Do Your Own Revolution

#078

“Is everyone here?”

In the lobby located at the center of the Gloucester mansion.

In front of the Count who was sitting on the stairs, the knights of House Gloucester had gathered.

If there was one characteristic to note, it was that every single one of them was a veteran knight with decades of experience.

After scanning the faces of the knights who had served together for decades, the Count slowly opened his mouth.

“Three days ago, we lost contact with the knights who went out as an advance reconnaissance team. Three men in total. The last signal was transmitted from the contaminated zone in the eastern uninhabited area.”

Eastern uninhabited area.

It was the most heavily contaminated region among the areas Gloucester was exploring, an extreme environment where even new protective suits couldn’t last two days.

If three days had passed since losing contact, it was difficult to believe they were still alive.

“Who were they?”

“Fred, Riven, Ralph.”

“Riven… The bastard didn’t even make it a week after getting married.”

When one elderly knight said this, others around him shook their heads.

“Fred had received his four-stroke engraving just half a year ago. He was quite skilled too. If they were all wiped out even with him there…”

“A higher species. Or perhaps a monster even beyond that level.”

“No.”

What was the terrain like? How many enemies were there? It would be good if we could at least recover the bodies.

While numerous questions and laments were being exchanged among the knights…

“The enemy isn’t a monster, but knights.”

At those words from the Count’s mouth, the knights who had been discussing immediately fell silent.

Half showed surprise at it not being monsters.

The other half showed anger at other knights invading their contaminated zone.

“Are you saying knights from noble houses have invaded our territory?”

“And of all times, when the contaminated zones are being artificially altered…”

“Then, Your Lordship. This matter…” (+)TLN: Sorry for the inconsistency, but I’ll be using Your Lordship for Gloucester from now on instead of Your Grace. I’ve just found out that Your Grace usually used for a duke/duchess. And for rank below that you usually use Your Lordship.

“Yes.”

As if well aware of what the knights were concerned about, the Count spoke in a biting tone.

“Our territory is currently under invasion by magic nobles.”

“…!”

“Moreover, the culprit carried this out knowing full well this land belongs to me. In other words…”

“They must be a seven-stroke engraving holder of equal rank to Your Lordship.”

When I, standing at attention, added that explanation, looks of dismay spread across the knights’ faces.

“Hah…!”

“Hmm…!”

Not monsters but knights.

And an enemy with an engraving equal to the Count’s head of house level.

“This is no ordinary danger.”

“Scouting the highest contamination zone, with knights lying in ambush…”

As the enemy’s form became clearer, the tension grew heavier.

However, even then, not a single one among the knights showed any sign of fear.

“So this is why Your Lordship called us old ones.”

“Indeed, this task would be wasted on young ones. Isn’t that right, Your Lordship?”

The knights who said this looked at each other and grinned.

Those with children grown enough to succeed them.

Those with no family to support.

Those who had finished training their successors and were spending time in retirement.

The knights the Count had gathered were the ‘expendable’ old knights of Gloucester territory.

“That’s right.”

Saying this, the Count stood up and looked around at the knights of his age.

“We’re heading beyond the eastern uninhabited area, into the unexplored zone.”

“…!”

“The contamination levels will be at maximum constantly, and we don’t know what monsters or threats lurk within.”

“We don’t know how long it will take or when we’ll return. In other words…”

After a brief pause, the Count spoke in a clear voice.

“Once we deploy on this mission, we will certainly die.”

Words that sounded like a death sentence.

Hearing this, the knights sneered and said to the Count:

“We are outcasts abandoned by the world, and what embraced us was this land we cultivated ourselves.”

“What greater honor could there be for a knight than to give our lives for Gloucester!”

“Let us go together, Your Lordship! To the depths of hell!”

“To the depths of hell-!”

The knights who said this placed their clenched fists over their left chests, showing respect to the Count.

Without a single exception, they shouted in unison.

Foolish ones.

Muttering this, the Count shouted in a voice louder than ever before:

“Gloucester Knight Order! Deploy-!”

There were no cheers or salutes.

Two stomps of their feet.

Having shown all their respect with just that, the knights immediately dispersed to gather their equipment.

“Eugene!”

After confirming the knights had disappeared to various places, the Count called out to me standing beside him.

“I want to thank you in advance. We can go like this because you’re holding back the monsters for us.”

“I’m merely carrying out my assigned duties.”

“Yes. And I’m sorry, but the effective period of this cooperation ends in two weeks from this moment.”

At the mention of two weeks, my eyes narrowed.

“Your Lordship. You mean…”

“The Special Magical Power Unit will step back from this matter.”

An unprecedented resolute voice.

Looking at my face, the Count continued speaking.

