Chapter 66: The Unknowable (2) One day, Sonette descended into the sewers on the 9th floor of the Underground City.
This was the scheduled time and place for her next rendezvous with Arustel.
She found him there.
Or rather, she found what was left of him. Arustel's corpse had already begun to rot. His body, severed from the head, had been gnawed on by sewer rats until only bleached bones remained.
Maximilian had not collected Arustel's head. Arustel was a wanted man worth two million dollars, and the price Maximilian had set was five times that—ten million. As promised, Maximilian had provided her with ten million dollars in liquid cash.
Arustel's head was clearly meant to be the price of that transaction.
And yet, Maximilian had left it behind.
He left it to rot amidst the filth in that dark, musty, and foul place.
Sonette paused to think. Had Arustel been a double agent?
Perhaps he was, perhaps he wasn't.
Either way, he was someone who could have been manipulated for profit and information, but now that possibility was gone forever. Because Maximilian had killed him.
Did Maximilian not believe in Arustel's defection, was he unable to believe it, or did he simply refuse to? Had he decided that once someone harbored revolution in their heart, they could never truly turn back?
His true intentions remained a mystery.
Sonette thought about Maximilian.
Maximilian was a nobleman who acted for the sake of the Empire. He was already one of the Revolutionary Group's greatest enemies.
He placed immense importance on "status," one of the Empire's absolute dogmas, which was why he respected Arnold more than the Empire's own direct agencies. It was the family name—Arnold von Eschenbach—that had saved the man.
However, Maximilian's respect was selective.
He used his power to save a powerless commoner. As a knight, he had saved a commoner child and his family who were on the verge of being unjustly executed for a murder they didn't commit. Furthermore, he had willingly dragged the corrupt noble who was the actual culprit to court and sent him to the guillotine.
Yet, on the other hand, he had hanged two innocent immigrants who had nothing to do with the revolution.
And he had personally cut down a child who had been abused by one of the Empire's most wicked nobles—a senile pedophile.
Sonette closed her eyes for a moment.
Maximilian was an ambiguous man.
He was a more pure imperialist than anyone else, yet his internal principles were either contradictory or branched out erratically.
The more she tried to form a single image of Maximilian, the more that image scattered into abstraction. It shattered into pieces, like a reflection in a broken mirror.
That was why he was—
The Unknowable.
He was a type of human that even Sonette found difficult to grasp.
Zebestian, by contrast, was easy to understand. All his principles converged on a single core: "The Family and the Emperor."
Regardless.
Because Maximilian had not announced the taking of Arustel's head—because he had left it to rot in the sewers—Sonette's business had not collapsed. She could continue her work as a broker, where trust was the most vital currency.
For Sonette, it was good news in its own way.
* * *
The military was still held in contempt. By "military," I mean the regular army, excluding the Imperial Guard and the Palace Guard.
Even Zebestian, the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Military, was a knight by trade, a commanding general for the Emperor, and a man who pursued the Iron Man Ideology above all else.
Consequently, the nobility looked down on the regular army. They viewed them as tax-eating hippos, a collection of uneducated brutes, and their glares were stinging with disdain.
This pervasive contempt for the military birthed several vicious cycles.
The worst was the blow to morale. A soldier who feels his death is not a sacrifice for his country, but merely a statistic on a report for some noble general sitting by a fireplace, will never give his all.
Next was the barrier to entry for the Imperial Military itself. A group held in contempt does not undergo rigorous screening when recruiting new blood.
No, they didn't even have the luxury to do so. Under the stigma that it was a place where "uneducated brutes" gathered, officers didn't care about a recruit's background. They were simply desperate to fill the ranks.
Because of this, spies from the Revolutionary Group, the Eastern Union, and various Western nations were likely already active within the Imperial Military.
But the regular army and the infantry were important. No matter how many tanks appeared, how many knights flew through the sky, or how much firepower mages projected onto the battlefield, occupation and effective control ultimately fell to the infantry.
The ratio of those who could use mana was small compared to the general population.
And those capable of exerting power beyond that of bullets and shells through human strength alone were even fewer.
Therefore, I would slowly bring the regular army into my fold.
I would carefully bring them under my wing.
Of course, the problem was ultimately corruption. In a group that is looked down upon, people who do things worthy of contempt sprout like weeds. I didn't know why. I didn't know which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Among the regular army, there were far too many corrupt individuals, from field officers to generals.
My money would eventually be scattered among the military, but before that, I had to purge those bastards.
"—Loyalty!"
While Dieter was tracking these flows of corruption, I met Major Kai Han for the first time in a while. It was at a fishing spot in District 35 that I had specifically set up through my subordinates.
"This is our first face-to-face meeting since then."
"Yes. That is correct."
Kai Han had received training from Jens.
