"Prime Minister Gallich… rebellion?! How could the prime minister of a nation do something so insane!"
Our diplomatic delegation joined up with Sydney’s intelligence bureau and Charlotte’s royal guard.
The information we heard then was enough to make anyone hearing it for the first time blanch.
"The Citizen Labor Party and the 1st Division of the capital defense forces, which has fallen under their control, have already sealed off all of Londinium. From what we confirmed just before the intelligence network was cut, not only Londinium, but the main naval ports, the coast guard, and the majority of the army on the Victoria mainland have sided with the rebels."
Sydney spoke calmly.
"You mean the entire mainland has fallen? Then… we’re completely trapped like rats in a jar!"
It was Charlotte who answered Josef.
"The mainland has fallen, but the nearby navy is on our side. Admiral William has dispatched a unit to the mouth of the Londinium River to rescue us."
Then came the main point.
"We intend to head for the river mouth through the underground waterways from here. ……We would like the imperial party as well, with your military strength, to accompany us."
There was no reason to refuse.
*
The massive underground waterway that led from the royal palace bunker to the mouth of the Londinium River.
Just like aboveground, rebel search parties and ambushes swarmed throughout the channels. But the group’s advance was unstoppable.
"One o’clock, intersection. Three in ambush."
"On the pipe ahead, one enemy preparing to throw a grenade!"
Max and Hanna read the enemy’s positions and intentions like ghosts.
Then, as if they had been waiting for it.
Tat-tat-tat-tang!
Tang!
"Aaaagh!"
"Guh!"
His subordinates launched a surprise attack from the darkness.
"Reinforcements from the right! Multiple!"
Even when the enemies tried to pour out—
"Fall back!"
The silver-haired officer, Major Seraphina, stepped forward. A blue-white magic bullet burst from her gun barrel and crossed the narrow waterway.
Shhhhk— Kwaaang!
With an explosion, the rebels were torn apart like shrapnel.
Charlotte held her breath. Though she was not particularly versed in tactics, even to her eyes, the sweep had been abnormally fast.
"Clear. Advance."
After pushing through the waterways without rest for more than a dozen hours—
Even with such monstrous breakthrough power, the moment finally came when flesh-and-blood humans could not help but grow exhausted.
"……Ten-minute break. Guard team, block the entrances."
When they reached a sealed pump room that seemed relatively safe, Max declared a brief rest.
"Haa, haa……."
"Damn it…."
The tension left the royal guardsmen and intelligence agents, and they collapsed onto the floor. Groans broke out here and there.
Leaning her back against a wall stained with dust and grime, Charlotte looked around once more. Her gaze lingered on Foreign Minister Josef, who was gasping roughly beside her, before shifting immediately to Max Jaeger, who was controlling the group.
When she had first seen the list of the delegation, Charlotte had naturally assumed that Josef, the foreign minister, would be the party’s de facto leader. Considering his age, his position, and the diplomatic nature of the mission, it was only logical. She had thought the soldier was merely there to serve as an escort.
But reality was entirely different.
Max Jaeger approached the panting guardsmen.
"Don’t make such a fuss. You can still run."
Under normal circumstances, the proud guardsmen might have bristled at that tone, but the answer that came back was different.
"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger…!"
An honorific that came out naturally. There was no hostility or dissatisfaction toward an officer of another nation on the guardsman’s face.
It was only natural for an outstanding military officer to command a battle. But the allocation of rest, the management of supplies, even the boosting of morale—every overall decision depended on the lips of that young lieutenant colonel. Minister Josef did not so much as raise an objection; whenever Max gave an order, he was the first to nod in relief.
'Seeing it on paper and seeing it in person…… are on entirely different levels.'
Charlotte had been monitoring Max Jaeger through the intelligence bureau. She had thought she fully understood why Sydney regarded him as such a dangerous person.
But now, she realized she had fallen far short.
That man was not merely a soldier who was good with a gun and skilled in tactics. He was someone who, even in the jaws of death, could bind the will of others and ultimately draw out their trust. In the truest sense of the word, he was a hero.
'If this night ends and we survive safely…….'
Charlotte had an intuition.
If the day came when they escaped safely to the sea, overcame this chaos, and she finally took the seat of the United Kingdom’s true monarch—
Whenever she faced the chessboard against the Empire in the future, the opponent she would become most terribly entangled with would undoubtedly be that man.
