Semi-Coercive Imperialist - Chapter 126: A Fake Play (3)
Chew, chew.
Hannah chewed gum with her arms crossed. She wore thick horn-rimmed glasses and had applied makeup around her eyes to create wrinkles, making her look older.
“So. Are we doing this deal or not? I’m a busy woman.”
She was attending the meeting as ‘Harmoush,’ an Imperial businesswoman. Across from her sat the arms dealers– a rough-looking man and woman, while the broker smoked a cigarette between them.
“……How are we supposed to trust you?”
The woman asked sharply.
Hannah scoffed.
“Who trusts people? In this line of work.”
Thud. She placed a briefcase on the table.
“You trust the money.”
Click. The case opened.
“500,000 Imperial dollars. This is the deposit.”
“…Hm.”
The pair’s gazes wavered. They exchanged glances with each other.
“Go ahead and touch it. It’s not fake.”
When Hannah tipped her chin, the man reached out and flipped through the bundles of bills with a rustling sound. The crisp texture against his fingertips. Genuine notes issued by the Imperial Central Bank.
“Well. Let me get to the point of our deal. Explosives, rifles… those are all well and good, of course.”
Hannah closed the suitcase and got to the main point.
“But first, I need synthetic mana stones.”
“…I thought you were here to buy weapons?”
The man frowned. Hannah gave a smirk.
“Ah~ well.”
They were probably caught off guard. According to the broker’s intel, they had almost no mana stone inventory.
“I’ve been in this business a long time. I’ve got connections in customs, too.”
She crossed her legs with a show of arrogance.
“You know about the Gigantes incident, right? That was less than a year ago, so weapons regulations are tight right now. Factor in the bribes needed to grease the wheels, there’s no profit left. But mana stones are different. Imperial factories are running like crazy right now, so even if you pass off synthetics as natural ones, they’ll take everything.”
Synthetic Mana Stones. Far less pure and more dangerous than natural ones, but good enough to be disguised and sold as power sources for trains and automobiles.
As long as they’re brought into the Empire, they’re guaranteed to sell for at least triple the purchase price.
“Rather than selling weapons to those anti-Imperial idiots, feeding illegal Mana Stones to the Imperial bastards gives a much better return on investment.”
The man and woman stared at Hannah for a long moment before twisting their lips into a grin.
“……Then let’s meet again tomorrow.”
“Ah, go ahead. But I’m not very patient, so you’d better hurry. I might switch to another buyer if I find one.”
It was obvious why they said to meet again tomorrow.
Hannah picked up the case and left, returning to her suite at the Volska Hotel.
─Beep.
She opened the door with a keycard.
‘……Gone.’
Her eyes quickly scanned the bottom of the doorframe. The tiny slip of paper she had wedged into the door handle before leaving was gone. Evidence that someone had broken in. But the room itself was spotless. No signs of rummaging. Even the money was untouched.
In other words, the intruder hadn’t come to steal anything. They had come to ‘install’ something.
Just as expected—wiretapping.
Feigning ignorance, Hannah casually kicked off her shoes and hummed a tune.
“Hmm-hmm~”
She dropped herself onto the sofa. Taking out a terminal, she made a call somewhere.
“Hello.”
The person on the other end was a field officer.
─Yeah. How did it go, Director Harmoush?
“Ah, damn. These guys are so suspicious. All they have to do is make money like they’re told. Tch.”
She grumbled in a voice laced with annoyance.
“They said we’ll meet again tomorrow, but I’ve got a bad feeling. Look into other suppliers for me.”
─I agree. It’ll be trouble if they drag this out.
“That customs guy we greased, is that still good?”
─Yes. We’ve got him locked in tight.
“Ah, good. Gotta pull off one big score before that guy retires.”
She deliberately kept the conversation crass.
─What about the weapons?
“Mana Stones are fine and all, but honestly, weapons are where the real money is. Those revolutionaries and anti-Imperial idiots, they’ll pay top dollar.”
Hannah tapped the suitcase on the bed containing 5 million dollars.
