Chapter 222: A Tale of the Past, The Pied Piper of Hamelin - Finale
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 222: A Tale of the Past, The Pied Piper of Hamelin - Finale
“We killed the Chief Instructor… an officer… a Colonel. What do we do?”
“That bastard deserved to die! Rick and Kantana are dead! If you kill, you deserve to die, don’t you?”
“What are we going to tell Hamelin, or the Military State? Will a rescue team even come? Are we… abandoned out here?”
“If we explain it well, maybe we can work something out?”
“More importantly, what is the Anathema? What the hell is this Anathema that made the Chief Instructor try to kill us?”
“You idiot, you fought without even knowing that? Huey explained it earlier. The Vampiric Magic Circle!”
Seventeen died in the beast attack, and fifteen fell in the battle against Nicholas. The losses were heavy, but frankly, what they had accomplished was an incredible feat.
Even seasoned hunters would retreat from a stampede of frenzied deer and prowling wolves.
On top of that, a Colonel was just one step below a General. While their strengths varied, they were still seasoned soldiers. They were formidable opponents, difficult for ordinary military academy graduates to face, let alone cadets who had yet to be recognized for their talent.
But they had lost too much to rejoice.
“…Everyone, shut up.”
Having finished staunching the bleeding, Shiati clutched the cloth-wrapped stump of her arm and raised her head. Everyone fell silent. The person who had lost the most in this fight staggered toward me.
“Huey. I… don’t trust you. You’re the one who got us into this mess.”
A murmur went through the crowd, but I nodded in understanding. Shiati, her face pale, continued.
“But your orders weren’t wrong. We made it this far because we followed them. So… tell me. What should we do now?”
Shiati asked grimly. Her empty eyes held not a single spark of hope for the future.
What she needed now was an arrow to point her in a direction, any direction.
But I am someone who cannot move without the wind. I asked her empty heart.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Anything.”
“Still, it would be easier to decide if I knew what you wanted. Should we run to save our own skins? Or should we risk our lives to expose Nicholas’s corruption? What is it that you want?”
After a moment of silence, focus returned to Shiati’s eyes. Her once-vacant pupils now blazed with hatred.
“If I tell you what I want, can you grant it?”
“As much as I can.”
“I want the Military State to be destroyed,” Shiati answered instantly.
“My whole life, I’ve done nothing but what I was told! Work, learn, get scolded, study, take tests, and be evaluated. To become even slightly more useful to the Military State, I endured it when my parents died, I bore the pain when I was sick, and even when things were tough, I cried in secret, all to get a better evaluation, to achieve something! But this!”
Her emotion-filled cry reached the hundred or so children unfiltered, and through them, it reached me, the one who reads the wind. Shiati clutched her missing right arm tighter and screamed.
“This isn’t right! To use us as materials… that’s not right…! No matter how useless we are, even if we’re just common Level 2s…!”
To the Military State, anyone Level 2 or below was replaceable. Their existence or absence was of little consequence.
And so, they were discarded.
The promising cadets were left at the academy, while only the desperate ones were brought here. To be used as materials.
They had been truly abandoned by their country. The Military State itself had proven that it didn't need them.
“…But no matter how much we scream, this country won’t hear us. Forget compensation, they’ll try to kill us to silence us. Just like Nicholas said, we’re completely useless to the Military State.”
As Shiati finished, the other children who had been listening dropped their heads. Her anguished cry had forced them to confront the reality they had been trying so hard to deny.
In the end… the Military State would bury the Hamelin incident. Which meant they would all die. They wouldn’t survive.
Such a simple, cruel fact.
“Do you want to become useful?”
Just then, someone emerged from the crowd of children. They were startled by the sudden presence. A red-haired boy approached leisurely, as if he had been there all along.
A few of the children recognized him.
“Lan…kart?”
Lankart neither answered the question nor turned his head. He simply walked in a straight line, his gaze fixed solely on me, not even bothering to watch his step in this forest.
And yet, a vortex spontaneously formed half a step in front of him, parting the bushes and kicking up dust. It was as if the world itself was clearing a path for him.
The first Arcane of the Military State. A boy possessing a Strategic-Grade Unique Magic. A prodigy among mages.
Lankart Spendry.
