Chapter 123: Life Might Be a Play (3) "──Hannah Usar. You have a mission."
Just as the political strife within the Sentinels was entering a brief lull, the rookie knight Hannah received a summons.
"To Volska, sir?"
Her superior nodded at her response.
Volska was a country bordering the northeastern part of the Empire. While it claimed to be a republic, it was effectively a dictatorship ruled by a military junta that functioned like royalty.
"Intelligence report. Movements of an anti-Imperialist terrorist group have been detected."
The Sentinels were not composed solely of the Chiron and Adria factions. While those two were the primary forces, there were clearly third and fourth factions that held voting rights.
These were the individuals who best embodied the maxim: A knight is an independent contractor.
"They are attempting a large-scale trade of weapons and illegal mana stones in Volska. The buyers are suspected to be remnants of 'Gentra.'"
Gale was a knight who served as the core of that neutral faction. Like Hannah, he came from a commoner background—a high-ranking knight who had long ago abandoned any ambition for social climbing.
He lit a cigarette and explained dryly.
"Even if it's not Gentra, it'll be some other reactionary bastards of the same ilk."
Anti-Imperialist organizations were a dime a dozen. The Revolutionary Group was the most famous, so they were often lumped together under that name, but their sects and lineages were as diverse as religions.
"However, them buying weapons is nothing new. The problem is the seller."
Gale tapped his cigarette against the ashtray.
"A force capable of supplying high-performance weapons and illegal mana stones in bulk to anti-Imperialist groups... they are clear enemies of the Empire. The core of this mission is to uncover the sellers' backgrounds and blow the deal itself sky-high."
Hannah nodded.
"Leon is already on his way to Volska. It might be a difficult mission for a first-year knight, but you participated in the 'Dream Road,' so I expect you won't complain."
Perhaps it was Gale's way of showing consideration. As a commoner himself, Gale was giving Hannah, a fellow commoner, a chance to build her track record.
"Yes, sir. I'll move out immediately."
...And that was how Hannah Usar ended up setting up a disguised office in a dilapidated building in the capital of Volska.
Tick. Ti-tick.
Hannah scratched the back of her neck as she stared at the flickering mana stone lamp.
"Sorry. Our budget was a bit tight, so I had to rent a cheap place."
"It's fine, ma'am."
Two administrative officers and one clerk were with her. Thanks to the Dream Road operation, their budget had increased significantly, allowing her to hire two more people.
"In exchange, look forward to it if we succeed in this mission."
She planned to distribute bonuses. A knight's work wasn't accomplished by the knight alone.
"Yes. First of all."
The clerk handed over a document.
"Here are the dates, locations, and passwords for meeting our informants in Volska."
2:00 PM. Orakan Burger. Sit at table number 7, order a cheeseburger, fries, and oatmeal. Look out the window, then glance at the seat directly behind.
"Got it. Confirmed."
* * *
When I returned home, an unfamiliar vehicle was parked at the mansion. A truck reinforced with bulletproof, blade-proof, and anti-magic plating. It seemed Lorenzo had arrived.
I stepped inside. In the living room, Schatz and Lorenzo were in the middle of a conversation.
"Ah, you've arrived."
Lorenzo greeted me. Beside him sat Leo, looking dignified.
Leo's growth spurt had ended.
He stood 73cm at the shoulder and weighed 45kg. His frame was complete; now he was in the stage of adding muscle to increase his weight class.
I approached Lorenzo, hiding my anticipation.
"I take it the finished product is ready?"
"Yes. This is the canine-exclusive armor you ordered."
Lorenzo opened a case.
Shwaaaaa──
A suit of mana stone armor emitting a silvery glow. It was equipment precisely crafted to fit Leo's physical structure.
"Leo has such an exceptional build even for an Aran Shepherd that it required custom fabrication."
Lorenzo pointed to the joints of the armor as he explained.
"It's flexible, so even if he grows a bit more, it will adjust without issue. Also, I've engraved camouflage mana stones on the surface, designed to take on protective coloring to match the surroundings."
I took the armor out and fitted it onto Leo myself. He stood still and let me work.
