Chapter 179: Episode (3)
Chapter 179: Episode (3)
Deep within the Empire, at an ancient estate.
Yelena Yumanov, a survivor of the purge, sat on her balcony, quietly sipping coffee. Lately, the wind blowing from the east tasted of iron, as if it carried the scent of blood.
Clink.
As she set her cup down, a servant who had been waiting nearby approached soundlessly. It was a polite gesture, inquiring whether she desired a refill or if the table should be cleared.
“Take it away.”
The servant bowed and retreated.
“……”
Yelena felt a strange sense of déjà vu as she watched him go. Every servant in the mansion was either of the Sled tribe from the east or of mixed blood.
Was this Maximilian’s consideration—an attempt to provide her with stability by surrounding her with those of her own lineage? Or was it merely to abide by the Imperial Citizenship Act, which forbade Aranians from serving those deemed inferior races?
It was likely both.
“Hmm…”
Yelena’s life was peaceful now. It was far more leisurely than her days wielding power as Robrus’s People's Commissar for Internal Affairs, all thanks to Maximilian’s meticulous and generous treatment.
Thud.
Suddenly, she sensed a presence behind her.
“You’re here.”
It was Schatz. Yelena handed her a bundle of prepared documents.
“I’ve compiled all the military secrets and power dynamics of Robrus that I know. I’m not sure how useful this information will be to the Empire, however.”
With the purge in Robrus still in full swing, the nation's entire command structure could be overhauled at any moment.
“The Knight will be the one to make that judgment.”
Schatz tucked the thick file into her coat and asked, “I heard you’re thinking of returning to the east.”
“...Yes,” Yelena replied softly.
“I requested a suitable cover identity, and they have prepared a perfect one.”
The most effective disguise was to change one’s gender entirely. Having trained in mana and honed her body for years, Yelena’s physique was slender enough to pass for a delicate man.
“How is it?”
Yelena lowered her voice, mimicking a masculine tone.
“Do I not sound as if I were a man all along?”
“Yes. It sounds perfectly natural.”
A faint smile touched Yelena’s lips at Schatz’s words.
“I plan to start by working as a lawyer, traveling throughout the Eastern Union. The information I gather there should be helpful to you as well.”
Schatz nodded.
“The Knight gave orders to contact him by parchment whenever you require assistance.”
“I will.”
Suddenly, Yelena stared intently at Schatz’s face.
“By the way, Lady Heizen, are you a pure-blooded Aranian?”
“...Yes,” Schatz answered curtly.
A pure-blooded Aranian.
In the past, it was a lineage she had taken for granted, a fact of life given no special meaning. Lately, however, Schatz had been feeling a strange sense of pride in her identity as an Aran.
Perhaps nearly every citizen of the Empire felt the same.
Even the lower classes lived with the conviction that they were the Great Aranians of the Empire, inherently superior to the inferior races of the east and west.
“I am a pure Aran, with a family tree verified back to my great-grandparents.”
Perhaps this was the society Maximilian desired.
* * *
A laboratory within Mason Industries.
This was the information Head Researcher Milo had given me:
—They say she’s a vital test subject. She voluntarily participated in human experimentation in the past, embodying a vast amount of the company’s assets within her own body, only to betray their trust and flee like an ungrateful wretch. She was recently recaptured. Now, it’s time to fulfill the contract that was put on hold.
“What kind of experiment was it?”
Milo hesitated for a moment at my question.
“...Well, I was just a university student back then. But according to the records from the higher-ups…”
It seemed Milo didn’t know the specifics either. Then again, the human experiment had been conducted at ‘T24’ in the first place.
“They said it was an experiment to implant a circuit into an ordinary person with no connection to mana, then infuse them with artificial mana. With that alone, she became capable of wielding mana on par with a seasoned knight.”
This was the reason Mason Industries was obsessed with the ‘Mana Engine.’
In truth, the total amount of natural mana a human could handle was minuscule compared to the output of a mana stone. It was an insurmountable difference in mass.
“The investment in that test subject alone exceeds tens of millions.”
The Empire’s trains ran on low-grade mana stones. For a human to move such a train would be impossible for even dozens of high-ranking knights without a ‘catalyst.’
The Mana Engine was the alchemy born from that very concept: fusing the human body with the raw power of a mana stone.
“So.”
I looked through the glass window at Elze, who was bound to a restraining chair.
“All I need to do is analyze the mana waves the subject emits?”
“Yes. We will handle the physical stimulation.”
“Sounds fun.”
“...You think so? Please try to remain objective.”
