Clockwork Planet Vol 2 Chapter 3

Clockwork Planet 2: Chapter 3: 23:20 Avenger

—He fell.

For an instance, Marie was still unable to accept this fact. Halter was spinning the gears in his prosthetics at full speed, lifting his owner up as he escaped from the scene.

As she watched the rapidly departing bottom of hell, Marie yelled,

“!! Wait!”

There was no waiting.

“Wait—please stop!”

She did not stop.

The latest generation of cyborg was at full throttle, and the violently acceleration caused breathing difficulty as Marie slammed her fists on Halter’s back in rhythm, one after the other, “Let me go back, you idiot! We got to help those two…!!”

“It’s useless.”

In response to the cold, monotonous reply, Marie was at a loss of words.

“That’s a very deep basement. Leaving aside me with the cyborg parts and that Missy down there, it’s not an environment where humans can survive. You know that, don’t you?”

—Of course I do.

Falling into the deep basement was equivalent to falling into space.

That was the hollow floating in the middle of space; the empty void left only with the core after the mantle was released. Of course, it was not an environment where humans could survive.

However,

“Are you saying we’re going to abandon them!?”

Marie clenched her fists as she yelled.

“That guy—Naoto got involved in all these because of me! I was the one who brough him here!”

“Didn’t I say that it’s useless already, Milady?”

Halter’s response was utterly cold.

And with a dry voice, he concluded,

“Naoto Miura’s dead.”

“!!”

Marie gritted her teeth hard.

Driven by her intense emotions, her teeth were gnashed loudly. Drive by an impulse to wreck something at that instance, the emotions struck her along with with the intertwined guts within her.

“Ahh—ahh…”

The insides of her eyes were heating up.

She wondered, Maybe it’ll feel so enjoyable if I can yell and cry out like this.

…But that would be useless. She could not do that.

Marie herself was the one who brought him to this this place; Marie herself was the one who got him involved in these incidents. She could not bring herself to act out such shameless behavior of being depressed over such an outcome, or to lament. She definitely would not allow herself to do this.

Marie Bell Breguet did not have such a right.

She should have been mentally prepared for this. She brought that boy, who only had a unique skill, and nary any formal training, to such a terrible place.

Thus, this was the result to be expected. It was just the end that would some day arrive.

“However…!’

But even so.

That was surely something that was to happen sometime.

And yet, so suddenly—

“—”

Halter again grabbed the silently sobbing girl, steadying her, and leaped.

The body, jumping off with enough strength to crush the footings, easily got up to dozens of meters.

Continuing with the triangle jump, he rose up the space.

On that way up,

“—Oh, what luck.”

Halter found a little tunnel on the wall, and grabbed the edge firmly.

He made sure Marie on his shoulders did not collide with the edges, and continued in a scaling manner.

Once he reached the end, he effortlessly kicked aside the sealed shutter, poked his face out, and found that it was a vertical drain.

It was approximately 30m in diameter, and he was unable to determine the depth above and below them. The walls had a spiral-shaped path on them.

Halter stopped here for the time being, and put Marie down.

They could not head back down their original path.

Since their intrusion was already made aware, surely there would be a tight security perimeter set in this facility.

But even so, they could not waste time in such a place.

For they should be under pursuit in this situation.

RyuZU, who could fight off against them, was no longer around.

If they were to be attacked by AnchoR again, there was no way they could put up any resistance.

“…Have you calmed down somewhat, Milady?”

Halter spoke up as he faced the girl who remained seated silently on the pathway.

“The current situation…you’ll understand it without me saying anything, right? Now that those two are gone, our fighting strength now’s greatly reduced. It’s really bad.”

“…”

Marie did not answer.

Halter sighed, and continued.

“Even if there’s a little hope, we need to do something about it. We can’t do anything if we’re going to stop here. Anyway, we have to escape to the surface no matter what.”

“—…”

“You probably revealed everything about the factory’s layout Naoto has revealed, but we can’t possibly go back there no, you know? Doesn’t this mean we’ll have to look for another exit? Now then, there’s a need to sneak through the enemy’s security net in when we don’t have any tricks to pull off. Isn’t this fun, hey?”

“You hear me?”

Halter rubbed his bald head, and he narrowed his eyes sharply.

“Right now, we need to pass through the ‘army’ security without any prior intel. If we’re not careful, we’re going to get pursued by the heavy-armed MA and a Initial-Y series. We’re going to be in danger if you’re going to continue being like baggage.”

“—Don’t look down on me!”

Marie raised her face as she glared at Halter. Her moist eyes were already swollen, and Halter did not say anything.

Marie was heaving her shoulders greatly, and she took a deep breath.

Before exhaling it all out.

“…This is most likely the transit duct for materials.”

She stared at the altitude meter wrapped around her wrist, and continued on,

“If they are to create that thing secretly, they can’t use the transport routes on the surface. They probably sent all the spare parts created in the surface factories as they were to the underground, and assemble them in this level that’s not supposed to exist.”

“In other words, this vertical drain is linked to a factory on the surface?”

“No, it’ll be very inefficient if every factory is to create a transport towards the underground. There has to be a place to gather all the materials…I’m guessing that place itself is linked to many factories instead.”

“Hm…in that case, there’s a way to get out of here.”

Halter said as he looked up the drain, rubbing his chin,

“Those pursuers looking for us…will probably look for another hour or so before giving up, right? I guess it’ll take about an hour for them to use the lifts and elevators to the surface just to report. We’ll continue to climb quickly up this drain, and we can hide in the byway if we want to …well, we’ll definitely be able to escape anyway.”

…The problem is Halter looked down at the girl at his feet.

Marie’s physical strength.

This drain appeared at minimum to be at least 70km tall. But even so, it was possible to scale this within 2 hours. It would not be impossible for Halter’s cyborg body alone, but the problem would be whether Marie’s body could endure this overly intense continual motion.

She was a little more trained as compared to girls her age—but she was ultimately a human made of raw flesh and flood.

