Valkyria Chronicles WG - 01

“Tell me, Brigadier General, how is it that our well trained and numerically superior forces are losing to a ragtag band of militia and a single, cobbled together tank?

Selvaria Bles stood wordless, her gaze cast downwards as she approached the imperial throne.

“Tell me, how is it that my right hand commander, a legendary Valkyur whom I personally saved from a fate worse than death, lost a battle to a baker girl with a rifle?”

Prince Maximilian rose from his marble throne, his furred robes and ivory armor gleaming bright enough to blind her as he descended to meet her. He was her sun, her everything and yet she could not help but feel a twinge of fear as he drew ever closer.

It felt as though she would burn to ashes just by being in his presence.

“Tell me, Selvaria, what I should do about all this?”

“I-I don’t know…” Selvaria bleated. “P-please just give me another chance. I-I’ll work harder and I won’t lose next time!”

The strong, confident woman who showed no fear through countless battles; a weaponized warrior of legend who had cut down tanks with her bare hands and shrugged off just as many shells, had reverted to a sniveling child before her master. The empire was not her true home and her national pride was minimal at best, but her devotion to the prince would see her crush every enemy who stood in his way to see their collective dream come true.

And yet, the Empire’s grand war machine was quickly losing steam.

The Europan Campign had been an expensive one with many resources lost and so much time wasted all because of these lucky blunders. For all the expendable bases and soldiers he had at his disposal, critical locations were falling one after another all because of that infuriating squad 7 and their accursed tactician.

The very thought made him angry. He could feel his brow furrow as he raised his gloved hand in preparation to unleash himself upon the still prone Selvaria. Maximilian paused as he watched her flinch out of anticipation. That face of hers was too beautiful to mare as he reconsidered his actions and the effect that might have on the morale of his men to see their ‘invincible’ commander bruised and battered.

“No, this simply will not do.”

“Y-your highness?”

The prince cleared his throat as he turned back towards his throne. Allowing such things to register on an emotional level was what separated him from the common folk. It was hard trying to understand their primitive and uncouth ways and yet there might have been some benefit to doing so.

“If I might interrupt for a moment, your majesty…”

Both Selvaria and the prince turned to address the new face to have entered the royal chamber.

“This had better be important, Radi Jeagre,” the prince uttered in icy tones. “I am a little preoccupied at present.”

The Empire’s greatest tank commander bowed low as he approached the throne. He hated it when the prince addressed him by his full name.

“Uh, yeah, it sure is,” Jeagre replied, his easy going nature uncomfortable around such stern attention to protocol. “I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve got a bit of a conundrum on your hands.”

“Are you questioning my tactics, general?”

“O-oh no sir, not at all! I just thought I could throw my hat into the ring and try and offer a solution to both your issues if I might…”

The prince gave an unenthused wave to continue. Jeagre could feel himself exhale a breath he wasn’t even aware he had been holding.

“Well, intel has shown that while our military might is technically unrivaled, we’ve been neglecting to attack our enemy’s underlying mental and economic strong points. A good war is like a good tank battle and that’s often about attrition and I have it from a very good source that-”

“Get to the point, Jeagre,” the prince said sharply.

“R-right...Anyway, the answer is war bonds. We need to change our approach.”

The prince raised a curious eyebrow.

“Explain.”

“Gladly, your highness,” Jeagre replied as he approached close enough to stand next to the fallen Selvaria. “We can blast our cannons all day and take all the territory we want, but we are not leveraging the true strength of our numbers. The real reason why we are losing ground is because Squad 7 inspires those around them. We need to do the same and sweep that weapon out from underneath them. We need to attack the hearts and minds of the people, not just their defenses.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

Jeagre smiled as he knelt down and placed his hands atop Selvaria’s shoulders.

“You just leave that to us. I’ll also see to it that our little super soldier here takes full responsibility for her failings thus far...”