Chapter 68: Going to Work (2) ── 18 hours before Citizen's Day
6:00 AM
Beep.
I tapped my identity card against the Gigantes clock-in machine.
[Confirmed.]
The state-of-the-art reader scanned my ID and flashed a green light. I had expected some analog system involving punching holes in paper cards, but those bastards at the Imperial Palace certainly didn't skimp on the budget when it came to systems for controlling workers.
I stepped inside Gigantes. Thousands of pipes were intertwined like a mess of blood vessels. Even the glimpse of the sky was obscured by gray smog; the industrial complex felt like a massive labyrinth.
"What kind of... layout is this?"
I moved forward, visualizing the map I had obtained beforehand, but the actual Gigantes had already been expanded into something far more complex than the blueprints suggested.
Thump—! Thump—! Thump—!
Every time the heavy presses slammed down and shook the earth, the bleak-faced workers moved in mechanical unison. There was no spark of life in their eyes. Clad in grease-stained coveralls, they possessed a numbness that didn't even flinch at the supervisors' verbal abuse. They weren't being treated as humans, but consumed as spare parts.
The justification for revolution was clearly etched into this place.
[Security Breakroom]
Before long, I arrived at the security breakroom.
The layout of Gigantes was incredibly convoluted, but there was no risk of me getting lost. It was thanks to the Virus inside me.
I figured the creature stored all the visual information I observed as mana data, then projected it into my mind whenever I desired.
It was a convenient talent.
However, I still couldn't tell if the Virus was on my side—if it was a friend. It was, after all, a fragment from another world with an unclear origin.
"...."
Stepping into the security breakroom, I was momentarily speechless. It was embarrassing to even call it a breakroom. It consisted of nothing more than a few dented metal lockers and a single long bench with peeling paint. A slogan inside a frame hanging in the middle of a moldy wall burned into my retinas.
「Your sweat for His Imperial Majesty creates the Empire's steel.」
"Haah..."
A sigh that sounded like a hollow laugh escaped me.
I've really tumbled into a hell of a place.
Me, you, all of us.
"...Hmm."
I scanned the ceiling of the security breakroom.
Before my regression, the full details of how this terror attack failed were never revealed. The situation inside Gigantes was kept strictly classified, and only the identities of the captured and executed revolutionaries were made public.
Therefore, I needed to hide for a while and choose a spot to intervene in their operation at the right moment. As a thorough observer and supporter.
"Not around here."
There was no suitable place to hide.
A hideout required two conditions:
It must be as close as possible to the 'Power Source,' the heart of Gigantes. It must never be discovered. I left the breakroom and walked down the corridor. Then, a thought occurred to me.
"...You."
I placed a hand on my collarbone and spoke quietly.
One of the properties of a mana core is 'emission.' If the Virus could shoot out minute mana waves like radar, couldn't I detect empty spaces hidden from view through the echoes?
"Transmit the information."
It seemed this thing would be more efficient than me at searching for a hideout.
Sssssssss───.
Mana spread out beneath my feet. Beyond the concrete walls, through the gaps between pipes—the spaces and geometric structures were drawn three-dimensionally in my head.
"Hey! You! What are you doing!"
A sudden shout. I snapped my eyes open. The distorted face of a pig-like supervisor was right in front of me.
I almost punched him in the face instinctively.
"...I'm security."
"I haven't seen your face before. Hand over your ID!"
I held out my card. The supervisor swiped it through a reader. Beep. It was a valid identity.
"I know you're security, you brat! Who doesn't? I'm asking why you're loitering here."
"I received separate orders. To patrol this sector."
"Ugh, damn it, then do it right. You had your eyes closed! I'll let it slide since tomorrow's a holiday."
The supervisor flicked my hat, spat on the floor, and disappeared.
"...."
I memorized that bastard's face.
I closed my eyes again.
Once more, mana spread out beneath my feet, groping through the spaces in the darkness.
* * *
── 12 hours before Citizen's Day
: 12:00 PM
The tranquility of the noon hour filled the interview room. Entikkan, the orphanage director, looked at his niece, Yukia, who sat across from him.
"Don't worry about the shop. Tomorrow is a holiday."
"...."
