Chapter 73
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 73
It was only a week after the banquet ended that I finally found the time to visit the Lower District.
I boarded the elevator heading down. Since I was alone, I had plenty of time to lose myself in thought during the descent.
Lucaus Custoria—the cadet who took down Rick Silva Nunez.
With that, I'd secured my place as the top cadet of the class. No one else could ever match a feat like that.
And Akies Domini.
That was the unofficial title. I was the Emperor's eyes, his Watcher—even if only an apprentice for now.
My unofficial mission is to monitor the internal enemies of the Empire.
Kinuan—my master, my senior—had fooled everyone with genius-level deception. I had to become someone like him.
But the mission I received from the Imperial Guard Captain is to monitor Kinuan and dig into his past.
Two conflicting missions to carry out. And ironically, both of them were unofficial.
My situation was still dangerously precarious.
Unofficial missions sometimes demanded that even the agent's very existence be erased through death. I had steeled myself for that possibility more times than I could count.
If they decide I lack the qualities of a Watcher, or if the higher-ups deem it necessary to erase me... I'll be disposed of.
Not even the shield of the Custoria family could protect me then. The world I'd stepped into was that deep, that dark.
I have to pretend to investigate Kinuan while deceiving Imperial Guard Captain Heilas.
It was a brutally difficult tightrope to walk. Heilas was no ordinary man. He'd tried to unravel my lies more than once already. He might even have let some slide despite knowing the truth.
Screeech.
The elevator ground to a halt and the doors slid open. I passed through the checkpoint and stepped into the Lower District.
Gabriel, looking as rough and fierce as ever, was waiting for me. I'd summoned him ahead of time. The moment he spotted me, he started grumbling.
"Why'd you drag me all the way out here? This ain't my turf. Everyone's staring at me, and these damn drones won't stop buzzing around my head."
The zone connecting the Upper and Lower Districts was a kind of buffer. Administratively it was classified as part of the Lower District, but in practice it was more of a Middle-Class District—a far cry from the slums below.
Put simply, it was a neighborhood that didn't suit someone like Gabriel one bit.
Whirrrrr.
A patrol drone hovered nearby, lenses and weapons locked onto Gabriel. One wrong move and it would rain bullets down on him without hesitation.
"Get used to it. You might be coming and going through here quite a lot from now on."
"I'm allergic to rich folks, so I hate places like this. My throat's already swelling up and itching. Gonna need a drink just to soothe it."
"Cut the crap and give me your report."
"Yeah, yeah, boss."
I preferred to receive information verbally whenever I could. I'd learned the hard way that messages sent through terminals carried a high risk of interception.
Even Imperial Guard Captain Heilas had used Giselle to pass information to me. No matter how heavily encrypted, networks were always vulnerable.
"Some psycho named Jullek took over the Arena gang. The bastard rounded up all the Arena executives and shot 'em dead—wiped out everyone who actually knew how to run the place. Right now there's literally nobody left who can manage the Arena's operations except him."
So Aleph would never return to active duty.
"Do you think Jullek will cooperate?"
"On the surface, yeah. We're the ones who stopped Ken Noma's attack, after all. He said he'd outsource some of the Arena's security work to us."
"Keep an eye on things for now. If anything comes up, handle it yourself first. Only call me if it's something you can't manage."
Gabriel cocked his head at my lukewarm response.
"Uh... that's it?"
"That's it."
To be honest, my enthusiasm for managing the Lower District had cooled. Now that I had no reason to dig into Kinuan's past, there was no point obsessing over this place.
I might need manpower down here eventually, but I have no use for it right now.
While I was lost in thought, Gabriel handed me a physical paper document—a list of potential gang recruits. I scanned it quickly, then tore it up.
"The rest are fine, but cut Vayan. He looks too smart."
"Ain't being smart a good thing? We're already struggling 'cause we've got nothing but muscle-brained idiots."
"The gang's still in its infancy. If someone smarter than you joins, you'll get eaten alive. He'll strip you of your authority before you even know it."
I wanted Gabriel capable of running the gang even in my absence. For that, he had to build a solid foundation from the ground up, just like La Vie en Rose. It was no small task.
* * *
I went with Gabriel to the hospital where Ken Noma was being held in medical custody. Since it was a proper facility, the treatment costs coming out of my own pocket were becoming quite a burden.
I'm no saint.
If I decided Ken Noma was useless, I fully intended to ship him back to one of those back-alley clinics down in the slums.
I walked down the corridor and stopped in front of Ken's room. As I reached for the door, I froze. My intuition flared with unease.
Trained intuition sends its warning to the brain as raw sensation first. The detailed analysis only comes afterward. Act first, ask questions later.
Someone got here before us.
If there'd been an authorized visitor for Ken Noma, the hospital would have notified us. This was an unsanctioned visit.
"Gabriel, wait outside. I'm going in alone. Don't let anyone else through."
My voice was cold and rigid.
