Chapter 179: A Wish Come True
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 179: A Wish Come True
The night was dark. A faint nightlight, just enough not to disturb one’s sleep, tickled Abbey’s bangs before fading away. Like the sudden arrival of night, Abbey awoke from her sleep as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Abbey slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times before bolting upright in bed as if struck by lightning.
“Hngh?! I… when on earth did I fall asleep…?”
While speaking with the Weaver Girl in the restaurant, Abbey had dozed off listening to her story.
For the past few days, Abbey had been overexerting her mana to search the various districts of the Military State. The physical and mental toll had finally caught up with her.
Even if that weren't the case, anyone would have drifted off while listening to a gentle story amidst the aroma of warm black tea on a full stomach.
“A lapse…!”
As Abbey shot up in the middle of the night, she found Sephier, dressed in a suit, sitting leisurely beside her.
“You’re awake, Captain?”
As if she had anticipated all of this, Sephier’s demeanor was perfectly serene.
Abbey scrambled to her feet and looked around frantically.
“Query. Where has he gone?”
“He left ahead of you. He left a message saying he would be waiting.”
“…Is that… so….”
Abbey’s voice sank.
Just that afternoon, she had been brimming with anticipation for a happiness she thought she would only feel at the end of her life.
An ordinary marriage and a sorrowful parting.
It would only be a formality, but it was decoration enough for her final moments.
But he was a man of unimaginable stature, someone who would feel no loss at the absence of a person like Abbey. A man who operated in the shadows of the back alleys with a holding company at his back, his influence reaching everywhere.
Perhaps… he was….
Abbey squeezed her eyes shut, cutting off the distracting thoughts. This was no time for that.
“I have a duty to fulfill. May I borrow a carriage for official business?”
“Borrowing a carriage is a simple matter. But can you go dressed like that?”
“My clothes?”
Only then did Abbey realize her clothes had been changed.
Instead of her usual uniform, a yellow, fluffy outfit enveloped her entire body. It was a bizarre garment, difficult to describe, made of soft fleece from her shoulders to her legs.
The soft texture of the fleece, however, was exquisite. Just by wearing it, Abbey felt a coziness as if she were still lying in bed.
“Wh-what is this abnormal attire?”
“It’s a special chick pajama I made myself. It’s a masterpiece born from my ponderings on how well I could express the texture of fleece with an Arch-Avatar.”
“That’s not what I meant! I’m asking why my clothes have become this!”
“I thought it would suit you, so I tried putting it on you. And it does suit you quite well. I’ll pack it for you, so take it with you.”
“Denied!”
The captain hurriedly deactivated the packet, but the pajama, with its fine fleece attached to each alchemic thread, took a long time to revert.
Sephier murmured.
“It’s the middle of the night. You should rest more. Are you leaving now?”
“I have a duty to perform. I have no more time to waste!”
“And what duty is that, Captain?”
“That’s classified!”
Sephier replied naturally, as if accustomed to such a soldierly response.
“Then please answer only the non-classified parts. I’ll need to at least hear your destination to know how far my carriage should go.”
It was a thinly veiled threat: spill some details, unless you want to be kicked out of the carriage midway.
Abbey wanted to point out her attitude but kept it to herself. The Weaver Girl’s citizen level was 5, higher than her own, and she was a formidable figure with access to various military secrets.
As long as it wasn’t top-secret information about the Signallers, it wouldn’t be a leak of classified information. Regardless of Abbey’s affiliation, the action she was about to take was, for now, for the sake of protecting the Military State’s security.
Having finished her calculations, Abbey answered.
“I must investigate and monitor the ‘Shadow’ and the ‘Magician’ operating in District 10. I have nearly grasped the extent of their conspiracy. Now I will monitor their movements and intervene at the opportune moment.”
“The Magician, you say?”
Sephier, having learned something unexpected, asked with a hint of curiosity.
“Why is a Captain of the Military State looking for them?”
“…I fail to see why you are asking about that. It is the duty of a soldier to punish reactionaries and protect the security of the Military State.”
“Hmm. The ‘Shadow’ and the ‘Magician.’ The Shadow is a vicious organization whose lineage dates back to the kingdom era, I’ll grant you that, but why the Magician?”
Why would Sephier Bakiya, a resident of District 1, be so knowledgeable about the affairs of some unrelated back alley?
The Clothing Packet, which usually transformed in an instant, was slow today. It seemed it would take a little more time to fully deactivate.
In the meantime, Abbey stated what she had been thinking.
“The Shadow is a heinous group of criminals attempting to commit atrocious crimes. The Magician is a hotbed for all manner of petty crimes.”
“Yes. Compared to the Shadow, what the Magician has done could be considered cute.”
“Affirmative. That is precisely the problem.”
The Magician, who had survived for so long like a weed, was far more dangerous than the Shadow, which rampaged openly. Abbey spoke stiffly.
“The Magician blurs the resistance to illegal acts. He is a criminal who has engaged in gambling, blackmail, extortion, sowing discord, pickpocketing, and so on, yet despite committing his deeds in unimaginable ways, no one shuns or reports him. They either revere him or fear him; those are the only two responses.”
As if she had done the same, Sephier nodded gently.
It was a smile that held many meanings. Feeling a chill creep up the back of her neck, Abbey continued.
“The citizens see him, a veritable hotbed of petty crime, and yet… they stand by or turn a blind eye. That should not be the case. Regulations must be observed, and punishment must be strict. Only then can a society built on law and order be maintained.”
