Breaking the Eggshell (Eggshell Destruction)
Breaking the Eggshell (Eggshell Destruction)
As soon as the order was given, half of the seated people disappeared.
Some left leisurely, attended by servants, while others vanished like ninjas without a trace.
The rest, including the fat man who had stood up first, were frozen in shock.
The woman snorted at them.
'How bothersome.'
That thought showed on her face.
The fat man, having seen this, asked in an agitated tone.
"What's with the nonchalance? You're saying Dampir are wandering around Rehingel. Don't you know who our guild is currently trading with?"
The woman replied nonchalantly.
"The National Security Forces, was it?"
"Knowing that...!"
"Soon there will be no justification to maintain the monopoly."
While the man froze with wide eyes, the woman looked around at the remaining people and continued.
"I hear the Rehingel Expeditionary Force has arrived at the port. They'll need a lot of supplies given their size, and it seems the checks have already begun."
The woman faced the man again and called his name.
"Hasmon. Don't cling to what you've already lost. There are things you can obtain scattered all around you."
The man narrowed his brow in curiosity, then let out an exclamation as if realizing something.
"Ah."
Then he hardened his expression with anxiety.
"But... would the expedition force trade with us? I heard this expedition leader is a commoner sympathizer through and through."
The woman gave a wry smile and placed her hand on Hasmon's shoulder.
"Hasmon. Remember when I first entrusted the guild to you."
Only then did Hasmon recall.
The true age of the slender woman before him.
The harsh trials she had imposed on him.
"You want me to do that again?"
The one who had raised the failing—no, already ruined—guild to the point where 'Ishtal's Grand Guild' came to mind instantly was none other than him.
Thus he understood.
'I have to scheme with those cunning bastards again.'
The Rehingel Union.
A country known for its politicians, soldiers, and even fishermen being cunning, with the worst-rated merchants.
Just thinking about sitting at the negotiation table with an expedition leader from such a country made his head ache already.
But fortunately,
The woman to whom he had sworn loyalty was more merciful than he thought.
"Just in case, go see the 'Academy Institute Director'."
Hasmon made a puzzled face.
The woman added an explanation with a bitter expression.
"It's Morgan's daughter."
The academy's principal's office looked like the observatory of a magic tower.
The round space was covered by a huge dome, and all the walls were pierced with arched openings.
At first glance, this place seemed vulnerable to sniping from outside, but in fact, it was the safest place in the academy.
Flash
A flash of light from outside, like lightning, poured into the principal's office.
Morgan, who was standing in front of the table, sighed and activated the crystal orb.
The light emitted from the crystal orb projected a bird's-eye view of the academy onto the screen.
A male student slowly falling into a small artificial lake near the principal's office.
Guards riding brooms flew toward him, and shortly after, the telephone rang.
As Morgan picked up the antique copper receiver, an urgent voice rang out.
"Principal! I have a message from Estelle-nim!"
Morgan's brow furrowed.
'Why send a current student to deliver that...'
He wanted to call and scold her immediately, but the security chief was about to burst in.
Not wanting to reveal an informal family conversation to a colleague, he suppressed his anger and replied.
"Bring them in."
As he expected, the moment he put down the receiver, the security chief stormed in.
Bang
"Are you alright!!!"
The security chief, despite his fierce appearance, was a very sensitive person.
"I'm fine."
Even though he spoke as calmly as possible, the chief rushed over and cornered him; Morgan, glaring sharply at the chief, suddenly remembered something.
"Come to think of it, vacation starts next week."
The security chief looked back at Morgan with a face that said, 'What are you talking about all of a sudden?'
Morgan pushed him away, who had come too close, and asked.
"During vacation, the security personnel assigned to me are still four teams of four each, correct?"
"Yes."
"And you, the chief, are holed up in the command room?"
"...Yes."
"I see."
That gave him twelve free personnel.
It would be a great help in searching for the experiment that killed Zenon.
That alone was satisfying enough, but Morgan's daughter had even better news for him.
In the reception room, he met his daughter's junior.
"So officially, the Academy Institute signed the contract..."
The timid glasses-wearing boy, who always got swept up in his daughter's chaos and punished alongside her, added as if making an excuse.
"Th-they proposed it first. It's absolutely not the Academy Institute Director's interference."
It was Morgan himself who had told his daughter not to interfere with commanding the expedition.
He still felt the same.
