The Leader of the Secret Society Is Confused
The Leader of the Secret Society Is Confused
Ten days later.
Under the pretext of a city patrol, I took the officers and soldiers and walked around the outskirts of the city.
The reason for patrolling the outskirts specifically? It was because I thought that rather than the city center where the garrison was stationed, the outskirts would let me hear the citizens' complaints and dissatisfaction more bluntly.
But there weren't any.
I strained my ears as I walked, but I heard no complaints about the garrison.
Occasionally, some of the citizens who noticed me would make a strange expression, then pass by with a bow.
'Hm. This feels like.......'
It seemed they were holding their tongues, fearing arrest if they spoke ill of the garrison.
Or perhaps a rumor that I, the acting garrison commander, was conducting patrols had already spread through the streets.
If not, it wouldn't make sense for them not to rise up against the tyranny I had imposed.
Having understood the situation, I nodded once and turned to Lucy.
"Adjutant. How do the citizens of Nordia evaluate the garrison? You've been to the field more than I have while I've been stuck behind a desk for ten days, so I figure you'd know better."
Lucy thought for a moment and said.
"It's not that there are no complaints at all. However, the general mood is one of tolerating the garrison's occupation of the city."
"......Tolerating? The garrison?"
"Yes. Thanks to your appropriate measures, Lieutenant, not only were the city's public services quickly restored, but the paralyzed administrative system is also gradually finding its place again. There has also been a report that the crime rate has fallen below what it was before the city's occupation."
It made sense to me, since it was I who had ordered the strengthening of patrols and the urgent activation of public services.
But the citizens tolerating the garrison was a different matter.
Normally, in the early stages of an occupation, it was common for many citizens to be filled with rage.
'And a normal city should be rebelling against the tax rates I set and the forced military service, shouldn't it?'
Was there something I was overlooking? Just as I was about to ask Lucy a question about this—
"This is too much! Our daily wage's been cut even more than yesterday!"
My eyes naturally turned toward the sound of a young man shouting at the top of his lungs.
In front of a watchtower reconstruction site, a man who appeared to be a middle manager was confronting a black man.
Looking annoyed, the middle manager furrowed his brow and crossed his arms.
"Hey. Be grateful we're even employing you. Or do you want your daily wage taken away too?"
"I appreciate being employed, but this is just wrong! If you take half my daily wage, what am I supposed to feed my family......!"
The atmosphere seemed anything but ordinary.
Wanting to understand the situation, I walked toward them.
"If you want to feed your family, work overtime. Why are you bitching at me......."
The middle manager, who had been talking to the man, heard the footsteps and turned his head toward me.
Seeing me at the head of armed soldiers and military officers, he hastily bowed his head.
"C-Commander! However did you come to such a shabby place......!"
"I don't consider it shabby. My hometown was worse off than this. More importantly, what's going on here that has you quarreling with a laborer?"
"Ah. That's the thing. This bastard keeps making a scene, demanding I pay his daily wage properly, doesn't he."
Since the middle manager said this while shooting the man a glare, I had no choice but to tilt my head in confusion.
"The garrison appointed you as a middle manager precisely to pay the daily wages properly. So why aren't you paying the full wage? Did this man slack off or something?"
"Huh? No. That's not it. He works diligently enough."
"Then why aren't you paying him properly?"
"As you know, Commander. This man is black."
What? He said it so nonchalantly that for a moment I thought I had misheard him.
After staying silent for a while, I asked again to make sure I'd heard correctly.
"You didn't pay him properly because he's black?"
"Y-Yes. That's correct. For a man whose father was born a slave to be parading around like a free citizen—it's just preposterous. According to the Kingdom's law from ancient times, colored races are third-class citizens or worse......."
I raised my hand to cut the middle manager off.
There was no need to listen any further.
"You're spewing repulsive filth. Are you invoking the laws of the Kingdom while serving in the Imperial military? Or are you trying to insult His Majesty the Emperor, who forbade the discrimination of people based on status and race?"
The middle manager's eyes flew wide open.
Trembling and gaping dumbly, the middle manager hastily clasped his hands together.
"No! That was not my intention at all! I, I was just......!"
"Shut your filthy mouth. Not only did you disobey my order to pay the daily wages properly, but you also insulted the solemn law established by His Majesty the Emperor. Soldier. Bind this man."
Two soldiers answered with a brisk "Yes!" and sprinted out, kicking the back of the middle manager's knees.
"Keok!"
The soldiers twisted the arms of the forcibly kneeling middle manager behind his back.
Immediately after, they took out a rope and bound his wrists.
"Commander! Kreuk! I, I had no such intention......!"
The middle manager cried out as if begging, but I didn't even glance at him.
Letting out a low sigh, I turned to the black man who was sweating coldly beside me.
"You."
The black man, having come to his senses, hastily took an at-ease stance.
He looked cowering in fear, as if he too expected to be bound.
The fact that he was acting that way despite doing nothing wrong made it clear how much discrimination he suffered in his daily life.
"From now on, you are the middle manager of this sector."
"......Excuse me? C-Commander. I cannot rise to such a high position."
