by Adrian P
“Are you questioning my decree, Captain?”
“I…my apologies, princess!” Farzan panicked. “I will subdue them immediately!”
“Excellent,” the princess replied. “If you let even one escape, especially the auburn-haired girl, I will ensure that you are heavily punished.”
“U-understood, Your Imperial Highness,” Farzan replied.
She hung up.
“You’re not happy with my decision, Dina?” Victoria turned back.
Ayu and Dina stood behind her. Dina stepped forward with heavy steps and gritted teeth, dragging her long maid dress on the ground, painting it grey and brown with asphalt dirt.
“Stop this madness, princess,” Dina said. “They don’t deserve this.”
“Audi Prabian is a criminal. Aren’t you familiar with the law? First-degree murder is a crime.”
“You encouraged him to kill those businesspeople, didn’t you?” the maid replied. “You’re the one who didn’t stop him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Victoria said in monotone. “That accusation is insulting in itself.”
“Princess!” Dina yelled. “This is nothing but a repeat of what you did to Prince Horlix and Henrietta. Even worse, this time you’re directly using The Crowned Confederacy’s unit to do it! Can’t you see how low you’ve gone?”
Victoria kept silent.
“What has The Bandana Boy done? He saved you. He tended to you. He risked his life. To defeat The Ghost Girl. To fight The Brotherhood. To defeat Konstantin,” she continued. “And yet, just because he didn’t return your feelings the way you want him to, now you want to kill him?”
“Let me ask you, Dina,” Victoria said. “What’s the point of love, if you’re not being loved in return?”
Dina flinched.
“Ever since the case with Brother, I had kept myself in isolation. Wanting to shut myself to all forms of romance and feeling. Then Audi came. I thought he could restore my faith in love. That someone can finally treat me as a human, and not just as a tool of the state,” she paused. “Only for him to turn away. To a girl who wanted to kill me. Am I that undesirable? Am I that low of a person?”
“You’re wrong! He—“
“I don’t want to fall in love anymore!” Victoria shouted. “If you keep going against my will, then I will have you punished as well!”
Dina stepped back.
“Ayu,” Victoria frowned. “Arrest Dina.”
“As you wish, Your Imperial Highness.”
Ayu grabbed Dina’s arm with full force.
“Are you serious?” Dina gritted her teeth. “Can’t you see that the princess is being unreasonable?”
“She is our princess, a member of the royal family,” Ayu replied. “Her words are absolute.”
Dina kicked Ayu’s stomach and dashed away. She pulled out a knife from a hidden pouch on her stockings, and put up a fighting stance. “Don’t you dare, Ayu,” she said. “You know very well how wrong our princess is. Our job as her caretaker is to guide her to the right path!”
Ayu pulled out two batons from her back.
She launched forward.
The two maids clashed with the street as battleground. Dina has an advantage over Ayu with her powerful knife strikes, but the latter was more agile. Ayu parried Dina’s knife with her two batons, and threw barrages of weaker yet faster blunt strikes. Dina endured, but her position turned more defensive. Ayu controlled the battlespace. She drew Dina into a corner and slammed her with a shoulder charge. Dina fell to the ground.
“You are justifying our princess’ irrationality!” Dina winced. “What happened to our mission? To let her become an example to humanity? An elegant and tempered woman with patience and intellect to bear?”
“The boy broke her heart, Dina,” Ayu replied in monotone. “Isn’t it natural that she’s upset?”
“Just because something is natural, doesn’t mean it should be glorified! If we uphold that philosophy, then we’re better off as primitive apes living in jungles! Is that what you’re suggesting? A world of kill and be killed? Where only the strongest deserve to live?”
Victoria approached. “You don’t know how it feels to be betrayed, Dina,” she said. “When you do, you’ll understand how I feel.”
