Chapter 196: Emotion (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 196: Emotion (2)
The Revolutionary Group's most secret base—Veil.
In that place, which existed on no map, a meeting of faceless figures was underway.
"Has information been leaked?"
Rabbit Mask, 'Sensi'.
Her question cast a heavy silence over the round table.
"It is not important," a shadow answered. Its face was hidden in darkness, its voice distorted by mana.
The leader of the revolution, whose gender and even age were impossible to guess—'Oracle'.
"Then what is important?" Sensi asked.
"The choice."
"...The choice?"
"For the cause alone, we must choose who is more important."
Everyone at the round table was suddenly lost in thought.
What was a revolution? It was an act of overturning the heavens, of remaking the world. It was an altar built upon the blood and bones of others, an offering that weighed sacrifice on the scales of a greater good.
"War is not far off."
Oracle’s voice pressed down heavily on Veil.
War.
The flames of ruin the Empire would soon ignite.
"The Empire’s oppression of minorities has already begun."
The Imperial Citizenship Act was only the first step. Their madness would soon be hurtling down its tracks, crushing everything in its path.
Thus, those who had been robbed of even the space to breathe, those who had been pushed to the very edge of the cliff…
In the end, to survive, they would have no choice but to gather under the banner of revolution.
"For them, revolution is not a choice, but an inevitability."
Those who would willingly throw themselves into the inferno of revolution just to live. They would become the wildfire that spread across the continent.
"For their sake, we…"
Oracle’s gaze slowly swept over the silhouettes gathered at the table.
"…will simply make the most difficult choices on their behalf."
* * *
The interrogation room of the Sentinel Knights.
I looked at Laura, who sat across from me. A blank sheet of paper and a fountain pen lay before her.
"Laura Espin."
She slowly raised her gaze to meet mine.
"An elite who studied at the Imperial Sentio Magic Tower. From a pure Aran noble family that has produced mages for generations."
It was a profile that would have allowed her to live a wealthy and respected life in the Empire.
I asked with a faint smile, "You hardly needed to throw yourself into a revolution."
"…Pure Aran." Laura murmured the words with a sneer. "Do you truly believe 'purity' actually exists in a race called Aran?"
…The division of races.
Such things were, in truth, nothing but an illusion. Even the golden hair and golden eyes that symbolized the Aran were merely the result of expressed genetic traits.
"This racial hierarchy you people so vehemently insist upon."
If one traced back humanity’s distant origins and the flow of its endlessly intermingled history, a perfectly pure bloodline existed nowhere on this continent.
This was a truth that all of humanity would one day come to accept.
"It’s nothing more than violence wielded to suit the imperialists’ agenda."
Laura’s words were a future fact.
"Is that so."
I gave a dispassionate nod.
The Revolutionary Group’s banner was righteous. Their cause contained a universal human truth. I, too, understood the freedom and equality they championed, but this world did not turn on right and wrong alone.
"Then let me ask you one thing." I leaned my torso forward. "Why have you not refused all food and drink?"
Laura’s eyes wavered.
"Why are you speaking of your ideology here, in this place?"
The root of my question was, in the end, this.
"Why are you still alive and breathing?"
Life.
"Wouldn't it be simpler to just bite your tongue and die?"
I smiled faintly and pushed the blank paper toward her.
"And yet, you have not done so."
She could live, if only she wrote down the names of her comrades.
As if she understood my meaning, a smile suddenly touched her lips as well.
"You’re mistaken. My life is of no consequence now. If you wish, you can cut off my head this very instant."
Her voice was resolute but unnatural. A hard emotion lay beneath it.
"…I see."
I looked down at her for a moment before speaking.
"Unfortunately for you, I am not the one in charge of your case."
My intuition, honed from weeding out subversive elements in my own way, was telling me something. This woman was definitely hiding something.
"However, you should probably pray every night, and hope with all your being…"
Laura did not avoid my gaze.
"…that I am not the one to take over the 'incident' that is you."
I rose from my seat and reached a hand toward Laura. Her eyes squeezed shut.
Click.
I undid the chain connecting her to the desk.
"You may now go down to the cells and rest comfortably."
The prison in the Sentinel’s basement. She could at least lie down there, so it would be better than the interrogation room.
* * *
In the dead of night, someone cautiously pushed open the door to the Sentinel interrogation room.
'He' entered the empty space and sat before the mana recorder on the interrogation table. He took out the tape containing the recent interrogation and inserted it.
Clack.
He pressed the play button, and the voices of two people flowed out.
—An elite who studied at the Imperial Sentio Magic Tower. From a pure Aran noble family that has produced mages for generations...
Maximilian began.
—Do you truly believe 'purity' actually exists in a race called Aran?
Laura uttered the dangerous words.
—Why have you not refused all food and drink... Wouldn't it be simpler to just bite your tongue and die...
Maximilian. Knowing him to be the most ardent of imperialists, Laura still answered like this.
—...You’re mistaken. My life is of no consequence now. If you wish, you can cut off my head this very instant.
Julian listened to the conversation in silence.
He closed his eyes, lost in deep thought.
Ashton, once his close friend.
