Chapter 280

Yvette laid out her life. Every deep and shallow turn it had taken since her birth.

Normally, I would have had little interest in someone else's life, but what she told me came from a world very different from mine.

"......I was just tired."

How cursed was beauty?

All kinds of people gathered around it, enough to make one doubt humanity itself.

Not only the opposite sex, but the same sex as well. Criminals, nobles, clergymen, swindlers......

Among all those people constantly trying to force their way into her life, there was only one thing she had tried not to forget, tried to keep hold of no matter how exhausting life became.

Her mother and father, who had sacrificed themselves to give her freedom.

"I already got my revenge."

Yvette did not speak the names of those precious people. Perhaps they had never even been given proper names.

"I brought down the family that used mine like slaves."

At some point, she had begun speaking casually, but I decided to let it pass.

"Oh, don't jump to conclusions. I didn't get any help from the Revolutionary Faction."

She smiled.

There had probably been quite a few people like Halbert Goring.

"But when I finally got my revenge, it felt empty. So I started looking for something fun. I wondered if there might be another victim like me......"

She had joined the Revolutionary Faction that way, and after countless incidents, she had come here, to the north. In the end, she had even been forced into the position of Master.

"Well? Hard to believe, isn't it?"

I shook my head.

"I believe you."

Before my regression, something similar must certainly have happened.

The fake Master, her Revolutionary Faction comrades, and the agent. They had thoroughly manipulated the circumstances to harden Yvette's heart somehow.

They would have made her into the new Master, perhaps the most perfect Master of all.

"Haah......"

Yvette let out a small sigh.

She did not seem to believe that I believed her.

"Have you registered your fingerprints with the Veil?"

Yvette tilted her head at my question.

"I've never been to the Veil. Do you need fingerprint registration to go there?"

"......Well. That's what I've heard."

"Whoa~"

I merely smiled.

Yvette was the sort to struggle harder against loyalty and oppression meant to bind her. Izenheim knew that, so they had waited until she turned decisively of her own will. Since they mimicked humans better than anyone, they had used the most subtle method.

"......Then."

She took out a cigarette case. Lighting a cigarette, she asked me,

"Is the Empire going to execute me now?"

I looked steadily at Yvette.

"......At this point, I think I want to live. My mom and dad would want me to live a long life."

Yvette was highly valuable. If she could become a loyal servant of the Empire, she might become a spy remembered in history.

But she was worn down now, exhausted by these emotional games, and wanted to leave the Revolutionary Faction.

A woman whose heart had already been worn away.

It would be too cruel to ask someone tired of life to continue working as an operative. You could not forcibly hold on to someone who had let go because they no longer wished to continue.

Still.

"If you provide that map, it will count as a defection with assets. You will have provided information highly beneficial to the Empire, which is sufficient reason for leniency."

"......"

Yvette slowly exhaled smoke.

"So you're telling me to betray them again."

"It is your choice."

"......"

Tap. She flicked away the cigarette ash.

With her chin resting on her hand, she stared into empty space as if lost in thought.

She remained that way for a long time, then gave a scornful snort.

"When I said I wouldn't be Master, that bastard tried to kill me. We were comrades. That fucking Master could have done it himself."

She cursed bitterly, then let out another sigh full of tangled emotions.

"......But someone saved me even knowing who I was. Of course, they had someone powerful backing them."

Yvette casually pointed her cigarette at me.

She still sounded as if she were testing me, but I grew serious.

"You would not understand the heart of Paul, who betrayed me."

Even as I spoke, goosebumps rose on my skin.

Acting was truly difficult.

"......I know. It was a joke."

Yvette crushed out her cigarette against the iron desk.

"Then I want one of those family registers too. I've never even had my birth registered. I'm probably three or four years older than you, too."

The conditions came out suddenly.

"So from now on, I want an identity nobody knows, and I want to spend every day traveling. I get tired of the same places and the same scenery."

"I will give you an identity and an account that will let you travel the entire world without difficulty."

"......Then the only problem is my face."

Yvette smiled softly.

To her, I gave the only answer I knew.

"Time will solve that."

Time.

The time of humanity, which could not be allowed to stop.

"......Yeah. I suppose it will. I hope so too."

Rustle. Yvette drew a sheet of paper from inside her coat. It was the suicide note the previous Master had left her.

"I hope age will make me ordinary."

......

At the place she told me about, I found a bundle of bonds and an account.

A bundle of bearer bonds. An account operated solely through numbers and passwords, without names. Anyone could deposit money, but only someone who knew the password could withdraw it, and the bank checked only the withdrawal records.

"......"

This itself could become a clue for pursuing Izenheim.

I was curious as well. If I deposited some money, would I see the Revolutionary Faction spend it? Any outflow of funds would be reported to me in real time.

