Chapter 83 - Rift in the Capital

“And that concludes our preparations.”

“...”

“All the weapons have been supplied to the people you wanted, and the relevant drugs have been distributed as well. All that remains is the attack. You need only give the signal.”

“...”

“The Puppeteer did bow out somewhere rather unexpected... I would like to hear what happened once he comes back to life. How dare someone at the very bottom of the hierarchy foist his work on someone else?”

“...”

The imperial prince, who had been listening silently, opened his eyes and looked at the person before him. Reading the emotion beneath his gaze, the woman smirked.

“Why the distrustful look now, of all times?”

“I think trusting your kind readily would be more of a problem. Keep your promise.”

The woman chuckled incredulously.

“Now listen, Prince. Isn't breaking promises something humans do?”

“...”

“We give you the Empire and its subjects, and you offer us ‘sacrifices.’ That is our contract. We may be sinister and vicious, and delight in slander and intrigue, but we have never once broken a promise. Unlike you, our entire race is bound by that law.”

“...”

“Whatever your kind may say about us, that much is indisputably true. Which is why we even bring things like this to ensure our promise is fulfilled.”

With those words, she set something down before the prince: a reagent vial.

“What's this?”

“A potion the Puppeteer made that turns people into magical beasts. The same thing we issued to the humans you gathered. Though this is a special one reserved for you.”

“... Your consideration moves me to tears.”

“That fellow, Aiden Kellermain.”

Ignoring his sarcasm, the woman looked him straight in the eye and continued.

“He'll interfere with you again.”

“I know.”

“That's why I'm giving you this, in the hope that you'll finally succeed this time. Its efficacy is guaranteed. After all, you haven't beaten him even once.”

“...”

The prince snorted and tucked it into his clothes. Then she held something else out to him: a flare.

“Fire it, and we begin. Good luck.”

The prince watched for a moment as the woman vanished like black smoke with those parting words, then looked at the vial she had left him. The liquid inside was clear, but he could see all the sinister energy it contained.

... If he drank it, there would be no turning back. He would cross even that ‘last line of humanity’ Aiden Kellermain had spoken of.

“...”

So, not yet. Not just yet.

With that thought, the prince walked out onto the terrace.

“... Hah.”

His decision was swift, and his actions swifter still. Before long, the signal flare that would plunge the capital into chaos flew from his hand in an arc.

▣

Wallace was on duty today in the capital's peacekeeping force. He did not lead a particularly conspicuous life, and was perfectly content with that. He was, however, quite capable of anger toward anyone who disturbed it.

That summed Wallace up.

Which meant that if Wallace wanted to bite off the head of the subordinate delivering a report to him, it was no ordinary crisis.

“What did you just say?”

“M-magical beasts! Magical beasts have appeared!”

“...”

What did he mean, magical beasts were appearing in the capital? Those things only emerged once a year, within Aslan territory. That alone was enough to make his mind reel, but the report that followed was even more absurd.

“Then contact the knight corps! Tell them to deploy and put them down!”

“A-all communications facilities inside the capital are down. Every military installation is under attack too!”

“... Under attack?”

“They're using everything from bombs to heavy weapons! Damn it, has the Coalition War started again?!”

If this had merely been an outbreak of magical beasts, then setting aside how or why it had happened, they could have deployed personnel and somehow contained it.

But with simultaneous attacks this deliberate and precise knocking out all the key facilities at once, they couldn't even mobilize the knights needed to subdue the creatures. They wouldn't even have a clear picture of the situation!

“...”

His first thought was a thoroughly ordinary man's complaint: Why did this have to happen on his shift?

His head spun. Even now, screams and explosions filled the air outside the building, proving his subordinate's report was no lie.

And his second thought, naturally, was:

'Something's wrong here...!'

The magical beasts' appearance, the orchestrated terrorist attacks that all but amounted to war—someone had clearly been planning this for a very long time. Otherwise, something like this could never have happened out of the blue.

Then came his third thought.

“... Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Cursing repeatedly, Wallace gritted his teeth and flung open the cupboard. Inside was a complete set of gear he would never ordinarily have considered wearing on duty.

Watching him put on his helmet, greaves, and other armor, his subordinate asked blankly, “Squad Leader, what are you doing?”

“You said communications were down, you little shit! Then I'll have to run there!”

“... What?!”

Horrified, his subordinate looked out the window. Capital Command was indeed close enough to reach on foot, as Wallace had said.

If the route weren't a hellscape of bombs and gunfire flying everywhere, with magical beasts rampaging and demolishing everything around them!

“Y-you can't! You'll die the moment you step outside!”

At his subordinate's terrified shout, Wallace turned and glared at him.

“Then what happens if I don't go? We let those things tear the whole capital apart?”

“But, sir!”

His subordinate tried to stop him, then flinched. Wallace's bloodshot eyes and trembling hands conveyed one thing above all else.

Wallace himself probably wanted to go outside least of all. Nobody wanted to die.

And yet.

“... We don't get paid to run away at times like this, you little shit.”

“...”

