Chapter 230: Malice (2)
「Commoner Niko Weber Exposes Alchemia’s Sordid Corruption」
「Alchemia, Stained with Filth」
「Imperial Citizenship Law Violation Charges, Who Is the Mastermind?」
「The Ezenheim Who Bled the Aran Dry……」
Around the time when the Jemion Daily and the Empire’s other major news outlets were splashing the Alchemia affair across their front pages day after day.
“You truly went through a great deal, Mr. Niko Weber.”
Hannah, who had been assigned by Maximilian to handle the aftermath of the affair, offered a gentle smile.
Niko answered haltingly.
“Ah…… th-thank you, but. I only did what I had to do, that’s all.”
“Not at all. What you did, Mr. Niko, was a legitimate act of self-redress as a citizen of the Empire, and it will go on record as a courageous decision that safeguarded the order of the Aran. And of course, everyone connected to Alchemia’s corruption will be summoned to the Sentinel and punished, every last one of them.”
As she sorted through the documents, Hannah asked, as though something had just occurred to her.
“By the way, Mr. Niko. What exactly did you see in that basement?”
“Uh…… that……”
Niko blinked, groping through his memory.
“……A rite. It looked like a rite.”
Hannah listened closely to the voice that had quietly begun to speak.
“A rite, is it…… First, could you explain how you came to see ‘that’ in the first place?”
“Ah. Yes.”
Gulp. Niko swallowed hard.
“That day…… there was an emergency night repair job because of the stench. My supervisor told me that if I didn’t fix it by the end of the day, I’d be fired on the spot.”
Hannah looked over Niko’s personal records.
Occupation, plumber.
“I crawled into the ventilation duct and was checking here and there when I found the problem, but before I knew it, I’d dozed off. It was the first time in my life I’d ever fallen asleep on the job…….”
He hunched his shoulders and went on.
“I don’t know how many hours I was out for…… but when I woke up and started crawling through the duct again, I got lost. The ventilation ducts are terribly complicated, you see.”
“And that’s when you found it.”
“Yes. From inside the ventilation shaft, I saw a basement I didn’t recognize. There were people down there, standing very still.”
Niko’s eyes wavered as he recalled that day.
“The ones gathered down there…… they didn’t say a single word to one another. No chanting, no worship, just very quietly…… standing there, eerily still, moving nothing but their eyeballs.”
Hannah belatedly took out the deposition form.
Scratch- scratch-
She wrote Niko’s words down with her pen.
“At the time I had no idea what on earth they were doing, but later, while I was studying up on the Ezenheim, I figured it out.”
After Maximilian’s autobiography was published, Niko had gotten hold of the Ezenheim scriptures as well and read through them.
“The Silent Communion.”
The ‘Silent Communion’, recorded in a certain passage of their scriptures.
A rite unique to the Ezenheim, in which they shared meditation without a word.
“Hmm. I see. Was there anything else?”
“Uh…… there was, actually.”
“Please, go on.”
“……Honestly, I’m not sure whether I dreamed it or actually saw it. The memories of that day are hazy, like they’re buried in fog.”
Even Niko himself doubted his own recollection, but to Hannah, that very uncertainty came across as all the more convincing.
“Those bastards were in the middle of their ‘Silent Communion’ when suddenly one of the men lifted up a huge stone that lay on the floor like a gravestone. And then……”
Thwack! A phantom sound rang in Niko’s ears.
“……he beat the person standing beside him to death, right over the head.”
Hannah’s brow creased faintly.
Thwack! Thwack! Scalp splitting open,
Crack! Skull laid bare,
Squelch! The image of a brain crushed to pulp.
Niko had watched that grotesque rite from inside the ventilation duct, until……
“I couldn’t fight off the flood of drowsiness and blacked out. By the time I came to, it was already morning.”
“…….”
Hannah went over the deposition she’d written from the very beginning. Slowly repeating the sentences to herself, she reconstructed the scene.
“……That more or less adds up.”
“Ah, does it?”
“Yes. It’s only my conjecture for now, but with backing from the Defense Bureau, Alchemia handles all sorts of chemical agents, sleeping gas among them. In all likelihood, before carrying out the rite, they released sleeping gas into the basement to shut out any possible intruders.”
She rose from her seat and pinned the Alchemia-related reports to a corkboard.
