Chapter 275: The Train That Won’t Stop (2)
Clack─ clack─
At the entrance to the North Express 「Eisenhorn」’s freight car.
“…….”
Gewin stared at the corpse that had been carelessly dumped inside the freight car, a man who had been alive only moments ago.
Pat, pat.
Rookie Paul calmly dusted off his hands.
Gewin shot him a sidelong glance and spoke.
“For now, one thing’s certain…… there are suspicious people aboard this train.”
Paul nodded.
“Yes. I think so too.”
“……Before that.”
Gewin unfolded the Genealogy Certificate. It was a document bearing the name of the man who had just died, ‘Otto Bell’, along with four generations of his lineage.
“You’re saying this is forged? How did you know?”
Despite appearances, Gewin had taken forgery-detection tests at the Office of Heraldry and the Appraisal Bureau and earned a Class 2 authentication certificate.
He was no professional appraiser, but his eye was considered reliable enough even within Georgen.
“You just guessed, didn’t you? Be honest.”
“Guessed?”
“Yeah. Even if this is fake, it’s good enough that you’d need a detailed examination to tell. So how the hell did you know right away?”
There was no way to tell by eye. At the very least, it wasn’t some shoddy forgery anyone could spot at a glance.
Paul scratched the back of his neck.
“Ah…… actually, this is a secret.”
“Yeah. Tell me.”
“I’m only telling you because I trust you, Chief Inspector Gewin. Please don’t go spreading it around.”
“I get it! Just tell me already!”
“But I’m serious. If this information gets out, I’ll have no choice but to suspect you, Chief Inspector Gewin.”
‘What the hell would you do if you suspected me…… No, that wasn’t the point.’
Gewin narrowed his eyes. Paul cleared his throat, then unfolded his own Genealogy Certificate.
“Here. See the metal staples holding the pages together?”
The metal fasteners binding the pages together. Staples, in other words.
“What about them?”
“Do these staples look new to you?”
“……What are you talking about?”
Paul tapped one of the staples with his fingernail.
“The Imperial Genealogy Administration Bureau deliberately uses cheap iron staples when issuing Genealogy Certificates. Did you know that?”
“……Go on.”
“When the genealogy program first began, iron was scarce, so they used cheap staples. Eventually, it became something of a tradition. That’s why the staples on Genealogy Certificates start rusting after only a few months.”
Gewin stared intently at the staple in Paul’s Genealogy Certificate. It had already rusted somewhat.
“But…… look at this.”
By contrast, the Genealogy Certificate belonging to the man who had just died looked brand-new. Not a scratch on it, not a speck of rust. It practically gleamed.
Gewin looked at Paul, his eyes widening.
There was such an easy way to tell?
“……Not bad. You knew your stuff. You pass.”
Still, Gewin clamped a cigarette between his lips as though he had known it all along.
“Pass what?”
Paul tilted his head, and a relaxed smile spread across Gewin’s lips.
“……Paul. You probably weren’t given the details of this operation.”
Gewin deliberately lowered his voice.
“But now you’ve earned my trust.”
Classified Georgen intelligence was now being entrusted to the rookie who had just passed the test.
“We have intelligence that Master is aboard this express. Georgen planted a spy inside the Revolutionary forces.”
“Master…….”
“One of the people pulling the strings behind the Revolutionary forces. A key figure.”
Paul responded in a serious tone.
“Chief Inspector. Can that spy be trusted?”
“You mean the possibility that they’re a double agent.”
“Yes.”
Gewin adopted a weighty air and gave a faint smirk.
“You. Ever heard of the Fritz incident?”
“Yes. It’s famous.”
A Revolutionary spy inside Georgen. The autopsy had even revealed that Fritz was an Ezenheim.
“The agent who arrested him was me.”
Gewin slowly exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke. Paul’s eyes widened.
Heh. Gewin folded his arms and leaned against the wall of the train.
“It was difficult. Painful, too. Fritz had been my mentor for three years. That’s what Georgen work is like.”
It meant a life of crushing loneliness, with yesterday’s colleague becoming today’s suspect.
“That’s the thing with double agents. You can start imagining a double-cross within a double-cross, then another double-cross on top of that, and another, and another…….”
