Chapter 28

"Venerable Lord Rain, we are truly honored that you have chosen to visit our duchy!"

The Duchy of Germania, a land of command and military dictatorship. Said the man who stood at the pinnacle of that nation, Führer Gustav Whitley.

In his latticed marble and mosaic-tiled office, the tables are turned on those who should be overwhelmed and overpowered.

The Black Snake is, in a way, the black sheep of the piece.

Though they operate as a small, elite group, it's not hard to get a seat at the table with the heads of state, as was the case with the Celestials of the Labyrinth City and right now.

Not that it's a position they're particularly eager to take.

"Führer Gustav Wheatley."

With that name and that mustache, I wondered if he'd failed his social art school application.

I didn't care, and sat down in front of his office. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a giant map on the wall marking the territory of the continent.

I turned my head again to look at the table facing the Führer and noticed the bronze eagle sculpture that symbolized the duchy.

"I'm sure you're aware of the disturbances in the border cities to the west of...."

"!"

I opened my mouth, and Führer Wheatley gulped wordlessly at the question.

"Please forgive...the foolish and indiscreet behavior of the SS in the presence of Lord Rain."

After swallowing, he continued, his voice trembling.

"In addition to those who have already been 'disposed of' at Lord Rain hands, we are in the process of identifying and conducting a thorough and massive purge of the SS personnel responsible for the incident! The list of those to be purged can be found at...."

"...That's it."

The Duchy is desperate to prove that it never intended to antagonize the "Black Snake", a statement of intent that feels overly drastic and excessive.

But no amount of overkill is enough in the face of the weight of the Snake's name.

Purge. The word chills me to the bone, and I reach for my cigarette. Ignoring the Führer stunned expression, I took the cigarette from my bosom and placed it in my mouth.

Führer Wheatley held out a lighter with a trembling hand but I didn't hesitate to light it with my magic.

As the tip of the cigarette flared up, the Führer coolly put the lighter back and coughed several times.

A short silence descended and after a moment of silence, the Führer spoke up.

"From the looks of it, you were looking for something there."

"Yes, the former head of the SS's secret corpse resuscitation bureau, who was caught with top military secrets...."

"Since when was The Day of the Dead a book of such value that it was designated 'Top Secret'?"

I asked.

"Day of the Dead," a High Command spell labeled Legendary in the game. It's certainly a powerful and valuable spell but it's not the kind of magic that warrants top-secret military classification, especially not in a power as powerful as the Duchy. At best, it would be treated as a 'strategy-specific magic'.

Besides, as Hella pointed out, it wasn't the book itself that they were really after.

It was the few lines of nonsense written in it that talked about heroes.

At the same time, what was the value of that unintelligible text that Hella was so intent on protecting, and that a power as large as a duchy coveted it?

What if more was hidden in it and I hadn't found it?

I needed to know, too, what it meant because it's the only clue I have now that will lead me to the missing protagonist.

Where they are now, after twenty years of heroism and fulfilling their mission.

"That's classified...…."

Führer Gustav Wheatley trailed off. Even if the man in front of him was Rain Gray he had something to protect as the head of state.

"The military secrets you're looking for are...I assume you mean this."

I didn't mind and took it out of his arms.

A legendary grade magic book <Commander Secret>.

As I placed it on the table, Führer Gustav Wheatley's expression turned cold.

It was as if he was saying, "There it is." I could almost hear his thoughts.

"Well, how can I get it back! I will never just ask for it!"

"What is it that you seek?"

"As I said, my dear Lord Rain. I'll do anything, so please, please, about that."

"...."

It was a human thing, by the way, to try so desperately to hide something, and the more you did, the more you wanted to hear it. No, a villain's mind.

The silence stretched on and on, it was probably the most awkward silence in the world.

And it wasn't me who broke the silence.

"Kuck, kuck...!"

Suddenly, the Führer grabbed his throat and began to moan in pain as if he couldn't breathe.

And it was true he was indeed not breathing.

For reference, humans can barely survive three minutes without air. I watched the hands of the clock tick by without a word.

I used Atmospheric Magic to remove the air around the Führer, creating an intangible wall that he couldn't breathe through.

With that, the Führer, struggling with his throat, pressed the emergency bell under the table.

Then the men guarding the entrance, those who had been granted the honor of guarding the Führer at the closest point, rushed in.

The elite force of the Duchy of Germania <Selected Guards>-the Kinship Grenadiers.

They drew their swords and were about to make their move.

Führer Gustav Whitley, who had barely regained his breath, threw out his arms desperately and shouted.

"Nein!!!"

He waved his hands desperately in front of the oncoming SS. His neatly coiffed bangs fluttered in a disheveled mess.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!!!"

As if he feared them pointing their weapons at me, more than anyone else.

"Who do you think you are to point a sword in my face, get the fuck out of here, get the fuck out of here! You are not worthy (Sie ist ohne Ehre)!"

As he steadied himself and shouted, the two guards faltered in bewilderment, then retreated with a ducal salute.

"Hmph, hmph."

"I'm not asking for a favor or an offer, Führer."

Only then did I speak again, who was barely catching his breath.

One of the nice things about being a villain is that you don't need a lot of words to get a conversation going.

"Tell me."

He'll do all the talking for me if I just keep a straight face and stay silent.

"It's, it's, it's hidden in the <Commander Secret>."

After a short pause, the Führer fumbled with a trembling hand.

"This is the map...."

As expected, there were a few words written there, but there was more I missed.

"Where does the map lead?"

It's not like there's treasure buried there.

"...Mausoleum."

"Mausoleum?"

"Literally, the graves of heroes."

Mausoleum, the graves of heroes.

In this world, a hero's name has a special and unique meaning.

"It is a tomb, a place of exile, where heroes who have completed their mission are forgotten and...banished from the world."

"Where is that place?"

"We don't even know where it is, only that it's on the 'border' of this world, and that the <Commander Secret> is one of the 'maps' that leads there......."

Exile, where heroes are banished from the world after completing their mission. The boundary outside the world.

"Do you know how to decipher the map?"

"Oh, not yet."

The Führer replied, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Besides, the maps in that book are only part of the story-."

"That's enough."

It didn't sound like a lie. At least I had the insight to recognize the extent of it. And the man in front of me wasn't stupid enough to lie in front of the Black Snake to make things look good.

"In closing, I have a favor to ask."

"Please, please say the word."

"Hella, do not lay a hand on her anymore."

With those words, I rose to my feet. The Führer looked at the <Commander Secret> on the desk with some hope, but I picked it up and put it in my hand.

With that, I stood up and walked out of the office.

A hundred rooms filled with all manner of classicist art to the Führer's liking, all of it unnecessarily large, fleshy, meaningless grandeur.

As I strode out of the office, across the gallery, and out of the place, there was no one in my way. No one.

*

The man disappeared and the Führer was left in his office.

As soon as he left, the highest-ranking SS officers joined him in the Oval Office, filling the room with their huffing and puffing. In the stiff air, Führer Wheatley looked at them wordlessly.

"Führer...."

Several officers opened and closed their mouths in the freezing air.

With a faintly trembling hand stroking his mustache, the Führer broke the silence.

"Right now, I want every member of the Fourth Bureau-Secret Bureau of Resuscitation brought before me. Especially Colonel Hydra, that bastard, no matter what, with all four limbs still attached-"

"Ha, ha, but the majority of them have already been purged...."

As soon as he heard those words, Gustav Wheatley raised his voice like a shout.

"Bring him back from the dead!"

As the Führer of the Duchy of Germania, a country of command and military dictatorship.