Milo advised with a deadpan expression, and I fell into thought for a moment.
Elze. One of the main characters of Outcast.
In those days when I had lost everything, that story had brought me pure joy. The time I spent reading that comic was an escape from my wretched reality. Even now, with the entire world having regressed, I still missed the freedom of that past.
—The hell are you staring at, you sons of bitches!
Elze threw her head back and thrashed. Her temper was exactly as I remembered from the panels.
I checked her vitals and the state of her mana circuit.
“Well then, I’ll start by increasing the voltage.”
Milo pushed a lever.
Gack—!
Pain gave rise to mana. On the monitor, various values of her mana emissions were recorded. The virus detected the waves, and just as I gripped my pen—
I felt a ‘gaze’ stabbing the back of my neck.
A blood-soaked stare, as if someone were observing this place from a great distance, straining themselves to their absolute limit.
Zzzzzzzzt—!
Outcast—the artist ‘Filty’ had pinpointed our location.
Having had Elze abducted, they wouldn’t waste time drawing up a lengthy plan. They would act immediately. That recklessness was their very identity.
────!!!
Elze’s screams intensified.
I activated the timer inside my body.
`24 : 00 : 00`
Just now, the episode had begun.
….
A hideout in the underground city.
Filty stared into the air, drawing like a madwoman. Meden continuously collected the bundles of paper scribbled from her fingertips.
“...Found her.”
The situation at Mason Industries was vividly depicted on the page.
[ Gert: All I need to do is analyze the mana waves the test subject emits? ]
[ Milo: Yes. We will handle the physical stimulation. ]
[ Gert: Sounds fun. ]
[ Milo: …You think so? Please try to exclude any personal feelings. ]
Meden looked down at the faces of the two researchers rendered in pen. Beside him, the giant of a man, Pain, clenched his jaw tight.
“Gert, Milo… Make sure you remember the faces of those bastards. They're dead.”
To the murderous voice, Meden replied softly, “Rescuing Elze comes first.”
Her location was confirmed.
The plan? They never made one. That was always the way of Outcast.
“Meden! Onyx got back to us. They said they’ll help,” Kade announced, relaying the message he’d received by parchment.
Onyx was another group of T24’s victims. An armed group of failed human experiments who had been discarded as waste, they hated the Empire and Mason Industries as much as they did.
“Then we’re set. Everyone, get ready.”
They ascended to the first floor of Tavern Quanda. The counter where Quanda had greeted them every day was now empty and silent.
Meden gave it a bitter look before gesturing toward the exit.
“...Let’s go.”
Outcast emerged from the underground city and piled into a car. Filty remained curled up in the back seat, drawing ceaselessly.
The conversation her comrades just had, the torture happening at Mason Industries…
“Filty. Rest now.”
Meden reached a hand toward her.
“Nngh…”
Her face pale, Filty scrawled a number in the corner of the last panel just before putting down her pen.
[ 23 : 00 : 00 ]
….
“What do you think?”
Milo asked, pointing to the figures displayed on the monitor.
Indeed, the wavelength of the mana Elze was emitting was far from ordinary.
“Yes. It certainly seems to be a successful test subject.”
However, they were mistaken.
The success of this experiment was by no means due to Mason’s superior technology. It was solely thanks to the unique disposition and compatibility of the individual named Elze. In other words, it was nothing more than the result of overlapping chance and talent.
It lacked general applicability.
They had killed thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of children on the operating table, only to stumble upon a mere five or six who could withstand an artificial mana circuit implant.
But the talent required to endure the ‘heart’ overflowing with mana—the core of the Mana Engine—would be thousands of times rarer. It was possible that even if they scoured the entire continent, not a single such person existed.
“It’s complete.”
I diagrammed Elze’s mana wavelength and handed it to Milo. He took it hastily, a bright smile spreading across his face.
“...It’s definitely different. Everyone, come look at this!”
At Milo’s shout, dozens of researchers scattered throughout the lab gathered around. They huddled together, looking at the wavelength I had given them, chirping like chicks and burning with enthusiasm.
“……”
This was likely the ‘development’ in which all of them would be killed tonight at the hands of Outcast, who were coming to rescue Elze.
However…
I found them too valuable to waste.
Researchers who could experiment on thousands of children without a second thought. People who, far from feeling guilt, could rejoice in pure scientific achievement. Those who simply carried out the orders that came down from above.
I needed people like that.
With their hands, Izenheim had to be dissected.
“Dr. Gert! Look at this!”
