9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 47 - The Scent of Blood (1)

The nights in District 13 are silent.

Not all neighborhoods would be like this, of course. And the basement of the Ossel building would certainly be tremendously noisy.

But at least this residential area where Major Johann Werner lives was filled with peaceful silence.

Johann sat reading the evening newspaper in comfortable clothes, his hair—which had been slicked back with pomade during the day—now disheveled and unsightly.

“Ridiculous.”

The corner of his mouth curved up in a contemptuous sneer.

「What is the White Raven Order?」

「10 Shocking Truths About the Mad Reactionary Group!」

「’Hero’ Lucas Redan’s 6 Hours in Mid-Air! Exclusive Coverage!」

Several trash newspapers were spread across the table, filled with lowbrow speculative articles and rumors that they amplified and reproduced.

“How wonderful it would be if the Supreme Leader would suppress these things too.”

A mocking sound escaped his lips.

Kruger had completely dismantled several media companies with anti-government leanings.

Sometimes he even issued press guidelines, censoring every single word.

The newspapers stripped of their freedom in this way became like parrots, endlessly repeating only ‘correct’ and boring stories.

However, people love sensational stories. It had been nearly ten years since third-rate magazines publishing absurd and superstitious articles began to flourish.

The Supreme Leader left them alone.

Whether they spread rumors that drove entertainers to death, published conspiracy theories claiming the world would end in 100 years, or ran adult columns that were barely different from pornography.

As long as they didn’t harm the Supreme Leader’s authority, he truly allowed anything.

“Quite clever indeed.”

He knew how to divert the people’s attention.

Not cracking down on gambling dens, constantly producing movies, not regulating the yellow press.

It was like offering candy instead of taking bread away from the hungry.

In any case, Lucas Redan seemed to be keeping quite busy.

Judging by how he was going around doing interviews with all sorts of media outlets.

As if playing the role of an upright young man, he fielded all the pouring questions with only concise, interesting, and likeable answers.

It was very much like him, Johann thought.

‘Is he desperately struggling not to be forgotten?’

Ding-dong!

When he finished the last page of the newspaper, the doorbell rang.

Johann stood up without showing any surprise and went to greet his visitor.

When he opened the front door, Lucas Redan stood there holding an expensive-looking bottle of liquor.

***

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but since opening the tavern, I’ve been able to visit Major Johann Werner more comfortably than before.

Because I’m a ‘hero.’

I’m on the government’s side, on Ossel’s side.

It doesn’t seem particularly strange for me to come and go from an Ossel’s house, someone of major rank.

After all, it’s well-known that Ossels receive all sorts of bribes through back channels and build relationships with local notables.

As long as I don’t give the impression that we’re whispering together plotting something, it should be okay.

Even that ridiculous Ossel promotional material I appeared in spread by word of mouth and helped make the relationship between Ossel and me appear favorable.

“Haha! Of course. I agreed to model for them as a favor!”

While it was utterly humiliating on this end, I brazenly said this with a completely shameless face.

…I wasn’t lying, at least.

“What brings you here?”

Johann asked dryly, not even glancing at the premium wine I’d brought as a show gift.

As expected, the living room was stark, and he didn’t offer tea or coffee.

“Nothing in particular.”

I shrugged and plopped down on the sofa. Having rushed over right after closing the tavern, I was quite tired.

“Then I’d appreciate it if you’d leave now. If you have no business, I don’t particularly want to see your face.”

“…”

Nearly ten months since we’d met, and despite going through various incidents together, large and small, his attitude remained as cold and matter-of-fact as ever.

‘That’s exactly why he’s more trustworthy.’

A relationship where we could openly dislike each other, yet had no choice but to join hands.

I half-sprawled on the sofa and looked at his inhuman, mask-like smooth face.

“I have something to ask. What do you think of the White Raven Order right now? Is it ready to be devoured? Or does it need to grow more?”

When I threw out this sudden question, Johann slightly furrowed his brow as if wondering what I was scheming, then surprisingly gave a straightforward answer.

“Both yes and no.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you people haven’t shown much yet. You haven’t even posed a direct threat to the Supreme Leader. The current nationwide frenzy to catch you is just the result of the Supreme Leader’s obsessive nature combined with his subordinates’ excessive loyalty. Even if I caught all of you and presented you to him right now, it would only be a brief topic of conversation before ending.”

So it’s just a bubble.

I thought with a chuckle.

‘And he’s saying he’s not satisfied with that. Just how big a prey does he want?’

Though, I’m also not satisfied with the current situation.

“And?”

“But there’s one variable. The fact that you’re a hero who even received a medal from the Supreme Leader. If it were revealed that the hero was actually the ringleader of a rebel force, the aftermath would be tremendous.”

“Then you’d get that much attention and could be promoted?”

“However, how the Supreme Leader would react is uncharted territory. If he feels ashamed of his misjudgment and tries to cover everything up, both you and I would lose our heads immediately.”

I mulled over Johann’s words.

Fifty-fifty odds.

If Johann offered me as a sacrifice.

A fifty percent chance of gaining the Supreme Leader’s favor, and a fifty percent chance of being killed to cover up the truth.

It was exactly the same conclusion I’d reached after racking my brains these past few days.

Though I hadn’t expected Johann to speak so honestly.

‘This makes things easier.’

I wiped the smile from my face.

“So in the end, you’re in a bind too. It’s become difficult to touch me. Then I should… as I promised at the hospital last time, either cut off the Supreme Leader’s head and push you up to a high position, or cause bigger incidents to become an actual threat that you can easily devour?”

When I stopped speaking, out of breath, Johann nodded expressionlessly.

