Chapter 233: Malice (5)
──Shunk! Shunk!
In the suffocating heat, the Titan’s stokers shoveled Mana Stones into the boiler furnaces.
──Shunk! Shunk!
The blue heat radiating from the burning low-grade Mana Stones scorched the steel tanks.
“Ugh. This heat’s gonna kill me…… hwaaahm.”
Zentra agent Jace Arshtel yawned, his sweat-soaked uniform jacket hanging open.
Not that there was much to do.
Kill time supervising the stokers, then find the Imperial Agency bastard and kill him as they neared their destination. That was all.
“……Hey! Everybody! Today marks the exact halfway point, so let’s grab some beers after the shift.”
Just as the stokers were about to answer Jace with something like a cheer.
────KABOOM!
Something exploded somewhere in the boiler room. The shockwave that erupted swept through the interior. Bulkheads crumpled like paper, and alloy pipes were torn away. It was an upheaval that seemed to turn the entire space inside out.
Krrrrrrk───!
A fissure opened deep within the hull.
──Gush, gush, gush, gush, gush.
Cold seawater poured in through the broken seams, and steam blanketed the interior like sea fog.
“……Ah.”
Jace touched the right side of his face.
Tssssss……
His skin was cooking.
“Uh……”
Letting out a dazed sound, he turned round and round, glancing this way and that.
The sudden explosion. Most of the stokers working near the furnaces seemed to have been caught in it and killed instantly, without even a chance to escape.
“Alive…….”
Jace staggered forward.
There was something eerie about his state. With hollow eyes, he searched desperately for something.
Someone alive.
Someone alive.
Someone alive.
“……Khack, hack.”
At last, he found the head stoker, whose breath had not yet given out. The man had taken a heavy blow to the head, but he was alive.
Whooooosh──.
The rising water soaked his ankles in an instant. Jace spat out the blood pooled in his mouth and approached him.
“……Recover.”
Murmuring, he placed a hand on the face of the still-living head stoker.
“Recover…….”
Crrrunch!
He clenched the skull tight. The head stoker’s head was crushed to pulp, and in exchange, Jace’s burns slowly healed.
His ragged breathing subsided, and his breath steadied.
“Whew. That was a close one.”
The moment he, having drained that life force dry, let out a sigh of relief.
───!
A chain of explosions followed. Burning shards of Mana Stone, spilled out from the boiler furnaces, flowed into the flooding breach.
KABOOOOOOM──!
Water, fire, and rampaging Mana mixed together, striking the heart of the Titan from within…….
…….
Whoooooom!
A muted shock rising from the ship’s lower decks. The Titan’s hull trembled for a moment.
Charlotte tilted her head and gripped the railing, while Maximilian feigned ignorance and downed the glass of whiskey. He savored the taste for a moment, then let out a faint sigh.
“……”
Charlotte’s eyes landed on him. As if she’d dismissed it as nothing, a smile spread across her lips again.
“So? How is it?”
“……It’s different.”
Looking down at the empty glass, he added quietly.
“No doubt about it. The real thing is different.”
“Hmm~ That good?”
“Yes. That good.”
Scratching his cheek, Maximilian thought back to himself before the Regression.
‘So I really was swindled back then.’
──Thoooom!
Once again, the hull shuddered.
This time, a longer, more ominous reverberation than before.
“……Hold on. Something’s off. Stay here.”
Charlotte’s expression turned grave in an instant and she hurried off somewhere, while Maximilian watched her go, then took another sip of whiskey.
“Haah…….”
Looking up at the tilting night sky, he savored the lingering trace of Jackallan on the tip of his tongue.
“……It’s good.”
Sweet yet bitter, an exquisite harmony of earth, water, and Mana. A rich texture and a clean finish.
One more sip.
One more sip.
He drank a little breathlessly.
───.
Then, the third tremor rolled in.
The deck’s trembling crept up from the soles of his shoes into his heart.
He knew where these explosions had originated.
By now, the boiler room would be drowned in water and fire.
The stokers who shoveled the Mana Stones. Most of those men, steeped in that heat, had been Ezenheim.
……Most of them.
That gap, the fact that it wasn’t ‘all’ of them, lodged quietly somewhere in the pit of his chest.
The hand gripping the whiskey trembled painfully.
“…….”
Cut away fewer lives to save more.
