Chapter 130
Chapter 130
Girl Kidnapper (3)
While blankly watching the scene, Irena spoke to Kairus.
“You’re one to talk. I could’ve handled it all by myself.”
“Then you should have finished it.”
The wind in the area was already under Irena’s control. It had only been difficult because the enemies had interfered with the process.
The enemies were no match for Irena within the domain of Swift Blade. But Irena had deliberately dragged things out and, instead, tried to relinquish her control over the space.
“Did you have fun?”
At Kairus’s words, Irena flinched.
“I just needed some time to practice. I found something I’d forgotten about for a while. I just… needed time to shake off the rust.”
“Bullshit.”
Kairus replied coldly after hearing her out. An awkward silence followed for a moment.
Still, what needed to be done had to be done. Kairus and Irena entered the wine cellar and began checking the inside.
“First of all, I guess I did make a mistake.”
As soon as she received his apology, Irena responded.
“Because I could’ve handled it.”
“I’m not talking about the skirmish just now.”
“…”
Kairus had made a mistake too. He had to acknowledge it and apologize.
“I’ve never taught anyone before, so I ended up missing the most important part.”
The reason he had taught Irena how to use battle gear and Swift Blade was clearly because of the talent she’d shown earlier. But in the process of teaching, Kairus had failed to draw that talent out.
“So what happened? You seemed like a completely different person from just a few hours ago.”
“Right? I got stronger, didn’t I?”
Her voice, which had been quiet after Kairus’s blunt remark, grew lively again.
“After I got to the hotel, I talked with the Captain. And then…”
While Irena told her story, Kairus silently listened as he cracked open the wine barrels and inspected the battle gear inside.
'Dana Watson. That damned woman.'
She had hit the mark on exactly what Kairus had missed. With just a brief phone call, Dana Watson had pointed out what he had overlooked and elevated Irena to the next level.
“If you’re going to fix something, you’ve got to fix it all, don’t you?”
“Hm? What?”
Kairus ignored Irena’s words and grimaced.
Purely in terms of ability, Irena had definitely gotten stronger. She could probably take on four or five 3rd-Class Medal Knights and still have the upper hand.
That wasn’t a bad thing. Kairus welcomed Irena’s growth. If Irena were a car, then Dana Watson had effectively replaced her engine.
“Irena, keep that up and you’ll end up dead.”
The problem was this fucker—no, this fucking bitch of an engineer hadn’t replaced the brakes.
“With those kinds of losers? Like hell I would.”
At Irena’s words, Kairus let out a small sigh. She was confident right now. No—if it were just confidence, it’d be almost endearing.
But this wasn’t confidence. It was flat-out arrogance.
‘The easiest way would be to break her pride.’
Kairus had the ability to do that. Even if Irena had achieved great progress after receiving advice from the Captain of the Scarlet Leaf Order, that fact didn’t change.
But the easy way rarely led to the best outcome. If he crushed Irena’s soaring confidence now, what would follow would be a wave of bitter futility and helplessness.
It’d be like someone thinking they’d finally paid off their debt, only to find out there was more hidden debt waiting for them.
“For now, let’s focus on finding the item.”
The reason they had come here was the Cloud Seizing Art manual. Once they got it, they’d leave immediately. The disposal of the battle gear in the warehouse wasn’t Kairus’s concern.
“Shouldn’t you at least tell me what it looks like?”
Kairus saw that the door to the aging room was locked. As he embedded a Flicker into the door, he responded.
“How should I know? I’ve never seen it in person.”
Kairus was planning to learn the Cloud Seizing Art, but he hadn’t started yet. He had never laid eyes on the actual book that contained its teachings.
‘I’ll probably need to look for the family crest or something like that.’
Kairus began opening the oak barrels one by one and checking their contents. His movements were swift as he pried off lids and examined the insides without hesitation.
“Do you feel it?”
“What, the smell of booze? This is a wine aging room—it’s unavoidable.”
Kairus clicked his tongue at Irena’s response. That wasn’t what he meant.
“Not the smell. The flow.”
The air was moving. In a space the size of this aging room, it wasn’t difficult for Kairus to detect the flow of wind.
“…Wait a second.”
Irena, who had her eyes closed, soon nodded.
“I think I found it too.”
They could sense the movement of air flowing underground. Kairus immediately scanned the area and pinpointed the suspicious spot.
“Right here.”
When he pried up the floorboards, a heavy iron trapdoor hidden beneath was revealed. It was blatantly suspicious.
Originally, they’d probably need some kind of key to get in. But locks meant little to Kairus.
Using Flicker, he broke the lock and entered. As he looked inside, he let out a small exclamation.
“Greedy, aren’t they.”
There was an overwhelming number of items packed in here. But Kairus wasn’t interested in the antiques that Bishop Gallia had stored in this place.
“You check this stuff, and pick out anything that looks decent.”
“Why?”
