Semi-Coercive Imperi Chapter 167: Rescue (1)

The capital of Robrus. Yelena's mansion, where a cold wind still raged on without end.

"...He was killed in an explosion?"

"Yes. That is correct."

Yelena furrowed her brow as she received her aide's urgent report. The news was that Boris, one of the Commissars, had been killed in an inexplicable explosion.

"As a result, quite a number of people are being summoned to the Winter Palace right now. They say they're searching for the mastermind behind the assassination..."

At that mont, an unsettling premonition flashed through Yelena's mind. That Boris was dead, she understood clearly. But there was no reason to specifically summon people to the Winter Palace for the investigation...

──THUD!

The door of the residence was flung violently open and a flood of footsteps ca pouring in. Yelena and her aide looked toward the sound. They were Robrus's Adversaries.

"People's Commissar Yelena."

She surveyed them with a hardened expression.

"An urgent summons has been issued from the Winter Palace."

Yelena forced herself to remain composed as she answered back.

"A summons? At this hour, for what reason?"

"It is an urgent investigation regarding the recent assassination of Commissar Boris. Please co with us."

It was the exact sa reason her aide had given, and the Adversaries' eyes glinted with murderous intent.

The various suspicions flickering in her mind solidified into certainty.

"Very well. Wait outside."

"That will not be possible."

The Adversary cut off her words and took a step forward.

"You must accompany us at once."

Their arrogant attitude drew a scoff from Yelena.

"The Winter Palace, where His Excellency the General Secretary and my father reside, is the one summoning . At the very least, I must properly change my clothes before going, wouldn't you agree?"

Yelena gestured to her own body. She was dr??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????essed in a silk slip.

"Am I to go out looking like this? What is it you expect

to do?"

"......"

The Adversaries also hesitated for a mont, glancing at one another.

"Wait. I'll be quick."

In the instant they wavered, Yelena went up to her bedroom. She opened the wardrobe and threw on a military overcoat imbued with Defensive Magic.

Then her eye caught a piece of parchnt in one corner.

"......"

The Mana Communication Parchnt Maximilian had left behind.

She hesitated briefly, but then tucked it deep inside her coat.

"Commissar. Let's go now."

The Adversaries had followed her up at so point.

"Right. Let's go."

Yelena left the room and walked down the residence's corridor with them.

The many guards and servants who watched over the mansion were nowhere to be seen. Not even a trace of them. Perhaps they had already been cleaned up.

"Is my father also at the Winter Palace?"

"Yes. He is."

Yelena's expression hardened for an instant. A bitter taste, like pus, spread across her tongue.

Perhaps because in those words, she had sensed her father's fate.

"A letter ca about three days ago. He said nothing was wrong then?"

The Adversaries only stared straight ahead, giving no reply. Yelena quietly closed her eyes. She slipped a hand into the pocket of her military overcoat. She felt hand grenades and smoke grenades.

Yelena channeled mana into them, amplifying their performance many tis over.

Crackle—

A sparking hum from within. The Adversaries' eyes went wide, and Yelena flashed a sweet smile.

KABOOOOOOM────!

Outside her military overcoat, the grenades detonated. The Adversaries were blown backward, black smoke erupted and enveloped the area on all sides. Yelena seized the opening and ran, anywhere she could go.

* * *

...Ti on the continent flowed on endlessly. Before anyone knew it, winter had given way to spring, and warm breezes had arrived.

The Imperial Palace announced the newly established post of Standing Minister. The first appointnt went to Kentz Bertem.

Regarding the closed-door hearing currently underway, rumors spread widely through the knight order that, unlike with Anton Zefren, the atmosphere was remarkably cordial.

anwhile, I had co to Lorenzo Academy. I had receiv??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????ed rather good news.

"Welco, Sir."

In the laboratory, Headmaster Lorenzo was the first to greet . His complexion today was strangely pale.

"The completed Prototype Helm."

What he carefully set on the table was a sleek, black helm with smooth curves.

"What you ordered, Sir... has been built almost exactly."

I picked up the helm. I examined its form and nodded with satisfaction.

What is most important to a knight on the battlefield?

A weapon to rip the enemy apart? An Aura Sphere to negate artillery fire? Perfect strategy and tactics? Or perhaps the mana a knight carries within himself?

No.

According to my mories from my Regression, the greatest weakness a human knight carries on the battlefield, the elent that must absolutely be controlled is this: "emotion".

"This helm blocks sight. More precisely, it reconstructs visual information."

Lorenzo explained, pointing to the visor of the helm.

"Human details such as the enemy's face, expressions, or the color of their spilled blood are all erased, and they are made to appear only as simple target objects composed of concentrated red and blue heat and mana."

