Chapter. 18. Railed (19)
****
Dalkak.
“so. “Is that the only reason you left the railship just before departure and returned home?”
Delphiad Brastol, the head of the Brastol family, glanced at the very timid boy in front of her.
Professor Brastol. A being who can be said to be his son if only by blood.
‘It looks like you’ve had quite a hard time.’
The sight of the boy who came running at dawn and knocked on the door of the Brastall family was so cruel that no one could consider him a nobleman. Not only was his whole body covered in coal dust and oil from where he had been and what he had been doing, but didn’t he come here with a lot of bandages on his face, which was fine until yesterday?
“Are they against you?”
“Matriarch… I don’t know if I can survive if I leave with them…”
A deep stab wound under the eye. Delphiad Brastol was very satisfied with the sight of the young spy returning from serious wounds in just one day.
‘It is only natural for the railship to mistreat members of our family. It’s just before departure, so there’s a lot to do, but the fact that I didn’t stop this young guy from heading home must be a kind of mockery of me for treating the Brastall family members so harshly on the Railship side.’
Dwarf race law? If Delphiad had been stupid enough to believe such nonsense and suffer losses, he would not have been given the position of head of the family.
hostage. Because he felt uneasy with just one fragment of the rod, he said he would take a member of the family as a hostage, and seeing the signs of labor and abuse, it seemed like he was being treated as a hostage properly.
“Good job.”
“….yes?”
“He said he was doing well. The more they treat you like trash, the less likely you are to be suspected, right? Cherish the pain and wounds you have experienced. That way, the moment they are destroyed, the joy that will return to you will be greater.”
“Yes… matriarch, I…”
“They let you go, but it’s not good to be away for too long. Since your role is the most important in this plan, shouldn’t you avoid contact with the family as much as possible? “If you stay on the train, you will be able to respond quickly if an emergency arises.”
“Um…”
Just as the hesitating professor was about to say something, Delphiad patted the boy’s shoulder, which was sticky with coal dust and oil.
Crack.
“I get to see you again. “If I had known that this child was this talented, I would have paid attention to him sooner.”
“Oh uh…”
“Once this is over, I will officially accept you as a member of the family and allow you to compete on the same level as your older brothers.”
“What if this is over?”
“okay. “If only this ends well.”
The boy’s face, half covered by bandages, brightened at Delphiad’s confirmation. I guess so. For the past 9 years, I haven’t even seen you face to face, let alone said a warm word. It was annoying as the spy who was directly connected to the rail ship was still needed, but it needed to be appeased a little.
Since you gave me this assurance, I’ll report back when I get back. For someone who happened to get involved in the plan, it was a pretty useful deal.
“If you are anxious, take the maid you mentioned. They will all die soon, and then there will be no reason for you to work on that train for years, so there will be no need for workers to take care of you. I said in advance that I would attach a maid to the dwarves, so taking her with her would reduce suspicion. “Please join me on the way back.”
“Oh, I understand, matriarch.”
“okay. “If you are near the magic institution, there may be a communication problem, so try to stay as close to the audience as possible.”
The boy hesitates and retreats at the gesture of Delphiad, who has said everything he wants to say.
“….guilder.”
“Hehehehe. “Did you call me?”
“They are leaving soon. “Check the magic we have prepared.”
“As long as the catalyst works properly, there is no need to prepare…”
“Not like that. I am also talking about preparations for the ‘other side’.”
“Ah~ Are you talking about that…”
Hearing Delphiad’s dry voice, the soul mage laughed convulsively while fiddling with the small bottle in his arms.
“You know the conservatives, right?”
“I’ll contact the main family. “Please increase support for your school.”
“If you say so. Then, I have something to prepare…”
Suddenly,
the soul mage who got what he wanted disappeared behind the secret wall of his office.
“…You bastards.”
From soul magicians, citizens, family servants and relatives. Everyone was just a bunch of scum who were just busy taking care of their own food. Things like dogs that bark at the sight of food.
“…This must succeed. I can’t go back to being a livestock again. “Never, never…!”
Delphiad Brastol traced the scar near her collarbone, recalling the cold eyes of the messenger sent from her home.
A clear scar can be felt beneath the luxurious fabric.
I will never go back. Delphiad made a promise to herself over and over again in her quiet office.
****
Wow!
“Uppufufu! Katrea, I know I suck, but we don’t have time-”
“I know! You have to get on the train by six in the morning! There are still 40 minutes left! “It takes a few minutes to get from the mansion to the station!”
“No, but I still need to pack clothes or something-”
“The only luggage I need to pack is you, Master!”
Buck, beat, beat!
Current time estimated at 5:20 AM.
The interview with the head of the family went well. He was so suspicious that he threw his nine-year-old son into the enemy camp and hid his reasons, but the pierced eye was effective enough to remove most of his suspicions.