“Thanks to the Gigantes incident, supply’s dried up and prices have skyrocketed. I brought up mana stones first just to test them.”
Her voice was clear and greedy, as if she wanted the unseen listeners to hear every word.
─Then how much more should we prepare?
“Well, I’ve got 5 million now……. I’ll decide based on the inventory. How much retirement money do we have on our side, about thirty million?”
Most likely, this entire conversation was being transmitted word for word to them.
***
The corridor of the Royal Opera House. Under the flickering, pale emergency lights, a figure cloaked in a blood-soaked rag slowly approached.
“…….”
Leonard swallowed dryly. But he did not let go of the Imperial Princess’s wrist. The script had already been torn apart, the operation seemed to have gone sideways, but–
Bang!
A gunshot rang out from the darkness. The back of the axe-wielding figure jerked violently!
It was covering fire from the Revolutionary forces.
Bang! Bang bang bang!
Successive shots hammered into the figure’s back. Leonard used that moment to lead the Princess away. The Princess calmly followed close behind Leonard.
“This way!”
Fwwwhhhhp──!
At the sound of air being cut, Leonard looked back.
Vrrrrrr.
The axe, released from the attacker’s hand, spun through the air. It cut through the necks of armed operatives, tore them apart, crushed them, and then returned to his hand once again.
Shwaaak!
The figure hurled the blood-soaked axe at him. Leonard swung his sword and deflected it.
Clang──!
Mana sparked. His wrist went numb. But there was no time to catch his breath. He ran down the corridor, shielding the princess.
He grabbed the nearest door and threw it open. Inside was a storeroom for stage props and equipment. Fake trees, plaster statues, elaborate costumes, hoisting cranes, all piled high and coated in dust.
The two of them hid among the clutter.
Thump. Thump.
His heart pounded as if it would burst.
Thump. Thump.
Leonard turned to look at the princess. Her robe hood was pulled deep over her face. But her exposed jawline and those jewel-like, striking eyes were unmistakably hers.
“Please calm down.”
“……You’re the one who should calm down.”
Just as Leonard cracked a bitter smile.
Booooom──!
A collision erupted in the corridor. A battle between the unidentified attacker and the armed Revolutionary forces members, who were acting according to the script. Screams and gunfire blended into a chaotic roar.
Ratatatat! Bang…….
At some point the noise died down. More precisely, the gunfire stopped. The assailant had slaughtered every last one of them.
──Thud. Thud.
In the now silent corridor, wet footsteps drew closer and closer.
──Thud. Thud.
Steps soaked in blood.
The figure was approaching.
“……Listen to me carefully.”
Leonard turned to the Princess.
“When I give the signal, run. Don’t look back.”
He quickly mapped the opera house layout in his head, pinpointing the emergency exit marked in the script.
“Go out the back door of this storage room, then to the right. At the end of the B3 area, there’s a staff emergency elevator. But don’t go up, go down. It connects to the underground waterway. If you go there, you might survive.”
Leonard let go of her hand.
“And…… do you happen to know? That I, to you, before…….”
He was about to say something to her but hesitated. His lips moved, but in the end he just lowered his head. She probably wouldn’t understand no matter what he said.
“What?”
She asked. Leonard changed the words that lingered on the tip of his tongue.
“……Nothing. Please, be safe.”
Crack!
The attacker tore through the door with his axe. Leonard stepped forward, and the Princess turned toward the back door.
Whrrrrrrrrk──!
The axe came flying first.
Claaaaaang!
Leonard poured every ounce of his mana into blocking the axe. The impact nearly buckled his knees, but he held on.
Behind him, the hem of the fleeing princess’s robe flickered briefly into view.
The attacker swung the axe.
Claaaaaang──!
Twice.
That was all it took. The sword shattered to pieces. Recoiling from the force, Leonard tumbled to the ground. All that remained in his hand was the broken hilt.
He wheezed as he looked up at the figure.
“Haa…….”
An assailant who hadn’t shed a single drop of blood despite being shot multiple times.
