Chapter 103: This is the Complete Ural Silver Wolf!
Overworld, Qlipoth Fort.
In the main administrative center's conference room, ministers were gathered around a circular desk. Many were descendants of the original city builders, with a few having been promoted from the lower ranks.
"Three days have passed, and there's still not a single clue about the assassins."
Seated at the head of the table, Cocolia lifted her eyes, her thundering inquiry overflowing with authority.
"Supreme Guardian, we have already conducted a city-wide sweep and issued wanted posters. The Intelligence Division suspects the assassins have entered the Fragmentum."
Pela, wearing a new pair of stockings, held a thick stack of data and respectfully bowed to the Supreme Guardian as she reported. Her round glasses reflected the white light, partially obscuring the look in her eyes.
"Then send the Silvermane Guards into the Fragmentum to search. I want to see them, dead or alive," Cocolia commanded, her tone final. "Also, issue a new decree—accelerate the Fragmentum conquest, push the defense line forward, focus on dealing with the Fragmentum within the city, and strengthen our counter-offensive."
"Supreme Guardian..."
"That's impossible!"
The resolution immediately caused the faces of many military officials to change, including Gepard, who was seated at the far end of the long table as the Landau family representative and Captain of the Guard. Some officials began to speak up, wanting to advise against it. They all knew how precarious the Silvermane Guards' defense line already was. While not on the verge of collapse, it was certainly weathering a storm.
The old nobles, dressed in their luxurious clothes, remained impassive, minding their own business. This did not affect their interests. Many cast their gazes toward the gray-haired figure closest to Cocolia's seat, feeling puzzled. In the past, whenever the Supreme Guardian issued orders for a counter-offensive against the Fragmentum, Lady Bronya was always the first to stand up and object. Why was she completely silent today?
The reaction of the military ministers filled the conference room with a low buzz.
"Enough!"
Cocolia stood up and slammed her hand on the table. The temperature of the entire room seemed to drop under her stern, icy gaze. Every voice died, and a shiver ran down their spines.
"Are you questioning the Supreme Guardian?"
The room fell silent. The military ministers lowered their heads, glanced at the impassive Silvermane Guard commander, and then bowed their heads in unwilling submission.
"We wouldn't dare."
Cocolia nodded slightly. "Meeting dismissed," she said coldly.
"As you will."
The portly, lavishly dressed nobles were the first to rise. Not daring to linger in front of the enraged Cocolia, they quickly left the conference room.
Gepard's eyes were filled with confusion. He clenched his fists for a moment, then quickly relaxed them.
Bronya stood up from her seat next to the head of the table. Mimicking the posture from her 'memories,' she bowed to the Supreme Guardian and was about to leave with Pela, the secretary.
"Wait, Bronya."
Cocolia's voice echoed in the silence.
Holding the organized data in her arms, Pela glanced at the now-stopped Bronya. Seeing Bronya's bright, clear eyes, calm and composed, she quickened her pace and left the conference room.
Soon, only Cocolia and Bronya remained in the vast room.
"Mother, is there anything else?"
Bronya turned, the heels of her long boots making a crisp sound against the floor.
"You... have nothing you want to say?"
Compared to her anger in front of the ministers, Cocolia's tone was noticeably less cold when facing her daughter. The tension in her brow eased into a gentle curve, but it was tinged with a hint of confusion. Cocolia sized up the silver-haired girl. Her posture was perfect, her stride precise with minimal variation, and as she walked, she held her head high, her gaze sharp as she looked at her. Her appearance, her temperament, her subtle mannerisms—she was, without a doubt, the precious daughter she saw as her heir.
If there was anything different from the daughter in her memory, the most obvious was her increasingly upright and full chest. Bronya was at a developing age; this was normal. Perhaps it was this growth that made Bronya seem much more mature.
"I want to say that these are all pointless sacrifices, sacrifices of no value. Will you retract the decree?"
"Bronya."
A moment of silence. Cocolia remembered the day she first met the outsiders; Bronya had argued with her about this very issue. The matter of the Silvermane Guards' defensive strategy against the Fragmentum had long been a point of contention between mother and daughter.
"Only by doing this can we usher in a new world. A world without poverty, cold, or suffering. A world where people no longer have to beg for survival like prisoners."
"This is my choice. It is the Supreme Guardian's responsibility. You will understand one day."
"Mother..."
Sighing, Cocolia spoke in a tone that brooked no argument, "Alright, you may leave, Bronya."
The reason she had stopped Bronya was that she felt her daughter was a bit strange today, but now it seemed it was just her imagination.
After Bronya left, Cocolia walked to the window and looked down at Belobog, murmuring to herself, "Without breaking the old, one cannot build the new."
[Very good, Cocolia... just like that...]
Closing the room's door behind her, Bronya let out a sigh of relief, her formal posture relaxing slightly.
[As expected of the Bronya from a parallel world.]
In this body with a healthy central nervous system, even when she was in the background, Little Duckie's emotions were much more active than in her own body.
[This is the complete Bronya. The complete Ural Silver Wolf!]
