Above Nine Holder, twice a day, a massive airship passes by. It was to drive away the chimney smoke that filled the sky.
Nine Holder has hundreds of thousands of chimneys.
Palaces, governnt offices, public institutions, residential districts numbering in the tens of thousands. Even though it had been 30 years since factories could no longer be built in Nine Holder's downtown area, small workshops that were legally not factories by specification still occupied the comrcial districts.
A place where smoke never ceased, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
However, because of the airship, Nine Holder's sky, lowered by smoke cover, regained its true color at least twice a day without fail. Since it took at least half a day for the sky to lower again, and because of the frequently rainy weather, Nine Holder's sky was never completely devoured by smoke.
Except for this place, never.
"This is really terrible."
Cyrus pressed his hood down tight as if afraid sothing might stick to his hair. Daria kicked his leg.
"Ah, don't do that."
"Making a fuss over just so smoke."
It was too thick and dense to call it just smoke. If despair had a color, it would surely be like this. But precisely because of that, there was no better place for having conversations that no one should overhear.
Shelton Industrial District on the outskirts of Nine Holder. A place befitting a factory zone with dark skies and acrid chimney smoke that seed like it would stick to one's entire body. Even when Nine Holder's sky beca clean, this place was shrouded in gray where the sun couldn't be seen.
The lowest tier of life. A place even God didn't look back on. Land where sunlight didn't reach.
Even the Alter District was like heaven compared to this place. If the people there were tearing at each other for bread crumbs thrown by a princess on a terrace, the people here lay flat on their stomachs licking sewage without even knowing there were bread pieces above their heads.
The tightly packed houses barely served to block wind and rain, patched together with discarded planks. Those slightly better off lived in buildings without windows, several people cramd into prison-like narrow rooms.
The two people walked through the hopelessly narrow and damp streets, eventually entering an empty building. It was an abandoned factory purchased with money obtained from the queen.
Going deep inside, there was a room with a desk and bookshelf that had been used as an office. Daria pulled out docunts from the rusty tal desk drawer. Creak, creak, the hinges scread.
"The hunters and suppliers seem to be doing well..."
Daria, who had read through all the thick docunts, said with flashing eyes.
"Who the hell put ideas in the queen's head?"
"Who else but Galliston."
When Daria irritably threw off her hood, Cyrus picked it up and sighed.
"That doesn't make sense. We gave him enough warning. If he couldn't co to his senses even after seeing the Mabelwood dungeon, that would be proof he's an idiot, so we could stop worrying about him."
"He didn't seem like he didn't understand."
Then what could it be?
Daria knew she wasn't as skilled at strategic thinking as Galliston or the queen. She could only barely understand the aning of moves made by the queen and Galliston after staying up all night pondering with Cyrus.
But it didn't matter. No matter how much they used their heads to set up the board, she had no intention of playing along on it. A board could simply be overturned.
"It's strange. Even asking whether a dungeon could appear twice in the sa place, considering Galliston's personality."
"I said we shouldn't listen because it was suspicious."
"What good does that do now? What's important is that Galliston's behavior has been strange since then."
Having no acquaintances in high society, they obtained information from the underworld. Ironically, they were using money given by the queen to investigate the queen's background, but even if the queen knew this fact, she wouldn't be able to say a word.
"The rumors were strange. Sothing about him proposing to so woman of low status."
"Would Galliston be that type? It must be a false rumor."
"No. It didn't feel like that."
Cyrus lowered his voice. Daria's playful expression also slowly hardened.
"Tell
in detail."
"The rumor was too detailed, and after that rumor spread, they said the woman was summoned to the royal palace. If it's Galliston, the queen who trusts him terribly would have summoned the woman and even her guardian based on unverified rumors alone. But that guardian is..."
"That guardian is?"
"Avondale."
"What a damn lucky woman."
Avondale, of all people. To have that unparalleled genius as a guardian. Daria recalled how she had attempted to make contact with him several tis before giving up.
Unlike the queen who could be handled with moderate threats, he had no close acquaintances, wanted nothing, and had much. The type who needed to be appeased to obtain desired information and technology, so breaking into his mansion had been postponed.
"You're right that it's strange. So? After leaving you here all this ti, is that all the information you brought back?"
Cyrus looked up at the small window attached to the ceiling and shook his head. Outside the window, smoke from nearby factories and smoke flowing from distant Nine Holder were as thick as greenery covering a forest.
"I tried to find out more, but there isn't much available information. Luke Havenly is blocking information leaks, so it took so ti to investigate directly."
"Havenly is blocking information... Sothing really fishy is going on behind the scenes."
Actually, if they set their minds to it, they didn't need to go to the trouble of searching for information brokers. Daria laughed dryly and said.
"Even now, we could go find the sleeping Galliston and start by cutting off an arm or leg. When his life is in danger, wouldn't he sell information about the woman?"
