Chapter 145: Plaudite! (4)
Chapter 145: Plaudite! (4)
In the end, he could not retrieve the poison from his mother.
He shouldn't have given it to her in the first place. But he had never once bested his mother, so even if he went back, he'd likely hand it over anyway.
Daniel kept pulling up his scarf to cover his darkening expression as he hurried toward the meeting point. Solemnity trailed in his footsteps like a lingering trace.
"You've come. Are those behind you all the people you've brought?"
"Yes."
"Fewer than I expected......."
"His Grace the Duke said he would provide troops as well, so I think this will be sufficient. Still, it's half of our total force—can you really call that few?"
Daniel smiled faintly.
The man who had been quietly studying Daniel's face turned around. After tossing out a single "Follow me," he walked ahead, and Daniel followed, slowly organizing his thoughts.
As if to keep his word about helping, the Duke had obtained various pieces of intelligence. The times the Emperor was in the palace, the shift changes of the palace guards, the shortest route to the room where the Emperor stayed, and so on.
He even devised the plan on the condition of providing troops.
"Team 3 will follow that person from here."
"Yes. I'll see you later."
"It's really starting at last. I'm filled with new emotions."
What they had kept postponing was proceeding absurdly smoothly.
The plan seemed plausible, but the revolutionary army could not fully trust the Duke's forces, nor could they rely on him completely for any mission, so they split their own forces to move alongside the Duke's troops.
"Team 2 will take that person."
"Let's meet again after this is over."
In the first place, Daniel hadn't paid much attention to the plan.
Having only learned the bare minimum and agreed to execute it, he now remained with a small group, walking expressionlessly.
His steps stopped when he was surrounded by the Duke's troops.
Clang!
Those who had blocked the revolutionaries' path drew their weapons in unison. Sensing danger, the revolutionaries also drew their own weapons without backing down. Despite their swift actions, their eyes could not hide their bewilderment and shook uncontrollably.
"What is the meaning of this...!"
"Hey! What do you think you're doing! This is not the time!"
Some of the leaders who had followed Daniel could not overcome their unease and raised their voices. Daniel, who had been scanning the Duke's forces without a hint of agitation, glanced at that pitiful sight, then slowly opened his mouth.
"......Is this betrayal?"
- It was a trap from the beginning.
The answer streamed out from the communicator of the one standing at the very front.
At the familiar voice, Daniel furrowed his brow and murmured the other's name.
"......Duke."
"What do you mean!"
"You're saying this is the real Duke?!"
- ......I'd like to have a quiet conversation with Daniel, but there are too many disturbances. Let's clear the surroundings first.
At the words that floated from the communicator, the Duke's troops moved.
"W-wai...!"
Slash.
The well-trained elites cut down the revolutionaries. Though caught off-guard, the revolutionaries didn't take it lying down and fought back, but because they had split their numbers earlier, they were outnumbered and their teamwork was poor. They were no match for men who had trained rigorously together over a long period.
The sound of clashing steel gradually dwindled. Daniel, who had stood still from start to finish and watched the scene, turned his eyes and cast his gaze at the communicator.
"You clearly said that you too desired revolution......."
- Ah, that. It was a lie, of course.
"A lie...."
- What would I, a duke, lack that I'd want to relinquish power? All I wanted from you was to lower the Emperor's approval. That was all.
The sound of weapons ceased.
On the other side of the communicator, the Duke, seated before his desk, swiveled his chair and wore a sneer at the corner of his lips.
The Emperor must not die at the hands of the revolutionaries. What the Duke wanted was to bring the Emperor down, not his death or the extinction of the throne.
Thus, the Duke intended to make use of the revolutionary army and someday discard them.
"Revolution? It was laughable. Do you think revolution is that easy? Just a change of government is enough to shake a nation greatly."
Even when a monarch changes through proper succession procedures, chaos follows for some time.
"Yet you want to completely change the political system? A world where everyone is equal? Do you intend to plunge this world into chaos?"
It was a dangerous ideology. The Duke had realized it the moment he heard their arguments.
The revolutionary army's ideology was like a plague. Highly infectious, bestowing conviction, and granting justification to every action taken in its name.
Their ideology would spread across the world at a terrifying speed.
Those on the lower rungs of the hierarchy would push that dangerous conviction relentlessly. The nobles would not easily give up what they possessed. At this rate, armed conflict was a foregone conclusion.
Not with another nation, but internal armed conflict within a single country—it was obvious what result that would produce.
"According to your thinking, this nation will self-destruct. Of course, you might eventually achieve your goal. But who will guarantee the lives of those who suddenly lose their country?"
- .......
"I'm sure you know what kind of treatment the people of a fallen nation receive. Did they ask you to create an equal world? They never said such a thing, nor did they wish for such a world. If you destroy the country of people who lived well without major complaints, claiming it's for their sake, do you really think they'd be happy? A minority running wild claiming to represent the majority's opinion—how utterly laughable."
- .......
"Do you truly think the revolutionary army is a group that brings salvation? No. On the contrary, you're an evil group trying to plunge the world into chaos."
- .......
"Spouting half-baked philosophy you picked up somewhere."
Thank you for all this time. I wish you peace on your journey.
The Duke, who had been about to end the communication with those words, halted at the low laughter that came from the other side.
