[MLV] 39. Information Blackout (Patreon)

The sky was a dull grey.

A pair of horns was aimed toward it, piercing through a metal helmet.

A lone Vaelrin officer heaved a heavy breath, blood trickling down his forehead, his face obscured by the shadow of his steel helmet’s visor. In front of him was his sword, planted on the field. There was no point in using it anymore. Painfully, he spoke to a crystal-powered communication device attached to his hand, which was connected to similar devices used by other Vaelrin officers present within the exclusion zone.

“This is Tower Fifteen reporting. Tower Fifteen is overrun. I’m going to detonate the bridge connecting tower fifteen to the rest of the security perimeter, but the enemy will no doubt cross the river in no time. I doubt any of you will be able to stop them.”

His back rested on the wall of the bridge he was on. Meanwhile, a monstrous spider crawled on the bridge toward him. The last wave of distortions devastated their last-ditch defenses in the riverline, preventing him and his men from pulling out. The best they could do was to drag as many devils with them before falling in the field of battle, and this officer had to personally dispatch dozens of them before falling on his current position.

Unfortunately for him, the horde was an unending tide.

His eyes briefly stared at the corpses of his comrades, the same men he lived with, fought with, laughed with, ate with, drank with, and soon, would die with. He doubted that there were survivors out there, and if there were, they would be too injured to survive anyway. 

His unit did what was asked of them. They fought to their last crystal, down to their melee weapons, down to the last man—all for great Alsatia.

In the end, they wouldn’t even be recognized for it.

Using his magic, he activated dozens of magic crystals attached below the bridge, giving them the command to begin a detonation process, causing them to slowly light up. While his will to live died, his heart, which was full of hatred, continued to beat, knowing that if they, the demon brigades, couldn’t stop this threat, then that meant some of those nasty virtous folk were going to suffer too. 

They’d have a taste of this nightmare at last.

Best of all, they would all deserve it. He asked over and over again for support and reinforcement so they could defend this tower for them, but the bastards ignored him and his men. Even when they acted in the virtuous folk’s interests, they were still stabbed in the back.

The burning hatred in his heart grew so much that the officer genuinely wished that the black dungeon’s devils would kill them all. He didn’t even care if his fellow Vaelrin would die in the process anymore. Though, at the very least, he was going to give his comrades some fighting chance to at least receive a dignified warrior’s death.

“It’s alright if none of us can stop our enemy. Even with the odds stacked against us, we’re doing our best. Our honor is assured.”

He looked at the distortion approaching him as he gripped his communication device tightly.

“As for the pigs who left us to die here,”  the distorted spider finally reached him, raising one of its sharp appendages above his head, yet there was no fear in his eyes. Instead, he smiled viciously. “You’ll get what you deserve.”

The crystals underneath the bridge flashed brightly, and within a second, everything up to half a mile away from the bridge was vaporized.

Lucille suddenly felt her headache flare up out of nowhere.

Even so, a practiced smile graced her face as she entertained her elder sister, Princess Marie-Noelle Le Jaunne de la Mirenoire, who was supposed to be second in line to the throne, until the emperor decided to ignore that and make Lucille crown princess. While she looked more mature than Lucille, the two sisters were similar in looks, hair color, and eye color, though Marie’s blonde hair was of a darker shade.

The two shared tea and macarons, talking about fashion and court gossip, as today, Lucille was on the last day of a weekend visit at the main residence of the imperial family—Palais de Celestine. While the sisters were at odds with each other due to the ongoing succession dispute, the members of the House of Mirenoire largely kept this behind closed doors, and even amongst themselves, there was a consensus that they should maintain peace and harmony between them even if they challenged their respective claims to the throne. 

Everyone, including Lucille and Marie, knew that their position as elven royalty was currently standing on a shaky house of cards. 

While they were the most powerful individuals of the empire, whether that be in terms of magical prowess, physical strength, or wealth, alongside social and political influence, it didn’t change the fact that humans outnumbered them. Humans who now controlled finance and industry, while simultaneously lacking political influence, leading to simmering resentment. Humans who believed that they, who made up the bulk of the nation and its social strata, whether that be the workers, the farmers, the soldiers, the bureaucrats, or the capitalists, deserved to rule Alsatia instead of the elder races, who were mostly of the clergy and the nobility.

