Do Your Own Revolution

#054

Boom-! Boom-!

“That sound is……”

“It’s started.”

Explosions could be heard from the direction of the mansion, and the Zicklinte mansion, surrounded by sturdy castle walls, began to burn.

The burning noble mansion, the Imperial Army surrounding it, and the citizens cheering at the sight of us.

Right now, rather than being a suppression force defending the noble’s mansion from citizens, the Imperial Army had become…

“Nothing more than doorkeepers controlling the audience at a circus.”

After saying that, Feilun looked around at the surrounding crowd with a bewildered expression.

Like any mature modern society’s righteous and healthy protest culture, the scene of this public uprising was gradually transforming into a peculiar ritual somewhere between protest and festival.

“Burn it-!”

“Waaahh–!”

Among the cheering crowd, a straw effigy of Baron Zicklinte burned.

Seeing them sticking skewers into its crotch, several soldiers guarding the mansion couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“We should probably control the soldiers’ expressions.”

“Senior, you should do something about your face first. Aren’t you about to burst out laughing?”

When I turned around after saying that, Feilun was covering his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking.

With the commander acting like that, how could the soldiers stay still?

Still, looking at the burning effigy in the square, it wasn’t hard to understand why.

That straw doll the citizens made to represent Baron Zicklinte was impressively detailed even from a distance.

Not only did they perfectly recreate his balloon-like bloated body, but they even managed to capture his bald head.

How did they make a straw doll look so exactly like the Baron himself?

“By the way, collaborating with rebels is high treason that deserves immediate execution, let alone a court-martial, Eugene.”

“So, are you planning to report it?”

“Of course not.”

When I casually asked, Feilun shook his head with a smirk.

The deal Claude and I made was simple.

If we wanted to prevent indiscriminate massacre of citizens, we had to ensure that the citizens who rushed into the streets wouldn’t harm the Imperial Army in any way.

In exchange, the Imperial Army would allow the Revolutionary Army mages to enter and capture Baron Zicklinte without bloodshed.

‘You’ll give us the magic noble’s head if we don’t touch your people?’

‘The magic nobles and their Knight Orders are thorns in the Imperial Army’s side too. You’re from noble birth, so you should know that well, right?’

There were quite a number of Imperial nobles who participated in or supported the revolution.

Old noble families who had lost power struggles with magic nobles, or minor nobles who had been abandoned by them.

Having recruited such people, Claude and the Revolutionary Army executives were quite well-informed about the Empire’s noble society.

They couldn’t possibly be unaware of the factional fights happening among the Empire’s upper class.

‘The Imperial Army benefits by avoiding the burden of massacring territory residents, and you benefit by not losing citizens who would join your revolution. If we take down the magic noble who’s everyone’s enemy, isn’t it profitable for both sides?’

‘What if we refuse?’

‘We’ll load the armored train’s cannons with incendiary shells.’

‘W-What?!’

‘You crazy bastard! You’d burn down the entire city?!’

Incendiary shells.

At my threat to rain napalm fire on a city full of wooden buildings, the other revolutionaries’ faces turned pale.

But what could they do?

Without going this far, the Revolutionary Army wouldn’t cooperate with the Imperial Army.

And so, the contract between myself and Claude, the Imperial Army and Revolutionary Army, was concluded surprisingly smoothly.

I feel like I should give them a generous bonus up to the daily limit.

Maybe even take a photo with a thumbs up.

“Thanks to you, the Imperial Army won’t have to point guns at citizens. The only casualties in this uprising will be the Zicklinte family members in the mansion and a few rebels.”

“And we get to eliminate Baron Zicklinte, who’s part of the magic noble faction, without lifting a finger. It’s quite convenient from our perspective.”

As we chatted with the burning mansion as our backdrop, a scream rang out from behind us.

“Looks like it’s over.”

“What impressive lungs. How can we hear the screams all the way from here?”

Saying that, I drew Heresy from my thigh holster.

Guille, Ortega, and Matt gathered at my hand signal.

Loading the magic bullet Matt handed me into Heresy, all preparations for the assault were complete.

“Well then Senior, we’ll be going. Please take care of crowd control.”

“Going? Where?”

“To the Zicklinte mansion, of course.”

I replied to Feilun, who asked with a puzzled expression.

“There were no territory resident deaths thanks to the non-violent protest, and in return, the Revolutionary Army succeeded in taking Baron Zicklinte’s head. The contract between the Revolutionary Army and Imperial Army is complete with the Baron’s death.”

At those words, Feilun let out a laugh of disbelief.

The cooperation was over, and what remained were the Revolutionary Army who had entered the mansion and the Imperial Army surrounding it.

The situation was overwhelmingly in our favor.

“Though we were delayed in the process of suppressing the uprising, we should still provide support, even if late. That way we’ll have something to report to our superiors.”

After saying that, I walked toward the mansion with the three armed men.

Don’t worry, Claude.

I’ll beat you to within an inch of your life, retrieve Zicklinte’s magic imprint, and then let you go.

***

“Huff… Huff……”

“We won, we won……”

The luxurious Zicklinte mansion was no more.

All that remained were burnt ruins and the corpses of soldiers scattered about.

With the fall of the last knight, the battle at the mansion ended in the Revolutionary Army’s victory.

