Chapter 254: The Country of Steel and the Faceless Men - 3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 254: The Country of Steel and the Faceless Men - 3
‘If you had any sense of justice, you’d find this refinery so hateful you’d want to destroy it on the spot.’
I didn't particularly hate the refinery. Human hatred is reserved for other humans.
Only a fool gets angry at an object, wasting effort on something meaningless. Only an idiot burns with hatred for a country, squandering emotion on something they don't even understand.
In truth, they are all… searching for the human being behind it all.
Just like me.
‘The most common choice would be to destroy the facility and liberate the laborers.’
Regardless of my own feelings, I followed Zigrund’s script for now. Just as he’d planned, I made my demand to the Regressor and Historia, who had led me here.
“Let’s tear this whole place down, right now! If we destroy this labor camp, this symbol of the Military State’s sin, and free the laborers, it will deal a huge blow to the State!”
‘However, anyone who knows the truth of this refinery would not be able to agree with that assertion.’
Zigrund’s script unfolded flawlessly. The stage he chose provoked a rage everyone could sympathize with, and the actors he invited all moved according to his will.
“Come on! There’s no reason to waste time!”
The Regressor, though clearly uncomfortable in this place, looked troubled by my suggestion.
“Destroy it? Here? Now?”
“What do you mean, ‘now’?”
“At this point in time, the alchemic steel refinery is a place for locking up heinous criminals. All the guys in here are convicts.”
In the future the Regressor had seen, they might have imprisoned people other than heinous criminals. The Military State had been pushed to the brink back then, after all.
But right now, only those who had committed the most horrific crimes were in the alchemic steel refinery. Looking into the memories of those suffering here, I saw many whose sins were so great I doubted even hell could make them atone.
An officer who tested new weapons on innocent citizens; a woman who kidnapped and drank the blood of children because she wanted to become a vampire; a fool who seized control of a holding company, hired thugs, and created a private army to reign like a king.
This place was a legal hell, inflicting terrible pain on sinners who were unforgivable, for whom even a chance at rehabilitation would be an injustice.
“Still! Even if they’re heinous criminals, this isn’t the way!”
“So what do you suggest? We can’t just let them go free without any measures in place.”
—And so, an opinion that inevitably clashed with mine arose. This, too, was according to the script Zigrund had written.
‘The Gunmaster, especially, could never simply free them. She likely threw some of them in here herself. In that case, her course of action is set.’
“There is one way.”
While the Regressor and I hesitated, unable to reach a decision, Historia, having made up her mind, spoke up.
‘A simple method to solve all our problems. Just kill them all. They are great sinners already sentenced to death, and the Gunmaster has the authority to carry out summary executions.’
“The laborers’ actions are controlled by the chains pierced through their bio-receptors. And just in case the laborers revolt, a device has been prepared.”
“A device made by the Military State in case the laborers revolt? That doesn’t sound like a very nice device.”
“…It’s a device to carry out their postponed death sentences.”
Simply put, she meant to activate that device and kill everyone here.
While everyone was stunned by the sheer scale of her words, Historia said nothing more and began to walk ahead.
‘The Gunmaster has a limited sense of self-preservation. She desperately protects those within the boundaries she has set, but easily abandons those outside them. The laborers of the refinery are clearly outside those boundaries. To the Gunmaster, they are not worth saving.’
And so, Historia had decided to kill them all.
Just as I was about to react with indignation according to Zigrund’s script, the Regressor expressed her discomfort first.
“You want to kill them all? This many people?”
“The laborers here are Level 5 felons already sentenced to death. There is no room for rehabilitation, and even if there were, I would not allow it. The Military State is simply using those who are already as good as dead. Huey, if you knew the crimes they committed, you'd want to tear them apart with your own hands.”
I didn’t have any strong feelings about it, but with crimes of this magnitude, their survival was certainly out of the question. They were only kept alive because this was the Military State, which sought to make use of them. Back in the kingdom era, wandering knights called Execution Knights would have staged duels in broad daylight, claiming to be executing justice, and killed them in the most brutal ways imaginable. Then they would have displayed their severed heads to the cheers of the citizens.
Though I couldn’t say which was better.
The Regressor grumbled.
“Even so. Killing them all is a bit much.”
“It wouldn’t be a bad thing for you, who’s trying to stop a war. They might be able to hold out for now with their stockpiled alchemic steel, but without an additional supply, a long-term war is impossible. The facility can be rebuilt somehow… but dead humans cannot.”
“Ugh. That’s true, but.”
‘Whatever conclusion you reach, you will all eventually head to the control room in the deepest level.’
No clear conclusion was reached. Tyr, who had been listening quietly, grew bored with the stagnating conversation and mediated.
