Chapter 28
Chapter 28. A Rose That Falls Gracefully (2)
In the past, during the height of war with the Alcand Empire.
In the Britannia Kingdom, there existed a special organization called the 'Secret Burial Unit.'
Nominally under the Cabinet Secret Intelligence Service, a secretive organization whose members' identities were unknown even to the director of the Intelligence Service.
Those times were turbulent days when today's peace was hard to imagine,
And the Secret Burial Unit was an organization that did what someone had to do in such turbulent times.
Purging traitors within the royal family.
Assassinating nobles who defected to enemy nations holding key information.
Pursuing and killing wicked dark mages.
Special infiltration and sabotage operations on enemy strategic facilities.
Meeting with enemy high-ranking officials who couldn't be met through official diplomatic lines, conducting espionage operations, etc.
They secretly performed missions that wouldn't remain in official records.
Hanbin was the core who led that Secret Burial Unit.
Various connections were made.
Like any connection, there were good ones, ones he couldn't meet again, and bad ones.
"Captain, why are you being so cold? Not even acknowledging me. We were comrades who fought back-to-back for 5 years. Remember how well I followed you, Captain?"
The Undertaker, or rather Cain, removed his mask.
His left eye socket, full of burn marks, was completely empty.
"Until you gouged out my eye, that is."
Cain's other eye was full of hatred burning as if sparks would fly.
"Look at this. Every rainy day, my eye socket throbs. At first I was just angry, but when I thought about meeting you, Captain, I wanted to ask. Why I had to suffer like this?"
"......"
"I accepted a suicide mission to infiltrate the Alcand Empire alone and blow up a train without complaint. Because it was for the kingdom! Even when captured by those vicious IIB bastards and tortured for a whole month, I didn't say a word. All for the kingdom!"
"......"
"But why, Captain—why did the person I thought I could trust my back to more than anyone do that? Why did you try to kill me? Say something!"
Not everything was wrong.
Cain was loyal, brave, and a Secret Burial Unit member full of patriotism.
He cherished his comrades like family and didn't hesitate to throw himself at the most dangerous missions.
However.
He was never a good human.
"Didn't I tell you the reason back then?"
"...That's the real reason? Just because I killed a few people?"
"292 people. The number of civilians you killed as a hobby."
Cain was a pleasure killer.
During missions, when not on missions, disguising as accidents, creating 'unavoidable situations.'
He killed civilians as a hobby.
With skillful methods, he deceived his comrades perfectly for 5 years while killing countless civilians.
"Just a few people, right? How many Britannia citizens do you think I saved? 100,000? 500,000? Look! The number I saved is far greater! I'm a hero who saved the kingdom! That level of sacrifice is fine for mental health! Right?"
Hanbin was the one who felt suspicious about his activities, caught him by the scruff, and purged him.
As you can see, the result was failure.
He gave too much affection.
He hesitated at the final blow due to the absurd lie that it was all slander, to believe in him.
As a result, Cain became Nortaris's Undertaker and harmed who knows how many lives.
"You're my mistake and stain."
"Captain..."
"I should have tied up loose ends with my own hands back then."
"......"
Cain's eyes widened as if shocked and he bit his lips until they bled.
As if he were a son abandoned by his parents.
"I thought of you as a father..."
"Regrettable. But I've never had a son like you."
Venom flowed around Cain's eyes as he wiped away tears.
Cain remembered Hanbin from his Secret Burial Unit captain days.
Hanbin, the assassination specialist who earned all members' awe.
He ruthlessly pursued dark mages spread like plague throughout the kingdom, and without exception ferreted out and sent to hell nobles entangled with those demons.
If prime Hanbin met current Cain, there would be no chance of winning whatsoever.
However, Hanbin's important magic circuits necessary for using power as a Knight were damaged during past Demon Realm subjugation.
He also knew Hanbin later changed paths to become an alchemist.
"I always dreamed of the day I'd kill you, Captain. Though I never thought we'd meet like this."
Cain had been preparing revenge continuously from the moment of escape.
"Cola? That's not even funny. What kind of nonsense is that? Where did the Captain who made members piss themselves go?"
Right now, Cain had an altar created by dark mages through human sacrifice.
The Magic Eater, called the nightmare of all alchemists.
With Magic Eater, there was a chance of winning against 'alchemist Hanbin.'
