Chapter 57 – Accident (1)

“Yan Casselos and the leadership?”

The target of revenge that came out of Thomas’s mouth was such an unexpected figure that I asked back without realizing.

According to what I heard from the Wayne brothers, Merel Wayne’s twisted desire for power, unsatisfied with being a work foreman, was the beginning and motivation of the abuse.

Which meant that the leadership did not raise the Wayne brothers in order to break down the Magic Engineering Department first, but the parents’ voluntary choice was the origin.

‘Did the leadership participate in the abuse as well?’

Thomas’s words, which bound them together, had something strange about them.

Furthermore, avenging against Merel Wayne personally and avenging against the leadership were problems on completely different dimensions.

Not to mention the difficulty of the process, it was a matter where one might have to be prepared to lay down their life.

There must be more to the story.

Sure enough, there were words that followed.

“Aylen, our ember is a place where you can know what someone living a house away ate for breakfast today, and even how many times they went to the restroom during work. Does it make sense that in such a countryside town, no one knew the fact that we were abused?”

“The leadership participated in the abuse and intervened in manipulating public opinion?”

“Yes. The beginning of the abuse might have been our father, but after recognizing our talent, the leadership moved the propaganda department to manipulate public opinion. Even to the extent of idolizing our brothers as heroes.”

“Idolization…”

“Think about it. Even though we hadn’t shown ourselves outside for over ten years, no one thought it was strange. It was all because those bastards instigated people, claiming we were forbidden from going outside because we were dedicating ourselves to magic engineering for the sake of the ember.”

Recalling when I first met the Wayne brothers at the tavern, that was certainly the case.

Because even back then, when they were not magic engineers, the Wayne brothers were treated as heroes by the citizens.

The leadership had idolized the Wayne brothers that much for the day they would replace the existing Magic Engineering Department.

As I quietly nodded, Thomas continued in a heavy voice.

“But it is not just out of personal grudge that I want to drag down Yan and the leadership.”

“Then?”

“On the day the license was issued, looking at you reading the magic engineer manifesto, I realized. Even though Willus and I were raised as magic engineers by our father’s will, since we eventually became magic engineers, we must fulfill our responsibility and duty for the salvation of humanity.”

“…!”

Thomas’s eyes were filled with determination and sorrow at the same time.

My heart fluctuated at his words. Although I knew he was not a simple guy, it was because I had not expected him to be someone bound by justice or a grand cause.

While I was agonizing over ‘becoming a magic engineer’ once again, he spoke.

“One thing I can say for sure is that the ember led by Yan Casselos will become an ember that goes against that. It is obvious just by looking at how he pushes Lord Demian and the Magic Engineering Department, who truly care for the citizens and the ember, as if to kill them.”

“Are you saying you will purge them for the sake of the grand cause?”

“Well… to put it grandly, it could be said that way. But…”

“But?”

“Because I do not want to make victims like us again. For puppets raised in our ember, Willus and I are enough.”

Victims and puppets.

From Thomas who spoke of it, a firmer will than at any other time was felt.

However, while I felt a twinge of pity, my brain was spinning fast.

Because through this, I confirmed that we shared a common enemy in Yan and the leadership, and a goal in their downfall.

Furthermore, summing up the story, having them on my side held a meaning beyond simply gaining more colleagues.

‘If I use the Wayne brothers, purging the leadership will be much easier. I think it would be fine to move up the plan.’

Their public reputation in our ember might become even greater than Demian Vale’s… no, on the day they returned home in glory after becoming magic engineers.

Because they were the heroes and hope created by the leadership, in an ember where the leadership was dominant.

Such were the Wayne brothers, who possessed immense symbolism.

There was no sharper dagger to pierce the heart of the leadership.

Furthermore, the leadership had created the Wayne brothers’ reputation and fame with their own hands, and would continue to do so.

They raised them thinking they were dogs, but in fact, they were raising tiger cubs with their own hands.

However, until the decisive moment arrived, the Wayne brothers had to play the role of dogs obeying the leadership and carry out internal operations.

“I will stop Yan Casselos somehow. Even if I fail, I definitely will.”

However, Thomas was already burning with the determination of a fight to the death, openly revealing his hostility toward the leadership.

Willus would not be any different.

However, if they truly wanted to become the dagger or tigers that would choke the life out of the leadership, they must not act like this.

For my plan to be complete, before returning to the ember, I had to tie up the loose ends definitely right here.

Clatter, clatter…

Stopping the off-roader for a moment, I leaned toward him.

I spoke secretly so that no one in the back seat could hear.

“Thomas, I intend to become the leader.”

“What…?”

“I am not just saying this. Unlike you, I have no intention of taking revenge on my father. Purging the traitors under the name of Yan Casselos and the leadership who hinder the development of the ember, and rising to that position to bring glory to our ember, that is my true purpose for returning.”

“…!”

Hearing the bombshell statement, Thomas became literally a stone statue.

Having risked my life to take the qualification exam and finally becoming the top-scoring magic engineer, it was only natural for him to react so upon hearing that I would become the leader instead of the Head of the Magic Engineering Department.

With a face of incomprehension, Thomas asked.

“Then why did you get the license?”

“Before that, let me ask first. If the leadership falls, who will be nominated as the next leader?”

“…Demian Vale?”

“Yes, Department Head Demian Vale will be nominated as the leader. But my father, although perfect as a magic engineer, is disqualified as a leader. You know the reason too, right?”

Just the anecdote of him rejecting Herman Melville’s proposal in the past and remaining in the ember was enough to say Demian was unfit for ruling people and doing politics.

A leader was a position forced to make choices that always accompanied sacrifice, and he was precisely a person who could not let go of a single citizen.

