Chapter 132 : Arrival
Chapter 132: Arrival
“………………”
To everyone present, it was an utterly unimaginable scene.
During the Continental Congress...
A representative who had been delivering an impassioned speech was actually arrested on the spot?!
“All right, gentlemen.”
Levi waved the arrest warrant in his hand.
“Come down yourselves like proper gentlemen. Oh, right...”
As he spoke, Levi raised an eyebrow and looked toward Adams.
“Mr. Adams, your speech just now was quite good, but I'd like to correct one thing you said. This land...”
As he spoke, Levi pointed at the floor beneath his feet.
“...is not your homeland. It is the Empire's territory. I hope you don't get that wrong.”
“You—————!”
Hearing Levi's words, Adams clenched his fists tightly and glared at him with burning anger.
Hancock stepped forward, placed a hand on Adams' shoulder to stop him from acting impulsively, then looked at Levi and spoke.
“Mr. Levi, could you spare us a little time? We'd like to have a talk with you. Perhaps you don't understand the current situation in the Melisia Region...”
“I'm not here to exchange arguments with you, nor am I interested in doing so.”
At this moment, Levi behaved like a cold machine that existed solely to carry out orders.
“The arrest warrant states it very clearly. Samuel Adams and John Hancock have committed treason. My mission is to arrest the two of you. As for whatever you wish to say, I neither care nor am I interested.”
“………………”
Faced with Levi's indifferent reply, Hancock was left speechless.
He had originally hoped the other party would give them some time. Then he and Adams could explain the current situation in the Melisia Region to him. Whether Levi sympathized with them or opposed them, at the very least, he represented the government's position.
Perhaps they could even use this opportunity to persuade the wavering centrists.
What Hancock hadn't expected was that Levi refused to follow his line of conversation altogether. He was simply a merciless executor.
“All right. Please step down from the podium and surrender yourselves. Or would you prefer that I come up there and put the handcuffs on you myself?”
Levi put away the arrest warrant, then took out a pair of handcuffs and casually shook them toward the two men.
He never once mentioned the subject of the meeting, nor did he express any opinion whatsoever.
It was as though he had come here solely to arrest these two people.
As for where this was...
Or what was currently taking place...
He simply didn't care.
“………………”
The two exchanged glances.
For a moment, they were completely at a loss.
Naturally, they didn't want Levi to come onto the podium and handcuff them in front of everyone.
But if they walked down on their own...
Wouldn't that be the same as admitting defeat?
No...
Perhaps they had already lost...
Adams lowered his head.
The man who had spoken with such passion only moments earlier now looked like a rooster that had lost a cockfight.
Hancock silently patted him on the shoulder without saying a word before walking down from the podium.
There, Levi stood calmly, waiting for them.
“Wait.”
At that moment, another voice suddenly rang out.
The two looked up.
Claiborne had risen from his seat, gripping the railing with both hands as he glared coldly at Levi.
“This is the Continental Congress, not a place where one of the Queen's lapdogs can run wild! Guards! Arrest him!”
As he spoke, Claiborne waved his hand.
Several guards immediately emerged from the side, gripping their rifles with fixed bayonets as they advanced toward Levi.
Almost at the same instant—
A gunshot rang out.
“Bang!”
The sharp report echoed through the hall.
Claiborne's bloated body suddenly trembled violently.
Without warning, a bloody hole appeared squarely in the middle of his forehead.
His eyes widened as he stared at Levi.
The latter looked calmly back at him.
At some point, the handcuffs that had been in Levi's right hand had become a smoking revolver.
Claiborne's body swayed.
Then he toppled over the railing and crashed headfirst onto the floor.
“Thud!!”
Watching Claiborne become a corpse in the blink of an eye, everyone stood frozen in shock.
The entire conference hall fell into dead silence.
Even the guards stood there clutching their weapons, their faces deathly pale, their legs trembling so badly they almost fled on the spot.
At that moment, Levi spoke once more.
“What a disappointment.”
Levi casually spun the Persuader while slowly sweeping his gaze across the crowd.
“On Imperial territory, in broad daylight, before everyone's eyes... someone actually attempted to resist Her Majesty the Queen's decree? Obstruct law enforcement? Is there no justice left? No law left?”
Levi's voice was extraordinarily calm, as though he were discussing nothing more than the weather.
Yet throughout the entire hall, not a single person dared utter another word.
Because Levi had already proven through his actions that he not only dared to act—
He dared to kill.
Anyone who attempted to stop him...
Would be killed.
Of course, Levi wasn't a cold-blooded killer.
If it had been someone else, he might have chosen another way to intimidate them.
But unfortunately...
The one who had spoken happened to be Claiborne.
Then Levi had no choice but to act.
He simply considered it revenge for the victims within Imperial territory.
Sure enough, after Claiborne demonstrated the consequences with his own life, no one else dared to speak.
They had also realized something.
Levi wasn't interested in making things difficult for the guards.
Instead, he would mercilessly kill the one giving the orders.
At least—
That was the case in front of him.
After all, everyone only had one life.
And as mentioned before, everyone gathered here was a leading figure in their respective profession.
Adams might have shouted passionately about "Give me liberty, or give me death," but given their status, even if they truly went to war, they would be among the last group to die.
