9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 176 - Equivalent Exchange (1)

“Citizens of Schufaben, rejoice! At last, the notorious reactionary organization White Raven Order has fallen to their knees before the Supreme Leader!”

July 11th, 1903.

The moment Emma heard that radio broadcast, her life changed.

Her utterly ordinary life.

It had been shattered since the day her beloved husband went missing and she was tortured by the Ossel.

Her husband had been just as ordinary as she was. Even now, she didn’t know what he had really been doing, or whether he had truly been involved in the dangerous crimes the Ossel claimed.

The only certainty was the scars the Ossel had left on her body and mind.

That she hadn’t lost her sanity in that concrete prison, that she hadn’t lost the baby in her womb—it was close to a miracle.

Perhaps, if the rescuers had been just one day later, they might have found her corpse instead of her when they blew up the prison.

Though she couldn’t see their faces behind their masks, she remembered the warm hands that supported her.

Under their protection, she gradually recovered her strength, gave birth to her child, and finally, in that small, cozy room, was told she could go back out into the world.

Emma cried like a mess.

Crying, she poured out words of gratitude, words about wanting to stay with them. But the masked woman shook her head.

“You should think of your child first. Just, please don’t forget us. Don’t forget the White Raven Order.”

White Raven Order.

Emma carried that name with her as she stepped back into the world.

She returned to the small apartment she had lived in with her husband. With help from neighboring women, she raised her daughter and barely scraped by working at a small job.

Sometimes, when she sat blankly, she would remember that horrible concrete room and the torture devices, the hands and voice of the woman who had saved her.

Sometimes she would have nightmares and wake up screaming.

Sometimes it was a bit painful to lie to her neighbors about her husband’s death.

But still, it was a peaceful daily life.

The Ossel no longer pursued her, and no one threatened to kill her.

Emma thought she would live like this forever, carrying that small ember in her heart.

Until two years later, when she heard the joyful news on the radio.

“At last, the notorious reactionary organization White Raven Order has fallen to their knees before the Supreme Leader!”

The news proclaimed that the White Raven Order had chosen to voluntarily disband, that they would be locked forever in cold prisons and never be released again.

Emma collapsed to the floor, dry heaving and crying.

Had the woman who saved her been dragged away too? The doctor who had carefully tended to her wounds? The young man who had moved busily, looking after the weakened people?

Were they all rotting in underground prisons where not a single ray of light entered?

Lies!

It was lies.

Emma didn’t believe it.

At the very least, she absolutely refused to believe the propaganda about “voluntary disbandment.” The White Raven Order she had experienced would never bow to the Supreme Leader.

Let them call her gullible. Let them mock her as a dreamer.

Emma hoped to meet them again someday.

Hoping, she picked up a gun.

She brainwashed herself into being a fighter.

A fighter carrying on the will of the White Raven Order, whether they were dead or alive.

She quit her stable job.

She converted all her savings to cash and sold her house. Instead of moving to a smaller, more remote neighborhood, she obtained a pistol and bullets from the black market.

Every dawn she would carry her daughter Angela on her back and run through deserted parks.

During the day she would go out into the streets, pretending to be a well-off housewife with plenty of time on her hands, dressing neatly and frequenting cafes and restaurants, joining conversations among other mothers.

She would chat and gossip with the middle-class housewives who welcomed her with smiles, gathering information. She also diligently kept up with newspapers and radio news.

She memorized those who collaborated with the regime, those who squeezed the poor to enjoy wealth and honor, those who framed innocent people as reactionaries.

When night came, she killed them.

The first murder was not successful.

She snuck into the home of a notoriously corrupt police officer and stabbed his throat as he lay asleep in bed.

But it was her first time doing such a thing, so her hands shook like mad, and she failed to aim properly, causing blood to spray everywhere from the ragged wound.

Her heart pounded uncontrollably, her breathing became ragged, to the point where she thought she might die.

Her vision blurred and her head went blank, so she belatedly discovered the woman who had been sleeping next to the policeman had woken up and was frozen stiff, covered in blood.

Seeing the woman on the verge of fainting, Emma’s body also froze. The two women stared at each other for a long moment before both screamed simultaneously.