That was why,

“Don’t mind me.”

Marie said as she looked back at Halter’s eyes.

Skeptical, Halter asked,

“Can you endure it?”

“We don’t have any other options, right? If you find me a nuisance, leave me behind.”

“That’s not what I mean, of course?”

A disappointed Halter immediately frowned the moment he heard the lines of a pawn.

Marie slowly got to her feet, and Halter saw that her limbs were quivering slightly. She was not physically tired, it was a mental issue—she was mentally damaged

Naoto Miura’s death had caused a great shock to Marie Bell Breguet’s heart.

…It was all in vain.

That was what her voice and face showed, and Halter sighed.

The genius, idealist, somewhat arrogant, competitive girl—was just a girl after all.

This girl still could not accept the fact that someone close to her died.

However—there was no room for her to accept this current situation.

Halter sternly said,

“You fine, Marie? Hear me out.”

“…”

“There’s no time to rest. I’m going all out to climb this, so don’t let go no matter what. Speak up only when you can’t handle it, and other than that, shut up.”

Marie gasped, and wordlessly nodded.

Alright, Halter too nodded back.

“—Now then, let’s go.”

“—Ah.”

Marie seemingly rolled off Halter’s back as she tumbled onto the path floor.

She could no longer move a single finger—correction, it was moving, but it was not due to her own will. Her limbs were already limp, and unable to stop. Her muscles were completely frozen solid.

—Halter spent 1 hour, 58 minutes and 34 seconds climbing up this vertical drain that was approximately 72km long.

During this time, Halter had been running and jumping up the vertical walls, and Marie continued to cling onto Halter’s back, never letting go in any way. They ascended vertical through the use of the prosthetics that were beyond normal specifications, accelerating and decelerating—Marie continued to endure this ordeal of a process that would have caused a normal human body to lose consciousness.

But she was at her limit.

…She was unable to stand up.

Marie was utterly breathless as she crawled on the ground. Her lungs were crushed, her heart was seemingly broken apart as she shrieked. Her entire body was covered in annoyingly sticky sweat, and tears appeared on her eyes that were devoid of sadness. Her vision flickered, and she felt nauseous. Her bones were aching, seemingly snapped—but even so.

And so,

“Ah…haa—”

Or rather, so what about that?

“You can’t stand, Milady?”

Halter knelt down beside her head as he said this calmly.

—Who does this bastard think he’s talking to?

Marie wanted to curse out, but failed to do so. She could only let out a little groan like a frog being crushed.

Her blurred, teary vision showed Halter’s icy face. A human body could not match a cyborg’s, btut Marie could not help but feel anger.

He’s seeing me like this, yet why does he—

But because of that anger, she managed to regain some strength.

She tried her best to control her trembling hand, and starting from her pinky, folded each finger tightly into a fist. She slammed the floor, regained her strength, bent her knees, ans straightened her waist.

She took a breath, and gritted her teeth.

—I’m still moving

She was still alive, unlike him, who was already dead.

“Don’t force yourself.”

Alright,Halter carried Marie up, and she was left breathless. She was furious and embarrassed to be treated like a child again, her blood boiling.

Though she wanted to say something, Marie kept her mouth shut. In fact, it was impossible for her to stand up and walk in this state.

“Anyway, let’s get out of here. Be the baggage for a little while.”

Marie nodded in response to Halter’s words, and closed her eyes.

She began to think of what would happen later.

In other words, she recalled what happened till this point.

 

—Naoto Miura’s dead.

 

She bit her lips. She did not have the instincts he had, and could only gather all the information that appeared to her for understanding purposes.

What exactly was that gigantic weapon she saw at the lowest level? Surely it did not seem to be some decent thing itself. Even if she did not consider it to be violating a treaty, there was no place for it to be used. How could such a monstrous thing be used appropriately? It would simply destroy and sever everything. The ones who would use such a thing…terrorists?

 

I got involved in this. Her chest felt tight. It was not that sort of a foolish thing. There was definitely no such terrorist group that could build such a massive thing at the lowest level of the city and ensure its secrecy. There was no way the group would be so well funded in finances, materials and manpower. If such a thing was done right below their feet, which government would be so incompetent to not notice such a situation?

 

—Do you, of all people, have the right to call others incompetent?

 

Her eyes felt hot. Thus, the enemy had to be the ‘military’—or at least a person of considerable standing in the ‘military’. The enemy had already used a clock tower itself as spare parts, so in that case, one could consider that along with the ‘military’, the Mie parliament would also be enemies.

 

—That information’s what you obtained from that Naoto you killed.

 

Her head was in pain. There was another detail; why was AnchoR at such a place? She was mocked by RyuZU, but there was no doubt in the intel that AnchoR was deported to Tokyo. Was she moved to Tokyo before being moved to Mie again? In that case, why Mie? If that was the unit the Kyoto ‘military’ had, would it not be appropriate to return it back to the original user? Such a huge dissonance would mean that it had something to do with that gigantic weapon. Surely this would be the crux?

 

—No matter what you do now, he won’t return.

 

Marie could no longer bear this as she rolled off Halter’s shoulder.

She crawled on the floor, cuddling her knees like a fetus, but she was unable to endure the nauseousness that arose in her, and vomited,

“Uu, gguu, guueehhhh…!”

She vomited out onto the path a few times. There was no color of blood to be seen in the vast amount of vomit.

—Ahh, I didn’t damage my internal organs. Marie thought. She really started to hate herself for being concerned with such trivial matters.

“…How terrible.”

“Yeah. It’s really terrible.”

Halter repeated with a stoic voice,

“…I failed. Utterly.”

“Yeah, you really failed terribly there.”

Halter silently agreed.

He did not give any cheap consolation, and his tone was not appealing in any way, but she was thankful this time.

She affirmed,

“—Naoto’s dead, right?”

“I guess? It’s impossible to survive that fall from there.”

Halter nodded mercilessly.

 

—It’s all your fault.

 

“—Am I right!!?”