Naturally, they would have accounted for the possibility that their plan for the Master's succession might fail......

Still, I took the bonds.

Afterward, I headed deep into the mountains.

"Sir Knight."

The administrative officers had already made all the preparations.

Borhi and Elmer. The two pawns were hanging from trees. Elmer was not Izenheim, but Borhi was.

"Ghk. Gurgle......"

His entire body was soaked in blood, foam spilling from his mouth.

I did not give Izenheim a second chance.

Bang!

I shot him dead.

Turning to Elmer beside him, I asked,

"......You seem remarkably calm."

He looked at me and smiled. Somehow, he looked pleased to have encountered the famous Maximilian.

"You...... are a butcher......"

I stepped closer to him, even though he had not lost his spirit in this situation.

"Even after killing so many people...... you still aren't satisfied......"

As Elmer's blood-flecked words reached me, I stared into his pupils as he hung from the tree.

"......You will become a criminal against humanity..."

"I know."

I was not unaware of how history would judge me in the future. Of what records and commentary would remain.

"I will become the butcher of this era."

Even so.

If we could survive until that far-off future could judge me.

If only we could.

"I will erase Izenheim from this continent."

I would welcome it instead.

I would willingly endure countless insults and disgraces.

"So......"

I looked into his eyes. I looked into the clear, upright eyes of the man called Elmer.

A clarity that did not waver even in the face of death.

"......Elmer Gor."

Natural human rights. Equality and freedom. He pursued righteous values. Without question, he pursued righteous values.

He was probably someone who would never compromise, someone who would not betray his beliefs even under fear and coercion.

In other words, a man worthy of earning his enemy's respect.

And yet, because of Izenheim, the root of all evil, we had met as enemies.

Therefore, the only thing I could say to him was:

"I'm sorry."

For a moment, his eyes trembled.

He seemed startled, but soon returned to holding the flames of revolution in his gaze.

......Because he was this kind of person, he deserved my respect.

Bang.

I fired my pistol between his brows.

I silently watched his limp body for a moment, then turned away.

"All the other Georgen agents recommended by Borhi have also been executed. They all had that familiar fishy smell, apparently."

At the administrative officer's words, I nodded.

"Let's go. We have the rest to deal with."

"Yes."

......

I summoned every agent of Northern Georgen to the lobby.

Almost all of them gathered in the vast lobby on the first floor.

"These are the results of the full investigation."

The administrative officers stood beside me as well, holding boxes full of documents.

There was a certain degree of corruption here. But it was not enough to call this place a breeding ground for it.

"S-Sir Knight!"

The branch chief looked ready to fall to his knees, but I stopped him. With a face that looked close to tears, I scanned the lined-up agents one by one.

"......There has been a fair amount of corruption during your work, in the course of it, or afterward."

I swept my gaze over them.

Half had spent the night under investigation, their eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. The other half had only just learned that several colleagues had vanished overnight.

The warmth of the corridor had gone cold like an extinguished stove.

But.

I signaled the administrative officers with my eyes. They dumped every investigation report listing wrongdoing onto the floor.

Then they poured oil over the pile.

"......?"

"Huh?"

A few agents made blank sounds. Every eye turned to the stack of papers.

"The Empire cannot claim to be blameless for failing to properly reward those who have maintained security in the north so admirably."

I dropped a match onto the minor corruptions they had committed.

Fwoosh!

Flames rose.

Using the stacks of documents as firewood, they warmed the frozen corridor once more.

"......As a Knight of the Empire, as an Imperial citizen and a fellow Aran, I wish to forgive you. Because I first acknowledge the merit you have upheld until now."

Their past merit was great, so their faults became minor.

The agents must have understood my words.

There was no reason to cut down dozens of people useful to humanity merely because of one Izenheim named Borhi.

"The Empire will continue to entrust the north to you."

As they watched their shame burn down to ash......

I did not know which of them it was. I wanted to praise them or give them bonuses, but in any case.

Whoosh.

Someone raised a hand first.

Without any cry, they simply brought the edge of their hand to their brow.

Following them,

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

Only the sound of salutes rising through the air settled quietly over the lobby.

The lingering heat of the flames flickered over their hardened faces, and before long, everyone in Northern Georgen, including the branch chief, was saluting me.

"......For the Empire."

I returned their salute with my own hand.

* * *

The border cession clause involving Bolska was carried out.

Most people of Imperial descent in Genson, Bolska remained, but many Bolskans left, and their line of refugees stretched along the border.

Bolska, however, did not accept them.

Some, no, quite a large number were rejected during the Bolska government's return screening.

Though they held Bolska nationality, they were left out in the snowy fields beyond the border because they were Izenheim or Mer.