“Aaaahhhhh!”

“Kyaaahhhhh!”

Fortunately, no one came running.

As she had investigated during the day, this was a mansion with a large garden, and the policeman lived alone.

“Kyaaahhh! Haaah! Aaaahhhhh!”

Remembering this, Emma stuffed a handkerchief into the mouth of the woman screaming her throat raw.

“Be quiet. You look like a prostitute, and you don’t want to be going in and out of police stations over something like this.”

The woman quickly nodded with tears in her eyes.

“Th-this guy committed too many bad deeds. He was bound to die sooner or later anyway, you know?”

At Emma’s rambling question, the woman nodded even faster.

“Then get up now. Put on your clothes and get out, right now!”

After the trembling, staggering woman disappeared, Emma finished her work and returned home.

She buried her face in her pillow and cried. She tidied up the house and gathered things to leave for Angela.

But when dawn came, neither the police nor the Ossel burst in. Nothing happened for several days.

Only then did Emma feel something like an awakening.

From that point on, she became a serial killer.

Sometimes she used a gun with a silencer, sometimes she chose strangulation or poison.

After killing, she would always display the body and write the White Raven Order’s name and the victim’s crimes in detail with blood or paint.

Because that’s what the White Raven Order had done.

Her crimes became increasingly sophisticated. Her tension gradually disappeared. Guilt had never existed from the beginning.

How long could this go on? She wondered each time she killed someone. But she was never caught once.

Perhaps she was born with a talent for serial killing. Or perhaps the police investigative capabilities were that terrible.

Either way, Emma continued processing society’s garbage.

It seemed she wasn’t the only one.

Crimes committed under the White Raven Order’s name exploded.

Most were murders committed for money or revenge that the police had blown out of proportion, or criminals making excuses about the White Raven Order. But rarely, there were others like her.

Emma watched people gradually change, and finally made allies.

The old man next door who noticed her murders but looked the other way, a boy who had lost his parents in a purge and wandered the streets, a young man who was targeting the same goals—one by one, they joined hands with her.

They inherited the name of the White Raven Order.

***

“It was around a year later. I left Angela with my comrades and headed to Lüdelheim Comprehensive University. Angela was such a clingy child that it was tough.

Forging the party invitation was nothing. Neither was disposing of the target when no one was looking. But right after that, the Ossel showed up, and I sensed I’d fallen into a trap. But it turned out to be such a good trap, what a relief.

The Ossel easily found the culprit. But without saying anything, they dragged me away and made me face Miss Brightner. I, I knew the moment I saw her. That this person was the angel who had saved me from that prison.”

Emma smiled brightly, and I stared at her stupidly.

To think that this chatty, silly-seeming mom was a serial killer.

No, more than that—to think she was the same person as that wounded pregnant woman I had seen three years ago.

I could feel no anguish from her whatsoever. Instead, she was filled with steel-like firm conviction.

“…You’ve been through so much.”

That was all I could say.

“It’s truly an honor.”

Emma’s eyes sparkled with emotion. I smiled at her and briefly stood up from the sofa.

“Well, please rest. Erika, could we talk for a moment?”

“Oh right, you two should talk first. I’ll go into the room. Angela, come here.”

Angela had been quietly eating cookies in the kitchen while playing with Colin. Emma picked up her daughter and went into the room.

Only after the door closed did I slump down as if collapsing. I ran a hand over my face and exhaled.

“Lucas, are you okay?”

Erika approached me.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For making you worry.”

“……”

Erika quietly gripped my shoulder.

“I thought you were dead.”

“It’s not the first or second time that’s happened. I’m such a sinful man. My heart can’t take much more, can it?”

“Could you please be serious for once?”

Hearing Erika’s sharp voice made me chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s amusing. That after all those experiences, we’re still intact. That you continue to stay by my side.”

“We’re friends.”

“Right, friends.”

I pulled Erika’s hand to sit her beside me and leaned on her shoulder.

“You’re heavy, Lucas.”

“How much could my skull weigh? Bear with it a little.”

I slowly closed my eyes.

The house sunk in quiet. From beyond the door at the end of the hallway came the sound of Angela giggling.

