Chapter 274: The Country of Steel and the Faceless Men - 15
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 274: The Country of Steel and the Faceless Men - 15
Captain Abbey, whom I hadn't seen in a long time, looked worse than before. The stiff, inhuman expression she wore as she looked at me had less life than any golem I'd ever seen.
Captain Abbey replied dryly.
『I am Captain Ivy, a Signaller of the Military State.』
‘Yes. Me too. I’m so… happy to see you again.’
Her words were stiff, but the thoughts I heard were entirely different. It must be because of my Unique Magic.
Of course, for someone who could read minds, this wasn't a serious problem. I let her spoken words wash over me and continued the conversation.
“Ivy? What happened to you?”
『I was summoned to Inner Circle Command to be tested for mental contamination. During that time, a terrorist act was committed by you, Hughes, also known as the Pied Piper of Hamelin. In the process, I was deemed to have hindered a Signaller’s judgment, was stripped of my name, and temporarily reassigned to the Inner Circle Communications Headquarters.』
‘I’m the one who should be asking. I was prepared for this, but what were you thinking, coming all the way here? You’re the one who caused the Hamelin incident. Why didn’t you just run? Why come back to the Inner Circle? Were you hurt while you were on the run?’
“A lot has happened while I was away. You’re a more important person than I thought, Captain Abbey… or was it Ivy now? You were the one who spoke to me back then, right?”
『Affirmative.』
“I thought so. You seemed similar. Why change your name?”
‘I didn’t want to. I didn’t want them to take Abbey from me. Because you remember me as Abbey.’
The captain’s thoughts came first, her voice following belatedly like an echo.
『As you may have surmised, a Signaller’s designation is merely an identifier. My name holds no significance beyond differentiation.』
‘You remember me as Abbey. If I were to speak with you through a golem, I must be Abbey. Otherwise, you wouldn’t know who I am.’
“But it doesn’t matter if I call you Captain Bbey, right? It’s up to me what I call you.”
『…!』
The Military State seeks to control all of humanity. By following its orders, one might not be happy, but one can live without sin or responsibility.
And yet, criminals still exist within the State. Their crimes are petty compared to those in other nations, but their numbers are high considering the State’s harshness. Most of them are minor offenders who find pleasure in delinquency, committing needless crimes even though they know the fearsome power of the State.
In short, the Military State is not perfect.
Of course not. The ones who created it were human, after all.
This Signaller before me, Captain Abbey, who has grown attached to her own name, is proof of that.
“Captain Bbey.”
『I am…』
Captain Abbey stuttered as if she were broken. I reached out my hand.
Morning Glory vines, invisible to others but visible to me. Pretending not to see them, I gently placed a hand on the captain’s shoulder.
“Look how stiff your shoulders are. You haven’t been exercising, have you?”
When my hand touched the Morning Glory vines coiled around her shoulder, they began to crumble like leaves that had been dried out for decades. Captain Abbey stammered.
『A-Affirmative.』
“How long are you going to live like this? If you’re going to be cooped up in a room working all day, you should at least take proper care of your body.”
『I perform my duties through a golem. There is no reason for such maintenance.』
“But you’re a bio-synchro type, aren’t you? Maintaining your body is maintaining the golem. The more flexible your body becomes, the more you can do with the golem, you know?”
『…I have no reason to listen to such remarks from you, nor any obligation to follow them!』
Synchronization can only be achieved by being the same as everyone else. In other words, if one becomes different, the synchronization breaks. During the few days I spent with Captain Abbey, I had prepared all sorts of stimuli to make her feel alive.
If the Military State is a single body, then the Signallers are its nerves.
And what inflicts the most lethal damage with the smallest dose is a neurotoxin.
“Your attempts are futile. She is a Signaller and a soldier loyal to the Military State. Furthermore, she is under the control of the current Module. Her ability to communicate with you is limited.”
IA interjected.
She says that, but I can feel an inexplicable anxiety from her. Does she instinctively know that I’m injecting poison?
I scoffed and said, “Stay out of it. I’m going to break this Signaller in my own way.”
“Is this your revenge against the Military State? However, as you yourself mentioned, attacking a Signaller is meaningless. She was commissioned after the Hamelin incident, and besides, the Signallers had no involvement in that event beyond information control!”
Ignoring IA, I brushed back Captain Abbey’s hair. The vines that wreathed her blonde hair like a decoration caught on my fingers. Of course, my fingers passed through them like mist. The material world could not interfere with the spiritual.