"It can deflect most rifle rounds or sword strikes, and it can withstand a certain degree of mana projectiles like magic. Despite that, it's lightweight and won't hinder his movement at all."
Leo was now clad in silver plate. Schatz clapped her hands in admiration.
"Additionally, there is enough storage space inside for emergency rations. Though it's a mystery whether a dog will be able to take out and eat the food on his own..."
"He can."
Because Leo was a genius. I had to think of him as something more than human.
"...Ahem."
Suddenly, Schatz cleared her throat with a shrug.
"Sir Knight. We also have armor for our Annex dogs."
She held up a suit of armor as if showing it off. It was mass-produced equipment for the guard dogs of the Genen Annex.
It was clearly a lower grade compared to Leo's, but it looked sufficient for actual combat.
"I procured them using the Annex's budget."
"Good job. Oh, and if the budget runs short, ask Dieter in your name. Your signature is fine, Schatz."
Dieter and the experts under him managed the budget strictly.
Schatz was trustworthy, of course, but if a large budget was managed carelessly, thieves would inevitably emerge.
"The same goes for you, Mr. Lorenzo."
"Haha. I'd like to do that, but the Academy is finally seeing a surplus these days."
I let out a small smile. The Lorenzo Academy had become a source of pride for the Empire's export industry.
The window-mounted air conditioners, in particular, were a star product.
"Ah, also this..."
Lorenzo held out a small case. Inside was an ultra-miniature earphone designed to fit perfectly into a dog's ear.
Communication equipment crafted from ultra-high-density mana stones.
"It operates on mana. Considering Leo's hearing, it can selectively amplify and deliver subtle signals or just your voice. Conversely, it blocks out harmful noises like explosions, but..."
Lorenzo still seemed skeptical of Leo.
"Whether a dog can perfectly understand and carry out human speech is—"
"He can."
He had already perfectly inherited the Ebenholtz mana breathing, maneuvers, tactics, and training.
I picked up the earphone and tucked it into Leo's ear.
"We can work as a two-man cell, right?"
Leo nodded.
I stroked his head and widened my eyes in mock surprise.
"...What? You say you can even handle solo missions?"
Woof!
Leo barked deeply. As if to say it was truly possible.
I patted the scruff of his neck.
"I actually have something for you to do."
From now on, you have to earn your keep, your elixir money, and your armor money.
The reality we faced was quite cold; we couldn't just poop and go for walks forever.
...
Aternum Munitions Factory. Under the pretext of 'national industry,' this place was equipped with separate interrogation and detention rooms in its basement.
"These twenty-three."
Yukia placed a document down on the steel table in the interrogation room.
"They are the ones who smell like stagnant water."
It was a list of Izenheim who had infiltrated the factory. As the number of workers at Aternum grew, it was inevitable that rats would sneak in.
"I've only locked seven of them in the detention cells."
I wanted to kill them all, but if I killed too many Izenheim at once, it might arouse their suspicion.
I couldn't let the Izenheim discover my ability just yet.
"Also, these are from the guard captain. Those among the ones who embezzled internal supplies whose crimes were particularly heinous."
A total of twenty-seven people. All were locked behind the iron bars of the detention cells.
"Yukia."
I gestured toward Leo beside me.
"Let Leo catch the scent as well."
"...?"
"You alone aren't enough. I need to train him on that 'scent' too."
Yukia looked puzzled but soon nodded.
Tap. Ta-tap.
Leo followed behind Yukia with light footsteps.
Inside the cells were workers caught stealing and selling supplies. Among them were Izenheim, Arans, and other races mixed in.
Yukia first approached an Izenheim. After confirming the disgusting fishy smell emanating from him, she pointed him out to Leo.
"Smell."
Sniff, sniff.
Leo's nose twitched. Yukia imprinted the man's scent onto Leo.
Telling him that this was the scent of the enemy. An enemy of humanity that must be torn apart.
"Find them."
Leo wandered around the detention cells alone, sniffing. He smelled carefully, then stopped in front of several people and let out a low growl.
"...Thirteen people."
Leo identified a total of thirteen suspects. Only five of them were actual Izenheim. The other eight were just humans who smelled bad or emitted a similar stench.
