Chapter 85
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85
A massive boulder loomed like a rocky mountain.
Beneath it lay two Arachnes, tangled and wrecked—one belonging to Giselle, the other to Enrico.
The impact must have been brutal. The Arachnes' legs were bent and crumpled, scattered in a chaotic heap.
"Going down. One, two..."
The paramedics leapt before their vehicle even touched down. Sliding down their ropes, they landed lightly and rushed straight over to check on Giselle and Enrico.
I grabbed a rope with one hand, slid down, and planted my feet on the ground.
Ilay waved off treatment from the paramedics. Dusting off his palms and clothes, he strode over to me. Up close, I could make out faint traces of combat on his body. To anyone else, they'd pass for injuries from the crash.
He filled me in as he approached.
"Our Arachne suddenly lost control and flipped over on its own. The moment we dropped under the boulder and a blind spot opened up, they came at me. Took three or four electric stun bullets. Close call."
Despite his words, Ilay wore an easy smile. He dug the stun bullets out of his limbs and slipped them into his pocket. He'd probably caught them while shielding Giselle.
Our high-performance combat prosthetics wouldn't be knocked out by a stray stun bullet or two to the limbs. At worst, they'd just slow down. To actually take one down, the bullets had to hit the central nervous system.
A sudden accident. Being unarmed. A prosthetic body dragged sluggish by stun bullets.
Ilay must have had a rough time of it.
Glad I brought Ilay along. If anyone else had seen the fight, cleaning this up would've been a nightmare.
Giselle and I were on an unofficial, private mission. Whatever happened here had to be buried as a simple accident.
We moved fast, dressing up the ambush as a malfunction. Ilay caught on immediately, matching his story to ours while hiding and disposing of the evidence.
That left only Enrico Lagan and Barbara—the one disguised as Nether Along. They lay unconscious in a corner. Ilay's clean work was on full display.
"Didn't kill him. Giselle said to take him alive. Wasn't easy keeping him breathing," Ilay said, jerking his chin toward Nether Along.
"Ilay, if you head to the rest stop building, you'll find 'Barbara'—a wanted fugitive of the Empire. Detain her using your Imperial Guard authority and bring her here. I'll explain later."
To be precise, it was Nether Along trapped inside Barbara's body, but the point stood.
A high-ranking Autonovas executive came flying to the crash site. The instant he stepped out of his aerial vehicle, he sprinted over, frantically mopping cold sweat from his brow.
"I-I am truly sorry. We will find the source of the problem and hold those responsible immediately—"
The executive apologized over and over. I almost felt bad for him.
There was probably nothing wrong with the Arachnes at all. Barbara must have tampered with them somehow to force the crash. Looked like more than a few people were about to lose their jobs over her little stunt.
The paramedics moved in to transport Enrico Lagan and Nether Along.
"Ah, one moment. We'll be taking custody of Enrico Lagan and his bodyguard," Ilay said, stopping a paramedic mid-motion as he unfolded a stretcher. They stared at Ilay, puzzled.
"First, our medical team should—"
"The accident happened because of your company's negligence in the first place, so forgive me if I'm not comfortable leaving them in your hands. Or do you have some other motive? I've heard rumors of groups all across the Empire that target and kidnap nobles."
Ilay's voice dropped to ice at the end.
"We are certified medical professionals employed by Autonovas. We'll hand them over once we've performed a thorough examination."
The man—clearly the paramedic captain—refused to back down easily. Ilay's expression hardened.
Just as the mood turned dangerous, the executive rushed in again to smooth things over.
"W-Wait! Do whatever they want. We can run a basic checkup right here anyway. They just seem to have fainted—I'm sure they'll be fine."
"But if something happens later—"
The paramedic captain dug in stubbornly. I admired his professionalism and sense of duty. Right now, though, he was just in the way.
"If anything happens to the safety or health of Enrico Lagan and his bodyguard, we will take full responsibility. Feel free to record this statement for your files."
Giselle stepped forward. At her words, the executive's face lit up, and he snapped at the captain.
"They said they'll take responsibility! That's enough!"
A strong sense of duty, buried beneath foolish self-preservation. And just like that, the matter was settled.
We pried custody of Enrico Lagan and Nether Along away from Autonovas. Immediately after, Ilay left to secure Barbara.
* * *
Autonovas's prototype exhibition ended in disaster. They continued the Arachne test drives after the accident, but almost no one wanted to ride them.
The wrecked Arachnes were hauled off to a research lab. Autonovas would comb through the internal flight logs—but if Barbara had tampered with them, the data would be wiped clean. She wouldn't want to leave a single trace of herself behind.
We boarded our aerial vehicle with Enrico Lagan, Nether Along, and Barbara. All three unconscious.
"The Lagan family's on their way to collect Enrico. They'll be here in an hour. If there's anything you need to cover up, do it now," Ilay said, tapping away at his terminal. He was filing reports through various channels, including the Imperial Guard.
"You're not asking us anything, Ilay. Even though you already know this isn't a simple escort job."
Giselle fixed him with a stare. Ilay shrugged and turned his gaze to me.
"I owe Luka a lot. I don't know what your circumstances are, but as Luka's friend, I'll keep my mouth shut. If only for the sake of my future promotion."
Ilay made a firm promise of silence. He wouldn't breathe a word about the Custoria family's private mission.