The calculation is perfect.
Run the numbers again and again, and the answer comes out the same.
It is something that must be done.
Only── the act of cutting cannot help but hurt.
Maximilian closed his eyes gently. On the swaying deck, he sank into himself.
Beyond his closed eyelids, sounds came flooding in.
Still, the strains of strings drifting from the banquet hall. Ripples lapping against the deck. A child crying somewhere.
Noises that would ordinarily have passed him by; tonight, he could feel the grain of each and every one.
Thump.
Beneath his collarbone, the Virus pulsed low.
Thump.
Feeling the throb rise in time with the presence of the people around him, he repeated to himself in a voice no one could hear.
Even I find it hard to bear, sometimes.
……
The wheelhouse. First Mate Lecen, drenched in sweat, burst in and shouted desperately at Captain Erio.
“Captain! There’s been an explosion near the boiler room in the lower hull!”
“I’m aware. The cause?”
“Still unconfirmed. We’ve sealed the bulkheads for now and deployed Buoyancy Magic, but…….”
Lecen, trained extensively in Navigation Magic, had skill enough to delay the sinking.
“Get a clear assessment of the damage first. Evacuate the passengers to the deck immediately and ready the lifeboats.”
“Yes, sir!”
Captain Erio rushed to the telegraph room and threw open the door.
“Ah, Captain! The ship just suddenly-“
Placing a hand on the flustered telegraph operator’s shoulder, he said.
“I know. Send a distress call to nearby vessels at once, and prepare the flares…….”
After that, the crew ran through the cabin corridors, ringing the emergency bells.
The evacuation proceeded strictly by class. The dignitaries of the deluxe suites and first class poured out onto the deck first.
“Wh-what’s going on! What’s wrong with the ship!”
Halbert Goering came up onto the deck. His hair squashed flat, he pulled on a life vest and surveyed his surroundings. The crew had already finished preparing to lower the lifeboats.
“H-hey! I asked what’s going on, didn’t I!”
He grabbed one of them and spun him around.
“Calm, please calm down, sir!”
“Calm down, my ass!”
“Everyone, please remain calm! The lifeboats are being prepared, so please wait your turn in an orderly fashion!”
“Calm down, my ass, you punk! I asked what’s happening! Why are the lifeboats coming out!”
“Sir-“
“Move!”
Halbert scrambled to climb into a lifeboat, then froze.
“…….”
He looked back and forth between the dinghy-sized lifeboat and the Titan.
Titan. Lifeboat. Titan. Lifeboat.
His eyes rolled from one to the other.
Any way he looked at it, the Titan seemed safer.
“Hmm…… Maybe it’s nothing serious after all?”
Just as he was quietly backing away.
Thooooom.
Suddenly, a deeper, quieter, yet far more ominous sound settled thickly over everything.
A button torn from Halbert’s coat in the scuffle slipped loose and, with a little rattle,
went rolling across the deck.
It meant the ship was listing. [TL Note: “Listing” is a nautical term to describe when a vessel takes on water and tilts to one side.]
“!”
Halbert’s pupils blew wide open.
“Move──!”
“Please calm down!”
“Moooove──! Aaaargh! I said moooove─!”
“From this point on, we will handle the boarding order and roster checks for the lifeboats. The criteria will be-“
──Bang!
A gunshot rang out in an instant, silencing the uproar. Everyone turned toward it, startled.
A man approached, jaw working away at a piece of gum.
“Pure Aran.”
It was Nils, an agent of the Direct Agency. Halbert’s face lit up bright.
“We have that most efficient of criteria known as the「Imperial Citizenship Law」, do we not.”
He gave First Mate Lecen a light nod, then displayed his identification to everyone on deck.
“A pleasure. I am Nils, of the Imperial Agency. In accordance with the special emergency provisions of the「Imperial Citizenship Law」, I strongly recommend that Pure Aran citizens be rescued first.”
The「Imperial Citizenship Law」contained a provision that, should a crisis arise in an Imperial facility or territory, Aran lives were to be protected above all others.
“Whatever the circumstances, this ship, the Titan, is a facility built with Imperial capital, and I trust you all carry your Genealogy Certificates. Let us verify them and board the lifeboats in order, Aran first.”
“Hey! Wh-who’s supposed to verify these Genealogy Certificates, then!”
