Volume 17 - CH 4(2/3)
"Sir Gu. We can be expected to enter the port of Yokosuka tomorrow morning."
The captain of the freighter reported so to a Gu Jie who was looking at the sea in front of him. The deck of the freighter was completely covered by solar panels.
"Just as planned."
Without any trace of exhaustion from the long journey, Gu Jie answered in a firm voice.
Gu Jie is currently 97 years old. His outward appearance however was barely that of someone in his fifties. His hair was completely white, however, the wrinkles, sagging and age spots that one should normally find on someone of his age were inexistent.
"And also, umm.. Sir, my reward."
"I understand. Tomorrow at the morning twilight, I will apply my Magic."
"Thank you very much! Even after this journey ends, I promise my unwavering loyalty to you, Sir."
Gu Jie nodded with a pleased expression. Behind this mask however, he had nothing but contempt for the captain.
The reward this captain was talking about. Longevity and perpetual youth.
It was the truth that Gu Jie's 'surgery' could maintain a perpetual youth, his very own face was the proof of that.
However, even if he could guarantee a physical youth, longevity was out of his reach. He couldn't give genuine immortality.
This surgery of his was a magic developed in the Kunlunfang Institute, and it was the very reason of his presence in the Kunlunfang Institute.
Unsurprisingly, coming from humans with power, the Leaders of Dahan longed for perpetual youth. And while the Modern Magic Users in the Kunlunfang Institute replied that it was impossible, Ancient Magic Users assured them of the opposite. For the Ancient Magic Users whose position had fallen behind Modern Magic in the race of arms that the Kunlunfang Institute advocated, it had been a godsend.
The one who was developing the most promising magic among the Ancient Magic Users group was Gu Jie. Of course, it was his surgery of perpetual youth.
It was in the year 2049 that he used his magic on his own body, like a test subject.
To ascertain whether this magic could be used safely or not, he used it on nine apprentices in the year 2050.
After 5 years had passed, it was confirmed that Gu Jie's aging had come to a stop. His apprentices didn't develop any side-effects either, and it was then thought that a magic of perpetual youth had been achieved.
However, there was a drawback in this Magic. Certainly, this ‘Surgery of Perpetual Youth’ appeared to stop the aging. However, if the person the magic is performed on doesn’t have the aptitude, the compensation for staying young is to consume their life force. In other words, one's lifespan. There had been some cases of sudden death after three to six months.
A magic that acts for eternity is impossible. This holds true for both Modern Magic and Ancient Magic. The surgery of perpetual youth consists of implanting the magic inside of someone who then continually applies it.
This magic had been made specifically for Ancient Magic practitioners.
What would happen if a Magician tried to perform a magic that he has no aptitude for?
What would happen if this magic was used on someone who isn't even a Magician?
The surgery of perpetual youth gave the one answer to those questions.
When the men of influence from Dahan, who had already received the ‘Surgery of Perpetual Youth’ presented it to their kinsmen, Gu Jie explained to them the flaws in his Magic.
The ensuing result was the purge of the Ancient Magic Users' group.
Quickly learning the failure of his experiment, Gu Jie took his apprentices and fled to North America.
20 years later, Gu Jie realized that his magic also didn't prolong one's longevity either.
He realized it with his own apprentices' deaths.
In the end, the surgery that he had developed could only stop the degradation of one's outward appearance. The only reason Gu Jie lived up to this age was that he originally had a long life ahead of him.
It was this kind of imperfect Magic that the freighter's captain hoped for. From Gu Jie's point of view, it was quite a laughable matter.
The one who told the captain about the surgery of perpetual youth was none other than Gu Jie himself. To earn the captain's cooperation, he had told him “there is a secret art that allows one to conserve his youth until the day of his death”. If you cooperate with me, I will apply this magic on you.
It wasn't a lie. Without a doubt, this captain will conserve his current youth until his death. Which will probably happen within half a year.
Gu Jie himself was aware that his own time was getting dangerously short.
