Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 79

Seventy-Ninth Chapter

Invisible Resident

Even though human civilization had been reduced to seven nations, not everyone enjoyed a prosperous life. There was a place far away from the urban areas that had a melancholic feel to it. It was located in a remote area in the middle of Alpha. And it was home to people who had fallen on hard times or been exiled from their communities.

The barely remaining benefits of civilization here were completely different from urban areas. These areas were poor. There were no noble mansions in sight and the fields went on without end, but there were the occasional antiquated production facilities along the agricultural roads. Wooden houses with inconsistent appearances were scattered here and there, and the people still lived old-fashioned lives.

Ironically, the world being overrun with Fiends had brought back the good old lands of humankind.

This area was isolated from the urban areas where all kinds of cultures mixed and seemingly rejected development. Surrounded by trees, villages gave a closed and isolated feel. But they also called to mind a sense of nostalgia, as if they were hiding places for those who had escaped from the mundane world depicted in paintings.

When night had fallen on one such village, the sound of gravel echoed all around no matter how carefully the travelers moved. Those rough footsteps seemed to assert that there was no need for the refined etiquette of nobles here.

Only moonlight lit up the village. But if the artificial moon were to be covered by clouds generated on the whim of the weather device, the village would fall into complete darkness. A single figure was moving at brisk pace on a small road. There was not even a Circle Port set up in a place this remote, and even if she ran at full speed, it would take her over an hour to get to the closest one.

What do I do? I can’t believe I can’t reach them at a time like this. It’s a real pinch, but haven’t they noticed? thought Felinella. She could see pretty well in the dark, but she didn’t enjoy the idea of walking down a dark road alone.

The only saving grace was that if she was going to be attacked, it would be by a human. A remote rural area or not, any wild dogs or poisonous snakes could be dealt with using magic. But the night felt different in the village. Felinella was used to the noble life in the city, but the night was deep and instinctively frightened her.

As if trying to dispel her fear, she gently brushed her long hair hanging down over her ample chest. Even such a gesture exuded the refinement and elegance of a sophisticated woman and made her stand out even more beneath the moonlight.

“This is the place...” she muttered as she eventually reached what looked like a private home. It was built away from the rest of the wooden houses, and a single orange light leaked out from inside.

The girl stood at the front door of the desolate house. Suddenly, the presence she faintly sensed inside disappeared...and her surroundings fell dead silent. It was an artificial silence in deliberate response to the visitor.

Speaking of, we never did decide on a signal. What should I do, the girl thought with a mischievous smile. Changing her tone of voice, she put a hand on her throat and strained her voice. “Oh dear...how many times do I have to tell you? If you don’t need dinner, you need to tell me in advance.”

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps came from inside and the door swung open.

“Felinella, stop that!” Appearing from the other side was the girl’s father, Vizaist, looking furious. He was the head of the Socalent family, one of the three great noble families, and a leading figure in the military.

He had high combat capabilities and a large frame, was in the prime of his life, and his mind and body were of sound health. But even this man, the fierce leader of Alpha’s intelligence department, was no match for his beautiful daughter, who welcomed him with open arms.

Felinella’s words just now were like a magical phrase that forced a conditioned response from her father. With a big smile on her face, Felinella responded, “Then please do leave me with a means of communication, father.”

As Vizaist groaned, the other members of the intelligence department had soundlessly appeared behind him to observe the farce. His five subordinates all looked exasperated, but watched their leader and his beautiful daughter with gentle eyes.

“Ahem... Anyways, come in,” Vizaist cleared his throat and said. In response, Felinella slid into the temporary base of operations that the intelligence department had prepared. The inside was just like any normal house. It had a bare minimum of furniture to show that it was lived in. A rusty kettle and the like added an air of elaborate disguise. Fire in the fireplace was keeping the house warm and bright.

After the previous owner had passed away, the intelligence department had bought the house, furniture and all. Of course, they couldn’t let the expense show on any records, so they bought it through another person. Incidentally, aside from Vizaist, the members were dressed like civilians to keep their identities hidden.

“If you suddenly go into hiding without notifying me, I won’t know where to find you, father,” Felinella said in quiet anger.

“I was just about to go back to exchange information,” Vizaist said, making excuses as he handed her an aluminum cup of steaming instant coffee. “Well, just sit down wherever.”

Four desks were pushed together inside the room, with various materials scattered across them. In front of them was a large stack of papers that appeared to be a compilation of information.

They may have seemed old-fashioned, but for espionage activities, such methods could be more convenient. Unlike the standard recording media, paper could be burned, or swallowed, or destroyed in other various ways.