Sensing the process was about to get complicated, Halbert bellowed.
“We have an expert right over there, do we not.”
Nils gestured with his chin.
Where everyone’s eyes landed stood the Merin Appraiser ‘Eli Zella’, who had appeared at some point without anyone noticing.
“A M-Merin, holding our lives in his hands? On the word of that lowborn thing?!”
Halbert Goering’s brow twisted.
Nils replied as if the question were absurd.
“Who would ever doubt a man like you, Lord Goering, whose face is his credentials? For the nobility, it’s a mere formality.”
“…….”
At that, Halbert rolled his eyes about in silence, and then.
“……Let the Merin do the appraising! Merin or not, he’s a Master-grade Appraiser! I vouch for his eye myself! Let the Merin do the appraising!”
At Goering’s shouting, First Mate Lecen waved his hands in a fluster.
“Wait-“
“Let the Merin do the appraising!”
“Would you please be quiet for a moment!”
“Let the Merin do the appraising!”
“Goddammit, how are we supposed to have time to inspect every single Genealogy Certificate! I’m losing my mind here!”
Nils stepped up before Eli. Halbert hurried over as well and asked.
“You there! You’ve verified Genealogy Certificates before, yes?!”
Eli answered calmly.
“Tens of thousands of times.”
It was no lie. At some point, inspecting Genealogy Certificates had become a hobby of his. Halbert’s face bloomed.
“Really?! You have, haven’t you?!”
“Yes. Verifying a Genealogy Certificate is simple work that hardly even counts as appraisal. I can do it quickly.”
“……So he says?”
Nils grinned and turned back to Lecen.
“Then, good! Handle the verification smoothly, and you, you’ll have me personally making sure you survive. But make one mistake and you’re dead, understand!”
Halbert laid a hand on Eli’s shoulder. Kneading, squeezing. His trust carried a rather uncomfortable weight.
“Now, quickly! Quickly, someone bring a desk at least, and everyone, form a line! Form a line, I said!”
At Halbert’s booming voice, the other nobles came flocking in droves and began holding out their Genealogy Certificates.
* * *
……People formed a long line in front of me. The nobles held out their Genealogy Certificates first, and I scanned them through my monocle.
“Genuine. Go on through.”
Once one member of a family was confirmed, the whole family boarded the lifeboat.
“Genuine. Pass.”
The nobles were verified quickly. Even for an Ezenheim, a noble identity was difficult and dangerous to forge, but.
Viktor Haim himself was nowhere to be found here.
“Genuine. Your family may board with you.”
It was the same for the middle-class passengers from second class. Once their Genealogy Certificates were confirmed, they let out sighs of relief and climbed into the lifeboats with their families.
Then, a man held out a sheet of paper with trembling hands.
“My Genealogy, my Genealogy Certificate got a little wet…….”
Thump—
My heart reacted.
An Ezenheim. In truth, a good number of the passengers aboard this ship were already Ezenheim in disguise.
I examined his Genealogy Certificate, then said coldly.
“Counterfeit.”
“No, no! The ink only ran because it got wet!”
“……The special ink used in official Imperial seals doesn’t smear this crudely from a mere soaking. And more to the point.”
I raised my head and looked him dead in the eye.
“How exactly did a second-class passenger’s Genealogy Certificate get this thoroughly drenched?”
The water was still a long way from reaching second class.
Which meant he had staged it deliberately to deceive.
“Ah……”
“Go! Get out of here, I said!”
Beside me, Halbert Goering shoved him roughly.
“It doesn’t mean you get no chance at all! You’re after the Aran, so piss off to the back of the line!”
“No. There is no chance.”
Click. Without hesitation, Nils drew his Pistol and pulled the trigger.
Bang! A hole opened in the man’s temple. The passengers’ faces froze.
“Forging a Genealogy Certificate and falsifying one’s identity during an emergency are grounds for summary execution.”
Nils’s eyebrows twitched, and Halbert froze, swallowing hard, but I found his handiwork quite to my liking.
“Next.”
At Nils’s gesture, the next person came forward.
I appraised the document’s material, ink, form, and so on.
“……Genuine.”
“G-good. Keep it up, just like this. Keep this up, and I’ll see your life protected to the very end. You have my word…… Next! Next, hurry up!”