Standing immaculately dressed amidst the twig-strewn forest, Lankart suddenly began to clap.
“Incredible. Truly, a completely unexpected turn of events. I had my doubts, but to think you’d actually kill Nicholas and devour him.”
While everyone was struck dumb by his sudden appearance, Lankart stopped his vigorous applause and put on a deliberate frown.
“However, you know this too, Huey. Nicholas is a completely different being from you. He was old, worn out, and his Qi attribute and amount were different from yours. He was extremely, horribly inefficient. Even if you consume him with Gluttony, it won’t dramatically change your abilities.”
“Lankart. How long are you going to state the obvious?”
Lankart flinched mid-sentence as I spat out the words with annoyance. I crossed my arms and pressed him.
“You should be having the efficient conversation you love so much, Lankart. Surely you’re not teaching me from the beginning because you doubt my intelligence.”
“Ah, uh, well.”
“Just get to the point. I’m tired.”
“Ah, right, sorry.”
Intimidated, Lankart apologized and quickly got to his point. Without a single moment of hesitation.
“Eat the rest of them.”
It was a conclusion reached after several leaps of logic. But with my mind-reading ability, I understood Lankart’s words instantly.
They’re going to die anyway. If I don’t kill them, the Military State will. So rather than letting them die meaninglessly, it’s more efficient to kill them on the Anathema and make them my power.
Besides, they are the finest materials, biologically attuned to me in every way. Unlike Nicholas, ‘Gluttony’ will be much smoother. If you don’t eat them now, there’s no point in eating them later, so do it now… That was the gist of it.
Naturally, Shiati, who had just narrowly escaped death, reacted violently.
“Lankart! I just thought you were an asshole, but are you one of Nicholas’s lackeys too?!”
“Shut up, you ignorant fool. Do I look like I’d be a henchman for a loser like that?”
Annoyed, Lankart snapped his head around. In that instant, an immense pressure crushed Shiati. Her expression contorted in pain as Lankart’s Unique Magic reached where she stood.
It was twisting.
Things closer to Lankart twisted quickly, those farther away, slowly. The entire world, including the air, swirled to the right at different speeds. Caught in this variable current, Shiati felt an excruciating pain, as if someone was grabbing and tearing her body apart.
“Gah, ugh-aaaaah!”
Shiati screamed, but even the sound seemed strangely distant. Within the twisting space of his Unique Magic, even sound lost its way.
Having subdued Shiati without lifting a finger, Lankart turned his gaze back to me.
“If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, then I, I myself, will do it for you.”
“That sounds like a hassle.”
“Not at all. It’s for a friend. I can endure this much, this tiny bit of trouble.”
Of course, the ‘friend’ Lankart referred to was me and me alone.
The children screamed and tried to save Shiati, but they couldn’t even get close. The mere act of extending their arms brought a tearing pain.
One cannot simply cut straight through a tempest in a teacup. One must approach at an angle. But who could possibly know how? Who could see through and overcome the labyrinth of swirling space in a single go?
It was impossible. No one could approach or retreat without his permission. Not even me.
The Right-Hander’s World.
To him, the world was like water swirling to the right. The axiom of the world. Its flow. To not follow it was to collide and be swept away, to sink beneath the churning bubbles.
Lankart, the master of this world, spoke, applying pressure as if he were about to wring Shiati’s neck at any moment.
“Ah, and for the record. As you said, even if you try to stop me, I can brush you aside and kill only them. I’m not like Nicholas. I’m sure you have a few hidden trump cards of your own, Huey… but you still can’t reach me.”
Lankart warned me that he couldn’t be persuaded like Nicholas. His eyes shone with interest and curiosity, as if he were eager to see how I would respond.
However.
“Lankart. Stop being so boring.”
I blurted out, annoyed. Lankart looked puzzled.
I may be good at listening to others’ desires, but that doesn’t mean I’ll indulge every childish whim to be entertained. It’s a pain.
“Didn’t I just watch your and Nicholas’s test and give my answer? Are you going to make me repeat the same answer? Where’s the Lankart Spendry who used to complain about being given the same problem with only the numbers changed?”
“No, no. I was just.”
“Deliberately controlling your power, applying magic that’s painful but not lethal… It’s a threat. Are you wasting mana on something you know won’t work? Stop being annoying and release the magic.”