Felinella drank the coffee, warming up her chilled body. Vizaist wasn’t the only one who wanted to exchange information. Straightening her seated posture, Felinella began speaking in a balanced tone.

“I saw how the incident with Mr. Alus was settled. The leader of Aferka, Rayleigh Ron de Rimfuge Frusevan, attempted a coup and has now lost his position. After that, it was announced that Aferka would be reorganized as an honor guard reporting directly to the ruler under leadership of the youngest Frusevan sibling, Lilisha Ron de Rimfuge Frusevan,” Felinella reported, and Vizaist listened without any particular surprise.

“Honor guard, is it? It seems the ruler crossed a dangerous bridge. I’m amazed that Berwick would go along with such a risky gamble.” Vizaist sat down on a chair made of rough wood and stroked his beard. “Ah, Berwick sent the Frusevan daughter to the Institute. He comes up with some dirty tricks. He understands Alus well, or perhaps he doesn’t understand him at all...” Vizaist said with a frown and snort, clearly not amused.

“However, this time the principal...Sisty Nexophia’s cooperation was acquired. So I’m sure she will prevent rumors among nobility about the problems around Mr. Alus from being spread for some time,” said Felinella.

This time, Vizaist slapped the table in amusement. “Ha ha, that is good news. Berwick has been messing around too much. And Sisty has a grasp of his weakness. Just counting how much he owes is enough to make one sick and tired of it. If Sisty has been dragged into it, that’s all the more of a debt Berwick will have incurred.”

Berwick had probably considered the possibility of Sisty getting involved, but even so, he’d accepted the risk and had the Frusevan’s youngest daughter approach Alus. Even if everything had not gone exactly according to plan, it had probably fallen within Berwick’s expectations.

In Alpha, whenever the ruler and Berwick worked together, they could solve most things. If there was something they couldn’t solve, it would be the depression of those involved. This time in particular, only one person mattered—the strongest Magicmaster among all seven nations.

“Alus was really born beneath an unlucky star,” said Vizaist.

“Ahem...father?”

“Ah, sorry. That’s not for me to say,” Vizaist responded to Felinella’s soft rebuke by scratching his cheek. “Well, I’m not too worried about that since you said so. Alus is not a child anymore, so I will respect his wishes.”

Vizaist seemed to perfectly grasp how Alus felt, although the attitude Alus took with the ruler was devoid of any respect. That’s why the Magicmaster had actually had several choices. He could have defected and left Alpha for good or just ignored what was happening.

Those at the absolute top of their field tended to have the freedom to change. But when it came to Alus, the current rank 1, his social and national bonds were intricately intertwined, making it difficult to take the first step towards freedom.

Felinella stared at Vizaist as he spoke, wondering just how deeply he thought about Alus’s freedom. Did he refer to freedom from the military or just enough leisurely time for Alus to do what he wanted? No...perhaps he was referring to the outside of this small world.

Felinella was drawn to Alus as a woman, but perhaps her father understood what kind of a person he was better than she did. Unknowingly, she felt somewhat jealous of her father.

Felinella was suddenly shocked. Her father had given her a stern look without realizing it. In an attempt to shake off the uncomfortable atmosphere, Felinella swiftly changed the topic. “By the way, I did imagine you had gone underground for a different matter, but I didn’t think it would be this hard to find your location, father.”

“Yes, I just finished putting the information together. I need to submit a report to Berwick as soon as possible. This is a volatile situation.”

Sensing an unusual atmosphere from his tone, Felinella tensely asked, “...So it was true?”

Vizaist signaled his subordinates, who’d gathered with organized information in hand. Felinella wasn’t an official member of the intelligence department, but she had been assisting her father in his job to an extent that would put a regular soldier to shame, which was why the intelligence department didn’t treat her like an outsider.

“Please have a look at this,” a plain-looking member that would fit in anywhere said seriously. He was dressed in a worn-out work shirt, dirt-stained pants, and old leather boots.

All five of Vizaist’s subordinates had plain-looking clothes, but they were all fine members. Some had wives and children, but for their work they had to abandon their names and use aliases while hiding here and there. Not even Felinella knew their real names.

The man who had spoken looked completely ordinary and would likely be able to blend in anywhere. He used a small stick to point at photos that were seemingly hung up at random on the wall. “First, this is a leaked picture of the target.”

“This image is pretty poor.” The outline of a person was blurry, and Felinella was just barely able to make out their features. Felinella found herself squinting to recognize the details.

“Even this was just barely a safe distance. This woman is not quite cautious as much as she has a very sharp intuition,” another man, who was likely in charge of the photograph, explained to Felinella. “This woman’s name is Mir Ostayka.”