[This conversation is going nowhere. If you have so much time, I can wait for a thousand years, but are you not in a hurry? Let us move first, and worry about what to do later.]
Tyr turned and called out to ‘Kerapald.’
[Guide!]
At Tyr’s call, ‘Kerapald,’ who had been holding his breath, belatedly realized he was the guide and answered.
“Uh, m-me?”
[Lead us. That is your duty.]
“Y-Yes! I’ll guide you to the control room, then!”
‘What fine actors. You haven’t made the script I revised all last night go to waste.’
Thanks for the compliment. You’re pretty good at writing scripts yourself. You have quite the eye for observing people.
‘Hmm, but. If all the roles are filled, I can’t join the play, can I? That’s no fun. Shall we split the group up a bit?’
‘Kerapald,’ who was about to lead us deeper inside, paused and looked back at the Princess and Shiati with concern.
“Your Highness. Please, guard our escape route. I will handle the inside.”
The Princess, who had been cowering from the screams echoing from all directions, asked back.
“G-guard the exit? A-are you telling me to stay here alone?”
“No. You can watch from outside. It’s just that the inside is… well. It’s a bit much for Your Highness to see.”
‘Kerapald’ stammered, unsure how to explain. Though he didn’t say it outright, his meaning was clear. There was a more gruesome sight inside, so the Princess should rest outside.
The Princess understood his meaning well enough.
“Kerapald. Are you trying to leave me behind because you’re worried I’ll be shocked…?”
“That’s not it at all! Someone has to guard the exit. And if someone must, you are the most suitable person, Your Highness…”
‘It’s better to separate the Princess, who avoids hostility. A rule-breaking existence that interferes with human emotion itself is not fit for the role of an actor. True emotional impact comes from the cries of an actor performing passionately on a well-directed stage. The Princess… must be left to the machinery.’
The Princess bristled, about to declare that she would go with them. But just then, a terrible scream rang out at the perfect moment, and she shrank back, terrified.
The Regressor also shook her head.
“Whether we destroy this place or do something else, there’s nothing for the Princess to do. There are no enemies here, so you won’t have a chance to use your ability.”
Sorry, but you’re wrong. There’s probably an enemy hiding in the control room. That’s why Zigrund is trying to get the Princess out of the way.
But this series of acts by Zigrund was so natural that no one but me suspected a thing. Even if I stepped forward and revealed his identity, people wouldn't be able to accept it.
In the first place, it was strange for me to even suspect him. Neither Shiati nor the Princess, who had been with him until recently, had noticed anything. It was more irrational for me, with a six-year gap, to notice.
And it wasn’t like I could reveal the existence of my mind-reading ability.
“U-uh, I… In that case, I’ll leave it to you…”
As the Princess decided to stay and everyone nodded, I also spoke with a look of despair.
“…Tyr, Shei-ssi. I’m sorry. Could I sit this one out for a bit, too?”
Tyr studied my face and said.
[Huey. You look pale. Are you all right?]
“Yes. It’s just a matter of the heart. Whatever the outcome… I don’t think I can bear to watch.”
My gaze was slightly downcast, my fists clenched. To anyone watching, I looked like a man enraged by the profane sight of the refinery.
Tyr was briefly puzzled by my changed demeanor, but she let it go and nodded benevolently.
[You have every reason to be tired. You have been running without a single break until now. Unlike a tireless vampire, you may need a little rest.]
“Thank you, Tyr. I’ll just… wait, where did Azzy go again?”
The Princess pointed behind us.
“Miss Azzy is over there… She stopped dead at the door and wouldn’t come in.”
“I thought I didn’t hear any barking.”
I turned to look and saw Azzy peeking inside through the crack in the door, yet not daring to step foot inside. It was as if she were blocked by an invisible barrier. Every time a laborer groaned in pain, Azzy would bare her teeth and growl, looking uncomfortable.
To Azzy, who was sensitive to human emotions, this place where countless humans were being subjected to torture-level punishment in real-time must have looked like something akin to hell.
“I couldn’t have left Azzy alone anyway. This works out. I’ll just keep watch outside with the kings.”
The Regressor readily agreed.
“Yeah, sure. I didn’t sense any particular presence outside earlier. And we don’t need your power for a simple act of destruction anyway. Wait outside. We’ll take care of this quickly and be right out.”
With the Regressor’s permission secured, I didn’t hide my discomfort and strode outside as if I wanted to get away as quickly as possible.
‘For now, I’ve separated two of them. The Princess and the aide. Good roles. If I were to play those parts, it would make for a sufficiently entertaining scene.’
I think so too. If you take my place, it will be quite an entertaining scene.
