“Well, that answers my first question.” Thea nodded, then raised her voice. “But what’s this lunacy about starting a revolution?! Doesn’t that seem like a bit much just to investigate a single scheme? Surely there must be something we can do that won’t have so much collateral—”
“Depending on our findings, we may need to take steps to stop the project in its tracks,” Klaus replied, cutting her off.
Thea tilted her head. “What? But we don’t even know what the project is yet…”
“We can certainly make some assumptions. After all, what do you all think?” Klaus asked. “Think about the people who tried to stop it—‘Torchlight’ Guido, ‘Puppeteer’ Amelie, White Spider. Did they seem like stupid, petty villains?”
There was a lot they didn’t know about the Galgad’s spy team Serpent, but much of what White Spider had said and done implied that their goal was to obstruct the Nostalgia Project. The world’s major nations built systems that served the strong, and White Spider had made it his mission to oppose those rules. Repugnant as his methods may have been, the man had been fighting for a cause—a cause compelling enough to make Klaus’s mentor Guido turn traitor.
“I dunno, there’s a lot of murderous scumbags in that list,” grumbled “Ashes” Monika, a girl with an asymmetric cerulean hairdo.
“Still, even someone as patriotic as Amelie ended up siding with Serpent,” offered “Pandemonium” Sybilla, a white-haired girl whose stare was as sharp as a knife.
It went without saying that Klaus disavowed Serpent as a group. They had no compunctions about dragging innocent civilians into their schemes, and he and White Spider had been at odds to the very end.
However, that didn’t make him unwilling to listen to what they had to say.
“If nothing else, something about the project doesn’t sit right with me.”
It was little more than a hunch, but Klaus felt that the Din Republic’s future might rest on their ability to interfere with the Nostalgia Project. To do that, they were going to need to get involved with the people at the very heart of the Lylat Kingdom.
“Zero-point-three percent. That’s how much of the Lylat population is eligible to vote.”
“““Huh?”””
“It’s a privilege only afforded to those who pay large amounts of taxes, and the top payers get twofold voting rights. And even when people are elected to Parliament, only the king has the authority to submit new legislation. The king, the prime minister, and their cabinets hold all the real power. The king himself decides what the constitution says. All their publications are censored, and publishers can be forced to suspend operations on a moment’s notice. Gatherings of over twenty people are illegal, and political organizations need to be authorized to even exist. There’s an inheritance tax, but it only applies to the middle class. All the top police and judicial positions are hereditary. The aristocracy’s crimes go overlooked, and any commoners who try to resist them get arrested.”
With each new statement, the girls grew more aghast. They’d learned all that information before at their academies, but hearing it laid out again left them speechless. The Lylat Kingdom was over a century behind the times.
“Nothing good can come of a plan that originated in a country as corrupt as Lylat,” Klaus concluded.
“Wh-when you put it all like that, it makes me hope their government gets overthrown regardless of anything to do with the Nostalgia Project…” After hearing Klaus’s explanation, Thea grimaced. “How are the people not enraged? It almost sounds like a revolution is destined to happen without us having to lift a finger.”
“It’s not quite that simple. Lylat is afflicted with a very particular sickness.”
“……?”
“I’ll get to that later. The bottom line is, there’s a reason they call Lylat the land where revolutions die.”
Due to Klaus’s linguistic shortcomings, his explanation took a turn for the figurative. However, what had taken hold of the country was so pervasive and unsettling that there was really no other way to put it.
“Are there any other questions?”
“No, I believe that about covers it. It’s clear now that this mission will be much larger in scope than any of the ones that have come before it. It makes sense now why we’ll all need to split up.” At that point, Thea laid a hand atop her chest. “And something else is clear, too—the fact that this will be the perfect mission for me!”
“…Hm?”
“I’ll stir up the masses, and in doing so, I’ll become a national hero. I can’t imagine a task I’m better suited to.”
Thea’s voice rang with excitement, and she brushed back her dark hair and flashed an ecstatic smile as the other girls looked at her in exasperation.
Now Klaus understood why she’d been asking questions with such enthusiasm. Given her personality and skill set, the assessment she’d made was fair.
