Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Baiyi marched out of the Imperial Chamber and walked into the Supreme Executive Building, which was nearby. After the incident, the New Empire’s prominent figures and leaders were waiting in Baiyi’s office. The office was being used temporarily as a Situation Room.
Baiyi raised his hand, a gesture for the meeting to begin. “Any actual figures on the casualties yet?”
“A neighborhood of immigrant workers in The Resplendent City was targeted. Our current estimates are about a hundred dead and three hundred injured. Most of the victims are immigrant workers. Our crime scene investigators believe that this might be the weapon used,” the Hitman Walker — who was the Minister of Security — said, finishing his report, after which he raised his palm.
A three-dimensional holographic image of a bomb appeared atop his bomb. The explosive resembled an unusually large pineapple. The experts, however, knew that it was a B-22 Magic-guided Cluster Munition. This explosive was made by top professionals in science, magic, and magical engineering; the explosive used to be a part of the arms that the Empire gave to Otherworlds in exchange for cheap immigrant laborers.
In the process of growing into what it is today, the New Empire’s demand for morally-repugnant arms plummeted. Hence, production of the B-22 Magic-guided Cluster Munition — which some nicknamed “Big Pineapple” — was stopped. A new one had not been made for so long that it took Baiyi some time to recognize the holographic image.
How did something like this end up in the hands of terrorists?
A spokesperson for the Imperial Intelligence Bureau stepped forward. He was a fifty-year-old graduate of Da Xue and had contributed so much to the development of the new world that he was now one of Empire’s founding fathers.
“This explosive has not been produced in a long time, and it is no longer in the market; only a few factories under us still have it. Please, teachers, don’t look at me like that. It is a useful weapon that is cheap to produce, and this makes it a favored tool for political revolutions and rebellions…”
The New Empire did not try to control vassal states, to protect their independence and sovereignty. At least, that was the official stance.
“Tell me. Am I wrong to assume that your agency, which admits to manufacturing this thing, ought to be the most informed of this matter?” Baiyi said in a low voice. Everyone present could hear the cold undertone in his words.
“N-not at all, S-Sire!” The man jumped as though he had been pricked underfoot by a needle. “H-honestly, Sire, this all stemmed from a misunderstanding. It all started from here,” the Da Xue graduate said as a holographic screen appeared in midair, projecting an unusual emblem: the picture of a goat. This was the coat of arms for the Shensha Empire, one of the Empire’s strongest vassal nations.
The Shensha Empire was a large and prosperous Otherworld that was already peaceful before been discovered by the New Empire. After surrendering to the New Empire, Shesha Empire became one of the New Empire’s main sources of raw materials; it also had a thriving consumer market. This made Shensha Empire hold an esteemed position amongst the Otherworlds subservient to the New Empire.
After a decade-long diplomatic relationship with the New Empire, about thirty emperors in Shensha Empire had risen to the throne and were later replaced. The Shensha Empire had recently signed several agreements with the New Empire for bilateral prosperity, accepting the New Empire’s help to modernize its society with magi-tech. These were carried out via many contracts and projects.
However, this did nothing to pacify critics. These critics considered the New Empire to be an evil overlord behind the untimely death of the thirty emperors of the Shensha Empire. They believed that the New Empire’s official stance of neutrality was just a front used to hide its evil intent. As the New Empire grew, these critics increased their efforts to resist it. They even went as far as contacting forces in other vassal Otherworlds that shared their view. These forces coalesced into a bigger force called the ‘Anti-Rohserl Alliance’.
The New Empire had tried to address the accusations. The empire’s ambassador had claimed that diseases and freak accidents had caused the untimely deaths of some of Shensha Empire’s emperors, while the others were assassinated by psychotic gunners. The New Empire denied having a hand in any of the deaths.
“So you’re telling me that we’re capable of making and breaking thirty emperors of the Shensha Empire, but we can’t instantly deal with a puny resistance movement? Can this stupid day get any more frustrating?!” Baiyi grumbled. Suddenly, his phone, which was in his pocket, vibrated, so he took it out. He had received two new messages.
One message was from the Archmage. “You imbecile! You’re the lamest emperor I’ve ever met! SHAME! Where’s our military? Where are those naval forces you boast about so much? Are they all for show?”
The old man was furious, but one would wonder if the reaction was as innocent as it seemed. Baiyi believed that the old man was concerned about his Forward Sci Group’s bear market in Shensha Empire and the possibility of losing some of the company’s returns. Surely, the old man did not just make an apoplectic rant because he feared losing money, did he?
