Chapter 194
Chapter 194
Ready for Chapter 1
The train ran with a blaring whistle, gliding along the tracks.
The train that had been racing forward arrived at a small village. With no proper station, it was a shabby place maintained in the form of a simple stop.
A train stopped at this station only about once a week. Even that wasn’t profitable, yet it had no choice but to halt briefly due to orders from the state.
Simid Kellogg sat on a moldy bench, lighting a cigar as he gazed up at the spring sky. Kairus, who had gotten off the train, spotted him and walked over.
Irena and Nora, who had arrived together, stepped aside to give space to Kairus and Simid.
“It’s been a while.”
“I meant the simple station.”
With a soft tap, the ash gathered at the tip of the cigar fell to the ground like gray tears.
“Isn’t the word rather sad? When everything is labeled ‘simple,’ it inevitably becomes crude.”
A simple station, a simple meal, a simple lover….
“They say people grow sentimental with age.”
Kairus sat down beside Simid Kellogg and spoke.
“There’s no one around. No reason to listen to an old man’s nonsense, so let’s get straight to the point.”
“You’ve prepared for quite a long time.”
Simid Kellogg offered him a cigar, but Kairus shook his head and refused.
Simid Kellogg had prepared for this matter for about six years.
“Even so, it didn’t look like you gathered that many troops.”
“Thirty thousand. Of those, twenty thousand will head to the Imperial Capital with me.”
Kairus let out a bitter smile. To be frank, it was a hopelessly insufficient number.
“You’re not planning to storm the Imperial Palace with that, are you?”
Even so, Kairus continued listening. Simid Kellogg was no fool. He must have had a plan, and that plan simply did not require a large force.
“All state secrets are updated periodically.”
“That’s true.”
Information required constant updating. No matter how important it was, it was revised at regular intervals, the old versions discarded and replaced with new ones.
It was only natural.
“Do you know the replacement cycle for the documents with the longest update interval in the Valorn Empire?”
“…Three years.”
Even information that never changed was renewed once every three years. Even if nothing was altered, it was replaced with a new version, and the old one was destroyed under strict supervision.
In other words, over six years, all administrative documents held by the Valorn Empire would have been updated at least twice.
“So, you gathered up those old records?”
“What use would old information be?”
Once again, ash fell with a soft tap.
“I tampered with the newly replaced information.”
“In what way? No, to begin with, could even the Treasury Chief manipulate that?”
Simid Kellogg let out a low chuckle at Kairus’s words.
“On the documents? Nonsense. But surely I can tamper with the paper on which the information is written.”
With a soft rustle, he held out a document. The paper used by the imperial government was supplied by a single company.
It was durable, could be used on both sides, and could even be recycled up to three times. Every official duty in the Empire used paper produced by this company.
“You tampered with the paper?”
“Paper is meant to burn well, isn’t it?”
He had merely mixed various substances into the pulp supplied to the paper company, making it burn far more easily than ordinary paper. Kairus, who had been listening absentmindedly, clicked his tongue and asked,
“And who’s going to set the fire?”
As with everything in life, no one climbed a tree to pluck fruit unless they were prepared to fall. Anyone who set fire to a place where countless important documents were stored would inevitably be caught and crushed unless they possessed exceptional skill.
“Don’t start spouting nonsense about noble sacrifices for a greater cause or protecting something more precious than one’s life.”
If he really said something like that, Kairus intended to wait for a train to pass and throw Simid Kellogg onto the tracks.
What did he take people for, saying such things? If everyone were truly righteous and noble beings, Bennett City would not even exist.
“Those who desire change.”
Simid Kellogg answered briefly. Kairus, who had been staring at the railroad tracks until he heard the reply, responded immediately.
“I think that requires a more precise explanation.”
“How many people do you think are released from labor correctional facilities each year in the Empire?”
At last, Kairus’s gaze turned fully toward Simid Kellogg.
“Approximately 470,000. Of those, about 21 percent return to the correctional facilities.”
“They can’t adapt.”
Life inside and outside the correctional facility was different. And no ordinary person would ever trust someone who had once been imprisoned in a labor correctional facility.
“That’s a hell of a lot of ex-convicts.”
No wonder Bennett always remained populated even as people died off so easily. The Empire alone produced 470,000 ex-convicts every year.
“For six years, I have continuously tracked the former convicts.”
He had been checking whether any of them were useful.
“I secured 850.”
It wasn’t a large number. In six years, nearly three million people had been released, and after carefully selecting from them, only 850 remained.
“I suppose one of them is me.”
At Kairus’s remark, Simid Kellogg replied,
“They are people capable of action but lacking in ability. That is why they do not clearly understand what they are actually doing.”
Those who think, This damned Empire that makes my life so miserable can go to hell!
Or those who need money for a new beginning but have no way to obtain it.
Those burdened with massive debts, praying at racetracks and gambling dens that a single fleeting moment will turn into lifelong wealth.
“There are more people than I expected.”
“Yes, I know.”
Kairus knew well how far people could go. He had merely been worried that Simid might recruit useless fools filled only with strange notions of justice, with no intention of actually using them.
“Eight hundred and fifty, huh.”
