Chapter 77
In fact, although the Krasnova Incident was shocking, it was not the sort of event that could serve as a trigger for communism.
Mining accidents in this era were not as rare as one might think. If the Northern Grand Duchy conducted a thorough investigation and punished everyone responsible, public sentiment could have been calmed sufficiently.
The responsibility for the Krasnova Incident still lay with the company that owned the mine. No one blamed the Northern Grand Duchy, which had known nothing about it.
But in this situation, the Northern Grand Duchy made the worst decision it could have made.
"The Petrov Mining Company, which owns the Krasnova Mine, is the largest mining company in the North. If we purge the people in charge of Petrov Mining, there could be problems with the production of the mana-stone and iron mines they own as well."
"It is certainly tragic that hundreds of people died, but punishing Petrov Mining's upper management will not bring them back. Order them to downplay the scale of the incident for the sake of the North's future."
June 17, 1028, by Imperial reckoning.
The Northern Grand Duchy announced that the casualties in the Krasnova Mine Collapse Incident numbered 147.
Naturally, the Krasnova Mine's labor union did not believe them.
The difference between the number of workers on the sign-in sheet and the number recorded as present after the incident exceeded four hundred. The miners were furious, but there was nothing they could do.
That was because the Northern Grand Duchy had the information tightly under its control.
The place where that strict information control was breached was, ironically, within Petrov Mining itself.
"This is a report from the rescue team! They say that, while beginning the search, they heard the voice of a living person beneath the collapsed underground tunnels!"
"Hmm. I see."
"We need to organize rescue teams and begin rescue operations immediately!"
In fact, until two days after the incident, quite a few miners were still alive in the collapsed tunnels of the Krasnova Mine.
But the company had no intention of rescuing them.
That was because Petrov Mining had to cover up the incident at all costs.
"Could the search team have misheard?"
"There was even a fifth-tier exploration mage among them! They can detect traces of people from dozens of meters away. I don't believe they made a mistake!"
"Anyone can make a mistake. It seems the search mage must have made one this time."
"Mr. President!"
Every miner who had been sent into the mine that day knew that the ventilation equipment was not functioning properly.
If they got out and testified to that fact, Petrov Mining's reputation would be ruined.
"Let me say it again: there are no survivors in the tunnels of the Krasnova Mine."
So the company knowingly ignored the existence of the survivors.
This was when Kyle Leopold intervened.
Kyle did not know much about the Krasnova Mine incident, but he could tell that something was fishy.
He immediately ordered the Intelligence Bureau to uncover the truth behind the incident.
"This is definitely no ordinary accident. Get as close as possible to the executives of Petrov Mining."
Having spent the past ten years handling all sorts of shady business under Kyle Leopold, the Intelligence Bureau's ability to sniff out something suspicious was exceptional.
Thanks to that, they were able to contact an employee who had been hesitating to make a clean breast of things.
Although they still lacked a proper foothold in the North and could not conduct a full-scale intelligence operation, this was enough.
The truth they heard from the employee was beyond imagination.
"You're really, truly going to protect me?"
"The Southern Intelligence Bureau will handle everything. If you make a clean confession, we can safely send you and your family all the way to the South, Mr. Martin."
"But the roads will all be guarded by soldiers from the Grand Duchy..."
"We'll cross the Arbel Mountains. Our wyvern knights will transport you safely, so you have nothing to worry about."
Only then did the employee open their mouth.
"The truth is... there are still survivors trapped beneath the collapsed tunnels of the Krasnova Mine. The company is trying to bury them there to hide its negligence."
The truth they had learned was beyond imagination.
Petrov Mining had chosen to bury the miners alive to keep its reputation from sinking.
It was a truth that possessed tremendous power all on its own, without any embellishment.
"Contact the wyvern knights stationed nearby immediately and move this person to the rear. Then spread the truth."
Having manipulated Southern public opinion many times, the Intelligence Bureau knew exactly how to handle this truth.
June 18, 1028, by Imperial reckoning.
A confession by an executive of Petrov Mining turned the North upside down.
"The miners of Krasnova are still alive. Your family members, your friends, your fellow workers are still down there, waiting to be rescued."