The figure raised the axe over him. Leonard did not close his eyes. He simply stared at his own death…….
…….
Booooom──! KWAANG──!
Amid the flooding explosions from all directions, Justine ran down the corridor. She reached the B3 area just as Leonard had said, and at the dead end of the hallway, she found the staff emergency elevator.
Standing before it, she pressed the button.
Srrrk──
She silently looked up at the slowly descending elevator.
Ding─.
The doors opened. Justine halted, staring into the elevator interior. Beyond the threshold were people.
“…….”
Another group of assailants, wearing head wraps and armed with rifles and grenades.
But all of them had faces filled with fear.
“Who are you?!”
Click. A gun barrel was aimed at her.
Even so, Justine did not retreat. She calmly met their gaze.
“I said, who are you?!”
They glanced nervously at the corridor from which she had come.
“Where’s Leonard? Where did Leonard go?”
The princess did not answer their question. Their ragged breathing, the smell of their sweat hit her like something rancid.
“Answer me!”
They were confused too. Fear, confusion, panic. They were trapped in a state of panic where rational judgment was no longer possible.
Click. One of them placed a finger on the trigger.
“Answer, you fucking bitch, before I blow your head off!”
Bloodshot eyes bulging, the words snarled out like a threat.
“Where is Leonard—”
Then, at some point, he stopped.
───.
A quiet line traced itself across the air. Like moonlight, or perhaps a slender thread. A silver flash cut across the interior of the elevator. Faint trails appeared on the necks of the armed men.
Slice.
Their throats were lightly slashed, their heads tilting and dropping as their bodies collapsed to the floor.
Step.
Then, from behind Justine, a man emerged. A knight with silver currents flowing from his entire body: Maximilian. Even in work clothes, the bearing of nobility seeped through.
“Such rude men.”
He muttered softly as he flicked the blood from his sword.
KWA-A-AANG──!
An explosion sounded in the distance. The entire opera house trembled.
“Let’s go.”
Maximilian held out his hand. Justine stared at him for a moment, but without taking his hand, she stepped into the elevator on her own. She stood upright in the empty space between the corpses.
Maximilian didn’t mind.
Ding.
They stood side by side as the doors closed and the elevator descended.
Ding.
They reached the basement. Without a word, the two of them walked through the sewer. Maximilian led the way, Justine followed behind.
The damp sewer.
In the silence so deep that even footsteps didn’t echo.
“Why did you just watch?”
Justine asked. Maximilian’s steps paused for a moment.
“……You knew?”
“From the moment you were standing behind the stage, disguised as a staff member.”
Maximilian could have saved Leonard, yet he had stood by. Instead, he had waited until the situation deteriorated to its worst.
“As Your Highness is no doubt aware, I have been keeping this opera house under ongoing surveillance. That—”
“Why?”
“…….”
He seemed at a loss for words for a moment, but calmly continued.
“Because it is a place Your Highness is fond of. It had been relatively safe until quite recently. But of all days, the very day Your Highness went out without an escort, a terrorist attack broke out.”
The princess quietly pondered.
“……Someone in the Imperial Palace is watching me?”
“The possibility cannot be ruled out. However, for Your Highness’s sake, I—”
“Then you let Leonard die because of me?”
“Do you harbor feelings for that actor?”
Maximilian asked coldly as he began walking again. The princess scoffed.
“Emotions are useless to me. This is about necessity. In this false world, there aren’t many who amuse me.”
Emotions.
The princess had little of them. Partly because that was simply her inborn nature, and partly because she was surrounded on all sides by people who either surveilled her or scrambled for whatever scraps they could get.
“And now even that is gone. Thanks to you.”
For that very reason, she was the most ‘dangerous’ person in the Imperial Palace.
Those who fell out of Princess Justine’s favor invariably died or, at minimum, met an unhappy end.
“Leonard is with the Revolutionary forces. At the very least, he’s someone close to them.”
“…….”
A quiet smile rose on the princess’s lips.
