Dreaming the Impossible Dream(4)

The restoration of Don Quixote, the Spearman.

The knights who roamed the vast expanse of the sea with a single spear were freed from demonic control and served their rightful masters.

Don Quixote La Mancha Tudor. He is the heir to the former head of the family, Cervantes, and the true owner of the Don Quixote family. The Lion King.

The exiled young lion returned to the family as an adult and avenged his father's enmity by slaying his evil uncle.

In normal times, this would have turned the entire empire upside down, but in these times, issues of this magnitude are rarely publicized.

It was a time of civil war, with thousands and tens of thousands of people dying every day.

However, the normalization of the Don Quixote family was a great blessing for the Night Walkers.

"The supply routes are finally open again."

Dolores said cheerfully.

The supply lines that the demons had cut had been reopened.

Food and water were finally flowing back into Fort Tochka.

The ever-increasing number of refugees could have caused great chaos.

"...."

Vikir stared at the view of Tochka from the conference room window.

High, thick walls.

A plateau where oxygen is scarce.

A rocky plateau surrounded by sheer cliffs.

It is definitely a tall and lonely fortress with iron walls.

"The only problem is that we don't have enough drinking water. It would be nice to be able to get our own, at least there's a section over one of the mountains where I suspect there's a water source."

Dolores looked at the map and muttered wistfully.

But Vikir's demeanor was unperturbed.

"The water problem will be solved soon enough."

"...?"

Dolores and the others looked puzzled, but Vikir didn't say anything more.

At that moment, Tudor, at one end of the table, spoke up.

"We now have a complete picture of the power situation in the Don Quixote family."

Tudor, the new head of the Don Quixote family, had decided to cooperate fully with the Night Walkers.

It was a natural progression.

"We've completely rooted out the demons, and reinstated all those who have been purged or cast out."

"How many of them can fight?"

Vikir asked, and Tudor didn't hesitate to reveal all the classified documents.

"Surprisingly, it's not too bad, about sixty percent of them are intact, but most of them are in the fleet. The cavalry took too much damage this time...."

As Tudor spoke, he glanced at the people around him.

Camus was sitting there with her arms crossed.

"Well. Are you saying that I'm to blame for the destruction of your family's cavalry?"

"Oh, no. It's not like that. The reason the Invincible Cavalry suffered so much damage was because they were brainwashed by demons and kept running in circles around the civil war zone. Who else could I blame but my incompetence and the wicked demons themselves?"

Tudor smirked.

But it would not be a laughing matter.

Don Quixote's pride of Invincible Cavalry had been nearly wiped out.

Even if he avenged his father's enemies and skinned the demon to make the tassels that hang down the blades of his spears, it would not be enough.

Vikir gazed at the strap of Cimeries's leash hanging from the base of Tudor spear Gungnir and spoke.

"It will make the knights around you braver. Carry it with you at all times."

"...Thank you."

Nodding toward Vikir, Tudor continued.

"Still, Don Quixote's Invincible Armada has remained largely unscathed and unharmed. It must be that the sea level has dropped significantly, preventing the fleet from reaching the coast, which hasn't been very helpful in the civil war."

Vikir's eyes sharpened at Tudor's words.

"That's enough."

It was Don Quixote's Invincible Armada that had interested Vikir the most.

Many people had questioned that.

"But, brother, why do we need an Invincible Armada so much? We're in the middle of a civil war in the center of the continent, and there's not much of a naval battle going on, is there? Even if it's because of the supply routes by sea, the fleet won't be of much use now that the sea level has dropped so much?"

Sinclair's question was on the minds of everyone in the room.

Vikir looked up from the map to answer this point.

"Soon the fleet will become very important. And when that moment comes, Tochka's water crisis will be solved...."

Right then. Vikir was interrupted by a voice.

"Pushishishi- that damn meeting, meeting, meeting. What kind of boring shit do you do every day without getting tired of it?"

There aren't many in the group who can interrupt Vikir in the first place.

Marquis de Sade, who was staring at Vikir with a bored-to-death expression on his face.

"Vikir. You know that, right? There are now two left."

Sade held up two fingers and smirked.

When he had escaped from Nouvelle Vague, Sade had been indebted to Vikir.

In return, he had promised to kill up to three people of Vikir's choosing, which is why he's been following him ever since.

Orca, sitting next to Sade with his arms crossed, is a similar story.

"Unlike this escapee, I'm a man of my word. You said I'd protect up to three people you wanted, and now there are two left."

Sade was referring to Passamonte, Orca was referring to Tudor.

Both had been indirectly killed and indirectly protected, but it had helped, so that was enough.

" ...I remember that well."

Vikir nodded and looked away.

"Is CindyWendy still here? We need to know what happened to Usher so we can figure out our next move."

