Aftermath (4)

A shelter from childhood.

Moonlight carried on the wind seeped through the thorny vines around the cozy hideout. The brush swayed with a long rustling hiss.

In that strangely silent air, Schatz looked at the man across from her.

"......Sir Knight."

Her voice trembled faintly.

Maximilian faced her without a word.

"In front of the temptation of power, even the Maximilian you serve will waver in the end."

Falkenrat's sneer flickered in her ears.

With her fist clenched tight, Schatz looked inward.

Am I doubting Maximilian right now? Am I afraid? Or do I just want you, at least you, to be different from those monsters?

No, what is a "monster," anyway?

"Schatz Heizen."

Maximilian called her name.

"......Yes."

Schatz remembered the day she was able to come here. She thought about why she had been able to fulfill her revenge.

Maximilian.

It had all started with Maximilian.

But now Schatz feared something.

What if Maximilian became someone like Hector? What if power blinded him and made him lose himself?

......No.

Hector had been evil from the start.

But Maximilian did not divide things into good and evil.

He was neither a good man nor an evil one.

He simply looked toward places they could not see, and moved toward places they could not reach.

That was why he could slap Hector across the face, and why he could refuse to bend even before the Emperor's order.

He was the most noble, and at the same time the most imperial knight of all......

Schatz raised her trembling arms. She handed him her father's box.

Maximilian took it without expression and opened it. Its contents were revealed.

"......Ah."

Schatz gasped. A mana sphere glowing red rose above the box.

A small power source radiating mana. Her eyes trembled as she looked at it.

Maximilian asked, "Was this your father's work?"

"......Yes. I think so."

How many people had been sacrificed to complete this sphere?

How many human bodies had been dissected?

Had her own father, Arthur Heizen, willingly taken part in that process too?

Even now, she could not say for sure.

She had taken revenge on Mason, who killed her father, but her vague belief that at least her father had been good had shattered long ago.

Still......

"That arrogant knight will choose the 'power' we offer over the loyalty of one hound like you."

The reason Falkenrat's words kept returning was probably because she had vaguely sensed Maximilian's deepest darkness.

Because she knew his heart, the part that loathed subspecies, especially Izenheim.

"Sir Knight...... do you plan to use this?"

Her voice shook pitifully. The red sphere reflected in Maximilian's eyes. Schatz started to reach out, then stopped.

She wanted to erase that sphere from his eyes. She wanted to hide it where he could never see it.

"In the end, he will become a monster looking at the same place we do."

Maximilian quietly watched the sphere. He stared at it as it floated before his eyes, as if it were dancing to seduce him......

Then he clenched it hard.

Silver mana rippled through his grip.

Pazzzt!

It crumbled in an instant, like shattering glass.

"......!"

Schatz's eyes flew open.

The crystallized mana legacy her father left behind vanished in a heartbeat.

Red ash slipped through Maximilian's fingers and fell away.

"Schatz."

Stepping over the traces scattered on the ground, Maximilian spoke.

"We are Aran."

Aran. We.

Those words flowed into Schatz's ears. They touched her heart and settled somewhere deeper.

An emotion she could not name raced through her whole body.

"......"

Schatz stayed silent, and Maximilian lightly dusted off his hand.

Still immaculate, without a speck on him, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

And then...

"We are not so weak that we need to rely on foreign matter like this."

Against the night sky, he gave his brightest smile. Nature's silver light poured over his blond hair. Looking at him, almost like a vision, Schatz realized it in a flash.

I probably...

No, certainly.

I will never forget this moment today......

* * *

On the way back to Imperial Central, in the back seat of the car.

I quietly watched the back of Schatz's head as she held the wheel.

Maybe the road was rough, because every time we took a corner, my head jolted.

"......"

She had doubted me. She had wondered whether I might be seduced by the Mana Engine, or corrupted by it.

But I had doubted Schatz too. In truth, mine had been a far bigger doubt. When I faced her, my longsword had been on my back.