Massacre
War
Subjugation
Expeditions entail countless dangers, and Morgan didn't want to expose his daughter to such risks.
But hearing the story, it seemed it was already too late.
"Karla didn't provide supplies either?"
When he asked while looking at the ceiling, the glasses-wearing boy nodded.
"Rather, I heard they obstructed."
A mana stone mine discovered in a faraway foreign land.
The area around it was already turning into a battlefield.
"I'll have to reallocate the budget."
He muttered quietly and asked the boy.
"Aren't you going to Ishtal?"
The boy's eyes widened, then he looked down with a sullen face.
"To join the expedition force, I need to get a degree first..."
Hearing his words, Morgan had an idea.
'If war is going to break out anyway...'
"Would you go if you didn't need a degree?"
Startled by Morgan's question, the boy asked back with an expectant expression.
"Can I go?"
Morgan rephrased his question,
"I'm asking if you want to."
The boy answered firmly.
"Yes. I want to."
It was a fortunate answer.
The events that would unfold in Ishtal from now on were not something his daughter could handle.
But he needed the organizational network of the Academy Institute, which had a contract with Ishtal's Grand Guild.
So he was pleased with the boy's answer.
"Let's make a promise."
Morgan made a magical contract with the boy.
And the next day,
Morgan, attending the council, heard the worst speech he had expected.
Finally, we entered a village where people lived.
It was a gloomy village with acrid smoke blanketing it like fog.
Because of the smoke, everything visible appeared gray.
Even the red brick buildings,
The strange equipment that rattled by, whether it was a tractor or a car,
Even the water spraying from a fountain gradually coming into view was a murky gray.
The long chimneys visible only in silhouette far away were black.
'A perfect village for ruining one's respiratory system.'
I tilted my head.
'The guns didn't produce smoke, though.'
I regretted not learning about mana stones while at the lab.
Well, creationology and magicology were so interesting that even if I went back in time, I probably wouldn't study mana engineering, but I should start paying attention now.
'After all, to make a living, you need skills.'
As I crossed the square, thinking like a basic science major about to graduate, Helsi pointed out something important.
"Is it usually this quiet? For a normal village."
I stopped walking.
I swept my gaze around.
Empty square.
No people were visible in the alleys between buildings either.
Since factory chimneys were visible through the fog, it probably wasn't a declining rural village.
Just in case, I used magic to sense a wider area.
I stopped my heart and expelled the mana mixed in my blood outward.
The mana spread out in a spherical shape like water droplets, changing its trait slightly each time it touched an object.
When it hit stone, it vibrated sharply,
When it hit wood, it swayed gently,
When it passed through a passing cat, it discolored faintly.
Then finally, it touched human skin.
Whoosh
I quickly gathered the mana that had been pulled back into my heart and spread it throughout my body again.
At the same time, I made my heart beat again.
"They're all gathered in one place. Shall we go?"
At my question, Helsi's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"Yes!"
After about ten minutes through the alleys, shouts could be heard.
"Go lick the nobles' assholes!!!"
"What have you ever done for us?!"
"If you want to dock, bring a noble's head or something! Otherwise, get lost!!!"
"Get lost!"
"Get lost!"
Curiosity welled up.
I quickened my pace and emerged onto a main road.
The fishy sea smell grew stronger, and the source of the shouts came into view.
A crowd of hundreds gathered at the dock.
A single ship being pelted with stones by them.
On the small sailboat about two stories high, soldiers dressed in pitch-black uniforms stood.
When stones started flying from below, they briefly took cover under the mast, which had a roof set up.
A protest?
Just as I was about to approach to ask someone a question,
A suspicious scene caught my eye.
Two men carrying a heavy box and moving through the crowd.
Soldiers under the mast loading guns.
Instinctively, I turned around.
I commanded Helsi and Hati, who were looking at me with bewildered faces.
"Run."
And I sprinted away.
Helsi hurriedly followed and asked.
"What's wrong? Are those police?"
Hati leaped ahead of me and started running on all fours.
Immediately after, gunfire rang out.
Rata-tat-tat!
Rata-tat-tat!!
And then an explosion.
Boom!!!
I had a suspicion when I saw the chimneys and smoke, and sure enough.
This world, while achieving a far more advanced civilization than I thought,
was an era that still couldn't shed its savage instincts beyond imagination,
resembling 'that era' when the two worst wars in history occurred consecutively.