"All right, let's take a break."
Caroline Monarch, who had been evaluating the students in between, soon gave them free time in front of the workshop street.
The workshop street was a tourist attraction where mechanical engineering objects were mainly produced with Magic Engineering. It was also a place where tourists bought a lot of souvenirs, as there were more cute mechanical items than industrial ones.
"Take your time."
Caroline was a mentor who would evaluate the students' scores but she was also an alumni of Theon, so she was flexible in this regard. There was a lot to see in the workshop district, so the time allotted was generous.
'Maybe now…….'
Aidan was hopeful that this would be a chance to mend fences with Leo.
Tracy is…….'
Not far away, Tracy was seen with her red hair tied in pigtails. She was looking at the things in front of the stalls with Iona.
He felt bad calling out to her as her eyes lit up with interest. Still, he had more important things to do right now, and was about to call Tracy over.
"What?"
Leo was caught making suspicious movements in the corner of Aidan's view.
"Leo?"
Leo sneaked out quietly and went into the alley. His behavior was cautious, but the look on Leo's face told him something was up.
Aidan wondered what to do.
If he called Tracy now, he wouldn't be able to chase after Leo, who was already gone. And if he went after Leo on his own, he knew Tracy would be upset.
"Maybe."
The moment he hesitated, Leo would be gone and Aidan had a gut feeling that if he lost him here, he'd never see him again.
He didn't know why but for now, Aidan decided to trust his instincts and he quickly followed Leo into the alleyway.
* * *
"……."
Eileen didn't answer Rudger's question quickly enough.
"You're not going to answer me."
Rudger realized that Eileen was weighing a lot of things in her head. Perhaps she wanted to take control of the situation, so she wasn't sure whether to speak up or not.
"If we're going to be working together, we shouldn't be hiding anything from each other."
"……."
When Rudger said that, Eileen stared at him in disbelief.
Rudger realized that he'd said something pretty brazen, but he decided to be even more ironclad.
"There's no telling what our enemies might do if we hesitate now."
"Whoo……."
Eileen eventually had no choice but to give up when he emphasized that completion of work was more important than personal feelings. Nevertheless she glanced at Rudger to show that she was still unhappy but Rudger decided to make a concession instead.
"Instead, I'll share what I know."
"……I understand."
A transaction in which there is a give and take, not a unilateral concession by either party.
In this case neither party was taking advantage of the other and Eileen finally relented.
"So what's underneath the capital?"
"I don't know exactly."
Rudger narrowed his eyes at the words that came out of Eileen's mouth. It made even less sense when he realized she wasn't saying it to pick on him, but because she genuinely didn't know.
Eileen lifted her teacup in an archaic fashion.
"How old do you think the Empire is?"
"I've heard that the Exilion Empire has been around for a thousand years, so it must be at least that long."
"Yes. A thousand years. That is a long time. A thousand years that mere mortals can only think of as eternity. That's a lot of history."
Eileen smiled, but then shook her head.
"But the history of the Empire is actually shorter than that. Less than five hundred years have actually passed since the First Emperor founded the Empire."
"That's a long time, too."
"Long, but not a thousand years. Do you know what happened in the five hundred years, before the founding of the Exilion Empire?"
Rudger pondered, then shook his head. Even with his vague knowledge of history, he had never heard of a place before the Exilion Empire.
'It's strange, now that I think about it.'
Why do people think the Empire is a thousand years old?
According to Eileen the Empire is 500 not 1000 years old. The scale is too large to simply inflate it.
It's hard to see it as a mistake, because historians basically only record facts that don't involve self-interest.
"Even you think that something is wrong."
"……."
Rudger's expression became quite serious at Eileen's words.
"Listen, this is a story that only a few people know, including you and my faithful dog."
"Uh, me too?"
Rudger opened his ears, ignoring Madeline, who asked back stupidly.
What Eileen was about to say would be the truth, lifting the veil of lies that had been laid down on the continent.
"The world's version of the empire's thousand-year history is a lie. In truth, the Empire has only been around for five hundred years, and before that, it was nothing more than an 'succession' of another place."
"Succession? I don't think that's possible on a country-by-country basis."
"It's not really a succession, but that's what it looks like to me, because you get rid of an existing country and put a new one on top of it."
"That's amazing. Is that actually possible?"
"Possibility aside, I've seen the imperial archives, so I only have a vague idea. I don't know about the people, but all of the major figures in the royal family at that time were eliminated."
"You mean to tell me that there were people……who could manipulate the leading figures of a nation like that?"
That was even more unbelievable but Eileen seemed to have a hint of a clue.
"Not now, but 500 years ago when science wasn't developed and social awareness was almost nonexistent. Don't you think so?"
"Yes, that's how those times were."
Rudger nodded.
The world in the 19th century when magic and science developed excessively is completely different from how it was 500 years ago.
A time of superstition, faith, and barbarism when reason did not exist, that's how the Middle Ages were.
"And then there were those who wielded the greatest influence on a continental scale. A nation, to be exact."
"……the Holy Land of Bretus."
Rudger was at a loss.