"I will be pretty busy from tomorrow onwards."
"I will also help you once we land on Yokosuka. Please, feel free to ask me anything, sir."
Without any knowledge about his real intentions, the captain stated so in an elated manner.
? ? ?
Even though Balance had asked Lina to give her some time, she went into action pretty quickly.
She left her office the morning of the following day and made arrangements for her journey. Her destination was the STARS Headquarters situated in the city of Roswell, New Mexico.
Wrapping up all the urgent deskwork she had to do for the day, she used the encrypting device at her home to safely transmit the data via e-mail. This encryption machine had been a gift from Kuroba Ayako, and the recipient of the e-mail was Yotsuba Maya. The content of the e-mail was basically the same as what Lina had reported to her, that an act of terrorism had been planned in Japan using stolen missiles and that the possibility of the mastermind, Jiedo Heigu, being a survivor of the Kunlunfang Institute was high.
Balance didn't include the secret information that Lina had shared with her however. That is, an information related to the scandal on the USNA government. Even though Balance formed an alliance with the Yotsuba Family she did not completely trust them. She had no reason to hesitate on cooperating with them, however, she couldn't endanger national interests.
The reply from Maya arrived when Balance was eating. The content of the letter had simple words of gratitude for the information provided. This kind of message had no real importance for her, but she didn't particularly mind. That was because this mail's purpose was simply to seal the deal regarding their alliance.
Finally, after reconfirming the schedule of each STARS Commander, she headed for the bathroom.
? ? ?
Maya had received Balance's mail at 8:00 A.M., Monday, January 28th, Japan standard time.
"Hayama-san, it appears that remnants of the Kunlunfang Institute are plotting an act of terrorism here in Japan."
"That is quite the important matter."
Hayama's answer was rather neutral. Of course, he was aware of what Maya had gone through in the Kunlunfang Institute. Taking her feelings into account, it was perfectly natural for him to not return a proper answer at once, even if neither anger nor hatred could be felt from Maya's voice.
"An important matter? A mere stray dog who lost his home?”
However, it wasn't like Maya was completely emotionless. You could hear slight disdain in her voice.
"Mistress, if there really is a survivor from the Kunlunfang Institute then that means he managed to escape from the previous Head of the Family."
Hayama lightly reproved her. Maya’s pride, to be more precise.
"We have no idea what sort of unusual talent he might possess. I strongly recommend we stay vigilant."
"I understand."
Despite responding so, Maya's lips curved into a smile full of disdain.
"Still, what are they hoping to achieve with small missiles? Japan is not a zone of conflict after all. Moving around carrying these is practically begging to be captured, don't you think?”
"During the Yokohama Incident, the guerillas who had concealed themselves in town beforehand had managed to prepare quite a few missiles."
"That was thanks to the camouflaged warship they had as backup, wasn't it?”
Objecting on reflex, Maya retorted.
"..Yet, it's true that there is no guarantee that we will be able to successfully prevent this planned act of terrorism."
"Even a Magician would die if hit by a missile while in a defenseless condition. Moreover, depending on their objective, we might have to deal with danger in another form altogether. There is a possibility of them dismantling the warheads and using them as bombs too. Back during the times of war, these kinds of suicide bombing attacks were regular occurrences."
Faced with Hayama's numerous examples, even Maya couldn't deny the necessity of dealing with it.
"Understood. Then let's look for this Jiedo Heigu. A lot of our workforce is focused on the preparation for the Master Clan Conference, however, so we won't be able to field too much personnel."
The Master Clan Conference will take place next month, in the beginning of February in 2097. In particular, this period was the reunion of the Ten Master Clans which happens once every 4 years.
The Conference will decide the members of the future Ten Master Clans for a duration of 4 years. There were 28 Houses which had the qualifications to become a Member of the Ten Master Clans, and everyone was in a hurry to perform the final tasks in order to have an advantage for the selection.
