EP.275 The Nation of Steel and the Faceless Humans - 16
Captain Abby, whom I met after a long time, looked worse than before. Her expression as she looked at me, devoid of any humanity, lacked even the vitality of the golems I had seen.
Captain Abby replied dryly.
[I am Captain Ivy, a signal officer of the Military Nation.]
'Yes. Me too. It really is... a pleasure to meet you again.'
It must be because of her Inherent Sorcery.
Of course, since I can read minds, it wasn't a serious problem for me, so I half-listened to the words coming from her mouth and continued the conversation.
"Ivy? What happened to make you end up like this?"
[I was summoned to the Inner Circle headquarters to be tested for mental contamination. During that time, your terrorist attack, Hughes, who is called the Pied Piper of Hamelin, occurred, and in the process, it interfered with my judgment as a signal officer, stripped me of my name, and I was temporarily assigned to the Inner Circle signal headquarters.]
[I want to ask you. I am already prepared for this, but for what reason did you come all the way here? You are the very person who caused the Hamelin incident, and instead of just running away, you came back into the Inner Circle? Were you not hurt while fleeing?]
"It's been quite eventful while I was away for a bit. You were quite an amazing existence, Captain Abby... no, was it Captain Ivy? You were the one who spoke to me back then, right?"
[Affirmative.]
"For some reason, you seem similar. Why did you change your name?"
[I didn't want to change it. I didn't want to be robbed of Abby. Because you remember me as Abby.]
The captain's thoughts reached me first, and like an echo, her spoken words followed belatedly.
[As you may have guessed, it is because a signal officer's title is an identification name. There is no significance to my name other than differentiation.]
[I am remembered as Abby inside you. If I ever converse with you through a golem, then I must definitely be Abby. Otherwise, you wouldn't know who I am.]
"But it doesn't matter if I call you Captain Bi, right? It's up to me to call you what I want."
[...!]
The Military Nation tries to control all humans. If they only follow the Military Nation's orders, they won't be happy, but they can live without any sin or responsibility.
However, there are still lawbreakers in the Military Nation. Compared to other countries, it's only a minor level, but compared to the Military Nation's harshness, it's a lot. Most of them are petty criminals. They take pleasure in gathering and misbehaving, and even while knowing the fear of the Military Nation, they commit crimes they don't need to commit.
In a word, the Military Nation is not perfect either.
Of course. The person who created this Military Nation is probably human too.
This signal officer in front of me, Captain Abby who has grown attached to her own name, proves it.
"Captain Bi."
[I am...]
Captain Abby stuttered as if she were broken. I reached out my hand.
Morning glory vines that wouldn't be visible to others' eyes but were visible to mine. Pretending not to see the vines, I gently and affectionately patted the captain's shoulder.
"Look at how stiff your shoulders are. You haven't exercised, have you?"
As my hand touched the morning glory vines wrapped around her shoulder, they began to crumble like leaves dried for decades. Captain Abby stuttered.
[Y-yes. Affirmative.]
"How long are you going to live like that? If you're going to be holed up in your room working, you should at least take proper care of your body."
[I perform my duties through a golem. There is no reason for such maintenance.]
"You're a bio-synchronization type, aren't you? Body maintenance is golem maintenance. The more flexible Captain Bi's body becomes, the more things you can do with the golem, you know?"
[...There is no reason for me to hear such criticism from you, nor do I have any obligation to follow it!]
One must be the same as everyone else to achieve synchronization. In other words, if one gains difference, the synchronization breaks. During the few days I spent with Captain Abby, I had prepared all kinds of stimuli so she could feel alive.
If the Military Nation is one body, the signal officers are its nerves.
And what causes the most fatal damage with the smallest amount is exactly nerve poison.
"It is a futile attempt. She is a signal officer and a soldier loyal to the Military Nation. Also, she is under the control of the current module. Communication with you is limited."
IA interrupted.
Even while saying that, she's feeling an unknown anxiety. Does she instinctively know that I'm pouring in poison?
I snorted and said.
"Don't interrupt. I'm going to break the signal officer in my own way."
"Is this revenge against the Military Nation? However, as you mentioned yourself, aggressive acts against signal officers are meaningless. She was commissioned after the Hamelin incident, and in the first place, signal officers had no involvement in the Hamelin incident other than information control!"
