Chapter 138: Stepping into the Light - 10
Chapter 138: Stepping into the Light - 10
Having wrapped things up with Leticia, Jiha went looking for Enril.
She was in the barracks lounge.
The lounge.
The place where Commons usually gathered to shoot the breeze and air their grievances.
A spot to smoke on occasion or toss back a few drinks.
But with a silver-haired beauty like Enril the dark elf sitting there, everyone had seen fit to clear out on their own.
Anybody could tell Enril was in a foul mood.
A Unique like her hanging around among Common soldiers was strange to begin with.
Click.
Consequently, Jiha found himself sitting face-to-face with Enril alone.
"..."
Silence.
Even after Jiha sat down, Enril kept her eyes downcast and said nothing.
There was no way she didn't know about what had happened in her office with Leticia.
She'd found out and turned away—that was why she was here.
Still, Enril maintained an attitude of feigned ignorance—as if she'd seen nothing and knew nothing.
"..."
Jiha gazed at her steadily, but she stubbornly kept her lips sealed.
She wasn't angry.
Was she just going to pretend she was blind and deaf?
Enril was, after all, a woman. Keeping up the act indefinitely couldn't have been easy for her.
The last time I came by and left without a word, she was inwardly hurt by it...
The truth was, Jiha hadn't exactly doted on Leticia in Enril's office without any ulterior motive.
His women had been gradually increasing in number.
And they were bound to start picking up on each other's presence.
He'd never intended to hide any of it in the first place.
I need to settle this once and for all.
Given the mechanics of Jiha's vampiric Mana, his number of women could only increase. And if he was going to overturn the world the way he envisioned, the more subordinates and allies he had, the better.
In Warsland, a society defined by female superiority, the strong were overwhelmingly women.
One way or another, the number of women Jiha took to himself was destined to increase.
He needed to make each and every one of them accept that reality.
"Enril."
"...What?"
The edge in her voice confirmed she wasn't ignorant of the situation.
She knew full well but had chosen not to bring it up.
He'd have to keep that in mind.
Jiha shifted the topic.
"How do you think the elves are going to respond?"
At the unexpected request for her opinion, Enril's expression flickered with surprise.
The stunning dark elf, blinking her blue eyes, answered in a low voice.
"They lack the strength to fight directly, so they'll try to hire someone with money. But there's no precedent for anyone besides Commons entering the Summoning War. Even if they offered a lot, it'll be hard to find anyone willing."
Enril trailed off, then her expression flashed with belated realization.
She'd finally pieced together what Jiha was aiming for by setting things up this way.
"The Dirga will arrive soon with the men who follow her. Twenty-three hundred men desperate to get their hands on good weapons—there are bound to be at least a few among them who'll be tempted by what the elves are offering. And some of them won't be pushovers."
"Wasn't Kamain supposed to be the strongest man in Warsland?"
"That's just something people say for public occasions. And I've never agreed with it to begin with."
Enril added,
"A rank doesn't always correlate directly with strength. There are probably at least some men among the Rares who are stronger than Kamain."
"I'd imagine so."
Combat was situational.
Jiha had made it a habit to prepare the conditions that allowed him to beat powerful opponents, and he'd always delivered.
"...You orchestrated this so the elves would approach the people following the Dirga?"
Enril wore a look of disbelief.
Once Jiha had confirmed the information about the Dirga's arrival alongside the Leticia problem, he'd crafted a plan that handled both at once.
The concept itself was staggering, but the speed with which he'd pushed it forward was even more astonishing.
As a Blue Seal Unique who'd been handling practical affairs, Enril was reminded anew just how terrifying Jiha truly was.
Most people wouldn't even conceive of the idea, and even if they did, they couldn't sketch out the blueprint this quickly.
Every rude and brazen remark he made was calculated—a means of achieving his objectives more smoothly.
"...What exactly are you?"
Enril asked the question as if seeing him for the first time.
Jiha answered curtly.
"A man who used to serve someone important but doesn't care for the role anymore."
"Serve, you say?"
"It wasn't much different from your situation now. But..."
Jiha cut straight to the point.
"From now on, I intend to become the important one."
"..."
Enril regarded Jiha ambiguously.
Wondering if he was serious, or if there was some other scheme behind it.
But Jiha meant every word.
He'd once devoted all his resourcefulness to cleaning up after someone important, but in the end, he'd never reaped the rewards.
He'd been a servant handling other people's business—a trained bear doing tricks.
Not anymore.
Now he would do the work and take every last bit of the reward for himself.
Wealth, power.
And women too.
"Don't forget what I said before."
"..."
What Jiha had said before going to see the elves.
Enril's lips twitched.
