“…A while ago, you mentioned something,” Alice said abruptly, looking down with her arms wrapped around her knees.
I abandoned the tangle of thoughts I was trying to unravel and looked over at her.
A few moments later, she continued, voice slightly nasal from being blocked up. “After the wall broke, and we fell through it…you said you planned this rebellion in order to correct the pontifex’s mistake and protect the human world.”
“Yeah…that’s right,” I said, noticing the blond hair that fell down Alice’s back.
After several seconds of silence, she continued, “I do not believe…everything you’ve said yet. But…with the minions of the lands of darkness on the outside of the tower…I must admit that your claim that the Integrity Knights are just regular human beings with their memories manipulated seems to be true. In other words…I cannot deny that our master has been deeply deceiving us in order to make us her faithful servants…”
I held my breath. By removing their memories and inserting the Piety Module into the fluctlight of the Integrity Knights, Administrator forced them to be absolutely loyal warriors. No matter what Eugeo and I said to any of the knights we’d met thus far, none had expressed a single word of doubt toward the Church. In that sense, it should’ve been stunning to me that Alice said what she did. Perhaps she had something in her that the other artificial fluctlights did not.
She didn’t undo the grip around her upright knees as she whispered, “But on the other hand, our primary duty as commanded by the pontifex is to protect against an invasion from the Dark Territory. Even now, more than a dozen of my fellow knights are riding their dragons, fighting over the End Mountains. If she hadn’t created the Integrity Knights, the dark forces would have invaded our lands long ago.”
“Ah, well…”
…That’s because this isn’t the way the world is supposed to work.
Those growth resources—i.e., experience points—the Integrity Knights were monopolizing were supposed to be distributed throughout the populace. The people of the realm should have taken up swords and fought against invading goblins, the same way Eugeo and I did in the northern cave, to get stronger. Administrator had taken that possibility away from them.
Alice wouldn’t understand that on the spot, though. Instead, I had to hold back my rebuttal as she continued, quiet but firm, “You claim that my birth home, the place where my parents and sister must still live, is at the foot of the mountains to the far north. In other words, if an invasion begins, they would be the first to fall victim. Even if you defeat all the Integrity Knights and turn your blades on the pontifex herself, who will protect all the distant rural villages like Rulid? You don’t expect to vanquish the entire forces of darkness just with the two of you, I hope.”
The tears in her eyes weren’t totally dry yet, but there was a newfound willpower in her voice. Still, I couldn’t give her an answer right away. Compared to Alice’s open determination to save the people of the world, I still had secrets to hide.
I had to fight the sudden urge to truly spill it all and explain that this entire world was a creation. Instead I said, “Then let me ask you this…If you fight with the full might of the Integrity Knights, do you believe that you can absolutely, without fail, fight off an all-out invasion from the Dark Territory?”
“…”
Now it was Alice’s turn to be at a loss for words. I looked back to the stars and traveled the memories I’d built over the last two years.
“I told you about how my partner and I battled a band of goblins from the Dark Territory. Even those goblins, the lowest members of the forces of darkness, were frightfully skilled and powerful with their weapons. The Dark Territory is full of them, and those dragon-riding black knights, and dark sorcerers controlling their own minions, right? If they all attack at once, then even with all the Integrity Knights together, plus Administrator, you’re not going to be able to hold back the tide.”
The vast majority of this information was just repeating what Cardinal had told me, but Alice seemed to accept it as fact in stride; she didn’t bite back the way she often did. After a few moments of reflection, she murmured, “It’s true that Uncle…er, Commander Bercouli seems to have his own doubts. The Dark Territory already has tens of thousands of elite forces, and if they breach the eastern gate all at once, even the knights may not be able to keep up…But on the other hand, there is essentially no other worthwhile power in the human realm aside from ours. You mentioned that the children of elite noble houses receive special training in the sword and sacred arts—but their skill is aesthetic in nature and not suited to true battle. We will simply have to work together, with the few dragons we have, and trust in the blessings of the three goddesses. You understand the situation, don’t you?”
“You’re correct…There’s nothing here to counteract the armies of darkness aside from the Integrity Knights,” I said, gazing straight ahead. “But that’s a situation that Administrator created by design. Your pontifex was afraid of any kind of power that threatened her absolute rule over the Human Empire. That’s why she gathered tournament champions and rebels against the Taboo Index, removed their memories, and rebuilt them into faithful knights. Or to put it another way, Administrator does not have an ounce of trust in the people of this world.”
“…!”
Alice sucked in a sharp breath. Once again, she didn’t have an instant rebuttal. Praying that I’d struck a nerve deep in her soul, I continued, “If she trusted the people who live here, she would form well-equipped militias and allow them to train, and perhaps there would be a battle force capable of countering the Dark Territory’s now. But she didn’t do that. She allowed the higher nobles—the people who should be first to fight if a war erupts—to be slothful and decadent. Now their souls are corrupted…just like the two Eugeo and I attacked at the academy.”
Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek’s attempted rape of Tiese and Ronie was just two days ago. If the stress test arrived and the Dark Territory invaded the human realm, scenes like that would occur everywhere, in horrifying numbers.
“But it’s not too late to do anything about it yet. I don’t know how much time we have until the Dark Territory invades, whether it’s one year or two…but if we can arrange a large human army by then, perhaps…”
“We can do no such thing!” Alice cried. “You just said it yourself. The nobles are all craven and corrupt! If a war begins and the four imperial houses and nobles are called upon to take their swords and fight, they will oblige only in name and ensure that their lives and fortunes are kept intact!”
“You’re right that most of the higher nobles have no real intention of fighting. But some do have their pride, and among the lower nobles and common people, there are those with the will to protect their families and towns…and this world as a whole. If the wealth of weapons stored in this tower is distributed to them and you folks teach them your true swordfighting and sacred arts, it’s not unthinkable that we could have a proper army built up within a year.”
“The common…people…?” she repeated.
“That’s right,” I said. “Even if we just take volunteers rather than conscripting an army, we should be able to build quite a crowd. There are already guard garrisons in the towns and villages all over. The problem is…at this point, such a strategy is impossible to employ.”
“Because…the pontifex…would never allow it…”
“Right. We couldn’t even persuade her based on its wisdom. An army that can’t be forced into absolute servitude is just as terrifying to Administrator as the forces of darkness are. That leaves just one conclusion: We must break Administrator’s absolute rule, effectively use what time we have left, and build a defensive force for the upcoming invasion,” I declared, but I couldn’t help but feel irony in that statement.