Chapter 31: An Artificial Spark

"Are you hurt, Mia?"

"N-No, I'm quite fine."

Mia fidgeted as she replied, still a little embarrassed by how Sion was calling her by her given name.

"Excellent. Then could you perhaps introduce me to das Fräulein at your side?"

He cast a quick glance at Lynsha, his manner civil but his gaze hostile.

"Uh, I, um, this..."

Intimidated by his presence, she fumbled for words. Mia watched her, feeling a growing sense of pity for the girl as she wilted under Sion's silent pressure.

"Sion! Quit that! You're scary enough as is, so don't make it worse by glaring like that. Look at what you're doing to the poor girl," she said, stepping forward to shelter Lynsha behind her. "This is Lynsha. She's a member of the underground revolutionaries, but she helped me escape. She shared a lot of information with me too. She told me about how the leader of the revolutionaries is her older brother, and... well, lots of other things. Lots of very interesting things..."

Not that I know what any of it amounts to, of course, she tacked on mentally.

Now, the astute among you might have realized this already, but there's something worth pointing out here. Mia, you see, has simply recounted the events that occurred. That's it. She just told it like it is. No spin, no exaggeration. She just repeated it to him straight.

On Sion's side, however, this is what he heard: "In the time it took for you to find me, I already managed to pull someone with intimate knowledge of the revolutionaries onto our side." To his ears, it sounded like Mia was saying she'd extracted a wealth of valuable information.

And the Great Sage does it again. Her wisdom truly knows no bounds.

He even started to wonder if Mia had knowingly let them kidnap her so she could learn more about them. His better judgment told him that couldn't be true, but some part of him felt like it wasn't entirely impossible... Alas, his trust in Mia now ran so deep that he was starting to entertain full blown conspiracy theories.

At the same time, he had to ask himself, Had it been me, what would I have done?

He looked at the unconscious boy at his feet, who didn't seem like a particularly daunting captor. Escape would likely have been a simple feat.

However, having the presence of mind to talk him into switching sides is probably beyond me.

She didn't just escape. She turned her capture into an opportunity to learn more about the enemy. The more he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed.

Heck, I doubt the thought would even cross my mind.

It goes without saying, of course, that the thought never crossed Mia's either. All she really did was show the boy some sass, and even that came back to bite her, so she accomplished basically nothing aside from humiliating herself. Anyway...

"May I assume that we're on the same side then?" asked Mia.

Lynsha nodded, but the gesture was guarded.

"If you'll work to stop the revolution, then I'll help you."

"Stop the revolution, huh..." Sion said. "The thing is, you'll probably have to speak to the King of Remno directly. Something has to be done about the heavy taxes."

He grimaced. To the best of his knowledge, the source of the people's frustration was the growing tax burden they had to endure. The problem was simple enough, but solving it was not going to be easy. Lynsha, however, shook her head.

"Not really. It's not lower taxes that my brother and his lot are demanding. It's the release of the chancellor, Lord Dasayev Donovan, who's being detained by the government."

That gave Sion pause.

"...What do you mean?"

"Lord Donovan spoke out against the tax hike, so His Majesty apparently jailed him to shut him up. My brother's group is fighting for his release."

"To reward principled remonstration with imprisonment... What folly."

The conversation he'd had with Rafina before his departure resurfaced in his mind. She'd told him that "something happened." Now, he finally knew what, and it was certainly reason enough for a revolt.

"Loyal is the subject who speaks the inconvenient truth. He had the courage to be honest with the king. Sadly, the king seems to have lacked the courage to listen and the wisdom to consider the consequences of harming someone who is speaking on behalf of the people..."

Mia noticed that Sion's eyes twitched a little. She saw a hint of anger flash across them. The sight reminded her of a day in the previous timeline when Sion had come to see her in the dungeon. His words rang in her ears as clearly as when she'd first heard them.

"Outcount Rudolvon was giving out food to starving people — people that you and your family abandoned. He's their savior. What did you think would happen if you killed someone like that? It was so obvious, and yet..." he'd said with a disparaging shake of his head. "Don't you people ever pause to consider the consequences of your actions?"

At the time, Mia couldn't say a thing back. The fact of the matter was that Outcount Rudolvon had been executed, and the grieving masses, furious over his death, had risen up in revolution. What Sion said was true, but... even so...

She'd bitten her lip, holding back a tide of grievances that threatened to spill forth. In that moment, what she'd wanted above all else was to lash out at him. To leap to her feet and scream in vehement defiance at his cocky, presumptuous face that what he'd said was total nonsense.

I just can't see Father doing something like that.

Mia's father, the Emperor of Tearmoon, wouldn't put a subject to death because they were popular with the masses. He had no interest in such matters. In fact, had he been concerned with how he was perceived by his people, the empire likely wouldn't have deteriorated so severely.

Something didn't add up. It had stuck to her thoughts like slime, shapeless and invisible but terribly unpleasant. Nevertheless, faced with Sion's withering criticism, she'd ultimately stayed silent, taking her doubts with her to the grave. Now she had a second chance to voice those thoughts. She took all the frustration and indignation, the confusion and doubt, and rolled them into one short observation...

