Raymond did not ask further.
“Those three routes. Make sure they’re ready.”
He spoke without even catching his breath.
“The location?”
Yun answered neatly.
“Here.”
Raymond gave a short nod.
That one word was enough.
He opened the door and dashed out again.
The air in the alley was already being pulled toward the city walls.
Shouts, horns, footsteps.
It was the sound of a city frozen with a great breath held in its lungs.
By the time he arrived back at the wall, the scene had grown even more overheated.
Three guards lay collapsed on the ground before the gate.
Bodies dragged over the railing.
They had fallen from too high.
From a height no one could survive.
The guards atop the wall had gone white-faced,
and the citizens beyond the gate were holding their breath, listening to the sounds.
Adel stood before the gate.
His red-hot gaze swept over the wall.
As if he were offering them a chance,
yet turning even that chance into a threat, he shouted.
“Open the gate by sunset.”
“If you do not, it will be regarded as opposition to the Empire.”
When those words fell, the top of the wall went silent once more.
The silence was not resolve, but fear.
No one dared answer recklessly.
The moment they answered, it felt as though a fourth would fall.
Raymond went straight to the chairman.
His voice was low, but quick and clear.
“Chairman.”
“I have evidence regarding the true culprit behind the council explosion.”
The chairman looked at Raymond and blinked for a moment.
Then he swept his gaze in turn over the gate below, the fallen guards, and Adel.
Fatigue and anger were tangled together on his face.
“…Councilor Raymond.”
The chairman spoke in a dry voice.
“As you can see, right now… that is no longer the issue.”
That was true.
Whatever the truth of the explosion was,
the threat before their eyes could lead to war at any moment.
One of the councilors beside him gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Three of our guards have already been sacrificed to that ruffian!”
He pointed a finger below the gate.
“We must attack them at once!”
Another councilor immediately refuted him.
“It is not that simple. They are Imperial soldiers. You know that, don’t you?”
His voice trembled, but he did not stop speaking.
“Why do you think we have pursued a policy of rapprochement all this time?”
“They have already brought many countries and cities to their knees with their army.”
“So?”
The first councilor shot back.
“Are you saying we should just let them in like this?”
The chairman raised a hand to stop them.
“First of all.”
His voice hardened.
“Even if they are the Empire, they cannot easily cross Arku’s walls.”
“This city has long been called a natural fortress.”
Another councilor shook his head.
“Are you suggesting we hold out inside the walls?”
As if thinking of the citizens inside the gate, his voice grew harsh.
“Then the citizens will suffer! If the food supply is cut off—”
“War is no different!”
Another councilor cut in.
“Whether we open the gate or keep it shut, suffering will come.”
“But if we open it now… we will be putting chains on ourselves!”
Their words overlapped.
Attack, hold out, negotiate, buy time.
No one could provide a certain answer.
Then Raymond stepped forward.
His gaze pierced through the chairman and the councilors one by one.
“In that case.”
Raymond spoke quietly.
“What if the Empire is the principal culprit behind the explosion?”
Everyone looked at Raymond.
“Councilor… are you certain?”
Raymond shook his head.
“It is not yet ‘confirmed.’ But at noon today, before the gate, that man made a slip of the tongue himself.”
He glanced once at the fallen guards below the gate.
“And what they are doing now is not an investigation. It is an invasion.”
The air around them sank.
Raymond continued.
“If the Empire created the explosion as a false flag, and tried to use it as an excuse to set foot in Arku—”
He paused for a beat, then spoke even lower.
“Then for the first time, we gain a ‘justification to fight back.’”
“A justification…?”
“Yes.”
Raymond spoke firmly.
“Arku is a natural fortress. But a fortress cannot win by merely enduring.”
His gaze turned beyond the city wall.
“And all of you know it, don’t you?”
“The moment Arku becomes Imperial territory, where the Empire’s next path will open.”
Someone opened their lips first.
“…Carmen.”
Raymond nodded.
“The Principality of Carmen.”
“If Arku falls, the Empire’s road opens all the way to Carmen.”
“For that reason, Carmen will no longer be able to treat this as ‘someone else’s problem.’”
“So we must be the first to define this as an ‘invasion’ and create the justification to request support.”
Another councilor said,
“Are you certain Carmen will truly move?”
Raymond spoke as if declaring it.
“We will make them move. Because we have proof that the Empire crossed the line.”
The chairman asked,
“And so… what is this evidence?”
Raymond nodded.
“It is ready. Please follow me.”
He took the lead.
The chairman, several councilors, and the escorting gendarmes followed.
After turning down alleys and climbing the stairs, they were once again before the room where Yun had been hiding.
The member guarding the door saw the gendarmes’ equipment and stiffened warily.
Then Yun’s voice flowed out low from inside the room.
“It’s all right, Gareun. Let them in.”
When the door opened, the chairman and several councilors recognized Yun and their faces hardened.
“Yun…?”
“Councilor Raymond, are you out of your mind?”
Another councilor raised his voice.
“With the Silver Moon Corps, at a time like—”
Yun cut him off.
“I am not asking you to trust me.”
She fixed her gaze on the chairman.
“From now on, please look not at ‘words,’ but at ‘what can be held in your hands.’”
On one side of the room, a hooded figure sitting in a chair slowly rose.
