EP.255 The Nation of Steel and the Faceless Humans - 4
The princess can no longer become king, and this country is not a kingdom. It is a military nation ruled by soldiers, forcing peace with guns and swords. In this place where everything is done under the command of the headquarters, it would be hard for any human to feel a sense of responsibility.
However, the princess—the sole descendant of King Grandiomor and the Queen, the culprits who created this nation—did feel a sense of responsibility. Not only toward the kingdom's remnants who had become the Resistance, but toward the entire population of this country.
She could have taken my words as a joke, but she took them seriously and promptly denied them.
"Stop trying to test me. A place like that must be destroyed! Even if the opponents are sinners, a hell that inflicts eternal pain shouldn't exist in reality!"
"You're not even a king, yet you care so much about the lives of the people."
"I don't have such thoughts! I am simply following what is right! In the first place, weren't you also outraged when you saw the conditions inside, Lord Huey?!"
"Ah, I wasn't angry about that part."
Barbarism is doing every possible action without hesitation. In contrast, civilization starts from determining what cannot be done.
Murder is basic, along with theft, intimidation, fraud, incitement, apostasy, rebellion, and so on. Sometimes a few things are left out, and sometimes unheard-of new taboos are added, but fundamentally, civilization is the castration of something from humanity.
In that sense, if you ask whether I am barbaric or civilized, the nuance isn't very good, but I am clearly barbaric. Because I've committed every crime I could commit.
However, I am an individual, and the influence a single human can exert is bound to have limits. Even if I exerted a bad influence, catching and punishing me would be the end of it.
Since I was actually punished, I can be called a perfect example.
But what about the military nation?
"There were guys who acted atrociously, attaching all sorts of bizarre excuses for the greater good and for the country. But anyway, those were attached to defend their actions. In comparison, this is real. It was done in the name of the country, and it was an action for the country. It even feels like the country itself directly ordered it."
They create labor camps that exploit the citizens. All for the state.
They rule everyone with strict laws. Entirely for the state.
They create all sorts of inventions and spread them widely, but everyone knows it's not for the citizens.
Hooks piercing biological terminals.
Restraint suits made from clothing packets.
Standardized magic cast at the cost of one's body.
Compressed canned food that preserves only nutrition.
Chimera beans that never considered taste or happiness in the first place.
A flywheel that turns on its own, forcing humans to adapt to it.
A meta-conveyor belt built with blood, sweat, and corpses, using humans as lubricant to move.
There are some that the military nation uses with particular malice, but all seven great inventions lack affection for humanity. Filtering everything out, what remains is only utility.
The princess also affirmed my words.
"That's right. Other countries are like that too, but the military nation is especially severe. The only blessing is that the punishments are so harsh that there's no one embezzling in the middle..."
"Yes. Especially so. The military nation doesn't stand by and watch someone other than the military nation commit a crime. Because the only one who can commit a crime in the military nation is the military nation itself."
"...Yes? A crime?"
"The military nation has surplus. There are clearly surplus resources to share—wealth, happiness, time, or pride. However, the military nation never shares them and stockpiles them endlessly."
The princess focused on my words, even forgetting the fact that she had snapped at me earlier.
"...Then, Lord Huey. You are angry at the shadowy power broker who holds all of that in their hands and controls this country?"
"Well? How can I be angry when it's not known who he is, where he is, or even whether his existence is certain?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. Let me rephrase. Lord Huey, you want to find the existence that created all this, right?"
As if she finally understood, the princess rolled her hand into a fist and clapped her palm. The momentum with which she had been retorting to me point-by-point until just a moment ago vanished in an instant.
I shrugged.
"Roughly, yes. But even after wandering the military nation for a few months and living in the capital for a few years, I haven't discovered them yet."
My 'discovery' as a telepath is on a different level. Even if he were hiding his true identity and status, living peacefully as a lower-class citizen, his identity would be immediately revealed if he encountered me, who reads minds.
Even if he were hiding in some secret base, if he came outside even once. And if he happened to run into me by chance. I would have figured it all out even if I just glanced at him from afar.
It doesn't necessarily have to be such a shadowy ruler. A person in power is inevitably bound to interact with countless people. If there was someone who knew even a little bit about him or had come into contact with him. I would have grabbed the end of the thread and carefully unraveled it.
...Well, I couldn't find him in the end. It wasn't such a great goal that I had to risk my life for, so I was taking my time.
"So... you tested me with a question like earlier."
"Yes?"
A test? What test? I am a master of solving problems, but terrible at making them. I know everything the other person knows, but since I can't even think of what the other person doesn't know, my shortcomings are completely exposed when I try to give a test.
When I asked back honestly, the princess looked at me as if asking what I meant.
"Because you didn't know how I, a Resistance member, would act if I encountered that 'someone.' You were testing me, suggesting that the existence of the refinery might be better from the Resistance's standpoint."
'Of course. Duke Shay's companion wouldn't say something so heartless. I took it seriously for no reason again! Erien Grandiomor, you must do better!'