If their family’s feuds escalated too much, or worse, if they fought too much in front of the public, the imperial family would look weak. If the imperial family looked weak and disunited, groups that wanted the elven monarchy gone might become emboldened. It was for this reason that Lucille routinely visited her family, usually twice a month, just to maintain ‘friendly’ ties with them.

Right now, at the palace, everything seemed normal, as if nothing was happening.

But, it had been nearly a week already since her agents near the Rhonne Exclusion Zone—the same place where her mother died and where the Nameless died—were suddenly and unceremoniously kicked out.

Unfortunately for Lucille, the war minister wasn’t asleep on the wheel. It seemed that he had moles in Lucille’s camp who funneled information to his inner circle, and he was able to crackdown on Lucille’s people. As such, her embedded spies in the imperial army were either forced to lay low for a while or had been straight up reassigned out of the Rhonne Exclusion Zone.

It wasn’t just that. The military was extremely tight-lipped as a whole, suspiciously so, all while redeploying entire units out of other black dungeon disaster zones toward the Rhonne Exclusion Zone. That made Lucille incredibly suspicious of their current actions.

That bastard…

Lucille giggled as her elder sister said another harmless joke, though her mind still was thinking about her half-elf brother, practically imagining ways about how she’d murder him for this offense.

I’m going to strangle him next time we meet.

“Lucille, you know, I noticed you’ve been awfully busy recently.” Marie eyed Lucille with a gentle smile, though now that she finally moved on to serious matters, it was clear that she finally decided to push Lucille’s buttons. “I’ve been hearing that many are starting to get curious about why you seem to always lock yourself in your chateau. I sure hope that it’s nothing too serious.”

“Of course not. I’m just trying to finish my studies and preparations to ascend to the throne,” Lucille said, her smile somewhat laced with venom.

Marie froze from eating a pink-colored macaron, her annoyed visage coming out uncontrollably. It was brief, though, as Marie proceeded to eat it while nodding, visibly shrugging a bit.

“That certainly is more important than partying.”

“Indeed.”

“Though, you should really rethink your absences in your court functions. Having a less than ideal position with your most important followers might become a headache one day.”

“I’ll consider your advice.”

“Besides, you’re wasting that cute face of yours if you always stay cooped up in your residence.”

Lucille crossed her arms and looked away, puffing her cheeks a bit.

“Hmph, shut up.”

“I’m telling you, everyone misses you already!”

“That’s their problem, not mine.”

“Hah…you’re going to live a dull life if you keep up with that attitude.”

So what? I don’t care.

Soon, Marie left Lucille’s room, leaving her alone with her knight, free from endless pestering.

Lucille tiredly sighed as she lay down on her sofa in a less than graceful manner.

“It’s so tiring to act nice with someone who wants to stab me in the back,” Lucille grumbled to Lorraine as the knight sat beside her. “I really can’t stand her.”

Silence passed between the two, as Lorraine simply nodded in agreement. It seemed that she too didn’t like Marie.

“So, do you want to hitch a ride back home now?” Lorraine softly offered.

“Yes, please.”

“Alright.”

Lucille stared at the ceiling as Lorraine stood up and left her room to prepare for their departure. Her heart truly didn’t feel at ease. She was worried, very worried, not just because her intelligence network was temporarily cracked down, but because of a nagging feeling in her heart that she was missing something important.

She knew that something was off, that whatever was happening was more than just her annoying brother messing with her by disrupting her network, yet she couldn’t lift a finger, not yet.

I have no choice but to wait.

Lucille still had agents embedded in the imperial army. She had many loyalist contacts, most of them posing as normal officers simply following orders. It was how she could easily move everywhere, even at restricted black dungeon exclusion zones, where, contrary to what one might expect, royalty was barred from entry as well to protect their safety.

She half thought a few days ago of going with the caveman method of simply barging in and seeing things for herself, but her knight wisely advised Lucille that unless there was good reason for it, she shouldn’t do anything that might reveal that she was routinely going to black dungeons without authorization.