Cain drew out magic power and activated his Battle Aura.
Thick shadows incomparable to when facing Penelope sharply bared their teeth.
"Miss Penelope, I'll borrow this for a moment."
Jurgen had no catalyst in hand.
He had used all of Dice, the dedicated catalyst for Material Creation, preparing the Cola business.
Therefore, he picked up 'Sulfur Match' from Penelope's palette.
It wasn't a catalyst manufactured with expensive costs and complicated methods like Red Rose.
Since Penelope was originally a 4th Rank Alchemist, 'Red Rose' was about the only high-grade catalyst that would let Hanbin display full power.
"Captain, are you joking?"
Cain let out an empty laugh.
Alchemists were greatly affected by catalyst grade.
The limit of 'Sulfur Match' Hanbin held was at most overlaying 2 codes.
If it were the Captain who had secretly buried countless dark mages, he would know 2nd Rank magic couldn't surpass Magic Eater's magic resistance.
Still, since he was called Britannia's greatest alchemist, he must have some hidden move.
First, he'd take one blow and gauge the level.
Whoosh!
Flames rose from Hanbin's hand.
Cain prepared to activate Magic Eater anytime and swept his eyes over the magic power flow.
'The weakness of alchemists isn't just being weak in close combat.'
The magic power ripples occurring while stacking codes inevitably revealed the precursor to an attack.
With combat experience like Cain's, he could roughly guess what codes were being stacked.
Woong— Woong—
Cain's eyes swept over ripples scattering twice.
By eye measurement, the code types were Formation and then Compression.
Then the prepared magic was 'Heat Ray.'
A common Universal Code.
Plus a cheap catalyst.
Two overlays stacked, so an attack would come soon.
Heat Ray was high-speed, high-power compared to other 2nd Rank magic, but had a very narrow attack range making its firing line easy to predict.
In this case, there was no need to even use Magic Eater.
Just as Cain, watching Hanbin's fingertips dripping sparks, was about to take evasive action.
"Recursion."
The flames that seemed about to burst out returned again to Hanbin's fingertips.
"......?"
Recursion?
First time hearing this.
A Unique Code?
For the first time, Cain's breathing wavered.
Woong— Woong—
Formation, Compression cast again after Recursion.
'Right now...!'
Thinking it was coming this time for sure and twisting his body, but again the Heat Ray didn't fly.
Instead, what was heard was Hanbin's low chant.
"Recursion."
Only then did Cain understand what was happening.
Hanbin was retrieving magic just before completion and stacking codes on top of it again.
Ignoring the common sense that 'alchemy inherently cannot stack the same code.'
Magic that should have originally ended at 2 overlays was transcending limits and repeatedly overlaying.
"Recursion."
The result.
At Hanbin's fingertips with index and middle fingers extended together, unbelievable high-heat magic power was gathering.
The scariest point was that despite committing such absurd acts, Hanbin's expression was perfectly calm.
This was impossible with his strength alone.
Cain prepared to receive the magic utilizing even Magic Eater.
The black skull with the top half horizontally severed opened its mouth wide, preparing to absorb magic.
Simultaneously, he drew up shadow Battle Aura with all his might to make a shield.
"Haaaaaah!!!!"
Double defense close to a wailing wall if facing an alchemist.
Take it.
Just need to take it once.
Cain squeezed out magic power until blood vessels burst in his eyes.
"Severance."
Hanbin's fingertips drew through empty air.
A pure white Heat Ray extending in a long line from his fingertips diagonally split the air.
Cain's bloodshot eyes slowly traced that trajectory.
The shadow shield that could block even a battleship's main gun was lightly cut like cake.
Even Magic Eater that absorbed most magic instantly heated up, then cracked piece by piece.
—Scraatch
No grand resistance, no fierce collision or noise.
'Severance' advanced cutting and burning all resistance like a cutting line drawn by god.
Behind the ashes of the shield and Magic Eater cut in half and burned.
"Damn, as expected of Captain..."
Cain's body divided diagonally top and bottom collapsed.
***
Jurgen looked at Cain's corpse burning with residual heat.
Since his body was split in half, he was almost instantly killed the moment Severance hit.
"So it was Cain who smuggled Magic Eater from the Secret Burial Unit vault..."
It was so long ago he had even forgotten about the theft.
