Isn't It Obvious?
Isn't It Obvious?
After hearing a rough outline of the mysterious businessman, Daniel headed to the Central Security Office's reception room.
When Daniel opened the reception room door and stepped inside, he found Hamtal already seated on the sofa, savoring the aroma of coffee.
Just as he had heard, the man was a neatly suited black man.
At a glance, the suit wasn't expensive, but neither was it cheap.
He gave the strong impression that he wore it not for luxury, but to maintain his dignity.
'So his name is Hamtal.'
There was something vaguely familiar about his face.
As Daniel approached, Hamtal sensed his presence, set down the cup he was holding, and raised his head.
With a faint smile, Hamtal rose from his seat and extended a hand.
"Chief of Public Security. Thank you for making time for me. I am Hamtal, a businessman making various investments here in the Imperial Capital."
Daniel took Hamtal's hand.
"I hear you're making a donation out of goodwill, so of course I had to make time. I heard you invested heavily in the munitions industry and made enormous profits. Is that correct?"
"I made a decent amount. That money allowed me to participate in small military procurement bids, and now I run a modest number of transport companies. I'm still continuing my investments, of course."
For someone who had reportedly earned money explosively in a short period, his attitude was remarkably humble.
Finding this unexpected, Daniel withdrew his hand and spoke.
"That's remarkable. I could never have imagined managing money like that myself. But..."
Daniel tilted his head as he studied Hamtal's face.
"Haven't we seen each other somewhere before?"
Hamtal let out a low laugh.
"I'm simply grateful you remember. To be honest, I once spoke with you on a train, Chief of Public Security. We exchanged greetings in the first-class cabin of the Royal Express."
"The Royal Express first-class cabin..."
Daniel, who had been searching his memory, clapped his hands as if it had just come back to him.
"Ah! I remember now! That was when you introduced yourself as being from Nordia."
"Exactly. Back then, you wore the rank insignia of a major, Chief of Public Security. Now you wear a colonel's insignia, so I suspect you may have succeeded even more than I have."
"Success? That's preposterous. I've only done my duty for the Empire. More importantly, since meeting like this must be fate, won't you sit and talk?"
At Daniel's urging, Hamtal nodded and sat on the sofa.
Daniel also smiled as he sat opposite Hamtal.
"It's truly remarkable in many ways that you crossed over from Nordia to the Empire and are making a name for yourself as a businessman. You must barely have time to keep your business running, yet you're even offering donations for the Empire. I'm genuinely filled with respect."
"I, too, have always held respect for you, Chief of Public Security, who dedicates yourself to the Empire. Compared to a battlefield where lives are given and taken, business is no different from child's play."
"Please don't say that. I know that business is no different from war."
After exchanging pleasantries, Daniel raised his cup and took a sip of coffee.
It tasted good—Lucy had brewed it.
After savoring the coffee, Daniel set his cup down and spoke.
"Then how about we get to the main point?"
"By main point, you mean?"
"What is it that you want? I know there's no such thing as a free lunch in business."
Businessmen were the kind of people who would hire even a monkey as an employee if it benefited them.
So Daniel was asking what Hamtal wanted in return for his donation to the National Security Surveillance Bureau.
Hamtal seemed to sink into thought for a moment, then raised his head and fixed his gaze on Daniel.
"There isn't anything else I desire. Still, if you insist on asking, I would like it if the Imperial Daily ran a story on the front page about my donation. In wartime, patriotic donations can reap substantial advertising benefits."
"Is that all?"
"There isn't anything else I desire. Even having said that, my patriotism isn't false. I sincerely hope for a more ideal Empire to be born. And you, Chief of Public Security, will be there at the side of His Majesty the Emperor who leads that Empire."
Hamtal was merely operating the Black Bird for the sake of that future.
"When that time comes, I believe you will uproot the racial discrimination that is widespread throughout the world, Chief of Public Security. Just as you did in Nordia. So, if I may ask a question..."
Hamtal faced Daniel and continued speaking.
"Do you believe, Chief of Public Security, that racial discrimination will disappear in the future?"
Anyone living in this era who heard that question would have hesitated to answer.
To be frank, even in an Empire that had enacted laws abolishing class discrimination and forbidding racial divisions, people were excluding one another whether they realized it or not.
How many people in such an era could confidently declare that the future would be different?
But Daniel could be sure.
Because he knew how history had unfolded in his previous life.
"It will not disappear completely."
"I thought so..."
"But I can guarantee you that it will certainly improve compared to now. At the very least, the days when people suffer disadvantages simply because of their race will vanish. Who knows? In the distant future, a black man might even be the leader of a great power."
Hamtal felt a strange shock at Daniel's final words.
'A black man might become the leader of a great power...'
It was absurd.
The world Hamtal had experienced all his life would never permit such a thing.
Daniel had casually spoken aloud of something realistically impossible.