Marie lost herself in her fervent emotions as she slammed her fists onto the floor.

A sharp pain echoed even through her bones, but it did not matter. It was nothing much compared to the nauseating feeling of her innards being tumbled around.

Marie’s eyes sharpened, and the emerald eyes were lit with a dim flame and she said,

“—This is quite the high price to pay.”

“Of course. You might have to pluck the hairs out of your ass here.”

In response to Halter’s words, Marie nodded, and stood up.

They had to be quicker, even for just a second; they had something to do no matter what.

Oh, yes.

She was the one who got involved. She merely spent her free time and shook a tree, luring out a wild tiger. Because of this, he lost his life, so she had to bear responsibility herself. There was no time to show regret, and in such situation, she could not allow herself to be crushed by her guilt.

—I’ll just enjoy myself with such a luxury once everything’s done.

Marie wiped her dirty lips with the sleeves of her coat, and said,

“…AnchoR’s supposedly moved to Tokyo, but she appeared in Mie; this definitely has to do with that weapon.”

“Well, it’s natural to think of it that way.”

“In that case, there’s definitely contact between Mie and Tokyo. At the very least, there’s a person supporting Mie with enough authority to move an Initial-Y series unit that was moved into Tokyo.”

“Also, don’t forget that there’s one person with the expertise to control that AnchoR.”

Marie nodded.

RyuZU was shocked when AnchoR attacked; in other words, she did not think it was possible for such a thing to happen, or at the very least, that was what she believed. AnchoR was an automata who continued to remain sleeping in the basement of Kyoto.

“…Maybe somebody modified her, or took over control of her through an external device.”

“That mask looked very weird. Well, no matter what I just said, there’s a need to contact one of the five Enterprises just to make the technology in the mask.

Halter rubbed his chin, and continued,

“The Vachrons? Or the Patteks…Lunge seems a little little suspicious too. I heard that the Odemas are one of the cleaner ones, but I can’t say that they’re completely spotless.”

“…No matter which once, it’s something to talk about once we get back to the surface.”

She let out a sigh.

“First, we need to hear what Tokyo has to say.”

They got up to the surface, and it was almost dawn.

What they saw at the entrance was the abandoned factory that was complete in facilities, but could no longer be used. They quickly exited the industrial complex, and soon arrived at the Ring Rail station.

They rode on the train, and after a little shaking, arrived at the streets of Ise.

The prior night, Marie’s group arrived at the Grid with the ‘Platform’ through the ‘Cylinder Train’.

But they still could not return to Japan.

Marie simply patted the dust off her clothes, and along with Halter, got off the Ring Rail, wandering deep into the bustling shopping streets in front of the station.

It was around dawn, and the shops on the streets still had their shutters lowered, but there were people walking to and fro. Unlike the bustling streets at the edge of the Industrial Complex, the streets here were full of life.

After taking some turns, both of them arrived at an old building, an empty hotel.

It seemed like a shop for drunk customers to spend the night. They were skeptical as to whether it was really in business, but after entering, found the facilities to be unexpectedly tidy.

They booked a single room, entered it, and Marie immediately walked to the communicator that was installed.

She picked the phone receiver, and dialed the phone number for the Breguet’s secret lines.

With the help of this Breguets’ secret line, she managed to make contact with Tokyo.

And a few seconds into the call, she heard the voice from the other side,

“—Ohh, Professor Marie, it has been a while since you contacted us.”

In the face of the cordial voice, Marie was a little hesitant as she responded.

“It has been a while.”

”…Did something happen?”

“Well…yes, actually. A lot of things happened—really.”

Marie blurted, seemingly wanting to vent, and lowered her eyes.

If she were to take this head on, she would definitely cry; suppressing this emotion with all she had, she turned to the receiver, and continued with a calm,

“Please excuse me. I don’t have the time for relaxation now…I shall ask you directly now. Do you know where the Initial-Y series unit I asked you to investigate is located at now?”

“No. What do you imply, exactly?”

“We met it, just a few hours ago.”

“What!?”

The other party raised the voice, seemingly surprised,

“Are you in Kyoto?”

“No. Right now, I’m in Grid Mie.”

“Mie?”

“There…was an anonymous provision of intel. We intruded and entered the bottom of the city to confirm it, and we found something really terrifying.”

And then, Marie began explaining about the massive weapon she found in the level that should not exist.

She existed the appearance and capabilities her eyes could at least determine, and also AnchoR, who seemed to be deployed there for security reasons, and the combat ability that was beyond logical thinking. She also explained her observations that the Mie parliament and the ‘military’ were the enemies, and the shadows of the Enterprises behind all these—

Once Marie explained everything, the other party groaned,

”…How did such a thing happen?”

“There is something I want to confirm. There was no doubt that the Initial-Y series unit was sent to Tokyo, right?”

“…The ‘military’ did move her from Kyoto to Tokyo. There were records of it, and also eyewitnesses accounts. She was taken out from a container, so this can be confirmed.”

“Then, I guess she was sent from Tokyo to Mie?”

“I guess…there’s no way it doesn’t have anything to do with that weapon.”

“That’s what I think too. Mie and Tokyo are heavily linked in this incident. Do you mind checking for me who was the one in charge of the Initial-Y series unit being moved into Tokyo?”

“That in-charge may be in collusion with the collaborators from Mie, huh?”

“Yes.”

”Give me a little time. How about that?”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

Marie intended to hang up, but the other party hurriedly added in,

“And another thing—I’m not certain, but something strange may be happen in Tokyo.”

“…”

“The Tokyo ‘military’ seemed to have gathered their forces together. As you know, Tokyo runs on a federal system place with multiple Grids in it. It seems many Core Towers and Clock Towers are unmanned because they gathered most of their forces in one place.”

That is. Marie groaned.

The Core Towers and Clock Towers that were left empty, the suspicious movements of the ‘military'; she did not like it, but she inadvertently thought about the incident at Kyoto that happened some time back.

