Chapter 97 (1/2)
When Rizzly passed on theit at first and was still in disbelief even after being told a second time She immediately left off to ask Isaac herself Meanwhile, the volunteers were left dule soul screamed in excitement or jumped about at the news They were si on the volunteers’ ot back to their senses was to eat They invaded the kitchen in a frenzy, driven by the relentless starvation, devouring everything within whether it was cooked or not Once they ate their fill, they all collapsed onto the floor, having been deprived of sleep for so long Duke Corduroy and his instructors received the news of the training’s end and decided to visit, only to walk into these volunteers during their ravenous feast They were at a loss for words, bearing witness to as once a group of bright students of noble lineage now turned into a band ofonto the ground to sleep
After sleeping for a considerable amount of time, the volunteers’ sanity started to return Aardness took root as they began re behaviours, but it was only for a moment Everyone here had seen each other at their worst already
The next course of action for the volunteers was to clean the themselves that the bathwater needed to be replaced three times over They returned to their former selves once they donned clean clothes
“… I am awed by your deter, and will ask that you safeguard this word as Central’s agents of the Directorate of Security by acco your missions to the best of your abilities”
“…”
Mazelan i for the entire ti was over, and he brought Central’s uniforht of thirty agents fully equipped and in uniform set quite the atmosphere, but they were deathly silent when Mazelan finished his speech Mazelan was alarmed at the unexpected lack of cheer and switched places with Isaac aardly
As soon as Isaac got on the stage, the agents saluted Isaac in a singleto their parade rest stance
EDN: Here’s an ie, and here’s a website with context
Isaac spoke as he peered at the agents with cold eyes
“retards”
“…”
There wasn’t a single reaction fro co they had experienced up to this point
“retards who volunteered, tempted by the rewards Remember this Central turned a blind eye when I tried to kill you Which anisation treats expendables dearly Only cast aside when needed”
“…”
“I will only take missions that Central finds difficult to deal with, and I will resolve it in a way that Central will not be happy with If you wish to return alive and restore your family’s honour or live out your lives buried neck deep in wealth, demonstrate absolute obedience to my every order and survive to the best of your abilities”
With that, Isaac boldly stepped down froe, replaced by Reisha who shouted
“It’s over! Let’s go have our ents There wasn’t a single cheer, any excitement, or the sense of accoh a trial
With the event gone through rather quickly and silently, Mazelan approached Isaac with a frown to complain
“What does that make me if you end it so quickly?”
Mazelan had carefully crafted his speech by pushi+ng the absolute lilossed over Mazelan’s complaint without a care
“It’s to everyone’s favour if we go through this founding celebration that nobody likes as quickly as possible”
The order of the Directorate of Security’s founding ca Mazelan attended this event, carrying with him the written order with the Emperor’s seal and approval from the Grand Council But this event was rather barren, considering it was to celebrate the founding of Central’s new directorate
No, it was difficult to even call it an event nobody from Central had attended the ceree’s instructors nor Duke Corduroy were present
“Anyhow, I’ home, so call hter as if Isaac had ? Your work isn’t done yet”
“Wo that’s harsh Even I was going to give the, and you want to deploy theht away? No wonder Central’s cruel inside out, ith the higher-ups setting examples like this”
“… I have questions as to why Central is cruel and why a holiday would last for h”
“What’s that?”
“To visit the Forbidden Lands”
“The Forbidden Lands? Why there?”
“It’s a field trip They visit the spawning ground of the gates and see the battalion that protects the area Truth is, recruits aren’t treated as official agents of Central until they visit the Forbidden Lands”
“Such malpractice must be left behind Therefore, the Directorate of Security won’t be participating in such behaviour…”
“This isn’t malpractice but a formal procedure”
“Tsk! This is why paper pushers are so difficult to deal with… Then take the agents and go I’ home nonetheless”
“I told you already It’s a foro, you have no real power as the Director of the Directorate of Security”
“Do I even have permission to use this so-called authority?”
“They s in secret, but they won’t do it out in the open, at least”
“But it’s still annoying to go…”
Mazelan sighed watching Isaac seriously conte forced to appease to someone as petty as Isaac was miserable
“Don’t be like that Look, I even reserved a special transport for it”
“Special transport iant airshi+p in front of him
“It is a special transport, specialised in traveling into the Forbidden Lands”
When Mazelan said ‘special transport,’ he didn’t mean that it was reserved for Directors but a transportto the Forbidden Lands Isaac continued to grumble that he’d been baited and raised his head to look at the giant, spherical body of the shi+p
“Is this thing going to explode?”
“Hindenburg?”
“… You knoell”
“Hydrogen and heliuht”
“… Is that ic too?”
“Of course”
“I swear, this …”
Mazelan s and left Isaac when the captain of the shi+p called out to him Left alone, Isaac looked at the airshi+p, unsatisfied, when Kunette and Reisha hesitantly approached him
“Um, sunbaenio?”
