"This is too easy."
Makoto Naegi ruffled his hair in frustration. The stale and dusty air of the makeshift office he was given made concentrating a challenge. After laying out the order of succession and removing the sheer endless number of potential heirs that died in Sonia Nevermind's wars of aggression, the answer to everything was right in front of him.
Marquess Slavomír Nevermind.
He was the second in the line of succession, known for both having a number of supporters in the armed forces and being extremely critical of the current government. In addition, according to the reports available to Makoto, the woman in front of him – his mother, the king's cousin – was in terrible health with her demise being expected to occur in a matter of weeks, rather than months or even years. Therefore, it would make sense for him to remove the king, pin the blame on the hated Future Foundation and then just let nature take care of the rest. Clean and efficient.
Which is why it was so frustrating: everyone would draw the same conclusions. That did of course not mean that they had to be wrong, sure. However, even if the marquess was a cretin, he would have to know that everyone would come to the same conclusion a foreigner with an hour of screen time. He was trapped with teenagers who put more effort into hiding their murders than the Marquess did with his attempted regicide. Makoto had to internally emphasize the "attempted", because his feelings told him Toko and Ladislav were still okay. They had to be. He could not bear the guilt if they were not.
Whilst he would not outright admit it if asked, Makoto had to admit his Future Foundation colleague had a point. It was suspicious that they asked for his help, especially with something that appeared to be this easy. Byakuya told him to be careful and Makoto started to feel on edge. Future Foundation and its poor reputation in Novoselic were obvious pieces of whatever plan is unfolding here, so him being alive right now is at best useful to whomever is behind this conspiracy and at worst a major threat. Neither of these options were particularly appealing.
Of course, the man who defeated Junko Enoshima was not going to ignore any other options. Realistically speaking, however, anything beyond fifth or sixth in the succession was unlikely to have committed these deeds, if assumption of power was the main target: there simply are too many people in the way to remove them. Not to mention that, because so many nobles died, most people beyond that probably had no idea they had royal blood in them, let alone any serious aspirations of power.
Third in the succession was Hynek Nevermind. He was head of state police; according to all sources an efficient, but unambitious bureaucrat that cared solely about having the police in the best shape it can be in. Despite that description, translated recent news article point him towards a corruption scandal involving foreign crime syndicates. Makoto pondered about these dissonant descriptions and whilst he was not in a position to determine whether these accusations were valid, he could use them as basis the dismiss him as the mastermind of this plot. If anything, he could very well be another victim, because a "traitorous" king would not be an "improvement" over the current state of affairs.
On to fourth: Countess Tatjana of Subpop. Makoto remembered her from the time he came to this country to help overthrow Sonia. A loyal and honorable commander, only turning against the crown when Sonia's crimes became too much for any reasonable woman to bear. She always seemed to be much more concerned with matters of military than administrating her county. Makoto would go to bat for her, it was extremely unlikely that she was going to cause a mess like this.
Fifth on the list caused Makoto to pay attention. It was Slavomír Crover, the giant man that accompanied Jonas Lithium to the airport when Makoto and Toko arrived in the country. He did not expect someone subservient to Jonas to have a claim on the crown. However, that just proved Makoto's belief that it was silly to look so far down the order: he was quite certain that Crover was not aware of his potential royal status. Nothing about his stature and behavior made him appear to belong to nobility.
Makoto came to believe that the solution was not in someone who wanted the throne. Unfortunately, that did not help matters much. He looked into political organizations who wanted to abolish the monarchy, but did not find anything. Anti-monarchist groups failed to get any momentum, even after the horrors of war had engulfed Novoselic. About the only thing he learned that was going to get committed to memory was the slogan of the communist rebels that threatened the royalty in the early 20th century; he only remembered it because it contained the Japanese word for idiot twice.
Od tebaka tabaka. "From you for you".
Makoto suppressed an immature giggle and moved on. Anti-Future Foundation organizations were much more common. If anything, their only problem was just not having access to the resources of the government that were needed to pull off an intrigue of this extent. Especially the access codes to allow landings in the country were just not available except to those with the highest clearances.
As far as the data was concerned, there were no people associated with those groups that could get so far. Most of those organizations were just a collection of randoms who protested for Sonia to return to the throne and pushed the narrative that Ladislav was a Future Foundation puppet with leaflets and similar actions. Of course, Makoto was fully aware that that data could be falsified, incomplete – or just poorly translated – but even if it was, he had no means of fact-checking it.
