Chapter 418

“Are you going out?”

Leo asked with a calm expression. I knew this bastard would ask this first. I assumed there would be an attempt to dissuade or reject me behind that composure, but regardless of what it was, now wasn’t the time to argue about whether I was going out or not. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “We’ll talk about that later.”

There was something else that mattered more right now. The anonymous sender telling us to ‘meet in Munich on Sunday’ was not the end of it. I ran my gloved hand over the note and spoke.

“I should probably pass this information on to someone. Narke, what do you think?”

“Hm? …Haha.”

Narke crossed his arms and let out a frank laugh before continuing, “Of course you should. Otherwise, what would be the point?”

Ulrike, who had been watching with a slight frown, seemed to find Narke’s reaction strange. He propped himself up against the desk and leaned toward Narke.

“What is it? Tell me too.”

Sorry, Ulrike, but I couldn’t do that.

Thirty minutes later.

After handling the last Rampager, I quickly revert my appearance to Narke. Then I headed straight for Trier.

“Huff….”

After passing through two warp points and running all the way to the lodging where Savelli was staying, I found Simone Savelli sitting in the garden out front, drinking tea. He looked at me in confusion.

“What is it?”

“Lord Savelli.”

Without even asking permission, I pulled out the chair across from him and sat down, checking my wristwatch. If I didn’t finish the Rampager processing procedures soon, it would arouse suspicion. I had barely five minutes.

“We don’t have time. How well do you know the Papal See?”

“Hm. I know it very well.”

“Quite confident, aren’t you? Then I have a few things to ask.”

“Hm…”

“Just say yes and hurry up. I’ve only got five minutes left!”

“Five minutes?! Huh? Why? Do you really have to leave in such a hurry? You haven’t shown your face once since yesterday!”

I shook my head, refusing to answer him, then leaned forward and asked, “Have you found out anything about Pleroma in the Papal States?”

This was the second of the two reasons I had come here. I brought up the question that wouldn’t matter whether I heard it or not first. From there, I would branch naturally into my primary objective.

In other words, what I was really asking was this: Why had Adrian Askanien—someone from our government rather than yours—come back carrying some kind of ‘information’? Savelli slightly furrowed his brow before answering obediently.

“We always monitor heresies such as Pleroma. Some of that information, however, is not something I can disclose to Your Eminence.”

“That’s not—.”

“Your Eminence.”

This time, I was the one narrowing my eyes. Savelli looked at me seriously and continued, “You are, without a doubt, one of the 129 cardinals in the world, and His Holiness’s closest representative.”

“…….”

“I am certainly not in a position to defy Your Eminence or tell you what you should or should not do. If anything, it would be more appropriate for you to give me orders, as you have all this time. I came here to attend to the needs of both Your Eminences, after all.”

“Then what are you trying to say?”

“However, Your Eminence, you must resolve the theft of the holy relics as soon as possible. This is not the time to discuss Pleroma’s movements.”

“Why?”

“Because that is the will of His Holiness and the Papal See, Your Eminence. We cannot let hundreds of millions of Catholics around the world know that such an unfortunate incident has occurred within the Catholic Church just before Easter—and that there has been no progress even after more than a month since it happened.”

I smiled at that, then asked without changing my expression.

“Then why has Cardinal Farnese been unable to find the holy relics for over a month? Why did you simply stand by for an entire month, even knowing that he couldn’t find it?”

“…….”

“I don’t know why, but the expectations placed upon him are fearfully high yet strangely low. Almost as if you believe there is simply nothing you can do about it.”

“It is that difficult of a task. Difficult enough that even Cardinal Farnese does not know how to proceed.”

At the mention of Narke, Simone Savelli gave a bitter smile, apparently displeased. He soon closed his eyes and let out a deep breath before continuing slowly.

“Isn’t Nikolaus Ernst of Germany someone who makes the impossible possible? The rumors have already spread throughout Italy and the Papal States. So we thought we might as well hope that the two of you could work together and find an answer.”

“How kind of you to say.”

Despite what I said, my expression did not change, making it clear that I was hardly grateful. Simone Savelli’s expression as he looked at me said as much. Even so, he calmly continued.

“And in fact, Your Eminence, you yourself claimed that there was a Judas within the Papal See and identified someone there as the culprit. I do not know what evidence you have for that, but given that Cardinal Farnese also agreed with you on the matter, it is certainly worth believing.”

“…….”

“Do you understand now why His Holiness and the Papal See are placing such high hopes on His Eminence?”

Enough of that. I stared at Savelli for a moment before taking the note and the drawing I had made from the pouch of my cassock. They were the symbol and coordinates I had worked out with my friends earlier.

“In that sense, I have brought this.”

