Chapter 51 The Last Hope Dashed
“Let’s climb up on this…, can you do it, Delphine?”
“No problem.”
After a short climb, they came to an iron gate at the end of the ladder.
Lynn used his magic to open it with a quick flick of his wand, and dived in first.
As he righted himself, he gasped at the view of the room.
“… Lynn?”
Delphine called his name in surprise, and he stiffened, holding out his hand to her.
“… Delphine. Don’t look so surprised.”
She took his hand and stepped through the door.
Delphine clamped her hands over her mouth to keep the scream from escaping.
All of her captors were in this room.
Floating in a giant test tube.
The sight of the test tubes, lined up endlessly on either side of the hallway, was grotesque.
Each one was connected to a giant pipe running above them all.
Lynn shouted, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Damn it! What the hell are they doing in District 3, and what do they think we are?”
“Let’s go to… Where that giant pipe is headed.”
Belly muttered impatiently.
It’s a deserted space anyway.
They picked up their pace and began to run down the hall.
Delphine bit her lip tightly, trying not to look at the people in the test tubes on either side of her.
If she looked at each of their faces now, she felt like her heart would break.
She ran for what seemed like forever.
After what seemed like an eternity, the corridor ended and the end of the pipe came into view.
And there, they realized why Nicolai had called this place “the factory”.
And at the end of it all, there it was: transparent phosphorus.
The huge pipe connected to the test tube containing the phosphorus hummed and vibrated loudly.
Black sparks flew, and the transparent phosphorus turned black.
Behind him, a pile of clear phosphorus lay in a heap.
Moving belts transporting freshly charged black crystals from place to place.
This was literally a factory.
Humans as fuel, phosphorus as charge.
“… Ugh.”
A pained sigh erupted from his lips.
Lynn was no exception to the bitterness.
Only Belly managed to keep a stoic expression in the face of this hellish scene.
“Someone will be coming to collect the… charged phosphium, so let’s get out of here first.”
He gestured casually toward the outside.
Now that they had confirmed the identity of the black crystal, it was time to leave.
But Delphine hesitated, unable to immediately comply with the order.
Her footsteps never slowed.
Her gaze caught sight of the pale figure inside the test tube.
All of these people, all of these people, must they leave them behind?
“… There’s nothing we can do now.”
Belly led her away firmly.
Delphine was dragged by the hand and led out of that horrible room.
***
They walked first through the corridors and then back down into the underground space.
“Are you okay?”
Lynn asked worriedly, looking at the blue-eyed Delphine.
Delphine leaned against the wall, feeling weak and ready to collapse.
It wasn’t just the shock of seeing such a horrific sight.
The moment she saw the human test subjects lined up in the hallway.
Every last bit of hope she had for Ioannes had been shattered.
She wondered what other twists and turns might be in store for him here.
Some proof that he wasn’t so evil after all.
Even those foolish hopes were now burned away, leaving nothing but hot ashes in her heart.
“The slave. He has an unusually fierce and cruel temper…”
“Pride, that inhuman, cruel man…”
… But it wasn’t.
He really, really wasn’t.
Delphine squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her pupils burn.
“We need to get out of here before we’re seen.”
Belly, looking warily around, muttered softly.
“Right. Back the way we came…”
“No.”
And just like that, while they were trying to figure out how to escape.
“… Delphine?”
“My lady?”
Delphine stood, her legs still shaking from the shock.
Her emerald eyes burned with more heat than ever as she raised her head once more.
Her face, still as pale as ever, was as determined as ever.
“Delphine? What do you mean, not…?”
“You saw it just now, there’s a room somewhere in here where they keep the phosgium, the raw material for the black crystal.”
They got this far with just that small piece of phosgium in Lynn hand.
Capturing more of it would change the course of this battle for years to come.
Belly’s eyes, which had been calm and cool throughout words, immediately changed.
The eyes of a competitor.
Lynn, who had noticed him, immediately cried out.
“It’s too dangerous!”
“Yes, it is. It’s definitely dangerous.”
Belly muttered, his eyes shining.
“… But it’s definitely an opportunity I can’t miss.”
“Keep your wits about you, Belly. If anything goes wrong with you here, it’s the end of La Rouge.”
Lynn shouted harshly, his brow furrowed.
“This isn’t a gambling game!”
“No. I told you, the game has already changed… From the moment she walked into our headquarters.”
Belly looked into Delphine’s sparkling emerald eyes and spoke in a low voice.
“… So let’s put our faith in our lucky goddess.”
***
From the Oval Office on the top floor of the factory, the northern barrier could be seen in the distance.
Pride stood still on the balcony, gazing at the wall in the distance.
The end of District 3.
The great barrier that separated this fundamentally twisted Empire from the rest of the world.
It had been a long time since he had visited this factory.
Normally, he hadn’t cared for such a place, a place that served the Emperor’s selfish interests.
The reason for his sudden involvement in the human hunt was obvious.
There was only one person in the world who could move him.
Delphine.
Delphine Pembroke.
A few nights ago, on the night of the full moon, she had asked him abruptly.
“Ioan. Please tell me the truth…”
He fiddled with the black crystal in his hand, deep in thought.
“You, you must have liked me, too…”
Why did she say that, suddenly.
Did she know?
What the miserable slave had felt for her then?
‘… You knew, too, and you pretended not to.’
A bitter smile tugged at the corners of Pride’s mouth.
It was the one word in her sentence that caught him off guard.
‘You, too.’
She must have said it without thinking.
Like a child rubbing salve on a slave’s back without much thought, unaware of the consequences of her actions.
Even now, it was only him who held onto her words, letting his thoughts run away with him, and acting out of character.
He was still treating himself as the slave he was then….
He felt ridiculous and miserable.
“What is it about the Black Crystal that interests you, Lord Pride?”
A voice from behind him made Pride turn around slowly.
The Duke of Purcell was sitting on the couch in his office, smirking.
He had recently been invited to Veritas by the Emperor.
He swirled the wine glass in his hand and added with a sneer.
“Isn’t this something your lordship doesn’t need anyway?”
“…”
Without another word, Pride sat down at his desk in the Oval Office.
Unperturbed by his cold demeanor, the Duke continued.
“I really envy you, My Lord, for I am now afraid to return to my old, barbaric life, haha!”
The man was full of pride.
It was a common attitude among those who first heard of the Empire’s secrets and joined Veritas.
A sense of entitlement, that they had been specially chosen by the Emperor to share the secrets of the Empire.
The arrogance of suddenly gaining power.
The Emperor, and every other member of that ridiculous name, Veritas.
… Such filth.
And the cowardly, cowardly old Emperor. Part of him wants to cut them all down with a single blade.
But it’s something he must endure if he is to keep her safe in this Empire.
To protect Delphine.
That is his only purpose in life.
‘And you want me to tell you the truth?’
An impossibility.
Pride laughed bitterly.
He would not let her have access to this sordid truth, not with everything he had.
No matter what it takes…
“Lord Pride!”
Just then, Walter, the Deputy Knight Commander, shouted from outside his office.
How could he forget to knock? He was always so well-groomed and polite.
Realizing that something untoward had happened, Pride immediately sprang up from his desk.
“What’s going on?”
There was no chance of an unexpected accident happening inside the factory.
Everything in this factory was automated and powered by the black crystal.
It was a place where the obsessions of past Emperors, who distrusted humans too much, were realized.
Walter turned to him and shouted, blue in the face.
“Well, downstairs…!”