Even Leo, a genius among geniuses, wasn't perfect. It meant it was something that couldn't be taught to 99.99% of dogs, but I still saw hope.
If it was Leo, he might eventually be able to identify them with consistent training.
"Good work. But you only got five right."
Leo's ears drooped.
"...Whimper."
"It's okay. It's a difficult task. You just have to do better next time. You were cute."
I gave the dejected Leo a good scratch on the head, then gestured to the guard captain who was watching with a bewildered expression.
"Execute them all."
"...Pardon? All of them, sir?"
The guard captain asked back in shock.
"Embezzling military supplies is an act of treason. There are no exceptions."
To kill seven Izenheim, I would bury the rest of the thieves with them.
That way, they wouldn't find out that I could 'specify' the Izenheim.
"Uh, but among them... there are some very diligent workers."
The ones the guard captain was pointing to were all Izenheim. No doubt they had acted diligent to deceive human society.
I glared intently at the guard captain.
"Captain. Do you realize who you are speaking to right now?"
The captain's words caught in his throat. He trembled and bowed his head.
I had to cut off their room for thought. I had to make them carry out my orders as a matter of course.
"Only pure Arans are allowed into Aternum. Falsifying one's identity is punishable by execution."
The necessary documents could be fabricated, or not. It didn't matter.
"These people are enemies of the Empire. Their very appearance says so."
Some Izenheim looked like Imperial citizens, and some did not.
The physical characteristics they were said to share—brown eyes, aquiline noses, fair skin—were many, but in reality, those proportions were only similar to or slightly higher than the racial average.
"Perform an autopsy and report back."
Of course, it didn't matter.
Once they died, their nature as a sub-species would be revealed anyway.
"Dispose of them."
"...Yes, sir."
I turned away without looking back.
As I climbed the stairs, cold gunshots echoed through the factory.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
"Um..."
Just then, Yukia called out to me from behind.
"Yes?"
She handed me something.
"...A pistol?"
It was a sleek pistol shimmering with the silver color of Ebenholtz.
"I made it myself."
"You did?"
"Yeah. You looked so uncomfortable."
Yukia pointed to the longsword on my back.
"There's a Yaken proverb: if you use a monster-slaying blade to slaughter livestock, it eventually shrinks to that size."
"...."
She had a point. It was quite a hassle to swing a 1.6-meter longsword every time I had to kill some random bastards.
"Where's the magazine?"
"There isn't one."
"You're dropping the honorifics again."
"...It fires using mana," Yukia added bluntly. "It's a structure that stores and compresses mana instead of bullets."
I blinked at her words.
"Is such a thing possible? What's the principle?"
A pistol that fires mana. It was something I had never heard of.
Lorenzo would faint if he heard about this.
"I just got absorbed in making it... I don't really know the principle. It just worked."
"Can you make more?"
"Almost impossible."
The Yaken's craftsmanship was certainly extraordinary, and Yukia was far, far more exceptional in the 'mechanical' aspect than other Yaken.
Therefore, this pistol must have been a product of her unique talent.
"I'll put it to good use."
I gripped the pistol. The way it fit in my hand was excellent, but a thought suddenly occurred to me to tell her.
"...I might end up killing hundreds, no, thousands of people with this."
Yukia stared at me intently.
"Is that still okay?"
Two steps below me on the stairs, Yukia's eyes as she looked up at me were unwavering.
"Is there a reason for the killing?"
She asked for the reason behind the slaughter.
I did not waver.
"More than enough."
The version of me reflected in her eyes remained just as unwavering.
"We absolutely must."
Not for the Empire,
"But for ourselves."
Facing me, Yukia gave a quiet nod.
* * *
The Imperial Royal Opera House.
I had been visiting it quite often lately. Once every two days, I would hide my identity or show my face to grasp the structure of the entire space and check the emergency exits. It had essentially become a routine.
"...."
The Opera House was needlessly vast, leaving many blind spots.
I stood in the passage behind the stage and activated my mana.
Ssssss.
The Ebenholtz mana permeated through the marble floor and seeped deeper. The sensation scanning the ground suddenly captured a hollow space.
...A basement.
Too wide to be a drainage pipe, too deep to be a warehouse.
Did this building have a basement?
