The other workers cocked their heads in puzzlement at the abrupt change in Nike’s demeanor. Erna couldn’t fathom how they were being so calm.
Out of the crowd of over a hundred, Nike’s bloodlust was directed at Erna and Erna alone.
Her hostility was intense enough to make a spy wither. Intense enough to make them give up on even fighting back.
By Erna’s side, Annette couldn’t move an inch, either. She was devoting all her effort toward staying small and unseen. It was the right call. If Nike attacked, there wasn’t a thing in the world Annette could do to help.
Erna was finished.
That single tiny mistake had ruined everything, and she knew it. She’d entered Nike’s field of view, and that alone was enough to spell the end of the spy known as Fool.
Right when she thought her heart might buckle under the raw weight of Nike’s gaze, that weight suddenly lifted.
“Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have gotten emotional,” Nike said, giving the confused workers a small bow to set their minds at ease. “The sad fact of the matter is…some of our citizens resent the government, and I know they hate me for serving the king. Our king is a wise man, but he’s only human. Unfortunately, it takes time to save everyone. Especially these days, when the wounds from the war still linger. I know that working in the mines can be backbreaking. I’m sure some of you are angry about that.”
She looked down to lament her own powerlessness, then quickly raised her head and smiled.
“But I’m going to do everything in my power to make it so someday, I can earn your approval.”
Her well-delivered speech got her the biggest round of applause yet.
Erna could tell that she was off the hook, if only just barely.
The workers were so moved by Nike’s exemplary attitude that some of them even shed tears. Nike looked out at them and nodded as she stepped off her underling’s back. “Let’s go, Thanatos. These good people have perked me right up.”
“…Yes, ma’am. I’m glad to hear it.”
“I’m sorry, what was that? If you haven’t had your fill of being stepped on yet, why not go ask that girl to do it?”
“I don’t want that… You’re the only one for me, ma’am…”
“Heh, and that’s why you’re so turned on, right? Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty more scorn where that came from.”
“Huuunh!”
Nike dug her nails into her subordinate’s back as she and her entourage left.
Erna was at a complete loss for words as she watched them go.
It was time to flee—any other option was unthinkable.
She needed to run away!
She needed to run as fast as she could!
She needed to run, consequences be damned!
Erna did everything she could to buy herself time. As soon as she got back to the worker housing, she got some blood, pretended to cough it up, and attributed it to the bronchial illness she’d worked into her backstory. When the doctor came, she slipped them some cash to get herself transferred out of the barracks and over to the infirmary for rest and recuperation. Then, when night fell, she sneaked out the window.
After grabbing the go bag she’d stashed away, she raced across the mine at top speed. Her heart was beating out of her chest.
This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad…!!
She couldn’t afford to stay at the mine. Not after having drawn Nike’s attention.
In that single instant, it felt as though Nike had seen through everything. She hadn’t arrested Erna there and then, but she was probably passing Erna’s information along to the Royal Guard and having them conduct a background check on her that very moment.
Erna’s whole body was trembling uncontrollably. A primitive fear had seeped into her soul and rewritten her entire mind.
How is it even possible for someone to be that strong?!
She couldn’t stop sweating. Her heart was violently pounding.
Given the state she was in, she probably would have gotten ordered to take it easy even without the work she’d put into feigning illness.
Of all the enemies they’d faced to date, Nike was in a league of her own.
Lamplight was no stranger to battling spies. They’d fought “Torchlight” Guido—aka Blue Fly—White Spider, Purple Ant, Flock, and the finest agents the CIM had to offer. All of them had been world-class fighters.
However, this was something else entirely.
Nike had already left the Bertram Mines. Erna had heard the other workers talking about it. Yet she had to run anyway. She shivered at the thought that Nike could change her mind at any moment and come marching back in to capture her.
“Erna!”
As she raced down the path, Annette appeared in front of her.
Unable to stop in time, Erna crashed right into her. “Yeep!” she squeaked as she collapsed on top of her teammate.
Annette gently wrapped her arms around Erna. “You have to calm down.”