Lankart complied with my words. The force that had been tearing at her body from inside and out was released, and Shiati collapsed in a heap. A pained sob escaped from where her face was pressed against the ground.
“Then what are you going to do? The rescue ship, the instructors, they’ll come. If they just pick a few people here and interrogate them, they’ll figure out what happened in no time. Once the report goes up to Command, the ‘rational’ decision the Military State will make is obvious…”
“I thought we agreed not to state the obvious.”
“Ah, right.”
He was the one who didn’t trust rationality, hence all his little tests. I wondered when he’d realize that such tests were irrational in themselves.
Having silenced Lankart, I summed up the situation simply.
“In short, you’re saying this: there can be no other way to overcome this predicament. Or rather, there might be, but you, Lankart, specifically can’t think of one. So you’re curious to see my response, how I plan to break through. Am I right?”
“That’s not exactly… wait a minute. You think you can overcome this situation, this predicament?”
“Predicament, situation. If you don’t get it, just shut up and watch. Why do you keep interfering and muddying the waters?”
After putting him down one more time to break his spirit, I quickly waved my hand.
“Go clear the stuff blocking the river. I have something to do downstream.”
“Even if you do that, the river ends at the sea. As long as the Primeval Terror, the Leviathan, lives in the sea, escape is impossible…”
“There you go again, with the obvious.”
Seeing my annoyed expression, Lankart clamped his mouth shut and hurried toward the riverbank.
My request was nothing short of unreasonable. Whether he complied was entirely up to him, and there would be no problem if he refused.
But having agreed to watch without interfering, he had to grant my request.
He had become curious about how I would handle the situation, and thus fell into the trap of having to help with the preparations.
Not long after Lankart headed for the river, a loud, rough cracking sound echoed. The debris that had been blocking the river like a dam was shattered in an instant. A task that would have been difficult even for a hundred people was finished so easily by Lankart’s Unique Magic.
Magic. The Arcane that overwrites the rules of the world. To one who wields it at will, a mere pile of debris held together by structure and weight is easily brought down.
“Shiati!”
“…Hk, yeah. One person… is better than a hundred.”
Supported by her friends, Shiati barely managed to stand. She gave a smile of complete resignation, her face pale.
“…Still. A path… has opened.”
“Lankart…! I didn’t see you as a friend, but I thought you were at least a classmate!”
Kerapald, who had once been a follower of Lankart but now held a more precious bond with his peers, reacted with fury to Shiati’s injury. Forgetting that he had once admired and feared Lankart’s magic, Kerapald shouted.
“Everyone, help me! I can’t stand it unless we teach that son of a bitch a lesson!”
“Stay, still. Hah. Compared to losing an arm, this is nothing.”
Gasping as she held onto Kerapald, Shiati repeated in a voice that sounded like it would break.
“What I just went through is what all of us will face from now on. It’s, hk, better if everyone gets used to it. The Military State, and everyone else… they won’t help us. They won’t even care.”
The children hung their heads miserably.
They, who couldn’t even handle a single Lankart, had no chance of overcoming the hardships to come.
They had only just managed to defeat the Colonel thanks to prepared traps and the brave sacrifice of fifteen people… but if the Military State brought its full power to bear, the one hundred thirty students, no better than losing lottery tickets, would be uprooted like weeds and thrown out like trash.
Someone shouted.
“Fuck…! What did I do wrong?!”
The elation subsided, leaving only resentment. The pain and sorrow forgotten in the heat of battle returned, and the briefly flickering flame died out, plunging them into darkness.
They had nowhere to go. Even wasting time was not a refuge, for another enemy, in the form of a rescue ship, was approaching by the second.
Lost, with nowhere to go, having lost even hope and will, they could only swallow their resentment. And yet, they still wished for someone to light the way.
If the power of the Sky God faith had reached this place, they would have prayed to their god to save them from this ordeal and lead them to heaven.
But there is no heaven or hell in this world. Death is the simplest end imaginable.
Heaven, hell—these palatable beliefs are artificial constructs. And an artificial thing is nothing but a fabricated lie. It is nothing more than something that has kept the best parts within itself while excreting only the bad.
“Just go to hell…”
Still, I must answer that wish.
In the midst of them, where even hope was lost, where no one could imagine a path forward, and only a desperate wish remained in their hearts.
