Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Railgun Chapter4 (section)

===Part 12===

Atop Tokiwadai Middle School’s roof, the empress with shoulder-length red hair, white skin, riding breeches below her uniform skirt, and a tiara on her head looked upon the world below her.

Misaka Mikoto was gone, but it seemed unlikely the girl would attempt a freefall from an altitude of 5000m without any kind of preparation.

“Hm.”

“Empress.”

Resanerié had not called for them, but four people had appeared on the roof with her. They stayed close enough to protect her from anything without ever obstructing her view.

Her attorney, Tougyo Kea.

Her maid, Renka Ephilty.

Her accountant, Sanki Ai.

Her chef, Shitatsuzumi Yoshiko.

Including Empress Resanerié herself, they were the debate representatives from the five schools. They had originally been ordinary(?) girls from the School Garden. Maybe she had wanted to fight back against her retainers back in the empire, but she had ended up with her own servants here.

Tougyo Kea, the attorney in a fancy suit, respectfully bowed her head and asked a question.

As a defense attorney, she used debate as a weapon just as well as the empress.

“What should we do now?”

“Let’s see.”

Tougyo may have hoped Resanerié would order them to chase after Mikoto.

But now was not the time to release the hounds.

“Spending too much on this problem would only weigh us down.”

Resanerié held something about the size of a grape between her fingers. It was probably a jelly bean.

“These are good. How do you make them?”

“They are nothing special. By instantly injecting the gum syrup while ''pressurized to around 100 thousand atmospheres'', the flavor can permeate it while ignoring the osmotic pressure.”

The chef’s murmured response made the maid, Renka Ephilty, sigh.

She didn’t like how Shitatsuzumi Yoshiko’s artisanal spirit meant she had to verbally explain each dish after it was eaten. Even though they were technically from their schools’ respective debate teams.

But their individual tastes were irrelevant as long as they could put a smile on their empress’s face.

“If she insists on running, we can use that to our advantage. Identify any students in your schools that look obedient but you doubt really are. Ask them to pursue Misaka Mikoto and if they show any reluctance, send them to be executed as traitors. That should make a decent loyalty test.”

“Do you have anyone in mind within Tokiwadai?” asked Attorney Tougyo Kea.

Resanerié did not hesitate to respond.

“I think I will start with Shokuhou Misaki and her clique and then add a few more after them.”

“What a shame. They would make powerful allies,” said Accountant Sanki Ai who only ever viewed things numerically.

“Fool. You mustn’t hesitate if you want to avoid being killed in your sleep.”

Just as Resanerié Sadis Dialine responded, something sprinkled from her hand. That was all that remained of her seemingly indestructible halberd. Its powerful silhouette was nowhere to be found. Only the red rust powder scattering in the wind.

“What a pain. I thought stainless steel wasn’t supposed to rust. It’s the same story with steel, aluminum, and bronze. I really wish I had a more permanent partner by now.”

“It is resistant to rust, not immune to it. And that is how your power works, so you just need to accept it.”

“True,” sighed Resanerié, scratching her head with one hand, realizing she still had rust powder in that hand, and drooping her shoulders.

Maid Renka Ephilty quickly pulled out a towel.

“E-Empress, if you want a metal that won’t rust, why not create a pure gold halberd next?”

“Why would I create a weapon out of such a soft metal? Besides, it would be ''meaningless'' that way.”

Resanerié rejected the idea and then looked to the courtyard again.

She had lost her halberd, but she was not emptyhanded. Her other hand held the megaphone with a trigger power switch. That device was designed to secretly send out a fine mist containing an itching component along with its highly directional noise.

She was not above using tricks.

Charisma was just one weapon in a true monarch’s arsenal. No one could run an entire nation with nothing but talent and luck.

“The halberd is not my ''only'' weapon, Misaka Mikoto. You might be in a more difficult situation than me.”