She's interpreting it like this. This princess looks at people purely positively.
Then again, the deaf cannot speak simply because they cannot hear, and the blind cannot express what color is. It's because they become literally insensate to things they cannot perceive.
In that sense, the princess, who has never been exposed to hostility, has never learned to be wary of it. She is a mental disabled person congenitally lacking a sense of crisis.
No, maybe it's more appropriate to call her a simpleton. She's like a simpleton.
"You are quick to catch on."
I nodded. It's not a bad misunderstanding. I originally intended to instill curiosity in the princess anyway.
By instilling curiosity like this, she would become more proactive when we infiltrate the headquarters later, wouldn't she?
The princess nodded with a bitter expression.
"...You are amazing. I was so shocked by the sight before my eyes that I couldn't think of anything else, but Lord Huey, you were not buried in the immediate matters and were looking ahead to what comes next.... Please forgive my shortcomings. To think I was boasting loudly instead of being of help."
No. The princess will probably be of enormous help.
The authority to harbor no hostility from anyone. It lost some of its luster because one madman who drove a gear into his own head almost killed her, but I can't just let that disgustingly fraudulent ability rot away.
And.
"Well, whatever. That's also a story that's only possible if we get out of here safely."
"Yes? Get out safely?"
'Isn't everything we have to do here finished? If we destroy the refinery and head to the headquarters... oh, wait? Destroy...?'
She figured it out.
This place is a trap. And a particularly malicious kind of trap at that.
Because it traps us in a dilemma, not with force or physical power.
The princess's face turned pale.
'How? How do we destroy it? Should we kill all the felons, or should we liberate the laborers? Who decides, and how?'
It's hard to notice inside the refinery. Because they are the ones agonizing over it. Those moving within the script are no different from those for whom the world outside the stage does not exist.
That was why the princess and I needed to get out.
I explained to the princess.
"The Alchemy Steel Refinery is a truly important facility. In fact, in a way, it's a target that must be protected even more than the headquarters."
Even though Alchemy Steel is a resource with large reserves, it is not infinite. And a resource like Alchemy Steel, which is consumed everywhere, is always lacking even if it were infinite.
If a hitch occurs in production here, any plan existing in the military nation will be delayed as is. For the military nation, which operates as rigidly as a machine, they would absolutely never want the most important gear that must turn to slow down.
"So the military nation dug a trap here. And we fell for it magnificently."
That's why they're blocking us here. Even if it means deploying the powerful military force called Yeonggwi.
...Actually, I didn't figure it out myself, but read Yeonggwi's thoughts and realized it late! Even I, after reading that script, was like, 'Huh, is this a big deal?'
"But there were no troops here! Duke Shay confirmed it before we came!"
"That's why it's a trap. Not a single soul was seen in a place where there shouldn't be no one. If it's a military nation that even views legions as consumables, there should have been a delay unit to hold us back, even if they were only a handful. Even if it's Tir's time of night right now."
Actually, during the day, the delay unit cut off the road and shelled us from afar. They couldn't delay us for more than a few seconds, but that's the military nation's way regardless.
The princess's mind became complicated.
"T-Then. What's going on? Did the Commander trap us...?"
"No. Ria's suggestion was right. Thanks to that, instead of crushing us with overwhelming troops and firepower, they are struggling to trap us in a crude trap."
Historia's strategy is extremely military-nation-like. It's an efficient strategy to hide our tracks and launch a preemptive strike on strategically important facilities.
However, being efficient meant it was easy to read. The moment we changed direction to destroy the automobile assembly plant, the military nation would have easily predicted our next target.
And above all, princess, the one who trapped us is Yeonggwi Sieghrund, who extracted information from your comrade Carapald...? Where are you shifting the blame?
I'm keeping my mouth shut because I can't reveal the fact that I use telepathy, but if we were to assign blame, you'd be the first one on the stand.
Well, that's not what's important right now.
"This place is a stage. A route that makes you watch the horrific plight of the laborers right before your eyes as you go from the entrance of the refinery to its deepest part. That process itself will bring an even greater dilemma to the party. Whether to kill them all, release them, or leave them be. Ria and Mr. Shay will clash in opinions, and Tir and Siati will chime in to make it chaotic."
Historia is a general of the military nation in her own right. Having the authority to order the death of her subordinates who follow her, she doesn't spare the lives of the felons.
The regressor is moving to prevent the overflowing sins of the future. To someone like her, even suggesting killing countless helpless laborers at once cannot be immediately accepted.
Siati would prefer releasing all the laborers, even if it's just to take revenge on the military nation. Because that would incite greater chaos.
In contrast, Tir, who is indifferent to life and death, is someone who would even provide the option of turning them all into undead.
Sieghrund's intention to separate the princess, who could eliminate the conflict itself with me, the staff officer, must also be to incite chaos.
After delaying like that, right before we take action. They plan to surround and annihilate us.
"That might really happen! What do we do?"
Having fully grasped the possibility, the princess said with a pale face.
"No! Lord Huey, why did you come outside when you knew all of that...?!"
