Chapter 145: The Road Flows with the Traveler - 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 145: The Road Flows with the Traveler - 1
The Military State is a nation of control.
A compulsive country that meticulously monitors its roads and railways, where attendants check every single ticket.
When a military vehicle, meant to be driving through the wastelands, enters a main road, the guards on duty begin their inspection with more suspicion than ever.
If I had been alone, I would have ditched the vehicle somewhere secluded and snuck onto a train or a scheduled transport, taking the long way around.
It’s not that I couldn’t do it.
But why should I endure the inconvenience?
To eat delicious bread, must I personally till the soil, set up a scarecrow, water the crops, and raise them with loving care? Then, when the ears of grain turn golden, must I harvest them with tears in my eyes, brutally pound them with a mortar and pestle, mill them into flour, knead the dough with devotion, bake it in an oven, and only then enjoy it?
I’d rather just pay for it. That’s what I call making efficient use of the economic systems humans have created.
In other words…
“It’s you, Captain! Sir! You may pass!”
When you have a living, breathing pass, you get through automatically. There’s no need to take the hard way around.
A single captain in the driver’s seat is all it takes. The guard doesn’t even bother with the passenger seat. It’s pointless when the other person is a captain.
“Ah, this is nice!” I exclaimed, leaning back against the seat.
In response, Captain Abbey of the Military State Signallers stared straight ahead with a deep frown and muttered.
“Do not get comfortable. Be mindful of your situation.”
“A petty criminal who’s served his time, returning to the capital with a State captain.”
“…That is why I have not placed you under arrest.”
The captain spoke, her eyes fixed on the road as she drove.
“Do not forget. Although your place of work has vanished, you are still under suspicion regarding the Starfall. The only reason you are not in custody is that you are accompanying me to Amitengrad. If you show any sign of subversive activity, or if you attempt to leave without permission, I will arrest you immediately.”
Captain Abbey, who had once lived the life of a golem, spoke stiffly even in her soft, fleshy body. I paid her no mind. Propping my feet up on the dashboard, I let out a long yawn and spoke.
“If that was the plan, you should have just handed me over to that guard back there. I would’ve been taken away without a fuss.”
As I spoke, I casually read her thoughts.
The answer that surfaced in the captain’s mind was as follows:
A Signaller must not reveal their assigned mission or their position as a Signaller outside of the [Windowless Room]. It is an ironclad rule for Signallers who handle all manner of classified information. To hand over a prisoner, I would have to be questioned, which would require revealing my position. A contradiction…
“…That’s classified.”
Even as she neatly organized the information in her head, the captain’s mouth said it was classified. A trait of Signallers, perhaps.
In any case, she was easy to read, which made asking questions fun. I asked again.
“And why are you going all the way to Amitengrad? You could just go to the nearest base. Or use your comms. Why isn’t a Signaller using her comms?”
In the event the [Windowless Room] is damaged or must be abandoned for unavoidable reasons, all forms of communication to the Signaller in question are severed due to the risk of classified information leaks. The same applies to me; I am prohibited from contacting other Signallers.
The Windowless Room was just like the giant twin gems that Callis or Lieutenant General Ebon had used.
When a Signaller’s room is damaged and its interior exposed, a signal is sent to the State, and a message is immediately relayed to all other Signallers.
To prevent any further information leaks, communication with that Signaller is completely cut off, just in case they’ve been captured by the resistance or an enemy nation.
To restore communications, she had to return to the headquarters in Amitengrad within two weeks.
The captain, who had only thought this information, answered a beat later.
“…That’s classified.”
For something she called classified, the information was organized far too neatly. I’d read it all before I even realized.
“It’s fine to say it’s classified, but why do you always pause for half a beat?”
To avoid any potential information leaks, it is better to maintain a consistent interval before all responses rather than answering immediately. In an extreme situation, even a slight delay in reaction can become a piece of information.
“…That’s classified.”
Such an exemplary attitude. For a mind reader, there was no easier target. It felt like I’d found a living instruction manual that would recall the relevant information as soon as I spoke.