The selection will be decided by internal voting, and since only 28 Houses can participate, it will be nothing like large-scale elections or anything. However, it was necessary to make various arrangements as well as finding faults in other Houses to have the best possible odds.
"Should we talk about this matter with the other Houses?”
Maya pondered for a few moments before shaking her head from left to right at Hayama's suggestion of asking for the cooperation of the other Clans.
"I would rather not be a subject of gossip. Let me think.. Alright, spread the rumor that terrorists targeting magicians have infiltrated the country. With this, we should expect them to make the necessary moves. Could you work on this until lunch?”
"Understood, Mistress. They will be ready in two hours."
Search and Information Manipulation, giving his words this double- meaning, Hayama politely bowed.
? ? ?
9:00 A.M., Japan standard time, January the 28th, Gu Jie's freighter entered Yokosuka's port.
Immediately after landing, Gu Jie started to collect the required personnel for his plans. That being said, the arrangements had already been done beforehand. Despite losing the No Head Dragon Organization, Gu Jie had gathered quite the extensive know-how to make deals with the obscure sides of modern society during his days as a mastermind. As long as quality wasn't a crucial factor, it wasn't that difficult to gather personnel. No matter how prosperous a society is, unfortunate people exist.
The target had been confirmed even before the landing. Of course, the location for the Ten Master Clans Conference had only been shared between the concerned. However, using Hlieskjálf would allow one to easily uncover that information.
The super-hacking tool, Hlieskjálf. Gu Jie wasn't the type to qualify anything as ‘super’, but the fact of the matter is, there wasn't really any other expression strong enough to describe it.
Hlieskjálf's information gathering capability was effective worldwide. Gu Jie was aware that it was impossible to access information which only exists offline, however, in this day and age, information that couldn't be found using the network was practically nonexistent. No matter the complexity of the encryption, Hlieskjálf would decipher it. Even quantum encrypted transmissions that ‘cannot be intercepted without possessing the correct decryption key’ can be completely overturned and rendered powerless.
Who exactly invented this system? Who, and for what purpose, did this person send me this terminal? Even Gu Jie had first approached it with caution. Especially, when he discovered the hidden drawback in the system after having made a random search.
This drawback became clear all too soon.
Hlieskjálf records everything that the user investigates. The other Operators can also see it.
Still, they have no way of understanding who exactly made the search. What they know is ‘what has been searched’ and that's it.
Gu Jie remembered the disappointment he felt back then. That the system's creator would be able to see what exactly he searched for had been within his expectation. Even though the identities of the seven operators was supposed to remain a mystery with this system, Gu Jie wasn't the kind of person to take someone's words as gospel (At least, that's what he thought of himself). The administrator of this system, the person who most certainly sent this terminal to him, could probably understand who did what. If you were to acknowledge this fact and still wanted to use the terminal, then the fact that other operators could also search your history shouldn't matter that much.
Gu Jie didn't have any hesitation in using Hlieskjálf.
Of course, he always had in mind the possibility that the system could be lying. He didn't use it for every piece of information he wanted, however. There have been plenty of times where he collected information without relying on it, for the reasons stated above. But still, Hlieskjálf was an extremely convenient tool.
The problem he faced this time was that the Ten Master Clans might have predicted an attack if they had heard rumors of someone making investigations on the conference's location. Gu Jie didn't underestimate the power of the Ten Master Clans. It was also possible that if a person among the Ten Master Clans also had access to Hlieskjálf, an ambush would be waiting for him. Of course, he was extremely careful as to what keywords he used during his search, and just because things went smoothly up until now didn't mean that this time would be the same.
Taking this into consideration, he had prepared various plans in the eventuality of an ambush.
Gu Jie's purpose wasn't to assassinate the Heads of the Ten Master Clans. Socially ending the Yotsuba Family that destroyed the Kunlunfang Institute was his goal.
While seeing off his dolls who were heading towards the town of Hakone in freight vehicles, Gu Jie sneered at the dark pleasure swelling from within himself. These dolls had been made from various poor citizens of Yokosuka.