When she soon removed her hood, a woman with red hair was revealed.
At her waist, chains quietly clinked.
Breaths leaked out among the councilors.
Yun spoke briefly.
“This person is the mouth.”
The woman raised her head.
“Ayla. A mercenary from Schia.”
She immediately set a large sack down on the table.
Clink—
The sound of metal striking metal filled the room.
And then she poured it out as it was.
Gold coins rolled across the table as if spilling over, forming a pile the size of a palm.
No matter who saw it, it was not “payment,” but “hush money.”
Yun said,
“Look closely.”
The chairman picked up one gold coin.
Then rolled it as if weighing it.
“This is…”
“It is a gold coin issued by the Empire.”
Yun answered at once.
“The design is different. And this amount— it is excessive even as a mercenary’s commission fee.”
At that moment, Raymond held out a sheet of paper.
The chairman received it and read.
Transport one wagon to the vicinity of the Arku Council.
Compensation to be paid at twice the contract fee.
At the bottom of the document was a seal that seemed to imitate the shape of the moon.
Even the words “Silver Moon Corps” were written there.
The chairman raised his head.
“…The seal of the Silver Moon Corps?”
Yun shook her head.
“We do not use seals like that.”
Her tone did not change.
“And we do not hire mercenaries. We do not have the money for that either.”
Yun took one breath and continued.
“Our members secured this wagon from the mercenaries.”
“But it was an Imperial trap.”
At that moment, Ayla gritted her teeth.
“Yeah. Thanks to these people, we thought we’d gotten our feet out of it.”
Her hand clenched tightly around the chain.
“But… they killed all my comrades. Said they wouldn’t leave traces.”
The room went silent.
Ayla’s voice cracked.
“I had died too.”
She gritted her teeth and said,
“Liber… saved me with his own life. With his own mirkin…”
Her breath broke once.
“Telling me to live alone. Goddamn…”
Raymond asked in a low voice,
“Who… did that to you?”
Ayla spoke with wide, glaring eyes.
“Black armor.”
She added one more phrase.
“A red fibula at the center.”
Someone among the councilors swallowed their breath.
“I remember it clearly.”
Ayla said.
“It was only one person. Brak, me, Liber… we were cut down before we could do anything.”
Her hands trembled.
“He was too fast… and too accustomed to it.”
Raymond repeated quietly.
“Black armor… a red fibula…”
Yun said,
“Some of you may know.”
Among the councilors, someone opened their lips first.
“…The Shadows.”
Yun nodded.
“That’s right. The ones the Empire brings out when it does ‘dirty work.’”
Her gaze returned to the gold coins and documents on the table, and to Ayla.
“Black armor. A red fibula. That mark is not a coincidence.”
Another councilor murmured almost to himself.
“I thought it was only a rumor…”
Ayla tightened the hand holding the chain.
The metal rang briefly.
“I’ll kill them.”
Her voice cracked.
“Whether it’s the Shadows or the Empire… all of them.”
Then one councilor cautiously cut in.
“…But with only the word of a single mercenary—”
The chairman raised a hand and cut him off.
“It does not matter.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, as if recalling the gate, then opened them again.
“We are not trying to open a court right now. Nor are we trying to hand down a verdict.”
The chairman chose his words distinctly.
“We are establishing a justification.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
The chairman looked at Yun.
“The Empire has already thrust forward its own ‘justification.’”
“They framed the Silver Moon Corps, shook the council, expanded their authority within the city…”
“…And then dropped people in front of the gate.”
He looked down at the gold coins on the table once more.
“And now, as for where that justification began— we have at least found the direction.”
The chairman shifted his gaze to Ayla.
“Yes. You said your name was Ayla?”
He continued in a low voice.
“Will you come with us? You are… the most important person in this room right now.”
Ayla instinctively glared at Yun.
“What?”
She spoke with an edge in her voice.
“Hey, you blue Hara. You said I wouldn’t be punished?”
Yun did not change her expression in the slightest.
Instead, the chairman stepped forward and raised his palm.
“No.”
“You are not a ‘suspect,’ but a ‘witness.’”
The chairman stated firmly.
“You will receive the protection and treatment appropriate to that. For now… you must remain alive.”
Ayla clenched the chain once more.
She swallowed her breath and awkwardly lifted her chin.
“…Hm. Is that so?”
She muttered softly.
“Then… I’ll go.”
Yun looked at Raymond.
“There’s no time.”
She added briefly.
“The Shadows are used to silencing mouths. If we stay here too long, they’ll target that person first.”
Once Yun’s words fell, the air in the room grew heavier.
The chairman spoke briefly.
“Very well. From this moment on, we will move under emergency procedure.”
He turned to the escorting gendarmes.
“Escort the witness to the council. From the moment she leaves this room, this person is under the protection of the Republic.”
Ayla started to snort, but soon closed her mouth.
The end of the chain trembled faintly in her hand.
Raymond took a step closer to the chairman’s side.
And in a very low voice, yet clearly, he spoke.
“There is still… one more thing we must discuss.”
The chairman looked at Raymond.
“…What is it, Councilor?”
Raymond listened once to the faint shouts coming from outside the window—
from the direction of the gate, then turned his gaze back.
“We have secured a justification.”
He said,
“But justification alone will not defend the gate.”