In essence, Schatz was not much different from Outcast. Her nature was good, and before regression she had shot Duke Sebestian dead.

If she and I had walked different roads, if she could not fully trust me, or if I could not fully keep her by my side.

I would have had to behead her with my own hands.

Thump.

Suddenly, my virus gave a heavy pulse.

Schatz's father, Arthur Heizen, had been a much greater genius than I expected. He might have created something close to the Mana Engine.

I destroyed it, but my virus absorbed some fragments, and now it was digesting them.

Thump.

It seemed to be taking a while, like it had overeaten. It kept pulsing irregularly, and gave no answer when I called it.

I still did not know what this "predation" would mean for me, or what kind of change it would bring......

"Are you all right?"

Schatz asked suddenly.

I asked back briefly.

"About what?"

"It might have been something important my father left in this world. Hector searched for it everywhere. If it really was a Mana Engine......"

I smiled.

She was right.

If what I had broken was the Mana Engine, or at least something close to it, and if we could have fully used it through careful analysis, we might have gained a very favorable position against Izenheim.

"No."

Still, Schatz mattered just as much.

She was the talent that defeated Duke Sebestian.

With no way to measure exactly how powerful a Mana Engine would be, there was no need to gamble when I already held a winning ticket.

"There is another treasure your father left in this world."

I did not need to put it into words.

Rather than uncertain technology, I chose to trust the certain person right in front of me.

That was my decision.

"......Ahem."

Schatz cleared her throat. It meant she would focus on driving, but the top of her head still bobbed oddly.

I quietly closed my eyes.

* * *

Hector had been dealt with, but dismantling Mason Industries still remained.

"The structure of Mason Industries is very unusual. There are many valuable subsidiaries, but this research complex is running severe losses."

Dieter, whom I was seeing again after a long time, adjusted his glasses and handed me the report.

He and his people had dissected every part of Mason Industries' financial structure and fund flow.

The slush money Hector diverted had been scattered through dozens of shell companies, which made tracking difficult, but with Dieter's persistence, we would recover it in the end.

"If you directly acquire this research complex yourself, Sir Knight......"

The item Dieter pointed to was the Mason Industries research complex, and T24, which was effectively its subsidiary.

"It is expected to lose tens of millions of imperial dollars every year, and most of Mason Industries' debt is concentrated in this kind of research complex."

That too was part of the corruption. Borrowing money with a research complex trusted by the Imperial Palace as collateral. Under palace pressure, banks could not stamp a rejection, and they could not demand repayment either.

That was why Mason Industries' research complex carried debt far too large for its scale.

"I know. Acquire it anyway."

I answered firmly.

"We need to reflect the value of loyalty."

In this matter, I had defied the Emperor's command.

Whatever my purpose was, that much was clear.

"Yes. Then I understand."

"Take down the sign and rebuild it as a new institute."

The facility called T24 itself would be erased from the surface without leaving a trace.

"Should we keep most of the existing staff?"

"Most of them. But we need to screen the current researchers."

I crossed out several names on the roster with a red pen.

The people who carried out upper orders "normally," those who focused only on research like machines without ethical judgment, would be kept.

But those who carried pointless sadism toward test subjects or crossed lines for pleasure.

Trash like Gennady, for example, the kind Elje had tried to kill, would all be cut out.

Men like that were completely useless for the research I planned. They were only variables that threatened security.

"Send this roster to Schatz."

Clear out the trash and hire only the core talent.

All I needed were ordinary researchers who felt no guilt.

"Yes. I will carry it out."

Dieter accepted the roster.

......

A newly built underground research institute.

No special name, just an institute.

"Welcome."

Dieter Schmidt politely greeted the researchers joining it.

For reference, the people Maximilian had spared during Outcast's assault on Mason Industries had no idea that "Dr. Gert" from that day had been Maximilian.

"You will now be working at a new research institute in Imperial District 35."

At Dieter's words, the researchers showed mild confusion. A sudden workplace transfer. For people with families, that reaction was natural.