After a long while, I opened my eyes and asked.

“Did you happen to meet Richard? I heard he came to Schufaben.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s a long story… Not now.”

“Tell me later for sure. What happened and all. Yeah, I met Richard. He decided to rejoin the White Raven Order.”

“What?”

I almost jumped up in shock for a moment. I had hoped, just maybe, but…

“I was surprised too. Richard seemed like a completely different person. In a good way.”

“After going through that war, it’s impossible for nothing to change. It’s a relief that it was a good change.”

“You seem the same as always though, Lucas? Still shameless.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Erika glared at me before laughing.

“What about the others?”

“Oscar and Georg are safe too. They’re having some trouble because the atmosphere is bad these days though. But why do you look like that?”

“Like what?”

Her slender finger touched my face.

“You’re forcing yourself to smile.”

“Ah.”

I rubbed my tired eyes and touched my mouth.

“I’m happy. I’m very happy that my friends are safe, but I can’t bring myself to feel happy.”

“Because of Emma?”

“…Are you going to become a fortune teller, Erika? Ah, I’m joking. Tell me more. What happened after you met her.”

Emma had cried buckets when she saw Erika, she said.

Without any suspicion, she had followed Erika, and they shared long stories, understanding the situation.

She had been ecstatic at the news that the White Raven Order was alive, like a priest receiving divine revelation.

The fact that the White Raven Order had joined hands with the Ossel, that they had been found out by the Supreme Leader and fallen into a complicated situation, that Lucas Redan, their leader, was living a double life as Kruger’s right-hand man—none of that mattered.

Bringing down the Supreme Leader.

She rejoiced simply that this goal remained unchanged and earnestly begged to be allowed to join them.

“You revealed all of that? Your security awareness is pretty lax.”

When I asked teasingly, Erika made an enigmatic expression.

“Don’t you understand Emma’s state even after seeing her, Lucas? That person worships us. Like gods. She’s gone beyond the level of being grateful for her life. That’s too grateful, too joyful, and also……”

“Scary.”

“……Yeah.”

“Being so devoted to our beliefs that an ordinary person commits murder without hesitation, accepting this abnormal situation without a hint of reluctance, having the mindset to throw away her life and go wild. How terrifying that must be, Erika. Seeing copycat crimes that I’d only encountered in newspapers right before my eyes.”

“Exactly.”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

I stroked her cheek.

“I’m glad you understand, Lucas.”

“And that’s the emotion I felt when looking at all of you. Do you understand my feelings a bit now?”

“What? But you made us like this on purpose!”

“Right. And the White Raven Order tried to make the people of Schufaben the same way. To make them blind with hatred for the Supreme Leader, so they would personally drag that bastard down. So be happy. We’re succeeding.”

“You be happy, Lucas.”

“I’m quite happy while being scared.”

I stood up giggling.

“Shall we talk some more now? For our future. By the way, why aren’t the kids coming?”

“There wasn’t time to contact them.”

“Then whose footsteps are those?”

Footsteps of someone rushing came from outside the front gate. Then the doorbell rang frantically.

“Woof! Woof!”

Colin wagged his tail and barked happily. When I opened the front door, a tall young man with red hair burst in.

“Eri… Lucas?”

“Oscar?”

Oscar, who had almost collided with me, stared at me dazedly before sitting down on the floor.

“Thank goodness, thank goodness……”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“You should have contacted us when you got back, you jerk!”

He grabbed my pant leg and started bawling. What a sight—I kicked him lightly, finding it ridiculous.

“Why are you suddenly wailing? I just got back yesterday. I was dragged to the Supreme Leader’s residence and barely got released. Didn’t you hear the morning news? I gave a speech in District 1. It’s a holiday, so listen to the radio.”

“Ah! Speaking of that radio news.”

“Wait a minute.”

Oscar staggered to his feet and tried to run to the living room, but Erika snatched something that looked like a letter envelope from his hand.

“What’s this?”

“Ah.”

Oscar’s face crumpled as if he was about to cry.

“Military service notice. If I don’t report to the training camp in three days, they’ll deal with me according to national law. What am I supposed to do?”