9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 201 - Liberation (1)

The lights in the royal castle flickered.

Flicker.

Flicker.

Like the feeble breath of a dying beast, threading thinly onward.

‘Is this the limit now?’

Edvart Piast, who had been reading by the window, turned the mana stone fitted in the lamp this way and that before finally giving up.

The blue light had already faded, turning it into an ordinary stone. Even if he carefully adjusted it to squeeze out a bit more use, it would only last a few minutes at most.

He looked out at the garden shrouded in darkness and the city beyond. The only thing shining there was the Schufaben embassy.

Of course, even the embassy was flickering every few minutes.

This was Cortana’s situation right now.

A reality where both the king and the commander who lorded over this country from atop the king’s head were scrambling over mana stone shortages.

March 1903.

Schufaben had launched a surprise attack on Cortana without a declaration of war.

Edvart remembered.

The massive bombardment that destroyed this beautiful royal castle and tore the former king and queen apart so brutally.

While he sat in shock and confusion, a crown was placed on his head, and all the rights a king could wield as king were stripped away.

Then Lucas Redan, who had barged in claiming to be the military commander, said:

All mana stones had disappeared from Cortana.

Schufaben had started this war to seize mana stones, but now that they realized the truth, they would abandon Cortana…

“What do you want to do, Ed?”

Standing before Lucas Redan, who asked this with a composed expression, Edvart scribbled frantically on paper with his quill.

I don’t want to live as king. But I don’t know how to escape.

I want to save this country. But there’s nothing I can do.

What had Lucas’s answer been then?

“Don’t do anything. This country is destined to escape Schufaben’s grasp eventually. If you do nothing until then, you’ll be able to cast off the crown.”

That was the extent of Lucas’s story organized in Edvart’s mind.

Click, click.

In the increasingly darkening room, Edvart pressed the typewriter keys with narrowed eyes.

「Do nothing.」

Was it really okay to do that?

Edvart had revealed the secret as soon as the new war began.

“Everyone, mana stones no longer exist in Cortana.”

His voice echoing over the radio had turned the continent upside down. Well, to be precise, it wasn’t his voice but that of a radio station employee.

The new commander who came after Lucas was quite coercive and violent. It was hard to avoid his eyes, but he managed to do it anyway. Because he had a promise with Lucas.

‘That made things quite painful.’

He received all sorts of abuse and threats from the commander. After that, he’d been living in what amounted to confinement.

‘That doesn’t matter, though.’

It felt like slowly dying.

The chaos and economic crisis that erupted nationwide. Watching that hellscape while just sitting still on the throne.

A great exodus occurred as people said there was no hope left in this land.

But with the entire continent groaning under war, there weren’t many options to choose from. Though Rubellia actively accepted refugees, people who left their homeland without a plan couldn’t be happy.

The commander had tried to blockade the borders with fewer than 10,000 troops but ultimately failed, so he heard. Since guerrilla forces were swarming throughout the country, it was a natural result.

Of course, the guerrillas didn’t last long. They were already poorly supplied and couldn’t even fire their guns properly due to mana stone shortages. But the Schufaben forces faced the same problem.

Right now, Cortana was barely maintaining the semblance of a country under the commander’s tearful efforts.

What had Cortana been called? What had Supreme Leader Kruger proclaimed in his propaganda?

‘An advance base for Schufabens to move into the continent, ancestral land that must someday be reclaimed.’

This place right now was neither a promised land nor anything else. It was hell, sinking while losing the light of civilization, barely avoiding anarchy.

Lucas had been right.

Schufaben had abandoned Cortana.

‘Though abandonment is actually preferable.’

What could Edvart do?

In the first place, in this vast royal castle where only the surveillance network was tightly woven.

A mute puppet king.

A pitiful and miserable boy.

Click!

The lamp went out with a small sound. Only bright moonlight filtered into the dark room.

‘What I can do.’

Guard this position until Schufaben falls. Ensure that the people of Cortana don’t give up, that at least the state itself isn’t taken away.

That’s what he had thought.

Edvart slowly rose to his feet. He looked out at the full moon hanging large outside the window.

What looked like a stain—whether it was a ring around the moon or a scar on the moon’s face, he couldn’t tell—was gradually growing larger and approaching. Along with a faint sound of wind.

Before he could even mutter “Huh, huh,” what had drawn incredibly close was a massive red dragon he’d never seen before in his life.

The dragon approached very quietly to just outside the bedroom window.

When a man with an unmistakably elven appearance opened the cockpit, the young man sitting beside him lightly stepped on the dragon’s back and entered through the open window.

“Your Majesty, I’ve come to rescue you.”

He whispered softly.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

Edvart stared blankly at the full moon shining brilliantly in the sky, the young man smiling and extending his hand, the white curtains fluttering in the wind.

Everything felt surreal.

So this was exactly the kind of moment when one could do something crazy.

Edvart firmly grasped his hand and leaned his body out the window.

***

Two weeks ago.

Edvart was, as always, reading a book by the window in the middle of the night. Though the commander kept nagging him to show “an example of conservation” since mana stones were in short supply, he did this even more defiantly.

But when he heard rustling sounds from outside and shot up from his seat, two people dressed entirely in black with masks over their faces suddenly popped up at the window.

“…!!!”

If only his vocal cords had been intact, he surely would have screamed loud enough to wake everyone in the royal castle and then some.

“Don’t be startled, Your Majesty. We’re employees of Redan Company.”

The woman who hastily removed her mask whispered.

Her tightly bound chestnut-colored hair and neat features were so incredibly beautiful that Edvart momentarily thought his breath would stop. But a question crossed his mind.

