Introduction (Part 2): The Woman Loved by All

The August Federation was a vast nation with territory covering two-fifths of the continent of Europea and one-third of the continent of Aesia. This nation was founded approximately ten years ago.

At the beginning of the Great European War, August was an imperial nation—and one of the strongest. However, revolution had suddenly erupted and the royal family and others in power were massacred, and the country had raised its flag as a “nation without a king.”

No monarch ruled August. Attending to the needs and opinions of a population of over one hundred million people was difficult. Councils were composed of representatives, and those representatives selected regional representatives, and those representatives selected ministers for the various affairs of state. As a result, people who were considered equal to the king administered the nation without a king.

This council of six members was called the Soviet Six and its decisions were final. Again today, its six members gathered to haggle over the essential problems of national management.

“Well, what should we do?” asked an elderly man seated at Chair One of the Soviet Six’s table.

“What should we do about what?” responded the man in Chair Three. He was middle-aged and had a military demeanor.

“He must mean you-know-what. Her ladyship is highly displeased,” said the slender man in Chair Six.

“And what is you-know-what? Have we done something to anger her?” asked the man with long hair in Chair Four.

“Indeed we did. In Wiltia. Or rather, in Pelfe.” The elderly woman sitting in Chair Two glared with eyes surrounded by wrinkles.

“Are you talking about Vissario?! That moron! I heard he was conspiring with some Wiltian boy! Where is he anyway?!” The man in Chair Three spat insults about Vissario, who was supposed to be in Chair Five.

“I never liked him!!”

“Settle down, Comrade Kalinin!” The elderly man in Chair One attempted to calm him, but the man in Chair Three—Kalinin—didn’t stop.

“How can I be calm, Comrade Ulyanov?! That man is trying to steal your position as chief secretary!!”

There were no class differences in August—officially. Everyone was equal, whether minister or peasant. However, Ulyanov was the head of the Soviet Six. He sat in Chair One, in the position of chief secretary who “bundled the national opinion.” He was the highest authority in August. At least officially.

“Don’t worry, Kalinin. Vissario is no longer among the living.” Another voice spoke up. It was a young woman... Or rather, a girl’s childish voice.

“—?!” The atmosphere in the room froze. And at the same moment, an object was dropped onto the meeting table.

“Yikes!” The slender man in Chair Six shrieked.

The rolling object was the bearded head of a middle-aged man.

“V-Vissario?!” Kalinin’s stiff military countenance twitched in fear.

The political enemy he had just been cursing was now a chunk of meat.

“W-Why?!” Ulyanov—the chief secretary in Chair One—was speechless.

How could anyone kill someone like this? He had seen decapitated heads many times. And all of them wore expressions of terror, gripped with the pain of death. But, Vissario’s head looked as if he had been shouting in his usual aggressive manner.

“He was behaving like an imbecile. So, since I no longer need him, I fired him—and then lopped off his head while I was at it. Tee hee hee!” The girl jumped on top of the meeting table as she spoke.

She had violet hair and red eyes, and wore a black and white dress. She possessed a cold, inhuman beauty that inspired chills of fear.

No one but the Soviet Six could enter this meeting room. It looked as if an angel had descended among six priests. However, one of the priests was now a severed head and, in any case, August forbade religion. Nevertheless, the girl was menacingly god-like and made the others forget that.

“The Wiltian boy who played at being the emperor of the Holy Empire... Was his name Genitz? Vissario joined him and plotted something absurd.” The girl lightly pranced atop the table, her shoes clacking as she spoke to the five council members beneath her.

“..................” No one could speak—neither Ulyanov in Chair One, nor Kalinin in Chair Three, nor the old woman in Chair Two. The slender man in Chair Six seemed pale and about to faint.

She wasn’t a normal girl. She was the actual decision-maker in the nation. And not only in August. She had been the most powerful in the monarchy that existed before August. Even the king had kneeled before her and resigned himself to licking the bottom of her shoes in front of his wife and daughter.

After many years, the kingdom fell into decline. In the end, it lost a battle against a young remote nation. So the girl gave up on the monarchy. To reinvigorate the nation, she created a new August with a new political system.

And to that end she used the Soviet Six—now only five—as her representatives and official statesmen. Even if they heard of it, the intelligence agencies of the other nations wouldn’t have believed the truth without some kind of evidence.

“Miss Saint...”

“Yes, Trikus?”

As if beseeching God, Trikus—the long-haired man in Chair Six—asked a question of the girl they addressed as “Saint.”

“What was Vissario doing? I hear Genitz’s coup in Wiltia failed and he died. What in the world was he doing?”

Trikus’s eyes—and the eyes of the others—shone with awe as they looked up at her. It was awe composed of both fear and reverence for the superhuman girl who had changed them, mere third-rate politicians, into leaders of a great nation.

“Haradin. Vissario was causing trouble there. He was a real pain!” As she spoke, the Saint used the toe of her shoe to roll Vissario’s head. She looked like a cat playing with a ball.

“I’ll have Chair Five clean up this mess.”

“Huh? But...” Trikus raised his voice in confusion.

The person who had occupied Chair Five was Vissario, who was now just a head.

“What?!”

But Trikus’s confusion was soon dispelled. Chair Five was suddenly occupied by an unknown woman.

“I brought someone new for Chair Five. Everyone will cooperate with her.” The Saint spoke to the five with a pert smile.

And that was the end of the conversation. When she made a decision, no matter what it was, they would act accordingly. Within the great nation of August, crossing her will was forbidden.

“As you wish.”

Whether it was Ulyanov or Kalenin or Trikus who responded, it certainly wasn’t Vissario, because he was dead.

“Miss? Um... what should we call you? Tell us the name you prefer.”

The Saint had brought her so they could not refuse. But they needed to know the name of their new member.

“............” The woman did not answer Trikus’s question.

They did not even know whether she had heard.

“Go on, answer. They’re your friends.”

Prodded by the Saint, the woman finally opened her mouth.

“Mary. Mary Ville Mehl.” Mary, the woman newly assigned to Chair Five, answered with the lifeless eyes and expressionless features of a doll, and her voice sounded like an automaton.

And so the curtain rose on yet another incident.