? ? ?
Even though Lina was slightly surprised at her training's interruption, she obeyed the orders and headed towards the base's control room.
Her companion was the Commanding Officer of the STARS First Unit, Benjamin Canopus. He was the person Lina was relying on the most, STARS' Number 2.
"Ben, what do you think this is all about?”
Canopus shook his head at Lina, whose voice betrayed a certain anxiety.
"Truth be told, I have no idea. However, nothing in particular has happened recently so I doubt this is going to be a scolding or anything of the sort."
It wasn't that rare for STARS Members to break things during their training. Things like training equipment, vehicles, and even facilities. Considering the STARS were training for combat situations, a certain degree of destruction couldn't be helped, and this was even more valid when Commander-Class personnel were training. Lina had heard various complaints about the budget from the base's commander.
"I-I guess so."
Canopus looked at Lina with a smile while she was mumbling to herself words of encouragement. He had a daughter who was only 2 years younger than Lina, and because of that, he’d sort of developed parental feelings for her.
Without knowing that her subordinate was pointing such warm eyes towards her, Lina tightly clenched her fists and was psyching herself up. ——Lina was unaware that her childish, cutesy gesture was further prodding Canopus' feelings.
Somehow successfully managing to put her uneasiness in a corner of her heart, she straightened her posture and adopted —— or at least she thought she had —— a proper expression for someone of the military, then knocked on the door of the Commander's Room. With a voice signaling her to come in, the lock of the door disengaged. Opening the door for herself, Lina instinctively raised her voice at the unexpected person in the room.
"Colonel Balance!?"
Right next to the commander of the base, who was behind his desk, was Colonel Balance sitting in a chair.
"Major, what are you doing. Come in."
Ordered by the irritated voice of the base's commander, Walker, who also had the rank of Colonel, Lina moved in front of the desk in a hurry.
Canopus followed Lina with a composed attitude. "Major Sirius, Major Canopus, at ease."
Walker talked to the two people who saluted in front of his desk. "Yes."
Lina and Canopus both adopted the resting pose simultaneously. "Colonel Balance has something to tell to the two of you." Saying so, Walker stood up.
"Then, Colonel Balance."
Balance stood up from her seat slightly after him.
"Colonel Walker. Thank you for allowing us to borrow your room for a few moments."
Walker and Balance saluted each other, then Walker went out of the room.
Locking the door using the remote control, Balance finally faced Lina.
"Major Sirius, even though I think you already figured out the reason for my presence, it's about yesterday's matter."
"Yes."
As she said, Lina had guessed that this could be related to the request she had formulated yesterday.
"It is unfortunate, however, that the Major's request cannot be granted." And the answer was as Lina had expected.
"We cannot carelessly allow the High Commander of the STARS, a Strategic-Class Magician to leave the country."
Even though she had become accustomed to this reason, she still couldn't accept it deep in her heart. Despite the fact that she fulfilled her duty when she was sent to Japan last year, it didn't change the fact that she really wasn't fit for such a task.
Thinking about it, dealing with a terrorist threat in a friendly nation that was allowed to exist due to her own army's blunder was, in fact, considered an obligation of STARS. At the very least, those were Lina's thoughts on the matter. Even more so considering the chances of the Mastermind being a Magician were exceptionally high.
"——That is the official reason on the matter, anyhow."
However, Lina's displeasure at hearing this was about to skyrocket.
"The truth is, higher-ups are starting to wonder if the Major holds excess sympathy for Japan. Some are even fearing that the Major would consider exiling herself to Japan. In other words, there is an issue of trust."
"Wait a moment! I have sworn loyalty to this nation, haven't I?!"
"I know."
Balance nodded with a calm expression at a Lina who instinctively reacted.
"I am not doubting the Major's loyalty. However, the fact you have Japanese lineage, and that you are still only a 17-year-old girl are causing them to doubt your allegiance."