That incident where Kyoto was to be purged along with its 20 million citizens…

The party on the other side of the phone seemed to be pondering the cause and effect, and said,

“Leaving aside history, Kyoto was simply just a sightseeing city, so that can’t be the reason in this case. If the Tokyo area is to all fall together, it’ll affect the entire Asian region.”

“So the question here is how to let it fall, huh? But that’s…”

In an instance, her vision went dark,

Marie gripped the receiver firmly in her hand, and hissed,

“According to this logic, Kyoto too should not be allowed to fall.”

In summation, this was an issue of logic and binding principles.

Why did the humans, organizations, ideals that said ‘yes’ to killing 20 million conclude so firmly that it would affect the entire Asian region? This would surely be disadvantageous to them, but why did they make such a decision? In other words, There had to be another reason that allowed them to do that.

There was only silence to Marie’s words,

“…I suppose. Yes, it happened beside.”

“Anyway, please follow through with what I requested. I’ll continue to gather some intel here. If we investigate this any further, we’ll definitely find many suspicious things about this.”

Understood. The other party said, and repeated what was requested.

“Anyway, please be careful, Professor Marie. The enemy is a terrifying opponent.”

“…Yes, thank you very much.”

After a brief reply, Marie finally hung up the phone.

She bitterly let out a sigh, and feeling vexed, she could no longer control her emotions as she kicked out with all her might, ostensibly wanting to send the bed beside her flying.

“Serious! They’re all like this!”

“Don’t lose your temper, Milady.”

Halter’s reproaching voice could be heard from behind.

Marie looked back over her shoulder, and glared at the face of the big man seated on the chair,

“Yeah yeah, so what if I’m throwing a tantrum? What? You want to be my sandbag here?”

“I’ll gladly do that if that’ll get you to calm down.”

Halter said tauntingly as he curled his lips.

At that instant, Marie raised her eyebrows—and quickly shook her head.

I’m like an idiot, she muttered.

“Well, fine. I’ve decided what I want to do. Let’s go.”

“…Goodness, we just escaped from danger there, didn’t we? At least think about me.”

Halter continued in a rebuking manner, and Marie impatiently snorted,

“Whatever, I can do this by myself.”

“That’s not it. Get it already, Milady. Calm down a little, no, are you even calmed down? Are you doing all this out of desperation?”

“—It’s nothing. Got any questions?”

With a stoic expression, Marie continued,

“This life was gotten back through Naoto. With RyuZU’s capabilities, she might be able to return from such a massive depth. If that happens—I guess I’ll be killed by her.”

She shivered as she hugged her shoulders tightly.

“This life’s almost at its limit now, so I should use this effectively. I have to do everything I want to do before RyuZU kills me.”

With a serious look, Halter heard these words.

He frowned, and seemed like he wanted to chime in, but did not say anything.

He merely let out a sigh, and nodded back.

“Got it, Milady. You can do whatever you want to do, but as a professional, I’ll advise you to go to sleep now. Your life will be used up, but you want to do your best under the best conditions possible, right?”

“…”

“Take a shower, drink some sweet cocoa, and have a nice little nap. Regain your strength, clear your head, and beat up any guys you dislike as you want to.”

“…”

“That should be more logical here, right?’

“…You’re right. It’s true, just as you said.”

Marie accepted those logical words heartily as she nodded honestly. Once he was sure she was going to shower, Halter exited the room.

He bought some cocoa and sandwich at the nearest shop, and quickly returned to the room.

The flowing water in the shower continued to ring.

He sat at the chair, waiting for Marie to appear, and suddenly thought, Maybe this is a suicide scene here. The instant he thought of it, he chuckled.

No. There’s no way for that. Marie herself would definitely not do such a thing.

And in seemingly confirmation, the sound of the dryer blowing the hair could be heard, and Marie appeared.

She was simply dressed in a bathrobe, walking over to him with the water dripping onto the floor. As he faced this gloomy Marie, he wordlessly handed over the cocoas and sandwich.

Thanks. Marie weakly muttered as she stuffed it all int her mouth. She continued to eat silently, and silently snuggled into the bed.

Halter moved the bed, taking the window side. He looked at the sight of the defenseless, sleeping girl, and suddenly, he spoke up hesitantly,

“Hey, Marie, as an adult’s duty, I got something to say.”

“…What?”

“You’re a kid. You’re just a little girl. That’s what you said before yourself.”

“…So, what?”

“Even if a girl’s going to cry like a little girl, nobody will say anything about it?”

Marie did not answer.

A long silence passed, and just when Halter was wondering if she did fall asleep like this, he finally heard a somber reply,

“—I’ll say, even if nobody will say it, I’ll say it. I definitely won’t allow it. If I’m going to succumb to my tears here, I—I’ll becoming nothing.”

Marie did not nudge or squirm her body. Her voice was flat and calm, not showing any falter.

Halter did not do anything.

 

However, he silently pondered.

He knew that Marie Bell Breguet’s talent was not omnipotent.

This genius girl became the youngest Meister in history, and surely, if anyone were to be asked this, that would be the image they had of her. She was smart, and could do anything…but that was not the case.

The reason why she was a genius was because she was absolutely harsh on herself—it was too difficult to understand, so her normal talents were hailed as ‘genius’, and she was said to have the ultimate talent of them all.

She was wise.

She was tenacious.

She was kind.

In other words, she carried out her ideals through her body and mind; from Halter’s perspective, it was akin to a fanatical level of faith.

An ordinary person would give up at a dead end, but for this girl, it would be the best starting point for her to get riled up; her engines would run to the point of accelerating past the limit, a destructive will to improve.

She had an indomitable spirit of self-denial, of being harsh to others, but harsher to herself.

—That was the basis of Marie Bell Breguet.

That was why this girl would not crumble. For she knew that if she did, she would become one of those useless untitled individuals. That was what she was most terrified of, and thus why she could not pamper herself. She decided that she was to live this way, and thus, it was understandable why she would become Marie Bell Breguet.