When she said this, her gentle-natured younger brother would furrow his brow and sigh. And with a look of watching sothing truly unstoppable.
"Please, stop."
He would clamp his mouth shut after that single word. Knowing this wasn't out of concern for Galliston, Daria shrugged.
"It's a joke. I don't want to use force if I can help it either. This relationship needs to continue for a long ti, and it's better for the queen to stay as she is. But if she seems to have other thoughts like today, that's a different story."
Daria's sharp voice echoed clearly. Cyrus couldn't hide his displeasure either.
King, duke—to them, it was all just amusing toy play. Yet until now, they had shown considerable consideration for the queen.
They could have killed the princess but didn't, could have blown up warships but didn't. They had even handled so minor chores that couldn't be touched for the queen's honor.
Didn't the queen know that republicans and Paolun separatists had been unable to exert power since Daria's appearance? She must be secretly relieved. Even if she couldn't show it openly, distant enemies with cause and conviction would be more frightening than the imdiate threat of Daria, and those who would destroy honor would be more terrifying than Daria who threatened the flesh.
So now, not granting that one small request was the queen's stubbornness. If you take sothing, you should give sothing back.
"It seems certain she's found sothing to rely on. I don't know what it is, but it seems connected to Galliston's strange behavior."
"Definitely. It seems related to the woman in the rumors too, so probably Avondale is involved in the matter as well. Ah, I also heard those two were in Mabelwood recently."
This was truly suspicious now. Magical engineer Cider Claiborne and his ward who had been in Mabelwood. Galliston who had asked precisely then, specifying the exact location, whether "it was possible for a dungeon to appear again in a place where one had already occurred." The Mabelwood incident that was covered up strangely quickly. The obviously smokescreen stories of courtship and proposals that followed. The queen's changed attitude.
Even the world's biggest fool could see that all this pointed to one clear conclusion.
"I'm not sure it's good to keep leaving Galliston alone."
Daria spat out the words.
They couldn't match Galliston in strategic thinking. The queen was too good to be a non-ruling monarch, but the position of a nation's ruler was never free from others' gazes. Therefore, the queen left underwater battles to her cousin who served as her limbs, and he was a strategist who always achieved more than what the queen wanted.
That ant to restrict the movents of the queen, who had symbolic power and enormous wealth, they only needed to eliminate Galliston.
The queen would be angry, but what could be done? They had no intention of giving the queen other options.
Daria felt the need to wield the whip instead of the carrot. Whether queen or duke, they were lost in sweet dreams. That naive thought that they really couldn't be hard.
It was ti to pay the price for innocence.
"First, we should find out what Avondale did in Mabelwood. And Galliston... looking at his attitude, he's definitely planning to stab us in the back."
"What do you want to do?"
Cyrus looked at Daria. Daria, who had sohow obtained sothing long and curved like ivory in her hand, lifted her lips. It was a smile Cyrus knew well.
Daria didn't choose ans and thods. Ethics and morality—such things could only be considered by those with the luxury to care about them.
The world didn't give Daria ti to learn. One who had only blind desire had gained power.
"Just killing him won't satisfy . The queen will helplessly watch her cousin slowly die. If she wants to protect her remaining family, she'll listen well."
Cyrus sighed. But he too was Daria's brother.
"Can you control it?"
"I've practiced a few tis. I think it'll work."
"Well, then."
Was this really such a great sin? Galliston would know. Since he was a smart person. Even if soone else committed the sin of killing him, he wouldn't resent it. Because he knew he wasn't qualified either.
If he could kill by pulling a lever, he had already committed thousands of murders. If he could kill by turning away, he had already committed tens of thousands of murders. This was killing such a person.
"Right. We're killing soone who deserves to die."
Daria said soothingly. Her short hair swayed, framing her face. Gold reflected in her eyes, on her pale cheeks. Click, click, the sound of tal shing and turning gradually quickened.
A little later, Cyrus ca out through the thick smoke alone. He looked up at the invisible sun and lanted.
"I want to go ho..."
But it couldn't be helped. Even if Daria was about ten tis stronger than him, being male made it about a hundred tis easier to move around in this world.
Cyrus, who had gripped the forged identity card tightly in his hand, took off his thick hood and headed to the train station dressed as an ordinary middle-class young man.
"Turtin, six o'clock train to Turtin!"
The evening train station was steeped in workers' sighs and fatigue. Zombie-like laborers got off in third class, and middle-class families rode in second class, which was his seat. The Turtin-bound train had plenty of seats due to the aftermath of the Mabelwood incident that had occurred a few months ago.
'Daria must be struggling right about now too.'
Great deeds required proportional effort. Their ideals were in higher places. They would build their kingdom above this massive civilization.
Having just gotten on track, they needed to move a bit more diligently. Cyrus yawned and closed his eyes. The train began rattling with loud sounds of spewing steam.
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