"One thing that is clear," he muttered to himself, "is the culprits must be working here. How can I find them, though?"
Makoto was sure that someone with a high position in the Intelligence Service was pulling the strings on this and was looking to get him here. Jonas requested his aid, but Makoto did not know what his rank in the organization was. Perhaps he was outranked and his bosses decided that he should ask Makoto for help to have a Future Foundation leader in this position. There was no way around it, he would need to ask him.
He left his makeshift office and tried to remember the way to Jonas Lithium's office. On his way, he met a few people who looked at him with suspicion. Makoto wondered whether they would immediately tell him to get out or even would just arrest him if he did not have his visitor's pass on him. He could not blame them, he would be curious if a random person walked around the offices of his school and there were no information in a school that could be considered top secret.
Makoto ignored their suspicion and finally found the office he was looking for. Being invited in, Makoto sat down on a chair in front of Lithium's table.
"Have you found anything?"
"Not yet," Makoto admitted, "but I have some ideas. I need to ask you something: who decided that I should help you?"
"That was my decision alone," Jonas explained, smiling at Makoto, "thankfully I can act freely for the most part. Why are you asking?"
Before Makoto could answer, the phone rang. The agent waved Makoto off and took up the phone. Suddenly, Makoto saw Jonas getting tense.
"Soldiers at Subpop Palace?" Jonas repeated what he was told about. The conversation continued and Jonas nodded a few times. As he massaged his temples, deep in thought, Makoto felt like something major was about to happen. He went over the fact that Jonas made the decision to get him involved in the investigation: so no superiors who are responsible. Does that mean that Jonas himself is the key to solving this case? Makoto pondered that a bit, but stumbled when it came to explaining why he would get him involved? He needed to find the king and Toko to make sure they were dead one way or another, if he was responsible for this. That made sense. However, why involve a Future Foundation member that was supposed to be the fall guy in the investigation?
"Maybe to blame me when the king is dead for failing the investigation?" Makoto asked himself, barely audible. Jonas did not hear it, as he concluded his phone call with an order to have Slavomír on standby at the office.
"Alright, we have heard rumors of a firefight between soldiers at Subpop Palace and were informed that a young Asian woman made her way into the building through a side entrance," Jonas explained the situation, "I think that would most likely be your partner, right?"
Makoto nodded and was pleased to hear that there is a chance Toko was alive. His instinct was to immediately head there and find out what was going on.
"I think we should check this out," Jonas continued, "it must have something to do with what is going on around here. I have ordered the police tactical unit to hold back for now. I first want to check out whether we can learn what is going on in there. Given as Future Foundation is also involved, can I count on your help?"
This question made Makoto anxious. On the one hand, he was concerned about playing into the conspiracy's hand, on the other hand his concern about his friends was making it hard to stay away. As so often, his worry about his friends won out. He stood up, nodding with certainty. Jonas smiled at him and both made their way to the garage of the secret service, quickly making a stop to pick up bullet-proof vests. Soon enough, they were in the same car that picked Makoto and Toko up when they arrived in the country.
"I'm going to have to floor it," Jonas warned his backseat driver. He quickly placed a cheap emergency light on the top of the car. It proved mostly unnecessary, given the empty streets. Makoto felt the pressure of a car going well over 200 kph on his chest, as his mind tried to keep up with both the environment of the abandoned and well-worn highway flashing by and the possibilities that await the two at the site of Subpop Palace. He was still very much worried that he is running, or in this case driving, straight into a trap, but if Toko and/or Ladislav are fighting out there, he would feel awful if he left him out there unaided. This entire story started with a rumor about Makoto's parents and his sister arriving here, he had to do do something to fix it.
With the high-speed drive, Jonas managed to cut normal travel time by two-thirds, allowing for an arrival at Subpop Palace within only fifteen minutes of departure. As Jonas had said earlier, a unit of heavily-armed policemen were standing at the outside. Makoto could hear gunfire from the higher floors, whatever fighting was happening is still going on. Jonas confidently walked up to their leader, Makoto in tow.
"Klement, good to see you!" Jonas said, smiling, "Status?"
"Nothing has changed, we're ready to go in once it's time. There is no fighting on the first few floors anymore, you can go in safely."
Both nodded, Jonas checked whether his weapon was at its normal place on his hip. Makoto wondered whether he needed a gun himself, but did not particularly want one anyway. After the preparations were complete, Jonas and Makoto crossed the police barricade and entered the office building. Makoto was confused why it was called a palace, but there would be time to ask these questions later. Right now, there was a job to do. Makoto looked around: a few gun shells, a number of bullet holes on the receptionist's desk and a number dead bodies.
