Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint

Chapter 262: A Partial Success

I made Zigrund reveal her identity and abilities on her own.

Convinced that I had some kind of Arcane, she judged that hiding her identity was meaningless and revealed herself before us.

The problem was that she thought the same way.

｢Arcanes become easier to deal with once you uncover them. Origins, abilities, weaknesses, limits. As long as you figure those out, you can devise countermeasures, just like with Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka.｣

Arcane was something that came from outside humanity.

Accordingly, Arcanes had clear weaknesses as well as strengths.

Even the mighty Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka was temporarily trapped by a light-based trap.

Bloodcraft was her own power, but the darkness she controlled was an Arcane born from history and karma.

｢The Military State kept losing because they didn’t know about the Arcane hidden within the Progenitor’s darkness. Pied Piper, I will dissect your Arcane.｣

I looked around.

Tyr and the Regressor were not here.

They must be rescuing the dying laborers while secretly sneaking them out.

As for the people here… even if I revealed this, it wouldn’t cause much harm.

Alright.

It would be difficult, but I had to manage this without the help of the Regressor and Tyr.

｢An Arcane? Huey?｣

Historia hesitated briefly but quickly regained her composure.

She was a seasoned soldier and didn’t lose sight of her goal.

｢He always had a lot of miscellaneous knowledge. Whenever I asked him something, he usually had an answer. Maybe Kerapald is telling the truth. But what does it matter? Right now, the identity of the person in front of me is more urgent than Huey’s identity. Maybe, that person’s identity is…｣

A little thought would reveal the answer.

The opponent has the face and body of Historia.

No matter what abilities they possess, if they transformed, they wouldn’t be in perfect condition.

To fight evenly with Historia in an imperfect state?

Only six people in the Military State had that kind of ability.

Among them, the one whose abilities remained mostly hidden was only one person.

“Chief of Public Safety Zigrund. Is that you?”

Zigrund smiled.

“You’re slow, Historia. You should have noticed the moment we exchanged blows. You’re really terrible at espionage.”

“You introduced yourself as skilled in espionage, infiltration, and proficient in stealth and close-quarters combat. The stealth part was a lie, wasn’t it?”

“There’s a saying: to deceive the enemy, first deceive your allies. The fact that I use transformation art is top secret. My surveillance targets shouldn’t know that. What I want is—”

“So now?”

“There’s no point in hiding it anymore.”

Zigrund pointed beyond Historia to me.

“There, an Arcane that sees the future is right in front of me. What’s the point of hiding it now?”

“Are you trying to sow discord? It’s pointless. We’re not incompetent enough to ruin everything with doubts we can't even confirm right now.”

“I guess you are...”

This time, Zigrund pointed over her shoulder.

Historia looked in that direction and widened her eyes.

“But is everyone like that?”

There stood Shiati.

Shiati was more confused than anyone.

While she was deliberating on whether to destroy the refinery, Kerapald suddenly betrayed them and activated the trap.

Immediately after, the world was enveloped in light.

When her vision returned, Kerapald was gone, and the Military State’s forces were closing in.

While everyone else was busy with something, all Shiati could do was protect the Princess in a safe place.

However, even in her confusion, Shiati realized one thing when Zigrund transformed into Kerapald.

That Zigrund was the root of all this.

“You…!”

Shiati pointed a finger.

Her finger was wrapped in black mana.

There was no strategy.

Driven by the desire to inflict the same pain on her hateful enemy, Shiati clenched the index finger of her left hand.

At that moment, in a short span, Zigrund spoke in ‘Kerapald’s tone and gaze.

“Shiati. Black magic is not omnipotent. I don’t want you to use black magic….”

Humans are always swayed by what they see.

Though her mind knew he was the enemy, Shiati hesitated due to her lack of experience.

A moment’s hesitation was enough for Zigrund.

Historia saw the direction Zigrund was moving and shouted urgently.

“Shiati! Fall back!”

But by the time she finished speaking, Zigrund was already close to Shiati.

Her martial arts were peculiar.

It seemed as if she had rehearsed the movement with Shiati, moving fluidly and naturally.

Before Shiati could react, Zigrund slipped behind her and swiftly twisted her arm, effectively subduing her.

To a Star General’s Qi art, a steel prosthetic arm was as fragile as straw.

Bones and metal creaked together in her grip.

“Argh…!”

As Shiati struggled, Zigrund whispered to her.

“Calm down, Shiati.”

“Let me go! Don’t call me by that name with that face…!”