The researchers smiled brightly. I watched them, perhaps thinking of a bonus or a vacation, or perhaps simply enjoying the satisfaction of a job well done.
I checked the timer in my body.
`16 : 15 : 37`
There wasn’t much time left.
….
Night deepened, and the Mason Industries research facility was shrouded in a dark fog.
“Sector A-3. All clear.”
The Mason Industries security team maintained a tight perimeter.
However, they had politely refused any intervention from the Imperial Police or the Knight Orders, opting to handle all matters with the company’s own resources. Already under the Emperor’s protection, there was no reason to risk a leak of experimental data by accepting outside help.
“Sector A-4…?”
On the silent outskirts of the facility, a guard peered intently into the shadows. A figure emerged soundlessly from the darkness.
Sshhhk—!
A flash of light. The guard’s throat was slit.
Thud. Thud-thud.
Without even time to scream, a head detached and rolled futilely across the pavement. One by one, the other guards fell, their bodies and heads separated in the dark.
A silent infiltration.
Outcast’s operation had begun.
—The top floor of the Mason Industries building. Falkenrat’s office.
Through the radio signal connected to his prosthetic eye, Falkenrat felt the security signals on the perimeter going dark one by one in real time.
So they’re coming…
But far from being flustered, he simply killed time with an amused smile, waiting for the "cute little things" that would soon arrive.
To him, this whole situation was nothing but a game. It looked like nothing more than the antics of lowly creatures. He would watch with amusement as the pigs and dogs crawled into a death trap, and when the time was right, he would crush them all and capture them as test subjects.
Crrrack!
Falkenrat smiled grimly and flexed the joints of his mechanical arm.
[ 12 : 00 : 00 ]
….
The lab. I returned to my desk for a moment and pulled out the long fishing rod case I had left there.
“Dr. Gert. Do you happen to like fishing?” a passing researcher asked in a friendly tone.
“Yes. I enjoy it as a hobby from time to time,” I replied with a faint smile.
“Fishing… I tried it once, but it really wasn’t for me…”
The researchers lived ordinary lives and acted in ordinary ways. They were people who ordinarily carried out the evil orders of their superiors, and in doing so, ordinarily became war criminals.
There were many such war criminals before the regression, too.
“I’m going to step out for some fresh air.”
“Yes, sir. You’ve been working hard lately!”
I walked out into the hallway. Leaning against the emergency exit stairs, I fell into a deep reverie.
“...Outcast.”
Outcast. They were people who could never cooperate with the Empire. They were victims of human experiments conducted with the Empire’s acquiescence—no, its tacit agreement.
But if I were to leave them be as they were before the regression, they would grow frighteningly strong with each passing day. Eventually, each one of them would become a resistance force akin to a natural disaster, something the Empire could not hope to control.
Therefore, the true purpose of this ‘episode,’ the reason I had infiltrated Mason Industries, was…
To gather them all here—the ones who had given me, a fugitive, a fleeting moment of happiness and the joy of forgetting reality—
And execute them.
Click.
I shouldered the fishing rod case and let out a deep sigh.
`06 : 13 : 00`
The timer in my body was ticking.
─── BOOOOM!
An explosion erupted not far away.
“……”
I went up the stairs. Walking past the panicked researchers, I returned to the laboratory.
“Mr. Milo.”
Head Researcher Milo was still engrossed in analyzing the data and wavelengths.
“Yes, yes. Come over here.”
“It seems something has happened outside.”
“Oh… yes. Probably just a problem during an experiment—”
THUD!
“—is what happened. Don’t worry. It’ll die down soon. It’s a daily occurrence at the lab.”
KRA-BOOM!
Contrary to his words, the sounds were growing louder, more violent. Outcast was flooding in.
“Mr. Milo.”
I stood in front of him, blocking his way. I slammed my palm down on the research data and lowered my gaze, staring into his eyes.
“That woman’s comrades have arrived.”
“What? What are you…”
These were humans with a strange sense of duty, who would remain here to the end, researching, only to be wiped out by Outcast and other armed groups. Humans who, in carrying out the orders of their superiors, would lose the most important thing: their lives.
I needed humans like that.
“If you want to live, go up. Not down, up.”
I can grant a temporary stay for the sin of experimenting on human bodies and torturing people. If you can be of even the slightest help to the future of humanity, then anyone will do.
Even if it’s the hand of a monster devoid of guilt, I will gladly take it.
“……”
Milo looked at my face with ordinary eyes.
Krrrr-runch—.
Ominous presences surged from just outside the door.