“You were exposed to it and fell asleep, Mr. Niko. You woke briefly and witnessed the scene, but with the drug still in your system, you dropped off again.”
Hannah placed the statement she’d just taken from Niko at the dead center of the corkboard.
“Human sacrifice…… it may have been some rite along those lines. Of course, there’s no ruling out that you saw a hallucination, Mr. Niko, but either way it would have been an act harmful to the Empire. As you’re aware, the Ezenheim are the Empire’s cancer cells.”
Hannah lifted up the autopsy reports. The ones who had died in Niko’s act of terror were, every last one of them, Ezenheim.
“─Because they’re the Anti-Race, after all.”
Niko nodded fervently.
It was something he agreed with very, very, very much himself.
* * *
Squawk- squawk-
A tavern near the salt-tinged harbor, seagulls wheeling past on the far side of the window.
I sat with a plate of food and a glass of beer set before me, gazing out the window.
──The Titan.
A cruise ship of unknown nature, crawling with Ezenheim.
Its name, at least, was familiar to me. Its silhouette wasn’t unfamiliar either.
“Hey.”
“…….”
“Hey, pal!”
A gruff voice broke my reverie. The tavern owner was watching me, his brow narrowing slightly.
“You getting on that ship too?”
“Yes.”
“Hm, you don’t look like an Aran, though?”
In his eyes, I am a man with brown hair and rough, dark skin. Now that my face has become well known, I’ve painted on one more layer of disguise.
A special dye made from ground Mana Stone. The color is flawless, but there are grim rumors going around that it causes cancer.
“Are you an Aran yourself, boss?”
“Hahaha! Believe it or not, I’m pure Aran to the bone.”
He chuckled and puffed out his chest. He seemed proud of being Aran, but fortunately he showed no sign of looking down on other peoples.
“But watch yourself. Lately there’ve been some shady types wandering around here all the time. Something about it stinks.”
“Isn’t that just because this place is famous for good food?”
“Whaaat─?”
The owner’s eyebrows jumped. I pointed my fork at the scallop dish in front of me.
“The delicate sweetness of the scallop marries exquisitely with the acidity of the lemon juice. Especially the rich, nutty depth of this brown butter……. the finish lingers deep. Being right by the sea, I expected the ingredients to be fresh, but the level of cooking here is almost excessively fine.”
“…….”
The owner stared at me blankly, then burst out with a booming Kwahahaha!
“That’s true enough! My wife’s got quite a talent. You in the restaurant trade, friend?”
“No.”
The persona I’ve set up for this cover is something else entirely. A profession that lets me put my senses to use as naturally as possible.
“I’m an Appraiser.”
The Virus inside me and I are, little by little, in the process of growing to resemble each other. We’re not yet at the stage where I’d call us ‘close’, but as it assimilates with me, it amplifies every sensation I feel.
“Ohh, an Appraiser…….”
“I’ve got a medical license, too.”
“Oh yeah? An elite, are you?”
“─A glass of whiskey.”
A low voice suddenly cut in. Out of the corner of my eye, I looked the customer over. There was something distinctly off about the way he wore his hat pulled down low. He gave off the scent of an informant, or perhaps an investigator.
“Thanks for the meal.”
I set a few bills on the table and got to my feet. The owner tossed a casual aside at the back of my head.
“There’s a card game going upstairs. Have a look if you’re interested.”
“…….”
I pretended not to care, but I stole a glance up the stairs. Snatches of conversation drifted down from the gambling den.
─I’ll put this ticket up as my stake this round.
─What’s this? Just a scrap of paper?
─……It’s a first-class ticket for the Titan.
I just walked out.
I sat on a bench overlooking the whole harbor and spent a while writing a letter.
“……A mail carrier?”
Then I stopped a mail carrier coming down from the harbor. I handed over the letter, stamped with the agreed-upon postage, along with a wad of cash.
“I’m counting on you.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll make sure it’s delivered.”
Naturally, he’s no ordinary mail carrier. An informant attached to the Genen branch office. Having confirmed the specific stamp, he’ll relay my message to the office.
After that, I returned to a cheap hotel room nearby with a view of the sea.
“…….”
I sat by the window, staring into the distance. The Titan, moored in the harbor, still radiating its lavish lights.
Is that place an escape facility for the Ezenheim, or a new supply source?
Either way, as I look at it, I’m entertaining a rather terrifying thought.