Ignoring IA's words, I stroked Captain Abby's hair. The vines that surrounded her hair as if decorating her blonde hair caught on my fingers. Of course, my fingers passed through the vines like a fog. Matter could not interfere with mental images.
[To break the synchronization? But Inherent Sorcery is the manifestation of a mental image. Influencing another person's mental image is impossible unless they are in the same synchronization, and even that is merely receiving memories or information...]
That's right. Matter cannot interfere with mental images.
But my hand can reach Captain Abby's heart.
The vines snap. The leaves dry up. The flowers wither.
Every time we had a conversation or our bodies slightly touched, the morning glories crumbled. The petals that once showed off their fragile purple color withered and bowed their heads, and the fragile stems that could only face upwards by leaning on something snapped with a crack.
[Inherent Sorcery?!]
IA was horrified.
[According to the memories I received, Ivy only came into contact with the Pied Piper for a mere week! To break the Inherent Sorcery in that time?!]
Realizing that my actions were undoing Captain Abby's bindings, IA cried out urgently.
"Is this the revenge you've devised? It's meaningless!"
"So what? Meaningful things don't exist in this world anyway."
Any action only has meaning because humans assigned it, didn't it?
So I can do whatever I want. It's up to me what meaning I assign to it.
Now, are all the spectators gathered?
The signal officers trapped in the rooms had almost all come out. Their appearances were different, but their sunken eyes, awkward steps like people who had lain down for a long time, and their pale skin that looked as if it had never seen sunlight were all the same.
They had gained freedom, but they weren't grateful. Rather, they glared rebelliously, as if rebuking why they were called outside.
Because it's natural for signal officers to be confined. Because they must not show their faces to anyone. Because that is their duty.
While everyone was having the same thought, IA, emboldened by their synchronization, cried out even more sharply.
"If you intend to mentally contaminate the signal officers, give up. I warn you. If a signal officer is unable to perform their duties due to mental contamination or other reasons, that signal officer will be discarded! Your actions will only put her in more danger..."
"I can't listen to this any longer!"
I strode over to IA and slapped her cheek. Slap, a crisp sound rang out and IA's face snapped to the side.
A strike delivered with an open palm and the contact area widened as much as possible so it would hurt incredibly but not damage the face. Coupled with the surprise attack, the effect was doubled.
The easiest way to deal a psychological shock is to deal a physical one.
"How could you...! How can you say something like 'discarded'?!"
Once more. I hit the left side earlier, so one more time on the left.
Managing to knock IA down just by slapping her cheeks, I stood in front of her and shouted furiously.
"She's your comrade, isn't she?! Even if it hasn't been many days, she's a comrade of similar age, with a similar rank, placed in a similar situation! Don't arbitrarily order her to be discarded!"
"...?! What do you mean?"
Don't let them think. IA is speaking as their representative, but there are 25 of them together, and they're backed up by nearly 500 signal officers.
Compared to that, I'm alone.
If I'm going to mentally contaminate all of them...
"Do you want Captain Abby to die?! Is that what you want?"
IA staggered to her feet and answered.
"No. Her talent is extremely rare among signal officers. Discarding her would be a considerable loss for the Military Nation as well."
"Is that it? She's your comrade! In the end, you're discarding your comrade at your own whim, do you think that's okay? Sadness, sense of loss, or pity! Don't you have such emotions?"
"Such emotions are not permitted for signal officers."
"Permitted or whatever...!"
As I shouted as if enraged.
Historia, who had just broken into the last room, called out to me with a stiff face.
"Hughes. Here..."
"Why?"
"The signal officer..."
Historia couldn't continue her words, unable to say what she had seen. I deliberately hardened my expression and approached.
"Is something wrong?"
"...The signal officer has collapsed."
"What? Get her outside first."
Historia nodded and dragged the entire makeshift bed out with one hand. The metal frame scraped against the wall, making a loud noise.
Uh, this wasn't what I had in mind. I thought Historia would come out carrying the signal officer coolly.
Anyway, she got her out. I approached the signal officer lying there, breathing rapidly. The signal officer of the last room, Z, had fainted and was completely unconscious.
Historia looked at the state of the lying signal officer and said.
"She has a fever and is breathing rapidly. Is it a cold?"
"No. Judging by the symptoms, this is a spirit descent illness. She got sick because she became the sacrifice to summon the Military Nation's angel."
"Spirit descent? Sacrifice...?"
