Chapter 187 - Say You Want to Live - 3

To the captain's sorrowful question, I answered with certainty.

"I don't know."

"... That is irresponsible."

"What can I do? I'm not a prophet like the first Saintess. Nobody knows what the future holds, myself included."

I shrugged as I answered.

"But I do know one thing for certain. To those who stand to lose something in this incident, your actions will be worth more than anything, Captain. However brilliant a tomorrow awaits, to someone who dies today, it's nothing more than sunlight shining on their grave."

There was no answer. Yet I heard one in her heart.

She could never turn away in the first place. If she could easily abandon someone she could save... she wouldn't have ended up like this.

Her resolve firm, the captain looked straight at me and said,

"This officer... I will fulfill my duty, rather than my mission."

The mission she had been given, and the duty she ought to fulfill. In the end, the captain chose for herself. The Military State's puppet had reclaimed her life.

Facing the value she had created for herself, she spoke.

"It may be impossible. Other communications officers may have obtained information I do not possess, and they may already be aware of my movements. There is every possibility that my attempt will be in vain."

It might be the last decision of her life, but her voice was calm. Not with her usual businesslike composure, but with the unwavering gravity of someone prepared to face the consequences.

"It won't be easy."

"Affirmative. Nevertheless, it must be done."

The captain picked up her cap and sprang to her feet. There was no time left to waste.

Would the Military State detect the information the Shadow had spread, or would the captain discover it all first and intercept it? It was a race against time.

About to leave the carriage at once, the captain stopped her hand just short of the door handle. She flexed her fingers in midair several times, then curled them into a loose fist and asked hesitantly,

"But please, tell me just one thing."

'From the beginning, all I have done is receive. From the moment I was found in that box until we arrived here, you have helped me so much... You saved my life and even gave me a duty. In both body and spirit, then, my life is a gift from you.'

Even beasts knew gratitude. If anything, humans, with their heads full of suspicion, were less grateful.

So you've finally realized how much I've done for you. Took you long enough.

Was there anything more meaningful than teaching the meaning of life to someone who'd never had a life of their own? Inwardly, I smiled warmly.

... This way, she'd become a backer who would never betray me.

Sure enough, the captain held her cap against her chest and asked,

"... Is there anything I can do for you?"

Good. That's what I wanted.

I answered with feigned nonchalance.

"As long as you're alive."

As long as she was alive, I could find some use for her. As long as she could think and act, she could be a dependable backer.

I'd thought these communications officers were captains in name only, without any real substance. But they were far more useful than I'd expected... and far more dangerous, too.

In particular, if the Military State used communications officers to watch me remotely, I'd have no choice but to get caught. Having a communications officer like Captain AB deeply indebted to me would come in handy then, too.

Military State. You must have been guarding against this very thing... but I'll put your tools to good use.

I was just about to continue when she spoke.

"I see. Understood."

"?"

What did she suddenly understand? At least hear me out before leaving.

There was a mountain of things she could do for me. Shutting down any investigation into me, warning me through a golem when I was in danger. Passing along all news of war and related matters. Plenty to do, wasn't there?

'It is exactly as the Weaver said. You grant wishes. If that is your intention... then I, too, will give as you do, as far as I am able.'

"Thank you. I must hurry now."

The captain bowed, opened the door, and left. Alone in the carriage, I could only nod, bewildered.

Then I heard the captain's thoughts from beyond the door. As she connected to a golem, she repeated a phrase in her mind.

'You may not see me, but I will always be watching you, living the life you gave me.'

Uh, you don't have to watch me all the time... Only when my safety is in danger, you know?

Just as the captain was about to set off, a scene appeared in a corner of her vision, in the central window among those under her control. She stopped in her tracks, aghast at the sight.

'The Shelter's veterans...! Wiped out?!'

Huh?

Those people?

The parade ground of the largest military school in District 12.

The place where the Shelter's veterans had been drilling the delinquents they'd captured had now been transformed by an attack of some kind.

"Hah, hah, hah. God... damn it. If only I were ten years younger..."

Frontain, the Shelter's director, was bleeding all over. Blood from a gash ran at an angle along his wrinkles before dripping from his chin.

Drawing on the energy arts throughout his body, he shouted at his unseen enemy.

"Where are you?! Stop hiding from an old man and come out, Shadow!"

"I am not hiding."

A gloomy voice reached Frontain's ears. He whipped his head around and saw a lone shadow emerging from the school entrance.

Frontain shouted,

"You bastard, Shadow!"

"I had hoped to avoid showing myself, if possible. That way, the Military State would not catch wind of this."

The gloomy, seemingly emotionless voice seeped through the gaps between the shadows. It seemed both to whisper in their ears and to come from far away.

Neither the veterans still barely standing nor the thugs looking around in uncomprehending confusion could tell where the voice came from.

