Chapter 89 (1/2)

The three seemed to have made their decision much quicker than Isaac antic.i.p.ated, as Mazelan came knocking on his door the next morning. Mazelan, seemingly in a foul mood, glared at Isaac with a frown for a moment and briefly sighed before speaking to him.

“What gave you the bright idea to do that yesterday?”

‘I guess I’m not dying yet.’

Isaac deduced that he was a p.a.w.n too important to throw away for now, seeing it was Mazelan who stood in front of him and not the Ark Royale. Despite Mazelan glaring him down furiously, Isaac got on his feet and yawned as he looked around the room for his coat. Inside one of its pockets was where his cigarettes were placed, and Isaac immediately got ahold of one to smoke.

“So, what’s going to happen now?”

There was a moment of silence. Mazelan continued to look at Isaac with displeasure, but he eventually answered Isaac’s question.

“The Emperor decided to accept all of your conditions.”

“Seriously?”

Isaac’s face was filled with bewilderment, never suspecting that all of his conditions would be met. Seeing this, Mazelan’s face grew more sullen.

“Why are you so surprised when it was you who made those demands?”

“Because I never thought they’d be accepted. I thought you’d just leave me alone if I acted like a lunatic making ludicrous demands and even resorting to attacking the Ark Royale! s.h.i.+t! Did I need to go even further?”

“… So you’re telling me that you were planning to go back to your leisurely life by making demands we were likely to refuse? Is that what your warning meant?”

“Of course! Why should I bother to work? I’ve been doing fine all this time until now! Hng. I doubt I can go back on my demands now… Is there any way for me to find a quiet rural life?”

Fury was set ablaze in Mazelan’s eyes, seeing Isaac childishly complain about the situation. His hands curled tightly into a fist.

Just how… how much suffering did he go through because of him… The entirety of the Ark Royale revolted hearing that one of their comrades was attacked. They argued that an attack on one of them was equivalent to an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt on the Emperor. Only after both the Emperor and the Queen joined forces could they be stopped. The situation was so dire that the Emperor pondered heavily between Isaac’s life and the abolishment of Ark Royale, considering their unmanageably frenzied state. Here Mazelan was, staying up all night to guard Isaac in case the Ark Royale attempted to ambush him in sleep, yet the beneficiary of such effort had the audacity to say that after having the best rest of his life.

Mazelan stared at Isaac like a predator watching its prey, his fury clearly expressed in his shaking fists. But with great effort, Mazelan managed to calm his beating heart and spoke.

“We will accept all of the conditions you have asked for. But, we agreed unanimously that there must be a mechanism to control you, who is beyond what we would consider insane.”

“A mechanism to control me? Are you going to put a leash on my neck?”

“… As much as I’d like to, we instead decided to deploy some men of our own who will act as both an advisor and Central’s contact in the battalion you will create.”

“So you’ll watch me at all times from my sides. Didn’t I say I won’t accept it if it isn’t exactly as I wished?”

“The agents Central will pick as advisors won’t be part of the men you can use as you wish, like you said. But, they will also never stop you or interfere with your actions. They will simply watch and report everything you do to Central.”

Isaac rubbed his chin pondering on what Mazelan said. He could understand why they’d be so upfront about keeping their eyes on him. Even Isaac himself wouldn’t let a mad dog like himself roam about freely. It was an acceptable condition.

“Fine. It’s much better than having a leash on my neck. I’ll yield this time.”

Isaac acted as if he was doing this out of good will, which irritated Mazelan. It was because of him that Mazelan was relegated from his place as the vice commissioner of the Department of Supplies. Instead, he was stuck in his room, toiling on paperwork regarding Central’s activity. It was true the work of Central was more important than the Department of Supplies, but the problem was that there was now a record that he had been relegated.

His mother, Charlotte, was a civilian who knew nothing about work regarding Central. She would always weep softly whenever she saw Mazelan, who was locked away at home while also being the centre of all the bad rumours in socials. It drove Mazelan mad as a son, but he couldn’t even let her know what the situation was. All he could do was bear with it as his mind agonized in frustration.

Yet the cause of all this misfortune was acting as if he was doing Mazelan a favour. Mazelan began to think that he was bound to die from what the other world called ‘stress’ one day. Yet Isaac, unaware of Mazelan’s thought, asked a question that just came to his mind.

“So how did you sort out the mess regarding my kidnapping? I am somewhat of a celebrity if I say so myself, so it should have made quite the news. Has it been concluded with the fact that I was kidnapped?”

“Don’t worry about it. Publically, you have returned to New Port City after forfeiting your inheritance from the Rondart family.”

“What?”

“One of the demonic turncoats that infiltrated Central was part of the Directorate of Strategy. It was his order forcing the Directorate of Strategy to plan your kidnapping. Currently, your subst.i.tute is active in New Port City. There couldn’t have been anyone else easier to replace than you. Everyone around you considered everything was normal when the subst.i.tute stayed locked inside at home without moving an inch. How could you be so lazy that no one would doubt it?”

“Aha! Is that how this goes? I have been repeating myself that I wanted to live a quiet life in a small village, so no one would suspect anything if I were to disappear after my time as administrator was to finish. There wouldn’t be anyone who’d actually look for me either, so making me disappear would have been simple. Seems like these guys from the Directorate of Strategy are quite smart.”

Isaac applauded in admiration, which Mazelan met with a sigh.