Her public popularity might take a hit if she got caught red-handed. Her going out to help commoners was one thing, but it would be a scandal if people found out that she was also closely interacting with the hated ‘demons,’ or worse, helping them out. And so, she needed the aid of her embedded agents who gave her openings to sneak in and out undetected whenever she needed to go there.

So for now, she was going to wait.

But she was restless. Very restless.

Soon, she found herself yawning as she watched the countryside pass by, sitting in a private cabin at a train as afternoon passed by. By sunset, she was back at her office in Chateau d’Montclaire, buried in a mountain of paperwork and reports from the people she hired to assist her in the project.

Upon finishing her first batch of urgent work, Lucille rested her head on her hand, sighing.

A set of knocks came from her door.

“Come in,” Lucille said, and Lorraine entered, bearing a letter on her hand. Her heart soared briefly.

“Miss Alice sent you a letter,” Lorraine said. “It was two days ago. It arrived after we left.”

“Oh…”

Lucille's hopes were dashed again. She was hoping that it was news from her agents.

Still, she smiled.

“Very well then, let me read it.”

“Here.”

Lucille opened the letter after taking it from Lorraine. It was a short letter, not much said on it. Alice was simply asking to have a private meeting from Lucille, wondering if she was available. It had been a while since they last talked, as Lucille’s underlings handled the payments and deliveries of monster cores.

“She wants to meet me personally,” Lucille said to Lorraine, who was curiously watching over her.

“For what exactly?” Lorraine was immediately suspicious.

“Just to talk.”

“That’s it?”

Lucille remained silent for a while.

Her investigations about Alice had largely stalled for a long while now. The Oracle Network, which she hired to investigate her indirectly, already gave Lucille all of the information they gathered. Unfortunately, outside of Alice’s shadowy source of monster cores, the Oracle Network concluded that she was nothing out of the ordinary.

Of course, this was nonsense for Lucille, and she insisted that the fact that they failed to find out where she sourced her monster cores was definitely out of the ordinary, but since then, no new information became available even when they promised to continue looking deeper into it. It only increased Lucille’s suspicion of Alice, but doing any more about it was a complete dead end, unless Lucille wanted to burn bridges with Alice and lose her monster core supply line, which she still so far failed to diversify. 

But even with her wariness, Lucille did declare Alice to be her friend back then. It wouldn’t do to not entertain her, especially since Lucille unknowingly made Alice wait for two days.

“I’ll send her an invitation to come here tomorrow,” Lucille said to Lorraine. “I’ll give her an hour or so.”

“I see. I’ll tighten security then,” Lorraine said.

Lucille shook her head.

“No need.”

“You’re way too lax.”

“I don’t want her feeling uncomfortable stepping into my residence for the first time.”

As always, Lorraine reluctantly followed Lucille’s instructions.

The night passed, and the next morning, Alice Kasperska arrived an hour after Lucille had her breakfast. Acting as if everything was business as usual, Lucille warmly received her ‘friend,’ burying her thoughts about the exclusion zone.

Alicia half-feared that Lucille fully went cold on her.

Upon arriving at Lorienval, Alicia immediately sent a letter to Lucille requesting to meet her. Unfortunately, for two days, no reply came in her mailbox. That was quite alarming, as back then, Lucille usually responded by the next morning, but, it turned out, she was just in a brief weekend vacation at her family’s main residence.

Alicia naturally let out a sigh of relief after learning about that while the two of them talked pleasantly in her room, sharing tea together, while Lucille freely shared what she was doing for the past days, and so did Alicia.

Alicia, for her part, simply said that she was busy hauling things around, which she was. While waiting for Lucille, Alicia began shopping around for basic construction materials for her planned textile and clothes factories, like cement, since, at the moment, Orevogorsk still didn’t produce cement.

As for the rest, she was going to push that back for a while until she talked with Lucille. In case Lucille agreed to cooperate, and in case Lucille did have alternatives to magic crystals, Alicia didn’t want to waste her money on equipment and materials that wouldn’t build a factory not reliant on magic crystals.