“So, you intend to arrest the Magician as well.”
“…Affirmative. However.”
Abbey’s lips were now parched.
“If, the Magician actively cooperates with me and assists in the elimination of the Shadow… depending on the situation, I may overlook the suspicions without further inquiry.”
“Is it permissible for a Captain, who must observe the regulations, to do so?”
“He has not been caught in the act, so there is no evidence to prove his crimes. It is all circumstantial. Therefore.”
Please, let it not be him.
Abbey prayed desperately.
But Sephier shattered her hopes.
“It seems you have a rough idea. Good. That saves me the trouble of explaining.”
Sephier welcomed Abbey, who had crossed over to the side of knowing, with open arms. Immediately after, Abbey’s pajamas completely unraveled, revealing her bare, white skin.
Looking at the completely defenseless Abbey, Sephier delivered the truth.
It came with a smile full of superiority, one that a person privy to a secret gives to one who is not.
“Yes, that’s right. The man who came with you is the Magician, and my master.”
Abbey pressed her lips together tightly, picked up the uniform packet from the table, and inserted it into her bio-receptor. Alchemic threads settled over her soft curves. Then, tens of thousands of threads took shape one by one, weaving a jet-black uniform over her body.
It took only a few seconds for Abbey to transform into a Captain of the Military State. The captain picked up her officer’s cap and stood up. Captain Abbey walked past Sephier and out the door of the room.
Sephier followed alongside the striding Abbey.
“I’ll cooperate, Captain. I’ll lend you my carriage.”
As if prepared in advance, a coachman with grown-out sideburns immediately brought a carriage. Sephier had Abbey get into the back seat and then promptly sat down beside her.
Abbey glanced at Sephier sitting next to her.
“…I am in the middle of an operation. I cannot guarantee your safety from clandestine forces.”
“I don’t mind. I can protect myself.”
“Furthermore, all military operations conducted by the Military State are classified. I cannot disclose the details of the operation to you, a mere civilian.”
“But you’ll have to tell me how far this carriage needs to go. That would be more efficient, wouldn’t it?”
A way of speaking that seemed to force the other party into agreement through sound reasoning. She could see his shadow in Sephier’s words. It seemed he had taught her more than just knowledge.
Abbey was struck anew by the fact that she knew nothing about him. She murmured sadly.
“…Where did the act begin? Where did his plan start?”
A magician who held sway over the back alleys of the Military State, a criminal sponsored by the holding company Seamless Cloths.
What had been revealed already made him a figure beyond imagination. It was stranger, in fact, that he had been imprisoned in the Abyss as a simple laborer.
“What, exactly, was the Magician aiming for by approaching me…?”
He had never tried to dig for information, nor had he tried to use her. He had complied with every request and had even been considerate of her in various ways.
Even the reward Abbey had racked her brain to come up with was meaningless to him, yet he had readily accepted her request.
The easiest answer to the question ‘why?’ would be that he had taken a liking to her.
But what kind of liking was it?
“I don’t know either. Probably no one knows except my master.”
Confusion and doubt amidst a vague sense of goodwill.
Seeing Abbey once again experiencing emotions she had graduated from long ago, Sephier rejoiced at the birth of a comrade.
“But one thing is certain. My master will grant your wish in a way no one could ever expect.”
“Impossible. I… do not have the same kind of wish as you.”
She was born in the Military State, raised as a Signaller, and had lived her life in a dark room, privy to all the State’s information.
Abbey had no wish she wanted to fulfill for herself. There was only duty….
“Aha.”
Realizing something from Abbey’s words, Sephier let out a small sigh.
“Now I understand. My master plans to give you a wish. A wish of your own, more precious than any duty.”
*
An unassuming hideout in District 14.
Wolfen, having gathered the ‘Shadow’ before the great undertaking, finally broke the long silence.
“…The operation is tomorrow.”
Wolfen, half-submerged in shadow, declared solemnly.
“Tomorrow, the Military State will become a crucible of chaos. The shadow of flames will cover this city. We will eliminate the Dholes who have temporarily occupied this place, and we, the true darkness, will thrive in the shadows.”
The members of the ‘Shadow’ cheered, imagining the world that would soon be theirs. The silent cheers filled the meeting room with a quiet heat.
Wolfen raised his sword. There was no visible motion of him drawing it, yet the shortsword with its jet-black blade was suddenly there, like a ghost.
“A system… is only meaningful when it is used. O, Military State, nation of soil and iron born upon the corpse of the kingdom. I shall use your system for my own ends.”
From now on, the shadows of the Military State would become their domain.
The Penumbras, having heard Wolfen’s plan, quietly summoned their confidants—middle managers of a sort, the field commanders who would carry out the actual work.
“The operation is tomorrow. Be prepared.”
“We’ve been waiting. It was getting difficult to hold them back.”
“Hold them back until tomorrow. There must be no hitches in the plan. Tomorrow, like a bursting dam, we must move all at once to overturn this nation.”
It was easier to give a heads-up to move a motley crew than it was to command highly trained members of the Shadow. The Penumbras relayed the message to their confidants in various locations.
Like ripples on a dark night, the Shadow’s plan spread silently and secretly….
“Today is the day of the operation!”
“Yeahhh!”
“Alright, let’s go!”
“Revolution! We’re gonna flip this damn country upside down!”
“The Market? The Family? A bunch of identical trash acting all high and mighty! Get them!”
“The cops are people too! Don’t back down!”
Though not enough fuel had been spread, flames erupted all across Amitengrad.