Chapter 160
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 160
The room Japa had prepared for me was as cozy and pristine as a luxury hotel suite. The bed and chair were tailored to human standards and fit my body perfectly. The wall monitor and table were linked to a computer, giving me instant access to any information I needed.
Sitting in the chair, I brought up ten holographic screens. The information Japa had prepared for me appeared first.
I accessed the terminal, connecting to the Border City network to pull up external information alongside it.
Hummmm.
A massive stream of data cascaded down, a deluge ready to fill the gap of my missing years. Videos and text flashed by in a dizzying blur.
'There won't be much information on the Akresia Empire. Even less about what happened during the Storm Era.'
The first things I checked were the Empire and the Custoria family.
'The current Emperor is Ivan Cracia.'
The Emperor hadn’t changed since the Storm Era.
'Former Emperor Yuri Cracia passed away suddenly due to old age.'
The public reason was, of course, far from the truth. In fact, the recorded date of Yuri Cracia's death was much earlier than when he had actually died.
'Yuri Cracia died during the first week of the Storm Era. Imperial officials withheld the news of his death to prevent the chaos of a power vacuum.'
I gritted my teeth the moment I read the next line.
'Before his death, Yuri Cracia designated a new successor. In protest, Fransek Cracia allied with the military and incited the public in an attempt to usurp the throne.'
'The next Emperor, Ivan, personally led the campaign to suppress Fransek and declared himself Emperor. As Fransek held immense public support, the two seemingly reconciled, subsequently beginning a de facto joint rule.'
I couldn’t even begin to fathom how many people had been silenced and how much information had been manipulated. The Empire and the Imperial Family must have gone to extreme lengths.
They had even fabricated a plausible excuse for why Emperor Yuri Cracia had changed his successor.
'Although Emperor Yuri Cracia and Crown Prince Fransek frequently clashed due to differing policy directions, it is presumed that the Emperor refrained from revoking the Crown Prince's designation out of concern for imperial division and chaos. However, due to a sudden deterioration in his health, he designated his second son, Ivan Cracia, as his successor in his final will.'
They had cleverly woven lies into the truth.
'It's true that the Emperor and Fransek appeared to have different policy directions. Fransek was a reformist, cut from a completely different cloth than the previous emperors… so it wouldn't be strange if the Emperor secretly disapproved of him.'
Thus, keeping the highly popular Fransek as the nominal Crown Prince only to push Ivan forward as Emperor at the very end… even that explanation carried a strange sort of conviction.
"Haha, what a plausible lie they've spun."
Just looking at the public records up to this point made it clear: Ivan had devoured Fransek.
'Three years later, Fransek was caught and imprisoned while attempting to defect to the Kora Holy Nation after leaking imperial secrets. Since then, he has made no public appearances.'
And that was exactly when I had been admitted to the Lazarus facility. It must have been to protect me from Ivan's clutches.
'There must have been endless conspiracies and schemes during this period. As soon as his rule stabilized, Ivan moved to oust Fransek.'
I had asked Ilay to prevent this very situation. I had to believe that Ilay had done his absolute best.
'The Imperial Guard is reducing its recruitment numbers every year due to economic reasons.'
The Imperial Guard was being phased out.
'The Empire has disclosed the Imperial Guard's training curriculum to private corporations and outsourced recruitment. However, Legion technology remains strictly monopolized by the Imperial Family, and the soldiers trained by private corporations appear to fall short of the standards of the original Imperial Guardsmen.'
The original Imperial Guard had focused on training the absolute elite, completely disregarding the cost. Corporations, however, would pinpoint the most cost-effective threshold and churn out merely adequate soldiers.
'A select few of the top-tier soldiers produced by private corporations are hired by the Imperial Family and integrated into mercenary units. They do not hold military status, and individuals from military families are seemingly excluded from recruitment by design.'
A unit to replace the Imperial Guard was being forged. Because they were mercenaries rather than soldiers, they wouldn't remain in the military once their contracts expired. Furthermore, since they didn't hail from military families, they had far fewer ties to the military establishment.
The new Elite Guard was designed to have zero overlap with the military. While the long-term consequences remained to be seen, for now, they would operate as distinct factions keeping each other in check.
My feelings were incredibly complex.