But training was just training. Major Han needed achievements, and I couldn't just hand those to him.
I handed Major Han a map.
"This is where your new posting will be."
He picked it up.
The location was the 7th Guard Battalion stationed in the Bertun region, on the Western border.
The position was Vice Battalion Commander.
"..."
Doubt clouded his face.
"This place is..."
"As a member of the Imperial Guard, it's probably the last place you'd want to be posted."
The Imperial Guard had not yet undergone its rapid expansion. Although it was gradually increasing the size of its divisions, it was still ridiculously small compared to the regular army, and its influence was concentrated in the center.
Thus, the Western border was a backwater post for a member of the Guard.
"It probably feels like being surrounded by regular army divisions."
The 7th Guard Battalion was flanked by numerous battalions under regular divisions.
"I'll ask. Why do you think I'm sending you there?"
I couldn't tell him everything. Kai Han was still in a position where he was being tested. He certainly possessed an excellent character, but his abilities had to match.
"The reason you are sending me there is..."
Kai Han pondered for a moment before nodding.
"Is it for cooperation with the regular army?"
He was spot on. I smiled.
"What makes you think that?"
"The friction between the Imperial Guard and the regular army in the Bertun region is very severe. It's because the Guard forced their way into a place where the regular army was originally stationed."
Furthermore, the Guard members there openly ignored the regular army. Usually, those pushed out to backwater posts harbor the most inferiority complexes, but the real problem was the battalion commander, 'Makio.'
"Correct. This is what I think. A mere Lieutenant Colonel in the Guard has no right to look down on the regular army. The regular army could very well become part of our faction."
The regular army and the Imperial Guard shared the same rank structure. Only the structure. Everything else, including the chain of command and the style of their uniforms, was different.
But that didn't mean they couldn't become close.
"In the first place, I don't know how someone with so many problems thinks they can look down on anyone."
I handed Kai Han documents containing Battalion Commander Makio's embezzlement, breach of trust, money laundering, and numerous other scandals.
It was up to him to figure out how to use this intelligently.
"It's about time for Major Han to be promoted as well."
If Kai Han could take down Makio using his own capabilities, he would naturally rise to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and take that spot.
Since it was a post no one in the Guard wanted anyway, they would try to keep him tied down there even if it meant promoting him.
But there was another reason why this region was important.
In the 'Zerpa Kingdom' across the Western border, a civil war was set to break out soon. It was the flow of history.
A struggle between the Royalist Faction, trying to protect the throne, and the Republican Faction, trying to overthrow it.
The Empire would naturally support the Royalists, and Major Han would have to participate and distinguish himself there.
"Yes. I understand."
I held out a bag to him.
"Operation funds."
Money. In the end, money was what mattered.
The vast majority of the Empire's subjects worked solely for money, regardless of their beliefs.
"It's a cold place; you'll find plenty of uses for it."
Western Bertun was a frigid mountainous region where the wind chilled you to the bone. In such a place, maintaining the morale of the soldiers didn't require much. Warm winter clothes, greasy meals, a glass of strong liquor, and occasional performance bonuses were all it took—but the Empire's contempt for the regular army had made all of those things a luxury.
So, I just had to do the opposite.
Mending conflicts was so easy when you had a bit of money.
"Yes. Loyalty!"
Major Kai Han understood the weight of it.
He gave me a crisp salute and marched away with a soldier's stride.
* * *
Thump—! Thump—!
The dull noise of striking iron echoed incessantly through the Gigantes workshop.
When a worker, his eyelids trembling, lost his strength and collapsed, a booted foot flew in along with a curse.
Thump—! Thump—!
Beneath the mechanical roar that drowned out even that assault, members of the Revolutionary Group disguised as workers moved stealthily.
They passed homemade explosives and detonators, hidden under toolboxes, to one another.
Thump—! Thump—!
Small bombs began to be attached to the furnace control systems, the power units of the dilapidated conveyor belts, and the press machines that stamped out weapons.
One was a worker silently hauling iron.
Another was a supervisor pretending to watch the workers.
Yet another was a guard watching the entrance.
They were all comrades who had infiltrated this place with the same purpose.
Thump—! Thump—!
The plan was meticulous. The day of execution was the only Imperial holiday when the workers rested—[Citizen's Day]. On that day, simultaneous explosions would bring down the exterior of Gigantes.
However, destroying only the equipment would allow for eventual recovery. Using the collapsed exterior as a 'shell,' they had to infiltrate the heart of Gigantes underground and plant the main explosive materials in the central mana ore vein to destroy it from the roots.
Thump... Thump...
In the temporary underground command post, a comrade wearing a Rabbit Mask checked the signals coming in from each sector amidst suffocating tension.
Slowly, the installation at every 'point' was nearing completion.
