episode_0291

After the Ariel Group and the Inspector left, the Grand Duke slowly walked around the naval base, conversing with his daughter.

“When you first mentioned a child named Violet, I was a little perplexed.”

At Grand Duke Alister’s words, Adela, who had been watching the harbor cleanup, turned her head with a questioning look.

“I even had this thought, though I say it with a smile now: I worried that your small hobby might interfere with our great undertaking.”

When the Grand Duke smiled playfully, Adela raised her voice in embarrassment.

“Father, that’s—!”

“I’m not blaming you. There’s no need to be ashamed. Everyone needs their own way to relieve stress.”

Adela offered a bitter smile.

“If you’re truly worried, I’ll tell you honestly once more. I don’t resent you for my childhood, Father. The training was arduous, but it was an absolutely necessary process for our family and for me.”

“…I’m glad to hear you say that.”

His daughter loved cute things.

It was a taste that didn’t suit the solemn, formal atmosphere of a warrior family, yet the head of the family tacitly allowed it.

Thus, when one peeled back the outer layer of the family, an unexpected scene unfolded.

Inside the mansion, Adela’s room was filled with dolls and costumes of all kinds, and countless puppies romped in the garden.

Not only that, but on weekends, Adela would visit the orphanage sponsored by the family and volunteer.

The sight of the young lady playing with children was, outwardly, an undoubtedly noble virtue and good deed.

Nevertheless, the Grand Duke, as a father before being the head of the family, couldn’t help but think.

Perhaps her peculiar fondness for cute things and young children was an unconscious yearning to belatedly find some compensation for her lost childhood.

To make her devote herself to harsh training as the family’s successor, the family took away and disposed of everything that was deemed to distract her concentration.

Cute dolls, adorable puppies, even pretty dresses reminiscent of fairytale princesses.

All that was given to young Adela were rigid weapons and a drab room.

Returning to the main topic, the Grand Duke commended Adela.

“Your judgment was right. Thanks to that child, a clan crumbled in an instant. Not only that, but this time she brought us a new opportunity. The glory of eradicating the pirate warlords became ours, and we acquired strategic materials. We’ll be able to regain our right to recommend senators with this opportunity.”

The point was clear. Cascadia would be able to regain its influence over federal politics based on this opportunity.

“Do you remember the past humiliation that occurred when the family’s power weakened in your youth? When those vile Laflacians, who deserve to be cast into the depths of hell, tried to desecrate our family mausoleum, we ultimately couldn’t punish them thoroughly. But now, the situation has changed. We won’t be easily taken advantage of again.”

And all the credit belonged to his daughter, who had brought invincible warriors into the family’s fold.

“You called her your junior, right? You only have a few years left until graduation. Take good care of her during that time. There’s no need to force her to our side. From what we’ve seen, Violet can be dangerous, but she’s a pure and innocent child. If managed well, we can make the Ariel Group the sword of Cascadia. The strongest hidden blade, that is.”

“Yes, I’ll definitely do that.”

Wearing an elegant and polite smile befitting a successor, Adela hid the thoughts swirling in her mind.

Today, her lovely junior had multiplied in number.

‘Four thousand, was it?’

During the leisurely flight back to the mainland, Adela sipped tea and became lost in thought.

The Cascadian main residence was large and spacious. There were many unused rooms even in the annex.

Having dozens of girls as guests would not be a burden to the family’s wealth.

‘And in an emergency, our family can command a force of awakened individuals that multiplies to the size of a brigade.’

This was a strategic and rational choice for the family.

Any fool would act as she did.

Adela prided herself. Her idea was a valid choice as the family’s successor.

Suddenly, a question flashed through Adela’s mind.

‘By the way, what kind of food does Violet like the most?’

She prided herself on having bought Violet all sorts of things, yet she didn’t know what the child truly enjoyed eating.

Adela chided herself for overlooking an important fact and opened her messenger.

The recipient was Violet’s roommate. Their occasional contact regarding Violet had brought them closer.

[May I contact you? I have a question.]

