Chapter 413: Wet Work

“Your Highness, since the target is set and cannot be altered… then I need the highest level of authorization! Not just for personnel mobilization, but also for special logistics and intelligence support.”

With the matter settled, Morin stopped dwelling on it and quickly transitioned into the role of operational commander.

Crown Prince Georg, having just sipped some coffee, set his cup down. The porcelain clinked sharply against the saucer.

He walked up to Morin and pressed his hands heavily onto his shoulders.

“Lord Friedrich, as I just said… as long as you bring István Tisza back to Vienna, you can mobilize any resources you can imagine, whether it’s the domestic stockpile or the reserves here in Vienna.”

“Field Marshal Conrad has also assured me. Munitions, intelligence, personnel… as long as you find them useful, you can requisition them at any time.”

“I only have one requirement… and that is to see results.”

“Understood, Your Highness.” Morin gave a standard military salute, cutting the small talk. “I’ll draft a list. I hope the administrative efficiency here can keep up with my pace.”

“Rest assured. I doubt anyone would dare drag their feet at a juncture like this.”

Vienna’s evening breeze, laden with the Danube’s signature moisture, felt stickily cool against his face.

Morin returned to his command tent. The others weren’t there, likely attending the evening briefing.

Seeing him arrive, his orderly quickly fetched a basin of clean water.

Morin buried his face in the cold water until his lungs ran out of air—which evidently took quite a while.

The ensuing suffocation rapidly cooled his slightly feverish brain.

He lifted his head, water droplets rolling down his sharp jawline.

He grabbed a towel, wiped his face roughly, and called over a standby messenger. “Go get Kleist, Manstein, and Paulus… Right now. Immediately.”

Minutes later, the three officers slipped into the command tent one after another.

Seeing Morin’s grave expression as he organized his desk, the three exchanged subconscious glances, noting the gravity in each other’s eyes.

“Sit down.”

Without looking up, Morin unrolled a defense map of Budapest on the folding table and weighed down the four corners.

“Long story short, we received a new order. We need to take a trip to Budapest.”

“To Budapest at a time like this?”

Kleist raised an eyebrow, seemingly unaware of the problem’s severity.

“Are we escorting a negotiation team with VIPs?”

“No. We’re going to ‘invite’ their Prime Minister—Count István Tisza—over to Vienna.”

As Morin finished speaking, silence fell over the tent. The three men reacted differently.

Kleist’s brow furrowed tightly, worry and surprise written all over his face. As the regimental adjutant, he quickly grasped the mission’s difficulty, the massive risks involved, and the potential diplomatic disaster it could trigger.

Paulus maintained his signature composure. He stayed silent, just listening quietly. However, judging from his demeanor, he had already begun framing the operation in his mind.

As for Manstein…

The man who had jumped out of the sky over the Liège Fortress with Morin actually had a glint of… excitement flashing in his eyes.

“Alright… let’s not overthink things right now. We’re short on time and must devise a viable plan immediately.”

The four men quickly focused their attention on the detailed Budapest map provided by the Austro-Hungarian General Staff.

It was an incredibly detailed military map, an item of the highest secrecy under normal circumstances. It highlighted all major streets, bridges, and key buildings in Budapest. Even the sewer entrances were clearly marked with different colored lines.

“Take a look.” Morin’s finger traced across the map. “Our target is Count István Tisza. His official residence is here.” He pointed to a building marked with a red circle on the eastern bank of the Danube.

According to the intelligence provided by Conrad’s people, the Hungarian Prime Minister usually worked in an administrative building next to the Hungarian Parliament during the day. If he didn’t have social events in the evening, the Count would generally return to his private mansion on the west side of Budapest’s 6th District—the Tisza Palace.

This mansion also served as the Tisza family’s main residence in the capital, where the Prime Minister hosted dignitaries and held private meetings. Since it was a covert operation, Morin was nearly certain they would strike at night. At that hour, Count Tisza was highly likely to return to the Tisza Palace to rest.

“Our mission is to extract him from the inside without alerting anyone.” Morin emphasized his tone. “Remember, ‘without alerting anyone’.”

Hearing Morin’s words, the three leaned over the map and studied it closely.

The atmosphere in the tent turned immensely heavy. The only sounds were their breathing, the occasional rustle of a pen scratching on paper, and the flipping of files.

“First, we need to solve the primary issue,” Morin broke the silence. “How do we get in?”

“It’s a heavily guarded capital. We can only send a small detachment, and we have to carry weapons and equipment… Sneaking in unnoticed, with all due respect, Commander… that sounds harder than fighting our way in.”

Kleist brought up the most practical issue first. He then pointed at several main roads and railway lines leading into Budapest on the map. “Based on the intelligence you brought back, Budapest has essentially entered a state of martial law due to the recent tensions between both sides.”

“Checkpoints secure all entry and exit routes. Even if we can’t be sure how strict the inspections are, we clearly cannot enter with weapons and extract a target via these roads.”

“Then we strike from the sky! It’s not like we haven’t done it before!” Manstein chimed in immediately, his eyes terrifyingly bright.

As a veteran and hero of the ‘Liège Fortress Air Assault’, he couldn’t forget that thrilling aerial raid. “Colonel, we can replicate the Liège operation! Use an airship to fly us over the city, then airdrop right next to the Prime Minister’s residence! Catch them completely off guard!”

It was a bold idea, perfectly in line with Manstein’s style. But Morin ran it through his mind and shook his head.

“No.” He rejected the proposal.

“An airship is too large a target… This is a relatively covert operation. We can’t execute a low-altitude raid like before. Besides, wouldn’t using an airship just broadcast to everyone that the Saxon Empire has intervened?”