“I think we can sell it to Melvin for a good price.”
It was far more economical than withdrawing money from the account Simid Kellogg had set up to pay Spring Parsley. At Kairus’s words, Irena nodded obediently and began gathering items.
“Found it.”
Then, Kairus discovered the book inside a small case. It was the Cloud Seizing Art manual.
“…”
The sturdy cowhide cover bore the Featherwing family crest in gold. An open birdcage, and a bird trying to fly out of it. Kairus quietly looked at the emblem on the cover, then stroked it with his thumb once before opening the book.
‘What matters is the content.’
Manuals didn’t contain the full original text. Instead, they excerpted parts of it and included the author’s annotations alongside.
Usually, the preface described what portion of the original the manual focused on.
[This book primarily covers the early part of the middle chapter of Cloud Seizing Art, dividing the content into introductory, middle, and final chapters, and discusses the overall flow throughout the early middle section.]
Kairus’s expression grew complex. It was disappointing, yet also a relief. The best would have been a manual covering the introductory chapter of Cloud Seizing Art…
But the fact that it covered even the early part of the middle chapter was fortunate.
If it had been about the latter part of the middle chapter, or the final chapter?
Manuals dealing with that kind of content tended to gloss over things with a “you already know this, right?” attitude, skipping important details.
“At least it’s the waist.”
Since it covered the middle, it would likely mention the introductory material a few times and might even contain hints leading into the final chapter.
The most definitive option would have been the introductory chapter, but for now, Kairus was more than satisfied with what he had.
‘Time to learn it.’
It was just one book, and it didn’t contain everything about Cloud Seizing Art, but it was the only choice available to him right now.
“Irena, don’t take too much. If we carry off too much, we might get chased.”
“Let them come. I’ll just take care of them.”
Immersed in his own thoughts, Kairus was pulled back to reality by Irena’s confident voice.
Kairus could definitely master Cloud Seizing Art if he set his mind to it. But Irena’s current self-satisfied state might not be something he could fix, even if he tried.
‘And then she’ll die.’
People who overestimate their own ability always meet the same fate. They race toward their ruin, each one taking a different track—only to arrive at the same wretched final destination.
“You can’t even handle me, and you’re mouthing off like that.”
At Kairus’s words, Irena let out a light “haha” and scratched the back of her head as she replied.
“Maybe not now, but things’ll be different later, right? I can’t stay beneath you forever. I’m gonna catch up to the Captain too.”
Setting Kairus as her initial goal wasn’t a problem. A student trying to surpass their teacher was only natural. Wanting to outdo Dana Watson wasn’t a bad mindset either, in that sense.
“Let’s talk more about that once we’re back in the city.”
They’d collected everything they’d come for—the Cloud Seizing Art manual and the goods to pass off to Melvin. There was no longer any reason for Kairus and Irena to remain in the wine aging room. The two of them headed straight for the location where they were supposed to regroup with Nora.
“By the way, we never even saw that Bishop Gallia’s face in the end.”
“The job wasn’t to bring back the bishop’s head. This is the best outcome.”
For a thief, not having to confront the homeowner was the best-case scenario. In that sense, Kairus was perfectly content with how this turned out—finishing the job without ever running into Bishop Gallia. It meant everything went smoothly.
“The meeting point was that abandoned ranch out in the suburbs, right?”
Going back to the hotel in Goldiba now would be suicide. There was no reason to stay in that city any longer. Naturally, the location where they were supposed to meet Nora was also a ranch some distance away from Goldiba.
The place had been abandoned for a long time after a livestock epidemic wiped out all the animals and the ranch owner died shortly after.
“No one visits a place where all the animals died of plague.”
“It’s been years, though.”
Still, just the fact that there had been an outbreak made it a place people avoided.
“What’s waiting for us there?”
“A car and a driver.”
All arranged by Spring Parsley. The driver was supposed to take them to a nearby city. From there, they’d board a ship and return to Bennett City.
“Sailing by ship’s gonna take a while, though.”
“But it’s the safest option.”
Trains move on fixed tracks, and it’s easy to guess where and when they’ll depart and arrive.
Ships, on the other hand, aren’t like that. They may take more time, but they’re much more discreet than trains. There’s a reason smugglers and illegal border crossers use boats.
‘And the long travel time works in my favor too.’
He needed time to go through the Cloud Seizing Art manual they’d just secured, and the journey by ship would give him exactly that.
“Oh, there you are! Did you get anything good?”
Nora, who had arrived first and was waiting, waved enthusiastically when she spotted Kairus and Irena.
“Yeah, I’d say it was a satisfying result.”
After exchanging greetings, Kairus climbed into the car Spring Parsley had arranged and headed for the port city.
Once they arrived, they’d board a ship and return to Bennett City via the Antaria Canal. The trip was expected to take about two weeks.
Kairus planned to use that time to knock some sense into Irena and to start mastering Cloud Seizing Art.