Chapter 118
Chapter 118
Business Cards (2)
The Lunaseeker Agency was a company.
And like any other ordinary company, the people working at Lunaseeker also had business cards.
That included even the agents who had been trained over long periods of time.
“You can spare at least one out of the three, can’t you?”
After completing their training, a Lunaseeker agent received three special business cards issued by the company.
“In my entire life, there are only three people.”
Anyone who possessed a Lunaseeker agent’s business card could not be treated as a client for regular requests.
If the request came not from a regular client but from the Aylan Republic, then Lunaseeker would notify the cardholder of the request and grant them a grace period of three months.
Usually, the people to whom a Lunaseeker agent gave their three cards were already determined.
“You’re trying to take the spot reserved for my family.”
Almost all Lunaseeker agents were orphans. Since they didn’t know who their parents were, it was rare for the cards to be given to them.
Most of the time, the cards went to their spouse and the children born between them.
“Well, what if you just have one kid and raise them well? How’s that sound?”
“Shut your damn mouth!”
Unable to take it anymore, Nora struck Kairus with a blow even stronger than the one before.
With a loud boom, the ground beneath Kairus sank, and a shockwave ripped through the air in concentric circles.
“...”
In truth, it was always lack that bred desperation. Nora Galatea was an orphan. More than anyone, she must have longed for a family.
And the three business cards she received upon becoming a Lunaseeker agent—
Someday, when she found someone she loved and built a family, they would become precious items that guaranteed her family’s safety.
“You just made a mistake. Wait a bit—I'll make sure you regret it.”
Not wanting to kill someone wasn’t some kind of curse.
When the will to kill emerged, one could harbor murderous intent as much as they wanted. During the battle over Pontus, Nora Galatea had intended to kill Kairus.
Her movements back then were truly remarkable.
“Damn it.”
And once again, Nora Galatea was displaying that remarkable skill.
Still—
“This is the third time I’ve seen this!”
Once during Pontus, once just now in her sparring match with Irena.
And now for the third time, Kairus was chasing after Nora Galatea’s movements.
He had grown somewhat accustomed to them.
“I haven’t exactly been slacking off either, you know.”
Where the attack would begin, where it would end, and how it would unfold—
Everything was a question mark, and the acceleration behind her strikes only kept increasing.
“Yeah, come on, give me more. Don’t hold back.”
Kairus said that as he blocked the swinging yataghan with Evergreen.
With a thunderous boom, the yataghan dug into Evergreen. But it failed to cut through.
“If you pissed me off thinking that gear alone would save you, then your regret really isn't far off now.”
It wasn’t a burning rage. The longer the fight went on, the colder Nora’s heart grew.
“As if I would.”
Through repeated training, Nora's ears had grown sensitive—she caught a faint sound, like the cry of a titmouse.
Kairus had pulled out something unknown. Just that was enough for Nora to momentarily halt her offensive and retreat.
“Ha, Lunaseeker.”
They really train you to perfection. That’s what Kairus was thinking as he twisted open the mouth of his hip flask.
As if it had been waiting, the flask greedily consumed the output of Flicker and spewed out a mist.
“I’ll try a little harder.”
“Don’t try—just die, could you?”
Watching the mist roll toward her, Nora murmured under her breath.
And instead, she hurled herself straight into the mist.
“Ah, now that’s a hell of a response.”
Within the mist that surged toward her, Nora had once been struck by lightning and rendered helpless.
She had experienced the fear of death inside that mist. Normally, people instinctively avoid the place where they faced death.
They won’t want to get close, and just seeing it can freeze their body or blank their mind.
At this point, Kairus had his own reason for using the hip flask.
“If I’d known, I’d have pulled it out sooner.”
But things didn’t go the way Kairus expected. Nora Galatea, who had flung herself into the mist without hesitation, burst through it before Kairus could even properly manipulate it and thrust her yataghan at his neck.
“...”
The fight continued without pause. Sparks flew, and Kairus and Nora’s figures flickered in and out of view.
As the wind swirled and thick mist twisted like a dragon, Nora’s movement through the mist and wind to ambush him was as chilling as a puma hunting prey, and as swift as a swallow.
Like that, thirty minutes passed. There wasn’t a single spot in the clearing that hadn’t been slashed—countless blade marks covered everything.
“If I take back the request for the business card, will you maybe stop?”
At Kairus’s words, Nora responded.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m still alive.”
At that, Nora paused.
“...You're right. You’re still alive. I meant to kill you.”
She stared at Kairus for a moment, then lowered the hand holding the yataghan.
“I proved my point. Even if you go all out, I’m still a perfectly fine punching bag.”
Kairus moved his hand as if talking and grinned slyly.
“And not only am I still breathing, I can still talk too.”
“So what. What exactly do you think that gets you?”
“Control. You know how it is after the procedure—trying to adapt.”
At Kairus’s words, Nora showed a hint of interest. After the procedure, learning to control one's strength was simple.
You gripped something extremely durable in your hand and practiced slowly releasing the pressure.
“You can’t train strength control with something too weak to withstand the force.”
But Kairus, in his case, could attempt to ease up little by little while going full force in a fight.
“For the record, I’ve also got plenty of experience capturing people alive.”