"Yeah. Aimeder. The guardian angel of the Military Nation. A powerful entity at the Yukjangseong level wouldn't just be summoned without a price, right? Naturally, a sacrifice is needed."
I said that while glancing at X and Y. Unlike the other signal officers, their complexions were exceptionally pale. Anyone could see they were clearly suffering from an illness.
"Wait. If they're sacrifices, did they take their own lives...?"
"Usually it comes to that, but it seems the Military Nation has developed a very efficient method. They don't even need to take their lives."
Hmm. Is it time to use this? It's so precious that it's a waste to even use it on myself, but it can't be helped.
I fluttered my hand and spread the cards. The card to take out this time is Heart.
Unlike Clover, which is imbued with magic, and Diamond, which transforms into a weapon, Heart is strictly a one-time use. It is a precious item that should never be used unless it's an emergency.
But what good is hoarding it if it only turns to shit? Now is the time to spend it. I slipped the necessary Heart cards between my fingers.
"It seems they dispersed the risk with synchronization magic. These people are many, yet one. They even dispersed the price of summoning the angel... However, that's "
Heart consists of things that directly affect the human body. Drugs that temporarily change the flesh.
Heart 1 is blood... but Z doesn't have anemia, so it's not needed. Hmm. Rather, right now.
I took out 9, held one end, and shook it left and right. At first, it shook normally, but as I shook it with patience, a response gradually came.
The red Heart modeled after a heart. The red paint that should have been painted as a picture began to slosh gradually following my touch. It looked more like a liquid in a small vial rather than a picture.
Well, that aside.
I fold Heart 9 so the center is slightly crumpled. Along that vertical line, red liquid leaks from the split Heart and flows. I slightly folded the tip to pool the liquid, then showed it to everyone.
"With this medicine, we can save this person. How about it? Are you interested?"
Naturally, no one would accept medicine from a suspicious person. Even more so if that person had just declared he would destroy the Military Nation.
Y, who was in the closest position to Z, asked sharply.
"Signal Officer Izet is currently helpless. If you have business with her, I will take it on in her stead."
"I'm trying to treat this person, how are you going to take her place?"
"Treat, you say? Is there a guarantee that medicine can cure Izet?"
"There's no such thing as a guarantee, but I can guarantee one thing. All the medicine here is what I use myself. Otherwise, I wouldn't have made it in such a bothersome way and carry it around, right?"
Flutter, flutter. Y's eyes moved back and forth following the card. Unlike the other signal officers observing me, Y couldn't take her eyes off the medicine.
"Now. Make a decision. Looking at it anyway, it seems hard for her to survive today without medicine. Will you let her die like this, or will you take a little risk and feed her this medicine?"
The signal officers looked at each other and nodded. They too were aware that Z was in a critical state.
If she doesn't take the medicine, she dies anyway. If so, thinking rationally, there's no reason not to use the medicine. That was the common judgment of the signal officers.
...However, only two. Only X and Y genuinely wanted to save Z.
Because the two with the lowest rank here were also sacrifices 'used' to summon Aimeder. The damage was less compared to Z, but they felt a sense of kinship as sacrifices who had felt the same pain.
"This worked out perfectly. I needed one person. Could you hold this medicine in your mouth and feed it to the patient?"
"...Me, you say?"
"Yes. Seeing as she's completely unconscious right now, it might go down her windpipe by mistake. It's stickier than you'd think, so if you're not careful, it'll block her windpipe."
The hesitation was short. If that was the method, there was no reason not to follow it.
Signal Officer Y nodded and picked up the card I offered. I watched her and added a word.
"Ah. Right. The number of times our group met the angel is three in total. Who were the sacrifices for the other two times?"
Y flinched for a moment and said hesitantly.
"...It was me and Signal Officer Ix."
"What a strange coincidence, huh? Of all people, the three at the very end became the sacrifices together."
I said it as if passing it by, but I implicitly pointed out their cracks.
Even among signal officers, there is a hierarchy. The higher the synchronization suitability, the closer they are to A, and if they are inferior to that, they are gradually assigned lower identification numbers. The more precious signal officers are consumed last.
Of course, there is a rational reason for that. Because a high-ranking signal officer's synchronization ability is strong, they can shoulder the price of the lower-ranking signal officers.
However, knowing and accepting are two different things. Even more so if it involves pain.
"There is a rational reason for that..."
Just as IA was about to interrupt, I turned my head sharply and cut off her words with a terrifying voice.
"There's a patient here! Quiet!"