Lina was mortified. For her, having mostly an Anglo-Saxon face, experiencing what basically amounted to racism was a first. Furthermore, considering it wasn't face-to-face discrimination but instead being whispered behind her back, her head was starting to boil from rage.
"I can't really find any other word than utter stupidity to qualify this. However, it is specifically because such fools exist that we must avoid giving them any chances. Major, you are our nation's greatest asset."
Still, despite her enraged state of mind, Lina wasn't so far gone that she forgot her etiquette training and completely ignored the words of a superior. Those remarks had been spoken for her sake.
"It is impossible to send Major Sirius to Japan. However, it isn't like we can just leave this matter unattended."
Balance took in a breath and put power in her next sentence.
"That is why, we will send Major Canopus. Major Sirius, is this alright?”
"..Understood. I will be on standby for further orders."
Swallowing her dissatisfaction, she saluted Balance.
Balance slowly nodded with a ‘very well’.
"In that case I will start to explain in more detail the mission to Major Canopus. Major Sirius, you may leave."
"Yes. Then, pardon me, Colonel."
Even though a part of Lina had wanted to explain things directly to Canopus, she had no confidence that doing so wouldn't generate jealousy, and that was why she obediently left.
"——The situation is as stated above. Major Canopus, do you have any questions?”
After having explained to Canopus everything, from the stolen missiles to ‘The Seven Sages’ information, Balance inquired so.
"No, I don't, Colonel."
It is unknown if there will indeed be an act of terrorism in Japan, and their only source of information had been the suspicious ‘Seven Sages’ as well. Is there any dissatisfaction to being given a mission based on such ambiguous intelligence? That had been the nuance in Balance's earlier question, but neither a question nor a complaint came up from Canopus.
"I see. In that case, Major Canopus, there is something I would like to ask you."
"Yes, what is it?”
Even though Balance carefully scrutinized Canopus' expression, not even a brow of his twitched. Feeling relief more than disappointment, Balance carefully continued.
"Major Canopus, no, allow me to call you Major Benjamin Lowes here."
In the middle of Balance's question, Canopus' eyebrows moved ever so slightly.
"The Major is blood-related to the Assistant of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Kane Lowes, right?”
"Yes. I think the Colonel is already aware but the Assistant of the Deputy Chief of Staff and my father are cousins, and he is my mother's cousin-in-law."
In other words, he is connected to the Lowes' Family both by blood and marriage, and with this kind of close relationship it wouldn't be exaggerated to say he's part of the upper echelons of society.
"To tell you the truth, the information brought to us by ‘The Seven Sages’ isn't limited to what I talked to you about earlier. I wish it was some kind of mistake but.."
Seeing Balance hesitate, Canopus' expression moved a little.
His expression had a faint ‘It can't be?’ feeling to it.
"It would appear that both the acquisition of the missiles and the terrorists leaving the country with them has been accommodated by the Assistant of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Lowes."
"..Are you saying that the Assistant of the Deputy Chief of Staff has been corrupted by the terrorists?”
To Canopus' question, Balance shook her head with a gloomy expression.
"If that was all there was to it, it wouldn't be so complicated."
"So that means there are other points of concern?”
Balance frowned before opening her mouth to answer.
"Truth be told, the possibility that he and the Deputy Chief of Staff decided to make use of Jiedo Heigu is higher than the corruption hypothesis."
While Canopus couldn't hide his shock, Balance decided to ask him something seemingly unrelated to the matter at hand.
"Major. What do you think about the Humanist Ideology?”
A popular opinion was that ‘humans have to live only using human abilities’, or at least that is the doctrine that the Anti-Magician Catholic cults go by. Again, this was a mere excuse to agitate the Anti-Magician sentiment.
However, Canopus' answer would be even more concise.
"Mass hysteria. Still, to effectively use this, it would require influence as well as extreme prudence, I think."
"As a Magician yourself, don't you feel threatened by all of that?”