But these people were the type who followed upper orders without moral filtering or self-correction. They were optimal talent, exactly what Maximilian's planned research required.

"These are your employment terms."

The pay and treatment written in the contracts far exceeded anything they had imagined.

The researchers froze with the papers in hand. Silence dropped heavily.

"......Is this really true?"

Miro, the one selected as institute director, raised his hand and asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

Dieter answered while watching them through his glasses.

"It is an official contract with not a single lie."

More than four times what they had received at Mason Industries. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Their exact duties were still "undecided," but what they had done at Industries had also been "undecided" from the start.

"But there is something you must remember."

Dieter's voice suddenly turned cold.

"You must keep absolutely silent about everything you see, hear, and do in this institute."

Strict control and massive compensation.

A life where they did what they were told, got paid for what they did, leaked nothing outside, and lived comfortably with their families.

"If even one line of information is leaked, you will immediately lose everything under the security breach clause written at the bottom of the contract."

For this type of researcher, that might have been exactly the life they wanted most.

That was why one person signed.

Then two.

Then three.

The sound of signatures slowly spread.

......

Meanwhile, in the underground city where imperial law and order did not reach.

Sonnet Kandel, the local big shot, was walking the streets to inspect security when she stopped in front of a bookstore.

"......?"

At first she just thought, What is this?

An unfamiliar cover stacked on the display out front caught her eye. A familiar name. But perfectly polished artwork.

「Outcast: Beginning」

Outcast. It had been a fairly famous mercenary group in the underground city. Sonnet would know.

The foolish mercenaries who attacked Mason Industries and were all beheaded by Maximilian.

Still, Mason Industries had collapsed as they wished, and Hector received an unofficial execution, so you could say they achieved their goal.

"Hmm."

Sonnet picked up the comic.

Rustle.

At first it was only light curiosity as she turned pages where she stood.

[The characters, place names, companies and organizations, and all other names, as well as incidents and episodes appearing in this work, are all fictional creations, and any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.]

It began with a line like that.

Rustle.

As she turned one page, then two, her gaze grew more and more focused.

Before she realized it, she was fully immersed.

Rustle.

Then, while she was reading.

Someone suddenly stepped beside her and picked up the same comic. Sonnet shifted slightly to make room, then sniffed without realizing it.

It was not an ordinary scent.

Even though it was hidden, a faint noble scent still seeped out.

She pressed down the hood of her robe and glanced sideways.

A woman in a rather clumsy disguise. But Sonnet felt sure she knew exactly who it was.

Ezel Runselot.

A woman who had almost become Maximilian's fiancee in the past. A fellow mage of her older brother Jun Kandel.

"......"

Ezel silently skimmed through the comic, then suddenly looked at the shop owner inside.

"Hey! How much is this!"

She asked the price in an awkward street tone.

It was the mistake nobles made when they first came down to the underground city. They thought the place had no law, no rules, no hierarchy, no anything.

"......What the hell is with that punk?"

The owner frowned. Ezel shook the comic and shouted.

"I asked how much! This, this comic!"

"What?"

"I'm buying it. Can't you understand?"

In the underground city, she thought you had to push hard. If you acted weak, people treated you like a sucker... Who exactly gave her that advice?

"Get lost. You psycho freak."

"What, what? Are you insane? I said I'm buying it!"

The underground city had manners too. Then people went back to the surface and talked trash about the underground.

"Hey! I'm buying it!"

"Fuck off. Not selling, asshole."

"What? Asshole?"

"Yeah, asshole! You little bastard, you're dead today."

"Hey, w-wait!"

The owner came charging out gripping a broom, and Sonnet lifted her hood slightly and asked,

"How much?"

"......20 dollars."

"Two copies, please. Keep the change."

After paying 100 dollars, she handed one copy to Ezel Runselot.

Ezel noticed her and her eyes went wide.

"Sonnet-"

"Shh."

Sonnet gestured with her eyes toward the alley beside them.

"Follow me."

Ezel quickly scanned the surroundings, then nodded and followed behind her.