There had been no catastrophic, large-scale purge of the Imperial Guard. Instead, they were being left to wither away. The realization that the organization I had once belonged to was slowly dissolving left a bitter taste in my mouth.
'And the Custoria family.'
Heilas Custoria had publicly condemned the Emperor and attempted a rebellion. With so many witnesses, it would have been impossible to cover up the truth entirely.
"…Astonishing."
I stroked my chin as I stared at the records.
Heilas Custoria had been posthumously awarded the 2nd Class Cross Sword Military Medal. It was by the direct order of Ivan Cracia.
The attack on Heilas and the military generals was officially attributed to “the Empress acting on her own authority.” This was because, according to the official timeline, Yuri Cracia had already passed away at the start of the Storm Era.
Regardless, they had bestowed a medal upon someone who had openly opposed the Imperial Family. The political maneuvering behind it was incredibly intricate.
—"Imperial Guard Captain Heilas Custoria was an honorable soldier who understood pride. His courage was justified, and the late Emperor committed acts against the Imperial Guard that should never have transpired. Had I known, I would have sought dialogue first…"
Ivan's speech played. He looked slightly more mature than the Ivan I remembered, carrying himself like a proper young man.
The Imperial Family had officially admitted to their past misdeeds. They framed the plan to dehumanize the Imperial Guard as the personal madness of Yuri Cracia alone, while Ivan spoke as if his sudden succession had left him entirely in the dark—painting the whole tragedy as a massive misunderstanding.
As an apology for these past wrongs, Ivan had awarded Heilas Custoria the military medal. Furthermore, he had granted special privileges to the Custoria family—benefits so lavish that no one would ever suspect them of being a traitor's household.
'If you think about it, it's a calculated move. Heilas's influence was powerful enough to shake even the obsessive loyalty of the Imperial Guard.'
The Imperial Guard had not yet vanished. Though diminished, their power remained formidable. Disbanding them outright without any replacement would have left a massive void in national security.
Ivan wanted to phase out the Imperial Guard naturally while gradually replacing them with his own Elite Guard. In a few decades, the Imperial Guard would become nothing more than a ceremonial unit—grand in name but devoid of any real authority.
'There was no reason to provoke the resentment of the Imperial Guardsmen by branding Heilas a traitor.'
Given the obsessive loyalty hardwired into the Imperial Guardsmen, they would quietly accept their own decline and eventual obsolescence—so long as they weren't actively oppressed.
I quickly scanned the records of the Custoria family.
'Jupe is holding his own as the Family Head. It helps that Eva is by his side.'
Lucaus Custoria: crippled beyond recovery.
"Ha, acting so high and mighty. I knew he'd end up like this."
I sneered, moving on to the next name.
'Giselle Custoria, Co-CEO of G &G Cybernetics.'
The company that had started as a small workshop had now grown to bear the grand name of G&G Cybernetics.
'Generated massive revenue as her independently developed Kinesis Chip became an essential commodity for lower-class citizens. The Kinesis Chip minimizes interference and errors between incompatible cybernetic parts while optimizing performance. It provides a significant boost in responsiveness for lower-class citizens, who frequently resort to illegal modifications and improper use of prosthetic bodies.'
Conversely, it meant the chip was practically useless to those who could afford corporate-certified, fully compatible prosthetics and professional tuning.
'Several cybernetics corporations filed lawsuits claiming the Kinesis Chip was an illegal hacking device that infringed on their patents and compromised user safety, but they lost.'
Competitor corporations declared they would refuse to service any devices found using the Kinesis Chip. But to the lower-class citizens, that threat was meaningless. If their prosthetics malfunctioned, they didn't go to corporate service centers anyway; they went to the nearest back-alley clinic or workshop.
Alright, Luka, let's not get angry when reading the next part. It's probably not going to be good news.
'…Giselle Custoria went missing during a visit to Border City for business expansion.'
Okay, don't get angry. No need to lose my head. This was one of the possibilities I anticipated. If Giselle were safe, I would have met her by now. From the moment my medical bills stopped being paid, I knew something must have happened to her…
Crash!
With that sound, my vision went pitch black. I think that was the sound of me kicking the table.
* * *
…I regained consciousness.
Crackle!
My fist was buried deep in the shattered monitor. Sparks crackled across the surface of my prosthetic arm.
