[681] Offering Flowers (1)
The three tri-ministers in charge of the Spectrum's spheres of offense, defense, and purity gathered around the round table.
Since ordering Saenghwa's output concentrated to maximum to strike the capital, Ra Enemi hadn't appeared in their memories—but that no longer mattered.
Plarino, the Defense Minister who managed Saenghwa's main system, spoke.
"We're thirteen percent from max output. In twenty-four minutes, Vashka's castle will disappear from Tormia."
Interior Minister Laika fixed her with the cold, vampiric stare of her kind.
"Impressive. A core code no one's managed to hack in decades."
Saenghwa was basically an ancient defensive weapon, but if its output was pushed to the limit it could reach as far as a castle.
The reason it hadn't been done until now was that the kingdom had locked the code during Saenghwa's early development.
"Ra Enemi. He was real, then?"
Plarino had been the one to hack the core code, but she'd only succeeded by relying on Ra Enemi's memories.
It was the moment that proved the being who existed only in memory—without form—had the power to destroy this world.
"That doesn't matter. The point is an Ain ruling over the human kingdoms."
War Minister Drakker drew in his strength and said it.
When the dragon-blooded martial aura unique to his kind flared, even Laika and Plarino felt their breaths hitch.
"Isn't it about time we moved? Some humans have already infiltrated Saenghwa. Let's finish this before it gets messy."
Laika asked Plarino, "Who got in?"
"The Mage Association President and the Chief of Staff. The pact's broken—if we can't stop those two, everything's for nothing. Ra Enemi isn't showing up. This is our problem, then."
"Humans," Laika sneered.
Her body began to dissolve into black smoke.
"Finish them quick and come back."
As he vanished completely, Drakker braced a hand on the table and rose.
"I'll deal with the outside."
"You want me to help?" Drakker curled a lip and the reptilian scales along his skin twitched. "Just guard the flower properly."
It was ambiguous: guard Saenghwa—and she herself was a flower.
Plarino had reached a point where she could suppress reacting to others' emotions, but that didn't erase the Flower Clan's sensibility.
Flowers give everything for someone who loves them.
Born that way, it wasn't bad. But human possessiveness, compared with other creatures, was unmatched.
"Guard the flower."
Plarino took a deep breath and steeled herself.
"Guard the flower."
* * *
Can we make it in time?
Jane, who had infiltrated Saenghwa, ran toward the main system.
All power in the concealment facility had gone out; she realized the Spectrum was preparing to strike the capital.
"I have to pull this off."
The problem was Aria, whose mind was linked to the Spirit Zone—her condition was steadily deteriorating.
If she lost consciousness, simply viewing the core code might become impossible.
"Was this the right choice?"
If Lupist had been there, he would've at least slapped her.
"President."
She'd worked with Lupist for over ten years.
When he entered politics as a mage, she'd been hired as his aide after an interview. Her being a mage probably helped her get the job, but their relationship hadn't been smooth from the start.
"There's criticism that you're too extreme in civil society. Especially the high nobles are resisting the excessive taxes being levied under the pretext of boosting national defense."
"Push it through. It's necessary."
Lupist was the sort to speak plainly; Jane was full of zeal.
"So I drafted a revised bill. Raise the rate by about 1.3 percent for now and target nobles under progressive taxation—"
"You damn, talkative, bitch."
Jane, flipping through papers, froze; her expression hardened and she snapped back.
"Excuse me? What did you just say?"
Lupist set his arm on the table and stared at her, enunciating each word.
"A damn, talkative, bitch."
Stunned by the absurdity, she flared up.
"A bitch? Did you just call me a bitch?"
"Yeah. So what?"
"That's an explicit sexist slur! I'll report you to the National Audit Office! If you don't apologize here and now, I'll go to the press! How can a politician with discriminatory tendencies run the government—"
"Do it."
Lupist cut her off.
"Go ahead. Do whatever you want. But you know what? You're fired as of this moment."
Color drained from Jane's face.
"This—this is unjust—"
"I don't want to work with you. So leave. Get out."
Jane snorted; tears gathered in her eyes.
She flung the folder to the floor and slammed the door so loudly it would've split eardrums. Lupist squinted.
"What a piece of work."
That evening, Lupist finished his duties, threw on his coat, and left the palace.
"I'll need to hire a new aide tomorrow."
Without someone to handle the small things, he felt more tired than usual.
"What the—?"
Jane waited outside the palace gate.
Her eyes dared him to fight; she strode up as soon as she saw Lupist.
"Hey!"
"Hey?"
"Yeah, hey! I'm not your subordinate anymore, so what? Why—does that bother you?"
"You drinking?"
"No, I'm about to! At least talk to me when you fire me. I can't sleep worrying about the country with your rotten mindset."
"Then don't sleep. You've got nothing to do anyway."
Lupist tried to pass, but she stepped aside and blocked him.
"Where do you think you're going? You should at least apologize properly."