“You got a girl? You're not quite old enough to be married yet.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“I've got a wife. A son, too. Right about now, she'd be picking him up from school.”

“...”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

Leaving his subordinate frozen in place, Wallace took the stairs down to the ground floor. He couldn't spare even the time to wait for the elevator.

“...”

If he went outside, he would die. Even so, he had to do something rather than sit here doing nothing.

He had to protect the capital. He had to do his duty.

With that thought, he opened the door leading outside, only to hear:

“Impressive.”

“...”

“Honestly, I couldn't understand why someone of my caliber had to stand by in a place like this. But if it's to protect someone like you, I suppose it's not so bad.”

... He found himself facing someone giving him an inexplicable thumbs-up. Bewildered, Wallace looked the stranger up and down.

“... Are you with the knight corps?”

“How dare you compare us to small fry like the Empire's knights? You're lowering our standing. Want me to beat you within an inch of your life?”

“...”

Hadn't this person just called him impressive?

... What was he supposed to make of this?

“N-never mind that. Please move! I need to request contact with the knight corps immediately!”

“Why bother contacting the knight corps? You've got someone better right here.”

Dismissing Wallace's words in a bored tone, the knight strolled inside and picked something up.

... A water bottle.

Removing the visor, the knight brought it to their lips and gulped it down.

“Nothing like this before starting work.”

“...”

What the hell was this person doing?

'... There's no time for this!'

More importantly, he needed to reach Capital Command as quickly as possible. Only then could they swiftly bring this situation—

ROOOAR!!!!!

His mind went blank before he could finish that thought. He saw a magical beast charging through the open doorway.

Even the lowest-grade magical beast was an inhuman monster that a knight could only just manage to deal with. Wallace, an ordinary soldier at best, stood no chance against one.

He could see death coming. His life flashed before his eyes.

He was helpless. He was going to die.

“That's one ugly bastard.”

And he truly would have, if not for the voice behind him, speaking as though its owner had been waiting for just such a creature to enter.

“Perfect for seeing whether I've lost my touch.”

The instant the magical beast entered the building, a lightning-fast flash of steel swept across Wallace's vision. The enormous bat-shaped creature split in two under a single stroke, spraying green fluid everywhere.

“... Huh?”

Drenched in the stuff, Wallace let out a dazed sound despite himself. He might not have been a knight, but he had received professional combat training. He needed no one to explain the caliber of the feat he had just witnessed.

Without even manifesting any supernatural power, a single stroke had cut through a magical beast that could deflect most large-caliber bullets?

This was no ordinary level of expertise!

“... M-my lord. Just who are you?”

“We're hunters. We exist to kill things like that.”

The knight snorted and calmly sheathed the sword.

“If you're asking for a name, you can call me Liza Aslan.”

The moment he heard that name, chills raced down Wallace's back.

'The grand-ducal House of Aslan!'

The shield of the continent. The Empire's specialists in slaughtering the magical beasts of the void region.

Now he understood why she had bristled at being compared to the knight corps. Few on the entire continent could rival them in combat against magical beasts.

If she belonged to that house, her monstrous prowess made sense!

“J-just what I'd expect from experts in fighting magical beasts! You detected the signs of this disaster in advance...!”

“No, I'm just standing by on orders.”

“... Pardon?”

“No one in the grand-ducal House of Aslan knew the capital would come under an attack like this. Our house didn't arrange the troop deployments, either.”

“... Pardon?”

“There's this strange fellow, you see.”

Liza smirked and glanced out the window. The sounds of magical beasts rampaging still came from every direction, but other sounds were mingling with them.

The sound of swords. Of guns. Of a counterattack.

“Someone who said this would happen soon, and ordered us to be sure to stand by.”

All of it was the result of one person laying out the ‘attack routes’ and arranging troop deployments to match them.

Efficiently. Thoroughly. To minimize the damage as much as possible.

Like a chess player seeing through every move their opponent would make.

'... What?'

Listening in silence, Wallace was growing more bewildered by the moment.

So someone had meticulously devised a plan sophisticated enough to throw the capital into chaos with a sudden influx of magical beasts, while terrorist attacks throughout the city disabled its entire defensive network at a stroke.

And someone else had anticipated every bit of it, deploying defensive forces without a single gap, down to the last detail, so they could strike back immediately if it happened?

“...”

Wallace was an ordinary man who loved his ordinary life.

'Let's keep it that way.'

This situation could only strengthen that resolve.

... He had absolutely no desire to get tangled up in the world such people inhabited.

Then, while Wallace was mulling that over, Liza lifted her helmet slightly and looked out the window.

'... And someone capable of making a plan like that...'

There was a certain tendency one could expect from a person who could see through an opponent's moves to that extent and devise an answer to each one.

'Wouldn't stop at simply responding to the opponent's moves.'

Fighting was the same. Merely defending against an opponent's attacks did not make someone a master.

A master blocked, then hit back harder.

Liza smiled at once as dozens of footsteps sounded outside the window. It was the sound of the ‘next stage’ of Aiden Kellermain's plan being put into motion.

“... It's going to be one hell of a night.”

Today, the capital would burn bright.