“This isn’t your business, but a matter of our Gloucester territory. If we owe the Empire a debt here, it would mean acknowledging a hierarchical relationship between Gloucester and the Empire.”

“…”

“A magic noble is disrupting my territory, and you and your unit have proven your trustworthiness through our cooperation thus far. In the upcoming period of upheaval, Gloucester will support ‘you.'”

…Wait a minute. Me?

Not the Emperor?

While I was pondering this oddity, Harpel, who had heard the Count’s words, exclaimed in shock:

“Y-Your Lordship! Those words…!”

“Harpel.”

But that was brief.

At the Count’s stern call of his name, Harpel had no choice but to close his mouth.

“From this moment on, you are Gloucester’s heir.”

“What, what?!”

“You’re far better than that Darwin who remains in seclusion even with the territory in this state. I’ve already told all the frontline knights. They’ll take your side.”

“No, wait a moment, Your Lordship. No, Father!”

“Protect Gloucester, Harpel. This order…”

Was he going to say it as usual?

But the Count chose his words for a moment, then opened his mouth while looking straight into Harpel’s eyes.

“…is my request. My son.”

“…!”

Words like an old man’s last will preparing for death.

Hearing those words, Harpel bowed his head with tightly clenched lips.

A deployment prepared for death.

A son who could only watch it happen.

While an emotionally stirring scene was unfolding, regrettably, my interest lay elsewhere.

‘The Gloucester territory right before the [Black Sun Incident]. So this was the atmosphere.’

Until now, when Count Gloucester went out for the search, I hadn’t made any special intervention.

All I had done was strengthen the territory’s defenses and speed up investigations through the Special Magic Unit.

Based on experience so far, there was little chance that the Special Magic Unit’s mission execution would twist the course of future events.

‘In other words, Count Gloucester’s current actions almost exactly match what he did in the original work. If this continues as is, the Gloucester territory will…’

I recalled the contents of [Revolution Empire].

After hearing news that ‘Black Witch Irene’ had devastated a city on the frontier, the protagonist Eugene and the Revolutionary Army arrived at the ruined cityscape of Gloucester.

Obstacles and traps densely arranged throughout the castle.

Gates sealed from the inside.

Iron bars welded to block even sewers, ventilation ducts, and windows.

‘What is this castle?’

‘Wasn’t it said to be devastated by monsters? Who put up these barricades…?’

‘It feels like… they imprisoned themselves.’

That’s what Rennie, who was the protagonist’s companion, had said while looking at the city’s appearance.

And after breaking through those obstacles and entering the city, what remained were countless territory residents wandering the city, transformed into monsters.

The protagonist and companions would break through them, enter the territory’s depths, and subjugate the Black Witch.

‘However…’

I turned my head to look at Harpel, who was in the midst of conversation with the Count.

His name from the game, [Last Lord Harpel.]

He was the named monster they would encounter as a transformed beast before reaching the Black Witch.

‘In other words, this means the Count himself wasn’t present in the original Gloucester territory.’

The Count departing for the contaminated zone to find the missing knights.

Harpel left alone.

And the Gloucester territory completely devoured by monsters.

Combining the original story with the current situation, I could piece together one narrative.

‘What I’m seeing now is what happened right before the ‘Black Sun Incident’ in the original work. In the original, Count Gloucester also went out on a search mission, and died there.’

Count Elcryer’s research.

Unable to inform the territory about that experiment until the end.

Would he die by the Count’s hand, or by Irene’s hand after she went berserk from the experiments?

I suppose I’ll have to confirm that there myself.

Having finished my thoughts, I immediately called Guille through magical power communication.

This exploration mission.

Leaving it all to the old men would mean losing too much.

***

“Your Lordship. It’s here.”

Eastern uninhabited area terminus. Maximum exploration zone.

When they confirmed the point where contact with the knights had been lost, the Count’s eyes narrowed beneath his gas mask lens.

“There’s blood, but the bodies are gone. Did monsters drag them away?”

“No, look here.”

At one knight’s speculation, the Count immediately pointed to a spot.

“There are drag marks from blood, then they suddenly disappear. Meaning they were carried away on a stretcher or something similar.”

“The footprints also end here. Looks like they were deliberately erased.”

“Good. Then, let’s search the surroundings first.”

“To search this vast area… It’ll take at least a week of going back and forth.”

“Seems like we’ll die from contamination before we even find anything.”

Though the old veterans complained briefly, they quickly formed into formation with practiced ease.

Their bodies might have aged, but the experience built up over decades hadn’t rusted.

Just as the search party was about to begin their search after forming up…

Three monsters were caught in their magical power field.

“?!”

“Monsters! Battle positions!”

“Tch, so this is truly unexplored territory. They’re quite large…”

As they sensed the magical power fluctuating in the distance, several knights swallowed dry saliva.

Unlike other monsters, these had small builds.