"It is not too late. There is approximately a week's worth of food remaining beneath the mine tunnels, so there is a strong possibility that they are still alive and waiting."
"Petrov Mining is deliberately concealing the fact that they are alive. If they come out, it will be revealed that the company is entirely responsible for the accident."
The bomb the Intelligence Bureau had set off did not end there.
June 19, 1028, by Imperial reckoning.
Martin Becker, the executive who had made the confession, and his family committed suicide. They had all drunk a deadly mana-infused poison, leaving their bodies so badly damaged that it was difficult to determine their identities.
Of course, the truth was that this had been an operation by the Southern Intelligence Bureau.
The Intelligence Bureau had disguised corpses flown in beforehand as Martin Becker and his family, staging the scene as a mass-poisoning suicide.
They had done so to protect Martin Becker's family and to deepen the suspicion surrounding the incident.
"The suicide of the Martin Becker family was nothing more than an ordinary family suicide. It has absolutely nothing to do with the North or the Krasnova Mine accident."
Naturally, no one believed those words.
Public sentiment had already been unsettled by the confession. When the person who had made it suddenly committed suicide, the spark of suspicion only grew larger.
And finally, something happened that set that spark ablaze.
The families of the victims of the Krasnova Mine Collapse Incident began gathering in front of the Krasnova Mine.
"Move! Our son might still be alive!"
"I'm sorry, but the Grand Duchy has ordered this area off-limits. For safety reasons, only people connected to the incident may pass."
"My son might be trapped in there, so how am I not connected to it?"
At first, it was nothing more than a minor disturbance. The authorities could easily have crushed the demands of a few bereaved family members to search the mine.
However, as the miners who had worked alongside the victims began gathering, the atmosphere grew dangerous.
The miners, carrying tools such as pickaxes and shovels, stepped up to the soldiers and began facing them down at the cordon.
"This is a mine that just collapsed. It might be dangerous."
"We know that! Are we asking the company to rescue them? We're saying open it so we can rescue them ourselves—and we'll take responsibility!"
Every time the miners and soldiers raised their voices, people gathered around them.
The resentment they ordinarily felt toward the soldiers. The injustice of this system that the Southern Intelligence Bureau had spent all this time spreading. And the hope that their fellow workers might still be alive inside the collapsed tunnels.
With those emotions exploding and people banding together, there was nothing a few soldiers could do.
"Request support! Request support!"
It was soldiers stationed on the front line who answered their call for support.
They gave off an air plainly different from that of ordinary soldiers as they blocked the entrance to the tunnels.
"From now on, any miners who attempt to enter these tunnels without authorization will be considered mutineers and dealt with summarily."
Yet even those words could not stop the miners.
There was simply too much that had built up for them to retreat because of a threat like that.
"Why is going to rescue our fellow workers considered mutiny?"
"Do you even see people as people?"
"Move! Aren't soldiers supposed to exist to protect our citizens in the first place?"
The accumulated discontent erupted all at once-
"Open fire."
The soldiers from the defensive line pulled their triggers without hesitation.
Countless gunshots rang out, and the air filled with the thick smell of gunpowder.
June 23, 1028, by Imperial reckoning.
The workers could no longer tolerate the North's actions: burying the miners alive and shooting all the protesting families and miners to death.
Mass strikes and demonstrations began breaking out in factories across the North.
"If we stay away from work for three months, the capitalists will exhaust all their power, and if we don't work for half a year, we can welcome a new North!"
"A single person's cry may be drowned out, but ten thousand voices cannot be silenced!"
"Workers of the world, unite!"
An unstoppable red tide began to spread.
The Center, too, could not escape its effects.
"What? The gun factories have all stopped?"
For the Center, which had only just begun modernizing its military, it was a bolt from the blue.
Having judged that it was too late to root out the deeply entrenched corruption, the Center had decided to abandon its existing weapons system and focus on introducing firearms as its new weapon.
But the revolution erupted just as it had received only 20 percent of the firearms it had decided to purchase.
Even the factories they had promised to build for the Center had not yet broken ground.
The Center's military modernization began to drag on.