"Who are you to decide that?"
The black man hesitated for a moment and then spoke.
"That man is right. My father was a slave, and even though I'm a free citizen, I'm still a slave's son. And I'm a person of color—of course I face discrimination......."
"You're not listening. I asked who you are."
The black man, who blinked his eyes blankly a few times, answered cautiously.
"......I am Danel."
"Good, Danel. I don't care one bit that you're a person of color or that your father was a slave. What matters is that you performed your work diligently, yet you were not paid properly. I intend to fix that."
I grabbed Danel's shoulder.
"This is an order. From today onward, as a middle manager, you will supervise the laborers and ensure they are paid properly. Also, if anyone lodges an unjustified complaint against you, request assistance from the garrison."
Upon hearing my words, tears welled up in Danel's eyes.
Perhaps trying to hide his overwhelming emotions, Danel clenched his teeth and bowed his head deeply.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Commander!"
Having nodded my head once, I turned to leave.
Then I couldn't help but flinch.
Faint smiles were hovering on the lips of the officers and soldiers looking at me.
Feeling somehow creeped out, I quickened my pace.
"Let's head back. The weather is cold."
As I took the lead and walked, the officers and soldiers followed.
I tried to ignore it as much as possible, but I could hear the officers muttering from behind.
"The commander truly has no faults. I had no idea his loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor ran so deep."
"Do you think His Majesty the Emperor would have awarded the Commander the National Service Medal for nothing? He's a man who is practically a model soldier. Consider it an honor just to serve at his side."
It was Sergeant Glendi and Lieutenant Mekkel.
"As expected, Lieutenant Daniel is like a saint sent down by God. Honestly, any other Imperial would have just ignored it and moved on. Isn't that right, Second Lieutenant Lucy?"
"Yes. That point is certain......."
This was Frien and Lucy.
Pleased that Lucy had agreed with her, Frien clasped her hands together and said.
"What I hate the most in the world are racists and Allied Nations citizens, you know. Because they're both practically beasts."
......When will this kid realize she's out of her mind?
*
Meanwhile, at the hideout of the secret organization Black Bird.
On the third floor of a building disguised as an ordinary general store, telex machines and radios were lined up in rows.
As members of the secret society bustled about conducting their business, their leader, Hamtal, sat at a desk kneading his brow.
'Daniel Steiner is the commander of the occupying forces that took the city. Naturally, he is a target to be eliminated. But.......'
The citizens had started to tolerate the garrison.
The hearts that had been boiling with rage had gradually cooled as they heard of Daniel Steiner's plans for the city.
It was not much different for Hamtal.
Whenever he looked at the policies Daniel was putting forward, he couldn't help but raise the question, 'Does he absolutely need to be eliminated?'
'However, so long as he commands a foreign army.......'
There was no telling when he might cast aside his mask and begin oppressing the city's citizens.
Therefore, it was wise to eliminate him.
Having made up his mind, Hamtal pulled open a drawer and took out a revolver.
Just as he was breaking open the cylinder to check the remaining rounds, he heard familiar footsteps.
When he looked up, it was Tarki, who had delivered intelligence to the council the day before.
Having apparently run in a hurry, Tarki, out of breath, barely managed to speak.
"Lord Hamtal! The garrison has issued a new order to the citizens!"
"......An order? What kind of order?"
If he intended to oppress the citizens, there was no time to waste.
In the strained atmosphere, Tarki spoke.
"They say that from now on, anyone discriminating against people of color within the city will be punished according to Imperial law."
Hamtal, who had just closed the cylinder, stiffened.
"......They're banning racial discrimination?"
"Yes. I also heard that he appointed a black man as one of the local middle managers assisting the Imperial military."
Upon hearing Tarki's words, Hamtal let the revolver slip from his hand.
'This is absurd.......'
For the past ten years, Hamtal had been struggling to eliminate the racial discrimination handed down from the noble class of Nordia.
This very organization, Black Bird, had been founded to oppose racial discrimination.
But Hamtal's wish had never been fulfilled.
In the past, he'd even managed to bribe a politician and elevate him to mayor, but once in office, the man broke his promise to Black Bird and only pursued his own self-righteous agenda.
Nevertheless, Hamtal hadn't given up and continued to fight for freedom and equality.
'And yet, we saw no progress.......'
It was Daniel Steiner who had fulfilled that long-cherished hope, which had seemed so unreachable.
An unprecedented feeling welled up in his heart, throwing his mind into turmoil.
Furrowing his brow and breathing roughly, Hamtal raised a hand and wiped his face.
"Thank you for bringing me this news. I must see for myself what kind of man Daniel Steiner is."
"......You mean you will reveal your identity?"
"No. I will simply observe him up close. I need to determine whether the policies he has shown so far are merely a temporary deception intended to soothe the city's public sentiment, or genuine."
If it is a temporary deception, he remains a target to be eliminated.
But if all his actions are genuine, the story is different.
'If it is the latter, then Daniel Steiner is not a conqueror who came to dominate the city.......'
He may very well be a savior who came to liberate the city from the Kingdom's oppression.