As the Count was thinking something seemed strange about this…

“What the, what the hell?!”

Expletives burst from the mouth of the knight at the front.

“Y-Your Lordship… E-Everyone…”

“Amy… Ah, Amy… Where are you, where…”

“My arm hurts… Someone, please…”

The three monsters approaching them were the Gloucester knights who had lost contact.

Three people walking toward the search party, transformed into hideous monsters.

And behind them, revealing themselves were a group of men wearing black protective suits.

“That, that’s…?”

“Your Lordship. That emblem…!”

“Yes. Confirmed.”

Thick reinforced suits reminiscent of diving suits, and cloaks draped over them.

Seeing the magic patterns appearing on the lenses attached to their faces, Count Gloucester ground his teeth.

“Elcryer…!”

Finally, it made sense.

The Alchemist of the Abyss, Martin Elcryer and his disciples.

A group of mad magicians obsessed with worthless things like the source!

“Ah, ahhh…!”

“Graaaaaah—!”

While the Count ground his teeth, the transformed Gloucester knights began charging without hesitation.

“The dogs have been released. Combat imminent.”

“Provide minimal support and observe the battle. We need data.”

“Understood. We disciples must collect knowledge and deliver it to our master.”

“Understood. We disciples will do so.”

Hearing the voices chattering from behind, the Count was truly about to go mad.

After turning knights who were like his children into such monsters, they dare talk about what? Data collection?!

“You vermin!”

Count Gloucester activated his engraving with gritted teeth.

What arose with green radiance were dozens of tree branches.

Filled with majestic magical power, they pierced through both the charging monsters in front and the disciples behind at once.

And simultaneously, the contaminated area began rapidly purifying.

Seeing the ground where vegetation suddenly sprouted, the impaled disciples spoke in admiration.

“Ooh, this, this is…!”

“High purity purifi-fication magic formula. Want to ana-analyze the formula struc-structure.”

“Focused on purification, not suitable for combat. If we call reinforcements, we can pin them down.”

They’re still moving despite having their hearts and abdomen pierced?

Are these guys not human?

While thinking this, new shadows began appearing from the undergrowth all around.

“These bizarre things keep moving even when cut in half!”

“These bastards, there’s no end to them no matter how many we kill!”

“Your Lordship!”

Dozens, hundreds.

Disciples in protective suits emerging endlessly.

Seeing this, the Count and knights realized what situation they were in.

‘These bastards…!’

Gloucester’s greatest weakness was numbers.

And they knew that all too well.

Using endless waves of disciples to pin us down here.

So the area’s toxic air can slowly eat away at us!

‘No choice. We need to retreat for now…’

Just as the Count thought this and gathered magical power to break through…

“You!”

One of the monsters impaled by tree thorns reached its hand toward the Count.

He easily deflected it with his magical power field and prepared to counterattack.

They’d already transformed into mindless monsters anyway.

The right thing would be to end their suffering as quickly as possible!

Therefore…!

“Your Lordship?”

At that moment, a clear voice came from the monster’s mouth.

A voice calling him with questioning eyes.

Seeing that, for just a moment, the Count’s movement stopped.

“…Ralph.”

That tiny gap.

Through that momentary opening, the monster’s tentacle shot toward the Count’s neck and…

Red flames flying in from the side completely incinerated the monster’s tentacle.

“?!”

“What’s that?”

“Multiple magical power reactions. Enemy reinforcements…!”

What came flying in then were hundreds of red raindrops.

Heat that instantly dominated the space.

At the center of that heat, a group of soldiers began revealing themselves one by one.

“You…?!”

Eugene Lorentz.

And appearing behind him were over a hundred Special Magical Power Unit members.

“W-What is the meaning of this! I told the Special Magical Power Unit not to intervene in this matter…!”

“Your Lordship overlooked one fact.”

Dozens of gun barrels aimed forward.

Loading his own pistol along with them, Eugene spoke in a calm voice.

“Your Lordship has no authority to command me or the Special Magical Power Unit.”

“…!”

What had the Count said?

That they couldn’t accept the Empire’s support.

That owing a debt would mean acknowledging a hierarchical relationship with the Empire.

But you know what?

From my position as an Imperial soldier, that’s totally beneficial, isn’t it?

There’s no reason not to do it, right?

“Special Magical Power Unit Commander, Eugene Lorentz, issuing orders.”

Thinking this, Eugene aimed his Heresy loaded with magic bullets forward.

“Evidence detected of House Elcryer conducting experiments using monsters.”

“…!”

“By Imperial decree, all members and associates of House Elcryer are to be detained.”

Starting with Eugene’s pistol, magic burst forth from the gun barrels of all Special Magic Unit members at once.

Another predetermined future slipped into the swamp of uncertainties.