If she were to compromise—it would mean death for her.

 

Halter let out a deep sigh, and shook his head,

“Alright—where are you going to start a ruckus once you get up? Let’s think about it first, talk it out even if we don’t have recommendations.”

“…You understand very well that I have no intention of giving up.”

Yeah. Halter nodded.

Marie’s soft voice was filled with a dangerous atmosphere as she continued,

“I want to take down the leader. We’re gunning for that head of his.”

“—Damn it!!”

Morikatsu Muroi dialed the communicator in annoyance.

He was the Prefectural governor of Grid Mie. Having finished all the arranged public duties on this night, he hurriedly finished dinner with his family in a hurry, and locked himself in the study.

Normally, it would be a habit of his to enjoy a late drink with his massive wife, but on this night alone, he did not have such a luxury.

Ever since he took up the role of Prefectural governor, days passed by like warm water. He simply had to settle his daily routine work. It was an ordinary, boring job that would make anyone unenthusiastic.

He however was satisfied with this. He did have his own ideals burning back when he was young, but having become a middle-aged man, and now entering his late years he could only laugh bitterly at his old childish naivete.

In the end, he was simply a cog that could be replaced in society; on the other hand, it was a must.

He simply continued to work, get his pay, scolded his daughter a little, but got hated in turn, and also chided by his wife.

—This is fine enough. He thought.

He did not need anything like change. The outcome was that anyone who searched for such a thing did not get it.

And because of this, what happened on this day should not happen.

It seemed there were intruders at the bottom level of the city. That was the most classified area, and furthermore, the report was that the culprits escaped.

Once he received the report in the morning, he showed anger, a rarity at that. He was still feeling displeased when he had diner, and that caused his wife and daughter to feel displeased too.

…He would have to apologize to them later.

He wondered exactly how he would get back on his wife’s good side for some time as he spun the dial.

Soon after, he was on the line,

“—It’s me.”

“—”

“…Eh, it’s about this morning. What exactly is the outcome? You did say before that its secrecy’s completely assured.”

“—” “That’s not it. As long as we see no evil and hear no evil here anything here, your lives and ours will not be threatened. Didn’t we make such a deal here? Are you renegading on what we agreed on?”

“—”

“Threaten? I hope you’re ot joking here. Didn’t I ask you guys already? Please don’t betray us now. Yes, yes, I’ll try to investigate what happened on your side, but hatred and ideals alone aren’t going to feed you.”

“—”

“Alright, please hurry and give us a conclusion here. It has been 30 years since then. It can’t be helped that things are a little slow, but even so, we shouldn’t finish this off like this—this goes for both of us.”

After saying this, the line was cut.

Muroi took a deep sigh, and put the receiver back.

He wiped his forehead that was seeping out sweat before he knew it, and slumped into the study’s chair

…30 years.

Muroi recalled the days that had passed, and sighed bitterly.

Till that point, his work revolved around nothing but Mie, and it had always been going on well. Even though they might be some major, minor troubles, he was able to handle them all.

It was not an impressive job. It was simply a job where he ignored the dangers near him, or the bomb that may blow up along with Mie itself one day.

But the now interrupted daily life was an unbearable theme for him.

Whether it was the intruders who brought him much pain in the gut, or ‘those guys’ who allowed them in so easily.

To him, all of these incidents were what he could not endure.

Why, why would every single person not keep their mouths shut and keep quiet?

“…Shit.”

To drown his bitter, awful feeling, Muroi wanted to gulp down some strong alcohol. He gulped down some Whiskey, and wondered if it was time to turn in for the night.

He simply had to apologize to his wife the following day.

He rubbed his temples, trying to relax, and stood up.

At that moment.

The collar of his shirt was grabbed, and he was dragged back to the chair.

His heart raced.

There was a soft cloth stuffed into his mouth just when he was able to shriek. He continued to squirm desperately, but his body had something wrapped around it; duct tape. The sticky, sturdy tape tied Muroi firmly to the chair.

During this time, the captors remained speechless. However, he understood what they were trying to convey.

—Quiet.

—Or else.

Unable to fight back against such violent wills, cold sweat trickled down him.

It was not a prank. There were some people with malicious intents who invaded his study.

For a while, he was unable to believe that fact.

This was the official residence entrusted to the Prefectural governor.

It was not some classified facility, but there were often security guards(or rather, invigilators) stationed here. It was not a place that could be easily entered. Muroi himself did not notice anyone enter this room at all from the moment he entered the room till the phone call ended.

The reality however was that he was tied up.

He was wrapped from shoulders to feet in rounds, and the culprit who overpowered him slowly approached him from the front.

It was a tall man, a hulking man dressed in black, rubber suit, giving an overwhelming presence of one who dealt with violent situations.

The man hissed,

“We’re going to take out that thing stuffing your mouth now. If you want your limbs intact, don’t say anything unnecessary.”

Muroi’s shoulders shivered, and he nodded.

Once the cloth was taken out of his mouth, he was gasping for breath frantically.

He assumed the interrogation would begin just like this, but the man reached a hand out for the back of the chair, and spun it around nonchalantly.

“!!”

Stunned, he widened his eyes.

Right behind Morikatsu Muroi was a girl of tender age.

She was dressed in in a black rubber suit, and the slender, line-like figure was well defined. However, that itself did not give off a feeble impression.

The blond hair could still be seen in the darkness. The adamant emerald-like eyes glittered, giving off the atmosphere of boiling magma.

And so, Morikatsu Muroi recognized this girl’s face,

“Ma-Marie Bell Breguet…you’re alive!?”

Supposedly dead 3 weeks ago was the Princess of the Breguets, or a girl with a completely similar face. The baton attached at the waist swung at him without a beat.

Bam, a blunt sound could be heard.

He felt an exploding pain in his solar plexus, and let out a little moan, but it did not become a full blown groan. For the first time, he learned that to yell out loud would require him to have the opportunity to do so.

