Chapter 125
Chapter 125
Goldiba
While Philip IV was carrying out his own plans within the imperial palace, Ilena continued to train in Swift Blade in a clearing on the outskirts of Bennett City, with Kairus assisting her over the span of several days.
“How long are you going to cling to those blueprints!?”
From Ilena’s perspective, it was a situation that made her want to scream and jump out of her skin. Her desire to become stronger was by no means lesser than anyone else’s.
But for days now, all she had been doing was spending time using Swift Blade in an empty field filled with nothing but weeds, day and night without distinction. This was no ordinary feat. On top of that, Kairus was not someone who seemed familiar with the word ‘mercy.’
“Again.”
After hours of training under Kairus’s constant corrections, the energy output of the stained glass would eventually run out. When that happened, Kairus would lend her Flicker until the stained glass recharged.
Once Flicker’s energy was spent, the stained glass would be ready again.
And so the training continued, switching between battle gear, with the only breaks being when Ilena collapsed from exhaustion.
“Save me…”
“The dead can’t speak. You’re still alive, so no need to worry.”
At Kairus’s words, Ilena swung her sword and shouted.
“Then kill me!”
“How could a teacher kill their student? Say something that makes sense.”
When she came to after fainting, she would eat, then go right back to swinging her sword. Until now, she hadn’t realized it, but Kairus had a real knack for pushing people to their limits.
Ilena was learning that with her whole body.
“I did it!”
Recently, Ilena had succeeded in producing a whirlwind of similar scale to the one Kairus had created, just before she passed out.
So far, her success rate was around 80%. That was fairly high, if one considered it objectively.
“You have to be able to use it anytime, under any circumstances. Are you planning to bet your life on luck with your enemy right in front of you?”
An 80% success rate meant a 20% chance of failure. Facing an enemy with those odds meant a 20% chance of dying.
A 20% chance was far too dangerous a bet to stake one’s life on.
‘Pretending to be asleep doesn’t work either!’
Whenever Ilena came to after fainting, Kairus could tell instantly. Even if she kept her eyes closed a little longer to try and rest, he would yank her up by the hair.
“You can rest while we’re in transit.”
There was no way Bishop Gallia’s storage for defective battle gear would be near Bennett City. It would obviously be somewhere near Goldiba City, so Kairus and Ilena would have to take a train to get there.
They could rest then. And, Kairus had his reasons for pushing Ilena this hard.
‘Because she’s good at copying things.’
Though she constantly complained—begging to be killed, asking to be spared—all that came from her mouth. Her actions told a completely different story.
Whenever Kairus gave her an order, Ilena would haul her battered body upright and do what was asked. When he pointed out a flaw, she tried to fix it—and eventually succeeded.
So from the teacher’s perspective, there was no reason not to push her even harder.
‘She can do that too? Hey, want to try this next? Wow, you pulled that off? Then try this one.’
Ilena was the kind of person the military or any company would love to have. She did what she was told, and even more if asked. Her silent, obedient effort was certainly a model for knights everywhere.
In that sense, Kairus pushing her hard wasn’t a bad thing for her either. After all, he wasn’t tormenting her for his own gain.
“Wow, she looks totally deranged.”
No one knew when she’d arrived, but there was Nora standing beside Kairus, commenting on Ilena’s appearance. Her clothes were in tatters, her face smeared with yellowed weeds and dust, her hair a wild mess.
“Nora, why are you always so... charming when you speak!?”
Despite the distance between them, Ilena clearly heard Nora’s remark and snapped back, swinging her sword wildly.
“Oh.”
Watching the wind churn violently in that moment, Kairus briefly wondered, ‘Is she making two?’
“Ah.”
But to get straight to the point, Ilena failed to create a second whirlwind. Not that it mattered—what Kairus wanted from her right now was stability, not quantity.
The wind, which had almost taken the shape of another vortex, simply dispersed as a strong gust. Watching the whole process, Kairus spoke to Ilena.
“Good work. Let’s get ready for the job now.”
While Ilena caught her breath, Nora lowered her voice slightly and said to Kairus,
“She seems pretty emotional. Don’t you think she’ll hit a wall like that?”
“She’s fine.”
The old Kairus would’ve agreed with Nora. He likely would’ve focused on controlling Ilena’s temperament.
“If that’s her nature, then she just needs to climb upward in a way that suits her nature.”
From the brief encounter with Dana Watson before, Kairus had realized something. The advice Dana had given him wasn’t just a fleeting moment of brilliance.
Rather, it was like a well-made wine, growing richer with time. Of course, for wine to age well, the vessel matters too.
If Kairus hadn’t had the talent to properly receive it, Dana Watson’s advice would’ve been of little use.
“If you’ve caught your breath, let’s go. Or are you planning to pitch a tent here?”
“Got it.”
Ilena staggered to her feet and ran her hand roughly through her messy hair. She seemed to remember what Nora had just said.
When they opened the office door and stepped inside, they saw Spring Parsley sitting on the sofa.
“Well, everyone… looks healthy.”
At his comment, Ilena shot him a brief glare.
“I’m going to shower first. You guys talk.”
With that, she headed straight for the shower, and Kairus and Nora sat down across from Spring Parsley.