“Betrayed…you mean like now?” Dina frowned. “I thought you’ve grown, princess. I thought the guilt and the pain you’ve gone through after killing Henrietta and casting Prince Horlix away would make you realise how wrong this is,” she paused. “Turns out I was the wrong one.”
The princess frowned. She turned to Ayu.
“Execute her.”
“What?” Dina shook.
Ayu kept silent.
Victoria glared at Dina. “Lèse-Majesté.”
The maid shivered.
“You have insulted me, which is a textbook violation of the Lèse-Majesté law,” Victoria replied. “The punishment is none other than death.”
“No it’s not! That’s only when you harm—“
“I am hurt, Dina,” Victoria replied. “You. The Bandana Boy. That whore Charlotte. The law dictates that every one of you deserves execution.”
“You exemplify the very reason why inherited monarchy was considered evil, princess,” Dina’s voice roughened. “An arbitrary royalty who exercises her power in extrajudicial manner. The Crowned Confederacy’s spartan education for its royalty was meant to prevent such a royalty from existing,” she paused. “Looks like it’s not so effective after all.”
Victoria glanced at Ayu. “Kill her.”
Ayu raised her baton.
And threw it away.
Victoria’s eyes opened wide.
Ayu released Dina and stepped back, throwing her other baton and ripping her maid dress apart. She wore an armoured black bodysuit underneath.
“What is the meaning of this?” the princess asked.
“I have tolerated your aggression towards The Bandana Boy, but it has now gone too far,” Ayu replied. “It is clear that you’re not acting with reason.”
Victoria frowned.
Ayu lent her hand to Dina, and the latter stood.
“Dina and I gave up our position in the GIB in order to guide you. To make you a better person. To prepare you for the harsh reality awaiting your future,” she said. “We taught you vigilance. Temperance. Intellectual thinking. All so you can fight for the people without losing your heart and your mind.”
“This is—!”
“A proof that we have failed,” Ayu interrupted. “You are so obsessed with wanting The Bandana Boy to love you back. You want him to return your feeling the way you want him to. According to your expectation. So much, that you’ve lost your sight.”
“Can’t you see what I’ve done for him?” Victoria yelled. “I gave him access to The Military Sector. I gave him almost limitless power that no civilian has ever wielded. I even promised him that I would marry him, even if he has nothing—“
“Is that your conception of love?”
Victoria flinched.
“Your Imperial Highness, love cannot be thought as a transaction. No matter how we try to institutionalise romance through marriage, cohabitation, or dating, love is something that is internal to our self.”
Silence.
“We lost the meaning of love the moment we turn it into a game of give-and-take,” Ayu continued. “You shun people who only want benefits from romantic relationship, but your philosophy of giving as much as possible is just as fragile and flawed.”
Victoria gritted her teeth.
“In the end, your reason for wanting to give as much as possible is so that you can receive as much. The more you give, the more you expect in return,” Ayu said. “Considering the imbalance of political, social, and economic power between the two of you, there is no way that The Bandana Boy can reciprocate your feeling.”
“I don’t need compensation from him!” Victoria yelled. “All I want is—“
Dina stepped forward
.
“For him to love you?”
Victoria fell silent.
The long-haired maid clicked her tongue. “Do you remember the bouquet of flower I gave you, princess?” Dina asked. “I wasn’t the one who bought it.”
Victoria flinched.
“It was the boy,” she replied. “But he told me not to tell you.”
“W…why?”
“Because he’s only interested in giving, not give-and-take.”
Silence.
Dina sighed. “The boy cares for you more than you think he does, princess. How he risked his life to defend you from Petit Fantome. How he keep pushing to serve you, even when you overtly showed your disdain,” she said. “Despite how bad you’ve treated him, the boy kept caring for you.”
Victoria bit her lips and looked away.
“Men are idiot. Or maybe just him specifically,” Dina shook her head. “But that’s precisely your mistake: you’ve driven away a person who have cared for you as much as Prince Horlix did, maybe even more,” she turned back. “It never was a hopeless love, but by doing this, you’ve just delivered a killing blow. He’s gone forever.”