I brought the cold whistle to my lips.
*
The rescue ship wasted time at the massive pile of debris.
There were clear signs that the students had been here, but they were nowhere to be seen. However, judging from the traces, it seemed they had been attacked by beasts and had fought a fierce battle. Bloodstains were scattered everywhere, and there were drag marks leading toward the river, as if something heavy had been pulled.
Someone recognized the sword marks carved into a tree and cautiously pointed them out. They were traces of Chief Instructor Nicholas’s sword. The opponent seemed to be an organized group of regular soldiers, likely the students.
The instructors were confused, but soon became indignant and hastened their search.
There was no reason for Nicholas to attack the children in such a remote place, but the children had every reason to attack Nicholas.
The trainees participating in the graduation practical were failures who had been weeded out of the competition, their futures as Level 2s already sealed. The instructors concluded that they must have held a grudge against the top student, Huey, or Chief Instructor Nicholas, and threatened or attacked them.
In any case, the need to hurry the search had increased. The rescue team split into a camp search team and a downstream search team. A corner of the debris pile had collapsed, so they considered the possibility that the students had gone downstream.
It was as the rescue ship was heading down the river that they received a report upon reaching the downstream garrison. The children, split among several rafts, had passed the garrison and headed down toward the city.
They couldn't complain about why the garrison hadn't stopped them. Unlike Chief Instructor Nicholas, the secondary school instructors were of a lower rank than the garrison commander. Besides, it was an internal matter of Hamelin, unrelated to the garrison.
The instructors saluted and were about to head further downstream when the commander spoke.
“By the way, did he give some other strange order? They were rowing and singing the school anthem…”
*
A great commotion arose downstream on the Hamelin River.
The Hamelin wasn't a particularly large river, but that made it a good place for people to live. A narrower river was safer, as the terrifying Leviathans were less likely to swim upstream against the current.
A group of people came floating down that river. They were children, split among several large rafts.
—Hall of learning on a gentle hill. Oh, the embrace of Hamelin.
To the sound of a whistle, the hoarse-voiced children sang, tearing at their vocal cords. It was a scream more terrible than any desperate cry. The citizens grimaced and turned their heads toward the riverbank.
—Burning all our blood and sweat, to vanquish our foes…
Onlookers, driven by a mix of disgust and curiosity, flocked to the riverbank. Some thought that perhaps an instructor with a twisted sense of humor had given a strange order.
Peeeeep.
When the boy standing on the foremost raft blew his whistle, something strange happened.
The children who had been rowing stood up one by one. They looked at each other once, then, holding hands tightly, they walked to the edge of the rafts, still singing.
—For our glorious nation, we charge forth and give our lives…
A raft, no matter how large, is still a raft. It looked difficult to even keep one's balance, let alone walk. And yet, holding onto each other, the children calmly took off their stiff military boots on the swaying rafts. Their bare feet touched the rough logs.
Someone gasped. It wasn't the children. They were still singing.
One of the onlookers, his imagination running wild, let out a laugh, thinking it couldn't be. The thought was too unrealistic.
How could so many people…
The river, shrouded in mist, had a mystical atmosphere. The cool sound of water flowed through the hazy view. The wind against their faces was chilly.
—Forward… Forward…
Singing the chorus, the children walked forward, hand in hand. To the edge of the raft. To the very spot where one more step would mean their feet would touch not hard logs, but the soft surface of the water.
Only then did the audience, sensing something ominous, shout frantically. But their words did not reach the singing children.
At dawn, the sunlight, filtered through the fog, cast a pale light on the river. The current was rough, and with no light shining on them, the children's faces were not reflected on the water's surface.
But it didn't matter. Right beside them, a turn of the head away, was a familiar face.
And so, the children sang the final verse together.
—Into the future of the Military State…
And sank beneath the cold, deep river.
Only then did the singing stop.
*
—Command to Hamelin Secondary Military School. Ascertain the facts and report as soon as possible. Find and interrogate any survivors to determine their intent.
Urgent. Urgent. Ascertain the full story with utmost speed. Command will also conduct its own investigation…
…
…
…
—Correction.
Activate Level 5 Information Control, effective immediately.
Control Hamelin.
I repeat. Control Hamelin.