As the two were making their way up the stairs, they found a man going through some papers. It took him a bit to notice the two men arriving on the scene. Makoto did not think he was one of the hostile forces, but there was no certainty. He allowed Jonas to advance a few steps while looking for something that could serve as cover in case the man was hostile. Suddenly, the man noticed the two men. Quickly pulling his weapon, Makoto and Jonas could only raise their arms. Thankfully, the older man recognized Jonas and put the weapon down.
"Mr. Lithium. No wonder the secret service ordered us to hold our forces back," he said, clearly sounding frustrated.
"Sorry, but I think this falls well within our purview," Jonas apologized, flashing a smile at the man, "May I introduce Makoto Naegi, our majesty's personal guest and my assistant in this investigation."
"Hynek Nevermind, head of state police," the officer introduced himself formally with a slight bow, "it is always an honor to meet a close confidante of our king."
Makoto returned the bow, happy that there was no need for hostilities yet. However, the presence of a potential successor to the throne was highly concerning. If the king is here as well, that would mean any enemies would have the ability to take out at least two claimants at once. Was Jonas trying to get Slavomír Crover on the throne for whatever reason after all? Or was Makoto wrong and Jonas was no less a pawn than everyone else on this floor?
"What were you looking at?" Jonas asked, interrupting Makoto's flow of thoughts.
"I think we are dealing with a conspiracy against the throne," Hynek explained, pointing to a paper he was reading. Makoto and Jonas looked at it. It said that the Countess of Subpop had given an order that the palace was to be freely used by the Marquess of Channing and any forces under his command. Makoto was crestfallen, had he misjudged Tatjana after all?
"That document is probably a forgery, though," Hynek explained, "the three employees tasked with ensuring that the orders of the Countess were to be followed all had stopped working at Subpop Palace over the last months for various reasons. The document even mentions Bernadeta Grunge. Ms. Grunge died of a stroke five months ago, everyone who works here has heard about that one. If the countess had given that order through her offices, that would have been noticed. One name not being up-to-date could be dismissed as someone not paying attention, all three being incorrect point to a forger working with severely outdated information."
Makoto was growing more and more frustrated with how close the truth was, yet how far away he seemed to be from figuring it out. He wanted answers and he was going to find them, one way or another. If Jonas was actually behind all this, he was too confident to get away with it. If anyone else was responsible, they would need to show the final steps of their gambit eventually.
"Do you know who is fighting up there?" Jonas asked as the noise of weapons being fired failed to cease.
"I know that the defending forces belong to Marquess Slavomír," Hynek explained, "but I do not know who is attacking. All I know is that they either must have a numerical advantage or must be really good. You saw those corpses down there? They all belong to the forces that were stationed in this building, as far as I could find out."
Makoto was surprised to hear that, there were at least a dozen-and-a-half bodies lying on the ground floor. Normally, he would have assumed both sides had at least slightly similar losses.
"We have heard something about an Asian woman coming in through a separate route," Makoto asked carefully, "do you know anything about that?"
"Yes, a charman said he was threatened by a woman who went through the side entrance. Whatever she is doing is not as important, though. Right now, the focus is on finding out who is fighting up there!"
Makoto wanted to disagree, but could not. If Toko or anyone else was in this building, they could be found while learning more about the currently ongoing events.
"Why are you holding back the unit?" Hynek asked Jonas, his voice not failing to hide just how little he thought of Jonas' decision.
"We need to find out what is going on here, especially if it is a conspiracy like you say," Jonas explained, again throwing a friendly smile at the officer, who merely turned his head in disgust, "I suggest we make our way up to the fighting and get a good picture at whom is battling in here."
Hynek obviously wanted to disagree, but had no argument. Instead, he merely motioned the two to follow him. As the new-formed trio stormed up the main stairway, Makoto continued to think about the meaning of these recent revelations and continued to grow more and more frustrated. Not getting any further, he comforted himself by telling himself that the mastermind of these events would be forced into the light soon enough. There is never a reason to give up hope, why start now?
Thank you for reading this chapter and sticking with The Novoselic Conspiracy. Special thanks to everyone who has given feedback, I am always happy to read it.
Regrettably, the next chapter will be a longer one because of narrative timing and thus will most likely take some time to write. However, I promise this story will see its conclusion.