Seeing he remained a 5th Rank Knight despite such a long-ago reunion, seeing he spread such fearsome notoriety as The Undertaker despite that.
It seemed he depended quite a bit on Magic Eater.
Certainly Magic Eater was an alchemist's nightmare, but before Severance that exceeded specifications using the Unique Code 'Recursion,' it had little meaning.
Even trying to ignore with type advantage, high coefficient pure damage couldn't be endured.
What Cain, who instantly burned to the bone, left behind was one crumpled beret.
As death always was, shabby and fleeting.
Jurgen picked up the beret and tried wearing it.
"...It's a bit big for me."
It had been a while since recalling those times.
There was plenty of time to indulge in reminiscence afterward, but he had consciously avoided it.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't even content worthy of being called reminiscence.
Those times were truly desperate.
Comrades barely made after falling into a strange other world were precious.
To protect Britannia where those comrades devoted their lives.
Hanbin also devoted his heart to his homeland.
Perhaps it wasn't great patriotism or sense of duty.
He just wanted to protect together the homeland they loved.
The ironic point was that hardly any comrades survived.
"Mmm... blanket..."
A groan came from below.
Penelope was talking in her sleep with a furrowed brow as if the bare ground was uncomfortable.
Jurgen chuckled.
"What am I doing dwelling on such old matters?"
Whatever the past, didn't he have clear goals now?
Cola and the culinary revolution.
Noble tasks that would make the nation his old friends loved shine more beautifully.
He should let the past flow away and move forward toward the future.
"Excuse me."
"Snooore..."
He carried Penelope, who had fallen into deep sleep as if she wouldn't know if someone carried her away.
The car was destroyed, and since he didn't know when Penelope would wake and couldn't use alchemy, he'd probably have to walk for quite a while.
"Mmm..."
Around when the sunset was fading.
Penelope woke up.
"Are you up? First wipe your drool."
"......?"
Penelope, who had been loading for a moment, recognized her situation and soon showed a reaction close to convulsions.
"I, I, I don't drool in my sleep, okay? A-and put me down! Where did you learn such manners, touching a sleeping lady's body?"
"Come to think of it, that was a slip of the tongue."
Normally he would have teased her for 30 more minutes with such teasing material, but he held back today.
Even looking so lively, inside was probably quite shaken.
Since it was the day she used circuits she'd never used, did calculations, and used her first Unique Code.
"Uh... come to think of it..."
Penelope detected dissonance.
She was flustered being suddenly carried on his back upon waking, then forgot while flustering about being told she drooled.
Certainly the last scene before fainting was...
Factory, Undertaker, attack, battle, Garden of the Fool, explosion, squawk, faint.
"What about The Undertaker?"
"......"
Jurgen was silent for a moment.
The Undertaker absorbed Penelope's attack with Magic Eater.
Probably would have worked splendidly without Magic Eater, but reality was that Jurgen finished it.
However, to convey reality, he must also reveal the truth.
The truth that Jurgen was Hanbin Ainsworth.
Originally, he planned to watch for proper timing and reveal his real name when Penelope couldn't jump out the window...
His mind changed after seeing Cain.
Telling Penelope needlessly would just make it a dangerous secret.
"Don't you remember? Miss Penelope defeated him splendidly."
"What?"
Anyway, Penelope fainted from the aftermath of the explosion immediately after using magic.
The last scene she saw would also be Cain being engulfed in flames.
Still, he was slightly worried.
If sharp-witted Penelope felt dissonance, he'd have to find another excuse to deflect appropriately.
"Hmm..."
Penelope let out a low nasal sound.
Was it a bit unnatural?
Should he have told a different lie instead?
"Ufufufufu..."
However, what followed wasn't a suspicious interrogation of 'Really?'
"Ahahahaha...!"
It was laughter feeling confident to the point of arrogance.
"As expected of me?"
Penelope didn't notice at all.
Well, this was Penelope-like.
"The Undertaker? That was nothing. For a 5th Rank Alchemist, that level of contract killer is easy."
"......"
"Jurgen, you asked to be taught alchemy? I'll specially instruct you. I'm a 5th Rank Alchemist after all."
"......"
"Don't be discouraged if you can't keep up with the lessons. Talent is cruel."
"......"
Not just for her safety.
He thought it would be best to hide his identity as much as possible.