It’s been two weeks since I returned to my everyday life.
Let’s整理一下 what happened one thing at a time.
Polaris and I started going back to the Royal Academy the day after we returned. But Victoria couldn’t do that.
Why? Because as soon as the tension lifted, she collapsed and didn’t wake up for three days.
According to the doctor, it was similar to someone who had been overworked to exhaustion.
She had been using her psychic ability, which usually makes you hungry, all day long. Considering she was awake for more than half the day, it’s not strange she collapsed.
After getting fluids for three days, she finally managed to get up.
After rising from her bed, Victoria was interrogated like a person captured in Bern City by the royal family.
Surprisingly, I heard that killing Marquis Gaston wasn’t considered a crime for Victoria.
But judging by how the royal person’s words were vague on that point, it seems they want to overlook the massacre Victoria committed in Nantes Village.
I have no idea why.
Over 5,000 people were entangled in Victoria’s violence and died, which is quite remarkable.
Maybe they’re thinking of raising someone like that under the royal family’s control.
Anyway.
Victoria was interrogated by the royal family and returned to the Royal Academy without any form of restraint or consequences. It was a tale of her being released safely.
And that didn’t just apply to Victoria.
Everyone was interrogated.
Everyone who was present when the Royal Air Force arrived was involved. They didn’t resist or flee, simply getting caught.
After arriving in the capital, everyone was thrown into jail and interrogated separately in different locations.
And most of them came out of prison alive.
They had thoughts of committing treason. It’s natural for a royal family to execute everyone who surrenders, right?
Even Marquis Gaston’s family distorted the king’s orders to carry them out.
In a kingdom, it’s not unusual for both to be charged with treason and killed. But surprisingly, there were no punishments for them.
No, the big shots were either imprisoned or left with massive debts. In Marquis Gaston’s case, a large portion was returned to the royal family.
But that was all.
No one was executed.
It wasn’t just those people who were interrogated. Polaris, who went to Bern City with us, was also questioned. Of course, this time she wasn’t imprisoned but was treated properly during her interrogation as a noble lady.
That was what happened during the week after we returned to the capital.
But no one came to interrogate me. Even now, two weeks later, nothing.
Why?
I thought I had witnessed some crucial points, but why am I excluded?
Once I had an understanding of what happened, I figured they’d want to see what I had to say.
I had created a psychic user who demonstrated incredible powers, and with all that surplus evidence, it wouldn’t be strange to be suspected, right?
So I presumed they were planning to investigate me.
Two weeks in, and I’ve had absolutely no contact.
It’s strange.
So since returning to Bern City, I resumed my life as it was.
That was the end of anything related to Bern City for me.
Now it’s back to daily life.
Aside from the fact that Polaris, Victoria, and I had catch-up classes booked due to missing a few days, the Royal Academy was peaceful.
It wasn’t because the academy students were indifferent.
Something bigger overshadowed it.
The royal family actively spread word about the events in Bern City, and the whole Royal Academy became noisy every break time about it.
The royal family announced that three companies had mocked them.
The companies they decided to confront were Pride Industry, Rocket Mobile Company, and Gun and Rufu Company.
Not just those companies, but all their subsidiaries as well.
They even formed a separate team to conduct a thorough investigation on all the mechanical puppets within the national organization.
The royal family summarized what they discovered through state broadcasts every day and even showed the footage from the ruined Bern City.
What’s amusing is that while the state broadcast was blaring on and on, the major media outlets stayed quiet.
There are TV channels, but not all of them are state-run. While the state and smaller channels were constantly reporting, the bigger channels had no special broadcasts about it at all.
So what happened next?
Well, I think it was about four days post-announcement when the media outlets started to battle it out.
The major media had a brief chatter right after the announcement but then fell silent, whereas the smaller outlets went wild.
Now, newspapers discussing the events in Bern City are selling like crazy.
