Chapter 426

“Why do the two of them have to get married?”

The words slipped past my lips the moment I turned around. The moment I saw Narke’s face, that was what came out of my mouth, almost harshly. Even though I knew I was too flustered to think straight, my mouth kept speaking on its own. Unlike me, Narke calmly tightened his grip on my hand and called out to me.

“Theo.”

“Is that really for the best? You read German Love and came away thinking the protagonist and Marie should survive and get married…?”

But the moment I spat those words at Narke, thoughts about Barthes’s theories of interpretation—ideas that had not even been born in this era yet—flashed through my mind. There were countless ways to look at a subject, and just as many ways to approach a text. Barthes’s view¹ could hardly be the only correct one. I had often thought that Barthes’s theories of interpretation fit remarkably well with the economics of my own era, but that did not mean they suited the way I approached the world of written words. My own way of reading and my values had always been closer to Eco’s².

And yet, the moment I said those words, even though I was deeply disappointed that the old man from earlier had completely brushed aside the words contained in German Love—“Can you not love a woman without wishing to marry her?” The thought of death had crossed my mind, but that word no longer held any fear for me. Because death could not destroy this love. If anything, love would be purified by death, elevated by it, and ultimately transformed into something immortal.—despite that disappointment, I could imagine why that Old Human had no choice but to misinterpret the emotional bond between the two characters. In the end, I found myself accepting it. I couldn’t say anything anymore. Whatever the reason might be, I was going to accept all of it.

Dozens of conflicting thoughts split off in different directions, while contradictory trains of thought born simultaneously across several dimensions tangled together and pressed down on my voice. The speed of reason and the speed of emotion were different. This time, perhaps it was not speed but velocity. What remained accumulated in my chest.

I had shown him something I shouldn’t have. This was an intensely personal psychological problem, and therefore I had to deal with it myself. I didn’t want someone else to solve it for me, and I couldn’t afford to panic when a poison capable of throwing the entire continent into chaos was right in front of us. I forced the words out of my throat.

“Right. I know there are lives where that really is the best path. I was carel—”

“You’re not being careless. I understand why you had no choice but to say that.”

Understand what? The moment I thought that, Narke continued.

“Perhaps ‘understand’ isn’t quite the right word. But just as you were able to accept that Old Human so quickly, I’ve come to accept it to some extent as well.”

I listened to Narke’s voice as the world seemed to slow around me. I just wanted to escape this sudden, overwhelmingly embarrassing agony that had caught even me off guard, as quickly as possible. I knew better than anyone how sudden this was, and by then I desperately wanted him to stop talking. But he continued.

“Their all-encompassing love for another human being isn’t desire or sexual love. The narrator asks nothing of Marie and desires nothing from her. They’re simply people who know how to touch each other’s souls. That’s all. Their two souls have reached a point of resonance, but that may be a concept most of humanity would have trouble accepting. Their love is—”

With every word he spoke, my mind, already shrouded in gloom, remained at a standstill. His words did nothing to ease the turmoil in my head. In the noisy train corridor, I could feel only his voice gnawing at my thoughts. At the same time, I reached out toward something in my mind, and before I knew it, I opened my mouth.

“Everyone misunderstands our relationship just because your appearance changed.”

Narke nodded at the words that came out of nowhere from my jumbled thoughts.

When an Old Human male was standing beside me, he was my companion and my friend. Now that an Old Human female was standing beside me, she was my lover, even though that changed appearance was nothing more than an illusion.

I remembered something I had once heard. It seemed the possibility that we could simply be friends, no matter what we looked like, never even entered their minds.

As though, if we were together, we had to be in some kind of relationship. As though, if we worried about each other’s souls, pitied one another, or wished for each other to be happy and at peace, then our feelings had to match what they expected of us. As though they refused to accept that we could face each other’s very essence as human beings, one human to another.

As though only “Please become mine” could be called love, while “I will become yours” was something we could never feel. As if we couldn’t wish for each other’s well-being without first having desire between us.