As she listened to Kairus, Nora slid her yataghan back into its sheath. Seeing that, Kairus returned Flicker to its scabbard as well.
“If, during a sparring match, your attacks are strong enough to kill someone, I can point that out.”
“Still doesn’t mean I can give you a card.”
At Nora’s firm reply, Kairus nodded.
“You don’t need to give me your card. Just take mine.”
Business cards were meant to be both given and received. Lunaseeker agents were no exception.
“Giving has limits, sure but there’s no restriction on receiving them.”
If a Lunaseeker agent received someone else’s business card, they would abstain from taking on any requests involving the cardholder and notify them of it.
“Other Lunaseeker agents aren’t my responsibility.”
“I figured as much.”
Unlike giving, when receiving a card, only the agent who received it would abstain from the request.
“You also know you can’t receive two cards from the same person, right?”
Kairus nodded. One could not give two business cards to the same Lunaseeker agent.
In other words, the protection offered by a card only worked once. A single Lunaseeker agent would abstain from a request targeting the cardholder—just that once.
But that didn’t matter.
‘The important part is the contact.’
The key was that a Lunaseeker agent would make contact when they received a business card.
If Kairus gave a card to Nora Galatea, then when Lunaseeker eventually initiated a request to eliminate Kairus, Nora would inevitably contact him.
‘If Nora contacts me, that means Lunaseeker has started hunting me.’
Kairus would then be able to prepare for the Lunaseeker agents' attacks. Getting caught off guard versus knowing something’s coming could mean the difference between life and death.
Lunaseeker was most terrifying when ambushing but if you knew they were coming, then an ambush was no longer possible.
“Alright. Receiving it is fine, I guess.”
From Nora’s perspective, accepting a card was far less burdensome than giving one. And given that she had to investigate Kairus under the Aylan Republic’s request, getting closer like this wasn’t a bad development at all.
When Nora took out her card case, Kairus handed her the business card he had prepared.
“That’s it.”
As Nora was putting the card case away, she let out an “ah” sound.
“If you’re scamming me, you’ll regret it, oppa.”
“That’s not going to happen. You got what you came for, so now I’ve got to do what I said I would.”
Under Nora’s suspicious glare, Kairus replied with firm certainty. And notably, Nora had gone back to calling him “oppa.”
That was proof she had let go of her anger without holding a grudge.
“The Lunaseeker brat’s anger is gone, but the only daughter of the Kellogg family sinks deeper into her worries.”
Kairus’s gaze shifted now to Irena.
“What. Why. Don’t start picking a fight out of nowhere.”
Irena quickly wiped off the expression she had until a moment ago and responded curtly.
“Feeling a little pathetic?”
“You call that a question? Of course I do.”
From Irena’s perspective, the battle she just witnessed between Nora and Kairus was overwhelming enough to make her shrink back.
“You could’ve lasted at least ten minutes.”
At Kairus’s assertion, Irena scoffed.
“Don’t try to comfort me. That’s not like you. I know my own skills best.”
“No, people with better skills than you know your skills even better.”
At Kairus’s remark, Irena fell silent.
“Nora didn’t intend to kill you, and you didn’t intend to kill Nora.”
That’s why their sparring match never crossed the line.
On the other hand, the fight between Kairus and Nora started with Nora harboring deadly intent from the beginning.
“If that had been a real battle, you would’ve lasted over ten minutes. You can believe me on that.”
At his words, Irena pouted and replied,
“Still means I’d be dead ten minutes in, doesn’t it?”
“You’re a knight apprentice. If you fight to the death with a full-fledged Lunaseeker agent, of course you’ll die. What, were you hoping to win?”
Even an average 3rd-class medal knight would have to measure their survival time in seconds, not minutes, when facing a Lunaseeker agent.
The fact that a mere apprentice knight from the order could last ten minutes was a miracle in itself.
“Doesn’t make me happy. Just means I’m the weakest out of the three of us.”
“Quit grumbling like that. If you’re weak, you should be thinking about training to get stronger.”
At Kairus’s jab, Irena shot him a sharp glare, then answered.
“I will!”
It sounded like she was shouting in anger, but that didn’t mean Irena wasn’t being honest.
In a way, having a skilled mentor wasn’t a bad thing. Thinking that, Irena raised her sword.
“When you aim high, where you go naturally rises too.”
After checking Irena’s form as she swung her sword, Kairus walked away.
Irena’s pride had taken a hit. What she needed now wasn’t a mentor who kept poking at her pride, but time to swing her sword alone.
“Well, looks like my disciple’s actually in the mood to focus on training for once but it doesn’t seem like that’ll last long.”
Back at the office, Kairus opened the envelope left at the door and let out a bitter smile after checking its contents.
It was a letter announcing that the regular qualification exam would be held over the course of seven days starting next week.
“Cecilia.”
The intention was obvious. Kairus took a deep breath and checked the dates.
“So it starts in three days.”
Kairus decided it wasn’t necessary to stop Irena’s training.
“She knows her limits, at least.”
Once she knew the regular qualification exam started in three days, she’d naturally adjust her condition.
Even with a letter of recommendation, Kairus was convinced that the qualification exam wouldn’t be an easy schedule.
And the reason for his conviction became clear once the exam began.