Chapter 143
Chapter 143
A Short Trip (2)
Tanya paid for the soup, which was that morning's breakfast.
“…? Oh my.”
Wriggling slightly in her seat, Tanya suddenly reached under her hip and pulled out a crumpled bill. Maybe it had slipped from the pocket of a previous train passenger.
“Looks like your dad’s paying for breakfast too. Thoughtful of him.”
At Kairus’s remark, Irena gave a vague smile.
“Isn’t he just.”
The woman had such uncanny luck, you’d think she could survive being stripped naked and abandoned on a deserted island. As they continued eating, Tanya suddenly spoke up.
“At first, everyone’s fascinated by him. Just like you.”
It wasn’t clear what prompted her to bring it up out of the blue.
Everyone’s fascinated at first.
Kairus nodded, like that was only natural. It wasn’t just that she was lucky—her luck was absurd. If someone didn’t find that surprising, they probably wouldn’t even blink if they found a chest of gold bars under their house.
“At first, they’re fascinated. Then, once some time passes, they try to get close.”
As if, by being near Tanya, they could somehow absorb that incredible luck. He could understand the feeling. Even Kairus had relied on her good fortune during the Pontus investigation.
“Then, after a little more time, they all fall to pieces. I’m not some lucky charm a fortune teller sells, you know.”
Kairus nodded knowingly and pointed at her with his spoon.
“Because the way things go, as long as you survive, it doesn’t matter what happens to everyone else.”
“Right. That’s how my father operates.”
Father. Itera. The one god the Ascension Cult worshipped. That’s what Tanya called him, but really, it was just her own overwhelming luck.
That was the conclusion Kairus had reached.
“Even if it looks like fate brought us together by chance, you might want to just say no.”
“You’re the one who lured me onto the train. Bit late for that speech, isn’t it?”
At Kairus’s words, Tanya nodded.
“Here’s a hint. When things get dangerous, stay as far away from me as you can.”
Tanya would survive, no matter what. Like fire feeding on wood to keep itself burning. Her luck would keep her breathing—by dragging everything around her into the pit of misfortune.
“Like the people who died in your place on the battlefield?”
She nodded. Kairus clicked his tongue softly.
“At a restaurant, they cook food. At a store, they sell goods.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Nothing profound.
“When war breaks out, people die.”
It was obvious. And every death came with its own kind of tragedy, its own story.
“So, Itera sacrificed others just to keep you alive?”
Kairus leaned back against the sofa and stared at the ceiling in silence before speaking.
“When a lot of people die in battle, it’s the commander’s fault.”
It’s not the fault of the doctor running around trying to save just one more life.
“What if a building caught fire, and I was the only one who made it out?”
“Did you set the fire?”
“No. But the pillar collapsed. I got out because of it, but about five others were crushed under it and died.”
Kairus muttered, “Damn,” under his breath before replying.
“Were you the one who brought down the pillar?”
“No. But still… if it hadn’t been for me…”
“Unless you’re trying to say that without you, the war wouldn’t have started and the building wouldn’t have caught fire…”
Tanya flinched at Kairus’s words.
“Maybe try feeling sorry for the people who actually got hurt or died because of something you did.”
“Thanks for the input.”
Of course, Kairus didn’t expect some dramatic shift in Tanya’s emotions or thinking just from this conversation.
Getting angry selectively doesn't mean someone has anger issues. And thinking that a five-minute talk could change someone’s mind—that would be insane.
Kairus had already concluded that Tanya was insane. This conversation was just idle talk while they happened to be on the same train.
“You’re the first person who’s ever said that. Thank you. Still, for me… it’s hard to accept.”
“Yeah. I’m just some guy who doesn’t know anything and talks too much.”
Kairus acknowledged it easily and nodded.
“If you end up in a life-or-death situation because of me, I bet you’ll resent me too.”
“Nope. If it’s dangerous, I’m getting the hell out of there.”
Kairus had things to do. He was traveling with Tanya because of circumstance, but if things turned risky, he’d ditch her without hesitation. It’s not like he’d promised to keep her alive.
At his answer, Tanya made a thoughtful hum.
“What if a bunch of inexplicable things happened that led you to your death? And because of that, I found a way to survive.”
“Then I’d resent you like I was waiting for the chance. It’s only natural.”
When people are cornered, they lash out at everything they can see.
“Just because someone trapped in misfortune blames you doesn’t mean their misfortune is your fault.”
A woman abandoned by her lover because she got pregnant might yell, “If it weren’t for you!” at the baby. That doesn’t mean it’s the baby’s fault.
“There are people who grab their fallen comrades’ corpses and glare at me like it’s my fault, shouting, ‘Why are you only getting here now!’”
That’s common on the battlefield. You march through the night with bloodshot eyes and an empty stomach, and instead of gratitude, you’re met with rage.
“That’s a heartbreaking thing.”
“At first, it pissed me off, but eventually, I got over it.”
What if Kairus hadn’t been the one doing the rescuing, but the one waiting to be rescued?
He probably would’ve blamed the people who came to get him too. Realizing that made it easier to accept. He would’ve acted the same way—so what right did he have to criticize someone else for doing just that?
“Now that I’ve eaten, I’m sleepy. Might as well catch a nap before we arrive.”