Their task was to secretly set fire to administrative institutions. There was no reason to send many people to one place.
“And where do you plan to use the troops you can mobilize?”
“I intend to divide them into several groups and scatter them across the Empire.”
They would sever the lines that bound the Empire together and incite chaos in various regions.
Documents would burn to ashes, and proper communication would become impossible.
“Once everything begins, we’ll approach them under the pretense of having come from nearby cities to confirm the situation and coordinate countermeasures.”
From the victims’ perspective, there would be no way to verify the identities of those who arrived.
If such fires broke out simultaneously in numerous locations, the administration would already be completely paralyzed. In that situation, even the slightest mischief would cause unimaginable chaos.
“What is my role?”
“You must divert the attention of the military and the Security Corps.”
Kairus roughly understood what he meant. However, something else was more important.
“What about the Capital Security Corps and the Guardian of the Nation?”
If the chaos continued, the knight orders and military units stationed in the Imperial Capital could be dispatched outside the capital to restore order.
But not the Capital Security Corps. In times of peace, they guarded the Imperial Capital, but when an incident occurred, they protected the Imperial Palace.
The superhuman unit, enhanced with all manner of procedures, would never leave the capital and would protect the Emperor no matter what happened.
And Denver Hudson, the Guardian of the Nation who currently held the title of the Empire’s greatest swordsman, would not leave either.
“If they remain to guard the Imperial Palace, then we simply avoid touching it.”
They would cut off the water supply and gas, and block all logistics entering the Imperial Palace.
“The Capital Security Corps numbers around 3,500. Including everyone who resides within the palace, the total exceeds ten thousand.”
The amount of daily necessities consumed each day was enormous.
“The key point is that we must turn everything outside the Imperial Capital into ruins so that only the Capital Security Corps remains.”
“I originally needed much more preparation… but now I have you.”
He had never intended to act with only six years of preparation. His plan had been laid with ten years in mind at the shortest… and as long as fifteen years.
But Simid Kellogg no longer had any reason to wait.
Flight.
Right now, in this world, the only one capable of traversing the vast territory of the Valorn Empire back and forth several times within a single day was Kairus.
“Did you say your maximum speed is five times the speed of sound? Then you could cover 6,000 kilometers in less than an hour.”
“That speed is only during combat.”
Under normal conditions, he flew at about two to three times the speed of sound. Even so, that meant nearly 3,000 kilometers per hour.
“The Valorn Empire spans 8,500 kilometers from west to east, and about 3,200 kilometers from north to south.”
“Hearing the numbers makes it clear just how vast this damned Empire really is.”
The immense population and the enormous expanse of land were the sources of Valorn’s national power. At the same time, however, the sheer size of its territory made it difficult to keep track of its population even in times of peace.
If the administrative paralysis Simid Kellogg spoke of succeeded, that alone would plunge the Empire into utter chaos.
“You could reach from the western edge of the Valorn Empire to its eastern edge in about three hours.”
No train could possibly match such speed. Moreover, a small force would need to be transported repeatedly from place to place.
Kairus would fly to the locations marked on the map, thoroughly destroy them, and then take to the skies again. There would be no way for the enemy to respond.
Unless, by chance, a knight commander happened to be waiting at the very place where Kairus landed.
Even then—
“I can handle one on my own.”
It would take two or more knight commanders lying in wait to jeopardize the mission. Kairus was confident he could handle one.
“With chaos erupting across the Empire, it’s unlikely that two knight commanders would remain in the same place.”
Regions outside the major cities would be guarded by military units relying on sheer numbers. And to Kairus, the number of enemies meant nothing.
With Kairus alone, the chances of the rebellion’s success had risen dramatically, and the plan itself had become far simpler.
“I understand what I need to do.”
“It seems the Lunaseeker will also cooperate in cutting off the communication network.”
Kairus laughed coldly. Relying on external assistance was hardly a wise decision.
“You’ll be heading to the Imperial Capital, I presume?”
“It would be meaningless otherwise.”
If he led a rebellion yet the one who planned and commanded everything was not in the Imperial Capital, everything would seem strange.
It was only natural that the one who prepared everything would gain the most upon success—and lose the most upon failure.
“…If, by some chance, things go wrong, I trust you will keep your promise.”
“You mean Irena. I remember the promise as well. I’ll do my best.”
That was all the answer Kairus gave. Simid Kellogg, who had been staring thoughtfully at the railway of the simple station for a moment, spoke again.
“By any chance—”
“Do you want Irena to stay out of this? That’s something you should tell her, not me.”
Kairus was not Irena’s guardian. He had never been. He had taught her how to use battle gear and how to wield a sword, but that was all.
What Irena chose to do was not something Kairus could decide for her.
“I see. Yes… you’re right. Understood.”
Simid nodded.
“Then I’ll leave the two of you to talk.”
Kairus stepped aside. Taking the seat he had vacated, Irena sat down.
Seated quietly, Irena listened to Simid Kellogg’s words. From Simid’s perspective, he did his utmost to persuade her.
It was dangerous work, and he might die. He did not want her to be dragged into something like this.
Those were the kinds of things he said. It was the heart of a father worrying for his daughter.