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The Navy of the Legitimate Empire was originally founded as a detachment of the Army, with coastal defense and pirate suppression as its main duties.
…Or so they taught us at the officer academy.
Later it expanded to fleet battles and bombardment from the sea, and several decades ago it became an independent Navy. Because of that, its scale is small and as an organization it is still young.
In the Imperial Capital there is a branch of the Naval Headquarters, in charge of coordination with the Army and with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commerce.
And into that branch came a strange military doctor.
Well, that was me.
“How do you do, I am Army Military Doctor Lieutenant-Equivalent Rokison Voltaren. I practice internal medicine.”
While introducing myself under my ‘front face,’ I rummaged around in my house-call bag.
“Uh…”
The branch’s non-commissioned officers looked suspicious, but I paid them no mind.
“Have you heard of miasma in the earth? In vertical shafts poisonous miasma can accumulate, and those who enter are struck dead.”
“No, never heard of it…”
The clerical NCOs looked bewildered, but since I was a Lieutenant-Equivalent they couldn’t just drive me out. I had checked beforehand—today all the officers were away at meetings or on business trips.
I kept rummaging in the house-call bag while talking one-sidedly.
“I treated an Engineering Second Lieutenant who was struck down by that miasma, but despite all medicines he passed away. Well, human life and death cannot be controlled, so it could not be helped, but this gentleman entrusted me with a map.”
“Uh, and what does that have to do with the Navy?”
“Oh, that is the very point!”
Adjusting my borrowed glasses with a little push, I pressed close to one of the NCOs.
“This Engineering Second Lieutenant, he had borrowed a copy of a precision map from the Navy’s Hydrographic Bureau. As you know, precision maps are military secrets. They must without fail be returned… is that not so?”
“Ah, yes. That’s true. But for the Navy to—”
I cut him off, rattling on.
“Ordinarily one must go in person to the Hydrographic Bureau to return such things, but I do not know which branch he borrowed it from. And I cannot stay away from my original unit for long. It so happened I had business in the Capital, so I came to return it.”
By the way, this speaking style I was imitating from my instructor in my past life. A learned and great professor, but his talks were incredibly long.
As expected, the NCO looked utterly worn down. The other NCOs disliked getting involved and buried themselves in paperwork.
“I—I see, I understand your business. But this is troublesome, you see, this branch does not have much connection with the Hydrographic Bureau.”
“I apologize for the imposition, but I have more house calls to make after this. Nothing good will come of me carrying this map around, so in any case I want to return it.”
“Yes, I understand, but…”
The NCO did not want extra work, but since it was a map, he could not treat it lightly either. With a reluctant nod, he gave in.
“W-well then, could you at least show me the map?”
“Here it is.”
I pulled out a folded, wrinkled map. It was a precision map from the Army’s Hydrographic Bureau, detailing a lake deep in the mountains of the Kavallaf region.
Naturally, the NCO was puzzled.
“What is this a map of…?”
“I am not sure myself. I cannot read maps at all.”
In reality, I had been drilled as an infantry officer cadet, so just a glance was enough for me to picture the terrain in my head.
But Imperial military doctors are not soldiers—they are military personnel as civilian doctors of internal medicine or surgery.
So “Rokison Voltaren, Internal Medicine” played dumb.
The NCO, troubled, traced the names written on the map with his finger.
“Hmm… which port is this?”
It’s not a port.
“Wait a moment. I’ll check against the map ledger.”
He walked to one of the document shelves and pulled out a thick register from a compartment marked “Secret No. 4.” Aha, so that’s where.
Security was loose—slipping in at night to look would be easy.
“Ah… what a pain.”
To this NCO, the map I had brought was nothing but a nuisance.
But unlike civilian maps, precision survey maps were military secrets. Mishandling one could mean more than just demotion.
“What is this, I really can’t find it…”
Maps of inland areas were not in the Navy’s data. The Army monopolized them to preserve superiority.
So no matter how he cross-checked, there would be no match.
Unaware of that, the NCO frowned deeply as he stared at the thick register.
“These place names, I’ve never heard of any of them, and none of these coastlines match…”
Well, it’s not a coast.
I kept a blank face while closing the house-call bag.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
“No wait, wait please. Until I confirm whether this is our map or not, I cannot accept it.”
“As you say, but I only received it from the patient, so beyond this I cannot…”
“We’ll check it quickly, so please.”
Here I offered to help.
“If it is only a matter of finding a matching place name, I believe even I could manage. Shall I assist?”
“Ah, then please.”
By now his guard was down, and he handed me a volume of the register.
I picked the volume containing Zerlan Bay and flipped through. There it was.
After making sure the NCOs were not watching me, I slipped a paper scrap from my pocket. It too was from the Army’s survey maps, but cut to show only the Zerlan Bay area.
The Zerlan Bay known to the Army, and the Zerlan Bay known to the Navy.
Both maps were in front of me.
“Hmm, let’s see…”
“Please don’t dirty the map, sir.”
“I shall treat it as gently as a patient in critical condition.”
This country itself is already in critical condition.
Now then…
I compared the two maps. It reminded me of those “spot the difference” games in the family restaurant near my old workplace. I never did find all the differences back then.
This one seemed easier.
Oh, there it was.
As I suspected, there was the slightest of discrepancies between the two. Small, but decisive. I marked the copy I had brought.
My business was done. Time to leave.
I spoke casually to the NCO.
“By the way, this register contains only coastal maps.”
“Well, we are the Navy…”
At once I tilted my head in feigned puzzlement.
“If that is so, then perhaps this is not a Navy map after all. I heard the Engineering Lieutenant was on duty inland, so perhaps it is a lake map.”
“Ah, if that’s the case then it would be the Army’s jurisdiction. The Navy has nothing to do with lakes.”
Relieved, the NCO turned back to me.
“In that case, perhaps you should inquire with the Army’s Hydrographic Bureau first?”
“Yes, indeed, perhaps the patient in his last moments confused Army and Navy. Let us try the Army first.”
“Yes, that would be best.”
Since it looked like he could dodge this troublesome matter, the NCO hurriedly began putting away the registers.
I folded up the map again and stuffed it into my house-call bag.
“Sorry to bother you while you’re busy. I caused you trouble.”
“Not at all.”
Now that the bothersome doctor was leaving, the NCO was all smiles.
I too smiled amiably as I stepped into the corridor and gently closed the door of the Naval Headquarters branch.
It had been the right call to investigate. The risk had been worth it.
I must hurry back. This requires further inquiry.