While he lived, he spent his days raving. His few guards watched with pity, thinking he had gained glory but lost everything and went mad. “That girl! Everything is that girl’s fault!!” They watched as the former emperor shouted as if spitting blood.
“What’s wrong?” The Saint realized she was being asked a question and turned around.
“I was just remembering the good old days.”
She was called the Saint. No one knew her real name. She was a singular being in this land. Names are for distinguishing among members of the same group. But there was no one like her, so she had no need of a name.
“That man who was here before was a hoot. I warned him, but he insisted on tomfoolery.”
Time passes differently for every person. When young people use the phrase “a long time ago,” they mean about ten years ago. But when an elderly person says it, it means half a century ago.
No one could know that this girl, who looked only eighteen years old, meant over 130 years ago when she said “not long ago.”
“He was helpful, so I gave him a peaceful life, but...” Her voice didn’t sound regretful. She sounded as if she were talking about a sheepdog that was no longer able to chase sheep, so, reluctant to kill it, she decided to keep it alive, only to have it escape and get run over by a car.
“It doesn’t really matter. Did you need something?” The Saint turned to face Mary Ville Mehl, the woman who had spoken to her.
“Um, you saved me from the Wiltian soldiers who wanted to kill me. Then you took me to August and made me a member of the Soviet Six.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“For what purpose?”
Someone had attacked the train carrying Mary Ville. She had narrowly escaped death, but soldiers had appeared to finish her off. They were Wiltian soldiers. And the Saint saved her.
“I knew about your activities, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you want to be queen?” The Saint spoke as if accustomed to asking this question. “Actually, you’d be chief secretary. But it amounts to the same thing.”
“Are you asking if I want to be the leader of August?”
It was wildly unbelievable. August was a superpower spanning the continents of Europea and Aesia. It had lost to Wiltia in the recent Great War, but that only meant its invasion had failed. Its national territory had never come under threat. In fact, ever since the time of the Lion Emperor, 130 years ago, August had thoroughly repelled its enemies. And that was true even now, after it changed from an empire to a republic.
“Yes. You show promise and seem perfect.”
For some reason, Mary Ville didn’t think, “Can you actually do that?” She had no doubt that the pretty girl before her could easily accomplish what she promised. After all, she brought her here, and on that very day, placed her in Chair Five of the Soviet Six, August’s highest decision-making body.
“The other five are getting along in age, so it’s a good time for renewal. Besides, you’re well known.”
Mary Ville was born in Lapchuricka, a city in Haugen that was controlled by Wiltia. She then went to the Greyten Empire and fought against the power structure backed by that nation’s aristocracy.
“Don’t you know? You have many fans inside August as well.”
“Well, um...” Hearing this, Mary Ville stammered.
Fans didn’t just mean followers. It meant supporters who would secretly remove opposition through the use of information, funding, materials, manpower, and sometimes organized activity.
“I’ve been in contact with them a few times, but...”
“Yes, entering an enemy nation and sowing confusion in the guise of a social movement is a common occurrence.”
Sometimes national and personal interests clash. To take an extreme example, what if there is a house in the spot where the government wants to build a fortress to prevent an enemy invasion? And what if the individual who owns the house refuses to vacate the premises?
It might have been difficult to drive out a private individual one hundred years ago when recognition of human rights was weak. But difficult doesn’t necessarily mean impossible. And yet, what if citizens raised their voices in protest against the infringement of an individual’s rights? If they gathered public opinion and pressed ahead behind a shield of righteousness, it would be hard for the government to use brute force.
At the very least, such a movement would inhibit the politicians, who would fear for their chances in the next election. Accelerating such activity would give rise to mistrust between the citizens of enemy countries and the nation, thereby making it difficult to govern. Such means were used repeatedly over the long arc of history.
“Your philosophy is good for August. Who cares if you’re from a foreign country? You might become a warrior for liberation—a hero! No... you will.”
“..................”
The Saint’s words awakened a mysterious feeling in Mary Ville.
As a matter of political ideology, August disparaged imperial rule and aristocracy. Those systems allowed pernicious but powerful people to rule over others, so freeing the masses from those forces was a matter of national policy. To August, invading other nations wasn’t an act of aggression. It was a war of liberation.
“What do you stand to gain from having me do this?”
“I love it when someone gets right to the point!”
The Saint pulled a piece of paper from a nearby case.
“What’s this?”
It was a technical drawing. It looked like an airplane or a cannon—or both—but Mary Ville had never seen anything like it before. It looked like the spindles for spinning yarn that Mary Ville had seen in her childhood.