"I'm afraid not."

The door to the conference room opened before Vikir could finish his sentence.

CindyWendy, clutching a stack of papers, walked around the corner of the table and sat down.

"Aren't you working your soon-to-be sister-in-law a little too hard these days?"

"I thought you didn't like being associated with the Baskervilles?"

CindyWendy smirked at Vikir's comment.

"People change, and I was able to put the Baskervilles out of my mind some time ago."

"...."

"What about you, are you still carrying it around?"

Vikir's mouth fell open at that, and he remained silent for a long moment.

CindyWendy had joined forces with the Baskervilles, who had destroyed her family.

She claimed to be a hostess and to rule over the Baskervilles, but in reality, she had compromised and given up her vengeance.

"Enough with the chatter."

Everyone in the room flinched at the sound of Vikir's unusually sharp voice.

Had she touched the reverse scale?

Vikir's voice was sharp enough to make even the mighty Sade and Orca cringe.

This was Vikir's true self, rarely seen except when dealing with demons.

However, CindyWendy quickly changed the subject with her characteristic smirk.

"Oh, my God, you look just like you did when you were standing outside the prison bars, nothing has changed."

She shoved a stack of papers in front of Vikir.

"I'm scared, so I'll just cut to the chase."

As usual, CindyWendy cut to the chase.

1. Signs that the Empire's civil war is about to escalate.

2. An alliance between the Morg and Baskervilles.

3. An alliance between the Quovadis and Bourgeois.

4. Leviathan and Usher form an alliance.

5. Don Quixote's declaration of neutrality and sealing of the gates.

"...um. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that the Quovadis declared a crusade against the Leviathan because of the Red Death. You know that Don Quixote declares neutrality and stays out of the civil war because Lord Tudor himself said so."

The Quovadis declared a crusade against the Leviathan in the aftermath of the Red Death long ago.

By their very nature, large group movements are slow to get started, but once they do, they pick up tremendous speed.

Don Quixote decided to close the family for a time to repair the damage done by the civil war and due to various procedures for changing the head of the family.

Of course, it's only a nominal blockade, and since Tudor became the head of the family, it was natural for the Don Quixote family to secretly support Night Walkers.

Camus set her chin and looked at Vikir.

"We've joined forces, haven't we? Looks like mom's decided to go all in and back the second prince. The one we don't know where he is, or if he even exists in the first place."

"Perhaps it's more about keeping the First Prince in check than actually following the Second, since we Quovadis are in the same position."

Dolores spoke up, looking at Vikir across from Camus.

Their gazes met in the air, and Sinclair reached behind Vikir's back, over his shoulder, and pointed to the map.

"Our Bourgeois are still looking for the Second Prince, and the rumors of imperial enrollment in the Academy are our best lead at the moment."

Civil war is all about cause.

The demons rally under a single goal, while the humans are pitted against each other under many banners.

Vikir thought of the rumored Second Prince.

Before his regression, the second prince had ultimately disappeared into thin air.

A mysterious figure whose existence was never really known.

'If he really is alive somewhere, maybe he could have united humanity sooner.'

Vikir's mind wandered this far, and he lifted his head to look at CindyWendy.

"Of the Seven Families of the Empire, which one is the knowledgeable in information?"

"...Hmm. That's right, it's God Killer. The Usher Family, of course, since they have the most people who specialize in assassination and infiltration."

Just as CindyWendy was finishing her answer, the door to the conference room opened as if by appointment.

Bianca, looking furious, addressed everyone.

"The members of the God Killer Sniper Squad have been unbrainwashed, and I've heard all about what's going on within the Family."

At the same time, Vikir's eyes sank deeply.

The Usher had not yet been freed from their demonic possession and were one of the key players in this civil war.

Now that the Don Quixote family has been restored, there is no family more threatening than Leviathan and Usher.

And it is Usher Poe Madeline who currently leads them.

The presumed third of the Ten Corpses.

Drac-

The first to rise from his seat upon hearing Bianca's words was none other than Tudor.

It was Bianca who saved Tudor at the moment of Don Quixote's downfall.

And now Tudor, Vikir, and all the other friends were reaching out to Bianca.

"Come with us. Perhaps your family can be saved."

"...."

Light returned to Bianca's eyes, which had been black and dead.

At the same time, her cheeks were turning red.

"We must hurry. We must drive on before news of Don Quixote reaches them."

At Vikir's words, the eyes of all the Night Walkers burned with determination.

"Pushishishi- So we have our second objective now?"

"This will reduce our debt."

Sade and Orca followed Vikir to their feet.

The second demon hunt was about to begin.

This was extremely unusual for Vikir's hunting patterns, as he usually left a long gap between hunts.