Reading my expression and the sudden shift in the air, Gabriel obeyed without a word. We were starting to move in perfect sync. He was fast becoming a reliable extension of my own will, anticipating my intentions before I spoke.
Pshhh.
The hospital room door was electronic, meaning any entry should have been logged. But the world was full of people who could slip past machines and computers like ghosts.
...And Kinuan was exactly that kind of person.
Kinuan sat inside Ken's room. He looked up at me from his chair.
"Have a seat, Luka."
He offered the invitation as if the room were his own. I sat across from him and glanced over at Ken, strapped to the bed.
"Ken's out of his mind."
"But Ken is a practitioner of the Akies Combat Style. As you saw during the recent incident, he's capable of highly volatile behavior given the slightest opening. I decided he couldn't be left as he is."
"So you really were the sponsor behind Tora and Ken... and the one who taught Ken the Akies Combat Style."
It was a foregone conclusion—almost embarrassing to even ask.
"I used Tora and Ken to run the Arena gang so we could funnel funds to Nemesis. That's how Rick was able to rise so quickly into a core executive position. Back then, Rick and I were on an unofficial mission—infiltrating Nemesis under the guise of anti-imperialists."
"But Rick actually defected during the mission. You only pretended to turn, maintaining your cover to feed information back to the Empire."
"Rick on the outside, me from within the Guard—we swore to bring down the Empire together. Of course, I never had the slightest intention of actually doing it."
Kinuan must have been a Watcher even back then. Just how long had he been one? Perhaps even before he became a cadet. Given the recent case of the witch Barbara infiltrating Nemesis, the Empire and the Imperial Family certainly had the resources to pull off operations that ran that long.
"Ken had a gift for combat. If his life had gone differently, he would have made a fine soldier."
"That's why I chose him. He was exceptionally cautious—as expected of someone compatible with Akies Victima. I was genuinely impressed when he set Tora up as the figurehead boss to spread the risk. I quite liked Ken."
"Yet you abandoned him, knowing it would lead to his ruin."
"Because my mission ended the moment Rick truly turned. Fearing I might defect as well, the upper command hastily ordered my recall. And to this day, they still suspect me."
Aside from the Emperor, no one knew Kinuan's true identity. He had silently endured wave after wave of suspicion, walking a tightrope where a single misstep meant death. Looking at him now, he was the very picture of a loyal subject.
I shifted my gaze back to Ken. He was mumbling, his eyes vacant and unfocused. He recognized neither of us.
"You came here today to kill him. Because if I keep intervening, there's a chance he might regain his sanity."
That was why Kinuan had come. He meant to erase the last of his traces by putting Ken down.
My chest grew heavy. After all, I was the one who'd dragged Ken Noma back from the abyss.
Sensing my mood, Kinuan offered a faint smile.
"You don't need to feel responsible. For a brief moment, Ken got to experience the world with a clear mind. Before that, he was as good as dead. I know him well. Even if it meant death, he would have chosen this path. And he did."
Ken had sought his revenge on Aleph fully prepared to die. His willpower was remarkable. And it was that very willpower that had brought him to his deathbed.
Kinuan rose. He walked over and stood beside Ken's bed.
Watching them, I couldn't help but think of Gabriel and myself. Try as I might to push the thought away, our relationship mirrored theirs all too closely.
Kinuan doesn't build bonds on lies.
He simply buried his emotions under the weight of duty. For the sake of the mission, he was capable of killing even a friend with whom he'd shared a genuine bond.
You cannot deceive someone without offering a piece of your true self. That was especially true for a heavyweight like Rick—and no less true for Ken, whose mastery of Akies Victima gave him such keen insight.
Just as Rick and Kinuan had been close friends... Ken Noma must have been Kinuan's friend too.
"Instructor."
I spoke up, rising from my seat. I drew a steadying breath and stepped up beside him.
"...Let me handle Ken Noma."
"This is my responsibility. My duty."
Kinuan must have known for a long time that Ken Noma had to be eliminated. Yet he'd spared him, using Ken's vegetative state as an excuse to leave him alive. Even the ruthlessly meticulous Kinuan had taken a risk for this man.
I understood now. I'd finally caught a glimpse of what lay beneath Kinuan's mask. Leaving a liability like Ken Noma alive for so long—that had been Kinuan's conscience.
"Even for you, Instructor, killing two close friends with your own hands in such a short span can't be easy. It's not good for your peace of mind."
I waited for his permission.
"I say this often, but you truly are an exceptional disciple. Teach you one thing and you grasp ten. Sometimes your rate of growth is almost frightening."
Kinuan took a step back. With his silent consent, I flexed my fingers, loosening the joints.
Crack. Crack.
An ominous sound leaked from my knuckles as I dialed up the output.
"Ken Noma. For the peace of the Empire, I will dispose of you."
Kinuan turned his back. My hand moved.
Snap!
I ended Ken's life.