After a lengthy pause the man continued. “She’s an escapee...from a certain place. She has been involved in many murders including the assassinations of VIPs. Someone most likely working for the Fable family approached her and was very likely erased.”

“So the Fable family has been investigating her too?!” asked Felinella.

Vizaist answered Felinella personally. “So it seems. Thanks to their sacrifice we were able to return with this information.”

Their target likely hadn’t expected two people to be observing her.

“Frose is a brilliant instructor, and she is well connected. She must have looked into it after an attacker appeared on their estate,” said Vizaist.

Acting in concert with Vizaist’s words, a subordinate presented a portrait photo. It was of a man with gray hair, printed on old copy paper. “This is Vector. A member of the old Aferka who was eliminated by Selva Greenus at the Fable estate. Like Mir, he escaped from where he was imprisoned.”

Apart from the myriad of documents on Mir and Vector and more, Vizaist was taking a close look at a certain list in his hand. It was a list of prisoners who all met the same specific conditions.

“These are their ‘allies’ that we know about,” explained the subordinate. “All of them are extraordinary magical criminals. And based on the attack on the Fable family and the people assembled with Mir Ostayka, they are all likely hiding within Alpha.”

Vizaist recklessly spread the documents on the table and pressed his temple. Felinella looked over them and asked the question on her mind. “If they’re escapees, where did they escape from? Alpha has a special-class prison? I can’t say I have heard of anything of the sorts.”

“I imagine not. They are people that couldn’t be alive, from a place that doesn’t exist.” Having said that much, the subordinate made eye contact with Vizaist.

Felinella looked at her father as well. Vizaist shrugged and gave a light wave of his hand, granting permission to the subordinate to speak.

“It bears mention that on the record they all resisted arrest, had an accident in custody, or died from disease. With their ostensible existence erased, these criminals were gathered at a certain place...” he explained. As Felinella realized the gravity of the situation, the man continued, “It is a domain under management of Iblis and Clevideet, or in other words the Outer World. More specifically, it’s a secret prison built underground made specifically for serious magical criminals. It is called Trojan Prison. It’s believed that they’ve all escaped from there.”

Felinella said nothing.

“It appears the rumors were true, and it did exist. Secretly rounding up the most incorrigible prisoners, they were given that punishment since the death penalty is banned,” added a fed-up Vizaist. The Trojan Prison...of course Felinella had no knowledge of its existence. There were no examples of large structures in the Outer World, aside from military bases.

As he asked a subordinate for a drink, Vizaist let out a depressed sigh. “It appears that the Trojan Prison was originally conceived as a research facility. I hear it was constructed in the Outer World to conduct research that couldn’t be performed in the Inner World. At some point, it became a receptacle for serious magical criminals,” he recalled with annoyance. “But I digress. At any rate, serious magical criminals are enough of a pain to handle, and there are plenty of humanitarian criticisms of the punishment that squeezes out the last drop of the criminals’ mana. So in the sense of avoiding trouble, it killed two birds with one stone.”

Vizaist was reminded of a special device known as a collar that he had seen in top secret documents. According to the explanation, it was a magical tool used to calm down rampaging criminals, and he knew it was likely used in the secret prison.

“In the Outer World, any escapees would be faced with Fiends. And they wouldn’t be able to reach the human domain in a weakened state. It is truly a logical place for it,” Felinella said as she pondered. It was indeed logical, but if that was the case, how had an escape happened at all?

“Well, I don’t know how much the top brass knows, but I am sure that Clevideet and Iblis are aware of the situation that’s happened near their borders,” said Vizaist, aware that it was already too late. He sighed.

At that, a subordinate looked at a paper in hand and said, “The Trojan Prison is divided into five layers, and prisoners are located on them based on how serious their crime was. By the fourth layer, the inmates are magical criminals that are too much for even normal Magicmasters to handle.”

“And what about the fifth layer?” asked Felinella.

The man shrugged. “Unfortunately there’s not much data, but based on the depth of the underworld, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be criminals that even lower Single Digit Magicmasters would struggle to handle.”

There had been several magical criminals throughout history who had done heinous things like attempt to overthrow a nation, or even massacres. However, exceptionally few of them had been proper Magicmasters with rankings of their own. After all, the ranking existed in conjunction with fighting against Fiends, and they only reflected the light on the surface.

But the darkness of the world reached unfathomably deep to where no light would reach. For example, the assassination organization Aferka. There was practically nobody from the organization with a high rank among Magicmasters, yet they had at times easily killed powerful Magicmasters.