"If it seemed like it was about to escalate then I do think some measures should be thought of. We Magicians have no reason to bow down to false charges after all."
"..You seem to possess pretty radical opinions."
"Colonel, you're misunderstanding something. I only think that it would be dangerous for the citizens if society didn't allow them self-defense. Those calumnious would-be victims incite racism and discrimination, something that has a high risk of breaking down any country, ours included, so we shouldn't take it lightly.'
"I understand your stance. But that is not the problem at hand." While saying this, Balance had an unpleasant expression.
"Lowes, the Assistant of the Deputy Chief of Staff, has a different thought process but appears to have arrived at the same conclusion as you."
Even though Balance was peering into Canopus' expression, he kept a cool, if somewhat brazen, expression.
"However, this is the country of freedom. It is a necessity to guarantee freedom of speech. No matter how good the cause, we cannot suppress it. At the very least, politicians think so."
"I agree with this, Colonel."
"..That is where the group Lowes belongs to decided to act, and they planned on giving the Humanists a target other than them, another country."
"So that they can perform their act of terrorism in Japan, and feel satisfied enough to not do it here as well?”
"Your sarcasm is unneeded, Major. This is something I don't agree with."
Balance reproved with a sour look, a Canopus that was wearing a smile full of derision.
"Forgive my rudeness, Colonel."
Thinking that he had gone too far, Canopus genuinely apologized.
Seeing Canopus apologizing, Balance realized that she might have been too high-strung herself and decided to resume the conversation.
"Putting that aside, if the information given by ‘The Seven Sages’ is to be trusted, Lowes’ group's objective isn't even the terrorist act itself."
"In other words?”
"It is nigh-impossible to limit the damage of a terrorist bombing to only the planned targets. Citizens will also unfortunately get involved in this."
"That is.."
It was the first time since entering this room that Canopus wore such an expression.
"With this kind of weaponry, it would be impossible to harm a Magician unless they were taken by surprise. However, if you were to prepare a bomb using tens of those missiles' destructive power, it would be difficult even for Members of the Ten Master Clans of Japan. Although a high-ranked Magician could definitely survive the explosion with a heat-proof barrier, the civilians who happen to be in the area wouldn't have a chance. If the explosion came from all directions, then even protecting the innocent would be next to impossible. As a result, only the civilians would suffer casualties. This was the scenario envisioned by ‘The Seven Sages’."
"And since Magicians of Japan let innocent civilians die under their very eyes, the Humanists would take them as their new target. Their energy would be concentrated on Japan, thus, the Anti-Magician movement in our own country would weaken. Moreover, the risk of Humanists resorting to radical measures out of frustration would decrease, is that it?”
"Indeed."
Canopus' eyes had a sharp light to them.
"In that case, my mission will be to restrain Jiedo Heigu's act of terrorism before it happens?”
"What I ask of you is in fact much more than that." Balance took a provocative stance.
"After last year's Parasite Affair, the Japanese authorities definitely won't see us in a good light. It will probably be impossible to capture Heigu on Japanese soil without alerting them. That will lead to an inquiry as to why we captured Heigu, and then they'll discover the weapons he planned on using had come from us."
"However, if this act of terrorism actually succeeds, the origin of the used weapons will probably be discovered as well. I think that it would be much more disadvantageous to not stop it beforehand."
"The difference between losing weapons and having them purchased from a black market by a terrorist versus letting a terrorist steal our weapons is quite vast."
"..So we're going to let innocent Japanese citizens be massacred?”
"I have already secretly warned Japanese Magicians about Jiedo Heigu's group of terrorists."
It wasn't as if Canopus could completely agree with Balance. However, he couldn't dispute the fact that there was a need for the USNA Army to cover their position. Before being a Magician, Canopus was a military man. This fact was one of the biggest differences between him and the virtuous Lina.
"Major. Your duty is not related to the execution of Jiedo Heigu's act of terrorism, whether it is before it happens-->>