“Dina…I--!”
“Let’s go, Ayu,” she walked away. “Our presence will be pointless unless the princess changes her way and introspects. How to live. How to love.”
“Once we deem you ready, it is then we shall return.”
Chapter 5 / Part 7
Valentin Sokolov dropped Konstantin onto a bed inside a spaceship’s medical cabin. He glanced through a small window; the pale blue sky gradually changed into the pitch black of starry space. Planet Bandar Prime became distant, and the massive crack splitting the planet through its ocean and continents grew apparent.
“How is he?” a voice came from behind.
A bearded old man stood behind Val. He wore a dark brown leather greatcoat and an ancient welding goggle with filters on both its lenses—hiding his eyes behind a crimson red shade. Despite the wrinkles on his skin, the old man stood straight with a posture of a young man.
“It was a mere punch,” Val replied. “He should be awake within an hour, but will require immediate medical—“
“Not Konstantin,” the old man said. “I’m talking about The Bandana Boy.”
Val paused. “I think he’s useless on his own.”
“He killed Rear Admiral Gryaznov and defeated Konstantin. How is that useless?”
“Only with the help of others. He didn’t win alone.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No,” Val replied. “It’s the entire reason why we should’ve recruited him into The Brotherhood. His strength peaks when combined with the presence of a collective. I don’t understand why you keep putting him on collision courses with our people.”
“Are you questioning my wisdom, Valentin?”
Val flinched. “I…would never question the wisdom of Ivory Tower’s Grand Director,” he said. “What I’m questioning is your motive.”
“Then let’s do this inquiry properly,” the old man crossed his arms. “What is your premise and argument?”
“The Bandana Boy has the potential to aid The Brotherhood in our Great Liberation, due to his ability to rally the collective into one powerful single force, therefore we should’ve recruited him as soon as possible.”
“Ah yes,” the old man nodded. “Right off the bat, your premises have nothing to do with the argument.”
“What?”
“The premises and argument are consistent and valid, had it been an assertion for simply recruiting him into The Cypriot Brotherhood, but that’s not it, is it?” the old man said. “Your assertion is that we need to recruit him…as soon as possible. It’s the timing; the rush factor you’re pushing for.”
“Y…yes.”
“I could’ve pushed him to join The Brotherhood today. No, I could’ve done so three years ago in Gleicherde, or even the entire time I was watching him grow up in Vurste. I could’ve brought him to our mothership and let him mature among the best of Brotherhood’s warriors.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Val asked. “The Bandana Boy’s contempt with The Cypriot Brotherhood grows with time, because you kept placing us in an antagonistic relationship with him. He would’ve realised his potential far better had you—“
“I cannot.”
“I don’t see why.”
The old man turned to Konstantin. “Because he’ll end up like him.”
Silence.
“I met Konstantin when he was just ten,” he said. “When The High Commissar rescued us, I was foolish for rushing him into joining The Red Banner. He was physically and mentally capable, but not philosophically ready.”
“You mean…”
The old man nodded. “As he fought alongside The Red Banner, he became fuelled with hatred, as his only benchmark of judging humanity is The White Clan.”
“And he transcribed these hatred to the Tyrant Empire.”
“Not just The Tyrant Empire, but its people too,” the old man replied. “He justifies mass murder. He justifies annihilation. His justifications are far too philosophically powerful for anyone to convince him otherwise.”
“Are you saying you don’t disagree with him?”
“It is difficult to disagree with Konstantin, because people of The Tyrant Empire are exactly as he described: arrogant and egoistic, and those who have climbed the ladder of social status are taught to become so. These traits are required for them to survive, regardless how kind, benevolent, and caring they used to be when they were of lesser status.”
Silence.
“If we let The Bandana Boy join the Brotherhood today, I can guarantee you that he’ll become exactly like Konstantin. In fact, he almost did, if not for Charlotte Payne’s interference.”