‘Is he trying to break the synchronization? However, a Unique Magic is a manifestation of the Spiritual World. Influencing another’s Spiritual World is impossible without a similar synchronization, and even then, it’s limited to receiving memories or information…’
That's right. The material can’t interfere with the spiritual.
But my hand can reach Captain Abbey’s heart.
The vines snap. The leaves wither. The flowers wilt.
Each time we spoke, each time we touched, the Morning Glories crumbled. The petals that once boasted a pitiful violet hue withered and drooped, and the fragile stems that could only reach upward by leaning on something else snapped.
‘His Unique Magic?!’
IA was startled.
‘According to the memories I received, Ivy was only in contact with the Pied Piper for a week! How could he break her Unique Magic in that short time?!’
Realizing my actions were undoing Captain Abbey’s conditioning, IA cried out urgently.
“Is this the revenge you had in mind? It’s meaningless!”
“So what? Nothing in this world has any inherent meaning anyway.”
Meaning is just something humans assign to actions.
So you can do whatever you want. What meaning you give it is up to you.
Now, has the audience gathered?
Nearly all the Signallers who had been locked in their rooms were now out. Their faces were different, but their hollow eyes, their awkward gaits like those of people long bedridden, and their pale skin that had never seen the sun were all identical.
They had gained their freedom, but they weren’t grateful. Instead, their defiant glares seemed to reproach me for dragging them out.
Because a Signaller is supposed to be confined. Because they must not show their face to anyone. Because that is their duty.
As they all shared the same thought, IA, emboldened by their synchronization, shouted even more sharply.
“If you intend to mentally contaminate a Signaller, give up. I am warning you. If a Signaller becomes unable to perform their duties due to mental contamination or any other reason, that Signaller will be decommissioned! Your actions are only putting her in greater danger…”
“I’ve heard enough!”
I strode over to IA and slapped her across the face. Smack! The crisp sound echoed as IA’s head whipped to the side.
A blow delivered with an open palm, maximizing the contact area to make it incredibly painful without causing injury. And since it was a surprise attack, the effect was doubled.
The easiest way to deliver a psychological shock is to deliver a physical one.
“How could you…! How could you say something like ‘decommissioned’?!”
Again. I slapped her left cheek before, so I slapped the left one again.
With nothing but slaps, I finally knocked IA to the ground. Standing over her, I panted and shouted.
“She’s your comrade! You may have only known her for a few days, but she’s a comrade of a similar age, a similar rank, in a similar situation! Don’t you dare order her to be decommissioned on your own authority!”
“…?! What are you talking about?”
Don’t let them think. IA may be their representative, but she speaks for twenty-five, and they’re backed by nearly five hundred other Signallers.
Compared to them, I’m alone.
To mentally contaminate all of them…
“Do you want Captain Abbey to die?! Is that what you want?”
IA staggered to her feet and replied.
“No. Her talent is exceptionally rare among the Signallers. Decommissioning her would be a considerable loss for the Military State.”
“Is that all? She’s your comrade! In the end, you’re saying you’ll decommission a comrade on a whim, and you think that’s okay? Sadness, a sense of loss, or pity! Don’t you have any of those feelings?”
“Such emotions are not permitted for a Signaller.”
“Permitted or not…!”
As I shouted, feigning rage.
Just then, Historia, who had broken down the door to the last room, called to me with a grim face.
“Huey. In here…”
“What is it?”
“The Signaller…”
Historia couldn’t finish her sentence, whatever it was she had seen. I deliberately hardened my expression and approached her.
“What’s wrong?”
“…A Signaller has collapsed.”
“What? Get her out here, now!”
Historia nodded and dragged the entire cot out with one hand. Its steel frame scraped loudly against the wall.
Huh, that’s not what I had in mind. I was expecting Historia to emerge, carrying the Signaller coolly in her arms.
Well, she got her out anyway. I walked over to the Signaller lying on the cot, breathing raggedly. The Signaller from the last room, Z, was unconscious.
Historia looked at the prone Signaller’s condition and said, “She has a fever and she’s short of breath. Is it a cold?”
“No. From the symptoms, this is a case of possession. She’s sick because she was used as a sacrifice to summon the State’s angel.”
“Possession? A sacrifice…?”
“Yes. Eimeder. The guardian angel of the Military State. A being as powerful as one of the Six Generals can’t be summoned without a price, right? Of course a sacrifice would be needed.”