The light and shadows rarely mixed within the world, and likewise neither did the standards they used to appraise power. When it came to a battle to the death, even taboo or heretical means were used without mercy, making the gap in methods of evaluation even wider.

“Anyways, based on our research, they are all quite the big shots. Some of them with quite a large number of murdered people to their name,” said the subordinate.

“Have any one of them been captured?” asked Felinella.

“Unfortunately not. This is just speculation, but unless this is just a group of eccentrics, I believe all prisoners of Trojan Prison have escaped, although I don’t know how they would have survived the Outer World without the ability to properly use magic. It would be reasonable to assume that there was someone helping them out from the inside. But it wouldn’t exactly be surprising if someone from the underworld infiltrated the secret prison and influenced the events from within.”

Hearing that, Vizaist bitterly spoke up. “Speaking of, I recall Godma Barhong being murdered by someone in the same way. The culprit leisurely walked right into the military headquarters and is still unknown to this day. Of course, the possibility of an insider was thoroughly investigated, but all suspects were cleared. As a result, it was concluded that it had been an outside party, not that there could be many capable of that. Either some large organization like Kurama must have helped, or perhaps the very same person is behind this as that. The investigation into this should hopefully turn up some leads.”

As Vizaist growled, another subordinate with a light build peeled off a large sheet of paper and laid it out on the table next to the list of criminals. “We are currently aware of fifteen escapees. Among them, these are the ones to look out for. There is the previously mentioned Mir Ostayka. And this man...known as Dante. But regardless of our investigations, his real name is unknown.”

Vizaist frowned. “You can’t find anything on him?”

“Whether he’s an orphan, an abandoned child, or someone erased from the family register, we just don’t know. He could even have lost his memories, be a hidden child of some ruler, or so on... No matter how harshly he was interrogated, he remained silent about the most important matters. He is unusually robust, both mentally and physically, so not even psychological coaxing or a truth serum worked. Perhaps he is instead a messenger of God or the devil. Or maybe even an artificial human?” The subordinate jokingly shrugged, but Vizaist wasn’t laughing.

“That’s enough joking around. Continue,” he said.

“Excuse me. Of the ones hiding within Alpha, the only one we have been able to confirm the identity of is Mir. There are still many mysteries around Dante. Even the circumstances of his capture are strange. After instigating a massacre of soldiers in Iblis he willingly surrendered.”

“Surrendered...?! A serious magical criminal like him?” Felinella unconsciously raised her voice but soon collected herself. She blushed and apologized before urging the man to continue.

“Your surprise is understandable,” he said. “After all, the motives for his crimes or surrender are unknown, and it is a fact that many of Iblis’s finest Magicmasters lost their lives shortly before his capture. But even this information is at the level of a state secret, so this is as far as we can investigate. Incidentally, Dante was held on the fifth layer and it is entirely possible that he led the breakout.”

After that, Felinella dedicated herself to burning the information on the table into her memory. Aside from the bare minimum, these documents would all eventually be destroyed. But Felinella had never even heard of the Trojan Prison, and frankly, she had no idea how the intelligence department members had gathered this much information. Her father was close to Berwick, and he might be allowed access to top secret information, but...

She might have been thoughtful and intelligent, but she was still a young girl and there was lots of the world she didn’t know, and now even she was starting to feel like the conspiracy theories people spoke of in the streets weren’t entirely off the mark.

For example, she wondered just how much about the cataclysm half a century ago had been caused by Cronus’s attack, and whether the number of casualties caused by it was true. But considering the number of deaths and the collapse of order, she knew it would only be for the better if it was all false. And right now, memorizing the list of prisoners came first.

While she was using the fullest of her brilliant brain, her expression suddenly froze and she doubted her ears at her father’s words. “First Alus needs to be told. Can I leave that to you, Feli?”

After a pause, Felinella turned to father and asked in a strangely stiff and polite way, “Father, are you perhaps trying to destroy your daughter’s love?”

There was no doubt that Alus was keeping military affairs at an arm’s distance.

Vizaist’s expression stiffened, and he tried to make excuses. “No, uhm, duties and private lives are meant to be separate,” he said, trying to give an evasive answer.

Felinella stifled her father’s incoherent attitude with just a stare. “I understand,” she very briefly replied.

Letting out a heavy sigh to calm down, she realized that, logically, it was the best method. If anything, she was secretly happy to have an excuse to meet Alus. Besides, Vizaist’s intelligence department didn’t just gather information; they also passed it along to the right people at the right time. Information was only meaningful when it was used well and only valuable when it led to action.

