Chapter 234 – Infiltrate

Chapter 234 – Infiltrate

"Is this fresh?" I asked, wiping my eyes, forcing back down a yawn because I was woken up in the middle of the night. Not that I was angry, as the Morse code message that arrived was indeed significant enough not to waste any moment.

"It is. It arrived fifteen minutes ago." Merlin answered while I read my Uncle's message detailing what happened when our midnight train arrived at Lothlia.

A small box... of magical properties. From what my agents described in this message, it reminded me of something I wanted to develop one day. Thanks to Merlin, we already had devices that could record and replay sound... Then, there is the Imaginary, which we are now using in our mech, and we are slowly working on somehow including it in our soldier's helmets. While that specific research was headed by Merlin and Mikan, we still had the issue of fueling it, something that we couldn't solve yet. On paper, it can be done, and they made prototypes that could enable our soldiers to view the world in more detail and have a virtual interface before them. It would allow them not only to have a better vision but also to see their compatriots and their statuses or even see in the dark. Dorian had already built three variants; the issue was the required energy of the formation. Just one helmet, to function, had to be accompanied by the same amount of CC that required a Dragonfire Canon to shoot with its full capabilities. Keeping it on for a prolonged sortie would be a near impossibility. Mikan had some ideas about using tattoos and whatnot, but... We needed potent monster blood for that. And a lot of it. Sadly, we were close to empty at the moment.

"Sovereign?"

"Sorry, I'm sleepy, and my mind began to wander everywhere but where it should be!" I flinched, shaking my head, returning to the letter. "My guess is that the spy used a device that recorded images of our train, either still images or moving ones..."

"Movies! The thing you spoke about?!" He yelled out, his eyes suddenly going extra wide and shining like two gold pieces.

"Yeah. Immediately send back a message! Don't let him leave the city; if he does, intercept, capture, and retrieve his device!"

"Yes, My Sovereign!" He saluted, but I grabbed his hand before he could run away.

"I didn't finish! Try not to alert him. Prepare one of the fake blueprints I drafted with the most inconsistencies, missing details, and errors. We are going to throw in the first bait and make contact with him."

"I still think it is a bad idea, Leon." He answered, trying to say it as firmly as possible, "They can still reverse engineer it, especially if they have the images of the train."

"I don't mind. What they can learn from it are the steam engine itself and the boiler. As for how to turn that energy into pushing the drivetrain, that is up to them to figure out! Even if they have crisp, 4K visuals, the moving parts are hidden behind protective sheeting. I told you, Merlin, I don't care if they copy the trains... They will have to go through all the steps I skipped to get to where we are now!"

“...”

"Speak freely." I smiled, seeing him wriggle his eyebrows.

"What is 4K?"

"Ah... Well... The image of how our mechs see the world. Mostly."

"I see! Um-um... So, we just need to stay ahead of them, right?

Finally, his attention turned towards the letter marked with his name. Opening it, he found not much to go on, only the core details of his next task from the leader of their network. In it, she, if she was indeed a lady and not just a codename, detailed that they lost more key figures, but their sacrifice allowed Elvira to slip away with all of their findings. He had to ensure she lived as from now on, Elvira was valuable, and with how many good spies they lost, they couldn't afford to operate only with amateurs... Otherwise, the whole operation would be in jeopardy.

"Elvira..." Dio mumbled, destroying the letter that was telling him to bring Elvira home and vouch for her. "Good connections are important; it is best to start building them soon. Who knows what happens in the future, and we need trustable people to watch our backs..."

...

....

......

"We are in." Yuri chuckled, reading a tiny letter that arrived last night. "My little Elvire is on her way to Westland."

"What about the magic device?" Sasha asked before I could while we sat at our breakfast table.

"He is carrying it, but he never made any mention of it, keeping its existence a secret. It will take time to get close enough to bring it up."

"We will use the third addendum for our infiltration." I said, making Yuri nod, understanding it at once.

We had multiple alternate scenarios planned out, and while Elvira was heading to Westland, she was not alone; three of her sisters were following her. The third addendum meant we would throw an ambush at them, coordinated in a way that Elvira could go and save our target's life.

"Make her get close to him and try to discover the device and its functions before arriving at Westland."

"Are you worried they learned too much?" Luna asked, but I just smiled at her, shaking my head.

"Nope! I just want the technology for snapping pictures. The newspaper would go on to have a second revolution with its inclusion!"

"Speaking of revolutions," Yuri continued, munching on her toast and egg. "We are getting reports of unrest in multiple regions within the Empire. It seems that all the people needed is more freedom, taking off the nobles from their backs, and boom, they are ready to start complaining!"

"Of course!" Mikan shrugged, sighing before leaning to her side and wiping Arthur's mouth because he had his whole face colored red from the jam he was spreading all over his bread. "For a long time, especially in the last 500 years, the regions within the Empire were like their own small kingdoms, ruled by the local noble family. The royal bloodline only cared about their tithe arriving in time and dealing with outside issues."

"Noble families were in great competition." Luna added, thinking back to her childhood days, "The plays they made usually meant that dozens of regular people would die. Whole families were being wiped out in their games."

"Which results in what we see now." Mikan nodded, "The Empire has grown too big and bloated, festering with injustice. The moment Mirian lit the fuse, it was about to blow."

"It is happening sooner than expected." I answered, reaching for my mug filled with steaming coffee. "If not now, there will be fire spreading all over the place next year... The question is, will it be a raging firestorm from the get-go, or will it start slow?"