“Sigh, can you just stay put and not cause a scene?”

“Don’t worry. I’m the type who loves to train others but hates being trained myself.”

“… How is that any different from loving to hurt others while hating to be hurt yourself?”

Mazelan criticised Isaac, who acted as if he didn’t hear it.

“Ah! Now that I think about it, I forgot to talk about the conditions for my employment. Well, I’ve got plenty of money, so you can just pay me a normal salary. But I want only 5 work days a week, a guarantee that I can leave at 6 p.m. no matter what, and 60 days of leave every year. Of course, if I have to work overnight, you will have to pay me overtime.”

“Do you think this is some office job? What do you mean you get to leave at 6 p.m. no matter what! And 60 days of leave every year? Even I get only 15 days of leave! And I don’t even get to use most of it!”

“Then I’m not going to work.”

Isaac turned his face away with a pout, which pushed Mazelan over the edge.

“Shut up! We’ve already accepted the conditions! Do you really think you can make additional demands at this point?”

Mazelan shouted, and with that, he marched out the room fuming with rage. With the door slamming behind him, Isaac smirked and mumbled to himself.

“Did I go a little too far?”

Mazelan was perhaps the first person in this world that was friendly to him. Yet the fact that even he made no mention of his safety or wellbeing irked Isaac’s heart.

Perhaps it was pointless at this point. What little affinity he has with Isaac was bound to fall off after seeing what he was going to do from now on. No, he will grow to despise him. His life was meant to be hated by others.

With Mazelan being the last visitor, Isaac was left alone in his room. But Isaac didn’t feel lonely. In fact, he appreciated all the free time he had to imagine how he was going to screw this f.u.c.ked-up world.

And the conclusion he arrived was that he had only just taken his first step, and he was still lacking in information. All he could do was to create a very broad and flexible basis for now, and that it was going to be impossible alone.

He couldn’t trust anyone. And the information he received from those he couldn’t trust was included. Even if everyone says it’s true, it wasn’t completely so until he saw it himself with his own eyes. That was why Isaac couldn’t trust that all the talk regarding heaven and h.e.l.l as fact.

An individual couldn’t win against an organisation, especially if that organisation was the size of a nation. There was a limit to what a single person can do. Of course, in novels, protagonists and heroes would start the story by easily destroying an organisation alone, but he wasn’t an overpowered individual from such stories.

In order to fight against an organisation, he must create an organisation first. But he had a critical handicap; whatever force he was to make was likely to turn their backs on him with a single word from Central. It was going to be a difficult battle.

There was the option of joining a different faction as their subordinate and gaining their protection, but there wasn’t an ideal faction which he could cling onto for now. Knowing who to follow is the rule of thumb in rising through the ranks of any organisation. Yet all of these factions were busy trying to use him in their political struggles, so that option was impossible.

In fact, the very reason he wanted to screw this world was because of the political games that roped him in as a p.a.w.n so joining a faction and climbing through their ranks was out of consideration.

“It’s boring…”

It had been five days since he was locked in this room, and they were dull ones. All he could do was roll on his bed, smoke and eat. There was a maid who delivered food to him for every meal, but she must have heard something about Isaac. Whatever the rumour was, it made her quiver in fear whenever their eyes met. If Isaac even tried to utter a single word she would act as if she was about to cry, making it impossible for him to strike any conversation.

Enough time had pa.s.sed that all of his plans had been made, and now he was more occupied with how to waste his time. Suddenly, Ark Royales barged into the room. Isaac first thought that they finally caused a scene, unable to hold onto their anger. But they were unexpectedly calm, even polite. They courteously led Isaac away from the room, saying the Queen would like to see him.

Surprised by their sudden change of att.i.tude, Isaac left the room with them in bewilderment. Outside the room was Mazelan, who glared at Isaac in anger.

“Do you have a problem with me?”

“You… no. How could this be your fault. It’s just the world that has gone mad.”

Mazelan sighed like an old man who had given up on everything as he spoke.

“Preparations are over. The Queen would like to see you before you leave for New Port City today. Go.”

Isaac watched Mazelan stumble away with drooped shoulders with curiosity at first, but he quickly shrugged it away and walked to the laboratory, enjoying the exhibitions arranged throughout the corridor leading to the laboratory. It was interesting, no matter how many times he walked through it.

“Seriously, the very first thing you did was to cause such a scene.”

Yoo-rah said with a face drenched in exhaustion, which Isaac noticed in a split second.

“You seem tired.”

“And whose fault do you think that is? Have you any idea how exhausting it was for me, who spent multiple nights without any sleep reprogramming the Ark Royale?”

Yoo-rah shouted out in anger in response to Isaac’s attempt to comfort her. Isaac couldn’t help but feel curious at Yoo-rah’s words.

“Reprogramming? Are the Ark Royale robots or something?”

Now, Yoo-rah was the one confused at the situation.

“Didn’t I tell you before?”

“This is my first time hearing it.”

Yoo-rah shrugged her shoulders.

“You could say the Ark Royale are victims in a way.”

“Victims?”

“Yes. Once, we were lucky enough to terminate both the Hero and the Angel before they reached the stage of war. But the problem was those left behind. The normal believers would resolve themselves with time, but followers and fanatics had no hope of recovery. Normally, we would simply eliminate them all, but the birth of Ark Royale was a little special, so there were many who voted to let them live.”