‘Because this is natural from his point of view.’
Well, it was all a lie to say that the fragments of Voltaeus had unprecedented potential, and in reality, it was about stealing their treasure from a suicide terrorist threater. Since Brastoll and Railship are completely hostile groups, the head of the house would have been quite suspicious if I had returned in perfect condition. It’s an accidental injury, but you have to use it when you need it.
‘Most of the family head’s suspicions have been removed. At least until we are out of range of Fardau Fortress City, you will believe the false report I am sending you.’
This is what I thought when I saw my face reflected in the water bucket while receiving treatment on the rail ship. Ah, anyone can see this is a face that has been abused. If I go home like this, the head of the house will be satisfied and say, ‘Things are going well.’
So, on the way back, I finished preparing for the other side and stopped by the family home without even having time to wash up. I need to visit Katrea as well, and I think I can delay the moment when my false report is revealed.
Up to this point, it went very smoothly.
Beat, beat, beat!
“You bad guys… How could they do such a terrible thing to such a young and tender master in less than a day?”
“No, it’s because there was an accident. Someone did it on purpose…”
“Young master, stay still! “I’m going to take this opportunity to clearly show who those scoundrels were messing with!”
As I said, Katrea exploded when she faced me at the sight of how it looked like she had been abused.
It takes 10 minutes to run to the city’s coal storage warehouse and 30 minutes to prepare everything thanks to the structure being simpler than expected. It took 20 minutes to interview the matriarch and I had quite a bit of free time, so I was just about to make other preparations when-
“Okay! “It’s clean enough, so go pick out some clothes while it dries!”
“…Can’t I just wear the shirt and pants I usually wear?”
“No! The moment you arrive at the station, you have to look like a noble nobleman to everyone! How about this or this? The frills on men’s robes are considered a symbol of wealth as they increase the consumability of clothes-” It took
40 minutes to wash, clean, and change with Katrea’s shrill scream as she faced me.
“…Did I have such nice clothes?”
“I bought it with my money saved! One day, Mr. Master, you will be posting portraits at the wives of various families, so I was wondering if you might need it then. “Some people start looking for a partner as early as eight years old!”
The clothes prepared by Katrea did not seem to be very luxurious, even if it were empty words. Traces of repairs clearly stand out between the pretty good lining and sewing. It looks like she paid extra money for some other maid somewhere to buy the clothes of a discarded nobleman. I cut the stitches from my back and armpits, put them on my body, and took time out of my busy day as a maid to repair them.
Maybe that’s why the noble robes I wore for the first time in my life were not stylish, but they fit my body perfectly.
“Katrea.”
“Thanks to using a good potion, the wounds are all healed, but it would be cooler to cover them up. I wonder if I can get an eye patch for nobles right away…”
“Katrea. “I ask you again, why are you being so nice to me?”
So I had to ask. The reason she is so devoted to me.
‘The moment my betrayal is revealed, Katrea, the maid in charge of my training, dies.’
Since I have no teacher or tutor to teach me, my escapades become entirely the fault of my exclusive maid, Katrea. The reason I said I would take Katrea with me when I came with the dwarves was because I couldn’t let Katrea, who was so devoted to me, die innocently.
But… what if her devotion and affection were due to brainwashing from the Brastol family?
———
‘what? Are you going to bring the family’s servant? ‘Are you crazy?’
‘Katrea is actually a maid who is like a parent to me…’
‘Speaking as a woman, the life of a train driver is not easy for a woman to endure. It’s not easy. I have to live 24 hours a day with sweaty men who can’t even wash. Wouldn’t it be a little too selfish to make you have to deal with that just because of you?’
‘If I stay in the family, I will die. For raising Professor Brastol incorrectly.’
‘….You damn human butcher nobles.’
———
Railship people expressed concern. If Katrea is a maid who has been thoroughly brainwashed by the family, the escape plan may go awry from the start.
So I had to check. Is her affection towards the nine-year-old boy Professor, or is it towards ‘Blastol’, the name after the Professor?
Katrea, who was rummaging through a box of fabric in the corner of the room, thinking that if she didn’t have an eye patch, she should at least make one, met my serious gaze and stopped her hand.
Katrea, who I met properly, had very big eyes.
“young master. “Am I making you feel uncomfortable?”
“It’s not like that. I just… don’t understand. The same goes for the high-quality fabrics, good cuisine, and the fact that my room, which was an old warehouse, was made into a room that could be considered a room. If you spend all the money you earn and the time you have left on me, what will be left in Katrea’s life? There’s no need to go to this length if it’s something your family tells you to do…”
Katrea, now nineteen, had rough hands like those of a woodcutter or miner.
The fact that there were nails sticking out and wooden boards that didn’t fit all over my room was thanks to Katrea’s clumsy work in repairing the rainwater shed.