Something flickered across her face in that split second—a look tinged with discontent.
"..."
She hurriedly composed her expression under Jiha's gaze, but it was already too late.
She'd clearly been brooding over how he'd doted on Leticia.
An ordinary woman would have confronted him and gotten angry.
It was bad enough that he'd taken another woman, but to do it in her workplace, of all places, when there were plenty of other locations?
But Enril, whether out of excessive pride or for some other reason, was playing dumb.
Should he prod her a little, then?
"About Leticia..."
"..."
Enril's complexion changed.
She was visibly struggling to suppress her emotions.
Realizing Jiha was watching her do it, she quickly bit her lip and hid it away.
"She's cute."
"...What?"
A cracked voice.
Enril's expression stiffened in an instant as she glared at Jiha, blue eyes ablaze.
He knew perfectly well that she and Leticia were on bad terms. And he was praising Leticia to her face on purpose?
So much for feigned ignorance—Enril's fuse had just blown.
She was holding back only because it was Jiha. If it had been anybody else, she would have smashed their face in.
Watching Enril barely suppress her seething bloodlust, Jiha laughed with open amusement.
"Watching you react like that is cute."
"...What?"
The same word, but this time it landed differently.
Enril let out a deflated murmur, her expression going blank.
The dark elf who always carried herself with cold composure—like a shadowy panther—suddenly went wide-eyed, blinking.
"..."
Jiha tried to hold back his laughter, then gave up and let it out.
Enril made a late effort to collect herself, then let out a low sigh.
Acknowledging that no matter what she tried, she was in the palm of his hand—that she'd gotten hooked by a single simple line.
"...Don't tease me."
"I mean it."
Jiha spoke through suppressed chuckles.
"Did I set this up with the Dirga in mind? Yeah. So for the time being, don't clash with Leticia."
"...Understood."
Enril let out another quiet sigh and gave a short reply.
He could see her forcing back the surge of emotion.
Amused now, Jiha spoke again.
"About Leticia..."
"..."
She ignored him.
Determined not to get baited again, Enril pressed her lips tightly together and turned her eyes away entirely.
Oblivious to the fact that this very reaction only made her look more endearing.
A stunning silver-haired dark elf trying to hide what she truly felt—trying to maintain her usual icy composure—and all she could manage was barely swallowing down resentment over the man's philandering.
"You're lovely, Enril."
"..."
A remark Jiha tossed out offhandedly.
Enril, who'd assumed this was more bait, flinched.
She couldn't bring herself to believe what she'd heard.
"..."
Jiha himself was a little thrown.
Normally, he laid out plans and methodically coordinated every detail.
But this time the words had simply slipped out—riding the flow of the moment and escaping his lips unbidden.
Jiha and Enril's gazes met.
In that instant, instinct told Enril the truth.
She'd caught a rare flash of Jiha being caught off guard—glimpsing a genuine feeling that had spilled out.
And Jiha realized that Enril had noticed.
"Your ass is."
"..."
At Jiha's belated addition, Enril's expression went blank.
Then it shifted to anger a moment later.
"You're..."
Was he messing with her again?
Footsteps sounded.
The person who entered the lounge was Uben.
Seeing the odd atmosphere between the two sitting face-to-face, Uben floundered.
"Wait. We'll talk outside."
Jiha rose from his seat.
It hadn't been intentional, but the interruption was helpful.
The fact that Uben had come looking for him specifically meant he had important information.
Outside the building.
Letting the wind hit him, Jiha settled his mind.
Those inner feelings he'd let slip to Enril without meaning to.
He'd tacked on that addendum and glossed it over, and Enril had fallen for it.
But she wouldn't have been entirely fooled.
It doesn't matter. Soon enough, Enril too will be completely...
He would settle things, and that would be that.
Once face-to-face, Uben spoke in a lowered voice.
"The red-light district. A message came from Iroha."
"What does it say?"
"The Unique Dirga's advance party arrives tomorrow."
At Jiha's look, Uben elaborated.
"With thousands of people on the move, there's a lot to handle. Lodging first and foremost, along with all sorts of other preparations—they'll get things ready before the main force arrives."
"The merchants will be thrilled."
The Dirga, said to craft the finest weapons in Warsland, along with an armed group numbering in the thousands that followed her.
If I bring the Dirga under me... her Escort Guards will roll right into my grasp along with her.
And on top of that, if the Dirga herself fell under Jiha's command, that would make four Blue Seal Uniques in his possession.
The moment Jiha raised his flag, Blue Seal's fighting strength would be cut in half.
"Starting tomorrow, mobilize the entire information network. We dig up everything on that advance party."
The hour of independence was fast approaching.
He would prepare in the present so he could win in the future.