- We.
Over the communicator, Daniel, gripping the shoulders of the one holding the communicator connected to the Duke, was laughing without hiding his brightly shining eyes.
"We are revolutionaries."
Not philosophers, revolutionaries.
"I know nothing of philosophy. The philosophy I know is something the well-fed sit at their desks and ramble about. Revolution arises from the hungry, enraged by injustice."
- ......That's a remark disparaging all the philosophers in the world.
"I can't help it. How could those who couldn't eat or learn know the nobility of philosophy?"
Daniel shrugged lightly and turned around.
The corpses of his comrades strewn across the ground were the first to enter his eyes. When he raised his gaze slightly, he saw that those who had finished off all the revolutionaries had not sheathed their swords and were glaring at him.
It was an impossible situation to escape.
Daniel laughed calmly.
"Duke, you were worried about the chaos after changing the political system."
- ......You're long-winded. Are you stalling for time? Even so, it won't change the fact that you'll die.
"I just wanted to have a conversation once before I die. We couldn't speak comfortably before because we were hiding our cards, could we? Surely you won't refuse even the last words of a man about to die?"
- ......Go on, then. I'll listen.
He had never intended to return alive in the first place.
So Daniel leisurely began to lay out his thoughts.
"Humans are creatures of adaptation. When something is first implemented, they act as if the world will turn upside down, but in the end, they adapt, and as time passes, they take it for granted. If we had never attempted anything out of fear of chaos, humanity wouldn't have advanced this far."
- ......That doesn't need to be now. You're not wrong, but you know the state of affairs.
"You're right."
At the easy agreement, the Duke fell silent.
If that were so, his actions didn't match his words at all.
His behavior seemed to be stalling for time, and there was a contradiction in his statements. The Duke hadn't allowed the conversation with Daniel for nothing. He was using it as an opportunity, racking his brain to find the source of the dissonance, when Daniel continued.
"Shall we move on to another topic? A moment ago, you spoke of worrying about the nation's ruin. My goal is to abolish the throne, not to destroy the country. So I pondered."
Was there a way for everyone to be equal while the country still functioned properly?
"The answer was simple. You just have to divide power."
- ......And you think the country can function properly after that? If you divide power and conflicts arise among those who hold it?
"Why couldn't it? Instead of giving power to people, you give it to institutions. Multiple people work within a single institution that holds power. Of course, you would need someone to oversee that institution...."
"I said divide the power. You create multiple institutions with power. Too many and they won't unite properly and the country won't function; two and they might stand opposed and tear the country apart, so about three, appropriately."
Rock-paper-scissors. I'm sure you've played it once or twice, Duke?
"Human greed can't be trusted. So you give the three institutions different powers so they check each other and keep any one from straying. As for the heads of each institution... yes, it would be best if they were elected by the people of this free nation."
Dangerous. The Duke silently glared at the communicator and quietly clenched his fist.
It was truly fortunate that Daniel was slated to die here. If he'd been given more time, the Duke couldn't even imagine how far his plans might have gone.
At that moment, Daniel's voice continued from the communicator as if murmuring.
- Of course, since those institutions are ultimately run by human hands, they can't be completely without flaws... but at least it's far better than one person holding all power, and that part can be left to future generations.......
Future generations?
After only a moment's bewilderment, the Duke slowly opened his mouth.
"Not a philosopher, but a dreamer."
- Not content to merely dream, we clash directly to realize it. That's why we're revolutionaries.
"......What made you question the class system?"
- It started with my mother. But after that......,
"......."
- Once the question was raised, it didn't stop. Why are rank and status determined at birth? You're merely born, and yet your status is divided by luck—it's unfair. Long ago some noble blamed sins of a past life, but how can you prove or believe that? At least if this nation were a religious holy nation, but it isn't. So I got angry.
That noble's remark about 'sins of a past life' did not work.
In its wake, resentment rose.
- Why, when you were born lucky into good status, do you try to pin sins of your past life on us?
"......."
- Why do you try to stain even our souls...!
"......."
- In truth, I suspected you say such things because you know it's wrong.
It was a relief this man had never given a speech before the people of the Empire.
A voice thick with appeal. Even the Duke himself had briefly empathized—what would the reaction of the Empire's citizens have been if they'd heard these words?
While he was once again thinking it was fortunate he could kill Daniel here, the voice continued speaking.
- The current emperor abolished slavery. Isn't that because he, too, knows that dividing status and making fellow humans serve each other is not right?
A conclusion was reached.
"......As expected, you are a dangerous person."
- Haha.
Daniel laughed lightly. A laugh as if he had cast off all burdens and could fly spread through the air.
He swept his gaze over those holding weapons and aiming them at him, then outright stretched out his hand and snatched the communicator from the leader. Perhaps because the Duke had permitted the conversation, the fellow handed it over without resistance.
Though there was no way he could see the other party across the line, Daniel stared straight at the communicator and spoke.
"Come to think of it, I once made a foolish remark."
The day he had insisted to the Duke that they must carry out the great undertaking.
"I said, didn't I, that anger doesn't pass to the next generation, so if you drag it out too long, the line will be cut off."
- .......
"I'll correct that. The revolutionary army's line won't be cut off."
Only then did the Duke understand the identity of the dissonance.
- Then nothing will change, will it?