Unfortunately, she realized it was quite hard to find an opening to tell Lucille about magic crystals and their potential connection with black dungeons. 

“If you’re planning to produce clothing, I can refer you to wholesalers I know in the industry,” Lucille offered with a smile as they discussed Alicia’s future plans. “It shouldn’t be too hard. There’s a lot of demand for clothes, as I’ve said beforehand.”

“You already help me far too much, Lucille,” Alicia said, acting shy and grateful.

“Nothing is too much in this day and age. It benefits me too. My supporters should be in a favorable economic and social position.”

Then, Lucille gave Alicia a tiny wink.

“That way, I can count on them later.”

Alicia chuckled, grateful.

“Of course. I still don’t know how exactly I’ll help out with the throne though…”

“Oh, no worries. It’s not a pressing issue yet. Don’t think too much about it.”

Lucille calmly sipped her tea.

It seemed that the atmosphere at the moment was positive, Alicia thought. While Lucille definitely wasn’t treating Alicia as warmly as she did back then, it didn’t feel as if their relationship was that strained at all. Though, it could also just be that Lucille was a professional at making people comfortable and acting nice.

As the crown princess, Alicia imagined that Lucille was probably under extreme pressure. Wearing masks was practically a need for her.

I really need to find a way right now to break through her shell. I can’t just tell her information about magic crystals out of nowhere…

As Alicia continued to think of ways to steer this conversation toward that, a knock interrupted the two. Lorraine, who left earlier to do some errands, entered, going straight to Lucille. Her knight whispered something briefly to the princess that caused her eyes to tense up. Then, she presented a small piece of paper to Lucille. 

Naturally, Alicia heard what Lorraine said before she presented the paper to Lucille, and there was a mention about a black dungeon. Immediately, Alicia paid more attention, casting a subtle hearing enhancement to pick up the details. This could be her opening.

“…thousands dead already,” Lorraine was saying. “And it’s getting worse. It’s expanding faster than they can retreat.”

A thin line formed in the princess’ lips. As Lorraine withdrew the paper and folded it, Lucille lowered her teacup.

“...Alice, I think I’ll have to take my leave for now,” Lucille said, smiling a bit. “I have an urgent matter to attend to.”

Alicia frowned.

“I heard something about a black dungeon.”

Lucille’s composed smile remained.

“Yes, this urgent matter is about a black dungeon. As the next empress, you can imagine that I keep a close eye on public security threats. Is there a problem about that?”

“No. Actually, I came here exactly to talk about them. I was simply unsure how to tell you about it.”

Lucille’s smile disappeared, and then she narrowed her eyes.

“Oh?”

“The truth is, I have acquired critical information about black dungeons, specifically, about how they are formed. I am still collecting evidence about it, but I believe that I must share it with you. I think it is in our shared interest to cooperate on this matter, as it’s a problem in my homeland too, just like in Alsatia.”

Lucille and Lorraine then turned to look at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation.

Then, the princess turned back to Alicia, sighing.

“Alright. I am very interested and would like to hear more. Still, I must take my leave now. Have a good day and a pleasant trip home.”

“Wait! You’re planning to go to a black dungeon, aren’t you?”

When Alicia asked that, both of them froze. Alicia resisted a gulp. It seemed that she accidentally hit bullseye there. A bold move, but now, she was suddenly stuck in a hole of her own making.

Naturally, she tried to finesse a follow-up quickly.

“Can I go with you?” Alicia asked, a bit unsure about this approach. “I have experience dealing with black dungeons. I believe I could be of use.”

“...I suppose there’s no point denying now. Still, black dungeons are restricted for public entry, so no. Besides, I will have my knights with me. I have no need for assistance.”

“That won’t be enough. Not against a black dungeon, no. Please let me come with you.”

Lucille took a deep breath.

“Look, the current state of affairs in one of Alsatia’s black dungeon exclusion zones is critical. A severe anomalous event never seen before is ongoing,” Lucille gravely said. “You shouldn’t risk yourself, and I advise that you forget about this for now.”

“I assure you, I am not. In fact, now that you’re telling me that something new is happening, I truly must go there.”

