Against the Tide - 1
I chewed on a cookie as I sorted through my thoughts. People claimed sugar made the mind spin faster, but I wasn't so sure about that. At least a full stomach left me feeling at ease.
That comforting quality of never growing tired of them no matter how many I ate. As expected, Luise's cookies really were my personal human feed.
Red Wave.
Even if my heart was calm, my head remained a tangled mess. These bastards had suddenly popped up just to make life difficult for everyone.
Of course it was fortunate that they seemed to have some kind of agreement with the other groups, showing up only one organization per season. If two or three of them had come swarming in all at once, my sanity would have been in real danger.
Still, a dog was a dog. The next time these reactionary bastards showed their faces, I was going to blow every last one of their heads clean off.
"As of now, the Academy seems the most likely."
And they really were coming.
A few days after the Information Department Head first mentioned the Red Wave, he contacted me again. Among the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Administration, and the Academy, the last one looked like the correct answer.
I had expected as much, so it was no surprise. If these people had gone anywhere else, that would have been the real shock.
"They appear to be targeting a relatively soft location—"
Academy security was not exactly lax, but it could not compare to the Imperial Palace or the Imperial Administration. Soft was definitely the right word.
"Of course I am speaking of the quality of the guard forces. I am not referring to the Audit Department Chief currently stationed at the Academy."
"I appreciate the kind words."
He had added that strange remark after somehow misreading my expression. No, I agreed that the Academy was soft, but why did he have to put it that way?
And the next words that followed in that dry tone forced me to straighten my posture.
"It seems the Red Wave already has a presence inside the Academy. Whether as full members or simple collaborators."
I'm going to lose my mind.
I recalled the Information Department Head's words and scrubbed my dry face with both hands. An external push and an internal spy were problems of entirely different dimensions.
Moreover, this was something the Information Department Head himself had said. Even if he had only phrased it as "it seems there is," if he said it, then it was definitely there.
"What could they possibly be lacking?"
I muttered to myself, unable to understand it at all. If they were inside the Academy, that meant either faculty or students. Neither group was in such a desperate position that they would associate with reactionaries like the Red Wave.
Academy faculty were well-regarded even within the Empire's educational circles. They had prestige. The students were either born with blue blood or commoners whose futures were guaranteed the moment they graduated. With stable prospects secured, why would they mess with something like the Red Wave?
The Information Department Head would not have asked for strange information. Yet there was no one inside the Academy who made sense as a plant. Unless they were completely out of their—
Ah.
I had a realization. The Red Wave were insane bastards to begin with, and anyone who joined hands with them could not be normal either. I had been thinking far too generally.
Time to reflect on my narrow-minded self…
Considering the other person's position was important. There was a reason the phrase "put yourself in their shoes" existed. If you considered their circumstances and thought it through, you could understand why they made that choice.
Right. I should try thinking from their position too. What situation would make me join hands with the Red Wave? What kind of mindset would make me throw myself into that wave?
How the hell am I supposed to know that?
No matter how hard I thought, I simply could not comprehend the mental state of someone who seemed to have several holes drilled through their skull.
And it was not as if I could turn myself into a madman just to understand a madman's perspective. At the very least, trying to think from a commoner's standpoint was impossible when I had been reincarnated as a noble.
I was a commoner before the reincarnation, though.
But was a medieval European peasant the same as a twenty-first-century commoner? The comparison was impossible.
There was no answer. I was not even skilled at investigation, so how was I supposed to find an internal spy? My only option was to prepare to get hit in the back of the head and try to make it hurt as little as possible.
And as if Enen had taken pity on me, he sent a small helper.
"Oh? Chief!"
I had stepped out for some air only to run into the red-blooded girl who had lived more desperately than anyone.
"Olivia?"
Olivia, wearing the armband that marked her as a disciplinary committee member on her right arm, waved vigorously as she ran over.
"Wow! Running into you here?"
"Yeah. It's been a while."
After pushing Amelia and Olivia into the Student Council, I had not really had any reason to see them. I had only met these kids by chance during the inter-academy match in the first place.
That aside, seeing her alone made me wonder if she was on patrol.
"Were you working?"
"Nope. I finished a little while ago and was heading to the cafeteria with my sister."
She scanned the surroundings, then grinned.
"Looks like Sis got lost again."
I deliberately did not point out that anyone could see she was the one who was lost. Was there any need to embarrass a kid who was happy just from eating well?
Olivia poured out all sorts of stories as if she were glad to see me after so long, and I kept nodding while my mind worked.
Commoners. A tragic household where the parents had died early. An older sister who was the girl head of the family. Many mouths to feed. Poverty so deep they split a single turnip…
A textbook proletariat.
Honestly, if Olivia had not been an Academy student, the environment would have been perfect for shouting revolution hundreds of times over.