A strange ability—whether an energy art or a power of his own, they could not tell.

"Has so much time passed? How fleeting it all is. That place, home to a horror one cannot even speak of, was a realm of nightmares where one could not lower one's guard for a single instant... Yet in this peaceful city, you have all grown old and weak. The Military State and the Shadow alike."

Wolfen spoke as though lamenting. Before they knew it, he had reached the edge of the parade ground.

Frontain raised his cane overhead and charged at him.

"You bastard! Stand and fiiight!"

He had no chance in a prolonged battle. They had already been worn down enough.

The surprise attack by the Shadow's leader, Umbra Wolfen, had been stealthy, swift, and lethal. Wolfen had felled five men in an instant, then calmly walked away. Enraged, Frontain had pursued him, only to be ambushed and wounded himself.

While Frontain paused to guard against another attack, Wolfen had vanished. Unable to find any trace of where he had gone, the veterans had dared not move carelessly, holding their positions instead.

And when Wolfen revealed himself again, the veterans instinctively knew this was their last chance and attacked as one.

As the few remaining veterans charged with their weapons in hand, Wolfen's figure vanished, leaving only his voice behind.

"The battle is already over. Your defeat has been decided. You simply do not know it yet."

SHUNK

In mid-charge, the one-armed veteran was struck by an unseen blade that cut deep into his remaining shoulder. Without even time to master the pain, he opened his eyes wide.

"But I used... bullet-repelling energy!"

"Do not put blind faith in it."

The voice sounded beside his ear. The one-armed soldier swung his iron flail toward it, but the weapon, powerful enough to smash concrete, swept uselessly through empty air.

SHUNK

Again came the sound of life draining away. A blade plunged into his chest.

His chest deeply slashed and bleeding, the one-armed soldier began to topple. Then his eyes flashed, and he reached out and seized Wolfen's clothes.

With a right arm that should not have existed, sprouting from the stump of his severed shoulder.

"An energy hand?"

Wolfen reacted. Even he would not be able to shake off a hand gripping him through the energy arts.

As the soldier briefly held the Shadow in place, Frontain closed in.

"Got you! You bastaaard!"

Ghostly fire flared in his wrinkle-framed eyes. He had conserved his strength again and again because of his failing stamina, but this was his last chance.

Saturated with energy, his cane vibrated. Light flashed even in the darkness. Frontain's cane fell like a thunderbolt.

Trailing a storm behind it, the cane would deal a fatal blow with even a glancing touch. If Wolfen dodged, Frontain would detonate its energy.

Hold the assassin in place, then strike down upon him.

"... Black Stillness Art."

But darkness seeped from Wolfen's body and slipped between the flashes of light. For an instant, the thunderbolt was swallowed by darkness. Inserting his energy in a peculiar fashion, Wolfen deflected Frontain's descending cane with his dagger.

The cane veered aside in a gentle arc. Despair spread across Frontain's face, and in that instant, the Shadow's blade mercilessly tore into the old general's body.

How could so much blood remain in that gaunt body? Blood gushed from the old general's chest.

"Gah... Damn it..."

The old general groaned, struggling to hold on to his faltering breath.

Wolfen Fenstein was an assassin. Because he specialized in prepared strikes, he was weak in a head-on fight...

"... Was thinking... that way... my fatal mistake...?"

"I avoided fighting head-on simply because it was more efficient."

Wolfen murmured, his eyes devoid of emotion. Frontain coughed up blood as he replied.

"I... know that, too. That in this world... there are many... far better than someone like me..."

And perhaps someone like that might emerge from among the children he raised. A child who could rise beyond an ordinary general and stand alongside the Six Generals.

Like the Musketeer, recently recognized as the youngest of the Six Generals.

Children had limitless potential. It was the adults' job to help it bloom before it faded.

That was why Frontain left these final words before he died.

"We... never said a word about who you are... Those children don't know... your identity..."

All the veterans he had called together were dead. Though retired, they had remained soldiers, standing in Wolfen's way prepared to die.

They had lost, but even so, they had taken one precaution, just in case.

"There is no need... to kill them to silence them..."

Killing everyone wasn't his goal, was it? Frontain protected the children to the very end.

Wolfen answered the old general's dying plea with emotionless eyes.

"If that is so."

Wolfen's objective was to spread the taboo anyway, so he would not kill them.

Who knew what the Military State would do to them once its taboo was exposed? But Wolfen had no reason to explain that part.

Whatever Wolfen truly intended, Frontain heard his answer and closed his eyes in relief. His final sleep would last longer than his life.

The old general was dead. Of course, Wolfen felt nothing in particular about it. With deeply sunken eyes, he merely looked toward his next target.

The Market was next. Wolfen's figure vanished as though melting into the darkened street...

As he made his way toward the Market, Wolfen caught sight of a carriage drawn by two horses.