Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Play (2)
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There were three days left until the raid on the Red Star.
Considering travel time as well, it would be even less than that.
I decided to make proper preparations in the meantime.
Not that there was much to prepare.
Just packing the Rigid Body Armament pieces I'd been carrying sporadically.
I didn't think there'd be any real threats, but it wouldn't hurt to wear at least some greaves.
"Are you there?"
I was just about to put on the greaves when someone knocked on the door.
It was Astier.
I'd handed over the documents the Empress wanted, so wasn't her job done?
I was puzzled, but I soon replied to the woman beyond the door.
"Come in."
"Then I'll enter."
The hinges creaked as the door opened.
Astier stepped through, and her face stiffened for a moment.
Only then did I realize I was shirtless.
I hastily grabbed my scattered clothes and put them on.
"Isn't your work done?"
"Huh? What do you mean my work's done?"
Astier tilted her head, then nodded as if she'd figured it out.
"Oh. Handing over the documents doesn't mean I'm leaving. I promised to assist you until you finish everything."
"You said you'd assist, but why go so far as to get hurt playing the incompetent act?"
Astier gave an awkward smile and scratched her head.
She clearly looked troubled, which was somehow amusing.
Seeing someone who'd always been expressionless show emotion felt refreshingly novel.
"I have nothing to say to that. If you've changed your mind, just let me know now."
"My thoughts haven't changed."
"That's a relief."
Astier quietly nodded at my words.
Her face looked relieved for a moment.
But it was fleeting; she soon reverted to her blank expression.
She glanced at the gear beside me, then tilted her head.
"Were you planning to prepare alone?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I want to help. For real, this time."
Her voice trembled slightly at the end.
A faint hesitation colored her tone.
It wasn't the ironclad speech of an Imperial Intelligence Agency inspector.
These were words she wouldn't normally utter.
"That's unexpected. I didn't think you were the type to say something like that."
She seemed embarrassed by her own words and lowered her gaze.
The muscles in her cheeks tensed a bit.
It was an expression that oddly didn't suit her.
But I could tell it was sincere.
And maybe that's why—I found her awkwardness endearing.
"All right. Help me out."
Astier stared blankly at me for a moment before breaking into a small smile.
It was the first time I'd seen her smile genuinely.
Until now, she'd only shown me roles she was playing.
It felt strangely moving.
"Then let's start by organizing the weapons."
She moved with practiced ease.
She said she was helping, but in reality, she was handling most of it herself.
While I looked away for a second, she'd already sorted the armaments and classified them.
Her speed was impressive, and her movements were deft and precise.
"Were you always this neat freak?"
"I'm not the type to let dust pile up. Oh, my real personality, that is."
"I know."
Even as she spoke, her hands never stopped.
She knelt down, inspecting each piece of armor I was supposed to wear.
"Your speech patterns, your inflection, even those movements. Were they all trained?"
"Some from training, some from personal study. I did everything I could. Deceiving people isn't easy."
"That must've taken more than a day or two."
She looked up at me.
Her eyes were strangely clear.
"Of course, even with all that, mistakes still happen."
I silently took the neatly organized gear from her.
"No one goes without mistakes. We're only human."
"Though some humans are sharp enough that you wouldn't think they were human at all."
Silence hung between us for a while.
Astier was now sharpening the sword she'd use.
The sight looked awfully familiar.
"Oh, did you pack winter gear? It gets cold near the Harst Mountains..."
She trailed off upon seeing my expression.
She nodded to herself and focused back on honing the blade.
What exactly had she read in my face?
"Why stop there?"
"You're more used to cold places than I am, Duke. I figured you might not even need winter gear."
Hm.
Hard to argue with that.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Var's Stone Palace in the Harst Mountains.
It had once been an early Imperial Army supply base during the first Great Beast emergence.
Now, 400 years later, it was a forgotten ruin—and the Red Star's secret meeting place.
In the circular conference room surrounded by massive statues and rubble,
seven nobles sat in the center.
Most of them couldn't hide their unease after the failure of this operation.
"Luos has fallen."
A woman with short gray hair spoke up.
"All the funding lines and research records Luos provided have been seized."
"We can assume Eril and Ras are dead?"
"That's right. No idea who did it, though."
"At least two of them. Could be a group. The problem is the speed. They didn't investigate us for just a day or two. They had our movements and plans mapped out in advance."
A man clad head to toe in fur spoke.
"An insider is obvious. So we need to figure out who's targeting us. Can't rule out one of us dealing with the Empress."
"Doubt it. If the Empress knew about us beforehand, our heads would've been on the city gates ages ago."
A heavy voice.
It belonged to Baron Elrbein, one of the Red Star's top brass.
Unlike the other key figures, he was one of the few humans who'd undergone the procedure himself.
His voice was low and guttural, like a beast's.
"Or how about this? What if the Empress already knew about us and let it slide on purpose?"
"If he let us be, it'd be to wipe us out more thoroughly."
"Makes sense. But to me... it feels like there's another motive."
An old man tossed something onto the table.
It was a copy of a report dissecting a test subject's internal tissues.
"Checked it yesterday, but our southern tech's been leaking."
"Leaking? We've been selling that stuff anyway."
"No, no. This was tech we hadn't released."
Everyone fell silent at the old man's words.
After a long pause, someone spoke again.
"So he let us rot to steal our tech. Damn geezer. Why check that now? Luos wasn't even handling it."
"The guy managing the tech bolted. Took every document from the secure area."
"...So he's already milked us dry."
The woman chuckled softly in response.
"Well, that woman who poisoned her sister and father to become Empress? Yeah, she'd do it. Our dear Empress loves looking down on us like she knows everything."
Elrbein cut in.
"Whether it's him or the Intelligence Agency coming, we're dead either way."
"So, shall we pick our options now?"
The woman spoke slowly.
"Die here, or flee south."
"Flee?"
"The south still wants our corpses. Something about 'God's remnants'? Whatever nonsense."
"You think fleeing will save you?"
Elrbein scoffed.
"Keep listening to this bullshit. Acting like you're above it all. Were you the traitor?"
The woman blinked at being singled out.
She pointed at herself and tilted her head.
"Me? Looks can be deceiving—I'm pretty desperate too, you know."
Cardddddr!
At that moment, a grinding noise echoed from the stone palace's ceiling, as if something was tearing through it.
As the ceiling began to crack open, a massive vibration shook the entire palace.
The statues trembled pitifully, as if an earthquake had struck.
"Wh-what...!!"
A stone pillar supporting the ceiling collapsed.
Pale, the former knight captain waiting silently in the back, swung his sword to deflect it.
His expression was uncharacteristically crumpled.
Pale gritted his teeth as he blocked the falling debris and glared up at the ceiling.
"...It's here."
The ceiling cracked like a spiderweb.
Pale, staring it down, urgently shifted his gaze to the side.
The walls were sliced. The pillars were sliced. Necks—
"—Duck!!"
The guarding knights pinned down their lords' heads.
Before they could even react to the rough handling,
Every head in the room was severed.
Pale, who'd covered his head to protect his neck, belatedly opened his eyes.
The next instant, he couldn't help but be stunned.
The firmly sealed ceiling had vanished entirely.
Snow from the surrounding peaks poured down where the ceiling had evaporated.
The snow exploded outward, blinding their vision.
Pale reflexively swung his sword to clear his sight.
He swallowed hard as he looked straight ahead.
"......!!"
Beneath the open sky stood a man.
A long scar crossed his lips and eyebrow.
A fierce appearance reminiscent of a wolf.
Pale, who had been at the banquet hall, already knew who this man was.
"Ian... Valencia...!!"