the answer already.

Daniel, fully aware of Pramcol’s intentions, calmly revealed his hand.

“Royal Straight Flush.”

Pramcol’s eyes widened in shock at the highest poker hand.

‘What? When did…?’

For Pramcol, who could hardly see Daniel’s hands move, it felt as if a ghost had possessed him.

Staring dumbfoundedly at his cards for a while, Pramcol finally raised his head, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.

Daniel was grinning; it seemed like this was his intention from the start.

“Why? Is it your first time seeing a Royal Straight Flush?”

Pramcol gritted his teeth in frustration at Daniel’s mockery.

“You bastard…! Where are you cheating from?”

“Cheating? Where’s your evidence that I cheated?”

“Don’t play dumb! You must…!”

In his excitement, as Pramcol was about to reveal Daniel’s original hand, he halted.

He realized the hostile stares from the onlookers were directed at him.

If he revealed Daniel’s original hand now, it meant accepting that he had been the one cheating in poker all along.

In the silence that followed, Daniel raised the tequila shot provided by the bar owner and took a sip.

He kept his gaze fixed on Pramcol, even while drinking.

‘I bet you’ve been cheating others here like you tried to cheat me, right, Pramcol?’

As Daniel suspected, quite a few people in the bar had lost money to Pramcol.

Thanks to this, Pramcol’s reputation was almost equivalent to trash within the bar these days.

Just look at it now.

Even when some onlookers realized Daniel had swapped his cards, they remained silent.

This level of silence showed that they all wished to see Pramcol lose.

In such a dire situation, revealing Daniel’s original hand would mean admitting that he had been cheating all this time, potentially leading him to a beatdown.

Realizing he had put himself in a corner, Pramcol’s pupils trembled faintly.

“Oh dear, Pramcol.”

Daniel gazed at Pramcol with a face filled with concern.

“If I were you, I would accept the result without fussing. If you don’t…”

Leaning forward over the table, Daniel continued with a smile.

“You’ll end up half-crippled by tonight.”

At those chilling words, Pramcol could only nod, swallowing the lump in his throat.

Meanwhile, while Daniel was enjoying himself at the gambling table, Lucy was busy with work at the General Staff Headquarters.

After a long night shift, Lucy finished up her tasks and filed the paperwork away.

“Colonel. It’s time to clock out…”

As Lucy instinctively began to speak while facing the desk, her voice trailed off.

Daniel was nowhere to be found.

He had been assigned as a diplomatic envoy to Belanos.

“…”

With Daniel usually around to make just about any silly chatter at quitting time, his absence left a hollow feeling.

Lucy blinked blankly for a moment, then shook her head and stood up.

After all, Daniel would be back soon enough; she had no reason to dwell on nostalgia.

Gathering her briefcase, Lucy was about to leave the office when she paused.

Footsteps echoed from down the corridor.

She wondered who it could be when the office door swung open, and Colonel Ernst walked in.

“Head of the Operations Staff.”

As Lucy saluted, Ernst wearily returned the gesture.

Noticing the unusual somber atmosphere surrounding Ernst, Lucy dropped her hands, puzzled.

“Sir, is something wrong?”

Ernst clenched his teeth and nodded.

He took a moment to catch his breath and looked at Lucy.

“Lieutenant Lucy. I’ll say this once, so listen carefully. Your superior, Colonel Daniel Steiner, was aboard a diplomatic vessel…”

His gaze fell as if he couldn’t bear to meet Lucy’s eyes as he continued.

“…and it was sunk by a terrorist attack.”

“Sunk.”

The weight of that word froze Lucy’s thoughts.

For a moment, she stood there in disbelief, unsure of how to respond.

“Is it… certain?”

There was no chance that Ernst, the Head of the Operations Staff, would lie about something like this.

Lucy’s rational mind knew this well.

Yet, still, she asked, her words stemming from a need to deny the painful reality.

When Ernst exhaled shakily and nodded, Lucy’s lips instinctively parted in shock.

Amid the heavy silence, Lucy searched for words and bowed her head towards Ernst.

“…I’ll take my leave now.”

Understanding her sentiment, Ernst held back from stopping her.

Therefore, as Lucy stepped out of the office, her heels clicked briskly against the corridor floor.

All sorts of memories surged in her mind, sometimes combining, sometimes scattering apart.

Amid the constant flow of thoughts, Lucy’s breath began to quicken.

‘Why…?’

Why was the vessel that Colonel Daniel Steiner was on attacked and sunk?

Why didn’t I know about it?

Why am I only finding out about this now?

Tossing questions into her mind, Lucy descended the stairs.

‘I need to ask…’

She wanted to contact an operative within the system to uncover the truth behind the incident.

While descending the stairs quickly, Lucy stumbled, her ankle twisting sideways as she wobbled.

In a panic, she grabbed the railing to stabilize her body.

Though she managed to prevent herself from falling, her breath came out even more ragged than before.

Her anxiety took over, causing her to make a mistake she usually wouldn’t.

With her eyes half-open, Lucy exhaled breathlessly and gently closed her eyes.

In her tumultuous mind, she recalled the words Daniel had said to her in front of the General Staff Headquarters.

─ If you have time on Christmas, we could go together. If you want, that is.

She vividly recalled Daniel’s face as he joked about wanting to eat Stollen together.

But Lucy knew.

Now that Daniel was dead, the Christmas where they would have shared Stollen would never come.

Unconsciously biting her lower lip, Lucy slowly opened her eyes.

The emotions reflected in her teary red eyes were closer to anger than sadness.

She felt she could figure out who had ordered the attack on the diplomatic vessel.

‘If the Allied Nations did indeed attack the diplomatic vessel that Daniel was on…’

She could no longer trust Count Kaledra.

 

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