Epilogue

August 24th 1943, Benevolent City.

It took more than three weeks to finish liberation of the city. The last enemy positions were taken yesterday. And now most of the Republics territory was free. There were still small enemy enclaves in the East but they were soon to fall.

Today was a celebratory parade to commemorate the deed, so all of the military personnel and a lot of locals gathered in the central square. Lily stood in the front row in her dress uniform, she had a bright smile on her face, watching the troops passing by.

"I see, you are in a good mood today, lieutenant Leitis", Alexis joined her side with a smirk on his face.

"Is it a proper was to address you fiancée, commander Gruel?", Lily jabbed back at him.

"Wasn’t it just girlfriend recently?"

"So you are opposed to it?"

"Not really…"

"Oh, here they are, our lovebirds", Wheeler approached them with Tanner by his side. "Can you believe it, this rascal got a promotion at last?!"

"Ha, said the guy, who moved to a higher commanding position", John was also spotting lieutenant shoulder straps.

"You think I am happy with this promotion? Now even more headache with planning and less chances to fly missions".

"Oh, do not worry, whatever our high command decides, you will have enough chances to fight".

"So, what are further plans for this war?", Alexis joined them.

"Western allies insist that we join WSRC and Lyah Commonwealth forces and help them push the Alemania from the East. Some of our generals think that we should not lose the momentum and continue pushing CSRC. I personally prefer the former: centralians are loosing on every front, they will not recover in time to counter-attack, and we do not have enough resources to push all the way to Marsh City", Alex was pretty serious.

"I agree with you for once. Better to help allies first and then finish CSRC together", Tanner smiled. "By the way, we are having a barbecue tomorrow, want to join us?"

"Not in the morning. I promised Mary to take her to the Turnip museum. We may join you later, though".

"Oh, we will be where till late night, so come whenever you can", he waved to them and left.

"I will be with the general staff on that side", Wheeler also left in eastern direction.

"We will be on front line again in a week, so let us enjoy the celebration for now", Alexis turned to Lily. "And we still needto celebrate your birthday".

"Yeah, let us. To bad not everyone made it", Kate’s face appeared in her mind. "How many died to achieve this victory?"

"Yes, a lot of our comrades died, but we are still alive and should do our best to end this war. There will be time to mourn. But not today", he took her hand and pulled her closer. "Today we can just enjoy a moment of peaсe".