“Yeep…”
“Take some deep breaths. Just breathe in when I do, yo.”
Annette pressed Erna’s face against her flat chest and covered her mouth.
Erna’s arms went slack.
“Just in and out. In and out.”
There was an uncharacteristic softness to Annette’s voice.
Erna sucked in breaths in time with Annette’s.
“I’m right here with you, yo.”
Could those gentle words really be coming from Annette?
“Nike isn’t here anymore. You don’t have to panic.”
As Erna lay there in Annette’s arms, she could feel herself growing calmer. She hadn’t realized it, but she’d been hyperventilating.
After twenty or so seconds, her breathing returned to normal.
“It’s weird, having you be the voice of reason.”
She gave Annette a light push to separate them.
When she looked down, she found that Annette was flashing her a proud, toothy smirk. “When you’ve got me telling you to calm down, you know you’re in trouble, yo! C’mon, Erna!”
“…And it’s also weird how self-aware you are about it.”
Erna’s face went red when she realized what a fool she’d made of herself.
Annette must have also successfully sneaked out of the barracks, as she was carrying a bag as well. Knowing Annette, her escape plan had probably been even cleverer than Erna’s.
“My gut was screaming at me.” Erna realized that it sounded like she was making excuses, but she said it anyway. “It was telling me to stay away—that Nike was bad news.”
“No disagreements there, yo.”
“It was a miracle she overlooked me even once. That won’t happen again. We need to make ourselves scarce.” Erna stood up and wiped the dust off her skirt. “But now we know. Whatever happened here, it was a big deal.”
“For sure! It would’ve had to be, for the leader of the Genesis Army to visit the mines in person.”
“Before we leave,” Erna said, helping tug Annette to her feet, “we need to get some closure.”
The two of them ran hand in hand down the darkened path.
All the lights were off, but the moonlight was all they needed. They knew how to run at full speed, even in the dead of night.
“Where are we headed?” Annette asked.
“I have a pretty good guess of where the explosion was.”
“Ooh. You think it was in area five, then?”
“No, that’s a trap.”
“Hm?”
“My gut tells me that isn’t it, and besides, that’d be way too obvious. A place like that, in a mine that’s clearly hiding something? It stinks to high heaven.”
Erna had learned about the Genesis Army—and about how much they loved going fishing. Nike herself had alluded to the way Imperial spies were trying to influence the industrial zone, and Erna had little doubt that the mines were full of traps designed to capture anyone who sniffed around without a proper plan.
“Remember that first woman who showed us around? She’d been working here five years, but she had to think about it before telling us we were in area three. Either they change the numbers out constantly, or they only just set up the system recently.”
“Ah, I get it. We’re talking traps left, right, and center.”
“We can’t trust the numbers. The thing is, there’s actually another area people aren’t allowed to go.”
“…Huh?”
“There are sixteen different combinations on the nameplates, and of those, not a single one has both six and seven on it. There could be a huge gap between areas six and seven, and the workers would have no idea.”
The assigned nameplates and the way the mines had been carved into an eight-slice cake were designed to create a psychological blind spot. It was impossible to see through it without careful observation.
“Between area six and area seven, there’s another area—a kind of area zero.”
Between area five, which couldn’t have been more suspicious if it tried, and area zero, which had been cleverly hidden away, it went without saying that the latter was a better bet.
After entering area six, they climbed over the chain-link fence and headed to the next area over. According to Annette, they definitely weren’t in area seven.
After heading down a path overgrown with trees, they spotted an ominous gray structure.
The tower had a boiler room and compressor room for operating the winder at the top as well as a cleaning room for washing the extracted coal. On the side, it said “Mine Seven.”
There were no guards.
At the moment, the mine was out of use. The line they’d been told about there being twelve mines up and running had been a lie.
Annette got to work picking the lock on the headframe door.
“I got it open, yo.”
“Nice!”
They pulled out their flashlights and headed down into the mine shaft. Reading the documents lying around the control room told them that the mine went down eight levels. It was a thousand feet deep and extended outward for miles.