The incongruously luxurious clothes were prepared with her own money.
why is she Does he take care of me more faithfully than a slave?
“Haaah. “How should I explain this…”
With a deep sigh, Katrea started sewing again.
“It may be a little early for you, but… they say that everyone who lives here on this fragmented continent has a small pillar in their hearts.”
Katrea rummaged through the box, held up several embroidered patches, and began to touch them with some leather straps.
“Pillar?”
“yes. It’s a world full of strong winds and waves. When I wake up, deaths are piling up, living is difficult, the future is uncertain… You may not know this, but to people these days, the word ‘living’ is treated similarly to ‘being cut down.’ “The world is so rough that just living in it wears you out.”
“As we live like that, we all draw our own lines within ourselves. ‘No matter how hard it is, as long as I have this, I can survive.’ Or, ‘At least I will remain this kind of person.’ It’s like a promise to myself to hold on and endure until the very end. “The final line is that if my life is reduced to this point, I will just die.”
Katrea said that if you often think about why I live and why I should live, such things naturally come to mind.
“To me, he was just a master.”
Katrea continued speaking quietly while sewing. How burdensome and difficult it must have been for the son of an aristocratic family to be left in the care of a ten-year-old maid.
How angry I was when I realized that, in an atmosphere where nothing was taught to her who knew nothing, it was not an honorable position, but a position where she was ignored.
Learning about raising children by begging for milk from a maid who had a child and helping her with her work. Feeding him breast milk every two hours without being able to sleep in the early hours of the morning. Wishing he could just die. The illegitimate son of a nobleman who I raised because I couldn’t bear to turn him away.
One day, as the time was passing by, Katrea realized something when she saw her smiling brightly and saying, ‘Wow, oh wow.’
“I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve been caught by this kid.’ There was no special reason or incident. At some point, the master took his place at the center of my poisonous life. To borrow a phrase from people, you have become my pillar. “It is a pillar that if it falls, the person named Katrea will be destroyed forever.”
Click-
“Now, try it out. “I hope it goes well with the hat.”
Katrea, who did not stop holding her hands while speaking, smiled happily as she wrapped the finished eye patch around my face. I smile without thinking because it’s nice to see myself wearing really nice clothes.
‘It’s true.’
At least in my eyes, it seemed like Katrea was telling the truth.
“…If this is a lie, then I’ll be deceived even if it means making no effort.”
“yes? “What did you just say?”
“No, nothing. If you’re all dressed, let’s go. “I’m going to be late.”
At the sight of the vaguely brightening horizon, I took Katrea’s hand and led her outside.
The iron gate of the mansion opened, and the hot city heat from the morning welcomed me.
“Hurry. “I’m going to be late.”
“Agugu, master? Most trains don’t arrive on time anyway, so being a few minutes late doesn’t mean anything major will happen…” “
No. I’m in big trouble. “I set the time exactly.”
“Exactly….guess?”
“huh. “The machines in the factory don’t move irregularly, do they?”
“????”
Unlike Katrea, whose face was becoming more and more mysterious, I ran down the hill even humming.
Crunch-thud!
Crunch-thud!
A sound you can hear no matter where you go in the city. Pumping water near the water pipe and working with the bellows in the magic workshop,
clanking – Boom!
Crunch-thud!
Near the fuel depot, there is a regular movement of grinding low-quality coal into powder.
Six o’clock in the morning is the time when the overnight and morning workers shift.
During that brief break, the machine continues to run while the workers eat at a restaurant far away, avoiding the disgusting coal dust. Basically, once a factory machine stops, it accumulates damage until it starts moving again.
All I had prepared was a thread attached to a cogwheel and a handful of small flints. Rather than large bombs or grandiose equipment, these are items that can be easily obtained anywhere and would not be strange for a child to carry around.
A mill in a factory full of coal dust. When the twenty-fifth tooth turns after five turns on the large gear wheel, the thread is pulled along with the gear tooth and boom
.
Boom – Chagak!
.
.
.
.
thud.
A heavy crusher slams flint into a pile of coal.
Chaak-
Kwahahah Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
“Aaaah! Master Do! Bow your head! “There’s an explosion in the city, in the city…!”
“Uh oh. It’s time. Don’t stop and keep running. “Because we’ve reached the stop.”
“Isn’t it possible that someone attacked the city? Something like a mute attack….”
“It’s me. I did it. “I learned many things from my close friend.”
“…Eh?”
Kurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
!
The explosions did not just happen once, but continued one after another. There is a coal warehouse right next to the coal crushing plant, and behind it is an oil depot.
Considering space efficiency in a small city, it would have been natural to build them side by side. There is no way there are safety rules for Hyundai Construction in April World.
Naturally, this cluster of flammable materials was built next to the railroad tracks that crossed the city to make it easy to transport them.