The reason his lover, Laura, did not fear death. The cause she sought to carry out.
"..."
Julian opened his eyes with a bitter expression.
Click. Whirrrr—.
He placed his hand on the recorder and infused it with mana. The mana waves disrupted the tape's mana stone catalyst, scrambling the core of the conversation between Maximilian and Laura.
At that moment.
"Huh?"
A sudden presence behind him.
Julian rose calmly and turned around.
"Sir Julian?"
Standing in the doorway of the interrogation room was Hermann, a first-year rookie knight. He approached with an easygoing smile.
"What are you doing here at this late hour?"
Julian looked at Hermann with deep eyes. The remnants of his contemplation extended toward the rookie, but he quickly replied with an indifferent tone.
"It’s nothing. Why haven’t you gone home yet?"
"…Ah, well." Hermann scratched the back of his head, looking a bit sheepish. "This was my first official field mission, you see. I wanted to do a better job. I couldn't sleep anyway, so I came down to look over the records again."
Just then, his administrative officer entered, arms full of documents. Julian gave a slight nod in response to the officer’s greeting.
"Oh, and by the way, sir. I think we’ve extracted almost all the information from the other revolutionary members we caught today, besides that woman, Laura."
"It went well?"
"Yes. They sang like birds."
"Well done."
Just as Julian was about to pass him.
"…Sir Julian."
Hermann called out to him from behind. As Julian turned his head to the side, Hermann snapped to a crisp salute and smiled.
"Rest well, sir."
"You do the same."
Clomp. Clomp.
Julian disappeared down the hall. Once his footsteps had completely faded, the smile on Hermann’s lips receded like the tide.
"..."
He stared at the recorder with cold, sunken eyes. The tape Julian had just put down. He toyed with it for a moment, then clack, pressed the play button.
Whirrrrrrr—
Only the sound of the tape spinning could be heard; no voices came out.
"That’s strange."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Hermann drummed his fingers on the table and muttered.
"There should have been an interrogation..."
He had seen Maximilian interrogating Laura with his own eyes. And yet the record of it had been completely erased, gone.
Fssst.
Suddenly, Hermann’s eyes turned a shade of blue. On his saturated retinas, a faint 'Active Residual Trace' was captured.
Just like this, a crime scene always left a trace. An indelible mark that could not be hidden.
"…So it’s possible."
Hermann thought with a deep smile.
Julian Askar… could be an enemy of the Empire.
* * *
‘...It’s been a while.’
On a day in the past, before my regression.
I had seen Julian locked in a steel cage. Sentenced to death, abandoned by his family and the entire Empire, he had been waiting for death alone.
‘Max.’
A man worn down to nothing.
A man who bore duties and obligations that contrasted with his own character, yet had tried countless times not to forsake them.
For the Julian of that time, death seemed more like a peaceful rest.
‘I would have rather died by your hand.’
He, who had said he wished to die by my hand.
He, who had no lingering attachment to the hell that was life.
The last words he left me in his final moment.
‘...May I ask a favor of you?’
That request, which became his last will and testament—
"..."
I opened my eyes.
The morning sun was already streaming in past the manor.
My day began, as ordinary as any other.
I ate, got in the car, received documents from my aide, and headed to the Knights Order for work.
A daily routine of waiting for the coming war while simultaneously laying its foundations. Preparing for the greatest slaughter of all...
We.
I arrived at the Knights Order headquarters and got on the elevator. Tiana and Leon were already inside.
"Oh, Max."
"Max~ Hey."
The two greeted me with smiles.
"Max, have you noticed how sharp the first-year rookies are these days? It hasn’t even been a few months since they joined, but they’re so proactive."
Tiana chimed in at Leon’s words.
"It’s so true. Max, you know Hermann, right?"
Hermann von Berg. A knight from a provincial noble family.
He had lost his older brother, a soldier, in a past bombing by the Revolutionary Group.
"Yeah. I know him."
"Lately, he’s been charging ahead without even caring what his seniors think. Honestly, I’m a little worried. When you’re too eager—"
Beep!
My terminal rang. I checked the screen and frowned slightly.
[ URGENT: Small explosion and engagement occurred due to knight dispatch in an Imperial civilian residential area. ]
"…Speak of the devil. Looks like he’s gone and done something."
Tiana let out a dry laugh. Leon did the same.
"Well~ He’s full of vim and vigor~"
I put my terminal away and said, "I’ll go."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yeah. I have nothing to do this morning anyway."
Ding—
The elevator doors opened just then, but I pressed the button for the first floor again.
* * *
A private boarding house in Imperial District 23.
Two Sentinel rookie knights, Hermann and Mia, had discovered a very important piece of evidence.
"It’s confirmed. This is 'Dominique’s' fake ID."
Dominique Baumann. They had found the trail of a Class-1 wanted criminal, a key figure in the Revolutionary Group.
The clues left all over the room made it clear that he had used this place as one of his hideouts.
"Hey."
Hermann gestured with his chin, looking down harshly at the bloodied owner of the boarding house and her son, who was trembling beside her.
"Talk."
"..."