With that, Kairus closed his eyes. He drifted off quickly, starting to snore.
Tanya watched his face for a while, then closed her eyes as well—not to sleep, but to offer a quiet prayer.
Only the rattling of the train broke the silence as it continued on its way.
The train began to slow, and Kairus opened his eyes.
“No way we’re already there.”
There was no reason for the train to be slowing down. But it was.
“Attention, passengers! We’ve discovered an issue on the tracks and are taking action! The train will remain stopped until the tracks are cleared!”
A crew member hurried through the cars, shouting the announcement.
“An issue on the tracks?”
At Tanya’s question, Kairus glanced at the droplets forming on the window.
“The weather’s warming up. Probably thawed the frozen ground, and that messed with the rails.”
That was the likeliest cause. As the frozen earth thawed and turned mushy, it often caused disruptions to the tracks laid above it.
“Could be something else, though.”
“Well, we are near Bennett City. Maybe some desperate fools thought robbing a train was a good idea…”
Kairus trailed off as he stared out the misted window. In the distance, people were approaching.
“Ah, hell. So it wasn’t the thawed ground after all.”
Looked like there was a reason this lucky lady happened to be traveling with Kairus this time too.
“Damn, just like with Irena.”
The difference being, back then Kairus had been the one orchestrating the train robbery. This time, he wasn’t.
And that wasn’t all. The group attacking the train now had an unbelievable setup.
“What the hell are they doing?”
The ones running toward the train each held something like a wooden pillar—as if they were waving flags. But hanging from each of those posts were human corpses, severely mutilated.
There were 53 of them.
Screams rang out. The procession of 53 marched through the wet ground, drawing closer to their target.
They weren’t after money. What they wanted was blood and flesh, to spill across the soggy earth and the metal train cars.
“There weren’t that many prisoners.”
Fifty-three? The list of inmates they’d received from the Rose Garden hadn’t been nearly that long.
‘Must be some others who joined up from the city.’
The ones who had been suppressing their true natures to avoid being sent to the prison camp must’ve caught the scent of the city’s unrest and banded together, following a few of the inmates as their leaders.
The train car was filled with noise—screams and hurried footsteps. People smashed windows and leapt out, shoved one another in a frenzy to be the first out.
“Hell, there’ll be bodies before the bandits even get here.”
Kairus gave a dry chuckle and smashed the window with the hilt of Flicker.
The temperature was rising, but the air still held a chill.
“You’re not gonna wait?”
“Not with people losing their minds like that.”
There was no benefit to staying put.
“And I prefer not having people around.”
Drawing Flicker, Kairus leapt from the train and swung his blade wide. In the open field where only tracks had been laid, the wind began to dance.
“Winter is ending and spring is coming…”
But the air was still cold. As he adjusted the angle of his blade, the wind trailing along the spine and blood groove of the sword began to let out a faint howl. Kairus increased the output.
The wind didn’t need to be summoned—it was already there. No need to create a new wind. All he had to do was accelerate the one flowing along his blade.
As he moved his sword and sped up the wind riding its edge, the area over which Kairus held dominion gradually expanded.
The bandits hadn’t reached the train yet. Kairus gauged the distance and spent the time manipulating the air.
“This should be enough.”
The cool air turned colder still. A white frost settled on the muddy ground, slowly hardening it again.
“It’s winter now.”
The season within the domain of Swift Blade had returned to midwinter.
The swirling air formed eight distinct vortices. Already strong enough to uproot trees and hurl people, the whirlwinds now also brimmed with extreme cold.
Kairus adjusted the hip flask at his waist to release a mist.
Riding the wind.
Naturally, the mist was drawn into the eight whirlwinds. Within the spinning cold, the damp fog froze white.
The bandits, who had been running gleefully toward the train with robbery in mind, were sucked into the vortices.
The frozen mist clung to their bodies, and those who couldn’t withstand the agony screamed in pain. They would die.
‘Chaff, anyway.’
No one who couldn’t survive this would’ve lasted long in the prison camp.
Just as dead leaves scatter in the bitter wind, leaving only the grains behind.
Once they were all dead, the few survivors Kairus captured would be the real ones—those worth a bounty.
‘That’s what they get for showing up so brazenly.’
It was practically like they were begging: “Please crush us with Swift Blade!”
A handful—five or six—managed to escape the violent vortices with their lives. Their bodies were frozen solid, faces twisted in pain, but their eyes blazed with rage.
“Good effort.”
Watching them stagger out, Kairus raised the tip of his sword skyward.
The eight whirlwinds dispersed like cotton candy dropped in water, then gathered again in front of Kairus.
In the meantime, the distance between Kairus and the bandits had closed enough for them to recognize each other’s faces.
“You bastard! Don’t think you’re dying easy!”
“Your mother. Try that again from the top.”
With that simple provocation, Kairus swung his blade. The compressed air exploded outward in a conical blast.
The ones who’d nearly reached him were struck full force by the wind. Lifted into the air, they flew with pitiful screams, fluttering like kites with snapped strings. They looked like filth swept away by the tide.
After tumbling a few times across the ground, the dazed bandits saw Kairus standing in the distance.
Back to square one. If they wanted to reach him, they’d have to go through the same gauntlet again.
And even if they made it, they’d be pushed right back to the start.
How long?
Until they gave up.