I read Captain Abbey as if I were observing a strange creature.
And she was a truly strange book.
A kind of encyclopedia, filled with information that was completely unrelated, existing purely as points of transit. Furthermore, she had no personal ‘life,’ so the book itself branched out chaotically, with no central theme.
What little there was consisted of trivial things, like the rules for Signallers or the 99 ways to cook with canned food.
Besides that, her few memories were of conversations with other Signallers or things she had glimpsed from a golem’s perspective. The experiences that made up her self were extremely transparent.
Honestly, the Military State is something else. Using people like they’re machine parts.
In truth, the moment this man found out about the Windowless Room, I should have taken poison and committed suicide… but he saved my life. Why he saved me is a mystery.
Why? To get revenge, of course.
Revenge on the ones who threw me in prison. That’s the only thought filling my head right now.
And naturally, that includes the Military State. A petty citizen like me is too small-minded to forgive someone, even if that someone is an entire country.
This woman, in particular, is a Signaller who handles all sorts of the State’s classified information. If I keep her close and extract what she knows, I’m sure to find something useful.
Maybe I could even sweet-talk her into joining my side.
…This man knows I am a Signaller. A grievous error. What… should I do?
A stray thought appeared in the captain’s mind. That thought immediately manifested in reality. The automaton carriage, which should have been moving straight down the road, began to swerve wildly from side to side.
My feet, propped up on the dashboard, slammed left and right. Ah, so this is why they tell you to sit properly in a car!
No, wait, she could just drive properly! I gripped the handle tightly and screamed.
“Aaargh! Drive straight!”
“……!”
“The fact that this is the result of you concentrating without saying a word is even scarier! Move over, I’ll drive!”
“N-negative…! This officer… is in the middle… of an escort…! I… will remain… at the wheel…!”
“No, please! I’ll go wherever you want! Just let me drive! Stop the car!”
As I shouted, the captain turned her head toward me.
“I must have misheard…? Did you say to press the right pedal to stop?”
“That’s the accelerator! Okay, I’m sorry! I won’t bother you, just look at the road!”
Only after much creaking and shaking did the steering wheel finally steady. I let out a sigh of relief and sat up straight.
“Be honest. This is your first time driving an automaton carriage, isn’t it?”
“Negative. I am familiar with its operation. Golems also require transport at times, so I have learned to operate various types of vehicles…”
Reading her thoughts, I could tell she wasn’t lying. How is that true?
“What? Really? Then what just happened was a psychological issue…”
“…In a golem’s body.”
“Suddenly I’m feeling anxious.”
So it was all indirect experience? Meaning she’s not good at it with her actual body?
Well, whatever. She’s a synchro-type, so if she moves like a golem, she should have a rough idea of the sensations…
“An accident would not be a problem. A golem can simply be retrieved and repaired.”
“This is our actual body right now! Yours and mine, both flesh and blood! If we crash, we’ll really die, so please slow down!”
At that, the captain’s head shot up and she exclaimed.
“Actual… body? Ah, affirmative! I am in my own body! I am feeling dizzy from the shaking!”
“Setting aside the fact that you’re acting like you just realized that, could you please not experience the sensation of reality by shaking the car?!”
The only saving grace was that this road wasn’t a particularly difficult course, and once we were off it, I wouldn’t have to witness the captain’s terrible driving skills again.
Because one of the Seven Major Inventions of the Military State, the quintessence of civil engineering and a miracle of Earth Art, the State’s greatest achievement, would be there to greet us.
The Meta Conveyor Belt.
And so, the captain and I drove on, our lives threatened until the road came to an end.
*
The Land That Flows Like A River. The Meta Conveyor Belt.
A marvel that would astound anyone setting foot in the Military State for the first time, a culmination of civil engineering, Earth Art, and magical engineering. The great artery of the State.
A masterpiece quite literally built from the blood and sweat of hundreds of thousands.
The name is grand, but the reality is simple.
