Chapter 178
Chapter 178
Candidate Elimination Plan (2)
Rather than stopping a running train, it had to be overturned entirely. Moreover, inside that overturned train, there had to be a massive load of drugs that Kairus had stocked in advance.
It was a job with a lot of conditions attached. If it had been the old Kairus, he might have needed to set aside several months to fulfill all of them.
‘Now, though.’
The position of Operations Committee member, and the expectation that if they carried out his orders well Kairus might personally step in and scratch the places they itched, made it easy to smoothly prepare everything necessary to execute this plan.
“Survivor, we’ve received word that preparations to carry out the task you ordered have been completed.”
To what extent? To the point that Kairus did not need to lift a finger for any of the preparations required to overturn the train.
Approximately 170 criminals of all kinds from Bennett City took part in this operation. As a sign that he had worked hard, I poured the bastard a drink and said,
“I already told you, but looting is forbidden.”
It must not look like an accident deliberately caused by someone. The key was that a running train would overturn, and at that scene, drugs would be ‘coincidentally’ discovered.
“Yes, I’ve firmly instructed the others participating in this as well.”
“Ah, no.”
I put a piece of jerky into my mouth, chewed, and said,
“Tell them to try looting it. Whatever they get their hands on, I’ll turn it into travel money to take with them after they’re dead.”
“…We all fully understand the task you’ve instructed us to carry out, Survivor. You don’t need to worry.”
I was being evaluated as stronger than Lukas, who had previously been the strongest in the city. It was also widely known that I had tried to smash all of Bennett City in order to survive the Red Ticket.
The fear that name inspired was intense. Strong enough to make them unable to even harbor other thoughts.
“But, what benefit do you gain from overturning the train…?”
“You’re curious about all sorts of things.”
I did not give the ones I ordered any proper explanation. I simply instructed them to overturn the train that departed from Elmont at a certain time and was headed somewhere.
‘They stake their lives in pursuit of a big gain.’
Every single one of the guys who managed to make a living in this city had made choices like that.
If I told them that a massive quantity of drugs was loaded on the train, or what I was aiming for with this derailment, greed might overcome fear.
No, most likely greed would overcome fear.
“You don’t need to know, so just do what you’re told properly.”
“…Understood.”
After finishing what I had to say, I stood up from my seat. To overturn the train, the tracks naturally had to be damaged first.
And not in a section where the train slowed down, but in a section where its acceleration reached the maximum. In the section where the train reached top speed, there was hardly anything that could be called infrastructure.
In other words, they had to carry out this job while camping out in the open. If they had to camp without gaining anything, and were not even told what kind of job they were doing, the guys who were suffering through it were bound to feel upset.
“Hey, take this.”
Kairus casually tossed a small leather pouch to the man.
“This is…?”
“The eye you asked for. The target’s dead, and I dug out just the eyeball and brought it.”
So Kairus granted the request of the organization belonging to the guy who had been the most proactive in this job.
The man checked the eyeball inside and broke into a wide smile.
“Thank you. I didn’t think you’d really grant it.”
In this city, there were countless grudges that couldn’t be resolved by one’s own power. And Kairus had the strength to stir up every organization except the four managed by the Operations Committee.
“Got anything you want to do with that eye?”
“I’ll pickle it and take it to my wife’s grave.”
The wish Kairus granted this time was revenge. I didn’t know what kind of story lay behind killing someone, gouging out their eye, pickling it, and showing it to his dead wife.
There must have been a sad story of his own. But a fairy who grants wishes does not ask the reason why the wish was made.
What was certain was that the man Kairus killed and gouged the eye from had been a powerhouse whom the guy now rejoicing in front of me could not defeat even if he died three times and came back to life.
After emptying his glass, Kairus stood up.
“If fate brings us together again later, I’ll ask you for a job.”
“Then what about the others…?”
“Do I look like I always do this?”
The other party immediately fell silent. Just because they cooperated did not mean Kairus would necessarily do something for them.
It was already a well-known fact. The others had cooperated in the job just as much as this guy, but the only one fortunate enough to grin while receiving the eyeball now inside the leather pouch was this man.
He had been lucky. That was all.
“Work hard.”
After leaving the bar, Kairus returned straight to the office.
“Pack your things.”
“Ooh! It’s a job! Finally!”
Nora, who had been lying sprawled out making drawn-out groaning sounds in boredom, sprang to her feet.
She had been spending quite a tedious time.
When people working in the field were on the job, they said they were dying from exhaustion, yet when they were truly resting from work, they often trembled from boredom.
“You okay?”
Just looking at Irena’s hollow expression was enough to tell how she had spent the past few nights.
Whenever the opportunity arose, I flew with Kairus to seek out the remnants of Tapas, then fought alone with my sword until dawn broke.
When I returned, I ate and then collapsed into sleep as if fainting. When I woke up, I trained alone while waiting for news about dealing with Tapas’s remnants.
In the days that repeated like that every single day, Irena steadily grew exhausted.
“Do I look okay?”
“No.”
“That’s a relief. It means I at least put in the effort.”
Irena staggered to her feet and said something that sounded like it should have been said to someone else.