It certainly wasn't on the blueprints.
A faint smile spread across my lips.
──A hideout.
"Who's there?"
Someone called out to me from the other end of the passage. It was the great actor, Reynold.
I took off my hat.
"Ah, it's the Knight. You've been visiting quite often lately."
I simply gave a silent shrug.
It was a sign that I had reasons I couldn't speak of.
"I understand since you're a knight, but the staff are feeling uncomfortable."
Reynold had a subtle expression. He seemed wary of me after our last clash.
"Well... more importantly, Mr. Reynold. There's something I'm curious about."
There was indeed something I was curious about.
"Why is the repertoire here always the same? L'elisir d'amore , The Emperor's Sword... you only perform about four operas."
Reynold let out a hollow laugh as he set down his towel.
"I heard the Knight was quite knowledgeable, but it seems you have little interest in the arts?"
"...."
I couldn't deny it.
I studied knowledge, culture, language, and history because they were useful to me. I enjoyed fine dining because it was my only means of stress relief.
But art? Well, I just memorized the basics.
"The world could end while people are busy just singing."
Reynold's eyebrows twitched.
Art was a low priority for us. Life had to continue for songs to be sung.
"I'd rather you answer my question. I am trying to take an interest."
"...Fine."
Reynold sighed and began to speak.
"Under Imperial law, for a work to be staged at the Royal Opera House, both the composer and the lyricist must be 'pure Arans.'"
He ran a hand roughly through his hair in frustration.
"But the Empire is traditionally a wasteland for opera. Most masterpieces come from western Progen or the south, but the Empire considers it a disgrace to stage foreign works. And do they support new works? No, they don't."
To summarize it in one sentence:
The Empire had no interest in art and no will to develop it, yet it had become a stagnant pool by obsessing over lineage.
"The facilities of the Royal Opera House are old, but they are still very good. I think it would be great to perform musicals here—a combination of plays and operas. They're already a huge hit in Progen."
"...Musicals."
I nodded slowly as I listened to Reynold.
"I understand. I will personally propose a motion regarding that law."
"...?"
Reynold's expression went blank for a moment.
"I will attempt to lift the regulations and introduce new genres. I'll look for people too. Aran purity is quite exceptional, so there must be talent buried somewhere."
"...Aran purity."
Reynold repeated the words in a strange tone.
"If you wish, I will also provide sponsorship for your troupe."
At that, Reynold's face hardened. He stared at me with serious eyes.
"May I ask why? You don't seem interested in opera."
I considered my answer, but the reason itself was self-evident.
"...Because there is someone who wishes for it."
The person who would descend from the VVIP balcony to the VIP seats, and before long, watch the performance alongside the commoners.
"That person will want to see a new stage. I am merely acting for her sake."
── Tick.
Just then, Reynold's wristwatch chimed.
"Then, if you'll excuse me. It's time for rehearsal."
Reynold turned away. He didn't refuse the sponsorship.
Watching his retreating back, a sudden suspicion arose.
"Opera tickets are so expensive..."
And yet he had no money. That thought overlapped with the hideout in the basement. Could it be?
Was Reynold also part of the Revolutionary Group?
If so, was his approach to the Princess before the regression, and the tragic love between the two, all a staged performance?
"Hmm."
Of course, it wasn't certain, and I shouldn't be certain, but...
"...Life is a play, and death is the only reality."
I softly recited Reynold's line as I left the passage.
Step.
Only after Maximilian had left the spot and completely disappeared did a presence emerge from the darkness.
From a corner of the shadows where there had been nothing, a woman revealed herself.
She was exceptional at erasing her presence.
A kind of secret technique passed down only to those of noble blood. A magic that made one fade like air, unnoticed by anyone's eyes.
If she couldn't become strong like Zebestian or the Jackal of the North, she would instead master 'hiding herself' to the extreme.
Princess Justine was an expert in that regard.
'...Because there is someone who wishes for it.'
She tilted her gaze, recalling the words Maximilian had just spoken.
'That person will want to see a new stage. I am merely acting for her sake.'
She stared blankly at the passage he had left through, then...
"Ha."
She let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 38 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/semi-coercive-imperialist
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━