"Because the easiest way to ruin a prepared stage is an intrusion from outside the stage."
"What?!"
Magic and theater. Both prepare a stage for the audience. The fact that both require acting is also a commonality.
However, if there is one difference, it's the obligation of the genre.
Theater must ultimately meet everyone's expectations, but magic must defy everyone's expectations. That different directionality creates all kinds of differences.
The end is slowly coming into sight. The concrete exterior wall, which seemed like it would stretch all the way to the military nation's border, was also coming to an end, and we arrived at the opposite side of the refinery entrance.
Only after arriving there did I stop the automobile.
"The refinery is a building without doors. Therefore, this side, which is the farthest from the entrance, is right at the deepest part."
The refinery has no doors. The walls just stretch out like smooth skin. Recalling the fact that we hadn't found a single side door on our way here, the princess wondered.
"Why didn't they even make a side door? What if there's a fire...?"
"Instead, the building was separated by zones, right? They probably tried to separate them with bulkheads."
"Then the people in the zone that caught fire would have nowhere to escape, right?"
"The person who designed this building must have thought that was better."
The princess seemed shocked by my answer. I left the princess and jumped down from the automobile with a light thud. Walking toward a corner of the wall, I took out a card and flipped it. My most frequently used tool, the Diamond 1 Crowbar, greeted me with a familiar feel.
"Long time no see. My friend. Missed me a lot?"
"Woof! I didn't miss you! Because I see you all the time! But still, nice to see you!"
Just because I called a friend doesn't mean every human's friend should come. I waved my hand at Aji, who was following me.
"...You go get Nabi. There's work to do."
"Woof!"
Aji quickly nodded and left to get Nabi's box. Meanwhile, I held the crowbar with both hands and aimed it at the gray concrete wall.
"Heup!"
A thrust with all my might. The crowbar, thrust with both hands gathered together, fiercely dug into the concrete wall.
...About 1cm.
"As expected of concrete. It doesn't budge with my strength."
But for times like this, I have Earth Magic. The skill that was mistaken for divine power by the wind trapped beneath the Abyss.
I drew the crowbar hard. A small but immoral scratch appears on the smooth gray wall. Like graffiti left on a historical heritage, I carved a trace that makes you want to do it more because it's irreversible.
"Ugh, this is quite hard too..."
I moved the crowbar in a circle to form a closed curve, wiped my sweat, and sighed. Dust rose from the excavated concrete.
Now, time to work. I put my hand on the wall, took a deep breath, and focused my mind. Recalling the distant, vast earth and my insignificant existence crawling upon it, I used Earth Magic.
Screech.
The ground separated by the crowbar was pushed away as I pushed it with my hand, as if it had simply been placed there.
The earth always seems the same and eternal, but in reality, it is not. It rises, sinks, collides, and sometimes its skin rises. Her divine body is a changing substance like a human body.
Because the Earth Mother Goddess, like humans, has boiling red liquid pulsating beneath her skin.
What we think of as the earth is actually just plates floating on that blood, and the plates flow or move along the bloodstream of magma, colliding with each other and rising.
...To think that what we call mountains and look up to is, from the Earth Mother Goddess's perspective, merely a crack in her skin.
That's why she's fit to be a Demon God.
"To cleanly cut out the wall with just a crowbar...!"
'Lord Huey just didn't have a chance to show his strength, but you're actually a master of swordsmanship! Your qi must have reached the pinnacle, as there wasn't a single sound!'
In the meantime, the princess is covering her mouth in surprise. She thinks I penetrated the inside of the concrete with qi and cut it out.
Don't you have eyes to see? It's Earth Magic. If my qi were at the level of easily using the Penetration Realm, would I be struggling like this?
When I pushed the wall even harder with both hands, the cut piece was pushed inward and fell with a thud. A heavy sound was heard from the other side, and pitch-black darkness was visible through the round hole.
Good. This side is ready.
"Nyahah... Let, let go nya. Nya, nya won't move nya..."
"Woof! No! Work time! No work, no food!"
Aji was preaching the importance of labor, biting the back of Nabi's neck and dragging her along. Nabi dug her claws into the ground and tried to resist, but against Aji's strength, Nabi's claws could only offer resistance at the level of a plow digging the earth.
The claws are still sharp. They'll be more than enough for destroying things.
"Preparations are done. I'll go in first, so bring Aji and Nabi and follow me in."
"Yes...!"
'It seems you have an exquisite plan! If I can be of help, I will gladly assist!'
The princess clenched her fists and watched carefully as I crossed through the hole. Hehe, good. The more you think I'm great, the more you'll follow my plan....
Huh? But the wall is thicker than I thought. It's almost like a tunnel. Doesn't that make the hole a bit small...? Ah.
"Oh, I'm stuck! Princess, could you push me a bit?"
'...You have a plan, right?'
You're already doubting me? If you're going to believe, believe me more firmly! Isn't the expiration date too short?!
"Woof! Push! Heave, ho! Heave, ho!"
"Not you! Not you! Argh! Don't bare your claws!"