"You know, something just doesn't add—"

...Which was promptly drowned out by the frantic shouting of the unconscious boy's friend, who'd finally shown up.

"H-Hey! People! We have a serious... problem?"

He froze when he saw Mia, standing with her wrists unbound. Confused, his eyes then shifted to Sion, who cocked an eyebrow and gripped the hilt of his sword. The boy immediately squealed, turned on his heel, and began running off in the opposite direction. He barely managed three steps before Sion bashed him over the head. There was a sharp shiiink, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground staring down the length of Sion's unsheathed blade. Its honed edge glinted menacingly, and he squealed again.

I sort of feel sorry for him... thought Mia as she watched, the pitiful sight of the boy cowering in terror overlapping with her own past experiences. Oh, wait a minute! This is the punk kid who told me to jump for him! Hmph! Good riddance!

She quickly switched from sympathizing with him to relishing his suffering. Mia was not one to dwell. It was one of her strong points.

Grinning from ear to ear, she sat down and watched as the boy was made to sit humbly on his legs in submission. Lynsha walked over and kneeled down in front of him.

"What's the matter? You said there was a serious problem. What is it?"

"Lynsha! What's going on? Why are—"

"Later. Just answer me first."

"O-Okay... So, our comrades kicked things off already. They occupied the local guard station and seized all the weapons. Now they're on their way to the mayor's house."

"What? Weren't things supposed to start tomorrow? Why'd they... Did that Jem guy tell them to?"

"No, it was your brother. He made the call himself. He said we have comrades in a standoff against the army, and we can't afford to keep them waiting any longer. So to help them he went to the town square to gather support for a raid on the guard station."

"Ugh, that's him all right..." Lynsha pressed a palm to her face and let out a short, frustrated breath. "And? How bad was it?"

"Wasn't much of a battle, apparently. There were about a dozen guards at the station, but your brother brought a couple hundred people bearing down on them from the town square. The guard captain freaked out and bolted. I gotta say though, your brother? He's really something."

"Yeah, him and his silver tongue... He's a genius when it comes to persuasion. If he were king, I bet people would line up to pay him taxes."

Lynsha sighed again before turning to Mia and Sion. "Well, you heard him. To the mayor's house, then. Let's go."

Huh?

Mia looked at Lynsha like the girl was daft. What did she mean, "let's go?"

Ohoho, what a silly girl, just assuming we're going to follow her. As if I'm going to go anywhere near such a dangerous place...

"That does sound rather dangerous..." came Sion's voice in agreement.

See? Even Sion thinks—

She glanced in his direction to find the most "let's do this" smile she'd ever seen. The bottom dropped out of her stomach.

"But if you absolutely insist, then I shall accompany you," he said with a firm voice and an even firmer grip on his sword.

"Erm, uh, but..."

She stammered. Before she even had a chance to protest with something to the effect of "Hold your damn horses!" Sion's expression had already changed into a puzzled frown.

"Hm? Did I misjudge something? Let's see... Ah, of course..." he said in a low mumble before nodding, evidently having answered his own question. "Don't worry about the others. I know I said I want to meet up with them as soon as possible, but we're staring down the gullet of this army, and I'm not about to pass up an opportunity to probe the belly of the beast. It'd be a waste of your efforts otherwise."

"M-My efforts? Well, actually, I—"

"Less talking, more walking. Come on, let's go," urged Lynsha.

Mia, who'd been in obedient-captive mode for a little too long, reflexively rose to her feet. A few seconds later, the implications of her situation fully dawned on her.

Wait a minute... I'm not allowed to say "no" anymore, am I?

They were past the point where the outcome could be swayed by anything she said. She immediately shifted gears.

Well, as long as Sion is here, he'll probably protect me. Plus, we've got the sister of the revolutionary army's leader with us. Hm, now that I think about it, maybe it's not that dangerous after all.

Mia was, after all, not one to dwell. It was one of her strong points. And she was still curious. Something definitely didn't add up, and she wanted to know why.

"By the way, I've been wondering, who exactly is this Jem fellow?" asked Sion casually as they walked.

"He's one of our comrades. My brother said he met him at the tavern."

"Was he the one who told you to kidnap Mia?"

"Yeah. He said she'd be an obstacle to the revolution."

"He must be from the same crew as those who attacked our wagon then... But those two boys..."

Sion thought back on his encounter with the pair of young kidnappers. Both of them had been such pushovers that they couldn't possibly have been trained to fight.

They're a far cry from the wagon assailants...

His ruminating was interrupted by an abrupt change in scenery as the alley gave way to a wharf, where a number of small boats were moored. The view widened into a vast expanse of waterways. There was the energy of a busy marketplace in the air.

"Ah, it hadn't occurred to me until just now, but the river we fell into runs close to here, doesn't it?" noted Mia.

"Looks like it. Which makes this place a traffic hub..." answered Sion before nodding to himself. "I see. Tell me, was it that Jem fellow who chose this town as the stage for this revolt?"

Lynsha gave him a puzzled look. Before she could respond, he continued.

"If so, then he knows what he's doing. He's picking his targets carefully, and it's no coincidence that he struck here first. This kind of calculated maneuvering also happens to match the way our wagon assailants operated."