“The Ghost Girl, huh?” Val crossed his arms. “So she’s your countermeasure to prevent The Bandana Boy from turning into Konstantin?”
“Not just her,” the old man pulled a chair and sat down. “Charlotte is necessary to sustain The Bandana Boy’s faith in humanity, someone who can exert a certain degree of control over his chaotic impulses,” he paused. “Then there’s the rich daughter from Planet Kaneguni. She is necessary to show the boy that sympathy for the many is possible, a force to draw his heart open. That fighting for others is more rational than a selfish individualistic life.”
“And then the blonde beta-class.”
“Indeed,” the old man nodded. “If the rich daughter brings him out to the world, the blonde lady is necessary to remind him the importance of humanity’s inner selves,” he put a palm on his chest. “So he never loses track of what he’s truly fighting for.”
Val frowned. “Then all your work is done. Now that he’s met all three, can’t we pull him into The Brotherhood?”
The old man’s expression dimmed. “Not yet.”
“We can’t wait too long!” Val raised his voice. “The Great Liberation is about to enter its full momentum! The Four Fleets of Apocalypse are on their final stage of preparation for a coordinated invasion!”
“Did you listen to The Bandana Boy’s argument against Konstantin, Valentin?”
Silence.
“He believed that there are Superior Beings mingling amongst the many Inferiors in The Tyrant Empire. Those who are forced into hiding, concealing their true selves to blend with the many Tyrant Slaves, but working to change the world for the better,” the old man said. “Konstantin’s mission to kill everyone disregards this very fact. Even if The Bandana Boy has no love for the many Inferior Beings, he is willing to suffer to protect these few Superior Beings.”
“And he’s right, isn’t he?” Val replied. “That is the precise argument The School of Re-Education has against The School of Annihilation.”
The old man nodded. “But it’s a weak argument. Konstantin knew the flaw in that philosophy. You knew it too. I know it too well.”
Silence.
“Even if The Bandana Boy is able to sympathi
se with the many. Even if he realises the values of inner selves. Even if he realises how important it is to keep hoping. The moment he discovers this flaw in the argument, he will plunge into the abyss.” the old man paused. “No amount of sympathy, empathy, or hope can stop his degeneration. He will stop at nothing to annihilate humanity, for a world devoid of redemption is a world that’s far better off destroyed.”
“What do we do then?” Val asked. “Are you saying that his entrance to the Brotherhood will simply recruit him to the side of The School of Annihilation? Moreover, its most radical interpretation that The Harbinger of Death is proposing?”
The old man stood and walked to the window. He placed his palm on the tempered reinforced glass, pushing it gently while gritting his teeth.
“We need the final piece of the puzzle.”
Val raised his eyebrows.
“Someone who can convince The Bandana Boy the importance of standing firm. Someone capable of grounding his defences against biases and emotional chaos. Someone who will help him eternally re-assess his beliefs and ideologies, so he can keep his sympathy, empathy, and hope for humanity running, even while staring at the abyss of despair itself.”
“Who is it?” Val asked. “If such a person exists, then we should act immediately before The Bandana Boy realises the flaws in his philosophy. We must venture through the galaxy to find—“
“Oh,” the old man smirked. “But you already know her, Valentin.”
“Eh?”
“In fact, for The Bandana Boy, it won’t be a new meeting.”
“It is but a long overdue reunion.”
EPILOGUE
“Found an empty ship!” Charlotte pointed at a spacecraft with open hatch.
Audi and Charlotte sprinted towards the spacecraft, but the marines behind them opened fire. They jumped over a crate and ducked behind while bullets rained over. The two sweated heavily and their breath were short. Audi kneeled and tightened his bootstraps while Charlotte peeked over the corner.
“They knew we’re heading for the ship,” the girl said. “I see no way we can enter without being punched by hundreds of bullets.”