"Finally back with us? I almost put a bullet through that skull of yours several times. Only stopped because our employer kept screaming at me not to kill you."
I looked back. En was rolling his shoulders, bleeding red blood. He must have fought me fiercely; the orange stripes on the skin exposed beneath his combat suit were glowing brilliantly. His combat helmet was partially shattered, revealing his right eye.
Sizzle, sizzle.
The room was in absolute ruins. Not only were the furniture and electronics completely destroyed, but five security androids lay in half-wrecked heaps on the floor.
"Hmm. I needed to blow off some steam."
I spoke sheepishly. Even to my own ears, it sounded incredibly stupid.
"You're not right in the head. Just now, you weren't just angry—you completely blacked out, didn't you? You should crawl back into a Lazarus facility and get a full diagnostic run. Before you end up locked in a psych ward with all your limbs stripped off."
"Still, you must be pretty good. Stopping me even when I was bare-handed… unless my skills have just rusted that much."
En tilted his combat helmet up slightly and spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the floor.
"If I couldn't stop a single crazed human, I'd have to give up my title as Great Warrior."
"Great Warrior? You seem a bit too flippant to be the leader of a mercenary band."
"Our captain is someone else. We choose the strongest fighter in our pack to be the Great Warrior. They send me out when losing is not an option. Dueling is sacred to us Equesians. Anyway, stop changing the subject, human. You lost your mind over something trivial."
En pointed a finger at me. Equesians only had four fingers, but each one was thick and powerful.
En had easily seen through my attempt to deflect. He wasn't eloquent, but he possessed a sharp intuition. He knew what truly mattered.
"It wasn't trivial."
"Whatever it was, losing your mind is a bad sign."
"If I had to make an excuse, it's a miracle my body is even standing right now. A glitch or two like this is nothing. I'll manage my own body, so back off, Equesian. If you're a mercenary, act like one and just do the job you're paid for."
"I should've just killed you and claimed it was an accident."
En's aura flared with hostility.
At that moment, a peculiar, high-pitched laugh echoed from behind the door. It was Japa. He stepped inside, clicking his long fingernails together.
"Hoyot, hoyot! Let's not fight, En. And Mr. Luka. As a peace-loving Tajirun, this sight breaks my heart."
"Is this guy's strength really that necessary?" En grumbled.
"Absolutely. En, your only job is to protect Mr. Luka, just as you did moments ago. Your personal opinions aren't needed. Or do I need to take this up with your captain?"
"…Fine."
Japa was blatantly taking my side.
'What on earth did Kinuan do to Japa?'
Japa's obsession with finding Kinuan was staggering. From my medical bills to the destroyed androids, the financial losses he had incurred because of me were already immense.
'Which means finding Kinuan is so incredibly important that all these losses are trivial in comparison.'
Tajiruns were notorious for being the most avaricious race in the galaxy. He was only accommodating me like this because he was absolutely certain I would yield a return on his investment.
"I shall guide you to another room. Do you find your new prosthetic body to your liking?" Japa asked as he glided down the hallway. His long robe dragged along the floor, making him look like a slithering snake.
"It's excellent."
"I poured Japa Trading's entire revenue from the first half of the year into crafting that prosthetic body. Not net profit, mind you—total revenue."
"Oh, really?"
I replied flatly. In truth, I was deeply shaken by my sudden loss of control. If my consciousness blacked out like this at a critical moment, I would be in serious trouble. My true weapons were my reason and insight. Without them, I was nothing more than a soldier who was decent at fighting.
"Hoyot! Such a cynical reaction is rather hurtful. If I were a chef at Japa Pizza, I might have tossed you into the oven myself. Have you by any chance seen the Japa Pizza commercial? The song performed by our exclusive idol…"
"I haven't, but I'm sure it's atrocious."
Japa thrust his terminal screen right in front of my face.
—"Snake, snake, snake! A whole snake topped on…"
I snatched the terminal from Japa's hand and squeezed.
Crunch!
Shattered components rained down from my palm.
—"Snaaaake, snaaaake…"
The audio distorted and died.
Japa stared at me as if his entire world had collapsed. I was finally starting to read a Tajirun's facial expressions.
"If you want my help, stop interfering with my recovery. Leave me alone for the next twenty-four hours."
I delivered the warning and stepped into my newly assigned room.