“Do you know what feels unfair?”
“What is it.”
Kairus responded to Irena’s sudden remark.
“I went through all that hell, and now the job we’re doing is one where I’m not even allowed to fight.”
From Irena’s perspective, it was naturally a little unfair. She had to avoid fighting as much as possible, yet all the time she had invested until now had been to fight better.
“It’ll be useful soon enough.”
Kairus dismissed Irena’s small complaint with ease.
“So I finally get to go in the bag too?”
“Yeah.”
Kairus nodded readily. He was planning to fly with the bag containing Nora in his left hand and the bag containing Irena in his right.
Quite literally, he would be flying while holding flowers in both hands. Irena placed her hand on Nora’s shoulder and said,
“Let’s pray together.”
“Pray for what? I don’t have a religion.”
Irena spoke with a sorrowful expression.
“Then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make one for this occasion.”
Kairus’s flight had the effect of making one want to rely on a god.
“You hurt my feelings when you say that.”
While checking once more the coating applied to his camouflage and Veil of Plumed Mist, Kairus threw a remark at Irena.
“I’m the one who got hurt fighting all night.”
Irena rolled up her sleeve with a snap. Her forearm was wrapped in bandages. It was a wound she had suffered at dawn today.
“Oh dear, if you had been stronger, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
“….”
Irena finally found herself at a loss for words. It wasn’t wrong. If it had been Kairus, he was confident he wouldn’t have been injured even while using Flicker or Stained Glass.
“Unni lost again.”
“Shut up.”
A small sigh echoed. Nora seemed full of anticipation, but Irena, who had experienced flying several times already, felt anxiety and worry rather than excitement.
Without saying much, Kairus brought several bottles filled with hot water and wrapped them in towels.
“What’s all this in this weather?”
Irena looked at Kairus with a pale expression.
“Are we doing high-altitude flight today?”
“Do you think I packed these so we could brew coffee in the sky?”
Irena’s already unpleasant expression sank all the way to the bottom.
“The sky is cold. Extremely cold.”
At Irena’s words, Nora let out a small “Huh?”
“We can endure it with the battle gear output.”
“Absolutely impossible. That bastard’s Veil of Plumed Mist keeps him fine, but we’re not.”
The moment she learned that this flight plan involved high-altitude travel, Irena changed the way she referred to Kairus to that bastard.
“It’s minus 55 degrees! Flying at around 300 kilometers per hour in that insane temperature—do you think we can endure that with just battle gear?”
The Veil of Plumed Mist used by Kairus boasted tremendous output, so maintaining his body temperature was no issue for him.
But what about the two who had to endure it inside bags?
A speed of 300 kilometers per hour meant they had to withstand knife-like winds of 300 kilometers per hour in a minus 55-degree environment with their entire bodies.
They had to maintain body temperature with battle gear as much as possible, while also using every other available method as support.
“Layer up. To the point you feel like you’ll suffocate from how much you’re wearing.”
“Ah, but if it’s too heavy, flying gets harder.”
The moment Kairus voiced his complaint, Irena’s sharp glare flew at him.
“Hard? You’re saying it’s hard?! I nearly died!”
In truth, during her first high-altitude flight, Irena had to endure the threat of freezing to death.
“But you were able to endure it after that.”
Through extensive preparation, Irena had acquired the know-how to withstand high-altitude flight. And now, it was her turn to pass that knowledge on to Nora.
“You take responsibility and make sure she’s prepared.”
“Yeah, we can’t let someone that young freeze to death.”
Irena went over to Nora and began explaining everything she knew.
“…Do we really have to go that far?”
But as with all things, those without experience rarely take the words of the experienced to heart.
In the end, Irena realized the truth—that Nora would only understand how terrifying and dreadful flying was after experiencing it herself—and she could do nothing but hope that Nora would be sturdy enough to endure this flight.
“Then we’re departing.”
If he flew too fast, the noise would draw attention.
“Hey, if we fly through the sky, won’t people notice?”
Irena made one last protest, but Kairus firmly shook his head and refused.
“How often do you think people look at the sky in their lives?”
The only thing that came to Kairus’s mind right away was someone about to fall from a building and commit suicide. People rarely looked at the sky. Maybe it was because it was always above their heads.
Even if someone did happen to look up and spot Kairus, he would be too far away for them to properly make out what he was.
They would just think he was a bird.
“Ugh….”
Having lost any means to overturn Kairus’s decision, Irena put on layer after layer of clothing with a worried expression and climbed into the bag.
“Finally!”
Of course, Nora was nothing but excited. She even showed trivial curiosity, like wondering why Irena buried her face inside the bag instead of looking outside.
Of course, Irena did not want to look outside.
The altitude was so high that it was unbelievably cold, and at that height, even breathing was not easy.
Only by desperately forcing each breath could she barely stay conscious. Moving her body was something she did not even dare to dream of.
It was a dreadful stretch of time where she had to maintain her body temperature, forcibly endure the bodily changes caused by pressure differences, and struggle desperately just to breathe.
That terrible flight, which had greatly contributed to tempering Irena’s will, now began once more together with Nora.