The tip of the baton easily pressed at his throat that was gasping in large breaths.

“—Who said you could talk?”

She spoke coldly with a frivolous girl’s voice.

Upon hearing uninterested sounding voice, Muroi yelled in anger,

“Y-you bastards, d-do you think things will end just like this!?”

And he got a hit from the baton as response.

Mercilessly beaten, sparks fluttered in front of his eyes.

And while Muroi was unable to voice out and nearly knocked out, the girl spoke flatly,

“We’ll just spill it out for that dull-witted brain juice to understand. I’m not making a request to you. I’m ordering you here. You and I are not equal.”

“…S-stop messing with me!”

His face utterly dyed red and black due to fury, Muroi said,

“I-I’m the Prefectural governor of Mie! I will not forgive this insolence!”

“Oh sure.”

The girl nodded, and lifted her eyes slightly as she continued,

“Go down and get the wife. I guess I’ll show you how serious I am right now here. Women are fair play too.”

“Don’t do it!”

Muroi shrieked,

“Please! Leave my wife and daughter alone! I’ll answer any question!”

“I really wish you showed such an attitude right from the beginning.”

The cold voice caused Muroi to be utterly terrified.

The emotions in the emerald eyes were inscrutable . It’s like the eyes of a praying mantis, Muroi wondered. They were sharp, and devoid of emotion, but there was an inexplicable, intense will hidden with them.

The mantis, having taken the form of a girl, continued on,

“When you speak up, answer ‘yes’. Answer all the questions truthfully, and think of it for the sake of those useless organisms like you, don’t force me to do them in one by one.”

Muroi shivered, and nodded.

This girl did not think about his own circumstances. If he showed nary a little hesitance, she might literally carry out the threat—that was the intent that was conveyed.

“Now then, let’s begin from the most basic of problems.”

The girl sat on the office desk, and folded her legs leisurely.

She asked,

“Now then, looking at your surprised reaction, I suppose you don’t know that I’m still alive, right?”

“…I-I-I thought, you’re already dead…”

“Halter, hang him.”

Ugh. Muroi’s collar was lifted by the tremendous strength, and he was left breathless.

He was hanging in the air, and he continued to struggle with his neck bearing his weight. The girl coldly told him,

“You answered me the wrong way here. You are suppose to say ‘yes’.”

Muroi’s neck was released, and he coughed profusely.

His shoulders were quivering in fear, and with tears in his eyes, he apologized,

“Y-y…yes. M-my apologies…”

“It really is difficult training to train a stupid dog here.”

The girl curled her lips, and said,

“Next question. Do you know of the weapon that’s secretly built at the lowest level of the city?”

“Yes, I do.”

“That it also is in violation of the International Treaty with regards to massive weapons?”

“Yes…I-I never heard of the specifics, but I did hear it before?”

“Oh? Nice cooperation.”

The girl raised an eyebrow, and smirked,

“So such a dangerous thing is happening right under your own feet, and you dare say that you’re not sure of the specifics? How useless are you, exactly? Do you think I’m a fool who’ll believe that!?”

“I-it’s true! All that is for them to deal with themselves!”

“Deal? You’re not the highest authority in this Grid Mie? In that case, the conspiracy that’s plotted here should be done with you as the head.”

“I-I’m just a representative here…!”

Still panting, Muroi said,

“Right now, the Mie parliament’s the same too. We’re just running the daily routine work of the city, and we’ve agreed with them not to interfere with them.”

“Stop with that sleep talk already. You said that the ones making that weapon is just a one-sided deal on the military part, but aren’t you just letting them do what they want?”

“…Y-yes, it’s as you say.”

“Is there a reason why you have to keep your mouths shut for their sake?”

“Th-that’s…because our parliament got threatened by the ‘military’…”

“Stop with that bad lie.

With an expression below freezing point, the girl glared down at Muroi, and said,

“There is definitely no way a part of the city’s taken away because of the threat of military might. Mie—or at least the parliament you’re part of, were probably helping the military enthusiastically for a long time.”

“Th-that is.”

“What I am not certain of here, is why did you do that. At first, I thought it would be for money and power, but there are no suspicions about the parliament’s accounts. Maybe the money is going to your side. As part of the deal, you probably got something back in return. However, the books showed nothing of such sort—it really is an unnatural relationship here, huh?”

“…”

“Explain.”

Muroi remained silent, not answering.

The girl let out a sigh, and pointed her chin at the man standing behind Muroi.

“Penalty. Kill one person.”

“Stop, don’t!!!”

Muroi frantically yelled.

The man leisurely pulled a knife from his waist, and turned to ask the girl,

“Which one do I kill?”

“Which one indeed…?”

While asking this, the girl tilted her cute face, and smiled at Muroi,

“Your choice then—your wife or you daughter? Which one do you want us to kill?”

“Please, stop it, please…!”

Muroi soggy face was covered in tears and snort, and he yelled in anguish,.

The girl merely looked down at him coldly,

“Did you not say the wrong answer there? You must have been gravely mistaken to think that I’ll continue to coddle and educate you.”

“B-both sides here coexist by sharing our lots…!”

He slumped his neck weakly, and continued to eke out his voice,

“Isn’t it because there’s a massive weapon here!? If-if the fact that they are in this Mie is discovered, we’ll be in danger too. Be-because of this, we’re providing protection for them…”

“…I do not get what you mean.”

The girl chided, and frowned.

“Do you mind explaining so that I can understand? Or not?”

“Th-they…aren’t Mie’s ‘military’…”

“…What do you mean?”

The girl frowned further.

His breathing erratic due to fear and the impacts he took, Muroi blurted,

“They’re the ‘military’ from Grid Shiga, which got purged 30 years ago…!”

It was a story which happened before Marie was born.

There was a sudden mass scale fatal malfunction that occurred in Grid Shiga, and due to the dire situation, the government back then quickly passed the Special Disasters Counteract Law. They forcefully carried out a Purge without waiting for the ‘Guild’ to be dispatched.