"You think this makes any sense?"

At a cafe in front of Prozen National University, students from a club slapped a newspaper down on the table.

[ Countless people shiver in the cold at the Genson border's no man's land...... ]

Photographs showed elderly people and children huddled in stables, bundles piled on the snow. Similar reports appeared in the Republic of Prozen.

"We should have gone to war instead."

"Those damned Imperial bastards."

On the streets around Prozen National University, voices condemning the Empire mingled with other voices praising it.

"You think we'd win if we went to war?"

"If the continent joins forces, we can win! If we all unite and fight to the death!"

"......"

As the young people debated the continent's right and wrong, someone walked through the crowd.

Step. Step.

Without any expression. Without a word. Occasionally moving their lips as if practicing an act, they fiddled with something inside their jacket.

It was a pistol.

......

"For our future, and for peace on the continent."

Stanley, Hailand's ambassador to the Empire.

Laurent, Prozen's ambassador to the Empire.

The two ambassadors held a dinner gathering with their families at Lilac Vita.

"You have worked so hard, Ambassador Laurent."

At Stanley's words, Laurent raised his glass as well.

"You too, Sir Stanley......"

They were the de facto heroes who had made outstanding contributions to this Imperial Capital Agreement. They themselves, their families, and even their home countries all thought so.

They had persistently attached themselves to Maximilian's estate until they finally delivered the information, before their national leaders could make rash statements or take military action.

Ambassadors who had become the prime ministers' hands and feet, safeguarding peace in the Imperial capital. Diplomats in a time of crisis.

Stanley was preparing his memoirs, and Laurent was due for a promotion.

"Let us believe that we preserved this peace."

At Lilac Vita, a restaurant difficult even for Imperial citizens to visit, they had come at Maximilian's invitation. Their hearts swelled with pride.

"To peace!"

"To peace!"

Their glasses met.

Clink.

A clear sound.

They simply smiled and enjoyed that night's dinner.

* * *

On a day when the weather had slowly begun to grow cold again and the trees were losing their leaves, a quiet funeral was held in the Imperial capital.

Few people attended the Mass, but Inspector Gewin willingly took a seat in the very front row.

"......Farewell, Paul."

A heavy coffin.

Paul, lying inside it.

Our Paul.

We had only been partners for about three days, but you had given me such a great gift, meaning, and resolve.

"I will remember you forever......"

Murmuring this, Gewin stood, placed flowers in offering, and was about to turn away.

"......What? You?"

Then Gewin encountered someone entering.

"Ah...... Good to see you, Inspector Gewin. I'm Ryan."

The Revolutionary Faction defector Gewin had met on the Northern Express.

No, a convert.

It seemed he had received the new name Ryan.

"Coming somewhere like this is dangerous, isn't it? Those Revolutionary Faction bastards might be searching for you with fire in their eyes."

"I have to accept that much. I lived thanks to Sergeant Paul, after all."

Thistle placed the flowers he had brought onto Paul's coffin.

Gewin closely examined his clothes and condition.

"Hey, you must have gotten a huge reward."

"Well...... I have no intention of living ostentatiously."

For someone saying that, his suit was far too flashy. And looking closer, he even had bodyguards stationed nearby.

"Ugh. Some of us bust our asses on a civil servant's salary...... Huh?!"

Gewin's eyes suddenly went wide.

"Sir Knight!"

Someone had just entered through the cathedral doors.

Knight Maximilian, whose face seemed to radiate light the moment one saw him, an aura flowing from him in a brilliant burst like a halo.

"Sir Knight! Our Paul...... We were just about to become close, and then he had to go like this. My hatred for those Revolutionary Faction bastards, really......"

This much was not a lie.

Because of the Revolutionary Faction in the north, promising Paul had died suddenly.

Even if he had suffered from a chronic illness.

After spending days unable to sleep properly or eat properly in that cold detention center.

"......"

Without a word, Maximilian offered flowers. After straightening his clothes, he turned to Gewin.

"Inspector Gewin."

"Ah, just call me Inspector Gewin. You can even call me Gewin. Ha ha."

Gewin's forced, coy smile was painful to look at.

Instead, Maximilian gestured to an administrative officer. The administrative officer approached and handed something over.

"Please accept this."

A suitcase was placed firmly into Gewin's arms.

"Consider it repayment for taking good care of Paul."

A broad smile, more beautiful than anyone else's in the world.

Maximilian walked away after leaving behind a sight that could make even a man fall for him.

"Wow......"

Gewin could only stare blankly after him.

"How much do you think is in there?"

Ryan suddenly approached and asked. His face was full of curiosity.

"What the hell? Get lost. I'll check it at home by myself......"

Clutching the suitcase tightly, Gewin scurried off tap tap tap tap.