Chapter 179 - Wishes Come True

The night was dark. The faint glow of a night-light, too dim to disturb her sleep, brushed AB’s bangs before fading away. As naturally as night had stolen in, she woke at some unmarked moment.

She slowly opened her eyes and blinked for a while, then shot upright in bed as though struck by lightning.

“Huh?! When on earth did I fall... asleep?”

AB had dozed off while listening to the Weaver’s story during their private conversation in the dining room.

Over the past few days, she had strained her mana reserves searching the Military State’s various districts. It had taken its toll on both her body and her mind.

Even without that, anyone would have fallen asleep listening to a quiet story with a full stomach, surrounded by the warm aroma of black tea.

“Careless...!”

Beside AB, who had sprung awake in the middle of the night, Sephier sat at ease in a suit.

“Awake, Captain?”

She was utterly composed, as though she had anticipated all of this. AB hurriedly rose and looked around.

“Question. Where did he go?”

“He left ahead of you. He left word that he would be waiting.”

“... I... see....”

AB’s voice sank.

Only that afternoon, she had been brimming with anticipation for the happiness she would finally experience at the end of her life.

An ordinary marriage and a sorrowful farewell.

They would be mere formalities, but they were enough to adorn her final moments.

But the man in question was far more important than she had ever imagined, someone who had no need of the likes of AB. Backed by a holding company, he worked behind the scenes in the backstreets, exerting influence in all manner of places.

Perhaps... he....

AB squeezed her eyes shut and cut off those wandering thoughts. This was no time for that.

“I have a duty to fulfill. Would you lend me a carriage for official business?”

“Lending you a carriage is easy enough. But can you really go dressed like that?”

“Dressed?”

Only then did AB realize her clothes had changed.

Instead of her usual uniform, a fluffy yellow outfit covered her entire body. Made of soft fur from shoulders to legs, it was a bizarre garment she could scarcely describe.

Still, its softness was exquisite. Simply wearing it made her feel as snug as if she were lying in bed.

“W-what is this abnormal outfit?”

“Special chick pajamas I made myself. A masterpiece born from pondering just how well an Arche Avatar could reproduce the texture of fur.”

“That is not what I meant! I asked why I am wearing this!”

“I thought it would suit you, so I put it on you. And it really does suit you quite well. I’ll pack it for you, so take it along.”

“Denied!”

The captain hastily deactivated the packet, but with fine hairs attached to every single alchemical thread, the pajamas took quite some time to revert to packet form.

Sephier murmured, “It’s the middle of the night. Why not rest a little longer? Are you leaving now?”

“I have work to do. I have no more time to waste!”

“What work, Captain?”

“Classified!”

Sephier answered smoothly, apparently accustomed to such soldierly responses.

“Then tell me only the parts that aren’t classified. I need to know at least your destination to decide how far my carriage will take you.”

It was a veiled threat: disclose something unless she wanted to be all but thrown out of the carriage halfway there.

AB wanted to call her out on her attitude, but kept that to herself. The Weaver was a Level 5 citizen, higher than AB herself, and a formidable figure involved in numerous military secrets.

As long as she avoided the top-secret matters concerning communications officers, telling her would not constitute a security breach. Whatever AB’s affiliation, her intended actions were, first and foremost, meant to preserve public order in the Military State.

Having finished her calculations, AB answered.

“I must investigate and monitor both the ‘Shadow’ and the ‘magician,’ who operate covertly in the teen-numbered districts. I have uncovered most of their plot. Now I will observe their movements and intervene at the appropriate moment.”

“The magician, you say?”

Faced with this unexpected information, Sephier asked with a hint of puzzlement, “Why would a Military State captain be looking for them?”

“... I do not understand why you ask. Eliminating reactionaries and preserving public order in the Military State are among a soldier’s duties.”

“Hmm. The ‘Shadow’ and the ‘magician.’ The Shadow is a vicious organization that has survived since the Kingdom’s days, granted. But why the magician?”

Why was Sephier Bakia, a resident of District 1, so knowledgeable about backstreet affairs that had nothing to do with her?

The clothing packet, which ordinarily transformed in an instant, was unusually slow today. It seemed it would take a little longer to deactivate completely.

AB voiced the conclusions she had been considering.

“The Shadow are dangerous criminals plotting an atrocious crime. The magician is something akin to a breeding ground for every variety of petty crime.”

“Yes. Compared to the Shadow, what the magician has done could be called endearing.”

“Affirmative. That is precisely the problem.”

AB spoke stiffly, explaining that the magician, who had survived like a weed for so long, was far more dangerous than the openly rampaging Shadow.

“The magician erodes people’s aversion to unlawful acts. He is a criminal who routinely engages in gambling, blackmail, extortion, sowing discord, pickpocketing, and more. Yet even when he committed his crimes in ways beyond imagination, no one shunned him or informed on him. They either revered him or feared him. Nothing else.”

Sephier nodded gently, as though she had done the same herself.

Her smile held many meanings. Feeling a growing chill at the back of her neck, AB continued.

“Citizens see him, a veritable breeding ground for petty crime... and stand aside or turn a blind eye. That cannot be allowed. Regulations must be obeyed, and punishment must be certain and strict. Only then can a society built on law and order endure.”

“So you intend to arrest the magician as well.”