"And sound as well, I presu?"

"Yes. It is designed so that only friendly communications and tactically necessary noises reach the ears."

Instead of the face of a dying enemy, one sees the dispersal of heat. Instead of voices or screams, one hears footsteps and gunfire.

"...Please try it on."

I gladly donned the helm. In an instant, the surrounding sounds subsided. Lorenzo before

appeared not as a human but as a mass of thermal imagery.

I smiled and removed the helm.

"Good."

In addition, I am currently drafting a new engagent doctrine for knights, to be implented at Empire Point.

The foremost principle is── withdraw from the scene the mont combat is concluded.

This serves to minimize the exposure of knights as an asymtric force, but fundantally, it is to deny the knights themselves the ti to witness with their own eyes the slaughter they have wrought.

"...However, Sir Knight."

All at once, Lorenzo's voice sank heavily.

"Since the recent enactnt of the Imperial Citizenship Law... quite a number of students and researchers have co forward to confess their true identities."

I looked at Lorenzo. Unable to et my eyes, he lowered his head.

"How are they to be..."

"Write up a list of nas and deliver it to ."

"......"

Lorenzo's body trembled. I patted his shoulder as if to reassure him.

"Headmaster Lorenzo."

"...Yes."

"Do not worry too much. In the end, all of this is pragmatism for the sake of the Empire, and I trust your judgnt and your conscience greatly."

I softened my tone. Belatedly, Lorenzo lifted his gaze and t my eyes.

"If there are students or researchers of Foreign Bloodline whose talents you genuinely cherish, there is no need to drive them out. You may keep them here as your useful tools and as assets of the Empire."

Lorenzo's face showed surprise.

After all, Lorenzo Academy is not an officia??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????l university or a public office to begin with, so it does not fall afoul of the legislation.

"That is what pragmatism is. With the sole exception of one Subspecies bloodline."

"...You an the Ezenheim."

"Yes."

Lorenzo seed to feel a scholar's peculiar curiosity at this consistent stance of mine.

"That you reject only the Ezenheim so harshly... might I ask if there is so particular reason?"

I simply gazed at him.

For a mont, I closed my eyes, then opened them again.

"Because they..."

My words halted.

Silence stretched on.

If I were to speak this truth aloud, could he believe ?

Could he understand my intent?

"...are the enemy of mankind who will one day destroy all humanity."

Lorenzo's face went blank for a mont, then he cleared his throat and wore an awkward smile.

Thanks to that reaction, I realized once more.

No one can believe , and no one can know .

In the end, I must walk this path alone.

It is a solitude I have already resolved myself to, so I am not afraid.

It only tempers my mission more sharply.

─Rustle.

Just then, the sound of parchnt stirring ca from within my coat.

I drew it out.

[It seems there may be a disruption in the caviar supply, so I would like to ask for your help.]

The rather humorous phrasing drew only a smile from .

* * *

Wheeeeeeee- wheeeeeeee-

A trendous siren blanketed the entire capital of Robrus.

[Attention, citizens.]

Heavily ard military police were deployed simultaneously throughout the streets, and plainclothes Secret Police and Adversaries trampled the daily lives of citizens as they searched their hos.

[An Ergency Decree for the security of the state has been enacted.]

It was not only Yelena they were hunting. Thought Criminals, Political Prisoners, and also high-ranking officials, Prosecutors, Party Central Committee mbers, Politburo mbers... all those the General Secretary and Zerov wished to purge.

[Should citizens observe anyone behaving suspiciously, please report it at once.]

A cramped inn room.

Bzzt, crackle!

A voice flowed from the old radio on the table.

[Kirov Yumanov, House Head of the Yumanov Family, who plotted to overthrow the state, was executed in the early hours of this morning.]

Yelena leaned against the wall, peering out at the streets through a gap in the window.

From the mont she had shared a al with Maximilian at Lilac Vita, had her father's neck already been resting on the guillotine?

She had been too naive.

Too powerless.

[Kirov Yumanov siphoned the taxes wrung from the blood of the people, sold off state assets to foreign powers...]

The bastards were listing one by one, dressed up in plausible language, all manner of filthy embezzlent and extortion and treason her father had never committed.

[His Excellency the General Secretary will never tolerate such corrupt forces that suck the lifeblood of the people...]

Click.

Yelena cut the power on the radio. Looking up at the full moon hanging in Robrus's sky, she ground her teeth.

"An answer..."

Was nowhere to be seen.

No matter how much she thought, she could not co up with any way to survive here.

...Whoooosh.

Moonlight seeped through the cold wind. And as she quietly groped through the darkness within it—

Bang bang!

The inn room door shook as if about to shatter.

─There will be an inspection.