When carrying out many of her assassination missions, Little Duckie could only resort to brute force infiltration. Although she had exquisite disguise and costume-changing skills, her damaged emotional center made it impossible for her to impersonate others to sneak in. But Bronya's acting had taught Little Duckie a lesson! Although she had never met this planet's 'Bronya,' she completely understood what kind of person she was through her host's performance.
[The feeling is mutual. As expected of 'me'.]
A graceful, smiling voice sounded in their mental channel as Big Bronya and Little Duckie began to commercially flatter each other. The older Bronya had a mature charm that the younger one lacked. Even with her superb acting skills to change her temperament, that maturity wasn't easy to completely conceal. Thanks to Bronya's natural beauty and Little Duckie's disguise techniques, they had managed to lower it to a level where, even if noticed, it wouldn't arouse suspicion.
[Cocolia is getting anxious, as expected.]
The Trailblazer team's self-destructive gambit and assassination attempt had undoubtedly spurred Cocolia. Without the Stellaron's help, it was hard to say what the outcome of that day's assassination would have been. The longer things dragged on, the more variables could influence the outcome. The decree Cocolia issued was several times more aggressive than her original plans. If Belobog was a train heading for an abyss, she had just floored the accelerator to reach her so-called new world.
And this was the opportunity Cocolia had given Bronya.
Returning to the Silvermane Guard commander's office in the Administrative District, it wasn't long before Pela came to find her.
"Commander Bronya, how was your conversation with the Supreme Guardian? Did Lady Cocolia retract the decree?"
Looking at Bronya sitting at her desk, deep in thought with her chin resting on her hands, Pela asked with a worried expression.
"No. Mother is still insistent on a counter-offensive against the Fragmentum," Bronya replied, shaking her head.
Pela's expression grew heavy.
Bronya took a file from her desk drawer. "In the past year, Mother has organized the Silvermane Guards to launch a total of 12 counter-offensives against the Fragmentum. The casualties among the Guards have been extremely severe. Half of the teams are already facing serious personnel shortages."
"And this new decree requires expanding the defense line in the north, focusing on the Fragmentum inside the city, and sending people in to search for Caelus and the others, all at the same time."
"We can't! We don't have that many soldiers left!" Pela's tone was urgent.
"After I relayed the Supreme Guardian's decree, the morale in some units dropped drastically. Some have become pessimistic about the future." Pela bit her lip and continued, "There was even one small-scale mutiny due to dissatisfaction with the decree. Those soldiers believed the Supreme Guardian was just sending them to die for no reason."
The signs had been there for a long time, but the Supreme Guardians had protected the city for seven hundred years, generation after generation. Many were willing to believe in the Supreme Guardian, that she must have her reasons! Young, able-bodied men were willing to sacrifice themselves for Belobog's survival. But over time, some of the old veterans could see that something was wrong. Previously, Bronya and Gepard had been extremely strict with military discipline, forcefully suppressing the sparks. But Cocolia's aggressive decree this time had caused the long-simmering hidden dangers to begin to erupt.
After bravely saying her piece, Pela carefully glanced at Bronya, noticing that her face showed no signs of rage. In fact, there was even an expression of... it's finally happening? Though the expression was fleeting, Pela saw it clearly.
"Pela, do you think Mother's decision to seal off the Underworld was right?"
"..." Pela was speechless. As the Silvermane Guards' Intelligence Officer, she knew how many families in Belobog had been forcefully separated for over a decade because of this isolation order, especially those Guards who had been transferred up from the Underworld.
"Like many others, I used to attribute things I couldn't understand to the idea that Mother had her reasons."
"But after I thought about it carefully, sealing off the Overworld and Underworld can only lead to one result: dividing the people and weakening our strength!"
"Ah?"
Pela was shocked by Bronya's words, never expecting her to say something so treasonous. "Commander Bronya..."
"I've been in contact with Caelus via my phone."
Pela: "!"
"They are in the Underworld now. They've told me a lot about the situation down there."
Pela: "!!"
However, when Bronya told Pela about the Underworld's supply shortages and the extent of the Fragmentum's corrosion—information previously unknown to the Overworld—the small, round-faced girl fell completely silent.
"Pela, you're the Intelligence Officer. You know many things. What do you think Mother is doing?"
The world has never lacked for intelligent people. It's just that when smart people are too busy surviving or are unwilling to entertain a certain thought, they naturally won't think of certain things. But once that barrier was broken, and combined with the existing evidence and recent events, the conclusion Pela reached made her body tremble, as if she were colder than she'd ever been on the snowplains.
"Commander Bronya, this... this..."
"Pela."
A gentle voice pulled Pela from her dark thoughts. She looked up at Bronya.
"If I said... I wanted to become the Supreme Guardian, would you help me?"
Miss Bronya is going to...!!!
The rebellious, treasonous words made Pela's heart leap into her throat, a chill running down her spine, followed by a rush of warmth. Yes, the Supreme Guardian is Belobog's Supreme Guardian. And Cocolia has betrayed the people who trusted her. How can she be allowed to remain in that position?
Then, there was only one answer!
Pela's expression became solemn. With a sharp tear, she ripped the document in her hands. "I swear my loyalty to you!"
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