Saturday. First day of everyone’s favorite two-day weekend. It was the part of the week when every employed man and woman would get a decent break. Most used it to get some much-needed sleep, others took care of matters they had to ignore during the week.
November 18 was supposed to be another weekend for the weary people to look forward to, but due to the news that spread just the previous day, no one got that luxury. Once again, the ruling class bore its fangs and bit at the already beaten and battered population, aiming to strangle whatever life it still had.
Cuts to social welfare programs across the board, tax breaks to big corporations, and a huge increase in the defense budget. It felt as if the Radmir Union had given up on the pretense of being a liberal democracy. Some even suggested that it was preparing for war against the Jinhe empire.
Whatever the reason, the truth of the matter was that those at the vast majority of society, those who lived from check to check and had no wealth to speak of, had been abandoned. The bottom of society who relied on government assistance to get by? Those were left for dead.
The tension has been rising for years, and now it seemed like everything was ready to explode. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets, hoping to make their voice heard, all while knowing it wouldn’t lead anywhere.
When he first heard about the protests, the only thing that came to Dante’s mind was how bad the traffic would get. He had no personal interest in such events and would never have participated in one, normally.
This time, however, he decided that it was time to stand up with his brothers and sisters in their time of need. That’s why, instead of spending his long awaited weekend relaxing, he was currently standing at the very front of the protesting crowd, almost touching the barricades surrounding the entrance to the city hall.
"REVERSE THE TAX REFORMS!" Someone shouted through a megaphone.
"REVERSE THE TAX REFORMS!" The entire crowd boomed.
"TAX THE RICH, NOT THE POOR!"
"TAX THE RICH, NOT THE POOR!"
"WE WANT TO LIVE, WE DON’T WANT WAR!"
"WE WANT TO LIVE, WE DON’T WANT WAR!"
The chants continued, and each time, the voices of thousand shook the entire city. Dante was chanting as well. He wasn’t a big fan of loud crowds, nor did he enjoy shouting at the top of his lungs, but here he was, straining his vocal cords, sounding as passionate as the other protectors.
"REVERSE THE TAX REFORMS!... TAX THE RICH, NOT THE POOR!... WE WANT TO LIVE, WE DON’T WANT WAR!"
As the minutes passed and the protesters got rowdier and rowdier, he noticed the stress on the officers blocking the road build up. A few hundred policemen in riot gear stood behind the barricades. Dante didn’t envy their position. They were practically facing an army, and with how easy it was to get a gun in this country, there was no way to know who had a weapon on them.
When things eventually go south, and they will, the shooting will start, and an army of a few hundred would never survive a confrontation against an army of a few hundred thousand.
With how dangerous things are bound to get, one might be tempted to ask why anyone would want to stand at the front of the crowd. Putting oneself in such a situation was like asking to be shot. Only an idiot would do something like that, and as it turned out, Dante was somewhat of an idiot himself.
After following the protest for some time, Dante got a brilliant idea, and soon after arriving home, he thought everything through and put together the exit plan he was looking for. He was going to participate in the protest taking place the next day and stand near the frontline. Once things start getting violent, he would try to get himself injured one way or another. A good beating would do, but getting shot once or twice would be preferable.
The point is that he needed whoever was monitoring him to see him get injured. As a lowly dishwasher, his healthcare plan wouldn’t afford him a good treatment, which meant he would have to take the long road to recovery. Not being able to work would result in him getting fired, and being bedridden because of an injury would clear the suspicion surrounding him.
It was an idiotic plan that could end up really badly for him, but it was the best he could come up with. Dante thought of simplifying it by pretending to get mugged on the way home, but a bigger spectacle would be much more convincing.
[I do not believe there is a need to go to such lengths.] Volcan argued after hearing the plan. [We have yet to find any proof of you being under surveillance.]
’It would be great if there were no one, but we can’t afford to be lax.’
[There is a high chance that you might end up with a much worse injury than you are expecting.]
’So long as I don’t die, it should be fine.’
Dante wasn’t particularly looking forward to executing his plan, but he knew that it needed to be done. If he didn’t do something convincing to extract himself from that hotel, the suspicion surrounding him would only grow over time.
’Tomorrow is going to be a big day...’
And a painful one, too. If only he had a way to confirm if he truly was being monitored. For some reason, his mind refused to give up the idea that he was alone and that no one was there to watch him.
Now that he knew magic existed, Dante was starting to believe in the supernatural, so even though it sounded ridiculous, the idea that he was being watched by some invisible creatures no longer sounded far-fetched.
’You would notice if an invisible magical creature is watching me, right?’ He thought aloud, staring at the ceiling while lying on his bed. In his mind, he listed the supernatural creatures he knew about and wondered if the wizards were using one of those.
[An invisible magical creature...] Unexpectedly, Volcan took far longer than expected to give an answer. Just as Dante started to worry, his resident AI spoke again, but he didn’t give the answer his host was expecting. [Dante, I believe I have detected the spies monitoring you.]