“This is Verne 1. Anyway, that’s what I’m calling it for now. It’s one heck of a weapon!”
“Weapon? This is a weapon?”
Mary Ville wasn’t a soldier or affiliated with the military. But, she had a fair knowledge of weapons, although she was just an amateur. Nonetheless, she had never seen or heard of a weapon with such an odd shape.
“Your reaction is understandable. This has never been used in human history, or at least not in the past one thousand years.” Seeing Mary Ville’s confusion, the Saint explained. “This weapon can fly through the air with enormous speed and across great distances.”
The Saint spoke with a voice filled with rapture. “Direct attacks by aircraft and high-altitude airships can’t compare to this. It can level cities in enemy nations across seas and mountains.”
“Such a thing exists?!”
This weapon would make it possible to attack enemy strongholds from a special launch facility at the flip of a switch and without advancing an army. It was a weapon that could change the very fundamentals of war.
“Is human science capable of creating it?”
In the past century, human science and technology made enormous progress. Giant vessels crossed the vast oceans, aircraft flew through the sky, and railroads crossed continents. Nonetheless, Mary Ville doubted humanity had the knowledge to make such a weapon.
“Yes, it is.” The Saint unhesitatingly answered that question. “Even if we can’t now, we will.”
“Do you... mean...” An idea occurred to Mary Ville.
It was a rumor, little more than an urban legend, but spoken about as if it were true. There were Doors containing relics of the old empire of Europea. It was said that the technology for the Hunter Units, which Wiltia relied on as its main source of military strength, came from one of the Doors.
If we could revive the ancient empire’s technology or...
But her guess was wrong.
“No, that’s not it.” The Saint shot down Mary Ville’s silent speculation. “There is no need for that.”
The Saint’s back was turned, so Mary Ville couldn’t see her face, but her voice was different. It sounded darker.
“I’m going to have Wiltia make this.”
“What?!” Mary Ville was speechless.
Wiltia was going to develop this weapon? The Saint was going to have August’s greatest rival create a weapon capable of directly attacking a distant enemy base without the need of an army?
“Why would you do that?!”
“Why indeed. After all, it presents an existential threat to August.”
August had been able to avoid war for so long because of the mountains that protected it from invasion by a large army, and because of its long and frigid winters. The Lion Emperor invaded with a force of one million, but that unrelenting winter 130 years ago, said to freeze people in midstride, broke the invasion and it ended in losses nearing total annihilation.
“The mountains and dreaded winters, said to be August’s shields, won’t hinder this weapon.”
“But why do this?! If you do...”
“Yes?”
Mary Ville finally understood the Saint’s intentions. “You want to start a war. And not just any war. You want to instigate another Great European War.”
“Correct.” The Saint laughed with a charming grin. “If an enemy nation has a weapon that it can use against your nation, there’s only one way to handle it. You must strike first.”
There was no way to successfully block all missiles attacking from the sky. And whether nations sign treaties, prattle about harmony, or form alliances, as long as it’s impossible to see into the other’s heart, fear and doubt will remain.
“Possession of this weapon is a military deterrent to other nations. At the same time, it’s a threat and provocation. All I need is a little stimulation to set off a massive explosion.”
The previous Great European War erupted because a young man from a nation supported by Greyten and Filbarneu shot and killed a prince from a nation allied with Wiltia. A single bullet had caused a large-scale war that lasted a decade.
In contrast, this new weapon could wreak destruction upon a whole city. It might kill one hundred, one thousand, or even ten thousand people. This weapon was certainly capable of sparking a war.
“No way...”
Chills coursed across Mary Ville’s back. She didn’t understand why the Saint would do such a thing. She didn’t know, but she had a guess.
“Were you also behind the assassination that started the last Great War?”
“You human beings have smartened up. All I needed back then was a pitiful boy and a single bullet, but now I have to concoct something much more elaborate.” The Saint laughed with delight.
She had filled an innocent and foolish child with malicious intent and placed a gun in his hand. And that had altered history. She was responsible for countless tragedies and hellish scenes.
“.....................”
“As for what I want from you... I want August, as a free and progressive nation, to defeat the evil, tyrannical Wiltia that has developed a weapon of mass destruction, a deed equivalent to a hostile act. And I want you to lead that holy war.”
The Saint continued explaining her plan to Mary Ville. “Don’t worry. I don’t care who wins. I just want it to be long and catastrophic.”
The Saint’s smiling face remained as lovely as ever. She sought a destructive, drawn-out war that would kill millions as if she were asking for a beautiful flower, a pretty gem, or a cute stuffed animal.