Demian Vale, he had to remain as the Head of the Magic Engineering Department.

Furthermore, hadn’t the Wayne brothers witnessed the weakness of human Demian to the very bottom as they received the diary from him before taking the exam?

To Thomas, who nodded silently as expected, I continued speaking.

“The license is my minimum qualification to become the leader and the proof of my innocence.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“For ten long years, I have been solidified in people’s minds as a scoundrel. To renovate that perception which settled like a prejudice, I needed a title that could not be ignored, and the top-scoring magic engineer of the qualification exam was the perfect answer.”

“Then what about innocence…?”

“There is no one in our ember besides me who is fit to become the leader. It means that if there is anyone who rises to be the leader, it must be me. But who would think that I am trying to become the leader without any greed?”

“…No one would. Honestly, I don’t know what kind of guy you are anymore either.”

Thomas had a highly confused look in his eyes.

However, because I intended to prove it this time as well, just like I did in the qualification exam, I spoke with confidence.

“When I return to the ember, I will manufacture the golem. That is precisely my innocence.”

“…!”

At that moment, there was no way for me to explain Thomas’s face.

To express it somehow, it was an expression as if he had been hit in the head by a cannon.

Since it meant that I would fulfill even the duties and responsibilities as a magic engineer, it was natural.

Yet, to think I would prove that sublime professional spirit and the innocence of my purpose of becoming a leader through golem development.

“Do you… even know what you are saying right now?”

For him, it was only natural to find it unbelievable, both as a human being and as a magic engineer.

However, my true skill was at the upper-intermediate level, so manufacturing was the problem, not development.

However, since I could not reveal my true skill until I possessed power as Herman Melville said.

“It may be hard to believe, but I accidentally obtained the golem blueprints of an unidentified magic engineer.”

“What?!”

“It’s no good if more people know. Keep it as a secret between just the two of us.”

I had to add a very slight lie.

I could not tell the world that I received Herman Melville’s golem blueprints. If I did, I would be kept in check by the Arcadiuses.

‘This is a sort of test. A test to see how I utilize the blueprints.’

A test as a magic engineer on whether I could modify the golem blueprints.

A test of my vessel on how I would exploit it.

Herman Melville must have given it while knowing all of this.

Therefore, the lie that it was a blueprint handed over by an unidentified person was a very appropriate answer that solved both problems simultaneously.

Since my true skill and Herman Melville’s name could be hidden in anonymity due to the source being unidentifiable.

However, since Thomas was also a magic engineer and a person of the leadership, he knew the loopholes of golem development.

It meant there was still a long way to go to convince him.

“But just because there are blueprints doesn’t mean manufacturing is possible. To build the golem, we will have to negotiate with the Ember of Forging. Of course, I will go directly.”

The Ember of Forging.

It was an ember close to ours, specializing in industry and manufacturing.

Its population was a hundred thousand, making it quite a large small-scale city.

“You really intend to build it…”

When I spoke even of the concrete plans, Thomas muttered, and I instinctively knew that now was the timing to drive in the wedge.

“What I want to say is, if you want to tear down the leadership, now is the time to lie low. You two especially must do so.”

“Are you telling us to be loyal to the leadership? I have no intention of smiling and getting along with those subhuman bastards any longer.”

“True, if you do that, you might be able to take revenge on Merel Wayne, but you won’t be able to take revenge on Yan and the leadership. You won’t be able to keep your convictions as a magic engineer either.”

Thomas’s voice grew sharp, but I did not yield.

Since I knew that once I confirmed the Wayne brothers’ resolution as magic engineers, they had no other choice.

What I had to do was merely to hasten Thomas’s choice.

“It is said that a gentleman’s revenge is not too late even if it takes ten years. And my plan is like a gentleman’s revenge, so if you wait just a little, it will bear fruit.”

“…”

“Choose here, Thomas. Whether to remain a young child locked in a back room, or to remain a revolutionary who kindles a new flame in the ember.”

At that moment, Thomas’s eyes began to shake as if an earthquake had hit.

However, when he, who closed his eyes as if to avoid the choice, opened them again, the previous conflict was nowhere to be seen, and only resolve remained.

“I will do as you say.”

In the end, Thomas gave the answer I wanted.

“I won’t regret today’s choice.”

However, he added words while grabbing my wrist as it moved to drive the off-roader.

“You said it is a ten-year plan. I will cooperate fully and not raise any opposition to your plan in the future. Instead, I have a condition.”

“A condition?”

“In the process of purging the leadership, I don’t care whom you punish. But let me handle my father… Merel Wayne, with my own hands. I beg of you.”

I was the one who had intended to expose Merel Wayne’s embezzlement of glacier stones as the first step to tear down the leadership.

But to embrace the Wayne brothers, there was no reason I couldn’t grant at least this much, and it was not proper to interfere in a parent-child relationship.

Therefore, although I nodded, I spoke differently.

“I cannot accept that condition.”

“What do you mean by…?”

“Something natural cannot be a condition, and it cannot be a request. The disposal of Merel Wayne is entirely the share of you brothers, and you do not need to follow me unconditionally for that. Rather, what you truly must do is to rebuke me when I head down the wrong path.”

“…!”

“So think of the condition again. As long as it isn’t to kill me, I will grant it all.”

After gently removing his hand from my wrist, I drove the off-roader.

Thomas did not sleep, but he remained silent.

We moved forward and forward in that silence.

“We have arrived! I can see the ember!”

“We’ve finally arrived!”

“A bed… I want to sleep in a bed.”

“I want to wash up a bit.”

After a long, long time, we were finally able to reach the nameless ember—our small but missed home ember.