That, and most importantly, I can’t risk you dying over there. That’ll be an absolute disaster for me!

“I…you’re not going to back out of this, are you?” Lucille still seemed reluctant, but she showed clear signs of faltering to Alicia’s request. “Goodness.”

Lorraine, however, looked like she wanted to murder Alicia then and there for asking this much from Lucille. Unfortunately for the knight, Lucille had the final say.

“Alright, you can come with us, but you will stick with me, you will not make trouble, you will listen to me, and…”

Lucille hesitated a bit, but she fully recomposed herself in the end.

“I’d like us to have a really long conversation after this.”

Oh no. That’s the look of someone gambling with their remaining trust. I can’t disappoint her.

Alicia immediately nodded firmly.

“I agree to all points.”

“...Alright. Come with us then.”

Lucille felt her heartbeat racing.

Her mind right now was a confused mess. First of all, her agents finally managed to regain contact with her, and the worst possible news reached Lucille’s ears. The Rhonne Exclusion Zone was now fully active and had been for a week already. Entire sectors were overrun, suppression towers were lost, and thousands of Vaelrin soldiers already died.

By the time it reached her ears, the containment was already fully breached.

All this time, a major defensive campaign was apparently happening at the Rhonne region, and the imperial army blocked all information in and out. Lucille was beyond livid at her brother. She never imagined that he would coldly do such a thing in a crisis of this scale.

She could understand managing information flow to prevent panic, but apparently, his government didn’t even warn civilians living nearest to the exclusion zone. No evacuations, no nothing. The imperial army simply sent troops hoping to contain the crisis silently, but it blew up in their faces so bad that information finally leaked, first to Lucille today, and most likely, it would be a national scandal by tomorrow.

This was beyond incompetence. It was deliberate maliciousness to protect their reputation. It was craven, dishonorable, and pure villainy.

And then, there was Alice.

Damn it. Why now of all times?

Lucille couldn’t believe her awful luck that Alice immediately deduced that something huge was happening just from the mere mention of black dungeons. Black dungeons were public knowledge, and a curiosity at best for most people, but apparently, Alice visited Lucille because of them in the first place. Lucille didn’t even have the chance to deflect and deny information to keep Alice out of this issue.

Now, she was attached to Lucille’s expedition, as the alternative was to kick her out, which would most likely lead to Alice acting on her own anyway.

At the very least right now, Lucille managed to eke out a promise from Alice that she would follow Lucille’s lead very strictly. This way, she should be able to manage Alice’s involvement, but it was still less than ideal.

I want to pull my hair out so bad. Goddess, I merely missed one Sunday. Was that truly enough for you to punish me this much?

She sighed. No point whining about it now that things already happened. She’d just go along with this and do her best to make do with the cards she had available.

As she finished preparing the cores of her available Spirit Army in her bag, which resembled small orbs for now, Lucille met again with Alice and Lorraine, both of them already outside of her chateau, waiting for her.

“We can’t go there by train. Too slow, and there’s probably no train inbound to Rhonne that isn’t commandeered by the army,” Lucille said to the two. “So, we’re going there using my familiar.”

With a mental command, Lucille summoned her familiar. It was a young dragon with blue scales, appearing out of nowhere. Upon realizing that it had been summoned, the dragon let out brief celebratory growls. Then, it lowered its neck close to Lucille to suddenly lick her.

“Remarque, this is not the time for this!” Lucille shouted, embarrassed that her familiar just licked her in front of Alice and Lorraine. “Behave yourself!”

The dragon complied, immediately adopting a dignified pose. It let out a serious growl this time, as if signalling that it was ready to follow its princess’ commands, acting like a serious knight ready for battle. Lucille, on the other hand, wondered why, even when she was lucky enough to tame a dragon as a familiar, that it turned out to be a clown.

Shaking her head, Lucille looked back at Alice.

The woman seemed to be struggling at holding her amusement off.

“You…have an interesting familiar…” Alice praised. “A dragon, huh?”

“He’s Remarque,” Lucille introduced with a low, tired voice. “He flies well. And he’s…eccentric, for a dragon that is...”

Lucille straightened herself.

“Alright, let’s go.”