“When you say ‘in that sense’….”

“I mean the Judas within the Papal See.”

“…….”

Savelli’s expression immediately turned serious. Whether he saw this as an opportunity to clear the Papal See’s name, ambition flashed in his eyes.

“That is a peculiar drawing… Is it an alchemical symbol? And this is a set of coordinates.”

“If you decipher it, it says: Munich, Sunday.”

“Was there really a reason to write it like this…?”

“It was strange enough that I decided to tell you about it directly, Lord Savelli. These two notes arrived at two different places, and both places were closely connected to the holy relics.”

“…….”

“To put it bluntly, someone knows that I am searching for the holy relics.”

Cardinal Nikolaus, and Nikolaus Ernst of Bavaria. Only certain people within the Papal See could know both identities. I deliberately did not tell him exactly where I had received the notes, but Savelli’s expression hardened.

“…Very well. Then Your Eminence is suggesting that ‘the one who would know about this must be someone within the Papal See’….”

“Exactly. But this note gave me some pause.”

I held up the blue note and gave it a little shake. Our eyes met.

“If the sender really is someone within the Papal See, would they tell me to meet them in Munich on Sunday?”

Savelli’s sharp brows slowly drew together. I could see the muscles beneath his eyes stiffen, while the light in his eyes became fixed and unwavering. I held the note out to him again, letting him examine it once more, and said, “I don’t know whether the sender means this coming Sunday or the Sunday after, or what kind of wordplay they might be playing with us… but for now, I’m assuming they mean this Sunday. If they intend to arrive on Sunday and have everything prepared, they’ll have to start moving at least today or tomorrow. Starting today, keep a close watch for anyone trying to get around the lockdown by any means, and open and inspect all mail going to and from the Papal See. They might be arranging the meeting through a third party by mail.”

“…….”

“I’ll look into the clergy entering Germany through the border. We should also check with the Archdiocese of Munich. But as you can see from this conversation alone, it would be quite a hassle for someone in the Papal See to arrange or conspire to meet me in Munich.”

“That’s true. So?”

“So you may be right, Lord Savelli.”

A spark flashed in Savelli’s eyes. I took in the quiet moment, enjoying the scent of grass and the rustling of the wind in the garden behind the cathedral. I was out of time now. I had to return immediately. Looking him straight in the eye, I continued.

“There may not be a culprit in the Papal See after all. Do you understand now why I came here in such a hurry? Lord Savelli, you need to investigate this more thoroughly than anyone else.”

The truth of the dishonorable suspicion hanging over the Papal See now rested on Savelli’s investigation. He clearly understood what I was telling him.

“Very well. May I request cooperation from the Papal See’s investigative authorities right away?”

I nodded, my expression serious. Savelli’s eyes held much the same resolve as mine.

With that, I had accomplished my primary objective.

“We don’t have time to sleep.”

I muttered to Narke, who was sitting beside me. Ever since the note earlier, Narke had been trying to stay by my side. It wasn’t because he wanted to protect me; this was hardly the kind of situation where either of us needed that. He simply seemed to want me to explain something.

“We said we were almost there when it came to the people who stole the holy relics. But these guys are so thorough that even after several days, they still won’t take the bait. Right?”

I continued speaking as I dealt with the work that had come in from Bavaria—Narke would take it out later and pass it on to Leo.

“So we need to cast a wider net. We also have no idea what Pleroma is preparing. That means we need to…”

“They’re trying to create a Messiah, Lukas.”

“…….”

My heart lurched. I pressed my lips together for a moment before carefully opening my mouth.

“Yeah. I know that much for now. But there has to be something else going on alongside that.”

The first week of April had passed—though calling it the first week was a stretch when it had only been a single day—and Easter was just around the corner, leaving the whole country in high spirits. The same was true in France, Britain, and Italy. It was a time when people could finally breathe amid the tense international situation.

But not for us.

Not with Pleroma around.

I looked Narke straight in the eye.

“So this is the conclusion I’ve come to. I’m going to Munich on Sunday. We need to deal with the holy relics theft as soon as possible so we can focus on Pleroma, or at least get our hands on some tool or information that could hurt them. Otherwise, we have no way forward.”

“…….”

“We have to save Heike, too.”

I cast my gaze downward, staring at the ink soaking into the paper. This was the most important goal of all. Narke simply closed his eyes and slowly nodded. He didn’t seem to have any major objections. Then he brought up an issue that was important, but went in a different direction from what I had been thinking about.

“What are you going to do if the headquarters finds out?”

“You didn’t read my thoughts?”

“Want me to?”

Narke smiled and asked playfully. I let out a small, incredulous laugh before answering.

“No.”