[Student Council President-nim? Yes! I’m fine. What would you like to ask?]

She carefully posed her question. It would be suspicious to suddenly ask about eating habits, so she made up an excuse about having a dinner appointment.

A reply quickly returned.

[Violet eats everything well. But she especially likes meat and fried foods, so she’ll be very happy if you just give her those.]

[I see, thank you so much for the tip, junior-nim!]

Thanking her kind junior, who cherished and loved Violet as much as she did, Adela smiled.

‘I need to bring Violet to the mansion as soon as possible.’

Imagining Violets running around in the garden, she closed her eyes for a moment.

‘One Violet, two Violets…’

***

Sometimes, we couldn’t understand the Inspector’s thoughts.

The current Seijis was quite different from the Inspector we knew.

An Inspector should be competent and trustworthy like Sophieel Unnie, as well as bright and kind, but the current Inspector exuded a dark and gloomy aura from deep within his heart.

We only made a brief guess that the Inspector might have come from the future.

The atmosphere of Part 1, which was originally somewhat bright, completely reversed after the appearance of the Witch of Boundless Power, so we could only speculate about what he had experienced since then.

But what was clear was that the Inspector must have had very dark experiences.

“Who did he fight? Obsidian Legion and Magnabyss for sure, and he must have fought Restraid too, right?”

“I think he fought Laflacia too! Then the Luminexa Foundation must have been involved…”

If he fought the Legion, the Federation would be involved, and since he must have visited the Northern Sector at least once, he probably clashed with Arcite as well.

As for the most veiled clan, that part remains unknown.

Well, it didn’t matter anyway. Everything the Inspector did was generally of great help to me and my friends.

I lightly shook my head to clear away miscellaneous thoughts. Two things were important now.

One was the political debate of our Violets.

“He received a knighthood! Nobles are enemies of democracy! He should have refused!”

“It’s not equal! This isn’t democracy!”

During the emergency Violet meeting, a heated debate unfolded regarding the bestowal of the title and the possibility of compromise with Violet democracy.

Initially, the news of becoming a knight had excited them, but once the excitement subsided, it became a serious issue.

Concerns were raised that if things went wrong, it could become an opportunity to distort and corrupt the ideological purity and political direction of our Violets.

“It violates the principle of equality!”

“At this rate, we might become fascists! We could devolve into Fascist Violets or Communist Violets…”

Then, for some reason, No. 2501 screamed, clutching her head.

“My goodness! We’re becoming Nazis! No!”

Signaled by No. 2501’s scream, the imagination within the network among the fear-stricken Violets began to run wild uncontrollably.

The network was instantly agitated. The scene that unfolded was utterly shocking.

Violets with mustaches vividly appeared, shouting Violet supremacy and imprisoning all humanity in concentration camps.

“To survive, we must unite! We will make all who resist equal!”

“Sieg Violet!”

“Beneath the sky of the great Monad, there is only one who stands tall: Our Leader, His Excellency Fuehrer Ruzilin!”

That’s right, the sudden emergence of classes shattered the egalitarian society.

The endpoint of a collapsed egalitarian society was the collapse of a free democratic system, and the imperialism of Violets swept by madness!

Ultimately, the Academy City would fall, and Trist would fall.

“One Nation, One System, One Violet People!”

“Waaah! No! This isn’t democracy!”

The Fascist Violets, who had swiftly suppressed the Federation and clans and conquered the planet, turned their gaze to the sky.

Among the shining stars, what they saw were pitiful, insignificant civilizations that had not become Violets.

“Build the fleet!”

Spaceships cobbled together from oil drums broke through the atmosphere and headed into the vast cosmos, and the scene of Violet fascism being propagated to all civilizations was vividly imprinted across the entire network.

At the peak of the nightmare, the swelling bubble of imagination suddenly popped.

“Wait, everyone, calm down!”

No. 2 hurriedly reassured the fear-stricken Violets.

“Let’s think. A knighthood is an honorary position, isn’t it? It applies equally to all of us Violets. It’s egalitarian!”

