Reine walked towards us and Jun-kun waved at her.

"Yo! Arrived right on time, huh?" he asked.

"It was difficult to muster an army and have them march in less than 48 hours", she answered.

"Wait. What's going on?" I asked.

Jun-kun looked at me and smiled.

"She's just my insurance. No matter how I thought about it, it was completely detrimental to have a rebellion happening while we're looking for the transported people. So I talked to Reine and had her prepare an army to crush the rebellion", he told me.

"Our plan was to have Jun cause chaos within the city and weaken the rebels from the inside. After that, we would attack the city from the outside and crush the rebels… but it seemed we were no longer needed", Reine added.

All of the rebels were successfully captured since they no longer had motivation to fight after Kageyama Shien disappeared along with those Coders. Or to be more specific, one Kageyama Shien disappeared. There was another one who was lying unconscious on the ground.

"So… This Kageyama Shien is a fake?" I asked as I pointed at him.

"Yep. This is an NPC, an exact replica of something in a Server. If we're dealing with Hackers, then it won't be a surprise if we're going to meet more of these", Jun-kun walked towards the body.

A violet hologram screen appeared in front of him and after pressing it, the NPC disappeared.

"Wait… What's a Hacker?" I asked.

"Coders who are out to cause chaos. They are Coders who don't follow the rules and don't fulfill their responsibilities. It seems they have heard about the little project between the two Servers and want to make it fail", he answered.

"So they're going to get in our way?"

"Most probably. They won't be satisfied until their goals are achieved so we will definitely encounter them again."

Jun-kun's eyes narrowed down while looking at me. He then approached me and observed my body.

"Say… Can I see your codes?" he asked.

"Why?" I asked back.

"I'm wondering why you didn't get deleted by that Hacker. I'm sure you want to learn the reason too, right?"

[Allow MOD 1412-5563-4689 to edit your codes?

YES NO]

I clicked "Yes" and several violet hologram screens appeared in front of Jun-kun.

While he analyzed the codes, I observed the surroundings. Reine was commanding the soldiers to capture the rebels. Also, the citizens were rounded up because they were equally guilty of supporting the kingdom's enemies.

"We're talking about "good" and "evil" now, huh? Do you know why the people willingly agreed to help the rebels? It's because the lord of this city wasn't well-liked. And with the king of this country not doing well in ruling, the people aren't satisfied. Even if you take down this rebellion, a new one will pop up again and again as long as the people's dissatisfaction isn't solved", Kageyama Shien's words echoed in my ears.

I was an outsider from another world so I didn't know how well the kingdom was at serving the people. From the looks of things, the government system was the same as medieval Europe where kings and nobles ruled over the commoners.

It wouldn't be a surprise if there was going to be some dissatisfaction, especially with the powers of the nobles. For example, Reine could easily place a travel ban on a place without any due process like what she did to Rizuru Village just because she was a noble.

But as I've said, I was an outsider. I had little idea how this world worked so I couldn't judge it accurately. However, I could tell it was bad enough to make people rebel and have an entire city support rebels.

"This is odd", Jun-kun muttered.

"Did you find something wrong?" I asked.

"It's odd because there is nothing wrong. You are a completely regular human."

"Are you sure about that? I didn't get deleted so there's something wrong."

"Do you want me to delete you just to prove it?"

"... Please no."

The violet screens disappeared and Jun-kun was thinking hard. If there was nothing wrong with my codes, then how did I not get deleted by a Hacker?

"Lady Reine! We just gathered all of the rebels and citizens. What are your orders?" a soldier walked towards her.

"Sort them out whether they were actively rebelling or supporting the rebels. Then, sort them by age. The rebels over 15 years old will be sent to the kingdom's military police. They know how to deal with them. The supporters over 15 years old will be sent to my city's jail and we'll deal with them on a case-to-case basis."

"And what about the others?"

"The rebels below 15 years old will be sent to my kingdom's juvenile correction facility. We'll try to reeducate them and let them see the errors of their ways. As for the supporters below 15 years old, we'll send them to orphanages in our city while their guardians are being questioned."

"As you command."

The soldier bowed down and relayed her orders.

"Is that how this world works?" I asked after walking to her side.

"It's more of my way of dealing with things. The other nobles wouldn't hesitate to execute all of them", she smiled bitterly.

I see. No wonder the citizens were unsatisfied.

###

Night came and the city was quiet. It was hard to think that this very same city became a battlefield a few hours ago. Everyone was properly sorted out. I had no idea what the fates of the older rebels would be but I was sure it wasn't going to be a pretty one.

At the very least, the other people guilty wouldn't receive a grave punishment thanks to Reine's mercy. And I agree with her methods even if those people committed treason, a very serious crime against the kingdom.

"Yo, Eru. How are you?" Jun-kun sat down beside me.

"I feel bad because I failed to arrest Kageyama Shien. It's like our entire journey to Krusmond is pointless", I replied.

"Not exactly. We just stopped a rebellion. That's already a huge achievement."

"An achievement which wasn't our original goal."

"You're being too pessimistic. Try to look at the brighter side, will ya? You pulled off a successful solo mission, after all."

"And I don't wanna do it again."

Jun-kun's smile was replaced with a serious look.

"Actually… I want you to do something more dangerous", he said.

"Eh? What are you going to make me do?"

"We're facing against Hackers. Six of them are our enemies. And it would be too much if I were going to be the only one facing them. Unfortunately, I'm just an inexperienced fresh graduate."

"You're telling me to fight against literal gods? What makes you think I can hold my own against them?"

"You can't be deleted."

… I hate how he was right about this.

"I'm sorry but you're the only one I can rely on. After all, a cornered Coder will definitely delete their enemy. And we're going to corner them if we want to win", Jun-kun bowed down his head.

"Even if I can't be deleted, I'm still at a huge disadvantage. They can just summon millions of swords and skewer me."

"Then I'll train you. Even if you are at a huge disadvantage against Coders, you have the best chance in defeating them out of all the lines of codes that I know. I can't do this on my own."

I sighed. He was right. And the best solution for our problem was to have me fight. If we were going to gather the transported people, we're going to encounter the Hackers again. And six of them are too much for Jun-kun to handle.

"I'm guessing the training won't be easy", I said.

"That's right. But that's what you should expect from fighting Coders."

"Fine. I'll kick their ass. It would be a fun story if a desk agent like me could corner literal gods like them."

Jun-kun chuckled at what I said.

"Then let's do our best to make Project: Alternative successful", he extended his hand.

I shook his hand as a question popped in my head.

What the hell was Project: Alternative?

###

A/N: And that's the end of Project: Alternative for now. I'll come back to it later… probably… assuming I don't forget it and move on to other projects.

Anyways, thanks for supporting it all this time! Let's meet again in another project of mine!