It is a massive conveyor belt that handles most of the State’s logistics, circulating through half the country.
The land itself moves at a constant speed.
That speed is faster than one might think, fast enough to travel from one end to the other in three days.
It crosses the Military State to the coast, then makes a wide turn to come back again, carrying all sorts of cargo, luggage, and people. It unloads and loads them where needed, flowing on as majestically as ever.
It is a great bloodstream circulating through half of the Military State.
The flowing land that gave the Earth Sage her moniker, Terrastream. This ceaseless, massive current silently and steadfastly carries people and goods, moving ever in one direction.
The Northeast Terminal of the Meta Conveyor Belt.
A point where the fast-flowing main current splits into ten tributaries, its speed reducing to exactly one-tenth.
A massive container followed one of the tributaries toward a terminal.
Cargo searchlights, detecting the movement, illuminated the container, and a large crane dangling thick chains turned its head. A device so massive it was practically part of the terrain, its creaking audible even from a distance.
Rumble…
A chain hook latched onto the container on the Meta Conveyor Belt. The chains pulled taut in unison, gradually bringing the massive, flowing container to a halt. A screeching sound of friction against the ground. Simultaneously, the crane stretched out and lifted the heavy container.
The steel body of the crane shuddered. The container was of an immense weight.
But a colossal Thundergear of comparable size spun in reverse with a harsh metallic groan, and the chains and wires wrapped around it screamed as they were pulled taut. The sound of the chains grinding against each other was like the rolling of thunder.
The cargo, transported in a container from some faraway place, had thus reached the terminal and been removed from the conveyor belt. The crane that had snatched the container twisted its body to the side. The sight of the building-sized container moving through the air, suspended by chains, was a palpable presence even in the darkness.
An overwhelming spectacle just to behold.
Of course.
“Move it, move it!”
At the overseer’s command, the laborers who had attached the chains to the container ran back against the belt’s current, exhausted.
Having clung to the moving container to hook the chains, they now had to dismantle it and unload the goods inside.
Deliverymen with automaton carriages or ordinary horse-drawn carts stood waiting in dense lines. Once the laborers unloaded the cargo, they would take it and deliver it to various places in the region.
To factories, or to other facilities.
This was happening all over the terminal. Moving such a massive volume of logistics required a great number of laborers. All of them, likely captured from somewhere, moved busily with their fragile flesh and blood between the steel-bodied machinery and the flowing land.
If the Military State was steel, they were the lubricant.
The laborers of a harsh nation, caught between the gears, preventing damage and turning the machine.
*
Whether cargo or individual, anyone wishing to board the Meta Conveyor Belt had to state their destination precisely. If left alone, they would endlessly circulate through the State, obstructing traffic.
However, the captain, whose very identity was classified, presented a confidential document instead of speaking. The official in charge, flustered, went to report to his superior.
A short while later, the captain and I were summoned to the terminal’s control center.
“Colonel Kalparus, superintendent of the Northeast Terminal.”
A middle-aged man with a magnificent beard called out to me and the captain.
As befitting the State's greatest facility, even the person in charge of the control center was no ordinary officer. A full-fledged colonel who had reached his rank through his own power, not as a general’s adjutant.
It was only a colonel because this was the Northeast Terminal, which was practically the frontier; the terminals in major cities were guarded by generals. That was how important the Meta Conveyor Belt, the great artery of the Military State, was.
“Captain. A classified operation, you said? You have the orders, I presume?”
“Here, sir.”
The captain saluted and produced the orders from her coat, handing them over. The colonel read them with a stern face.
“Two-week deadline from the point of unsealing. Four days have passed. Level 4 classification. All personnel are to cooperate. Hmm. I suppose you’d have to be a general to know the details. This is the inconvenient part about not having stars on your collar.”
The colonel grumbled and handed the orders back. The captain received them respectfully with both hands, tucked them under her arm, and waited for the colonel to speak.
“Alright, I understand. I’ll grant you permission to use the ‘Passage.’ It’s late today, so receive the necessary equipment tomorrow and be on your way.”