“The captain of the Goldiba City Security Corps is a woman named Karen Alexis. Her battle gear was manufactured by Rosario Industry.”
Nora let out a knowing “ah.”
“That’s the company that specializes in blunt-type battle gear, right?”
Battle gear produced by Rosario Industry had a unique feature—it underwent a special process that caused the weapon’s weight to increase dramatically just before striking the enemy.
To make the most of this trait, the gear was always in the form of blunt weapons.
“What about her skill level?”
“She’s at least as skilled as your average security captain.”
She couldn’t be compared to a knight captain, but still, in a one-on-one with Kairus, Karen Alexis would have an 80% chance of winning.
“That’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. It’s not a big problem.”
After all, fights rarely unfolded fairly. They had three people on their side.
“If a fight does break out, we need to end it as fast as possible.”
In response to Kairus, Nora offered,
“Should I try to neutralize her? I’ve got a good chance.”
“Wouldn’t killing her be faster?”
At Spring Parsley’s remark, Nora’s eyes turned sharp as daggers.
“One day, if I ever turn on you, I’m going to drive a blade into your throat and repeat those exact words. I really want to see the look on your face when I do.”
“…”
Startled, Spring Parsley flinched. Hearing such a chilling threat come from a Lunaseeker agent was downright terrifying.
“Sorry. That was thoughtless of me.”
“Good.”
As soon as Spring Parsley apologized, Nora withdrew her piercing gaze.
“In any case, neutralizing her doesn’t matter. Our goal is to find the location.”
At Spring Parsley’s words, Kairus nodded. Everyone gathered here needed to find the place where Bishop Gallia had hidden the defective battle gear.
“If we’re just looking for a location, why bring up the security captain? I mean, I get that she’s not completely unrelated, but still.”
Ilena posed the question—it was only natural.
“If you want to find a place, you rough up a person. And if you want to find a person, you rough up another person.”
Instead of Spring Parsley, it was Kairus who answered her question. Then Spring Parsley snapped his fingers and pointed at Kairus.
“Exactly what he said. It’s a classic tactic. A place doesn’t talk, does it?”
But people do.
People spoke. So the beginning of every crime always started with roughing someone up.
You picked a person who seemed likely to know the location you wanted or who might know the person you were looking for,
“You found something to blackmail them with, you uncovered what they’re trying to hide, and then you used that to threaten them.”
“What if they don’t talk?”
At Ilena’s follow-up question, Spring Parsley smiled.
“Then you find someone else and repeat the same thing.”
It was meaningless for a single person to endure threats with a steel will and sacrifice if everyone else stayed silent.
If you rounded up every related person and beat them all, one of them would eventually say something.
And the first target would be Goldiba’s security captain, Karen Alexis.
“I understand the method. I’m curious what you specifically have in mind.”
“Easy. Karen Alexis was married to Donian Alexis. Our kidnapping target will be Donian Alexis.”
When Kairus said that, Spring Parsley summarized the plan.
For a moment Ilena flinched, but she nodded, thinking that the people gathered now were not on a charity mission.
“Are you sure they’re close? As in, husband-and-wife close?”
Using a kidnapped spouse as leverage only worked if the hostage had that kind of value. If Karen and her husband were on bad terms, the threat would be worthless.
“If it’s an arranged marriage, that would be bad. He might even wish for his husband’s death.”
Marriages arranged to unite houses could hide separate affections, a common occurrence in the Empire.
At Kairus’s remark, Spring Parsley shook his head.
“From what we investigated, they’re still quite close. Donian recently caught a cold and took time off to nurse him.”
That suggested a solid relationship; someone in a security captain’s position couldn’t easily take paid leave.
“And then, as if on cue, Karen also caught the cold and was tended by her husband in return.”
“She actually nursed him?”
Ilena said, looking faintly disgusted.
“That’s not all. We have receipts.”
He slid a receipt forward: it was a ragged, reassembled collage of torn pieces.
“Handcuffs made of rubber, and a maid’s dress with straps that unfastened at the pull of a cord.”
“Two people bought them together.”
That was sufficient investigation into their intimacy. Time to move to the next question.
“Even if she’s the security captain, what guarantee is there that she knows anything definite? If we poke the wrong hornet’s nest and the Security Corps goes on alert, there won’t be a next step.”
Kairus’s question drew a short reply from Spring Parsley.
“Karen Alexis regularly donates to the Goldiba Church, and the amounts are staggering.”
“Donations, huh. A devout believer could give large sums.”
Kairus’s retort made Spring Parsley cover his mouth.
“No matter what, expenses can’t exceed food. That doesn’t add up.”
The donations were far beyond what a security captain’s salary could support. Moreover, Spring Parsley’s investigation showed that the Alexis couple’s household expenses and lifestyle couldn’t be covered by the captain’s pay.
Their standard of living required several times a normal salary.
“All right, that’s enough to say there’s a connection.”
There was no legal way for a security captain in Goldiba City to acquire sums worth multiple times their salary except through criminal acts.
And the biggest criminal enterprise in Goldiba right now was the distribution of defective battle gear.
Spring Parsley had likely zeroed in on the correct target.