Even the Emperor would choose to open the relief funds first rather than get angry if a child like this cried out for equality. Of course he would still execute Olivia afterward.
"Hey, Olivia?"
"Yes?"
That did not mean I suspected Olivia. Or Amelia either. We had not talked for long, but people who were fanatics about some belief or other always gave themselves away after just a little conversation.
These kids were simply sad children who were hungry. They had no such ideology.
"Have you ever heard of the Red Wave?"
Normally one was supposed to talk around something like this. Who would come out and say, "Yes, I am the Red Wave," if you asked them outright?
But Olivia seemed like the type who would fail to interpret any indirect phrasing. Besides, this was not an interrogation; I just wanted her testimony.
And an unexpected reaction came out.
"Ah, that?"
The sunny purple retriever's expression crumpled.
"Ugh, they were really noisy people back in my hometown."
"Sounds like a headache."
It was an ominous statement, but I deliberately kept my tone casual. If I turned serious here and demanded details, Olivia would only get tense.
"Right! They would start shouting from early morning, and then try to drag people off saying you had to join them!"
When I offered a few appropriate interjections, Olivia vented as if she had been holding a lot in.
I roughly understood. They must have gone to the places where commoners—especially the poor—lived and done something like missionary work. No different from a cult.
"But Sis said they were pitiful people, so I held back."
At the sudden remark I clenched and unclenched my fist. Pitiful people. It sounded like she was speaking from knowledge of something.
The possibility was low, but if Amelia felt goodwill or even pity toward the Red Wave…
"She said they were people lost in delusions who couldn't even take care of themselves. That this wasn't the Apels era anymore and anyone could succeed if they just worked hard, but those people only liked talking without putting in any effort."
Ah, never mind. That was pure contempt.
I felt awkward for nothing. Come to think of it, Amelia was the one who had grit her teeth and endured even in difficult circumstances. From her perspective, the Red Wave, who only ran their mouths and stirred up chaos, must have looked like garbage.
"But there was this uncle in our village who was famous for being smart, and he liked those people."
Olivia added that he had disappeared not long after, and I nodded.
The runaway Olivia was collected by her owner Amelia, who flinched when she saw me standing in front of her sister.
"She didn't do anything rude, did she?"
"Nothing happened. We just talked a little about the Red Wave."
At Olivia's words Amelia's face turned pale. As a noble and Audit Department Chief, the fact that I had asked a commoner about republican reactionaries must have made her heart drop.
So I ended up hearing something like a loyalty oath from Amelia on the spot, completely unintentionally. It is not what you are thinking… I am fine, really.
"I will never walk the wrong path because of some strange ideology!"
Anyway, listening to what Olivia had said plus Amelia's desperate words gave me certainty.
Of course not every commoner was favorable toward the Red Wave. The amount of knowledge a person possessed also had no connection to the Red Wave.
It could be a faculty member.
Rather, an intellectual with confidence and pride in themselves was more dangerous. If such a person fell wrongly into the Red Wave, they would go even more completely insane.
…No, thinking about it again, this was not exactly certainty. Instead of narrowing down suspects, I had only widened the range of possible suspects.
Damn it.
Still, at least I had broken my prejudice. Now there was no chance of getting hit in the back of the head by someone I had never even considered.
I took a step with that sense of relief, and light suddenly burst from the communication orb in my chest pocket.
What now?
Surely not the Information Department Head again?
"Chief, it's me."
"Section Chief Two?"
I pulled it out with a sense of unease, and Section Chief Two—who had returned from one-eyed to two-eyed—greeted me. What the hell was this bastard up to all of a sudden?
"What is it at this hour?"
"Ah, well, you see—"
"Move!"
"Urk!"
A head of white hair slammed straight into the jaw of Section Chief Two just as he was about to speak. Struck by a head rather than a fist, Section Chief Two collapsed without even a chance to resist.
Though it really had landed properly. Even a minister would have staggered from something like that.
"Chief! How have you been?"
"No."
I had been fine originally, until the Red Wave ruined everything.
But even at my curt reply, Section Chief One only grinned and paid it no mind.
"Oh dear. But don't worry! You'll be in a good mood soon!"
"What is it? Did the Minister accept my resignation?"
Of course both I and Section Chief One—and the collapsed Section Chief Two—knew that was impossible.
"I'm going to the Academy!"
My mind blanked out for a moment. What?
"Ah, I'm coming too."
Section Chief Two, who had just gotten up, also spoke. What… did you say…?
"Don't talk nonsense."
After a stretch of silence I finally managed to open my mouth. These people had gotten quite good at lying while I was not looking.
Still, you were not supposed to mess with your superior like that. It was a bad thing to do.
A really fucking bad thing.