“P-Please spare me…! Please, just my life…! Ack?!”

“Shut up.”

Baron Zicklinte, his magical power completely depleted, was crawling on the ground like an insect.

Not wanting to hear any more of his voice, Claude shoved his gun barrel into the Baron’s mouth.

As if caught wrong on the gun sight, the Baron’s front teeth shattered with a crunch.

“Ugh… Uugh……”

“We don’t have time, Claude. If we delay, the Imperial Army will…”

The one who trailed off was Miles, a fellow member.

The three stroke magic imprint was glowing red from magic bullet use.

Looking at the faces of his fellow members who had fought together, they all appeared thoroughly exhausted.

‘That bastard won’t just let us leave quietly.’

The deal Eugene offered them was like a poisoned apple.

A deal closer to blackmail, using the territory residents’ lives as hostages.

Thanks to it, capturing the Baron became much easier, but the members, including himself, were now completely trapped in the Imperial Army’s encirclement.

“Leader! The comrades at the mansion entrance have stopped responding!”

“Kuk!”

At one member’s voice, Claude and the executives ground their teeth.

“As expected, they’re coming to capture us.”

“Everyone with strength left, prepare for battle! Miles!”

“I know! Five of you follow me! Snipers, standby at high ground! The moment you see an opening…!”

Before Miles could finish giving instructions, the barricade blocking the mansion exploded completely.

“The moment you see an opening what? Were you planning to aim for our heads?”

“……”

Three shadows gradually emerged through the thick smoke.

“Supreme Leader of the Revolutionary Army, Claude de Lascol. Surrender quietly and lie face down.”

“Guille. Those bastards don’t look like they’re going to surrender at all?”

“Even if they don’t look like they’ll surrender, regulations say we have to offer once, Ortega. We learned that at the military academy.”

“Kek, who actually follows that?!”

Three men wearing Imperial Army officer uniforms.

One burning with fighting spirit, one with a twisted smile, and the last one observing him with cold eyes.

“…Wait, three stroke?”

A flat voice devoid of any tension.

Ren’s eyes filled with shock when he saw the imprints carved on their arms, the puzzlement lasting only a moment.

“Impossible, how can Imperial Army officers, not Magic Corps, have magic imprints like that…!”

“It’s too early to be surprised.”

Looking at the revolutionary members who were too shocked to speak, I channeled magical power into my magic imprint.

Soon, massive Fireballs formed in the hands of all three men.

Claude and Miles hurriedly erected barriers against the huge fireballs that came without warning.

“Kugh!”

“What kind of power is this…!”

When the Fireballs hit the barriers, groans escaped from both men’s mouths.

Not just Miles with the same number of imprint strokes, but even Claude with his four stroke imprint.

What’s going on?

The magical power output from the imprints wasn’t this large, so how could they cast magic with such power?

Their confusion at seeing the three men lasted only a moment.

Along with a familiar sound, a shell casing ejected from the gloves the three men were wearing.

The all too familiar operating mechanism and magical power amplification.

Claude felt his mind going blank.

“Magic bullets…?”

They were using Revolutionary Army weapons right now!

“The new firing mechanism performs much better, doesn’t it? No need to carry it separately either.”

“The weight could be reduced a bit more. No, rather, how about mounting this on weapons?”

“Like that gun Eugene has?”

Eugene.

When that name left their lips, Claude frantically looked around.

If the Imperial Army had invaded the mansion, that bastard had to be here somewhere.

Where is he?

Where the hell is that damn bastard…!

“Lieutenant-!”

A gurgling cry caught Claude’s attention.

Baron Zicklinte, blood streaming from his mouth.

Following his gaze, Claude finally found the man he had been looking for all along.

“Kuk, kekuk…!”

“That idiot really isn’t helpful in life at all.”

A black-haired Imperial Army officer stabbing a knife into the neck of a sniper positioned on the railing.

Seeing that face, Claude’s eyes blazed with fury.

“Eugene Lorentz…!”

“This took longer than expected. Looking at the party composition, this shouldn’t have been difficult enough to drag on this long.”

Party? What does he mean?

Eugene muttered incomprehensible words while drawing a pistol from his waist.

A revolver with decorations all over it.

It was ‘Heresy’, the weapon of his master Maximilien.

“Ah, well done, Lieutenant! Quickly, quickly send those rebel bastards to hell…!”

Baron Zicklinte’s voice cut off with the gunshot.

Turning around, he had become a cold corpse with a hole blown through his head.

“Such sloppy finishing. The Zicklinte family’s magic imprint includes body regeneration abilities. Leave him like that and we’d get stabbed in the back.”

“…!”

He glanced at Baron Zicklinte’s corpse.

His front teeth, which should have been shattered, had grown back.

“Now that the deal is done, you’re going to arrest us?”

“Exactly. And while we’re at it, we’ll pin Zicklinte’s murder on you too.”

“You son of a bitch…!”

“If you don’t like that, you know what you need to do, right?”

Mocking the growling Claude, Eugene released magical power from his right hand’s magic imprint.

Dozens of red magic circles floating in the air.

Loading red Fireballs into them, Eugene spoke in a calm voice.

“Try to survive, you Revolutionary Army scum.”

With those words, dozens of fireballs shot toward the Revolutionary Army.

It was an immense conflagration that completely blocked their view.