"Yes. The Kingdom of Bretus, the headquarters of the Order of Lumensis and a group of believers in the Lord Lumensis. They even had the right to depose the king at the time. Well, what it all boils down to is that the facilities that now lie beneath the imperial aqueduct predate the history of this empire."
The legacy of the former kingdom that existed before the establishment of the Exilion Empire and was not known to the world but the sheer size of the facility beneath the underground aqueduct was far too large for the sewers of a mere medieval kingdom five hundred years ago.
Rudger thought there was more to it.
"It's almost as if the vestiges of a long history are still alive and well in the capital's underground."
"Yes. Ordinarily, these things would have crumbled with the passing of time, but apparently the rats got in there first and made a nest."
"Then what do you think the giant plant is?"
"I don't know. I only know that there's some sort of giant facility underneath the capital, and that it's a legacy of a kingdom long gone, but nothing else."
It was only recently that Eileen learned about it.
"I'll be honest, it hurts my pride. I'm supposed to be the next emperor, but to think that there are still things about this country that I don't know about. It's insulting."
"I'm surprised the rats hiding out in the capital know about such a secret facility. Aren't the Liberation Army terrorists, after all?"
"……."
Eileen's eyes changed.
'How can you know that when I haven't said anything yet?'
Rudger opened his mouth as if it were no big deal.
"Because they're the only ones who've been making moves lately."
"I know. You said you had ears to hear, so it's no wonder you know."
"The self-proclaimed Liberation Army's terrorist activities were quite troublesome, but it was not enough for them to know about the hidden facilities under the capital. However, the Liberation Army hid in the capital and immediately went to the underground facility."
"You mean there may be a third force that provided them with information."
"Yes."
And Rudger recognized the third faction as the Black Dawn Society.
He was half sure, but he didn't bother to tell Eileen. They weren't close enough to share information about the Black Dawn yet.
"But as far as unknown forces go, the immediate threat is the rats lurking down there."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean we can send in troops right away."
Eileen said in an annoyed voice, letting go of the cup in her hand.
"We don't know how much they've grown their power in the underground facilities while they've been out of sight. Besides, there are probably traps down there, and it's a waste of manpower to send people down there blindly."
Unless you know what your opponent is preparing inside, there are no guarantees, even if you send in knights or wizards.
If you touch it for nothing, it will be like stirring up a hornet's nest and that was a problem, too.
"I'd rather it be an all-out war, then I won't have to be so careful about them hiding under my feet."
"So that's why you called in the knights."
Cold Steel forged in the snowy mountains of the North and the Nightcrawlers, rooting out the seeds of evil from the shadows of the Empire.
The fact that she had assembled two such elite groups beyond the usual knights was further evidence that Eileen was considering the situation carefully.
If they moved, they could minimize the damage.
"Even that's not enough. If we don't know what they're doing down there, we can only be more careful."
Eileen's gaze shifted from the tranquility of the artificial park to Rudger.
"That's why I need your help, your ability to infiltrate the enemy, no matter where they hide, and complete the mission."
"I understand."
Rudger had a vague idea that something was going to happen, but he hadn't expected it to be this big of a deal. But having come this far, it's impossible to say no.
There are too many students in the capital right now to let this go unnoticed.
'They're probably going to try to make a move on them.'
Simultaneous, indiscriminate attacks against students and civilians.
"I'm sure you'll pay me well."
Eileen smiled in satisfaction at his words. A beautiful, regal smile that could mesmerize anyone.
"The Liberation Army will probably make their move today or tomorrow at the earliest."
"Why?"
"Because the students of Theon and the leading figures of the Tower are here."
"Indeed. Killing all of them would certainly do a lot of damage, so it's an opportunity they can't pass up. But the people from the Tower are sixth-rank wizards, and I don't see how the Liberation Army can do anything about them."
The wizard has a spell called [silence of fire], a spell that gives you an absolute advantage against firearms unless your opponent is a wizard or knight.
In modern warfare, where firearms were developed, it was a fraudulent magic that overturned the game itself.
The Liberators would have elite forces, but even then, they would be nothing compared to the people gathered in the capital now.
"That would have been true in the old days, but things have changed. They'll be using special gunpowder."
"Special gunpowder. If the word special comes out of your mouth, it must not be ordinary."
"Yes."
"That's the information you were going to give me?"
Rudger nodded and told her what he knew.
"The gunpowder they use is unaffected by the [silence of fire]."
"'Unaffected by the [silence of fire]?"
"It's literally gunpowder uninhibited by magic, so they can use firearms just fine."
"That's a little dangerous."
Eileen wondered how this man knew something she didn't know.
"How long have you known about this?"
"I know it was prepared by the Delica Kingdom three years ago."
"Three years……."
And based on that comment, it seemed likely that Rudger knew something else.
'I thought I caught up but it was my own illusion.'
Eileen felt a strange, indescribable sensation.
It was as if this man, so clearly in front of her, was a shadow that could vanish at any moment.
She didn't know if it was an illusion, or if she was seeing something else but one thing was certain, though: the wielder of this terrifying ability was on her side, at least for now.
"More than that, are your men okay? You don't know what's underground."
Rudger thought for a moment, then nodded.
"It'll be alright. One of them is a coward, but I have a decent person attached to him."
It wasn't exactly a person but an elf.