Winter Affliction

Part 33

Revolution is messy. Even with all the best planning, finances, and forces behind the act, high minded ideals such as a bloodless revolution are practically impossible.

Some people will die. Some people will get hurt. Some people will suffer.

The weight of accepting those losses is a part of leadership. You can't save everyone and trying to do so often only results in more bloodshed than was necessary.

However, there were some people who liked to attempt the impossible anyway.

The Mogoru Empire was a seemingly impossible opponent but once one really understood the route of the problem, they actually became quite simple to deal with. The Empire inherited some horrifically evil practices from an evil from hundreds of years ago. So far as Roksu had found out, there was even a fucking lich involved back then. However, once the great evil had been defeated, the traditions continued and were maintained by a small group of people at the top of the government.

It started with a whisper campaign.

Years of placing the seed of doubt within the citizens of the Mogoru Empire that perhaps the imperial royal family wasn't as magnanimous as they seemed. Questions about the Bell Tower that had no answer. Holes in the propaganda that haunted the land.

It was work that needed to be done carefully. If the citizens rioted too soon or without support, it could result in a massacre, but in the hearts of the citizens the once unshakable belief in their government was wavering. Ideas of a new government spread in whispered tones and it was just the right amount to cause the unthinkable to be just a bit thinkable.

To make people who always thought that that's just the way it is to wonder if maybe things could be a bit different. Maybe they could challenge those thoughtless norms that weighed them down.

It was slow and painful work and frankly Roksu wanted no part in it but if he was going to do something, he was going to do it right. Otherwise it wouldn't suit his lazy days ahead.

For a revolution, there needed to be propaganda and naturally that meant they needed to collect evidence of the atrocities within the tower. Roksu had been personally involved with installing communication orbs that had been tinkered to have recording capabilities. He had no intention of leaving people to suffer just for evidence though and he'd emptied the dungeons while he was still in the building. It was more than enough to record the remnants of all those he hadn't been able to save.

And it wasn't a record that needed monitoring while the siege was planned.

There wouldn't be a day afterwards that he wouldn't regret not checking on the record until it was too late.

Despite the success of the siege, it wasn't an acceptable result for a high minded person who really did believe in a bloodless siege.

Well, at least bloodless for his allies.

–

Haaa... that's probably not good.

Cale still couldn't move his body an inch despite all the desire to do so. The rumbles of explosions outside of the tower made it clear that something was happening outside but none of it felt real while he waited for death to claim him. Unfortunately, one of the explosions knocked over some buckets and now the black ooze that could only be dead mana slowly drifted across the floor toward him.

Isn't it fatal if humans touch it?

It was supposed to be a really painful death. Cale wondered just what the hell Adin was to be able to guzzle down the stuff. There was a possibility that he'd been lying about the dead mana but one look at the ominous ooze assured Cale that wasn't the case.