Chapter 288: The Blessed Country and the Cursed Human - 11
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 288: The Blessed Country and the Cursed Human - 11
“What is it, Captain Abbey?”
I could feel a faint sense of disapproval from Captain Abbey. It was strange. No matter what I had done until now, she had never shown the slightest reluctance toward me.
“Sir. If your will is done, what will become of the other Signallers?”
“They’ll find their freedom. Just like you, Captain.”
I said it nonchalantly, but Captain Abbey heard it as if it were a matter of great consequence. She spoke with desperation.
“From what I understand, your plan seems… like you’re abandoning the Signallers.”
“Abandoning them? Who’s abandoning whom? The Signallers are better qualified than I am. They’ve received officer training and can use Unique Magic. Aren’t they the real power pulling the strings of the Military State from behind the scenes?”
“That is precisely the problem. The Signallers are of immense strategic value. They are privy to numerous state secrets and have access rights to various facilities within the Military State. If you reveal their existence and incite chaos, the Signallers will be the first to be endangered.”
She was right. Any enemy of the Military State would target the Signallers first to acquire intelligence and cripple the nation’s communication network.
And what if they were allies of the State? Those loyal to the Military State? Would they protect the Signallers? It seemed unlikely.
When they discovered that a mere Signaller had been giving them orders all this time, could they truly continue to obey? It would be difficult, both rationally and emotionally. They might even try to eliminate the Signallers.
I conceded her point.
“You have a point, Captain Abbey.”
“In that case…”
“But I don’t see any reason for me to care.”
Captain Abbey held her breath. Still holding Yuel fast, I continued.
“The Signallers are an indulgence the Military State created for its own sake. They’re used like tools, their lives completely stolen from them, so no one can hold them responsible. No, no one even knows they exist in the first place. Thanks to them, the Military State, a nation clearly made by humans, is becoming something greater than human. A nation that rules over the human species.”
Until now, kingdoms had been ruled by kings. While there has been much historical debate about the division of roles between a king and their nation, a king was, in the end, human. Humanity has always been ruled by humans.
But the Military State is ruled by no one.
“The Signallers’ situation is particularly stark. They have the authority to access all sorts of state facilities, yet they themselves are left to rot in rooms without a single drop of hot water. Because of what they do, all humans are ruled by a Military State that doesn't even truly exist! Wouldn't it be better to die walking on your own two feet than to be consumed and die in a dark room like that?”
“…Affirmative. I, too, believe that would be better. I now know what joy is, and how precious it is.”
Right. Even when her own life was in danger, Captain Abbey had striven to live life to the fullest. It was truly rewarding. A person like her, who had realized what it meant to be able to do something, would surely…
“However, I believe there is a better way.”
“What? A better way?”
Why did she disagree? Having witnessed the fierce struggles of ordinary people firsthand, she should have come to a similar conclusion as me.
“I had you, sir. Thanks to my time with you, I was able to joyfully embrace all the new things I encountered. However, the other Signallers do not have you. Just as I experienced, in a harsh world, new things will present themselves as threats rather than joys. And it is highly likely the other Signallers will not be able to overcome that. I find that…”
Captain Abbey trailed off, choosing her words carefully.
She had no real reason. For a Signaller who had only ever made objective judgments through the eyes of the Military State, an argument not bound by rules or profit and loss was utterly foreign. Captain Abbey finally found the words that fit her heart.
“I don't like it. Even if it’s irrational.”
If she didn’t like it, then that was that. That alone could be reason enough. The world may operate under rules set by gods, but it is the heart that moves humans.
I nodded.
“I understand. But just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean I’ll change my mind. Like you, Captain, I still have some sense of duty to defeat the enemies of humanity.”
“The target you intend to overthrow. You attack it because it is not human. Is my assumption correct?”
“Yes. A human’s enemy may be another human, but even the most heinous murderer cannot be an enemy of humanity. We’re the same species, aren’t we? Just because my stomach hurts doesn’t make it my enemy, and I can’t fight my right hand just because it accidentally hit my head while I was moving it.”
As I answered with a shrug, Captain Abbey stammered slightly.
“…I am your ally. Am I not?”
I read the flow of her thoughts. In Captain Abbey’s mind, which had been a blank slate just moments before, an image was now being drawn.
The wish of the first Signaller to rebel against the Military State.
“The Military State is a nation that moves according to the ‘orders of Headquarters,’ which are relayed through the Signallers. Everyone believes in the existence of a Headquarters somewhere.”
“It’s the same thing, isn’t it? The orders from Headquarters are just information processed by the Signallers.”
“It is different.”
“It is?”
I asked as if I didn’t notice, though I had a rough idea of where this was going. With resolute determination, Captain Abbey told a lie a Signaller should never tell.
A lie that, from this moment on, would become the truth.
“I am Abbey. The first among the Signallers.”
Captain Abbey placed a hand on her chest and spoke.
“While there is no hierarchy among Signallers, their identification names are assigned in order of ability. I am the Signaller who received the name Abbey, which had been vacant for a long time. Excluding A, who is known as the original Signaller, I can be said to possess the most powerful abilities… but A was not a Signaller.”