“Thank you, Colonel. However, my mission is time-sensitive. Would it be possible to depart today?”
“Even with the searchlights, the terminal is dangerous at night. Two weeks is not a tight deadline. Take a day to rest.”
The colonel glanced at the wound on the captain’s head and added.
“You don’t seem to be in good shape, either.”
There was no way the captain could refuse such a considerate offer. Besides, he wasn’t wrong.
At a terminal where ten tributaries converge into one, all sorts of accidents are bound to happen. For example, a container not scheduled to stop here gets caught between converging streams and its contents turned into minced meat. Or getting the back of your neck caught on a chain hook.
It was safer to travel during the day. I, who couldn’t read the minds of objects, wholeheartedly agreed.
“…Thank you for your concern.”
The captain conceded. Now, the colonel’s gaze turned to me.
Unlike the captain, who was impeccably dressed in her uniform even after the journey here, I looked like a bum in nothing but a shabby shirt.
The colonel’s thick eyebrows drew closer together.
“…So, who is this man, accompanying you on a classified mission? Is he your lover?”
At the sudden question, the captain’s eyes flared.
Negative! This man is a suspect. I am merely escorting him to Amitengrad!
But she couldn’t explain that.
A Signaller’s duties and their status were classified. That was why they were given the nominal rank of captain in the first place.
The fact that she was a Signaller was information that could only be revealed through official communication. If she explained the situation to the colonel here, it would be a leak of classified information.
On top of that, the charges against me were also ambiguous.
…However, the charges have yet to be proven.
They said I caused the Starfall, but if I had the ability or the will to kill a general, would I be meekly following a captain to the capital?
If the suspicions were cleared, I was just an ordinary laborer whose workplace had been ‘flipped upside down,’ preventing me from working any longer.
…Sigh. It’s a good thing the captain’s golem eyes didn’t see anything else. I should thank the Regressor for destroying the golems beforehand.
I could list the suspicions, but that is beyond my authority. Furthermore, it is information I cannot mention…!
The captain was struggling, unable to speak.
When she didn’t answer, the colonel’s eyes narrowed. His suspicion was turning towards me.
And she calls this protecting classified information. Tsk.
I had no choice. I tapped the captain’s shoulder and whispered, just loud enough for the colonel to hear.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and tell him! That I’m your older brother!”
Might as well use a fake identity.
At my unexpected action, the captain’s eyes widened and she glared at me. All sorts of thoughts flowed from her blue eyes.
Negative! Negative! What is this laborer falsely reporting! However, to deny it would also be a partial leak of classified information…! A dilemma!
Ignoring her thoughts, I pretended to be in a hurry, tapping her shoulder anxiously.
“What are you hesitating for, Bbey? Hurry and tell him! He’s looking at me suspiciously…!”
Bbey?! Who? Surely not me?
The captain was flustered, not knowing what to do.
“Hey!”
Instead, it was the colonel who sternly rebuked me. I jumped in surprise and looked at him. He clicked his tongue with a frown.
“Tsk. The personal information of someone on a classified mission is also classified. Even if hiding your family relationship is meaningless, should an older brother be so loose-lipped!”
“Oh, s-sorry, sir.”
“What’s your citizen level?”
“One, level 1, sir…”
Negative! This petty criminal is actually level 0! Even level 1 is a fabrication!
But the colonel couldn’t read the captain’s mind. He looked down at me, clicked his tongue loudly, and exclaimed.
“Tsk. To be so much less capable than your younger sister. You probably couldn’t even get on the Meta Conveyor Belt without her! Then again, I suppose that’s why you’re sticking so close to her!”
“Yes, yes.”
“Enough. Just don’t hold your sister back! I’m letting it slide, but anywhere else, you would have been arrested on the spot!”
After the stern scolding, the colonel waved us away. We bowed our heads and hurriedly left the superintendent’s office.
The captain didn’t say a single word until we were shown to our assigned quarters.
Instead, the moment we opened the door and stepped inside, she grabbed me by the collar.