And so, the eyes with which the party looked at Max had completely changed. Max glanced briefly into empty air, then raised the corners of his mouth ever so slightly.
It was because a considerable number of the United Kingdom personnel, who had been white dots, had changed into green dots.
Of course, the proud Sydney Wellesley was still red. From the hotel in Badenburg to the train bound for the imperial capital, Elancia, and here in Londinium as well, she had remained consistent the whole way.
'What a stubborn woman.'
Well, if one looked closely, it was also because Max himself had treated her rather “roughly.” Swallowing a wry laugh inwardly, he approached Sydney. That alone made Sydney’s shoulders twitch as she rested against the wall.
"You don’t look well, Director."
"…My homeland has fallen into the hands of traitors, and Her Majesty is wandering through underground sewers. If I were smiling here, wouldn’t that be the stranger thing, Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger?"
Sydney answered as she adjusted her gloves. Her eyes were filled with wariness.
"Even so, there is no need to be too pessimistic. Our breakthrough so far has been almost miraculously successful."
Max lightly pushed aside the empty magazines scattered nearby with his foot and continued.
"The skill you showed at the intersection earlier was excellent. Your command over the intelligence agents was impressive as well. Thanks to you, Director, we were able to greatly reduce our ammunition consumption."
Rather than flattery, it was an objective assessment made as a commander.
If only the imperial personnel had had to break through this waterway, the breakthrough itself might have been possible, but the time and resources consumed would have been far greater.
Yet even at Max’s praise, Sydney’s reaction remained cold.
"You overpraise me. If not for the silver-haired major who pours out mana and smashes the enemy lines, or the lieutenant colonel’s subordinates who strike at enemy blind spots like ghosts in the dark, we would not have made it even a quarter of the way through this sewer."
Leaning against the damp concrete wall, the corner of her mouth twisted. It was a self-mocking expression.
"And what does it matter if my personal martial ability is exceptional? In the end, the intelligence bureau was thoroughly incompetent."
A sudden change of subject. Max narrowed his eyes and watched her.
'Status Analysis.'
[Using skill 'Status Analysis (Lv.3)' on 'Sydney Wellesley'.]
[Name: Sydney Wellesley]
[Status: Deep helplessness, self-loathing, psychological pressure]
[Emotions: Before my very eyes, my homeland fell wholesale to the red flag. I put Her Majesty in danger. All of this is my responsibility.]
Her once-arrogant pride was nowhere to be found. Her inner self was precarious, crushed by guilt and seemingly ready to collapse at any moment.
"……We all misjudged things, Sydney."
At that moment, Charlotte, who had been listening to the conversation nearby, approached.
"It was also my failing for taking too lightly the prime minister’s ambition, and the starving anger that flowed beneath this country. It is not the fault of the intelligence bureau alone."
"Your Majesty……."
"We were intoxicated by Londinium’s thin veneer of peace."
When even the queen bowed her head, an unbearably bleak air descended over the United Kingdom party. It was only natural, for their current position was nothing more than that of hunted exiles.
Max, who had been silently watching the scene, gave a light cough.
'Captivating Eloquence.'
[Skill 'Captivating Eloquence (Lv.3)' is activated.]
"When I was at the academy, I once read a very interesting 'alternate history novel' in a corner of the library."
At Max’s sudden words, Charlotte and Sydney turned their gazes toward him. With an intentionally serious expression, Max stared into empty air and began.
"The setting of that novel was a small but powerful nation on the continent that had achieved advanced industrialization and democracy. But a deep economic depression arrived, and the gap between rich and poor reached its peak. And the ones who burrowed into that opening were the 'Communist Party,' who cried out for extreme equality."
Charlotte’s eyes trembled faintly. Sydney, too, fixed her gaze on Max’s lips. The opening matched the current United Kingdom far too closely.
"They did not seize power with guns and swords. They entered parliament through lawful elections, took the post of prime minister, and armed workers who sympathized with their ideology, turning them into de facto private soldiers."
Max put strength into his voice.
"And at the decisive moment, they seized the leadership of the police and army, then launched a coup. They occupied parliament by force and threatened the existing legitimate leaders with pistols, forcing them to sign documents transferring state power."
"……."
Silence fell.
"And so."
The one who broke the long silence was Sydney Wellesley. Her lavender eyes held a dissatisfaction unlike her. No, perhaps it was closer to curiosity than dissatisfaction.
"What was the ending of that novel, Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger?"