The most efficient scenario, but also the most inhumane.
I gently closed my eyes.
[ The pitiable peoples who migrated countless times to escape the Empire’s oppression…… ]
A scene from a documentary played back in my memory.
It was a record of certain heroes from around the time of that war, after the Empire had fallen.
[ Erio, who had been the captain of the Titan, and Morgan, the ship’s owner, were heroes who braved danger to spirit tens of thousands of minority peoples out of the Empire. ]
Merin, Ezenheim, Edlem. Back when the Empire ran amok and set out to round up and annihilate every last one of the other minority peoples and Subspecies, the number they saved came to more than tens of thousands.
[ “This is the captain’s quarters. Takes me back.” Erio said, gripping the helm, “There were times we had close to ten thousand aboard.” ]
In the not-too-distant future, an industry called cinema would flourish, and a box called the television would come to sit in every private room.
And so countless documentaries taking the Empire’s Continental War as their subject would come to be made as well.
[ “My wife was an Ezenheim. I set the ship to sea to protect her.” Morgan, the ship’s owner, smiled. His face, as he thought of his wife……. ]
Morgan’s interview in that footage tugged at the continent’s heartstrings and etched the Empire’s madness into the world without end.
But the man I am now…….
Knock, knock-
A knock, sounding out of nowhere.
I got up and opened the door of the room. There was no one in the hallway, but a small bag had been left in front of the door.
I picked it up, came back into the room, and sat down at the desk.
“…….”
I stared at the bag and sank into quiet stillness.
I lost myself in thought.
Until the darkness fully settled, and the sun once again hid itself beyond the horizon.
It was a dilemma.
A dilemma all my own.
Something that welled up from the depths of my heart the moment I laid eyes on the vessel called the Titan, something that, if it has to be done, must never be pushed off onto anyone else, something only I can do……
Such a task.
* * *
Departure day arrived, a wharf awash with surging crowds.
─I’m really looking forward to this voyage, Sir Lucris.
─They do say the ball aboard the Titan is the finest on the whole continent……
Not only Imperial nobles decked out in gorgeous gowns, but wealthy middle-class families off on holiday, couples come to enjoy their honeymoons, and the Ezenheim rats slipped in among them filled the wharf.
Their laughter drifted through the air.
Thump──
The whole of this vessel called the Titan was, in truth, a gigantic Ezenheim cocoon.
Far, far too many of them lay lurking within it.
Thump──
Cut away the fewer lives, and save the greater number.
And here, ‘the greater number’ means all of humanity.
And that is why-
“Whoa—!”
A gasp of admiration came from beside me.
I turned my head to find a young man standing there.
I counted my looks as one of my greatest talents, but this fellow is quite exceptional. A man handsome enough in the face to turn every head wherever he goes.
“Wow, it really is huge.”
It was the voice I’d heard at the tavern yesterday.
I gave a small smile.
“Looks like you won at the gambling table. Seeing as you’re here.”
The young man flinched in surprise and turned to look at me.
“The hell? Who’re you? You know me?”
“That game yesterday, I was watching from the corner.”
“Ahh~ so you were one of the gawkers. What, jealous? I’ve got pretty good luck, I’ll admit.”
He waved the first-class ticket back and forth. I replied dryly.
“They say great fortune is trailed by great disaster.”
“……What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, if I were you, I’d sell that ticket. The sea is more fickle than you’d think.”
“Hah. You must be pretty jealous, huh~”
Bwooooooo──!
The ship’s horn blared. The VIPs of the deluxe and first-class cabins, and the middle-class passengers of second class, boarded in turn. The nameless man, too, had already scrambled off in a hurry before I noticed.
“Tickets, please─! Your tickets─!”
I handed my ticket to a crew member as well, then stepped through the third-class entrance ahead of the rest.
“Open your bag, please!”
“…….”
When I handed over the bag, he turned it upside down and dumped out every last thing inside. Appraisal instruments, a music box, cigarettes, clothes and the like came spilling out.
“What are these machines?”
“Equipment. I’m an Appraiser.”
“……An Appraiser?”
I handed over my Master Grade certification. The crew member’s eyes went wide.
It’s a fairly sophisticated forgery, impossible to tell apart with the naked eye.
“Eli Zella. A genuine Master Grade…… but hold on, why third class…….”
“I’m a Merin.”