Something even Hamtal, who had lived his entire life as a black man, had never dared to imagine.
'Perhaps Daniel Steiner is even more sincere than I am...'
About abolishing racial discrimination.
Of course, Daniel was merely recounting history from his previous life, but there was no way Hamtal could know that.
Privately marveling as if he were standing before a prophet, Hamtal nodded with a faint smile.
"Your perspective is extraordinarily broad, Chief of Public Security. To a degree I dare not hope to match. I feel I can now entrust these documents to you with confidence."
Documents? Just when Daniel was wondering what he meant, Hamtal reached into his coat.
What emerged from Hamtal's hand was an old document.
"This is something I inadvertently collected while expanding my business. It appears to be encrypted, but I've been utterly unable to decipher it myself, and I've been agonizing over it. I thought perhaps you, Chief of Public Security, might be able to read it, so I wished to pass it on to you."
Curious about what on earth Hamtal was talking about, Daniel received the document from him.
Unfolding the document, Daniel discovered characters written in a double cipher.
'This is...'
They were codes the Allied Nations had used in the past.
Having learned code-breaking at the military academy, Daniel recognized these ciphers.
'These are codes no longer used due to security concerns. Which means...'
This document itself was a classified document that was at least ten years old.
While Daniel was examining the paperwork and deciphering the code in bewilderment, he involuntarily paused.
'It's a document regarding the Lucy Project. To be precise, it describes the location and geographical advantages of the research institute where the Lucy Project was conducted. Is this a copy?'
Realizing that, Daniel folded the document and looked at Hamtal.
"...Where on earth did you obtain this?"
"Didn't I tell you? It's something I inadvertently came into possession of while expanding my business. You may keep it if you wish. I have no need for it, after all."
Having spoken in a manner that said "ask no more," Hamtal rose from his seat.
"Then I shall take my leave. I cannot allow any more of your valuable time to be wasted, Chief of Public Security. I will forward the details concerning the donation in writing at a later date."
Bowing his head deeply, Hamtal walked toward the reception room door.
His retreating figure was somehow suspicious, but Daniel could not bring himself to call him back.
Not long after Hamtal exited the reception room, Lucy entered.
"Chief of Public Security. Now that your conversation is finished, regarding the audience with the Bellanos diplomatic envoy..."
The moment Lucy came into the reception room, Daniel hurriedly stuffed the document into his coat.
Because it was information Lucy was better off not knowing.
The problem was that Lucy had witnessed that action.
"Chief of Public Security? Did you not just conceal something?"
Busted.
Breaking into a cold sweat, Daniel answered as naturally as possible.
"Conceal something? I was merely looking at a picture of Kelly and then put it back inside my coat."
However, Lucy didn't seem to believe him.
Noticing that her red eyes were staring at him with a deadly intensity, Daniel cleared his throat and rose from his seat.
"Adjutant. Suspecting your superior officer is unwise. If you wish, I'll take out the picture of Kelly from my coat right now and show you. What do you say?"
At the words "picture of Kelly," Lucy's expression changed completely.
All this time, she had wanted to see it but never asked to, thinking it would be a nuisance. Finally, the opportunity had come.
Lucy answered, barely concealing her excitement.
"...I want to see it."
Thinking he had successfully changed the subject, Daniel let out an internal sigh of relief and reached inside his coat.
"Fine. She's an extremely cute and pretty child, so you'll like her too."
Pulling from his coat not the document but the photograph of Kelly, Daniel handed it to Lucy.
Lucy took the picture of Kelly with a trembling heart.
"..."
And then she froze on the spot.
Because the photo showed a golden retriever smiling brightly.
Unable to comprehend, Lucy stood there blankly for a while, then slowly raised her head.
"Colonel Daniel? I don't think this is a very funny joke."
"A joke? What are you talking about?"
"Isn't this a puppy? Not Kelly."
A question mark floated above Daniel's head.
Because he could not fathom what Lucy was talking about.
Only after a long pause did Daniel open his mouth.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about. That is Kelly."
Lucy's eyes trembled once.
Amid her confusion, Lucy parted her lips with difficulty.
"...To my knowledge, Colonel Daniel, you thought of Kelly and said you missed her. With very sorrowful eyes."
"Because she was my one and only friend when I was young. I was the one who stubbornly insisted we raise Kelly at the monastery in the first place, so of course I'd have many memories."
"Th-then what about when you said you wanted to hold Kelly? Didn't you say that hugging Kelly and rolling around was your joy in life?"
Lucy's voice was trembling faintly.
Daniel looked at Lucy with bewilderment, seeing her so unlike her usual composed self, unable to maintain her calm.
He couldn't know what Lucy wanted, but he had no choice but to tell the truth.
"Well, that's..."
After a brief silence, Daniel spoke awkwardly.
"Because Kelly is a dog."