Chapter 27

In an automated carriage pulled by two steam horses that belched steam instead of snort, we were whisked across the self-proclaimed capital of the world to a suburban mansion.

Similarly built in strict compliance with the duchy's urban planning laws, the Golden Pavilion resembles a giant tombstone in a graveyard.

The desolate and barren landscape was created by the compulsion to pay no attention to anything other than building steel structures vertically and tall.

An automated carriage drawn by a steam horse moved unconcernedly through the matchbox-like interior of the mansion.

The giant tombstone opened its mouth, giving the illusion of walking into the belly of a tomb.

And inside, it was more like an engineer's workshop than a mansion of symbols.

The interior of the mansion is absurdly spacious and lavish, and none of its facilities function for luxury or opulence. Just like the city.

It was literally a workshop with all sorts of bits and pieces, machinery, compression cylinders, cogs and wheels strewn about.

Next to them were piles of human body parts, from arms and legs to heads. It's like a mountain of corpses.

At the same time, I realize that it's not a dead person, but a mere shell that mimics human form.

An automaton, a soulless imitation of a person.

The graveyard of soulless corpses was there.

"The child you're going to introduce me to is....?"

"Yes, as you can see."

There was something vaguely familiar about the figure.

Golden Lord Robert strode unperturbed into the pile of corpses, pulling up an imitation of a man that lay disparately among them.

"Wake up, Ergo."

Golden Lord whispered in his ear and the automaton, limp as a dead corpse in his arms, began to move, snapping its limbs in a horror movie-like fashion.

"I, in the name of the Golden Lord, number three in the organization's hierarchy, respectfully submit before Lord Rain that this child be welcomed into the family of the Black Snake."

"...."

I didn't answer right away, just stubbed out the cigarette in my mouth and watched as the automaton Ergo picked himself up.

It was androgynous in appearance, with lines too fine and beautiful to be a man, and strangely regal to be a woman.

A body so exquisite that, on the surface, it was indistinguishable from a human. At the same time, the body is as white, beautiful, and clean as white jade, free of the five defilements that humans are supposed to have.

"Receive the number '3' like me, and take your place in the 13th rank of the hierarchy."

Golden Lord Robert said, his voice filled with an unparalleled respectfulness.

A short silence descends.

In the silence that followed, no one spoke. Not Aria, not Alice, not Robert. All of them, waiting for an answer.

"... Why would I do that?"

I asked.

"This child is, in essence, no different from any of us."

Robert the Golden Lord smiled and replied.

"He's a fool, just like us, who can't do anything for himself."

"...."

"And it is only you, Lord Rain...before me, who can lead that fool, who can spin the thread of the puppet around him."

Hearing those words, I fell silent again but the silence was not long.

At the end of the silence, I lifted my head and looked at the 'aspirant' there. An androgynous automaton with skin as white and beautiful as pearls, who didn't even bat an eyelid in front of me.

"What's the point?"

I asked after staring.

"...is different."

"Different how?"

In the old episodes of Heroic Age, in the villain-to-villain conversations, Rain Gray asked the same question, looking at Golden Lord in front of him.

"As far as I'm concerned, you still don't know anything."

At the time, Golden Lord claimed to have developed an automaton more powerful and useful than anyone else's, and he wanted it to be in the organization, just like now.

So I asked the same question back then.

"The burden of proof is not on me, Golden Lord."

A line not unlike Rain Gray's words I remember from the game.

"It's different from that child back then, no, it's different from when my immaturity killed that child back then! From one to ten, you can be sure they are all different!"

At that time, in the game, Rain Gray had unilaterally smashed the automaton in front of him, saying that he would take the "enrollment test" for the applicants recommended by the Golden Lord, just as he does now.

Remembering the scene, I had no choice but to do the same.

I had no choice but to do the same thing I did then: give it the same name of "enrollment test" and destroy it after a fight.

However, Golden Lord Robert stood before me, looking more desperate than ever.

At the same time, his face, which should be a mask of servile ease before me, crumbles and falls to his knees.

"Lord Rain, our esteemed leader of the Black Snake!"

Kneeling, Golden Lord speaks pleadingly.

"Can you prove it, right now?"

"!"

I shouted back, and silence fell again. Out of the silence, I spoke.

"I'll give you seven days."

I said, opening my mouth.

"In the meantime, prove it."

"What?"

"Everything."

I don't know if he understood the meaning of those words, but that was all I had to say.

Why he should be the newest member of the Black Snake, what he could bring to the table, what meaning and value there is to it.

At the same time, it's not me who has to prove it. It's up to Robert the Golden Lord.

"Seven days."

"!"

I said, driving the wedge in again.

"And until then, I have a job for you."

I don't care about his sarcasm, his backstabbing, or his vendetta.

I turned to the head of the organization that had once been the secret society of the strongest and most powerful men in this world.

"I have a message to share with the most powerful man in this country, in this duchy."

Once again, I return to the beginning, searching for the clues that lie before me.

*

The next day I was once again walking through a city where seemingly sane people can return with mental illness, a city with self-proclaimed world capital aspirations.

I walked through the gates of the Arc de Triomphe, erected from the day the city was founded to commemorate a victory yet to come.

Before the carriage and the procession that followed it through the center of the city, all who came and halted and bowed in a ducal salute.

This is what happens every day in this country, wrapped up in the name of "patriotism, honor, and respect" – stopping and bowing before those in power.

The sheer ridiculousness of the scene was so overwhelming that I wordlessly turned my head away from the view through the car window.

The auto carriage, pulled by five state-of-the-art military steam horses, came to a halt in the center of the city.

I stood in stunned silence in front of the Duchy Honor Guard, who opened the carriage doors and bowed in respect.

I never imagined it would come to this.

'I have something to discuss with the most powerful man in the country.'

I meant it literally.

At the same time, I hadn't planned to be so blatantly in the center of attention and make my presence felt but that's what happened, and there was nothing else to say.

Amidst the podiums and lines of nodding yeses, I stepped out of the car without a word.

I walked in silence down the long red carpet.

At the same time, behind me, there was no Aria and Alice by my side as usual.

I was alone.

Leaving behind the grandiose ceremony, I walked towards the heart of the world capital, which stretches vertically without meaning and is extremely empty.

A place engineered to subconsciously 'overwhelm' the first-time visitor.

And yet, there was only one impression in my mind: the corridors were long and wide for nothing.

Finally, after all the hassle, I reached the end and stepped through.

"...welcome!"

Nothing changed.

"Führer."

I mouthed his name in silence. Then the man in the oval office jerked his head up, nervously trimming his mustache.

"I've heard about it!"

The military is the real power that rules this country, the Duchy of Germania and the man who stood at the pinnacle of that power was the Führer, Gustav Whitley.