If fortune smiled upon them and they surrendered early enough...
They might even survive.
Regardless of the outcome...
Only by staying alive could one have a future.
As for Claiborne?
He no longer had a future.
With their heads lowered, Adams and Hancock walked down from the podium and stopped before Levi.
Once again, as though performing a magic trick, Levi put away his revolver, took out the handcuffs, cuffed one hand of each man, then made a courteous gesture.
“All right, gentlemen. Let's go.”
The two walked ahead dejectedly while Levi followed behind them.
He didn't seem remotely worried that they might escape.
The guards also dared not move.
They stared blankly at the bizarre scene before them, completely at a loss for words.
Since no one else dared speak, neither did they dare step forward.
They could only watch helplessly as the three of them walked out of the conference hall.
“I have to admit, Mr. Levi, you truly are courageous.”
After leaving the hall, Hancock no longer had much to worry about.
He was already in handcuffs.
What more could happen?
So as they walked, he spoke to Levi.
“I never imagined you'd actually dare do something like this during the Continental Congress. Do you truly believe you'll leave the gates of Fehart City alive?”
“You think I won't make it out?”
Levi chuckled softly.
Hancock had completely thrown caution to the wind.
“What you did was completely unexpected. However, by doing this, you'll only strengthen the Continental Congress's resolve to oppose the Empire. And I guarantee that by the time you walk out of City Hall, the situation will be entirely different.”
“I don't think there's any problem at all. Now hurry up. Stop dawdling here and wasting time.”
Levi remained completely unmoved by Hancock's threat.
Hancock exchanged a glance with Adams before shaking his head.
He simply couldn't believe Levi had any solution.
Perhaps Levi had already contacted the Imperial garrison stationed near Fehart City to come and reinforce him.
But they had received no intelligence indicating such a thing.
Besides...
If Levi had truly come here alone...
Then in Hancock's opinion...
There was absolutely no way Levi would leave Fehart alive.
The Continental Congress would never tolerate such an incident.
If they truly ignored it...
Then there would be no point whatsoever in speaking about the struggle between the Melisia Region and the Empire.
Perhaps he and Adams no longer held any value to the Continental Congress.
But what Levi had done...
Was no different from spitting directly in the Continental Congress's face!
They would definitely take action!
Hancock deliberately slowed his pace, trying to buy as much time as possible.
Levi, however, clearly didn't care.
Besides, Hancock and Adams were grown adults.
No matter how slowly they walked, they couldn't dawdle forever like children.
Eventually, the three arrived at the entrance to City Hall.
Then they stepped outside.
“Rustle!”
The instant they emerged through the doors—
More than a hundred fully armed militiamen raised their rifles.
Three layers deep inside and out, they completely surrounded the trio.
“Criminal! You unlawfully broke into the Continental Congress and threatened the elected representatives! Your crimes are unforgivable!”
Standing in the rear, the militia commander glared at Levi and shouted loudly.
“Drop your weapon immediately and surrender!”
“Unforgivable?”
Facing the militia commander's rebuke, Levi's expression didn't change in the slightest.
Leaning casually upon his cane, he calmly looked at them as though the countless gun barrels pointed at him simply didn't exist.
“As the duly appointed representative carrying an arrest warrant approved by Her Majesty the Queen, issued by Parliament, and signed by the Governor, I am arresting criminals on Imperial territory. What crime have I committed? Or...”
Levi looked directly at the militiamen.
His eyes were so calm that they seemed to be looking at a group of dead men.
“Are you planning to rebel against the Empire?”
“Enough with your slick tongue! Release them immediately! Otherwise we'll open fire!”
The militia commander paid no attention whatsoever to Levi's threat and merely roared angrily.
Seeing this, Hancock and Adams secretly felt delighted.
After all, Levi had been acting so arrogantly inside the Congress just moments earlier.
Now...
No matter how capable he was, two fists couldn't overcome four hands.
They wanted to see exactly what Levi intended to do against so many militiamen.
However...
When the two looked toward Levi, they were astonished to discover that he paid no attention whatsoever to the rifles pointed at him.
Instead, he calmly reached into his coat and took out a pocket watch.
After checking the time, he nodded.
“Hmm. The timing is about right.”
“What are you talking about? What timing is—”
“Buzzzzz—————!”
Before the militia commander could finish speaking...
A strange sound suddenly echoed through the air.
It resembled both the howl of the wind and the vibration of the atmosphere itself.
Then...
A massive black shadow gradually spread across the sky, blotting out the sunlight.
Hancock and Adams instinctively looked upward.
The moment they raised their heads—
Their eyes widened in astonishment.
Emerging from the clouds in the distance...
Was an enormous steel behemoth.
Its appearance resembled an upside-down ship, its size comparable to an entire battleship.
Along both sides of the hull, four pairs of enormous propellers spun at tremendous speed.
Upon its steel hull...
A hawk with outstretched wings proudly held its head high, gleaming brilliantly beneath the sunlight.
This was the crowning achievement of the Empire's Steam Revolution.
And the Empire's greatest trump card in its resurgence.
The Imperial Royal Navy Third Fleet—
The airship Cyclops—
Had made its grand entrance.
(End of Chapter)