“Haha. What a shame~”

Narke laughed lightly, but his expression gradually turned worried.

“Lukas. You know this too, but just making contact with them could put us at a disadvantage. I don’t know how long your brother plans to stay in Germany, or how long His Majesty intends to extend his leave, but right now, meeting someone in Munich who we believe may be an enemy is a risk in itself.”

“You’re right.”

I was about to end the conversation there, but then I added one more thing and finished with a smile.

“I’ve already thought of a countermeasure for that.”

That countermeasure was very simple, but as always, the most effective one: turning back time. I didn’t have many points, so I was treating this as a one-time opportunity, and even that would only be used in the worst possible situation. There were no points to waste on Retry just to experiment with something that hadn’t happened yet. It wasn’t as though I had ever casually turned back time out of fear of running out of points, but now I had to be even more careful.

4:00 AM.

Even as everyone was making their way to the designated gathering point after receiving the order, Adrian Askanien still hadn’t appeared.

And yet, the morale of everyone here soared at the mere mention of Adrian Askanien’s arrival. As people walked through the corridors, faintly confident smiles appeared on their faces, and they carried themselves with noticeably more energy than usual. The same was true of the 91st Unit, whose age bracket differed from his, and the 98th Unit, who had spent time as his peers. Even Ulrike from our team was no exception.

I glanced toward Ulrike, who had been specially promoted to A-Class after Corbiniano. Since Adrian’s return to the Empire, Ulrike had gradually regained some of his vigor. Color had returned to his face, and he could once again show the clear, bright look in his eyes without holding anything back.

The extent to which a state could influence the mindset of its people could be seen most clearly in Prussia, the militaristic state that rose from Brandenburg’s barren sands to become a European power, or in Germany from the aftermath of World War I to Hitler’s rise to power. And Adrian, who represented the Empire as its spokesman to its hundred million subjects, was proving the same thing to me firsthand. The Command Headquarters was already fired up simply because he had appeared.

What was more, he had come here in secret. He hadn’t been given any grand ceremony, nor had he had a chance to meet the general public. Even so, the fervent nonverbal reactions of just one segment of the population—this country’s most conservative of the conservative, the pro-Imperial faction and admirers of militarism—were more than enough to show me what kind of standing Adrian held within the government and the German Empire.

As for Ulrike, his eyes were shining with the excitement of meeting a great mage he admired, someone destined to become the next chancellor, along with the thought, I want to leave a good impression. —Though, judging from everything I had seen of Ulrike so far, he was hardly the opportunistic type. It wasn’t that he specifically wanted to impress Adrian Askanien. He probably just wanted to leave a good impression on anyone he met.— What Ulrike showed was closer to the general respect that most of the Empire’s subjects held for Adrian, rather than the extreme example represented by the mage-soldiers here, steeped in Prussian conservatism.

I had only ever seen Adrian Askanien as a revered figure, so seeing with my own eyes just how much prestige he held among the Empire’s subjects felt strangely significant. He was practically the spiritual leader of all the Empire’s people, second only to the Emperor himself. Since the New Humans could not be judged by Old Human standards of age, his youth was hardly a major obstacle to his reputation.

And ironically, the fact that I had such a leader among the Empire’s hundred million subjects as my older brother was also a weapon in my hands. Just as that very leader had told me himself.

“Lord Lukas Askanien.”

Someone fell into step beside me. A blue tie. Someone from 98th B had addressed me.

“I’m glad your brother has returned to the Empire.”

“Is that so? Are you a friend of his?”

“Yes. We attended the Third Academy together.”

Who? It was someone Adrian Askanien probably wouldn’t have considered particularly close, but instead of saying that, I replied politely.

“I am glad to hear that a friend of His Excellency the Deputy Minister is happy to see his return as well.”

“Your achievements so far have reminded me once again of the importance of bloodline. It truly is a factor that cannot be ignored. It is gratifying to see such excellent brothers bringing glory to the Empire.”

“That is very kind of you to say.”

I could see the other seniors glancing our way. The fact that their looks held no hint of condemnation sent a chill down my arms. I knew perfectly well why he had suddenly decided to approach me now.

With that, I stopped in the lobby of the Mimesis training grounds.

After waiting for a while, a mage whose face I had previously seen in documents appeared. Amid a barrage of clicks loud enough to burst my eardrums, I raised my hand to my brow and lowered it again. He did the same to the dozen or so people gathered here. Then he opened the leather folder tucked under his arm and said, “Deputy Minister Adrian Askanien is currently attending the Supreme Council presided over by His Majesty the Emperor. He wished to work alongside all of you, but as he has been appointed Vice Chairman, he said he cannot leave his post.”

“…….”

