PROLOGUE 2
What I Need Is Power
Around the same time that the 907 unit had returned to the Empire.
Imperial territory, eighth closed checkpoint.
Elletear had used her Song power to decimate the Imperial forces stationed at the checkpoint. They had fallen into a strange comatose state they could not wake from.
At the town nearest the checkpoint…
“…Damn it! The Imperial capital’s defenses are just too strong! I can’t find a route to get in!”
Shanorotte sat in the corner of a decrepit café.
She brought her fist down on a map of the Imperial capital she had spread over a table.
Shanorotte Gregory.
She was a Zoa spy who had been working on a plan to infiltrate the Imperial forces for a long time. Shanorotte had once been the commander of the 104 unit in Special Division V and had been undercover in the Imperial forces for an extended period.
She couldn’t hold back her frustrations.
“Why did they strengthen their defenses? The capital’s advisory level is at its max!”
The Imperial forces knew that she had been a Zoa spy, but she should have still been able to use her forged certificate of residence from when she had been a soldier.
But she’d been turned away at the capital.
“They need three people to verify it, and they changed all the residential codes. Everyone’s been given a new number… They’ve strengthened their defensive line of soldiers… Why are they being so cautious?!”
Shanorotte had no way of knowing what had happened.
Elletear had seriously damaged the Imperial forces. That was why the Imperial capital was at its highest advisory state.
“I can’t get into the capital like this!”
She gripped her empty glass and opened her sleep-deprived eyes.
Her reason for being here was incredibly simple.
Because the Sovereignty’s royal family had been so useless, she had decided to attack the Imperial capital on her own.
“There’s no point in being in this run-down town. I need to wreck the Imperial capital where the Lord and their soldiers are and burn it all down!”
But all of it had come to naught.
All because the capital was at highest advisory.
“Ridiculous!”
She was about to throw her glass on the floor. But then the wide-screen TV in the café began broadcasting an urgent alert.
“This is an emergency announcement.”
“The Imperial forces have issued a warning. Today, the ninth Imperial checkpoint was attacked. Nebulis Sovereignty forces are believed to be the culprits.”
“……? Huh? This has gotta be a joke.”
She doubted her own ears.
After the Zoa’s elite forces had attempted an infiltration, the Imperial forces would have been on guard. The Imperial capital was in a state of high alert, after all. But for some reason, now some fool had gone ahead and attacked a checkpoint?
“What…idiots… However…”
This wasn’t displeasing to hear, either.
She had done the same.
She had infiltrated the Empire on her own and was in the process of trying to get a jump on them. She felt like whoever it was must have been trying the same.
Curiosity bubbled within her.
If this person had destroyed an Imperial checkpoint, that meant they had to hate the Empire.
But who was it?
“Even if they got through the checkpoint, the Imperial forces would try to pursue them from the trail they left behind. If they were trying to make the forces lose their trail, they’d need to head to…”
She thought it over. What route would someone use to get away from the Imperial forces from the ninth checkpoint?
“Huh! There is a forest nearby!”
Shanorotte kicked away her chair as she stood up and ran out of the café.
She headed to the car that was parked on the main road.
“If I drive at full speed, it’ll take me an hour. I need to make it in time!”
Who had it been?
She felt a strange sense of hope and nervousness as her heart raced.
Near the ninth checkpoint, Great Lily of the Valley Forest.
The woods were filled with white bell-shaped flowers. Though the fragrance they emitted was charming, the pure-white blooms were poisonous.
Surrounded by the beautiful but dangerous flowers was…
“Huh! But isn’t that…?!”
Shanorotte doubted her eyes.
She saw men in suits who seemed to be part of the royal guards and a girl in a pure-white coat.
Mizerhyby.
The princess of the Hydra, one of the three royal houses. She was a girl with a chiseled, deep-set face, and hair the color of lapis lazuli that was startling to behold.
“I never would’ve expected someone so important… That makes sense. A purebred type would be able to get through an Imperial checkpoint.”
But why?
Why would one of the Nebulis Sovereignty princesses head into the Empire herself?
“And where is the head of their household?” The next thing Shanorotte noticed was that Talisman was missing.
There was no end to her questions.
He was a veteran with overwhelming charisma. So why was Mizerhyby acting on her own without him?
“Hurry!” Princess Mizerhyby’s voice was rough.
They showed no signs of spotting Shanorotte lurking in the shadows of the trees as they loaded what seemed to be items they had stolen from the Imperial checkpoint onto a large truck.
“I…I have no options left! I need more power!” Mizerhyby’s canines flashed as she barked at them.
Her face was a terrifying sight to behold. What in the world could’ve happened to make her be in such a rush?
“Hmm? What is that…?”
Shanorotte saw something else.
A gigantic container was among the items they had yet to load. Was some wild animal inside of it?
Something was clanging around inside.
The container’s walls also seemed thick. If she could hear this much noise from outside it, something powerful must have been rampaging inside.
“What is in that thing?”
She had a bad feeling about this.
Something unthinkable had to be in the gigantic metal container. Just seeing what she had made shivers run down her spine.
“Princess Mizerhyby, what are you transporting?”
She thought she heard it bang on the wall, scratching from within the container.
What was inside it?
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