“You need to calm down to save Kerapald’s life. Aren’t your few friends precious?”

Shiati, choking up, tried to say something.

She wanted to scream that she didn’t care about her friends’ deaths.

The children who sank in Hamelin swore they would rather cut their own wrists than drag each other down.

But she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

She knew she shouldn’t converse kindly with the enemy, but the thought of “what if” made her freeze.

Because she was still just a normal human.

“How do you think I copied his appearance? His voice, habits, even your secret greeting. How do you think I learned all that?”

“Ugh….”

“Of course, I tortured him for it. So his life is in my hands.”

Zigrund let out a short laugh and patted Shiati before glancing at me and Historia.

“Now, Historia. Huey. Will you follow my orders to save your dear friend?”

Shiati, and clearly Kerapald, were included among ‘dear friends’.

Historia gritted her teeth.

“Are you planning on taking hostages…?”

“It’s the most efficient method. But since we’re cornered, we can’t afford to be picky about our means.”

“It’s useless. We are mere extras.”

“But there’s no harm in cutting off the extras. Moreover, you might be able to persuade them.”

She was targeting Historia with her words, but I knew.

Her attention was entirely on me.

Hey, now it’s an open challenge?

Do you really think you can uncover everything about me?

I can't afford to act any more incompetent.

Because…

“Shiati, Historia. Don’t be fooled. Don’t believe his words.”

“Huey. Think rationally. Maybe this is our chance. Now that we’ve followed the Military State to their doorstep, this might be our chance to secure our safety…!”

“Kerapald is already dead. He’s using a corpse to stage a hostage situation.”

Zigrund let out a broad smile.

It was the kind of triumphant smile you’d show after unraveling a tangled thread or catching a long-chased prey.

In contrast, Shiati’s face crumbled miserably.

The contrast was stark, as Zigrund’s face, just behind her, looked overjoyed.

It was as if happiness was a finite quantity, and Zigrund had taken both shares.

Sorry. But we can't afford to waste any more time here.

“The Military State has no reason to keep the Resistance alive. They wouldn’t imprison Resistance members in labor camps as they might incite rebellion among the laborers. So they must have killed him right after the interrogation.”

Kerapald was dead.

After severe torture and interrogation, he was disposed of once they got all the information they wanted.

It was a recent thing.

By date, it happened when the Earth Sage came to Tantalus.

Command ordered the Public Safety to inspect military facilities in preparation for war, and during that process, the Department of Public Safety captured Kerapald.

He was ‘interrogated’ by Zigrund…

That was the last memory Zigrund had of Kerapald.

Kerapald was undoubtedly dead.

Shiati looked at me as if I had killed him and shouted.

“He could be alive…!”

“No. He’s dead. It’s inefficient to imprison someone purely for holding them. If they can’t be put to labor, the Military State would just kill them.”

Shiati burst out angrily at my decisive word.

“Huey, how can you be so sure?! Do you want Kerapald to be dead?”

“I’m talking about reality. Even if he were alive, he wouldn’t be okay after being interrogated by Public Safety.”

Shiati clammed up.

The Resistance members each have their own reasons for joining.

They wouldn’t easily betray their comrades.

In other words, if Zigrund was personally tortured and got a confession out of Kerapald, his condition must be quite severe.

“…H-How do you know?! How can you be so sure?!”

“Why do you think? I said it already. He possesses an Arcane!”

Despite the failure of the hostage situation, Zigrund didn’t seem to mind at all.

She laughed heartily, satisfied that she had extracted that information from me.

“Hahahahaha! I know it! Yes, of course, there’s no other way! Is it foresight? Did some future whisper the truth to you?”

Now she’s completely convinced.

Tsk. She got it all wrong.

If I were really a prophet, would I have gotten caught by you?

“I’m not a prophet, and even if I were, I’m not obligated to tell you.”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t tell me. The more you keep it a secret,  the worse it is for you!”

Right, that was a thing too.

In the Military State with such a short history, there was only one department that handled the Arcanes.

The Arcane Dissector, those who uncovered the Arcane by investigating historical records, analyzed and dismantled them.

If I had stayed in the Military State, I might have been commissioned there.

The department head was Zigrund.

In the Military State, which was vulnerable to Arcane, she was the only Star General with the power to utilize and combat Arcane.

She knew exactly how to deal with prophecies.

Instead of speaking to me, Zigrund addressed Historia and Shiati.

“Shiati. Historia. You’re directing your resentment at the wrong place. Why should this country bear your anger? Right in front of you is the culprit who drove you to this situation.”