Of course, that was a major issue by itself that caused the cabinet to be dissolved. After the investigations that occurred afterwards however, the outcome was that ‘if they were to delay any longer, it would have affected the Western Japanese Grids.

Because of that result, there were critical voices stating that currently, it might have been a decisive, unfettered counteract without fear for the losses, rather than it being a reluctant decision of much distress.

However,

“…That was all a lie.”

Morikatsu Muroi’s trembling voice denied that history.

“Back then, there was research on electromagnetic technology done in Grid Shiga. It was a large scale, national project…and there were almost 10,000 of the Technical Forces gathered there.”

“Electromagnetic technology…!”

Marie’s face became ominous as she said this. That technology was used as a contemporary technology in the old era, but in this modern world that was completely driven by gears, —

“Yes, it violated the international treaty. After that, the massive electromagnetic fields formed from the experiments leaked out, causing the city functions to break down. The government decided to eliminate all of that before the ‘Guild’ that got dispatched would find out about such a thing…that’s the truth of the purge.”

The expression vanished from Marie’s face.

Her emerald eyes were the only think flickering, staring at the Prefectural governor’s face.

“All the documents related to the purge were prepared, and all sorts of preparations were already completely. As long as the Chief Cabinet Secretary made the signature, anything could be purged. This includes the evacuation of the citizens, and the document stated that most of them were able to escape safely. They were taken in by, this place, Mie.”

“…”

“Thus, most of them are technicians who were abandoned but managed to survive, and by taking advantage of the excuse of being ‘refugees’, they lived in Mie. Everything was done quickly and quietly behind the scenes.”

While saying this, he lifted his head. His face, covered with wrinkles, was completely damp, and he was sweating profusely. The black eyes gave a strange glint as they stared at Marie,

“…12 years. That was how long it took for them to take control of the city.”

“Why? Was there a need for such a thing?”

With a deep voice, Marie asked,

“They carried out illegal research on the country’s orders, and were silenced because matters were revealed. Everything’s fine till this point. In that case, why didn’t you reveal this truth?”

“…Because in that case, Mie will be the next one to go down, you know?”

Muroi took a deep sigh, and shook his head,

“Shiga was sunk just to hide the truth, so how can you possibly conclude that…after finding that they’re still alive, the government can’t possibly let Mie sink?”

“Because…you can’t possible force a purge because of such a retarded reason, right? And Shiga just got purged too.”

In other words, cities were part of the land. Current technology alone would not allow them to develop cities and rebuild them, so purging would mean losing the land. They decided to sink Shiga to hide the fact that she violated the treaty, and that was clearly because everything was too late. If they were to continue purging cities, there would naturally be interrogative questions coming from all the foreign countries.

In response to Marie’s words, he curled his lips,

“Fair enough. But I would say ‘don’t you mess around with us’. To us, who just saw Shiga fall at the closest possible place, and to them, who went through abandonment, you expect us to believe in the sanity of those crazy guys, the government, that they’ll risk the lives of themselves and their families—are you really saying that?”

“…”

Marie could not answer.

Muroi’s face was contorted, and he excitedly smiled,

“Back then, I was just an aide to a congressman. Occasionally, I would interact with their leaders, and I quickly understood the situation. If any of them were to find out about this, Mie would be sunk. Before that happened, I felt that there had to be ‘a certain something’ we could use to negotiate with the government no matter what.”

“…That’s the massive weapon underground?”

Muroi nodded.

“I’m not too sure of the details, but they’re seeking a tangible ‘power’, that even if the government decides to purge the city and deploys the ‘military’ to fight us, we have a counter force that could fight against them and send them back.”

After hearing these words, Marie glared sternly back at Muroi,

“So because of that, you sacrificed the Clock Tower in Mie?”

“The remains of Shiga alone would not be enough material…or so we heard, and we decided that it was something that had to be done.”

With a pale face, he concluded.

Marie narrowed her eyes, and asked,

“As a counter balance?”

That’s how it is. Muroi eked out these words with much difficulty.

“In fact, it used to be effective. Their existences were discovered by the government many years ago, but they basically had control of Mie, and had a powerful military force, so in any case, both sides struck a secret deal. The fighting strength’s undoubted, and the existence of that weapon, created from the purged Shiga, is clear evidence that the government once carried out an illegal purge on Shiga itself.”

Thus, they kept it till this day, and never used it.

While Muroi complained so passionately, Marie wordlessly lowered her head.

She understood. She knew it would not be easy to refute such a reason, but she could not believe them. They were simply driven by fear, and sought a stronger, definite, power.

However, that—

Marie said.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m serious!!”

Muroi hollered with such desperation on his face.

Marie stared intently at this face, and slowly asked,

“Since you said so, now tell me. Why’s that weapon in standby phase?”

“…What?”

Stunned, Muroi widened his eyes.

Thinking that this reaction was unexpected, Marie continued,

“We went down to look at that weapon for ourselves. That weapon was readied to the point that it can be activated at will. If you don’t intend to actually use it, there’s no need to prepare that much.”

“…”

Muroi went silent. It was not an answer of refusal, and neither was it silence because a ie was exposed. He merely widened his eyes in shock, his wide shoulders quivering greatly.

“…I see. So that’s how it is!”

He suddenly lowered his shoulders weakly. While Marie and Halter watched on in surprise, he took a long breath, and shook his head weakly.

“It’s over, there’s nothing…”

“…I hope that you don’t become the only one understanding what’s going on yourself, but you don’t have any intention of explaining?”

After hearing Marie’s question, Muroi let out a laugh from his throat.

Mie’s Prefectural governor slowly lifted his head and stared right at Marie. His face was full of fear, white and quivering, but the lips were curled in a mocking manner,

“Haa…looks like you don’t know anything. You barged into someone’s house, yapped always so arrogantly ‘yeah’ like that, but you’re just a haughty little Princess, huh?”

“!!”

In response to his slander, Marie raised an eyebrow.