“H Reisha’s plea-ridden request Their body language was practically screa at Isaac to let them skip the trip, even as they tried to maintain composure out of courtesy Isaac turned to look at the faces of the agents boarding the airshi+ps He found two distinct reactions
Exciteraduated froents had a mild scowl on their face as they forced their feet to hterhouse
Even that vicious Kainen had an uneasy expression, unlike his usually ferocious attitude Isaac turned back to look at Kunette and Reisha, who replied with an aard chuckle
Isaac asked the two, seeing that even Kunette, who refused to stay th apart from him, didn’t want to follow Isaac
“What’s the reason?”
“It goes whooosh and swooosh!+”
“And pooof and fwooosh”
Reisha and Kunette waved their hands wildly as they acted out all kinds of sounds Then, Rivelia, Mazelan, and an old man, as the captain of the shi+p, came back to Isaac
“What’s up with those two?”
“They’re saying they don’t want to go”
The captain s with the two
Isaac couldn’t help but feel worried after seeing even Rivelia, who had been completely devoid of ehtly as she nodded
“What’s the reason?”
Rivelia quickly explained for Reisha and Kunette, ere flailing their ar noises
“It shakes A lot”
“Shakes? That’s not how airshi+ps work Is it different in this world? Well, I guess there’s no reason to take solossed over the issue, thinking that the two siave therinned and disappeared quickly froe his iven the opportunity Meanwhile, Rivelia lost her chance to go further into detail as to why that was the case Her ape for air, she didn’t have time to explain as Isaac o either? Then why don’t you go back home?”
“… No sir”
Rivelia si face He’d know once he experienced it Isaac nodded without a care at Rivelia’s reply and spoke to the captain
“I can’t possibly ride this plain airshi+p as Central’s Director Prepare a safer and sturdier plane for my use”
The captain looked at Isaac blankly for a hter He immediately walked over to his sailors and repeated what Isaac had said, and the entire group fell on their knees in laughter
Isaac angrily looked at the situation in silence, when Mazelan said to Isaac as he sighed
“All of the one to the Forbidden Lands in airshi+ps Do you really think they’d have a personal plane just for you? Not to mention, only airshi+ps can enter the Forbidden Lands”
“Why’s that?”
“I told you before, that there’s constantly a ht all those battles to defend the gate in such a dangerous environment?”
“Haven’t I told you?”
“Tell me what?”
“No matter how ferocious the storm is, its centre is calm”
“… Eye of the storents left quietly and secretly without a single farewell fro aside the question whether airshi+ps could travel up to the stratosphere or not, the slow-nificent view unlike the fast planes, giving the passengers the i on the clouds
There was hardly any swaying in the shi+p, so Isaac found it difficult to understand why Kunette and Reisha were so ada their hands and the words they’d used to describe their reason and deduced that it was because they had a bad experience by running into a storm out of poor luck
Their actions did make Isaac nervous at first, but it had been a decent trip so far The food was nice and he was treated as he should be, other than the sailors glaring at him as if they were ready to spit in his food at anyin the sky for three days, Isaac experienced just how large this Empire was and also silently cursed his foolishness for never suspecting the Ey It was necessary if the Empire were to administer such vast territories at ht broadcast that they had just passed through the northern reservations and arrived at the Forbidden Lands
“… That’s the mana storm?”
Isaac couldn’t help but yelp out in astonishment the moment he entered the observation post and the power of nature’s
Ahead was a wall of dark red clouds extending to every direction like a wall barring their way To the left, to the right and even beyond the horizon, the clouds were ever present along with irregular lightning strikes that flashed about like the lights in a nightclub
“That’s no joke”
Isaac admired the view ahead as he enjoyed his s
“shi+t! To think I’ain”
Mazelan and Rivelia entered the observation post They see for Isaac all this time When Mazelan saw the mana storm, his body treht? I really don’t want to experience flying in the skies withabout? Do ith your body?”
“What? Weren’t we landing here and traveling on foot?”
Rivelia slowly turned her head ahile Mazelan smirked and replied
“That’s one way to co into that storht”
“This is the order of the Director Withdraw ied in the face of Isaac
“The chain of command in an airshi+p is the sa here You can try to convince the captain if you’re confident”
“How is an airshi+p supposed to travel through that?! We’d be in pieces long before we arrive!”
“That would be the case if we threw ourselves without a thought”
“Then are you saying there is a method?”
“Of course! Do you really think we’d use an airshi+p for no reason?”
“shi+t! I was a fool to believe your words… So this hy they were so desperate to skip out”
Isaac moaned as he suffered aof the shi+p The eration in the slightest
Isaac had wondered why there existed a set of rope restraints on the chair until he experienced this The method Mazelan spoke of was the most brutish and foolhardy one
The Forbidden Lands was comparable to the North American continent in size And this stor nonstop for hundreds of years, co that area
The method to pass in and out of the stor into the centre So if one threw their bodies and allowed the wind to carry theate was One would arrive in ood wind, but if unlucky, you’d be stranded inside the storht broadcast say that they were now , Rivelia took one of the seats in the observatory and started putting on all the seatbelts to the point where she looked er