And in Alpha, nobody had a higher ability to take action and get things done than Alus. So while it was necessary to seek Berwick’s judgment as the final decision-maker on the military side, delivering information to Alus—the strongest force in the nation—didn’t go against the original purpose of the intelligence department. If anything, they existed to deliver information to him.

In other words, Felinella’s instructions could be interpreted as informing Alus in advance of the next move Berwick would make. She noticed that Vizaist’s attention had suddenly shifted to the front door.

“They’re finally here,” said Vizaist, and Felinella sensed someone standing outside.

A large man in a jumpsuit knelt, breathing heavily, his face dripping sweat. His jumpsuit was damp with sweat, some dark spots forming here and there. He struggled to breathe and just barely formed words.

“Captain Vizaist...” he panted, “C-Clevideet’s Single, Fanon Trooper just...! Sh-She has just left her nation and is headed for Alpha!”

“Calm down and get to the point. Why is another nation’s Single headed for Alpha?” Vizaist asked the man.

Single Digit Magicmasters were a nation’s most valuable assets; each and every one of them was the equivalent of an army. For one of them to set foot in another nation without permission was almost the equivalent of an invading army and could be a serious political issue.

Felinella filled up a nearby cup with water and handed it to the chubby man. The man gulped it all down as quickly as he could, then responded rapidly and impatiently. “It’s solid information from our informant in Clevideet. There are clear indications of the border being breached. It’s not just Fanon Trooper but her squad as well!”

“Tsk!” Vizaist clicked his tongue. He slammed down and spread out a map of Alpha on the desk. Now they had escaped convicts and a rampant Single on their hands.

“Did the Clevideet government not say anything beforehand?!” Vizaist loudly asked, clearly frustrated. Of course, nobody present could answer. His face twisted bitterly, and he only uttered a brief sentence as he busily marked the map with a pen. “Get moving!”

The other members sensed his meaning and hurriedly threw the documents about the escaped prisoners and other miscellaneous information into the fireplace. Once the destruction was complete, they all stood ready for their next orders with resolve on their faces. Felinella, who only helped with her father occasionally, realized she wouldn’t have been able to read his objective as well as they had.

“It’s clearly an abnormal situation, but there’s nothing on the emergency communications channel. I doubt anyone within the nation has sensed the situation yet. Fortunately, we’re near the border,” said Vizaist.

The sweaty, chubby man moved to stand next to Vizaist, who was staring down the map. Soon the others joined in and busily exchanged information. Using the man’s report and the intel from their informant in Clevideet, they calculated where Fanon and her squad should be at that moment.

Felinella timidly asked a pertinent question, “By the way, do you know anything about what Fanon Trooper’s squad is after?”

“Y-Yes...I have heard that there was a terrorist attack within Clevideet, but I lost contact in the middle of the attack, so I don’t know if that is true or not.”

“Then I doubt they will follow any formal procedures before they enter the nation...” Vizaist concluded with a bitter expression. After all, a Single Digit Magicmaster’s squad was moving without any official notification. If she was anything like their own nation’s rank 1 problem child, it was highly unlikely that Fanon would follow proper procedures. “Escapees and terrorism, is it? So I doubt that the movements of Clevideet’s Single are completely unrelated. Anyways, we don’t have enough information as is.”

Considering the grave matters at hand, the incidents were almost definitely related; however, Fanon Trooper’s rampage might stir up further problems. A whole lot of extra work had just fallen into their laps.

Damn you, doing as you please! My only option is to go out there myself, Vizaist thought. As he ordered his subordinates and gathered more information, Vizaist desperately racked his brain.

Even if they ignored the border checkpoints, there was the magical net set up by watchtowers along the border, each with guards assigned to them. But since it concerned another nation’s Single, the situation easily exceeded their authority. Because of the political nuances behind it, they would struggle to decide whether to push or pull.

Despite his rugged appearance, Vizaist was also politically adept and could easily understand the situation. While he pondered, one of his subordinates handed him a memo with new information. He snatched it and let out a small groan. “Ugh, they’re moving very fast. At this rate we might lose them. Not good. If they cross the border at this rate, it could turn into a major political issue!”

If things became even more problematic, it wouldn’t just be a matter of pursuing escaped prisoners. It could even develop into a problem that shook Cicelnia’s current government. And Vizaist and his subordinates were the only ones who could really make a move. It was fortunate they were in such a remote region. Once they had a good idea of Fanon’s route, they could take the shortest distance possible to get to the heart of the matter.

“Gather everyone that’s out! And send them the coordinates!” commanded Vizaist.

At their captain’s orders, the subordinates, all wearing different clothing, replied in unison. “Understood!”