“……Ahem.”
The crew member cleared his throat and gestured to me. It meant I could go on up.
And so, as the departure time drew near.
Bwooooooo──!
The ship sounded its horn.
Once we leave port, I’ll have to stay here for close to a week now.
─Everyone, your attention, please!
A crew member at the center of the deck shouted through a megaphone.
─I will now announce the rules for our third-class passengers!
Rule 1. Movement into the first- and second-class areas is strictly forbidden.
Rule 2. Entry into crew-only areas and the engine room is strictly forbidden.
Rule 3. No passage after 11 p.m.
Rule 4. When sea fog sets in, passage on deck is forbidden.
“This is bullshit. I paid my own money to be here.”
The man standing beside me grumbled, but most stayed quiet. Their purpose, after all, wasn’t sightseeing or travel or anything of the sort.
Minority immigrants who would endure any treatment if it meant getting out of the Empire safely. Ideological criminals and political prisoners who’d falsified their identities.
─And please fill out this questionnaire and return it before nightfall! It’s to prepare for any possible emergency, so answer truthfully, with no lies!
A questionnaire for recording things like one’s origins, occupation, age, sex, and name.
─You may all make your way to the passenger area now!
With my bag slung over my shoulder, I headed down the stairs.
“……Room 303.”
The moment I opened the door of the four-person cabin I’d been assigned, I set down my luggage and lay down on the bed.
Quietly, I thought about the Ezenheim lurking aboard this vessel.
Gazing up at the ceiling, I sank into deep thought.
In my bag were the ‘instruments’.
What I have to do with them is simple.
To send this entire vessel called the Titan down to the bottom of the sea.
* * *
The wheelhouse of the great ship Titan.
“Chief Navigator, sir. There’s an Appraiser aboard, too?”
At the words of a crew member inspecting the third-class questionnaires, the chief navigator asked back.
“An Appraiser?”
“Yes. A Master Grade, even. The name’s…… Eli Zella.”
“Is that so?”
The [Appraisal Association], headquartered in a neutral nation, issued appraiser certifications under a very strict grading system.
Of these, the ‘Master’ grade, of which there were no more than two or three hundred holders across the entire continent, let alone the Empire, marked its bearers as first-rate at reading the grain of Mana.
“Why’s a Master Grade down in third class?”
“He’s a Merin, apparently.”
“Ah, is that so? Well, then.”
The navigator nodded. To begin with, the deluxe and first-class tickets aboard the Titan could only be bought by those whose status and wealth were guaranteed. Second and third class went through very rigorous screening as well, since any minority peoples or criminals barred from entry or exit absolutely had to be weeded out.
“All right, carry on. Radio me the moment anything comes up.”
“Yes, sir.”
The voyage had entered its stable phase, so the navigator stepped out of the wheelhouse.
He arrived at the Prestige Lounge, where high-ranking Imperial nobles and top-tier businessmen had gathered.
At one table in that opulent place, a group of nobles seemed to be conversing about something set in the middle.
“……What seems to be the matter?”
When the navigator approached and asked politely, one of the nobles answered with a small chuckle.
“We’re wagering over whether this pocket watch is genuine or a fake.”
A Mana Stone watch, remarkable for its exquisite craftsmanship.
“They say authenticating forged family trees is all the rage in the Empire these days, and now it seems the disease of suspicion has spread even to our collections. Haha.”
Just then the watch’s owner frowned and looked at the navigator.
“Navigator, can you read the grain of Mana at all? You’re a mage, I hear.”
“Uh…… my apologies, but my specialty is navigation magic. I’ve no real expertise on the appraisal side.”
The navigator shook his head politely, but suddenly the information he’d just heard came to mind.
“That said, there is one Master Grade Appraiser among the passengers.”
At the word ‘Master’, the nobles’ eyes flashed.
“Ohh, a Master?”
“He’s a Merin, so he’s staying in third class, though…….”
“So what if he’s a Merin? This gentleman here keeps prattling that it’s a fake. Well, then? Care to make it a wager?”
At that, the man across from him, the one who’d argued it was a fake, smiled and nodded as well.
“Very well. Let’s do that.”
“Yes. In that case, please wait just a moment.”
The navigator spun around at once and hurried off toward the wheelhouse.
Service of this kind, too, was the duty of a first-rate crew member toward the honored guests.
~~~
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