"I did nothing to apologize for."
"Oh yeah?"
Jane, determined, glanced around and shouted, "Everyone, look! This politician assaulted a woman today—!"
"You crazy? What are you doing?"
Lupist grabbed her shoulder.
"Hmph. Seems you're afraid of people knowing, huh?"
"It's not fear, it's embarrassing."
"Then be embarrassed. You've got nothing to do anyway."
This was the most idiotic stubbornness.
"Fine. Go. Let's go."
"Should've done that earlier."
She spun him by the shoulder as if to warn him not to act up and led him toward a tavern. Lupist ground his teeth and followed.
Two hours later, drunk out of her mind, Jane kept repeating the same line with glazed eyes.
"You can't live like that. You'll end up with no friends left. You get me?"
Lupist checked the time. "It's late. Let's go back."
Jane's torso rolled as if sensing a spin. "Do I have to go if you tell me to? Huh? You the boss?"
She poked Lupist's temple with her finger.
"You—" She poked again, then shoved with all her might. "The boss?"
Lupist turned his head, baring his teeth as if to lunge, and glared down at her.
"Sober up. You're a mind-type mage."
"Nope. I'm staying drunk. You got a problem with a woman drinking?"
"I apologized. Several times."
"Is that supposed to fix everything? What about the scars carved into my heart?"
She struck her chest in frustration.
"You can't live like that. Otherwise—"
It felt like God had put a repeat sign on the score of time.
"Go back to work tomorrow."
Jane snorted and burst out laughing. "Like that—"
"I won't call you a bitch, I won't discriminate, and I'll consider the proposals you raised. So come to work tomorrow."
There was sense in his offer.
Jane banged her head on the table, then looked at Lupist. The mocking edge finally left her smile.
"I shouldn't say this myself, but you really picked a good subordinate. How far can you go? Defense Minister? Mage Association President? Yeah—Mage Association President would be nice. I'll make you that. By any means necessary, I'll make you Mage Association President."
"Let's get up."
Lupist helped Jane and requested a room from a staff member.
She was out of it as he carried her up to the third floor.
"I'll make you that," he murmured.
Back in the room, Lupist laid her on the bed and she hugged his neck.
"Where are you going? Don't go."
"You're drunk. Sleep. Or sober up."
A mind-type mage could clear that with a flip of a switch.
"Hehe, no. I can't live doing only work."
"You'll regret it tomorrow."
Jane gave a bitter, playful smile. "What wouldn't I regret?"
"..."
The next morning, completely sober, Jane bolted upright in bed.
"Oh no!"
She turned to find Lupist already washed and in his coat.
Her memory was razor-sharp; everything from the night before flooded back.
"He's crazy, he's crazy, he's crazy!"
She slapped both cheeks.
Spending the night with her superior—thinking about how awkward work would be—regret rolled over her like a wave.
Lupist put his pocket watch away and headed for the door. "I'm leaving first. Be at work in thirty minutes."
"Um—!"
He paused at the doorway. "So you know, right? This was a mistake—a mishap. Something like this will never happen again."
"I know. Either of us'd be ruined."
Lupist closed the door and called back, "Be careful not to make a scandal."
Jane, disheveled and staring after him, mimicked his tone with a sour face. "Be careful not to make a scandal." Then she stuck up her middle finger at the door.
"Still so cold."
She kicked back the blanket, stepped out naked, and stretched by the window.
"Let's see, my schedule for today—"
Like a newly risen sun, it felt like the first day of a job.
"That happened, huh."
Jane smiled, recalling a distant memory.
They'd both been so meticulous that in over ten years of working together they had never crossed that line—until now.
Both had devoted themselves to their roles as politician and aide and time had flown like an arrow, but when she'd displeased Lupist, Jane sometimes remembered that day.
"I thought there was no one more perfect than us. Looking back, I was so immature, President."
Her mind calmed and she felt clear-headed.
"Yes. I'll just do what I can."
Who didn't have regrets?
As she continued down the stairs, a strange aura rose from the corridor's end.
"What's that?"
A pitch-black darkness writhed ominously, then gradually took shape and color.
A vampire.
"Good of you to come this far."
Laika, a pure-blood vampire, approached with her hands clasped behind her back.
"You humans underestimate things. I must've gotten dull too."
Every step Laika took pushed a chilling force like a wall forward, but retreat wasn't an option for Jane's mission.
"By order of His Majesty the King, from today control of Saenghwa belongs to the Kingdom of Tormia. Surrender and obey the king's command."
Back to her cool mage demeanor, Jane maneuvered the tentacle-like Spirit Zone to threaten Laika.
"Hmph. After all we raised it for you, now you want to take it?"
"You knew this was coming, didn't you? You should be grateful you were allowed to mess with it for so long."
"I don't like that about humans."
Laika's lower body darkened and transformed into hundreds of bats that swarmed at Jane.
"Thinking you're some great being—that sort of delusion."