Yukia panted slightly as she scanned the interior of the room. No matter where she looked, there was no clock.
"What time is it now?"
"Citizen's Day. Did you even know?"
Yukia replied curtly.
"I don't know. What time is it?"
"...Look at this."
Entikkan pointed to the documents spread out on the table. Her gaze lingered on them for a moment. Report cards and awards from her time at the academy. Over the records filled with praise calling her a genius, a single document had been placed.
[Referral to Disciplinary Committee - Reason: Attempted Murder of a Peer]
It was an absurd frame-up.
"...Why this?"
Yukia was gifted with objects. In fact, it went beyond mere skill; it was a supernatural ability to instinctively grasp the structure and origin of an object and maximize its potential.
Even an ordinary branch or a stone could become a special weapon in her hands.
That was the reason she had bothered to open a shop.
"The Knight laments that such talent of yours is going to waste."
"It's not going to waste."
"Then what are you now?"
Entikkan looked at Yukia, who was covered in bruises. Her eyes were swollen, and her teeth were chipped like a beast's.
"Do you want to be exiled and go back to wandering?"
Since she was a child, Yukia had grown up wandering across the continent with her father. It was because her father's profession was a Guide.
"...."
Yukia stared at Entikkan in silence. Entikkan let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair.
"Sir Maximilian wants to keep you by his side."
Suddenly, Yukia's red eyes wavered.
"By his side?"
"Yes."
Yukia belatedly sensed the weight behind those words.
"He likely wants the Yaken race's tracking abilities. Even the Imperials know of our prowess."
The Yaken believed they were a race chosen by spirits and nature, and in reality, their five senses were exceptionally superior to those of other races.
"...."
Yukia bit her lip as if agonizing over the decision. Entikkan swallowed a sigh inwardly.
This was an invitation to become a dog for a high-ranking Imperial house; considering her stubbornness and pride, she would naturally refuse.
"Forget it. I shouldn't have ask—"
"I might do it."
"...What?"
Yukia looked at her uncle and nodded slowly.
"I might do it."
Her answer was not a surrender. The yearning for revolution and the rage over her father's death were whetted sharp in her heart.
The place her hatred reached was the deepest part of the Empire.
The Imperial Palace.
"Pass it on."
If she was by the side of a knight named Maximilian, she might be able to reach that inner sanctum—
That was her calculation.
* * *
── 6 hours before Citizen's Day
: 6:00 PM
I discovered an empty space hidden beneath the ground between the pipes and the outer wall of Gigantes. I didn't know how it had been formed, but it looked like a hideout created by workers long ago.
"...."
There was a wooden box someone had brought in, and in the corner, a sleeping bag was bunched up, so decayed it looked ready to crumble. Furthermore, faint graffiti left by Gigantes workers from a very long time ago remained on the walls.
I brushed my fingers over them.
— Ah, my back is breaking.
— Endure it anyway. The kids are waiting at home~
— You crazy bastard. If we get caught doing this here, we're all fired.
— Damn it... lost all 30 dollars I won yesterday. Ugh, my stomach hurts.
— Anyone want to cover my shift this weekend? I'll give you a pack of cigarettes.
Rough and crude handwriting. Though laced with profanity, it carried a strange vitality and the scent of life that couldn't be found in the Gigantes of today—a time when there was enough romance and leisure for workers to gather away from the supervisor's eyes, puffing cigarette smoke while playing cards and chess.
A smile crept onto my face.
It felt like I had found an unexpected treasure.
"It's like a treasure hunt."
I no longer felt much excitement over money. I had plenty of it, and I knew that those things considered precious and valuable were ultimately meaningless. Instead, these traces of life felt more worthwhile.
Creeeeeak.
I opened the dusty wooden box.
Canned goods with rust so thick the labels were illegible, yellowed newspapers from that era, chess pieces and a board polished smooth by touch, and playing cards with completely frayed corners.
I could roughly see the date on the newspaper. It was from sixty years ago.
Even back then, Gigantes was at least a place where one could breathe.
How did it end up ruined to this extent?
Finding the reason, or even thinking about it, was now meaningless.
All old things break, and stagnant water is bound to rot.
Tick.
At any rate, I had found a place to hide.
