The Empire's Counterattack (3)
This time, returning to East Asia, I didn’t need to worry about the trivial details like last time.
Of course, Hong Kong isn’t exactly East Asia in the strict or broad sense, but since this was a follow-up to the previous visit, it counted.
My subordinates and I, having arrived via direct flight from London to Gimpo, were immediately welcomed with lavish hospitality by our local contacts and headed straight for the puppet company’s headquarters.
During the drive from Gimpo to Cheonma Sangsa’s office in Seocho District, the Han River’s shimmer, reflecting the late spring sunlight, was visible through the window almost the entire time.
Watching that sight, I thought to myself:
‘Surely, the country’s state is better than last winter.’
The weather, the general atmosphere of society—everything felt improved.
Even the frozen consumer sentiment seemed to have thawed with spring, as South Korea’s economic indicators were rebounding, rendering last year’s third and fourth quarter slump insignificant.
In fact, if it had fallen further from there, economic growth would have been finished, which was probably accurate.
In both the original history and this twisted world, how much the neighboring country was floundering during the Lost Decade. At least we should avoid that fate.
Well, at least this time I didn’t see anyone jumping off the Han River Bridge, so it’s better in that regard, isn’t it?
Amid this, Pavel spoke up.
“My lady, I’ve reviewed the detailed plan you laid out.”
“I’ve seen it. Is there something that’s bothering you?”
“I was wondering if it’s really okay for me not to accompany you. Of course, in Hong Kong, I was just dead weight, but….”
“Ah, I understand. You’re saying this out of concern?”
I gave a soft chuckle. Of course, I knew he was speaking out of concern for me.
“Since you’ve entrusted me with this position and responsibility, it’s only natural for me to be concerned.”
“As I mentioned last time, you know this, right? Secrecy is the most important thing.”
“…If you’re that firm, I suppose I can’t push further.”
The infiltration into P’yŏngsan, North Hamgyong Province, would proceed with me alone, for now.
The longer the tail, the easier it is to get caught—and this was a mission where the risk of exposure was enormous.
That said, there was one more thing I needed to tell Pavel.
“That said, don’t blame yourself too much. Using Hong Kong as an example is too harsh.”
Right when we were sucked into the pocket dimension modeled after Kowloon Walled City, during the fight with Hong Shuquan of the Dragon Head Pavilion, it’s true that Pavel didn’t perform notably.
Objectively speaking, there was room to call him ‘dead weight,’ as he himself put it. He’d even risked having his limbs torn apart by hands made of human shadows.
However, in the end, he did help in his own way. While the pseudo-cult leader of the Heavenly Kingdom’s attention was drawn to Pavel, I was able to recharge Spiegel’s cooldown.
Thanks to that, I could tear apart the black dragon made of guilty souls from the inside out. And amidst the chaos that ensued, I was able to set up my counterattack.
I continued.
“And you’ve been a far greater help than you’ve been useless, haven’t you? Leaving all that out and saying that is problematic.”
Take, for example, the time in Marseille, France, when I was still far weaker than I am now, facing the communist mage.
The mage who tried to take me along to the afterlife—no, to comradeship—no, either way, it’s weird.
Anyway, it was Pavel’s decision that saved me during that battle.
If Pavel hadn’t resolved to burn himself alive at the last moment and stabbed the communist mage, there would be no me now, and certainly no organization.
“In that regard, I respect both your skills and your magic. You just seem overshadowed because you’re by my side, Pavel. You’re a mage who would be respected anywhere you go.”
The head of the Northern Covenant Syndicate’s security division was a mage with considerable martial prowess.
By martial prowess, I mean the literal power of mu . Without hyup , mu is nothing but kinetic energy.
Thus, a mage who handles all kinds of firearms at a high level and doesn’t neglect his own physical training, shining even in close combat, is truly a rare talent.
After the battle in Hong Kong, Pavel had been noticeably depressed, saying he hadn’t been of help to me.
If strangers saw him, they’d scold him for talking nonsense, but anyone who’d known him for a while would notice the slight difference.
And that’s not all. I also have Yerina’s memories. Pavel was the one who’d been by her side since the days she’d peek out from behind her father’s legs.
Just as Pavel had watched over Yerina all this time, over ten years was more than enough time for Yerina to understand Pavel.
That’s why I spoke to Pavel this way—to offer him some comfort.
He might see through this obvious consolation, but sometimes even knowing it’s a lie can still comfort you.
I continued, humming softly.
“So, it’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that it’s better for me to go alone. You know, when you fight, it tends to get loud, right?”
From what I’d observed, and after analyzing combat data with the help of the intelligence department, Pavel’s magic battles generally involved using firearms at long range and his own durability at close range to overwhelm opponents.
And in this process, various sounds inevitably leaked out. Whether it was the muzzle blast of a gun or the sound of a fist cutting through the air.
If not that, then the sound of a powerful fist striking an opponent’s abdomen, teeth flying out, and bones crunching.
He could probably reduce the noise he makes himself.
But controlling the noise the opponent makes during a fight that unfolds in split seconds? That’s a different story.
Only someone like me, who can physically gag everyone with shadow hands and Cultured Slime, could manage that.
Therefore, Pavel was not a suitable companion for this operation, where secrecy was paramount.
After all, the goal was to steal nuclear material, not kill everyone we encountered.
While achieving the latter would naturally lead to the former, it would create a lot of afterward.
Pavel’s exclusion was the result of a perfectly logical and rational decision.
Of course, the idea of stealing plutonium from a heavily guarded nuclear facility was far from logical or rational.
What do I know? Elze testified that all witches are crazy people.
I fully understood the bodyguard’s concern about what might happen if I got into trouble, but it was a pointless worry.
‘I have no intention of getting into trouble.’
There are outliers like the full-plate communist knight I met in Hong Kong.
But no matter how tight the security, ordinary military groups disguised as physical forces and mages who could be defeated with a sigh couldn’t stop me, no matter what they did.
After explaining why I wasn’t using Pavel, he seemed to accept it reasonably.
“If you put it that way, I can’t ask for more.”
“Well, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to shine in Japan, won’t you? Our Red Empress mentioned that the yakuza are starting to view the Japanese Communist Party with suspicion.”
“…I suppose there will be quite a few opportunities for me to shine against those idiots who use swords recklessly. It’s about time things get itchy, so I’ll look forward to that.”
After wrapping up business in Korea, I decided to visit Japan as well, another East Asian country, just like last time.
Since they’re similar and close countries, it makes sense to visit them around the same time. People from both countries would spit up their food and go berserk if they heard that, though.
To Yerina, whose body roughly belonged to the Slavic admixture, they were all just ching, chaeng, chong in order.
Similarly, to Yerina, who belonged to the not-so-great British Empire culturally, there wasn’t much difference.
Just as an adult takes a dangerous toy away from a child, Yerina Bronska had the right to take away a toy that could destroy humanity from a nation with an immature citizenry.
Because it’s the White Man’s Burden. A citizen of the British Empire at its peak would surely have said so.
Anyway, Japan was already being handled by subordinates I’d sent ahead, but it looked like I’d need to uproot the weeds soon.
It seemed appropriate to go after finishing up in Korea, so I included it in this trip’s plan. It would also be a good warm-up for Pavel.
Whether stealing enriched uranium and plutonium from the uranium mine in P’yŏngsan, North Hamgyong Province, or meeting the Red Empress again in the Tokyo admixture and deciding which yakuza limbs to cut off—
Either way, information gathering comes first. The vehicle carrying me, Pavel, and Delis glided smoothly into Cheonma Sangsa’s headquarters in Seocho District.