The second message was from Undine. “You must judge those terrorists harshly!” m
‘After discarding your pride and submitting your body for some rounds of wild sex to raise your family’s business, you’ve decided to hold off your plan for this? ‘ Baiyi wondered. The terrorists had given him an excuse to indefinitely delay judgment on the troublesome silicon mining bill. The two capitalists involved, the Archmage and Undine, knew that the terror attacks would harm their profits, so, to no one’s surprise, they united in the face of a common enemy.
Baiyi pocketed his phone and turned his attention back to the alumni. “So, not only did your agency fail to exterminate these thugs, but it also accidentally supplied them with arms? The weapons that threaten us are actually our own?”
“Grand Principal, operations carried out outside our state are many times more complicated than those carried out within. More importantly, the Anti-Rohlserl Alliance has begun to spread its rhetoric within Shensa Empire, claiming that we are an all-consuming evil. You must understand that we now work with insufficient and shaky support,” the alumni explained. “Shensha Empire is now, more or less, the patron for Anti-Rohlserl sentiments. The empire abuses our dependence on their trade relationship…”
“Ooh, you just reminded me!” The Painter Walker, who had now become an Ambassador-at-large, said. “Shensha Empire has been advocating for mass proselytization in our beautiful Empire, with the excuse that many of their people are labor workers here. Knowing that you dislike religions, I shut the idea down instantly, to their resentment.”
The word ‘religion instantly triggered an alarm in Baiyi’s mind, and his reluctance to deploy the imperial military vanished. “Where are our naval forces?”
“Anywhere you would like them to be,” replied the Thane Walker, whose uniform was decorated with the medals of many ranks.
“Oh, I’m so excited! It’s been a long time ago since we mobilized our ‘navies’, right? The last time we did, all we had were some small boats, I remember,” the Painter Walker exclaimed. He rubbed his hands together in excitement, imagining the moment Shensha’s representatives surrender just seconds after seeing the New Empire’s military.
“Hammerhead Shark Gen-1 — our very first battle spaceship — may not be as powerful the cutting-edge Hammerhead Shark Gen-5, but it is not to be underestimated. It’s still in service and regularly used for naval training,” the Thane Walker clarified.
“How long would you need to decimate their forces?” Baiyi asked.
The Thane Waler confidently replied, “Definitely in less time than it takes to produce a battle marionette.”
“Good. I want our plan on my desk as soon as possible,” Baiyi calmly said and made to leave his office. There were still other matters that he had to attend to.
Baiyi did not know how a bomb of that size was able to pass undetected through the Empire’s rigorous security procedures, neither could he understand why it was detonated in a neighborhood of immigrants. However, Baiyi decided that understanding the big picture was enough; there was no need to investigate the most minor of details.
Baiyi’s priority was to pacify the capitalists that own properties or investments in Shensha Empire and find time to listen to a panel of expert’s briefing of the economic ramifications of the terror attack. Any hope he had of returning hope was gone. This was why he had yet to know that his youngest daughter had run away from home or that his other daughters had been on a misadventure.
“Why… Why did this happen?” Mia wailed. Her beautiful, jade-like hands were no more.
The collision of two Laws had caused terrible changes to their reality, and now, her hands had turned into a stump. Now, Mia resembled a plush doll, whose body could be segmented into “round head” and “slightly larger round body”.
“I… I’m so sorry… Oh, I didn’t mean to do any of this…” Noirciel’s voice echoed nearby. Mia turned her head to the direction and saw that the Angel had been reduced to a cute chibi form commonly seen in mobile games, spotting a large head and stout body.
“What are we going to do now, Big Sisters?” Bai Vye asked nervously. Outwardly, she looked the same as she always was except her skin oddly reflecting light in the same manner as plastic does. Her actions, too, had become quite stilted.
“Can’t seem to… contact Dad,” Bai Yuu added, frowning on her phone. “There’s no signal at all…”
“Oh, you look pretty fine, Little Yuu,” Bai Vye observed, extending her arm towards her sister for a pinch with the dexterity of a puppet.
“No, Big Sister,” Bai Yuu murmured and shrank backward. “You’ll wrinkle me.”
She turned to her side, and her sisters noticed that she had become only a few millimeters thick — or rather, paper-thin.
“Arrghh! My poor sisters!!!” Dolly Mia cried, but no matter how hard she wept, there were no tears.
“Um, where’s Little Yin? I mean, she can’t possibly be able to sneak around in her new state, right?” Noirciel suddenly asked a rather disturbing question.
Bai Yin initially decided to hide in her mansion in her stealth state after her altercation with Mia until her sister’s steam blew off. But when she heard Noirciel’s suggestion to find her by using Arbiter Rights, she panicked and slept into the transporter portal whence Noirciel came.
Fortunately, this self-serving act inadvertently saved her from the effects of the Arbiter Rights accident, allowing her to escape being trapped in the bizarre peril as her sisters.