I sat quietly in this burrow and listened to the sound of the second hand echoing from deep within my heart.
Tick.
The absolute flow of time.
Tick.
Perhaps this was the heartbeat of the soul that is 'me.'
* * *
── 30 minutes before Citizen's Day
: 11:30 PM
Tick. Tick.
Time flows on.
In the darkness of the basement where the Gigantes facilities were slowly winding down, the revolutionaries seeped in one by one.
The operation name was [Steel Mole].
Under the single great cause of revolution, they maneuvered strictly as a point-to-point organization. Even if this operation were to fail, the roots of the Revolutionary Group would not be shaken.
"Installation complete."
Explosives had been set at all points. The leader, Tiger Mask, reviewed the operation while pointing at the blueprints.
"Not a single worker must be caught in the crossfire."
The operation was already designed.
First, when the explosives attached to the outer facilities detonated, the external structures of Gigantes would collapse inward. The steel debris would become terrain features themselves, limiting the routes through which the Imperial Military could enter Gigantes. The Revolutionary Group would set up barricades at those points and stage a sit-in, delaying the entry of the Imperial forces.
Since they had already planted mines and bombs on the main roads leading to Gigantes, they could also buy time before external reinforcements arrived.
During the golden time secured in this manner, the Revolutionary Group would definitively destroy the Mana Ore Vein in the heart of the Gigantes basement.
"Get ready."
It was then.
Ding, ding, ding, ding──
The sound announcing the end of the shift at Gigantes echoed throughout.
Ding, ding, ding, ding──
It was the bell of revolution.
* * *
── 25 minutes before Citizen's Day
: 11:35 PM
Ding, ding, ding, ding──
I stepped out of the burrow briefly to coincide with the end of the shift.
"Shift's over! Tomorrow's a holiday!"
At the supervisor's shout, the iron gates of the workshop opened, and tens of thousands of workers poured out.
I watched them, my security cap pulled low. Though soaked in grease and sweat, their faces were bright with excitement for the permitted rest tomorrow.
"Citizen's Day, huh."
"Man, I'm jealous. We're on duty."
"They've got it easy, really. When do we get to rest?"
"It's a rotating shift anyway, you idiot."
The fellow guards standing next to me grumbled, smacking their lips.
Just then, an urgent command came through the radio.
"Ah. They're coming. Get in formation!"
In an instant, the atmosphere among the guards changed. The chatter vanished, and they snapped to attention.
"Line up! Clear the path!"
The supervisor moved with military precision, lining the guards up on both sides of the path leading from the main gate. They were waiting for 'them,' who would soon arrive.
Thump. Thump.
Heavy footsteps shook the ground. The guards swallowed hard, sweating in their tension.
Thump. Thump.
Soon, with the external darkness at their backs, the elites of the Empire entered with an imposing presence. The Imperial Guard in pitch-black armor. They did not rest, even on Citizen's Day. For they were the hands and feet of the Emperor.
"...."
The Imperial Guards were incredibly overbearing. Walking with their chins up and looking only straight ahead, arrogance and haughtiness seemed to cling to them like mud.
Was I like that in the past?
I pretended to bow my head, observing them minutely from beneath the brim of my hat.
"Alright. Security, back to duty! Shift change!"
The supervisor rang a bell, signaling the start of the security watch.
I moved back to the burrow to wait until the appropriate signal came.
* * *
── Citizen's Day
12:33 AM
Beep.
A very small electronic sound echoed from somewhere.
The faint signal awakened the detonators that had been dormant for a long time.
Faaaaaang—!
As a single spark burst like a flare, other explosives triggered a chain reaction like dominoes. Flames wrapped around the outskirts of Gigantes.
Kwaaaaaaaaak───!
The massive steel structures that had endured for centuries crumpled like pulled taffy, and the facilities that had been patched together like rags were blown apart.
Kudududuk—!
The external structures collapsed inward. Bent pillars embraced Gigantes in a convex arc.
Sssssssss──
In the heart of the chaos inside the destroyed Gigantes, where pipelines were torn and steam rose thick.
From within, a man walked out from the basement.
"For the Great Cause."
Tiger Mask drew his sword. Behind him, dozens of shadows rushed forward.
The battle had begun.
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