Halter, standing behind Muroi, reached beyond the latter’s shoulder and grabbed the collar, whispering,

“Hey, don’t get cocky here. If you speak that way.”

“Shut up!!!”

Muroi bellowed. He glared back and forth between Marie and Halter with such aggression that Halter inadvertently let go.

“Do you still not understand!? That weapon was originally not to be used because it was intended as a deterrence. t’s just a guarantee for equal negotiations to avoid us being purged here! Looking at how it’s going to come alive, even an idiot can understand what just happened!!”

He paused.

“—There’s a breakdown in negotiations! The government has abandoned us! So those guys, the Shiga ‘military’, decided to fight against them, you know? Don’t forget that it’s all your fault here, Marie Bell Breguet!!”

Marie frowned hard, unable to understand this sudden lashing from him. On the other side, Halter gasped, seemingly understanding the intent behind the words,

“Hah! The punk here looks like he understands, huh? This is the result of you guys stopping Kyoto from being purged, and revealed all the information! Can you imagine how much loss the government and ‘military’ took here, how much of the International Society’s trust in them was lost!?”

“!!”

“To those guys, there’s a need for such a thing. To define the meanings of their existences, they need an ‘enemy’!!”

“!!!”

At that moment, everything in Marie’s head was linked together.

The Tokyo ‘military’ focused their forces, all for the sake of fighting against the Mie—former Shiga ‘military’ that would activate the gigantic weapon. The government had known of its existence till this point, but pretended not to see anything, so why was it that they decided to crush them at this point?

The only cause would be because—of the foiled purge attempt in Kyoto.

They left 20 million people to their demise as they planned to sink Kyoto. After that, because of an anonymous (Marie) tip off, the incident was bared completely to the entire world.

In the end, that damaged the country’s credibility, and they lost the trust of the citizens, causing distrust in the Enterprises. How exactly were they supposed to swiftly regain them?

It was simple—and anyone’s eyes would be able to see this clearly. They just needed to create an ‘opponent’. Yes, for example, it would be suitable to exterminate a rebel force that was violating the treaty and building a massive weapon.

“Do you understand now!? It’s all your fault!!”

His body, tied up, was wriggling with the chair as he hollered,

“You’re the one who revealed all that information, right!? You wanted to play the role of a hero!? You’re being the times here, shitty brat! All you did is just a prank that increased the chaos in the world!”

“!!”

“Thanks to all the unnecessary things you did, the government’s cornered here! We’re the bad guys now, and they’re the good guys! This is the scenario that’s formed! Thanks to you!!”

“…”

Marie could not answer. Her already white face was turning pale like paper, and she bit her lips together.

Sneering at her face at this point, the Prefectural governor snort,

“But those guys doesn’t seem to realize, what sort of memories they…we, lived over the past 30 years.”

He curled his lips, and continued,

“We were always so terrified, when would the government sniff them out, and when will they begin the purge…it has been ongoing for 30 years. We were always tortured by such despair and the fear we can’t shake off. Is the creation of such a trump merely meant to be used as a threat?”

Marie was able to understand the meaning behind these words.

—The massive weapon she saw at the lowest level of Mie.

If that sort of thing was to run riot, how much devastation would it cause. Even if the Tokyo ilitary was to gather and fight it seriously, there was no way it would be a one-sided wipeout.

“…!”

Marie stopped her panting, and bit her lips.

This man in front of him probably did not know of such details. On the other hand, he was so familiar and so confident. The design of that weapon, the terror and tenacity of the Shiga technicians who built that thing, were definitely not simple matters at all.

Smiling, Muroi said,

“We had to make a choice to survive. You understand that, self-proclaimed genius!? They’ll use this scenario planned by the government to fight it head on and crush it. History is written by the winners. They’ll crush any enemy that obstructs them without mercy, and those guys will be deemed evil while we’re justice.”

He then continued on with a dry voice,

“How much devastation will be caused in the process? Maybe one or two Grids may end up sinking, I don’t know. Now then, whose fault do you think that is?”

Marie did not answer. She could not answer. Shocked by the tremendous impact, she widened her eyes, her limbs shaking. She gulped her saliva, and her throat croaked.

“—YOU!”

Muroi yelled, his voice filled with such brutal hatred. The face was contorted with such fury and malice, and his expression that was staring at Marie was filled with vengeance.

“IT’S ALL ON YOU! IF YOU HAD DIED SILENTLY AND OBEDIENTLY HERE—NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED, YOU SHITTY BRAT!!!”

—Without knowing.

The moment Marie noticed it, she was walking down a street she did not know of.

It was a street she had no impression of, and she passed through the gaps between the buildings. There was no crowd, and they were far from the buzz; the dim lights outside the could not reach her in this place.

Why did I walk to such a place here? Marie wondered.

Halter too followed her with a similar speed.

Marie’s shoulders were heavy, her footsteps slow. She did not want to look back, and was too lazy to speak up; she merely let out a long sigh.

Her memories were interrupted midway through the interrogation, and she could no longer remember what she did thereafter. Seeing Halter remain silent, it seemed they managed to deal with it appropriately.

“…”

The operation was a success.

—She abducted the Prefectural governor of Mie. That objective was completed very well. As for what was happening in this district, and what would happen later on, those that wanted to know would probably know about it all already.

However, she was not delighted in the slightest. At this point, she could be said to be—dejected.

“—”

Marie stopped.

If she wanted to achieve something, logically, a paradox would occur.

If the clock was to spin anti-clockwise, the resistance caused would affect the entire structure, and fail as a result.

Yes, she knew at least that if it was to simply favor the kind, society would not be able to run. Even so, till this point, she did all she could, and yearned to be a person who could stand proudly with her head held as high.

—And yet, it ended up in such a situation.

She saved Kyoto, revealed the atrocities, got too cocky, lost completely, and Naoto died.

And at this point, her reward was that Tokyo and Mie would end up in a state of war.

—She could not leave it alone.

That was the conclusion Marie naturally derived,

Chapter end