Bang bang!

─We know you're inside. Open the door this instant.

Bang bang!

─If you don't open it, we will break it down.

The sound of the door about to be smashed down was imminent.

Yelena, draped in a dark overcoat, hurriedly leapt out through the window.

"You! Halt!"

But those combing the alley caught sight of her trail. Gun barrels flashed toward her all at once.

Bang! Bang bang bang!

She deflected them with mana. A bullet grazed her ankle, but she ran through the alley, enduring the pain. She twisted and turned through the labyrinth of streets.

But the space was finite, and the enemy was all but infinite.

"......"

She struck a dead-end wall. As Yelena clenched her teeth, to her ear─

Step. Step.

Footsteps echoed from no great distance away.

Step. Step.

Matching that steady rhythm, slowly.

Step. Step.

A figure erg??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????ed from around the corner.

The mont Yelena glared at him and gripped the Dagger at her waist.

"Shh."

The other placed a finger to his lips. It was a strange reaction. Yelena examined him closely.

A man in a Robrus uniform. He looked at her and removed his cap. The black hair revealed beneath was unfamiliar, but beneath it,

those unwavering golden eyes and those features were unmistakably ones she had seen sowhere before.

"So there really was good reason the caviar supply was in jeopardy."

Maximilian murmured this as he approached her, and without a mont's hesitation, he swung the Dagger.

Snip.

He cut her long hair nearly to a man's length, then snapped handcuffs onto her wrists.

Actions perford before she could so much as flinch. As if he had prepared them long ago...

"You held out admirably, getting this far."

Maximilian lifted the parchnt wi??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????th a faint smile.

"This parchnt emits a minute pulse of mana and resonates when the pair draws close together. Thanks to that, finding you was quite easy. Co with ."

He walked beside her as though escorting a prisoner. A few soldiers approached and questioned him, but he replied in fluent Robrus Language that she was "a petty thief" and brushed them off smoothly.

"Get in."

Outside the alley, he placed her inside a military vehicle he had prepared.

Yelena let out a breathless laugh of disbelief.

"How on earth did you get hold of all this?"

"Robrus is an enemy state. This much intelligence is the bare minimum."

Vrooom.

He took the driver's seat and drove the vehicle himself.

"That said, this mission will not be easy. You're quite the famous figure, Yelena."

It was precisely because of this that, in truth, Yelena could not understand. A single line written on a parchnt. A line he could have ignored entirely without consequence. Because of that one line, he had co all the way to the far east to find her?

"Why?"

Yelena distilled every question within her into a single word. It was the most perfect expression.

Maximilian chuckled.

"Because of my pure hatred."

In that instant, Yelena's pupils wavered.

"General Secretary Varmil Makstun is, without a doubt, an Ezenheim."

Yelena looked at him in the driver's seat. Golden eyes resembling the desert glittered with killing intent. It was as if hot sand were scattering within his retinas.

"A mber of a low, wretched, filthy Subspecies who should never have beco the leader of a nation."

The murmured voice was savage. Whenever he spoke of the Ezenheim, even that beautiful face twisted like a beast's.

He was without question a more vicious and more deranged imperialist than anyone she had ever laid eyes on. But.

"I told you once before, didn't I. The Ezenheim must never hold key positions in a state, and your current predicant is proof of it."

For now, he and I are aligned.

"...That much is my personal feeling, however."

Maximilian quickly composed his expression. Gripping the wheel impassively, he continued.

"Now allow

to give you a more practical reason. You are a defector from an enemy state. A crucial insider who holds extrely valuable intelligence about the Eastern Alliance."

This ti, it was a more reasonable rationale.

"The strength of Robrus, the structure of its power, the technology of the Adversaries, the actual scale and movents of the military. The Empire stands to gain a great deal by rescuing you."

"...Are you asking

to betray my country?"

At Yelena's words, Maximilian answered while gazing out at the sleet swirling beyond the window.

"Your country betrayed you first."

He gestured ahead with his eyes.

"Well, even that calculation is premised on us escaping across the border safely."

Up ahead, a checkpoint manned by heavily ard soldiers ca into view.

"You have about three minutes to answer. If the decision is difficult, try taking a look at the photograph inside that dashboard."

Yelena stared at his profile, then with a clack, pulled open the dashboard of the passenger seat.

Inside sat only a few black-and-white photographs.

"......"

Her complexion shook violently.

The person in the photograph, staring into the cara with a gaunt face and empty eyes, was her father.

It was Kirov Yumanov.

"I was told it's the mugshot they took right before his execution. It will likely appear on the front page of tomorrow's Robrus state newspaper."

"...Ha."

Crrrk.

Yelena gripped the photograph tight and closed her eyes.