"Giselle, how deep is Enrico in this, and what does he remember?"
I asked calmly. It was time to tie up loose ends, and fabricating a story for Enrico was our first priority.
"I'll handle him. Enrico fainted first, so he probably remembers almost nothing. And... Barbara really did come. In such a wretched state."
Giselle stared at the bound Barbara, unease lingering in her eyes. Barbara lay unconscious, ankles and fingers broken—the aftermath of the torture I'd inflicted.
Though the thing inside that fake Barbara is actually Nether Along...
The one I was really watching was "Barbara wearing Nether Along's full-body prosthetic." That was the true culprit—the mastermind behind all of this.
"First, Enrico."
I hoisted Enrico up and carried him outside the aerial vehicle. Giselle followed.
She pulled out a psychoactive injection and drove it into the back of Enrico's neck. Called a psychoactive agent, it was really a cocktail of cardiotonics and stimulants.
Hiss.
The liquid surged and seeped into his body.
Enrico's fingertips and toes twitched, and his eyebrows began to flutter rapidly.
"Enrico, wake up. It's Giselle Custoria."
Giselle spoke in a gentle, soothing voice.
"Gasp! Pant, pant, pant."
Enrico jolted awake, gasping for air like he was screaming. Clutching his pounding chest, he looked around wildly.
"It's me, Enrico."
"G-Giselle? W-what happened?"
"There was an accident during the test drive. How much do you remember? I was worried about you."
"W-worried about me? W-what about my bodyguard?"
Enrico was too rattled to get his thoughts in order. Giselle's unusually warm demeanor probably only added to his confusion.
"Unfortunately, Nether Along passed away just moments ago. Were you close?"
"No, not especially. I only met him recently. He offered to guard me cheap, so I hired him. He was probably angling to become my retainer..."
Listening to him, I realized just how naive Enrico was. He seemed utterly clueless about how dangerous the world could be. If someone with real intent decided to snatch him, he'd vanish without a trace.
"We'll take care of the rest, so you should head back to the Lagan family now. It was a terrible accident, but I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt. Let's have dinner sometime."
"O-Of course! Giselle! I'm perfectly fine."
Enrico pulled himself together and stood. Only then did he notice me, flinching slightly as he stared.
"She's my maid," Giselle said quickly.
"Ah, I see. She looked strangely familiar—I was wondering where I might have seen her."
Turns out Enrico's eyes weren't just for show.
"She only recently came up from the Lower District. There's no way you've crossed paths."
"Indeed. No chance I'd know someone from the Lower District, haha."
Still a man I desperately wanted to punch.
Either way, it didn't take long for the Lagan family's aerial vehicle to arrive. The doors opened, and two Lagan vassals stepped out.
They approached us. They clearly had questions, but they wisely held their tongues and simply bowed.
"Ah, Giselle. About the d-dinner you mentioned... when might—"
"I'll contact you soon."
Giselle answered with a false smile. That smile alone seemed to satisfy Enrico, who nodded happily.
He boarded the aerial vehicle with his vassals.
"You've turned into a wicked woman, Giselle," I remarked. With Barbara captured, there was no more need to keep up the act.
"You're no better, Luka," Giselle grumbled, climbing into our vehicle. Now it was time to interrogate Barbara and Nether Along.
Hiss.
The doors slid shut.
"So what's the plan, Luka? Say the word and I'll help," said Ilay, leaning against the wall where he'd been keeping watch over Nether Along and Barbara.
"...First, there's something I need to tell you."
I walked over to Barbara's body. Lifting her reddish-blonde hair, I exposed a faint surgical scar.
"Brain surgery?" Ilay asked, tilting his head.
"It's surgery, sure, but..."
Even I found it unsettling to say aloud. It was something no sane person would ever do. I took a deep breath before continuing.
"...Barbara removed her own brain and placed it inside Nether Along's full-body prosthetic. And Nether Along's brain went into Barbara's biological body. They swapped bodies to fool us. Do you follow?"
The moment I finished, Ilay's expression froze. Giselle's eyes went wide, and her hand flew to her mouth.
She staggered.
As the reality sank in, Giselle swayed like she might collapse. I reached out and caught her.
"T-This man is B-Barbara?"
"I'm certain. She went as far as swapping bodies just to meet you face to face. I'm going to wake her now. If it's too much for you to face her, step outside for a moment."
Giselle carried deep trauma from Barbara. And now Barbara had reappeared, having swapped bodies through such a grotesque method.
To Giselle, Barbara must have seemed like a monster crawled straight out of a nightmare.
"I'm... fine. Because you're right here beside me."
Giselle gripped my hand tightly. I could feel her trembling.
"I'm waking up Barbara now—or rather, Nether Along's full-body prosthetic."
I said, pressing my fingers to the back of "Barbara's" neck. Since it was a full-body prosthetic, the drugs had to be forced in.
I pulled out a syringe that looked more like a weapon and fitted it to the vial.
Crunch!
The long, sturdy needle—sharp as an awl—drove deep into the back of the prosthetic's head.
Gurgle.
The drug flowed into Barbara's brain.
Flutter.
Her eyelids trembled and slowly lifted. Her pupils spun as if hit by a system error, then finally locked into place—misaligned, like a cross-eyed squint.
"H-H-Hello... e-everyone."
Barbara spoke. It was a man's voice, but Giselle and I could see the Barbara lurking behind it.