Of course not. She was a Saintess.
Holy Power, a force on a different level from Unique Magic. The tale of the Saintess of Origin answering the calls of her followers from an immense distance.
Yuel had used that power to converse with the Signallers who wished for communication. The only difference was that it was a simple conversation, not synchronization. Saintess Yuel and the Signallers were far too different to synchronize.
And so, the Military State became a nation without a king.
But Captain Abbey was denying Yuel’s very actions.
“Therefore, I am the most powerful Signaller. I possess power that is unmatched among the others, and I can even dominate them. Consequently, my will has the greatest influence on the collective consensus of the Signallers.”
Her words skirted the edge of a lie. Was it truth or falsehood? It was impossible to know. All Signallers engaged in organic communication, and the will conveyed by even a low-ranking Signaller would spread through the whole, mixing and blurring.
Just like human nerves.
It could be a lie or the truth depending on one’s perspective. But Abbey, the one speaking, said it with unshakable conviction.
“The will conveyed by the Military State’s Headquarters all originated from me and spread outward. I am the Headquarters.”
“…In short, Captain Abbey, you were the king of the Military State?”
“Affirmative.”
Captain Abbey bowed her head deeply with a crisp, disciplined motion. She tried to sound solemn, but her gentle features made it seem completely out of place.
“For someone saying that, you seemed to be under someone’s control just a moment ago.”
“Th-that was only possible because I allowed it!”
“Well, let’s say that’s true. It’s not like there’s a shortage of puppets in the world.”
Was she trying to say that the Military State was, in fact, just another form of kingdom ruled by a human?
She was right. Captain Abbey could be someone’s enemy. But she could never be an enemy of humanity. Because she, too, was human.
“That’s just wordplay.”
“But it is the truth.”
“Certainly, it’s possible for you, Captain Abbey. With your life and desires, you can bear that responsibility and sin…”
Muttering as if to myself, I released my grip on the wire. The wire went slack, and Saintess Yuel was free.
Though bruised by the wire, Yuel quickly brought her hands together and looked at me with suspicion. If the Saintess were to use her power, if she were to summon an angel here, I would be as good as dead.
I would never have done this normally, but I had no other choice now. I shrugged and said, “Yuel. Try killing Captain Abbey.”
“…What?!”
Everyone in the space gasped. Yuel, in particular, reeled as if struck by an unexpected blow.
Why so surprised? It was what she had been trying to do all along.
“Why the sudden change of heart? It’s your job, isn’t it? To dispose of wayward Signallers. Weren’t you worried this would happen if a Signaller became mentally contaminated… that is, if they lost their purity and became an ordinary human?”
“…If I were to kill someone, I would kill you before that child.”
“Go ahead. It’s not like I can touch the Military State before Captain Abbey is dead anyway.”
I wound the wire around my finger. I wove a single strand as if playing cat’s cradle, then pulled both ends taut. The wide knot converged into a single point and instantly reverted to a card. I shuffled the new card into the deck and sighed.
“A human cannot be an enemy of humanity. Captain Abbey has declared herself the Headquarters, and she will likely make it so. The other Signallers cannot stop her now that she has her own desires. Except for one person—you, the one who maintains this system.”
“…So you weren’t asking me to kill her for you. It’s the opposite.”
“How you interpret it is up to you.”
Captain Abbey is human. Not an enemy of humanity. But by making that declaration of her own free will, and by actually possessing the ability to back it up, she had earned the qualification.
So, as long as Captain Abbey exists, the Military State is not my enemy. It was an ambiguous conclusion for me.
I cannot stop someone who wishes to become king in my stead. The most I can do is test them.
Yuel’s eyes trembled as she realized something.
“You’ve chosen a king? In this Military State…?”
Captain Abbey approached Yuel. Kneeling on one knee to meet her gaze, Abbey spoke clearly with a steady look.
“Yuel. Please cooperate with me.”
Yuel was clearly the more powerful of the two, yet she was the one who averted her gaze.
“I… can’t. I can’t do that.”
“Think rationally. Any outcome is better than the Signallers’ secret being exposed. Isn’t that your assessment as well?”
“It’s different! Signallers must not have desires. If they do, the Signaller—no, you—will move this country according to your desires. You’ll become a king. His dream… his wish to create a nation that doesn’t need a king will be defiled.”
Captain Abbey glanced at the corpse and said, “He is dead.”
“Even if he’s dead, his dream isn’t!”
As if in desperate denial, Yuel hugged the corpse tightly again. Covering the cold body with her own, she cried out in a sob.
“The Military State is the masterpiece of his ideals. It’s the child he and I created together! And now… now you’re telling me to give up like this? No! I’d rather everyone die here! Let us be buried with all the secrets! Then…!”
“If you do that, everything he created will disappear. The Military State will probably disappear too. Are you alright with that?”
Yuel gasped.
The reason she kept saying she would bury everything but could never bring herself to do it. The reason we had been given ample time. It was because his traces, including the Warlord’s corpse, remained here.
A person who would cling to a man’s corpse for nearly twenty years was dripping with attachment; she could hardly be expected to be decisive. Yuel’s dilemma deepened.