Because our physical forms were different, the complete respect and acceptance we showed toward each other’s souls was endlessly twisted into something else. It hadn’t necessarily faded, but it had been distorted.

I was saying aloud the things I had once wanted to say to someone else. If I had to abandon the way I saw human beings just to accommodate the biases of those who held knives to other people’s throats, I didn’t want to do that. As long as treating people as human beings did not mean trampling on someone else’s happiness, I would not give that up. Only now did I fully understand what I had dimly grasped back then. Only Narke, standing there and looking at me, seemed frozen in place while the world rushed past. Why did the words I needed to say always come to me too late?

“Because human compassion and acceptance of another’s existence so often come accompanied by a sexual relationship in their minds.”

Narke’s voice slipped into my ears.

“Even if, in some relationships, the two are practically independent matters, it’s like carefully angling the tip of a quill when writing a record, then carefully rounding it against a blade when the tip grows dull. The distinctions between the different kinds of love, which should be examined with that much care and precision, are ridiculously easy for them to misinterpret and blur together.”

“…….”

“But you don’t mistake them, Lukas. So find a name for it.”

My eyes were fixed on his. The only problem before us was to find the right name for what we awkwardly called love. Because the world refuses to acknowledge anything that has no name…

The words I had carried in my heart for so long, ever since German Love first passed into me, had been translated into countless languages inside my head and had now become the language of my soul. I could still see that resonance clearly. The words the book had given me overlapped with Narke’s.

Once I heard what he was urging me toward, I suddenly found myself smiling, and a distant emptiness came creeping up to my feet. I felt as though there were nowhere I could stand, yet at the same time, that emptiness stirred something deep inside me.

Just then, several Old Humans came through from the opposite end of the corridor and held out their hands toward us.

“Excuse me. Coming through.”

Narke caught hold of me. His words were clearing my head. The despair was still there, but I stepped aside and tried to apologize to Narke. Or at least, I tried to. I had no strength left to open my mouth.

“No. Doesn’t everyone cry out in the wilderness? You don’t get that kind of grief with a warning beforehand. Wouldn’t it be stranger if it came with a warning?”

Narke answered seriously, without a hint of laughter, then fell silent. There was a troubled look on his face, as though he was struggling with whether or not to say something. I immediately sensed that it had to do with something he had read without telling me. Then, as if he had finally made up his mind, he spoke.

“You’ve changed a lot, Lukas.”

Though it might be hypocritical of me to say such a thing. Saying that, Narke let go of my hand. The soundproofing spell broke at the same time. He smiled and gestured for us to return to our seats.

“I’m pretending to be your mother, you know.”

“Knock it off…”

Narke sat down in the same appearance—and as it turned out, he could use selective illusions, so both then and now, he had kept the illusion intact for everyone else—and spent the next two hours whispering nonsense in my ear.

After that outburst of emotions I hadn’t even known I had, I was able to return to my usual self. I wasn’t sure whether I had actually resolved anything, but at least I had recovered enough of my ability to think and focus on the investigation. For the time being, I simply stopped thinking about things from the past.

Besides, after we had been on the train for some time, people began talking about the mysterious sudden death of the Prime Minister. One group started talking, and the conversation gradually spread throughout the carriage. With detective novels so popular in this era, they were eagerly speculating about who the culprit might be.

And as time passed, public suspicion began to settle on one person.

‘The Hungarian Foreign Minister.’

He was both the Foreign Minister of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary. Despite the fact that he had been able to become Foreign Minister precisely because he was a pro-Austro-Hungarian, rumors were spreading that he had fallen out with the Austrian Prime Minister and poisoned him. Of course, this wasn’t based solely on what people on this train were saying. The yellow journalism of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was publishing story after story making the same claim.

Just then, Narke showed me a newspaper.

[Foreign Minister’s Residence Searched… Seven Anti-Austrian Books Discovered]

[Foreign Minister Recently Takes Interest in Eastern Tonic and Restorative Magical Medicine]

Narke met my eyes and shook his head firmly.