Double-cross after double-cross after double-cross…….
“My point is, standing around trying to untangle it all is a waste of time. You have to get out there, investigate for yourself, and find the evidence……?”
He turned his gaze.
He blinked once, then twice, and the spot where Paul had just been standing was empty.
“……Where’d that guy go?”
***
I walked through the freight car.
Mail sacks, crates of northern military uniforms, bundles of winter coats, sealed medicine boxes, and beyond them, crates of Mana Stones stacked high enough to weigh down the floor.
They were stamped 「For Refinery」, and a faint warmth of Mana seeped from within.
Most of the cargo was Mana Stones.
That meant there was no one hidden among it.
“……Hmm.”
Still, I couldn’t help wondering.
If Master really was here, why bother coming in person?
If that person really was Master, why would one of the Revolutionary forces’ precious top brass come personally?
Before the Regression, there had been no incident like this one, at least not that I remembered.
“…….”
Then something caught my eye.
A thick wooden coffin wedged between the cargo.
“……A coffin.”
──Tap. Tap. Tap.
I knocked my fingers against the lid, then pushed it open.
Empty, but large enough to hold one person.
I closed the coffin again and sat down with my back against it.
──Tap. Tap. Tap.
I knocked on the coffin lid as I sank into thought.
Something important enough that Master, the Revolutionary forces’ fundraising chief, had to get involved personally…….
“……An attack on a facility?”
Unlikely. There weren’t many important facilities in the north. The region was harsh and bitterly cold, so there were several concentration camps and prisons under Georgen’s jurisdiction, but──
Wait.
What if their target was a concentration camp or prison?
“People.”
A concentration camp meant people.
Whether the goal was to kill someone or save someone.
“In the north…….”
Was someone important enough to bring Master out personally being held prisoner in the north?
“…….”
A strange thought suddenly occurred to me.
Georgen was an imperfect organization. But every now and then, its very imperfection and randomness produced ‘luck’.
Because tips came in. Someone was suspicious, someone went somewhere every night, things like that. Some were probably lies made up to screw over a romantic rival, others to eliminate a competitor, but sometimes.
Very, very rarely.
“……Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.”
What if Georgen’s Northern Branch was holding one of the Revolutionary forces’ most important people?
What if even Georgen didn’t know it?
──Tap. Tap. Tap.
I stared quietly at the coffin lid.
An empty coffin.
Perhaps a coffin meant to smuggle a living person out.
“I suppose it’s about time Georgen scored one.”
Even if ninety out of a hundred were innocent and nine were nothing more than petty criminals, if the remaining one were the ‘real thing’.
Then in the end, we would be moving toward the same goal.
***
The first-class carriage of the「Eisenhorn」. The most luxurious compartment of all, the salon. A private carriage for distinguished guests, furnished like a small hotel room.
A member of the Revolutionary forces, ‘Yvette’, sat on one side of the sofa with her legs crossed.
Clack─ clack─ clack─
She was enjoying the magnificent snow-white landscape beyond the window, feeling the faint vibration of the train, when.
Knock, knock—
Someone knocked.
“You were resting, weren’t you?”
The servant smiled as he opened the door, exchanged a few words with the person outside, and then someone stepped in.
“My apologies for the sudden intrusion. I’m Sergeant ‘Elmer’ of Georgen.”
Georgen. Yvette’s eyebrow twitched.
“……What is it?”
At that moment, a gentleman who had been dozing on the sofa cracked his eyes open.
“What, who did you say?”
He stroked his mustache as he questioned Elmer.
“I’m Elmer of Georgen. We’re currently checking Genealogy Certif-”
“What?!”
He suddenly sprang to his feet.
“Checking Genealogy Certificates─?! You dare inspect mine?!”
“Yes. My apologies, but this is Georgen busin-”
“If you’re from Georgen, you should recognize my face!”
The gentleman’s whole face flared with outrage.
“…….”
Elmer stared steadily at him.
“Could you perhaps be…….”
“Yes, that’s right! It’s me! ‘Halbert Goering!’”
At the first sign that Elmer recognized him, Halbert Goering immediately announced his own name. Elmer hurriedly straightened his posture.
“Yes, I know. You’re the hero of the Titan.”