“I freed the United States of Mouzaia from its nightmare, and I’m the person who united the Fend Commonwealth underworld and became its leader. Why, I daresay we have this in the bag! With me at the heart of our operation, this mission will be a piece of—”
“Actually, it’s not you.”
“Huh?”
“This time, it’s Erna we’re centering our strategy around.”
The instant Klaus revealed that information, a cry of ““““Sorry, what?”””” rose from the girls.
“But WHY?!” Thea screeched, and even the person in question, Erna, cocked her head in bewilderment. “Yeep?”
In all their missions to date, Erna had been relegated to a supporting role. As the youngest members of the team, she and Annette were stationed in the rear guard as a matter of course. It simply wasn’t responsible to place them right in the thick of things.
This time around, though, the situation was such that Klaus had no choice but to station her on the front lines.
“There are a number of reasons why, but—”
Before Klaus could explain himself, though, Erna rose to her feet with a look of realization on her face. Right when he began wondering why, she trotted over to him, took his hands in hers, and squeezed them tight.
“…Yes?”
“You don’t have to say a thing, Teach.” Still holding his hands, she gave him a warm smile. “Thank you. For really seeing me.”
“So you understand, then?”
“Of course. We have a bond, Teach.”
“I see. Magnificent.”
Klaus could tell that she wanted him to, so he gave her head a gentle pat. It felt like stroking a down pillow. “Ahh…,” Erna sighed happily under his hand.
Over to the side, Monika looked unimpressed. “And? Why’d you get up and go over to him?” she asked, to which Sybilla explained, “You just want him to dote on you, right? You’re gonna be lonely when we’re all split up.”
Erna’s face went bright red as she scampered back to the sofa. “You don’t have to spell it out!”
Thea was still pouting a bit, but she let out a long sigh after Grete successfully talked her down.
They’d gotten off topic, and Klaus spoke up again. “Now, starting a revolution requires going through a very specific set of steps. However, I want you all to keep in mind that the revolution is nothing more than a means to an end. We have just one ultimate goal.”
The looks on the girls’ faces turned serious.
Klaus gave them a small nod.
“Our job is to uncover the world’s secrets—to learn about the Nostalgia Project that was responsible for Inferno’s and Avian’s downfalls.”
As soon as he mentioned Avian’s name, there was a shift in the girls’ expressions.
Now they had a sense of purpose driving them forward.
As he thought back to his meeting with the girls, Klaus took in another breath.
The Galgad capital reeked of rusted metal. It reminded him all over again of how far he was from the main operation in Lylat.
This mission was completely different from the ones that had come before. A mighty foe could bear down on the girls, and Klaus would be powerless to defend them.
In the days leading up to their separation, Klaus had put more care and intensity into the girls’ training than ever. The drills he’d done during his time in Inferno had been so grueling, he’d thrown up more than once, yet he steeled his heart and ran the girls through them all the same.
Now the girls were split into four teams. Although the danger they were in varied, all of their tasks were incredibly demanding, and all of them were essential. Lamplight was joined in single-minded determination to see their difficult mission through.
No, that’s not true.
As he was summing up his thoughts, a recollection flashed through his mind.
There is one person on the team whose objections I had to crush.
Just before they left for the mission, one girl had spoken up in opposition to Klaus’s plan.
It was rare for anyone on Lamplight to go against him so openly.
“I can’t agree to this!”
“Please, I need you to revise our strategy.”
Sweat had poured from her forehead as she made her red-faced plea. She’d summoned up all her determination in order to convey her concerns. And Klaus had dismissed them right to her face. He’d taken her earnest concerns and bulldozed straight past them without letting her get a word in edgewise.
We can’t afford to stop.
He felt badly for her, but his conviction held firm. He couldn’t change the mission based on the dissent of a single subordinate.
He took a step away from the train station.
The girls had to be right in the middle of their mission.
However, Klaus couldn’t rush to their side. His superiors had ordered him not to, but there was a far more important reason as well.
“I have a job of my own I need to do.”
He quietly set forth into the city of steeples.
His body burned with more exhilaration and excitement than ever before. He’d just taken a step closer to the world’s best-kept secrets.