“Did you know?”
“No. I didn’t.”
She fiddled with the bracelet from the opera house.
“But even that… was entertaining.”
Maximilian watched her, raising a hand to his mouth.
“Shh.”
The two of them halted. Ahead of them stood another killer, cloaked in rags.
“I’ll cut through.”
A single statement.
Followed by a single stride.
───
The sword of Ebenholtz was quiet. It simply flowed like a stream, settled like wind, and severed the enemy’s throat. The killer’s head soared into the air and gently descended.
Fssssss.
Where steel had passed, only a faint silver gleam shimmered.
“…….”
Such refined swordwork, even in the eyes of the Empire’s noblest figure, was nothing short of elegant and full of grace.
“Let’s go.”
Maximilian stepped forward in Leonard’s place to guide her.
…….
The escape was easy. From the beginning, this terrorist attack was never meant to last long. The「Royal Opera House」may have been slightly away from the central district, but it was still, unmistakably, part of the capital.
Clank.
The two pushed aside the heavy manhole cover and emerged above ground.
The place they surfaced, via the waterway, was a back alley quite far from the opera house. Most likely, this had been the Revolutionary forces’ escape route.
“It’s quite far.”
Maximilian dusted off his clothes.
“What did you tell the palace?”
“I just snuck out. What else?”
Justine answered curtly, pulling her robe down tight.
“Let’s go.”
They exited the alley and slowly walked in the direction of the opera house.
From afar, sirens blared noisily, and the scene was already swarmed with police and Sentinel Knights.
As they slowly approached through the crowd—
“……?”
The princess’s eyes widened slightly as she looked at the scene.
At the end of her gaze stood a man.
Leonard.
Contrary to the princess’s expectations, he was alive.
Maximilian spoke to her.
“We operated as a pair.”
There beside Leonard was Leo.
An Aran Shepherd in silver armor. Standing dignified, a Spirit Beast that could match any full-fledged knight.
───Now, let us rewind time for a moment.
The moment Leonard stared wide-eyed at the axe about to come down on him. Just before the crimson blade was about to split his skull—
Flash!
From somewhere, a silver projectile shot through the air. At a speed Leonard’s naked eye couldn’t track. A movement so quiet it didn’t even stir the wind.
Leo leapt in one bound and sank his teeth into the attacker’s neck.
Crunch!
“…….”
The figure whose throat Leo had bitten clutched its own neck, staggering back and forth before collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. Leo’s teeth already carried force on par with a fine blade.
“……A dog?”
Leonard stared blankly at the sight.
An Aran Shepherd. No, too tall and well-built to be a mere shepherd, clad in armor far too fine, and in Leonard’s eyes, nobler than any human he had ever seen…….
“Grrr.”
Leo nudged the fallen enemy with his front paw. Leonard’s brow twitched.
The assailant had been a puppet. The reason it hadn’t bled when shot was that it had never been human to begin with.
“Woof.”
Leo turned around as if to say “Follow me”. Leonard flinched and got up, following him.
This was all according to Maximilian’s instructions to Leo.
If Leonard abandoned the Princess and ran, do not help him. A man like that wasn’t worth saving.
But if he takes responsibility for the situation and fights at the risk of his own life, then save him. At least he will have proven himself worthy of saving.
Leonard had, at minimum, not shown his back. He had not groveled for his life, nor used the princess as bait. On the contrary, he had staked his own life to protect her.
And so, Leonard had saved himself.
──Returning now to the present.
“However…… the deeper the investigation into this incident goes.”
Maximilian gestured with his chin toward the people around Leonard.
“The more it will become clear that Leonard has close ties with the Revolutionary forces.”
Police were hauling out operatives who had been dragged from beneath the opera house.
According to the script, they should have simply been treated as victims, but with the play in ruins, they had been caught red-handed.
“And so, I humbly dare to ask.”
Maximilian’s gaze turned sharp.
“Your Highness…… what is it that you desire?”
The princess regarded Maximilian with an inscrutable look in her eyes.