“... Affirmative. However.”

AB’s lips had gone dry.

“If the magician were to cooperate actively with me and help eliminate the Shadow... then, depending on the circumstances, I could let the suspicions against him pass without pursuing them.”

“Is that permissible for a captain who is supposed to uphold the law?”

“He has not been caught in the act, so there is no evidence to substantiate his crimes. It is all circumstantial. Therefore.”

Please, let it not be true.

AB wished desperately for that.

But Sephi shattered her hope.

“You seem to have more or less guessed. What a relief. That saves me the trouble of explaining.”

Sephier welcomed AB with open arms into the ranks of those who knew. Just then, AB’s pajamas unraveled completely, exposing her pale, naked body.

Looking at the now utterly defenseless AB, Sephier imparted the truth, wearing the superior smile of someone who had learned a secret before the person before her.

“Yes, that’s right. The man who came with you is the magician, and my master.”

AB pressed her lips tightly together, picked up the uniform packet from the table, and plugged it into her biometric terminal. Alchemical threads settled over her soft curves. Then tens of thousands of strands took shape in succession, weaving a pitch-black uniform directly onto her body.

It took only seconds for AB to become a captain of the Military State. She collected her officer’s cap and rose, then walked past Sephier and out of the room.

Sephier caught up beside her as she strode away.

“I’ll cooperate, Captain. You may borrow my carriage.”

A coachman with sideburns brought the carriage around immediately, as though he had been standing ready. Sephier ushered AB into the rear seat, then promptly sat down beside her.

AB glanced at her.

“... I am conducting an operation. I cannot guarantee your safety against covert forces.”

“That doesn’t matter. I can protect myself.”

“Furthermore, all military operations carried out by the Military State are classified. I cannot disclose operational details to a mere civilian.”

“But you will have to tell me where this carriage is going. That would be efficient, wouldn’t it?”

That way of speaking, forcing the other person to concede through sound reasoning—AB could see his shadow in Sephier’s words. Apparently, knowledge was not all he had taught her.

Once again, AB realized she knew nothing about him. She murmured sadly.

“... At what point did the act begin? How much of this was his plan?”

The magician who held sway over the Military State’s backstreets. A criminal backed by the holding company Seamless Heavenly Garments.

What had already come to light made him far more important than she had imagined. So much so that his imprisonment in the bottomless pit as a mere convict laborer seemed strange.

“What on earth did the magician want from me when he approached me...?”

He had never particularly tried to extract information or use AB. He had complied faithfully with her requests and shown her consideration in all manner of ways.

Even the compensation she had racked her brains to devise meant nothing to him. Yet he had readily accepted her request.

The simplest answer to “why?” would be that he liked her.

But what sort of liking was it?

“I don’t know either. Probably no one but Master knows.”

Confusion and questions amid an elusive kindness.

Watching AB experience feelings she herself had long since graduated from, Sephier delighted in the birth of a kindred spirit.

“But one thing is certain. Master will grant your wish in a way no one could have anticipated.”

“Impossible. I have... no wish like yours.”

Born in the Military State and raised as a communications officer, she had spent her life in a dark room, receiving all the nation’s information.

AB had no wish of her own that she wanted to fulfill. Only duty....

“Ah.”

Realizing something from AB’s words, Sephier gave a small sigh.

“Now I understand. Master intends to give you a wish. A wish of your very own, more precious even than duty.”

At a hideout somewhere in District 14.

Having gathered the Shadow in preparation for their great undertaking, Wolfen finally spoke after a long wait.

“... We act tomorrow.”

Half-submerged in shadow, Wolfen solemnly declared, “Tomorrow, the Military State will become a cauldron of chaos. The shadows of flames shall engulf this city. We shall eliminate the jackals who briefly claimed our place, and we, the true darkness, shall work unseen.”

The members of the Shadow cheered, envisioning the world that would soon be theirs. Their cheers, stripped of sound, filled the meeting room with a silent fervor.

Wolfen raised a blade. No one had even seen him draw it, yet the short knife, its blade painted jet-black, was suddenly there like a ghost.

“A system... has meaning only when it is used. O Military State, nation of earth and iron born trampling upon the Kingdom’s corpse. I shall use your system for my own ends.”

From now on, the Military State’s shadows would be their domain.

After hearing Wolfen’s plan, the Penumbras quietly summoned their trusted subordinates. These were the people who might be called middle management, the operational leaders who actually set things in motion.

“We act tomorrow. Be ready.”

“We’ve been waiting. Holding them back was getting difficult.”

“Keep them in check until tomorrow. There must be no disruption to the plan. Tomorrow, like a dam bursting, we must move all at once. Only then can we overturn the nation.”

The highly trained Shadow might have been another matter, but giving advance notice was the easiest way to make a ragtag mob move swiftly. The Penumbras passed word to their trusted subordinates in every area.

Like ripples spreading through the dark night, the Shadow’s plan spread quietly and secretly....

“Today is the day we act!”

“Yeaah!”

“Come on, let’s go in!”

“It’s a revolution! We’re turning this goddamn country upside down!”

“The Market? The Family? Who do they think they are, throwing their weight around when they’re trash just like us? Get them!”

“Police officers are only human! Don’t chicken out!”

Before enough oil had even been poured, flames erupted throughout Amitengrad.