Chapter 293: Assembling

[A/N: Posting two extra bonus Chapters today because of reaching a milestone!]

Anouk, Lily, and I headed for Her Majesty. Tonight there was no moon, so it was a dark night. Even so Anouk paid her footing no mind at all and leapt across the roofs.

By the time we arrived at Her Majesty’s, the same men and women as before had already gathered, faces hidden, only their eyes showing.

Seeing I had come, Her Majesty said,

"Lord Marie, forgive me for asking you to come so late."

"No, the apology is mine. Forgive me for being late."

At my answer Her Majesty looked at Anouk.

"No. Anouk must have made an unreasonable request. I am sorry."

Well. Her Majesty had expected it, then.

"Your Majesty, this."

I held it out, and she said,

"Yes. I will take it."

received it with a smile, and drank it in one go. She was used to it. No resistance at all.

Having returned the glass, Her Majesty said,

"Then let us put on marks so allies can recognize one another. Those who bear this mark can see the marks of others, but those without it cannot see them. So there will be no fighting among ourselves. That is fine, yes? This mark lasts only through the night and vanishes when morning comes. Please come before me in turn. First, Lord Marie."

she said, and held a hand over me. Her Majesty’s hand shone for an instant.

"Yes, done. Next."

Her Majesty said, so Lily stood in front. When Her Majesty held out her hand, Lily shone. When the light settled, her upper body glowed faintly.

"Lord Robbie."

Lily looked at me in surprise. Was this what had been placed on Lily in the forest near Marie Kingdom’s border? With this, anyone who could see it would not lose their target.

Once everyone had been marked, Her Majesty turned this way.

"Lord Robin, are you surprised? Ufufu. Everyone is surprised the first time. The strength of this light is at my will. I can adjust it by the strength of my mana."

She said it as if it were simple, but it was not, was it?

Her Majesty continued,

"This work also concerns matters of state, so in fact I placed a pledge magic together with the light just now."

she said blithely.

"A pledge?"

"It is simple. If you speak of tonight to anyone uninvolved, your head will begin to hurt. If you still try to force the words out, you may die. Please be careful. But you only need not talk to anyone."

You did something like that in an instant!? Normally you obtained consent before placing that sort of thing, did you not? I thought, but Lily wore a face that said of course. Did those higher in the hierarchy get to do as they liked to those below, regardless of yes or no?

Nobody said anything (the masked ones were Her Majesty’s subordinates, so that was natural), so I silently nodded up and down. I was the type to be swallowed by the atmosphere. That was why I had displayed my thing in the daytime.

"Lord Marie, I will introduce the leader of this unit. But you must never call his name in the field. He will not call your name either."

"Yes. Understood."

"May, come here. Greet Lord Marie."

The man Her Majesty called came before me and removed his mask.

"I am Derek May. A pleasure."

"Robin Marie. A pleasure. This is Lily Page."

A brief introduction, and that was the end. Affiliation and the rest were not spoken. Natural for an underground unit, I supposed.

"Please call me Dee. I will call Lord Marie Roy, and Lady Page Lee."

"Understood."

"Then I will explain today’s work. We have found terminals of the Empire’s intelligence arm, so we will seize them. As much as possible we will take them alive and avoid killing. If anyone flees, we will let them run and determine where they flee to. I would like to ask Roy and Lee to take that role. You will need a link, so please move with this one. This one is Vee."

When Dee introduced her, Vee gave a short nod. She was short, and her chest swelled, so she was a woman.

"You may wonder what we will do after capturing them. After we have drawn out what they know of the Empire’s intelligence arm, we will request that they cooperate with us. They will pass our information to the Empire while conveying to us the orders and information that come from the Empire."

I see. Double agents.

"At a glance they are an ordinary merchant house, a haberdashery, so we plan to have them keep the shop as is. They will continue the shop no different from before, and we will keep moving them as the Empire’s hands."

"Understood. But is there no chance they will refuse to cooperate?"

"That is fine. We have someone with the ability to work on them so their minds are reformed toward cooperation."

Was that not what they called brainwashing? Meaning there was someone who could do what the Duchess did, and do it consciously.

"The people living in that house do not appear to have received martial training. Those who have received martial training show such movements in the edges of their actions and stand out, but even under watch they look like nothing but the most ordinary commoners, so I do not think they will resist. We only want to avoid driving them to suicide. First we will secure the wife and children and then seize the head of the house."

"Understood, but is this haberdashery people who arrived recently?"

"No. They seem to have come from somewhere in the time of the master’s father."

"I see. So they have been the Empire’s hands at the root."

"Does Roy have any resistance to capturing people of the Empire?"

"No. None at all. I was almost killed by the Empire’s hands before."

Hearing my words, Dee smiled for the first time, lifting his mouth a little.

"Then let us depart. Please follow behind."

Dee leapt onto the roof, and the others followed.