In truth, upon receiving the mission, Morin’s first thought was also an airship assault for a quick strike and extraction. But he quickly discarded the plan.

Aside from the reasons he just mentioned, even if an armored airship entered from an altitude of around 5,000 meters to avoid a massive commotion, paratrooping from that height with current technology was impossible. A forced airdrop would likely turn them into Deadpool’s ‘X-Force’.

Morin looked at Manstein and explained patiently:

“The urban environment is too complex. Wind direction, buildings, power lines… any random factor could lead to a fatal airdrop. And the 【Feather Fall】 spell can only support a limited altitude, so we can’t take that risk.”

In Morin’s previous world, urban airdrops were extremely complex tactical challenges, let alone in this era where parachutes were still rudimentary.

Hearing Morin’s analysis, Manstein, though disappointed, knew it was the truth and resentfully shut his mouth. With the air assault option scrapped, their thoughts returned to the ground.

Paulus had remained silent. He just slowly traced his finger across the map, observing every detail of the city closely.

After a while, he looked up at Morin and spoke in his usual calm tone: “Colonel, if land and air are both out, then we only have one path left.”

Everyone focused their eyes on him.

Paulus’s finger slid across the map and finally stopped on the broad blue line running through the center.

“The Danube.”

The corners of Morin’s mouth curled up slightly. Great minds think alike.

After ruling out the aerial entry plan, he had long set his sights on this mother river shared by the Kingdoms of Austria and Hungary.

“Exactly.”

Morin’s finger tapped heavily on the Danube on the map:

“The air and land routes are sealed, so we take the water route!”

“The water route?” Kleist frowned, raising his doubts. “Since martial law is declared on land, the river must be the same… Budapest’s garrison couldn’t possibly neglect setting up patrols and checkpoints on the Danube. Any passing vessels will definitely face strict searches.”

Manstein nodded, agreeing with Kleist’s view. Even Paulus frowned, clearly doubting the feasibility of the direction he just proposed.

“Who said taking the water route means we have to take a boat?” Morin looked at their confused expressions and smiled mysteriously.

His finger remained on the blue river, but his next words stunned everyone present.

“We won’t travel on the surface. We’ll go underwater.”

“Underwater?” Kleist, Manstein, and Paulus exclaimed almost in unison.

The three looked at each other, seeing shock and disbelief in one another’s eyes.

Infiltrate from underwater? What kind of fantastical tactic was this?

Although the navy indeed had divers responsible for salvage operations, those diving suits were essentially tethered directly to the ship, allowing only vertical movement. How could operatives maneuver underwater for extended periods while carrying weapons and equipment under these conditions? It was simply impossible!

Morin wasn’t surprised by his three capable subordinates’ shocked expressions. After all, the birth of the first specialized frogman units was still a long way off. But it was exactly this tactic, completely exceeding the era’s cognitive limits, that was the key to this operation’s success.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Morin began slowly. “Under normal circumstances, this would indeed be impossible… But we have abnormal methods.”

He didn’t explain in detail what the “abnormal methods” were, as he still needed to do some planning and verify some information. For now, he just intended for the others to make preliminary preparations.

“Kleist.”

“Yes, Commander!” Kleist instinctively stood up straight.

“Take the regimental clerks and handle a task immediately. Select men from all the current combat personnel in the instruction unit. They must be strong swimmers, excel in physical stamina and close-quarters combat, and possess unbreakable psychological fortitude.”

“Compile the list of qualified personnel, then contact their respective battalion headquarters immediately. Transfer them from the front lines to Vienna as fast as possible! Remember… this must remain classified.”

“Yes, Commander!” Despite his mind being full of questions, Kleist took the order without hesitation.

With the personnel arranged, Morin sat back at the desk, grabbed pen and paper, and quickly jotted down a list.

It contained the special equipment he needed for this operation: crossbows, diving suits, waterproof leather bags, ropes, hoods, handcuffs, well-maintained Austro-Hungarian standard-issue infantry weapons, Mannlicher rifles equipped with optical sights, and a lot of gear usually unassociated with combat operations. He handed the list to Paulus.

“Paulus, coordinate with the Austro-Hungarian General Staff’s quartermaster department. Find a way to get all these items.”

“Understood.” Paulus took the list and nodded.

Finally, Morin’s gaze fell on Manstein.

“Manstein.”

“Here!” Manstein’s eyes began to shine again.

“Once the personnel and equipment are in place, we will formulate the assault plan details—I will brief you on the specifics later. What you need to do now is verify the conditions near the operation site. Then, liaise with Austro-Hungarian intelligence to ensure updates regarding Budapest remain as current as possible during this period.”

“Yes, Commander!” Manstein patted his chest excitedly.

Having arranged all this, Morin watched the three men busy themselves again in the tent, finally feeling a bit more secure.

These preparations were just the foundational part of the operation plan in his mind. He still needed to verify some crucial information personally.

And this “crucial information” was right next door.

After assigning tasks to the three, Morin stepped out of the command tent and headed straight for the adjacent space temporarily yielded to Master Röntgen for rest. He lifted the flap and saw that Master Röntgen was not resting.

By the light of an electric lamp wired from the train station, the Imperial Mage was scribbling and drawing on a piece of paper, muttering to himself, seemingly calculating something.

Hearing the noise, Master Röntgen looked up. Seeing Morin, he set his pen down.

“Colonel Morin, it’s late. Still awake?”

“I have some matters on my mind, can’t sleep.”

Morin smiled, walked right up to Master Röntgen, and got straight to the point: “Master Röntgen, I’d like to consult you about two spells.”

“Oh? Speak.” Master Röntgen’s interest was piqued.

“Do you know the spells 【Water Breathing】 and 【Darkvision】?”

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