Halbert Goering kneaded my shoulder, putting on airs.
“Genuine.”
“Good. Very, very quick work, Master. That’s a Master for you. A Master is a Master for a reason.”
“Next.”
“A Master is a Master for a reason.”
“……You only need to say it once.”
“Understood.”
The one small mercy was that first and second class were either entirely Aran or heavy with Mixed-bloods.
The ratio of Ezenheim was not high compared to third class.
“……Genuine, but it’s an Edlem identification.”
“Argh, you idiot! We said Pure Aran first! You, go stand over there, to the right! Once all the Aran have boarded, then you get on!”
Halbert shouted like a megaphone.
“Aran first! Put the Pure Aran on the lifeboats first!”
Watching him, a strange feeling came over me.
I’ve said it before, but it truly is ironic.
That in a situation like this, the most trustworthy sort would be swinish Imperial nobles like these, of all people.
“Lower the lifeboat!”
At First Mate Lecen’s order, the crew pulled the descent levers.
Shhhrrrrk─
The lifeboat descended to the water, and another was set upon the rails. Meanwhile, I screened the next passenger.
“……”
Nils clung to my back like a shadow. He was watching not only me, but the Genealogy Certificates I appraised.
His gaze was quite sharp.
He could probably discern the certificates to some degree himself.
The Agency was not to be underestimated. This was a man who had caught the Revolutionary forces’ trail on his own and chased it all the way here. It stood to reason he’d have at least one exceptional talent.
“Genuine.”
At the indisputable verdict, Nils’s eyebrows twitched.
* * *
At that same moment, Charlotte was racing down to the fourth level belowdecks, the third-class section.
“Please stay calm! We’ll open the doors when it’s time!”
The corridor was already pandemonium. The crew had blocked off the gates.
“We’ll open them when it’s time! This is to prevent chaos!”
Charlotte ran up to a mate and asked.
“What’s going on?”
The mate glanced at her, then answered while checking his watch.
“It’s a measure to prevent chaos! Opening the starboard gate now!”
Clack, the bar came free. The third-class passengers poured out like a wave.
There had probably been confusion enough on this end as well. Charlotte pushed against the tide of people, trying to descend further.
“H-hey! Miss! Where are you going! It’s dangerous!”
“There are more people inside! I’ll bring them out!”
The gates weren’t the problem. To terror-stricken passengers, this enormous ship was itself a maze. More of them would fail to find their way than not.
──Splash, splash.
Around the fourth level down, cold seawater had already risen to the knees. Charlotte ran, splashing through the water.
“Everyone! This way!”
Sure enough, many people were wandering lost in this area.
“Follow me! Everyone!”
She took it upon herself to guide them, leading the people onward.
“This way!”
Then, at the end of the opposite passage, she came face to face with Shannon Wright─Viktor Haim.
He seemed to have had the same idea; dozens of laborers were lined up behind him as well.
“Everyone, follow that lady!”
He herded the people toward Charlotte, gave her a nod, and headed back down the stairs himself.
Charlotte had no time to look back; she climbed with them toward the upper decks.
“Follow me! Come on!”
Guiding everyone she encountered in the corridors, she reached the deck, but at that moment.
Her brow furrowed deep.
Crrreeeak——
On the swaying deck, people had gathered in a circle.
“What…….”
Charlotte pushed through their shoulders and stood among them.
“……?”
The scene before her eyes was bizarre.
“H-here, here’s mine…….”
People in line handed their Genealogy Certificates to someone.
“Genuine. Next.”
And a man sorted them, utterly indifferent.
He was the Merin Appraiser, Eli Zella.
The man who had said the real is natural and the fake unnatural was now judging people’s Genealogy Certificates.
“Counterfeit. Step back.”
“N-no! No! It’s real! My Genealogy Certificate came straight from the Imperial office—”
Bang──!
Before the man could even finish, Nils fired from behind Eli.
Thud!
The man’s body crumpled limply to the floor. The deck’s surface stained red in an instant. A crewman, face pale with terror, lifted the corpse and heaved it overboard.
“Next! Next! Move it, move it! We don’t have time!”
Halbert Goering bellowed, hurrying the next person along.
“What on…….”
A tribunal of sorts had been erected in the middle of the deck.
Charlotte stared with vacant eyes at this absurd, twisted spectacle.
~~~
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