‘Redan Company went bankrupt though?’

One day, news suddenly spread through the media that Redan Company had gone under. He still vividly remembered the chaos from that time.

He’d heard long ago that Queen Rubellia had stopped investing, and he’d guessed that Lucas might be plotting something.

Still, having invested an enormous sum in Redan Company, Edvart couldn’t help but feel anxious.

The moment he reached for the bell beside his bed to call a servant, the man who had likewise removed his mask blocked him.

The man’s eyes were burning intensely. Bright enough to be clearly visible even in the dim light. When he suddenly noticed that the man’s ears were pointed, he lowered his hand.

“I’m Ashtard, and this is Hannah. We came from the Great Desert.”

The man spoke in stiff, clumsy pronunciation.

“More precisely, we’re people who joined hands with Redan Company. Or rather, it would be easier to think of us as friends of Mr. Lucas Redan.”

Lucas Redan.

At that name, Edvart’s wariness completely crumbled.

Their story was incredibly long and even grand.

From the contract Lucas Redan and Fa-Elhar had made, to the war situation, to what was secretly happening in the Great Desert right now.

Each part was such a huge story that it made his head spin. But he grasped one clear fact.

Supreme Leader Kruger’s downfall.

The establishment of an elven independent nation.

The absurd plan devised by one human and one elf was now on the verge of realization.

“We didn’t come to see His Majesty the King, but rather to meet Mr. Edvart Piast, major shareholder of Redan Company.”

Ashtard said calmly.

“The 100 million pelt you invested was a great help to Redan Company. Elves honor contracts. We repay debts. This time, we’ll help you.”

“We should apologize for coming so late. But now the elves finally have power.”

Hannah smiled brightly as she whispered.

“Your Majesty’s prediction was correct. We really did find mana stones. Well, mana water, to be precise.”

“Ha…!”

A gasp instead of an exclamation.

Edvart stiffened like he’d been hit in the back of the head with a large hammer.

‘It really existed?’

That investment he’d made with a half-despairing heart, placing his last hope on it, had actually succeeded and come back to him.

“So tell us, Your Majesty. We’ll help you.”

With trembling hands, he pressed the typewriter keys.

「What can I do?」

“Anything you want.”

「I’m just a weak child. An incompetent king with no following army or retainers.」

“You’ll have them in the future.”

Ashtard’s gaze was intense.

***

When he sat in the large cockpit, an elf with dark skin and mysterious beauty bowed slightly.

“Welcome, Your Majesty. I’m called Fa-Elhar. And this one—”

Edvart quickly nodded.

“Did you guess? Yes, I’m Daniel Hartmann.”

This was a face he’d already seen in the newspapers. As the embezzler who brought down Redan Company. Though Hannah and Ashtard had explained how it all happened.

“Well then, I’ll escort you safely.”

Fa-Elhar pulled on the reins. The dragon quietly soared higher into the sky.

“Your Majesty, is this your first time riding a dragon? Please look outside the window once.”

“…!”

The glass cover opened halfway and a refreshingly cold wind brushed his cheek. Edvart stuck his head out the window.

The cityscape visible small below, along with the moon and stars sparkling in the sky. As the dragon climbed higher and slipped into the clouds, his face got thoroughly soaked.

“Mmph…!”

Startled, he pulled his head back in, and Daniel closed the window again. Then, with a serious face free of playfulness, he looked directly at Edvart.

“We’ve completed all our preparations. It took some time to find the retired officer Your Majesty mentioned.”

During Lucas’s tenure as military commander, someone had secretly sent Edvart a letter.

A resolute letter saying he would attack Hetzen’s mines to secure resources, reorganize troops, and recapture the royal castle.

For a moment, he had almost become Edvart’s hope, but Lucas, who noticed cleverly, smashed it to pieces.

“Because Cortana no longer has mana stones.”

Along with those calm words.

Edvart had confirmed with his own eyes. Hetzen’s mines contained only gray stones drained of all mana. Naturally, occupying that place wouldn’t yield the resources needed to recapture the royal castle.

So he’d had no choice but to send a reply asking him to wait just a little longer.

Still, he remembered him.

A colonel demoted from the border forces.

Unfortunately, he was the commanding officer of a unit that had been disbanded after being falsely accused of attacking Lucas Redan and his subordinate majors.

A colonel who had been driven from the military without any honor after being caught up in a murder incident fabricated by Schufaben, yet remained loyal to the worthless boy king.

It had been over a year since he sent that letter.

Would he still be waiting for the boy king’s orders? Or rather, was he even still alive?

Instead of the typewriter he’d left in his room, Edvart scribbled letters with a fountain pen and paper.

「Is he safe?」

To the tense question, Daniel gave a reassuring smile.

“He’s safe. He’s been busy conducting guerrilla activities here and there, but at least he hasn’t been captured yet. He was overjoyed when we delivered Your Majesty’s orders. He said he could finally set the country right.”

A light gradually returned to Edvart’s eyes, which had been wavering.

「Where is he now?」

“The Colt Mountains, Your Majesty. We arranged to meet there.”

The Colt Mountains were the natural boundary between Cortana and Schufaben. Rugged and dense, if someone was determined to hide there, it would be hard to find them—it was also a sanctuary for fugitives and bandits.

The border forces that became the spark of war, and the drug canil that Schufaben was spreading, were all in the Colt Mountains.

Edvart captured in his eyes the sight of the city, now small enough to fit under his fingernail.

A few hours later, secret orders spread from a hidden military base at the foot of the Colt Mountains.

「Liberate Cortana.」