Clang!
As usual, the reporters and station staff gathered at the station fence were all mesmerized by the mushroom cloud, so it was easy to get inside.
As I led Katrea, who was also in a daze, down to the maintenance bay, Naelda, who had been shaking her legs, rushed at me.
“If I had been just one second later, I would have just left, you bastard! What are you doing now? “What is that!”
“Hey what? “There are many reasons.”
“There’s a commotion outside right now. Do you know what’s going on? If you cut the tracks out of Brastall-”
“You can just leave. The station is on the outskirts, not far from the city entrance, and the fuel depot is in the center of the city. “Because it was cut cleanly, there won’t be any other trains chasing after it.”
“…You really?”
Instead of talking for a long time, I pushed Katrea into the train and gave her a thumbs up.
Although Brastol’s exact plan was unknown, one thing was certain.
That there is a means to carry out the original plan other than me.
Since we lack the time and means to find out their plans, we cannot stop them.
‘If you can’t stop one side of the plan, just destroy the side that can be prevented!’
So I hung up. If you completely block the chase route, you don’t have to worry about external threats and you have time to control internal variables.
“Hey, that’s…”
“Let’s leave later and talk, okay?”
“Uh… right. Let’s go! “Put the brakes on and open the door!”
Gurgling –
At the sound of Naelda’s harsh voice, the drivers who had been stationed in front of the door opened the large iron door and quickly boarded the train.
The magic train gradually increases in speed and the castle gate is still wide open.
While the city was still in chaos, I heard a familiar noise in my ears as I sat on the train.
Chijik-
[He’s a soul mage! Are you on the train now? What happened!]
Unlike before, when he was laughing out loud, his voice was extremely embarrassed. Ah, hmm. Let’s see~
[Female soul magician! I’m in big trouble! The railship engineers are escaping by blowing up the tracks!]
[What? The track is damaged?]
[Can you come rescue me? I’m not being dragged along like this, am I? Yes?]
[Keuuuh….]
A moaning sound coming from deep in the lungs. Oh, I shouldn’t laugh. I have to cry.
[For now, wait so as not to be detected!]
[Soul magician, soul magician!!!!]
Twauk –
Communication cut off with a sad cry.
A boy smiling from ear to ear and soot-covered faces staring at him.
Hi!
“I can’t chase you right now~”
I smiled brightly at them.
****
“….the maid there. “You said you raised him, right?”
“Oh yeah….”
“What’s the secret?”
“Uh um…”
Katrea couldn’t bear to answer.
The magic train speeds up at a frustratingly slow pace.
By the time I managed to get out of the castle gate through the confusion,
ding ding ding ding!
Alarm bells began to ring in the city.
Wow!
“Damn it, everyone, come to your senses! I don’t know what it is, but thanks to you, I saved myself the trouble of breaking through the castle gate! “There will be interception from now on, so shoot them all and don’t let them stick to you!”
At the sound of Naelda slapping another driver on the face, the dazed drivers began to move quickly.
“Can’t we just escape now?”
“The magic train runs well, but it takes a few minutes for it to pick up speed. “I have to deal with that in the meantime.”
Naelda with a fierce face pointed out the window with her finger.
The barren land that the people here call ‘soft land’ and the track stretching forward as if crossing it.
And the shacks clinging to both sides of the tracks like swords, and the people walking out of them as if they were possessed.
A clanking sound could be heard from the city walls as people holding things that looked like farm implements and people holding old arcane shooters gathered together with determined expressions.
The human barrier blocking the way forward and the blue magical light on the castle wall gathering brighter than the dawn light.
“…Because they have no intention of getting out of the way before they die anyway.”
Slam!
An engineer nodded at Naelda’s words and placed his finger on the trigger of a heavy machine gun.
Doo doo doo doo doo!
“100 million!”
“Ahh!”
“It all sticks! “The guys in front will stop you!”
“Even the city’s emergency bell rang! This time, I’ll be able to catch your eye!”
“You can go into the city!”
“Buy time! “You just have to disturb the castle wall’s magic cannons until they warm up!”
As if it was a signal, people in shabby clothes began to flock to the train indiscriminately.
An incomprehensible heat. An incomprehensible massacre. And the incomprehensible people of April World who accept this as if it were natural.
Someone’s soft hand covered my eyes as I frowned trying to understand the situation.
“young master. This is the fragmented continent I was talking about. “People who live thinking that they will just die if they go beyond the last bastion they each embrace.”
“baby. It may be hard to accept, but these are the fortress city bastards. I told you. “I was brainwashed in a very complicated way.”
Naelda and Katrea spoke as if they were admonishing me.
“I always feel like I’m sinning when I’m in front of my kids. They make me live in a world like this.”
That was what Naelda said before firing a flamethrower at the countless crowd of people.
****