As I spoke, I glanced over at X and Y. Unlike the other Signallers, their complexions were exceptionally pale. Anyone could see they were clearly unwell.
“Wait. If she was a sacrifice, does that mean she took her own life…?”
“That’s usually how it works, but it seems the State has developed a more efficient method. One that doesn’t require taking a life.”
Hmm. I guess it’s time to use this. It’s so valuable I’d hate to even use it on myself, but I have no choice.
I flicked my hand, fanning out my cards. This time, I would draw from the Hearts.
Unlike the magic-infused Clubs and the Diamonds that transform into weapons, the Hearts are single-use only. They are precious items, never to be used except in an emergency.
But what’s the point of saving them if they just go to waste? Now’s the time to go for it. I slipped the necessary Heart cards between my fingers.
“It seems they used Synchronization Magic to distribute the risk. They are many, but they are one. They even distributed the price of summoning the angel… Still, the cost must have been considerable.”
The Hearts are things that act directly on the human body. Drugs that temporarily alter the flesh.
The Ace of Hearts is blood… but Z isn’t anemic, so that’s not necessary. Hmm. Right now, it’s more like…
I took out the Nine, held one end, and shook it from side to side. At first, it just shook like a normal card, but as I continued patiently, it began to react.
The red heart, modeled after a real one. The red ink that should have been a simple drawing began to slosh around with my movements. It looked less like a picture and more like liquid in a small bottle.
Well, that’s what it is.
I folded the Nine of Hearts, creasing it slightly down the middle. A red liquid seeped from the split heart and flowed along the crease. I folded the tip to let the liquid pool there, then showed it to everyone.
“This medicine can save her. What do you think? Tempting, isn’t it?”
Naturally, no one would accept medicine from such a suspicious character. Especially not from someone who had just declared he would destroy the Military State.
Y, who was closest to Z, asked sharply.
“Signaller I.Z. is currently incapacitated. If you have business with her, I will handle it in her stead.”
“I’m trying to treat her. How exactly are you going to do that for her?”
“Treat her, you say? Is there any guarantee that medicine can cure I.Z.?”
“There are no guarantees, but I can assure you of one thing. I use all of these medicines myself. Otherwise, why would I bother carrying them around in such a cumbersome form?”
Flutter, flutter. Y’s eyes followed the card back and forth. Unlike the other Signallers who were observing me, Y couldn’t take her eyes off the medicine.
“Well? Make a decision. From the looks of it, she won’t last the day without this medicine. Are you going to let her die, or are you going to take a small risk and give her this?”
The Signallers looked at each other and nodded. They, too, recognized that Z was in critical condition.
She would die if they didn’t use the medicine. Therefore, thinking rationally, there was no reason not to use it. That was the Signallers’ shared conclusion.
…However, two of them—and only two—X and Y, genuinely wanted to save Z.
Because the two of them, the lowest-ranking members here, had also been ‘used’ as sacrifices to summon Eimeder. The blow to them was less severe than it was to Z, but as fellow sacrifices who had felt the same pain, they felt a sense of kinship.
“Perfect. I needed a volunteer. Would you take this medicine in your mouth and give it to the patient?”
“…Me, you say?”
“Yes. She’s completely unconscious, so it might go down her windpipe. It’s stickier than it looks, so if you’re not careful, it could block her airway.”
Her hesitation was brief. If that was the only way, there was no reason not to comply.
Signaller Y nodded and took the card I offered. Watching her, I added another comment.
“Ah, that’s right. We’ve met the angel a total of three times. Who were the other two sacrifices?”
Y flinched for a moment, then said hesitantly.
“…Myself, and Signaller I.X.”
“What a strange coincidence, isn’t it? That the three at the very bottom of the list would end up as sacrifices.”
I said it casually, but I was subtly pointing out the cracks in their unity.
There’s a hierarchy among the Signallers. The higher one’s synchronization aptitude, the closer one is to A. Those who are lacking are gradually assigned lower identification numbers. The more valuable Signallers are consumed last.
Of course, there is a rational reason for this. The higher-ranking Signallers have stronger synchronization abilities, so they can shoulder the burden of the lower-ranking ones.
But knowing something and accepting it are two different things. Especially when pain is involved.
“There is a rational reason for that…”
Just as IA tried to interject, I whipped my head around and cut her off in a terrifying voice.
“There’s a patient here! Be quiet!”