Chapter 71

Freedom.

Those were Rain Gray's last words to me.

With those last words, I was thrown out into the wilderness of the world once more.

In this ashen world, where purpose, duty, and even good and evil are no longer clear.

What form of life should I take as the leader of the Black Snake, in front of the members of the troupe who still trust and follow me as their 'leader'?

I asked myself.

As I asked myself, I realized that the question was all too familiar.

The life of a human being who is expected by others, who lives up to the expectations of others, who lives in the gap between people and people.

It wasn't an exception to being 'over there' or 'over here'.

Even when there was no clear answer to the question-

What should I do, where should I go, what is right and what is wrong, what is the right thing to do, none of these questions can be answered by me now.

I don't think any human being would be able to answer those questions.

I could only wander, as all humans do, and move toward what I believed to be right because life, from the very beginning, has been a process of struggling with such unanswerable questions.

"...Airship."

Then, a word popped into my head.

"Huh? Airship... Oh, you mean the one from the Breton Empire?"

At the casual mention of the word, Silan spoke up as if he had been waiting for it.

It was the blueprints for a battleship we'd gotten our hands on earlier.

"Haha, you went to a lot of trouble to get this, didn't you, Sister Selena?"

"...."

Silan spoke, and Selena fell silent but I didn't mind.

It wasn't the blueprints in front of me that interested me in the first place.

It was just that Rain Gray had said 'freedom' to me in this world.

Left like a gem, facing those words, facing those chains, I could only mumble.

As the unintentionally sentenced leader of a villain organization, I must find the most fitting home for my Black Snake.

It would not be an easy task but it would not be impossible to get my hands on an Imperial Dreadnought.

I don't know why the thought crossed my mind after I first gained my freedom.

I just felt, for some reason, that getting it was the first thing I should do as a free man.

─Of course, that wasn't the only reason.

"No longer will…..the name "black snake" be limited to a 'thing' that only a few people fear."

Now I understand.

No, I didn't care if I didn't know.

I was the real Rain Gray, filling in the gap, and I was the real me, unwillingly but completely.

"The world will no longer define us by the name of a criminal organization, or an association."

I said.

"Sir."

"You mean...?"

I couldn't know how the members there would understand that. Nor did I need to know.

"We are going to take over the Breton Empire's airship."

"!"

I said. Even a few of the troupe could not hide their bewilderment at the words, but I did not care.

"After that, with the battleship we have in our possession and the power of the Black Snake, we will officially-."

I said.

"We will reorganize the entire order that exists on this continent."

"Reorganize?"

Aria blurted out, for she knew better than most what those words meant.

"The Black Snake, and all of you who belong to it, will be part of this reorganized order."

"...."

A short silence descended and Alice smiled.

"Does that mean we're going to have a big, big, big picnic?"

She smiles like an innocent child looking forward to a picnic tomorrow.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I'm all for it!"

Alice shouted. As a member of the Snakes, loyal to the leader as ever.

Therefore, I continued calmly.

"─From now on, no one will be able to treat us as "enemies of the world" and stand up to us."

That's what I had to do now that I was free.

A world where no one would even think of antagonizing or confronting the Black Snake anymore, in front of a troupe of people who were foolishly loyal to me.

"Because we, the world itself, will be."

"...Haha."

Silan, who was listening, chuckled.

"World domination, not world destruction?"

Rain Gray's goal had been known by all members of the troupe from the beginning. I was no stranger to it either, but that made no difference.

"Yes."

"─Did you have a change of heart?"

At that question, Selena of Dark Moon, who had been silent, opened her mouth. The pale ashen skin of the dark elf hidden beneath her hood.

"...hardly."

I replied as calmly as ever.

"It's just, it's my decision."

Because that was Rain Gray way.

The 'real' Rain Gray, the one I saw in front of me, was far from the idealized leader I had imagined. He didn't even love his troop, and he wouldn't stop at anything to get his way. He didn't even have any beliefs or resolutions to uphold along the way.

That's how he described himself but I still don't know if that's true or not.

What I do know is that he left me with freedom.

And that freedom is mine alone, here and now, as Rain Gray.

"...Yes."

Therefore, the dark moon Selena could only bow her head in silence without further questioning.

"─If that is your will."

"Ohhhhhhh, this girl will gladly follow any decision that Lord Rain makes!"

Following Selena, Freya was no exception.

"Even if it means this body falls into hell-"

"Hmph, hmph."

Hearing those words, the silent "Laughing Man" burst into laughter. While bizarrely hunching his shoulders and twisting his body.

At the same time, the girl sitting next to him, the witch Gretel, murmured in a small voice.

"I, I will... do as Rain wills."

Like a real child who can't decide anything of her own accord.

"That, that...any command."

It was true.

"─I don't expect anything different."

Amidst the rest of the troupe's words, Aria, whose eyes were covered with black bandages, spoke up.

"If it is your will, I will only be loyal."

As my most loyal subordinate, standing by my side as always, at the same time, giving me her all, swearing her loyalty, and yet being 'nothing' to the real Rain Gray.

"...Aria."

It wasn't me.

"Yes, sir."

"No, it's nothing."

With that, I shook my head. The embarrassment, the un-Rain Gray behavior, didn't matter anymore.

For the real Rain Gray, the one who should be here, no longer exists.

And if he did exist, he was never the kind of human that the members of this organization expected.

"Report information on the Breton Empire's aerial battleships."

Calmly, I state what needs to be said.

"Ah, three dreadnoughts, as of late, I believe, and the airships below them are still in the testing phase."

I listened to Silan's reply.

After listening, I continued.

"Any information on the armory that produces airships?"

"─Ah, that's top-secret, top-secret, top-secret, because they don't know how to build a warship of that size, and the Empire is that desperate."

"Just tell me your conclusion."

"Well, we don't know for sure, but we have our suspicions."

Silan replied nonchalantly.

"Where?"

And it wasn't Silan who got the answer.

"...Mother's Forest."

Selena, a dark elf, interjected.

Mother's Forest, to the elves, meant only one thing.

"There is talk of an underground facility in the deepest reaches of the boreal forest, maneuvering in secret with all the resources of the colony."

"I see."

That was enough of an answer.

"We will take one of their aerial battleships and inflict irreparable damage on the rest of their fleet and the military might of the Breton Empire."

The task at hand was also made clear.

"As for the underground facilities in the Great Forest, Aria and I will maneuver them ourselves."

"Oh, and Alice! Count her in!"

"...Yes."

With Alice jumping up and down like a child, Jinzo Scarlet laughed.

"Our next opponent is the Empire."

Our next opponent.

"I never thought I'd face the Goddess' favorite country in the true sense of the word."

The Goddess's favorite country.

Still, it made no difference.

As Rain Gray had said earlier, I was free.

For with the freedom he had granted me, there was an obligation I must fulfill.

From now on, it was only a matter of acting without any anguish and without any hesitation-