“…But what reason do I have to do that? Now you can’t report me or drag me away either.”

It was a provocation.

Johann’s expression remained unchanged.

He quietly muttered while gently rolling the bottle I’d given him in his hands.

“Are you confident that those excluding you would be safe? Erika Brightner. Daniel Hartmann. Richard Enke. Georg Roman.”

Yes, that’s right.

He would have already identified the White Raven Order members long ago.

“What if I wanted to save only myself? What if I abandoned those kids?”

When I provoked him again, Johann laughed coldly as if it were pathetic.

“If you were someone who could do that, you would have abandoned them long ago. And isn’t there something more important?

You want to kill the Supreme Leader. For some reason I can’t understand with that crazy head of yours. You intensely desire Kruger’s death.

Clinging to me is just one of the means to that end, isn’t it?”

“…”

It was an unexpected blow.

‘I just wanted to survive.’

Killing the Supreme Leader was a tool, not a goal. For survival. That’s what I told myself.

And with a bright smile, I squeezed out a cheerful voice.

“Exactly! So whether I kill the Supreme Leader or provide you with delicious prey, the task is the same. Growing the White Raven Order bigger and causing more incidents.”

“So far, not even the Supreme Leader himself, let alone his subordinates, have suffered any damage. You and your friends have only staged a charade of pretending to be victims. What do you plan to do now?”

“Ha, what about those two guards? One died, and one had to have his leg amputated. When I appeared on the broadcast, I even cried saying I was sorry I couldn’t save them. Didn’t you hear the radio?”

“Insignificant deaths.”

I was momentarily seized by the urge to strangle him, but failed as Johann spoke again.

“Besides, that wasn’t even your doing, was it? It was the work of those using the White Raven Order’s name. Even so, claiming to rob a bank, setting off bombs, and having only two casualties? Utterly soft.”

“Your deductive skills are impressive.”

“It’s just obvious to someone who knows the situation. But anyway, did you come to waste my time with such pointless talk?”

“Well, fine. Actually, I came to consult with you before causing a bigger incident.”

“You? Why?”

Was he mocking me for doing something out of character, or was he suspicious of something fishy?

For a moment, Johann’s expression twisted strangely.

Pleased to see cracks in his mask, I leaned forward and whispered to him.

“Why? I’m a hunting dog, aren’t I? You’re the dog’s owner. A dog should follow its master’s commands. Tell me anything—how big an incident should I cause to satisfy you?”

“A hunting dog bringing back prey isn’t an incident. Unless it bites its master’s leg.”

Johann sneered with cold eyes as if displeased.

***

I always thought.

The White Raven Order members needed to become more, more, more corrupt to overturn this rotten world.

But indeed, nothing in the world goes according to my will. My friends weren’t easily willing to be corrupted.

Staging a fake kidnapping was fine. Even abandoning journalistic principles to dive into agitation and fabrication was manageable.

Because I’d already prepared myself for it. Because I knew I naturally had to steel my heart. Because it was work that required throwing myself in while risking danger and putting my life on the line.

However, when the bank building was bombed and there were casualties, I finally realized.

That Lucas Redan could choose the path of ‘really’ killing people. Innocent people, at that.

Moreover, even without directly getting blood on his hands, the White Raven Order could be blamed for murders committed by others.

While I had a ‘jackpot!’ mentality, it seemed my friends didn’t.

It was as if they had some belief that the White Raven Order should remain a noble name.

An organization that kidnaps people is okay, but one that murders isn’t?

No.

It’s probably because of the guilt still filling their hearts.

Even at this moment, people mistaken for White Raven Order members are being dragged away and tortured, so they wouldn’t want to increase the damage.

I would have felt tremendously relieved if I could have cursed them as idiots, but I couldn’t.

Because I, too.

Like needles poking at a corner of my numbed heart, I couldn’t sleep from the agony.

When I close my eyes, I feel the sensation of the guard’s head exploding next to me, his flesh splattering against my cheek.

It feels itchy and I want to scratch the blood away, but when I unconsciously feel my right cheek, there’s nothing there.

I’ve said it until my mouth was dry.

‘We have to accept sacrifices.’

‘We have to steel our hearts.’

‘We have to be prepared to really kill people.’

But it was all just words.

When framing Finn Schäfer as the White Raven Order’s financier, I ignored Oscar’s anxious look.

During Erika’s kidnapping incident, when I saw Daniel wavering after producing a pile of false articles, I pretended not to notice.

He quit his freelance journalism work and, before the tavern opened, spent entire days riding streetcars and wandering the city.

I only comforted him without having deep conversations. I was too busy, and I believed he’d soon return to his place.

The problems I’d been handling in such a mess, haphazardly brushing them aside, had now exploded.

My unilateral alliance with Ossel, my alliance with the elves.

Everyone understood it was unavoidable given the circumstances. But they hadn’t fully accepted it in their hearts.

To cover themselves in filth and engage in mudslinging fights—they were all humans with noble souls.

Only I am a coward and a weakling.

A coward who turned away from his senior’s struggle and death in Korea because he didn’t want to lose his livelihood.

A weakling who drags numerous people into such schemes simply because he doesn’t want to die.

And because of that.

Only I want to speak of death.

I decided to sit down all the White Raven Order members and have a deep discussion.

Discussion written, persuasion read.

Why we must accept casualties, why we must become one with the elf ‘terrorist’ group, and why they should trust me.

Step by step, I planned to tell them over and over until everyone understood.

But…

“How long did you think we could only engage in pure struggle?!”

“Hey, are you done talking?!”

I never expected it would become a scene where we’d grab each other by the collar and shout at the tops of our voices.