“…Is that so?”

The Violets put their heads together and discussed with cool rationality.

Upon careful consideration, the knighthood didn’t seem to be a problem after all.

To compare it to a game, it was no different from an achievement or title system.

It’s given equally to everyone, after all.

“Why were we so worried about something like this? It’s nothing.”

“Next time, let’s get other titles too! I want to be a Count!”

The council of equally noble Violets suddenly regained peace.

I wondered why they had been so scared, but it was my excessive imagination that was the root cause.

Sometimes, when indulging in various delusions, the entire network shakes.

If it were merely agitation, it might be fine, but when four thousand Violets start immersing themselves in imagination, the network itself often goes wild.

From now on, I should rein in my imagination a bit.

As the meeting drew to a close, the sound of a jet engine could be heard, and a black shape slowly began to descend from the distant sky.

“The Inspector is here!”

As the Falchion VTOL aircraft touched the ground, its rear ramp slowly opened. Seijis’s figure could be seen inside the aircraft.

“Inspector! Over here!”

“Good job, Violet.”

The Violets carefully lifted the securely packaged Professor Bernike and moved her into the transport compartment.

They didn’t know why they were suddenly asked to capture the professor alive, but they presumed there was a good reason.

Because an ominous aura emanated from the professor.

A moment ago, when she approached, offering to scan my wounds, her face had been strangely flushed.

Suddenly, the scene of the Laflacia research lab and the woman with the ponytail came to mind.

Coincidentally, Professor Bernike also had a ponytail tied to the side.

“Isn’t that person an evil ponytail scientist? She’s a professor! She might be a villain who enjoys human experimentation!”

“Human experimentation? Ugh! Scary! Shouldn’t we eliminate her right away?”

Perhaps because they had just witnessed the horror of Violet fascism, the air within the Violet network stirred at even a minor concern that they would normally have dismissed.

If he would brazenly ask us for such a favor, she must not be a person to take lightly.

We don’t know the exact details, but seeing as she modified the monstrous beasts at the pirates’ request and then caused them to run wild and escaped, she’s clearly a very dangerous individual.

She might even commit terrible atrocities using monstrous beasts again later.

“But the Inspector asked us to rescue her. It’s a bit strange to rescue her and then kidnap her, but there must be a reason.”

“That’s true.”

First, I should ask for the full story inside the plane.

As some of the Violets moved the cargo, the ramp slowly closed, and the front cockpit door opened, revealing a red-haired girl peeking her head out.

What appeared before their eyes was the Inspector’s assistant and the game’s mascot character.

It was Milia, the cat girl who always greeted me warmly whenever I turned on my smartphone.

“Hi, Milia!”

“Oh? Hello. Are you Violets?”

They must have met often, but it seemed like a long time since they last saw this cat girl, perhaps because they hadn’t visited the Inspectorate office much after the meeting with the Inspector.

As the Violets, feeling affection for her familiar face, greeted her, the girl awkwardly waved back.

No, wait. Come to think of it, she didn’t seem like such a good cat.

Although my old memories were a bit hazy, I remembered her always smiling brightly and giving me only junk whenever I spun the gacha.

“Yes, we’re Violets! We’re helping the Inspector right now!”

“Helping? Wait, what’s that?”

“A corpse bag!”

Milia’s awkwardly twitching ears twitched in an instant.

Milia flinched, her expression one of horror.

“Wh-what? A c-corpse…?”

“It’s not a corpse. It’s a corpse bag. The person inside is alive!”

The mascot girl, after hearing my subsequent explanation, sighed.

“…Inspector-nim, isn’t this kidnapping?”

The Inspector remained silent for a moment, then uttered a single word.

“…There are circumstances. Please understand.”

Milia returned to the cockpit, unable to hide her uneasy expression.

She’s an innocent child. The Inspector has become hardened, so she’ll have to get used to it soon.

“By the way, Seijis. Why did you tell us to capture that old woman?”

“I’ll explain now. Listen carefully…”

While he explained, the aircraft had already reached Rustroom.