"I said, talk. Where the guy who stayed here went, what he’s been up to, and what he’s doing where."
Despite his demands, the owner merely glared at Hermann, her lips sealed tight.
Hermann kicked the owner in the abdomen with his military boot.
"Keuk—"
"Talk!"
Beside him, Mia watched Hermann with anxious eyes.
"If you talk here, it’ll be easier for you when you go in. You might even live if you’re lucky. Huh? You have to protect your son, at least."
The rage Hermann had harbored since his Empire Point days. She knew its source, but his current actions were not beneficial for a knight.
"Hermann. Calm down for a second."
Just as Mia grabbed Hermann’s shoulder.
The boarding house owner spat out a mouthful of blood and sneered.
"…You’re a fake, aren’t you?"
"A fake? A fake—?"
Just as a laugh was about to burst from Hermann’s lips.
"—Halt, now."
Beyond the broken front door, three members of the Royal Guard in jet-black uniforms stormed in.
"We responded to a report."
"What report? This is a Sentinel matter. The Royal Guard should stay out of it."
Hermann didn’t hide his displeasure, and the Royal Guard members frowned at his demeanor.
"The explosion that just occurred."
It had been a trap left by Dominique. Hermann had thrown himself at the bomb to knock it outside, but it seemed to have hit the building across the street.
"The building right next door is the private property of a Royal Guard Colonel. And..."
The Royal Guard members, with strangely haughty expressions, pointed to the bloodied mother and son.
"…Have you checked their genealogy?"
"Genealogy!"
The owner’s son suddenly cried out.
"Our, our genealogy is right here...!"
The son pulled a crumpled document from his pocket and held it out. The subordinate Royal Guard member who took the document put a monocle-like mana authenticator to his eye.
"…It appears to be genuine."
At that, the lead Royal Guard member smirked.
"Yes. As you can see, they are Imperial citizens, certified as pure Aran. Even for a Sentinel Knight, you can’t just recklessly—"
—Clomp.
Suddenly, a calm footstep echoed from below.
—Clomp.
A steady sound, ascending the stairs.
Clomp.
Everyone turned to look, and a man appeared through the doorway.
Maximilian Ebenholtz.
The three Royal Guard members immediately fell silent. They straightened their backs and saluted, subtly pressing themselves against the wall to clear a path.
Maximilian, striding over the splintered wooden planks, first asked Hermann, "What happened?"
"Ah, Sir Maximilian."
"Explain from the beginning."
"Yes, sir!"
The name Maximilian, the very recognition of his presence, made the boarding house owner’s eyes tremble.
"We received a tip that the Class-1 wanted criminal 'Dominique' was hiding here and raided the premises."
Hermann hastily straightened his uniform as he reported.
"And we did indeed find clear traces of him."
"Traces?"
"Yes. A forged ID used by Dominique, and encrypted communication logs."
He handed the collected evidence to Maximilian. Maximilian’s gaze swept the interior of the boarding house before landing on the owner and her son.
"And these two?"
"They appear to be Dominique’s accomplices. And, look at this, sir."
Hermann handed over another letter with a sly smile.
"It’s a love letter she was about to send to Dominique. The boarding house owner wrote it."
Maximilian looked at her. A woman with her hair in a complete mess.
Thump.
His heart pounded. He had known they were Izenheim from the moment he arrived.
Still, he was curious.
Could an emotion like love even exist within an Izenheim?
"I see. And the one next to her is her son?"
"Yes. Hey, Royal Guard. You, there. There! Hand over the genealogy papers."
Hermann waved his hand dismissively at the Royal Guard. The guard, completely stiff, handed over the papers.
Maximilian glanced impassively at the scrap of paper.
A perfect forgery, a fake indistinguishable from the real thing.
"—It’s you, isn’t it?"
Suddenly, the boarding house owner, kneeling on the floor, looked up at Maximilian and spoke with a mocking tone.
"Maximilian Ebenholtz."
Thump.
The virus beneath Maximilian’s clavicle had been pulsating since he first stepped inside.
It was proof that both mother and son were Izenheim wearing human skin.
Therefore, he drew his pistol.
Bang!
A mana bullet pierced the teenager’s brow first.
The boy crumpled in an instant. Like a waterlogged weed, he slumped limply onto his mother's shoulder.
"…Huh."
"Wha...?"
Not only Hermann and Mia, but even the Royal Guard members froze at the execution that had just unfolded before their eyes.
"Ah..."
The mother stared blankly at the corpse of her son, collapsed on her shoulder.
Was she so shocked that her thoughts had stopped? Or did she feel no emotion at all?
Tick—
In that moment of slowed time, Maximilian sharply observed her gaze and reaction.
Sadness? Sobs? Rage?
There was none of it.
Izenheim.
They did not feel the emotion of mourning, even at the death of their own kind.
Yes. Looking back, even Jacob had only been enraged by the fact that I had stolen the 'language of his kin.'
"..."
Reconfirming their nature, Maximilian impassively angled the muzzle of his gun.
Bang!
The second gunshot tore through the boarding house’s silence. Silver mana struck her skull.
Thump.
Her frail body pitched forward onto the floor.