"It looks like we'll be finished by the day of execution. This is the guard schedule for that day."
The number of guards was high. Because it was Citizen's Day, the only day Gigantes stopped operating, security was tighter than usual.
Fortunately, there were no knight-level forces, and in the first place, that was the only possible day if they wanted to avoid catching the workers in the blast.
"There will be guards and palace guards, but our forces should be enough to handle them."
Eight executives of the Revolutionary Group. Dozens of others, including workers who sympathized with the revolution and comrades who had already deeply infiltrated.
The execution was not far off.
"...For the Great Cause."
Just as they were about to join hands, a man wearing an Eagle Mask rushed in.
"Everyone! Mensi has been captured!"
"What?"
Mensi was the head of explosives manufacturing. Since the Empire strictly controlled explosives, they had no choice but to gather materials and make them by hand. In that regard, Mensi was a vital comrade.
"Mensi?"
"We don't know how or why she was taken yet. But it's not just Mensi. The shop was raided, and some of our ciphers were found there. Fortunately, they weren't ciphers that explicitly mentioned Gigantes, but... Mensi's family and even the teachers at the orphanage her uncle runs have all been taken."
At those words, Rabbit Mask let out a deep sigh.
Tiger Mask gritted his teeth.
"It won't derail the operation. It will take them a long time to decode the ciphers. The problem is the amount of explosives."
"Mensi said what we've gathered so far is exactly 100%. Without accounting for variables."
In other words, it was the 'calculation' that this amount alone could blow up the mana ore vein of Gigantes.
However, in practice, they had intended to add 30% more to account for variables and errors.
Tiger Mask nodded.
"We can manage to get the remaining explosives somehow. As for Mensi... it can't be helped. It just can't be helped."
The meaning of the execution was, ultimately, to carry it out even if they died. It was to willingly sacrifice one's life.
For a better world. For a better future.
"The Great Cause."
Despite the loss of one member, they all raised their hands and touched wrists.
...
Thump—!
In a nameless underground torture chamber of the Imperial Secret Police in the center of the Empire.
The dull sound of a club striking flesh echoed.
"You little brat. You won't spill a word, will you? Hey! What does this mean!"
The investigator shook the undeciphered code in Mensi's face and grabbed her by the hair.
Mensi was covered in bruises. She could taste the metallic tang of blood from her split lips, and her vision was blurred with dizziness.
"This brat is really stubborn. Do you have to see your family die before your eyes to talk?"
No matter how much they beat and crushed her, she did not open her mouth.
"Investigator. About this."
Just then, another investigator appeared from the side with a bundle of papers.
"I looked into all the suppliers for the shop this brat runs. Something caught my eye among the items listed in their ledgers."
"...What caught your eye?"
"It's a bit vague, but it's suspicious. You can make explosives and things like that with these."
Mensi's heart sank.
"Explosives? Like homemade bombs?"
"I suppose so."
"How do you know that?"
"Oh, I was a chemistry major. Mana-chemistry. You know?"
Just as they were looking into the ledgers and finding a clue.
Clatter—!
The door to the interrogation room swung open noisily.
"What the!"
A person came running in from beyond.
"In-Investigator! I think you need to take this call right away!"
"You startled me. Why, what is it?"
"J-Just hurry! Hurry!"
"Haa, damn it..."
The investigator answered the phone irritably.
"Yes. This is Hans. I'm very busy right now... What? A transfer? Everyone? No, why? This is our achievement..."
The moment he tried to argue, his entire face froze at the voice coming from the other end.
"...Ah, yes! I understand! I will transfer them immediately! Yes! Yes! Not at all!"
He hung up the phone with a loud shout and pointed at Mensi.
"Hey. Put a hood on that brat and the rest and prepare for transfer! Right now!"
The world plunged into darkness once more. Her body was dragged by rough hands.
What she heard through her fading consciousness was the sound of footsteps echoing in a cold hallway.
The sound of heavy iron doors opening and closing.
The sound of the vehicle she was loaded into moving somewhere.
Throughout the entire process, she could see nothing and hear nothing.
How much time had passed?
"Remove the hood."
At some point, she heard an unfamiliar voice.
The hood was removed, and a faint light pierced her eyelids.
She slowly opened her eyes.
It was a clean but chilly space, different from before.
In the distance, where she could smell a clean scent, stood a man in uniform.
"..."
Mensi struggled to clear her blurred vision. The first feature that came into her slowly focusing eyes was blonde hair. Within it, golden eyes sparkling like the desert gazed at her. Each feature was perceived individually. It was a handsome face, but as soon as Mensi recognized its complete form, she gasped.
He was a man she couldn't possibly not know.
"Maxi... milian?"
A faint smile played on the man's lips.
"It's a pleasure. You know my name."
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