“Instead, I have come here to carry out the instructions His Excellency prepared in advance. From this point onward…”

As befitting a politician who had earned the trust of the entire nation and been given so many positions that even ten bodies would not have been enough to fill them all, Adrian Askanien had sent one of his aides to oversee the Command’s training in his place. For someone of his standing to not even come in person and simply send one of his aides carrying a single file would have been more than enough to bruise the pride of the people gathered here—the best of the best, elites painstakingly gathered from across Germany by Prussia and filtered through multiple rounds of selection.

Yet none of them seemed offended in the slightest.

If anything, their faces were filled with anticipation, as though they were more interested in what kind of new training Adrian Askanien had devised based on his personal assessment of each individual’s abilities. They even looked quite honored to be receiving his supervision, if only in name.

The aide went on with some unnecessary rambling before finally getting to the point.

“As for this training, I cannot provide you with any information in advance.”

“…?”

I could practically feel the air fill with confusion. No one spoke or even turned their head, but naturally, everyone was baffled. While Adrian’s aide continued with another long-winded explanation about why he could not tell them anything, I fell into thought.

‘So.’

I couldn’t help wondering what information Adrian Askanien had brought back that had caused meetings to continue one after another. And whether the government would actually be able to handle it properly. That was what interested me.

Judging by how rapidly the government had returned to a state of ‘normalcy’ after Adrian Askanien came back, perhaps they would manage it… But that was a normalcy that would collapse the moment Adrian Askanien left. It was far too early to feel reassured.

“All right. Now, enter the Mimesis training grounds as you normally would.”

I entered the enormous hall divided into separate sections. The Mimesis testing grounds were now more like an auditorium than a room. As I took a deep breath, the countdown began to wind down.

[3, 2, 1. Begin.]

Beep—

A blinding white light rushed into view with the sound of the buzzer. I blinked a few times, and the world slowly came into focus.

I was standing in the middle of winter, with snow falling all around me. The black wool long coat I had been wearing back then reached down to my shins. The belt was just as thick as the one I had used in winter, and I was wearing boots lined with fur for warmth.

“…….”

I really could have done without seeing a winter scene. Maybe it was because the setting where I had been with eight-year-old Yuri Alekseyev had also been a snowy winter landscape. But this wasn’t even the south. Was it really supposed to be this cold?

I looked around at the unusually snow-covered streets of Berlin, where the snow had piled up to the middle of my boots, and adjusted the peaked cap being tossed about by the wind.

Beep—

Another strange buzzer sounded amid the howling wind. At the same time, translucent red letters appeared in the sky.

[4:00:00]

“Over there….”

“Hurry up. Just keep walking and look straight ahead.”

I turned toward the whispers. The people passing by were startled when they saw me standing there dressed entirely in black. They quickly averted their eyes and went as far around me as they could.

“…….”

It wasn’t because I was Pleroma Lukas Askanien. Anyone wearing clothes that looked this much like a government lackey would get the same reaction from most people. Besides, unlike the ‘truly living’ people in the Extra Chapter, the people in Mimesis didn’t find anything strange about me regardless of my eye color. That detail had been deliberately excluded from the civilian model.

Suppressing the urge to use divine power to change the color of my clothes—or at the very least tear off the silver Prussian eagle attached to my hat—I slowly looked around.

The hexagonal rotating advertising boards placed along the sidewalks had grown old, and flakes of paint fell off whenever the wind blew. Shops were closed here and there. Most of the people were considerably shorter than me and dressed in worn-out clothes. Judging by that, this had to be one of the Old Human residential districts that made up ninety percent of Berlin.

Whenever I met someone’s eyes, they hurriedly looked away. And beyond the Neo-Renaissance arcades built as part of the city’s urban planning, I could see residential neighborhoods covered in gabled roofs, with white smoke rising here and there. But that wasn’t what mattered….

“…….”

There was no one. Not a single A-Class member was here. All that greeted me was a broad avenue on the outskirts of Berlin, with a slum tucked away in the backstreets. I wasn’t even sure I’d been dropped into the same field as the others.

And what was with the four hours displayed in the sky? Thirty seconds had already passed.

Adrian Askanien had clearly taken after the professors who had taught him at the First Academy. He was allowing us four whole hours in the Mimesis, which consumed an enormous amount of mana every time it was activated, and he’d simply dropped us here without giving us a single instruction, expecting the participants to figure out the objective on their own.

‘All right, what am I supposed to do now?’

What did the person who designed this exercise want?

What did the government think was going to happen to the Empire for them to plan this kind of training exercise?

I stood there, staring straight ahead as though rooted to the spot. Only when the last person had disappeared from the square did I finally turn my head.

No matter how I thought about it, finding a clothing store seemed like the best option.