So I’ll be preparing a stage of my own. It’s not fair for you to have the stage all to yourself, is it?
Clank. The steel door of the alchemic steel refinery shut. After closing it so tightly that not a single gap remained, I reached out and stroked Azzy. She was still growling, clearly in a bad mood.
“Um… Sir Huey?”
“Yes? What is it?”
I smiled brightly as I soothed Azzy. The Princess hesitated, then glanced at my expression and asked.
“Your expression just now, it seemed to change all of a sudden… Did you think of something pleasant?”
“Pleasant? How could anything be pleasant after seeing a sight like that?!”
“I-I’m sorry…! B-but your eyes are smiling…”
“What do you know about my expression!”
“Eek!”
Smiling, my ass. I must be furious.
Those people are criminals who deserve to die. Because humans have the right to judge other humans for the sake of a greater cause, it is only right that those who have committed sins be punished in the name of that cause.
But humans have something called dignity. Even if it’s a criminal, as long as they have a human form, they should be respected for that alone. Because that is the proper way.
Funnily enough.
“Don’t you find it funny, Your Highness? That I feel pity for people who must die, and who will die, just because they’re tied up and groaning in pain.”
“B-but… if they are to be killed, it should be through a just process, their crimes revealed before all as they meet their end. That, that is too much! Being chained up and exploited is like… like livestock!”
The Princess clenched her fists and trembled. In her life, where she had never encountered the emotion of hostility, this was likely her first contact with the malice of the Military State.
“Is it wrong to exploit them like livestock?”
“What are you saying?! Of course it is!”
“Why? The Military State needs a facility like this, and it has the ability to operate it.”
“You shouldn’t do everything you can just because you can! You must always maintain propriety. It was because my parents failed to do so that they…!”
For the Princess, who couldn’t finish her sentence, I finished it for her.
“Right. Your late father was so terrible at running the kingdom he drove it into the ground, didn’t he? You didn’t ruin it yourself, but as someone with firsthand experience, I suppose it hits differently.”
“W-what?! You don’t have to put it like that!”
“But it’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes, but! Even if I never saw their faces, they are my parents! Please, at least watch your words in front of me!”
I chuckled and boarded the automaton carriage with Azzy. The Princess, fuming, followed me and naturally sat down in the carriage.
‘Really, you’re going too far! It’s not that I’m one to nitpick, but you show no manners or dignity whatsoever! You’re so inconsiderate…!’
“It’s something that shouldn’t be said. But it can be.”
I started the automaton carriage. The Thundergear rumbled, breathing life into the entire vehicle. The stopped carriage began to move again, its pulse restored.
The Princess, surprised, called out to me.
“Wait, Sir Huey? Didn’t you say you were going to keep watch? Where are you going?”
“Words, in the end, are just sounds shaped by my mouth and tongue. Depending on what is pronounced and how the order is arranged, they become words that shouldn’t be said.”
Rumble. The automaton carriage, gradually accelerating, soon reached its top speed. I turned the controls and drove along the massive outer wall of the alchemic steel refinery. To my left was an endless gray concrete wall. The same scenery repeated no matter how far I went, to the point where I soon became confused as to whether I was moving forward or standing still.
“If it couldn’t be done, it shouldn’t have been possible from the start. But we can say such things.”
“…So you’re saying that if something is possible, then it can be done.”
She catches on quick. She’s sharp and smart enough that it’s easy to talk to her.
“But it’s different. To do everything you can just because you can is barbarism, and a sin. The kingdom fell because it couldn’t distinguish between what could be done and what shouldn’t be done.”
“You give me a hard time, but here you are blaming your own parents.”
“They’re my parents, so I’ll be the one to say what I want about them!” the Princess snapped, then looked me straight in the eye and answered clearly.
“Yes! The kingdom deserved to fall! That’s why there are things that should be done and things that shouldn’t! The Execution Knights who were once responsible for the kingdom’s security. They roamed the world holding execution duels to eliminate sinners and uphold the rules. But at some point, the execution duels became… execution ceremonies to kill more brutally and cruelly! There were even cases where the innocent were framed and executed!”
“Isn’t that the fault of the corrupt Execution Knights?”
“It was the kingdom of knights! The kingdom affirmed their actions, so the king, my parents, were eventually dragged down by the hands of everyone!”
A contradiction… or perhaps irony. There was a slight inconsistency in the Princess’s words. I carefully pointed it out.
“By that logic, you must be pleased by the existence of that refinery, Your Highness. It would be better not to destroy it, right? Someday, that refinery will not only imprison heinous criminals but everyone who opposes the will of the Military State, eventually leading to its downfall. Wow, long live the Resistance, then!”