“Exactly! Good grief, and you mean to inspect my Genealogy Certificate?! It’s too precious to even show a fellow like you!”
The Georgen agent gave a strained smile.
“Yes, I see. Sir Halbert himself is fine, but the other two people in here…….”
The servant, and Yvette.
“What, you bastard?! You dare go after my companions now?! Are you out of your damn mind─?!”
Goering flailed his arms. Whoosh, whoosh. Whoosh, whoosh. Like a gorilla asserting its dominance.
“Mr. Halbert. It’s all right.”
Yvette gently soothed Halbert and handed over her Genealogy Certificate.
“Here.”
“Ah, thank you!”
The Georgen agent gratefully accepted it. Halbert’s brow immediately furrowed.
“……You, bastard. Just try getting so much as a fingerprint on that.”
Under Halbert’s intense glare.
The Georgen agent handed the Genealogy Certificate back and bowed his head.
“Confirmed.”
“Thank you.”
Yvette gave him a radiant smile, and Halbert looked at her as though she were simply too kind for her own good.
“You really didn’t need to do that. You are far too kind, and beautiful besides…… Did he get anything on your Genealogy Certificate?”
“It’s fine. It’s clean.”
“Thank goodness.”
Halbert pointed at the Georgen agent again.
“Hey! I know your face now!”
“……Yes. Then I’ll be going.”
After the agent left, Yvette returned to the sofa and sat down.
“…….”
Keeping an eye on Halbert, she discreetly pulled out the small slip of paper tucked inside her Genealogy Certificate.
[ Otto Bell was shot dead by Chief Inspector Gewin of Georgen. ]
[ He is making the rounds with a rookie named Paul. ]
[ It is certain that information has leaked. ]
[ There is a traitor among us. ]
──Flick. Fssst.
Yvette flicked her lighter, lighting her cigarette and the note at the same time, then pretended to gaze out the window as she let the ashes scatter into the wind.
“Ahh…… even the sight of you smoking is truly beautiful.”
“……Excuse me?”
Halbert edged closer and pulled her wrist toward his nose.
Mmmmm.
He inhaled her scent as though letting out a moan.
“It is like…… the scent of perfume.”
As he murmured those words, staring at her like a man whose soul had been bewitched, Yvette gave him a strained smile.
…….
“That fucking pervert. What a lunatic bastard, seriously…….”
Shhhhhhh—
Claiming she wanted to take a short walk, Yvette washed her hands in the first-class restroom.
There was being a pervert, and then there was being way too fucking perverted.
“Ugh, fuck. Filthy bastard…… Whew.”
She composed her expression in the mirror, stepped outside, and began walking through the train.
She wanted to assess Georgen’s movements.
──Click. Click.
Past the luxurious first-class corridor,
──Click. Click.
And just as she reached the second-class passageway.
“…….”
She spotted someone walking around while looking here and there.
He looked obviously suspicious. Could he be a Georgen agent?
It was worth checking.
──Click. Click.
As he came toward her, bump.
She deliberately clipped his shoulder with hers.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
As if answering the man’s apology, she said,
“……You’re being awfully obvious, aren’t you?”
For an instant, the man’s expression wavered blankly.
“……Pardon?”
“You’re a Georgen agent, aren’t you?”
The man flinched.
“How did you know?”
Shh— She raised a finger to her lips.
He had stupidly asked her outright. Tanned skin, black eyes, brown hair. He wasn’t bad-looking, but there was a slightly slow look about him.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Yvette Markel.”
“…….”
When she smiled, he simply stared at her. The emotion in his gaze was familiar.
Yvette. The codename she had been given for this operation was ‘Lily’.
“……Is something wrong?”
As Yvette saw it, her talent was her appearance. With her natural beauty, she could make herself alluring, sensual, innocent, vulnerable, or frail…… shaping herself to suit the moment. She had an appearance that could fit any role without a flaw.
“No.”
The man awkwardly looked away and scratched his cheek. Yvette gave a quiet laugh.
“I’ve already been checked, actually. They were even checking the passengers in the salon.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Does that mean someone dangerous or important is aboard?”
“……I don’t really know.”
Of course he wouldn’t know.