Right. So they were already treating the Hungarian in the imperial political sphere as the culprit. Just what I wanted to see. Just then, someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind, and I turned around. A young Old Human asked with a bored expression, “Are you going to Vienna? I noticed you haven’t gotten off once along the way.”

“That’s right.”

“Oh? What brings you there at a time like this?”

“I’m traveling through the cities of Europe with my fiancée.”

As soon as I gave him a slightly longer answer, the Old Human snapped his fingers and gave me a knowing wink.

“Ah, Germans!”

“Yes, that’s right… You figured it out right away.”

“Hahaha!”

He laughed heartily, then nodded as though he understood why I had reacted so awkwardly.

“Foreigners are being treated pretty harshly right now, aren’t they? Still, since we’re the same race, you guys get treated relatively well, don’t you?”

“Do you think so? Well, I’m not sure. The atmosphere is more hostile than I expected.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped. Things are pretty bad in the country right now. But you’re German, so there’s no need to worry too much.”

“Yes. I’m trying not to worry.”

I gave him a brief answer and turned away. But the Old Human leaned closer, persistent as ever.

“That’s not what I mean. The real reason they’re conducting these inspections is to keep Hungarians from getting on the trains. Did you know that?”

“I had a feeling that was probably the case.”

“See? So, who do you think killed the Prime Minister?”

Narke gave him a brief glance. I stared at the guy who kept talking to us before shifting my gaze toward the back. The people who seemed to be traveling with him were watching us with the same curious expressions. They had probably made a bet, or disagreed among themselves and wanted to hear what another passenger thought. I had no intention of getting into a long conversation, so I gave a short excuse.

“I’m a foreigner, so I really wouldn’t know. And I’d rather not think about something that horrible…”

“I think the Hungarian Foreign Minister might have killed the Prime Minister. What do you think?”

“Is that so? I’m afraid I don’t know much about politics.”

“See? That’s what he says. Stop bothering the Germans and come over here.”

“Oh, come on.”

When the others laughed and chided him, the young man shrugged, thanked us, and turned back around.

I exchanged a glance with Narke, then let the head of “Johanna”—which appeared perfectly real to everyone but me—rest against my shoulder.

First of all, the Hungarian Foreign Minister was far too obvious a suspect. I had no idea whether he had actually killed the Prime Minister, and I wasn’t saying we should rule out that possibility. But we needed to think about it one more time.

If I were the Hungarian Foreign Minister, I wouldn’t go anywhere near the Prime Minister’s life. Even if I arranged things so that no one could tell whether I had committed the crime, someone with an identity as easy to turn against would be the prime suspect in practically any crime.

If I were the real culprit, what would I do?

I would make full use of the situation as it stood, with the Hungarians under suspicion. Austria was already pouring its public authority into controlling the movement of foreigners—or, in reality, its own Hungarian subjects rather than actual foreigners. The Austrian government probably thought there was no gap whatsoever in its security. But its security had already been breached completely.

Why?

Even if we considered the case of the Serbian who shot the Austrian Crown Prince, the person who killed the Prime Minister now could not have been Hungarian. Through the Commander, we’d heard Adrian Askanien’s hypothesis that Pleroma was behind Atropos. Taking into account all the possible reasons Adrian might have reached that conclusion, considering our relationship and all, I still couldn’t ignore his ability to restore the Imperial government to normal in an instant, nor his exceptional judgment.

Assuming Atropos had been used, the ones who killed the Prime Minister were effectively Pleroma members whose ideology and allegiance lay with Germany. If so, our line of thought had to go in this direction.

‘Why did Pleroma choose to move Atropos to Austria-Hungary instead of going straight to Germany?’

And why now, just before Easter?

First, because Austria-Hungary was the country most similar to Germany, making it an easy place to expand their influence.