After the royal family’s initial announcement, in just a week…
Rumors of what kind of conspiracy was at play, what happened, and why it wasn’t reported elsewhere sent sales skyrocketing.
Some outlets even launched special magazine issues discussing it.
At the same time, companies linked to those three firms fell into deep crises.
Nobles involved in that industry are currently under the royal family’s command, with other nobles inspecting them. And they’re selecting families known for being unfriendly.
Do you understand what I mean?
Yes. Exactly.
They’re openly dismantling those noble families. Initially, the nobles watched their steps carefully, but once they noticed the royal family was turning a blind eye, they went on the offensive.
A bloodbath ensued.
The entire country was thrown into chaos. But it wasn’t a bad chaos. It was a painful but necessary cleansing of festering wounds.
Now, the attention of the people in this country is focused on one singular point.
It’s not just the events in Bern City.
It’s about the revelation that companies attempted to manipulate the nation.
From what I heard through some harvesting machines, it seems other nations have begun investigations into those companies too.
Well, it was devastating, after all. They looked at their king like he was beneath them.
In short, that’s the situation.
In a faded memory world, it’s as if the OS company installed features to see inside and manipulate things at will.
Heck, even the security program company was in on it.
This affected military weapons, too.
The worst-case scenario has already come to light.
Machines in the forest launched a rebellion. It could have happened all across the kingdom.
The nation has started to thoroughly regulate the companies.
Honestly, when I found out that the companies had held sway over the major media outlets and all machines, I figured that even after the announcement, their losses would be minimal—just a dent in profits.
Since they’re a globally sprawling corporation, I thought they could bury it all if a single country made noise.
But no, that wasn’t the case.
By the time a week had passed since my return, in other words, last week, the royal family announced evidence that there was a backdoor capable of controlling all devices, and that they had been aware of fundamental issues with the power sources that could lead to incidents.
It even came out that they tried to hush everything up by bribing Marquis Gaston, the landowner of Bern City. At that point, the capital was buzzing with that story.
The fact that the three of us had exited the Royal Academy was so trivial it practically vanished.
Ah.
By the way, nothing was mentioned about us in that announcement.
The only official commentary was as follows.
There was an incident involving abnormal operations with the mechanical puppets in Bern City, and after that, a protest crowd attempted to demand the truth.
And the three companies tried to cover it up by bribing Marquis Gaston, leading to a clash between the protestors and the military.
The royal army, having noticed all this, sent the air force to put a stop to it.
Then they announced that they wouldn’t hold the citizens who got caught up in this against their will accountable and pledged to do their best to uncover the truth.
Of course, there was also coverage of interviews with citizens who were there at that time.
It’s incredibly funny.
In a nutshell, this is what happened.
The companies were plotting to rebel against the royal family, but the royal family figured it out beforehand and intervened.
They’re still fully focused on finding the culprits.
But I know.
A society using mechanical puppets is about to undergo a significant transformation.
And there are plenty of talents ready to slip through those cracks.
A harvesting machine in the Brightshin slums received my memories.
A harvesting machine that utilized my memories in Bern City.
The ones who shared the memories of Daegon and Wonsi Cheonjon will also join in.
With such dramatic technology on the rise, the world is going to change.
New revolutions will surely unfold.
Now, I can just quietly watch it all.
So, the big issues are solved.
Small issues, however, still remain.
At lunchtime, after the morning classes.
Right next to me is Victoria. She still wears a face full of worry.
“Still no word from your parents?”
“Yeah…”
It’s not that there’s no phone, but it can only be used within the city. Long-distance calls are tightly controlled by the state, making it hard unless it’s military-related or broadcasting.
It’s not a security problem but a technical one, they say.
“When they set up barriers to stop the protestors in Bern City, all the citizens living there were driven out. I bet they’ll contact us once they settle in.”
“What if they’ve already passed away…?”
The Victoria who had cursed for them to perish there seems to have disappeared, leaving behind only this whimpering child.
I comfort Victoria.
What could have truly happened to those two?