Clack— clack—
The train trembled. The two stood a single stride apart-
“Sorry, but could I……”
Paul held out his hand.
“……see your Genealogy Certificate?”
He seemed a bit slow, but he was doing his job. She couldn’t let her guard down. At the very least, he was better than Halbert Goering.
“……Before that.”
Yvette smiled.
“May I make a request too? Your identification and Genealogy Certificate.”
“Uh…… um…….”
Paul hesitated for a moment, then reached inside his coat.
It would be trouble if he pulled out a weapon. She was just beginning to tense up.
“Here…… you are.”
Fortunately, he handed her his Georgen identification and Genealogy Certificate first.
“Thank you.”
She examined them.
Georgen Sergeant Paul Berg. A rookie in Georgen.
His family’s address was in an affluent district. He had even spent three years at Empire Point.
It was an unusual background. Empire Point was considered nearly impossible for outside spies to infiltrate.
Anyone from that organization, indoctrinated from the impressionable age of twelve or thirteen, was practically the Revolutionary forces’ worst enemy.
But if he was a dropout, there were plenty of openings to exploit.
“……Here you are.”
She returned them with a smile. Paul put away his identification and spoke.
“Your Genealogy Certificate, Ms. Yvette-”
“Unfortunately, I left it in my coat. Would you like to come to the salon with me?”
“Uh…… yes. All right.”
“Follow me.”
She gave a small laugh.
At that moment, someone passed between them. Paul’s gaze briefly followed the person, but Yvette suddenly reached out and redirected his gaze.
Back to herself.
“You’ve got something here.”
She pretended to brush dust from his cheek.
“Ah……. Thank you.”
His cheeks took on a faint rosy tint. Yvette smiled at his rather innocent reaction.
“By the way, have you eaten?”
…….
At the same time, in a curtained-off seat in second class.
Someone else sat down beside ‘Master’.
“──Lilac has wilted, but Lily’s hooked one. We can probably get a progress report from Lily later.”
With that, the person handed over a small note.
[Georgen Sergeant Paul, former Empire Point student]
In that short span, Lily had already reeled one in.
The shortest time Lily had ever taken to strip a target bare was two hours and twenty-three minutes. Man or woman, as long as their preferences lined up, there were no exceptions.
“So, when do we begin the operation?”
“Not yet. They won’t be able to make any rash moves either, so we’ll proceed carefully.”
Codename ‘Thistle’. Master handed him the note.
“Burn it as soon as you’ve read it.”
Thistle gave a short nod, tucked the paper away, and stood up.
***
……Under the identity of Paul, one of the dozens prepared by the Knight Order, I faced the woman named Yvette.
“Why did you drop out of Empire Point?”
“Hmm…… I suppose life there just didn’t suit me.”
A peerlessly beautiful spy of the Revolutionary forces.
I had briefly met her once before my Regression. We had exchanged a few words, but the Maximilian of those days wasn’t someone who would have interested her.
Even a man regarded as one of the most powerful figures of the time had gone to absurd lengths just to exchange a few words with her.
“You dropped out of Empire Point just because it didn’t suit you? I heard your grades were good too.”
Before I knew it, we were sitting across from each other in the dining car.
She certainly lived up to her reputation. Nearly everyone who passed by glanced in our direction. Naturally, because of the woman sitting across from me.
“Well…… I just didn’t feel like staying.”
“I see. What a shame.”
Still, I’d seen every trick in this particular game.
In the face of humanity’s fate, one person’s beauty was meaningless.
“……The sun sets so early in the north.”
A slight tilt of her head as she gazed out the window, where darkness was settling. The carefully calculated angle that showed her profile reflected in the glass. Every posture she adopted and every silence she allowed felt utterly natural.
And yet every gesture was plainly deliberate.
“Would you like a glass of wine?”
Even the quality of this woman’s voice was flawless. Every part of her really was perfect.
“W-Wine…….”
Her beauty posed no danger to me whatsoever, but I could easily pretend to fall for it.
No, I had to.
“I-Is that really okay?”
Because there was a very high chance that whatever they were looking for wasn’t on this train.
My instincts were telling me so.
“Heh.”
She laughed and rested her chin on one hand.
Tapping her cheek with one finger, she spoke almost in a whisper.
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
~~~
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