Second, they had taken advantage of Austria-Hungary’s unique political landscape. Unlike the German Empire, which was fundamentally unified under a shared “German” identity despite its regional differences, Austria-Hungary was, as its very name suggested, a country forcibly united while two powers remained at odds with each other.

In Austria-Hungary, Pleroma could attack either side, pin the crime on the opposing nationality, and move freely for the time being. In other words, it was much easier for them to create division and chaos here than in Germany or other countries.

Not long after that, we arrived in Vienna. Between getting off the train and leaving the station, we were stopped by the police three times—though everyone entering and leaving the station was subjected to the same inspection—and we managed to get through two of them without much trouble. The streets were quiet, so I kept my eyes forward as I spoke to Narke using divine power.

— “Pleroma deliberately wanted political division and chaos in another country. Why?”

“…….”

— “To do the same thing they did in the Empire? I suppose it would be easier to drive people into a rampage when everything is in chaos, but…”

It didn’t seem like that was the reason. If it were, they would have poisoned the river first instead of killing the Prime Minister. So why hadn’t they?

Assuming none of their members had betrayed them, Pleroma had needed to kill the Austrian Prime Minister, and they had actually done it. But why the Prime Minister, specifically? He was an ordinary Prime Minister without any particular faults. He hadn’t introduced any laws that would have made him a thorn in Pleroma’s side. I continued.

— “They know how severe the fallout from killing a prime minister would be. They wouldn’t have done something like this unless they were certain they had a chance of winning.”

That left two possibilities.

First, there was a traitor among them. The Prime Minister’s murder had simply been a mistake.

Second, they…

Were confident. Confident that they could fight the Austrian government and win.

— “Yes, Lukas. Exactly.”

Narke’s cold voice lodged itself into my mind. Ever since we arrived in Vienna, we had been putting on pleasant expressions, yet somewhere inside, we had both gone rigid.

We hadn’t said where we were going. But even without saying it, there could only be one place Narke and I were headed. We walked toward the park in front of the Police Department and saw uniformed officers hurrying about everywhere. Narke spoke quietly.

“Theo, now that we’re in Vienna, I know for certain.”

“Know what?”

— “Now isn’t the time to visit the clubs the Prime Minister frequented. We don’t have time for that. You were right. So…”

At his words, I felt a chill run down the back of my neck. Narke’s expression had hardened just like mine.

— “There are still police officers at the Prime Minister’s residence and private estate. We need to infiltrate them right now.”

Unlike everything we’d done until now, where we’d only been dealing with Old Humans, he was now suggesting that we infiltrate a place occupied by mages.

I needed to finish the thought I had left incomplete. If the second possibility was true, then Pleroma was confident they could defeat the Austrian government, and they intended to bring the entire government down. It had started with the Prime Minister, but it would soon lead to the fall of Österreich-Este. And in the end, the seat of power in the Austrian Empire would be left empty.

If that happened, the Emperor of the German Empire would declare that, for the sake of the true successor to the Holy Roman Empire—and to preserve peace among the German people—he would take on the rule of the Austrian Empire as well, an empire that was almost like its spiritual twin. Britain, France, and Russia would then join forces to stop the rampaging Prussian Empire.

In other words, we were standing before a ticking time bomb that could plunge the European continent into ruin. The bomb was already in our hands, and from this point on, we had to defuse it.

Translator Note

1. Roland Barthes (1915–1980) was a French literary theorist and critic associated with structuralism and post-structuralism. In The Death of the Author (1967), he argued against treating an author’s intended meaning as the final authority over a text, emphasizing instead the reader’s role in creating meaning. His work often treats a text as something open to multiple interpretations rather than something with one fixed, authoritative meaning. ↩︎
2. Umberto Eco (1932–2016) was an Italian novelist, semiotician, and literary theorist. In The Open Work and later works such as The Limits of Interpretation, he explored how texts can support multiple interpretations while still imposing limits on what can reasonably be inferred from them. Unlike an approach that treats interpretation as virtually unlimited, Eco emphasized the text itself and its internal structure as constraints on the reader’s interpretation. ↩︎