Chapter 238 Kill and Take -5
Chapter 238 Kill and Take -5
Three days later. The barracks library.
Jiha closed the book and breathed a sigh.
He'd been digging through books for information, but nothing he wanted turned up.
"Ah, I'm seriously tired..."
Back on Earth, if you wanted information, you just hopped online.
In Warsland, however, the information network was utterly primitive.
Rumors were unreliable, so you were left with books—and those were expensive and limited.
The barracks library was managed by Bisel, so it did have a solid collection.
The problem was he didn't have time to read it all.
Before gaining Vampiric Mana, Jiha had practically lived here for over half a year and still hadn't read a third of the available books.
'I have to know the witches' secrets....'
He'd put Uben on gathering information, but nothing came through.
Aside from being a race that split off from humans and wandered to find successors and pass on their power, little was known.
That what they sought was the treasure that elves and dark elves fought over was still only speculation.
"Always short on intelligence."
Jiha furrowed his brow and sighed.
The books were academic and hardly entertaining, and he was busy.
Even as he read the various reports and plans Uben submitted, he never missed his daily personal training and inspected his troops' conditioning.
Under the guise of inspections, he toured Waris to show his face, and he mingled with merchants to keep close tabs on the economic situation.
He was barely managing to get his meals in, and even carving out time to read like this was him squeezing it in.
Women? He hadn't even held one's wrist.
"Whew...."
Jiha shut his eyes and sank into thought.
He'd held out so far, but going forward, it would become a problem.
He'd only get busier, and he couldn't keep reading books himself.
'Heinrich has a definite reason for trying to monopolize Barjet. Preparations are complete, so I want to figure it out before we roll the whole thing out.'
He wanted to have everything perfectly in place, but he was missing just one piece.
According to Uben, even Iroha gave the impression that she didn't know much about witches.
"Leticia can't help either...."
A total dead end.
Jiha gave up and rose from his seat.
Starting something without fully understanding Barjet was a bit off, but he couldn't waste more time.
Once he sorted all this out, he still had to deal with Alex.
He was about to tidy up his mess when Bisel approached and set down a cup of tea.
"Leave it... and go. I'll clean it up."
"You've gotten rather friendly lately."
In the past, Bisel would never even speak to Jiha first, but these days she was subtly more favorable.
Bisel tilted her head.
"Am I... doing something strange?"
Jiha looked at her blank face, shook his head, and reached for the tea.
It tasted bland, but it cleared his mouth.
Drink one cup, then get moving again at full speed.
Bisel glanced down at the books Jiha had spread open and tilted her head.
"What about witches... are you curious about?"
"You know something?"
"If it's something I read in a book... I know it."
Jiha thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"I want to know what kind of race witches are."
To be precise, the question was why Heinrich wanted Barjet, but he couldn't give out that much information.
She was just a librarian who holed up in the library every day; she probably didn't know anything anyway. It was just a throwaway remark.
"Celibate... they are."
"What?"
Jiha furrowed his brow.
Why was she stating her own marital status?
But that wasn't what the blank-toned Bisel meant.
"Witches... none of them marry."
Jiha's expression grew serious.
"......It's said witches are a wandering race, right? To find a qualified successor, they visit villages and help with odd jobs."
When read literally, he'd figured they were just nomads, but Bisel's words forced a completely different viewpoint.
"Witches seem similar to Dirga... but they're different. Dirga gather escort guards to protect them, and that power and number becomes their dignity and honor... but witches travel alone. Usually, they travel alone their whole lives. Sometimes they pick up a road companion, but they don't form deep relationships. If it's a man, they'll keep even further away."
"Not witches, more like nuns. Do they take a vow of celibacy or something?"
Bisel genuinely nodded.
"Yes, they do."
"Why, when they aren't even a religion?"
"Because it's the promise... they make first when they become witches."
Bisel gave an explanation in that same blank tone.
"Witches are born among humans and grow up not knowing what they are... until they meet another witch and become a witch. At the moment they awaken to their fate, they swear they'll live celibate for life."
Jiha nodded.
Now he understood why Barjet and Heinrich gave off no scent of a romantic or sexual relationship. And why Heinrich had sought out an aphrodisiac.
"All of them swear celibacy—why do they do it?"
"If they know a man... they can't pass on their power."
Bisel's words were slow, but he couldn't miss a single one.
"Pass on power?"
"Witches are... a race joined through souls. They believe that when a person dies, they're reborn, and that it continues. Beliefs about the afterlife vary by each race's indigenous religion... but witches believe in reincarnation and pass on their power."
At those words, Jiha furrowed his brow.
"By power, you mean Mana? They pass their own Mana to an ordinary human?"
"That's how... it's said."
"Mana is something you can just hand over to someone else?"
Bisel shook her head.
"Normally it's impossible.... Finding a compatible successor is why witches wander. Witches visit human villages, tell stories, sell goods, and help with odd jobs to earn goodwill. At the same time, they're searching for women who still don't realize they're witches, mixed in among the humans."
"It's like the inner-power transmission from martial-arts novels...."
Jiha's eyes flashed.
"What happens after handing it over?"
"......They're said to lose all their power. Still, witches do it. That's their fate. They all received it from their predecessors that way. It continues to the next."
"And to do it, preserving your virginity is essential?"
"......."
Bisel nodded.
Jiha reflexively clenched his fist.
This is it. The reason Heinrich is targeting her.
Witches are a race that can hand over all their Mana to another. Heinrich had been currying Barjet's favor, aiming for exactly that.
"Men can't inherit it?"
"Yes, only woman to woman... because it's a cycle of reincarnation. Witches believe each witch... is the reincarnation of a previous witch."
"Then the virginity of Barjet, a Unique, would be important. Very much so."
"......."
Bisel only nodded.
"What happens if she loses her virginity?"
"She keeps the power, but... I've heard she can no longer pass it on to another. Witches... consider that a grave sin, so it's said."
Jiha tilted his head.
Then even if Heinrich raped Barjet, he wouldn't get the Mana—would he?
'No, Heinrich found a way to consume Barjet's Mana himself. That's the aphrodisiac—the real effect of bugra. A drug that works only on witches....'
The original effect of the bugra Taigirl made was to disrupt Mana wavelengths so the target couldn't use Mana.
For the special race called witches, that triggered an even more extraordinary effect.
'So that's why Heinrich was so fixated on Barjet. If he sucked out a Unique's power, he could stand out even inside Ouroboros.'
Jiha looked at Bisel and asked.
"How do you know all this in such detail? This shouldn't be information you can normally get."
"I saw it... in a book."
Just reading books every day made that possible?
Jiha mentally noted the unexpected usefulness of Bisel and rose from his seat.
"Good, that was a big help. We'll talk more later."
"Goodbye...."
Leaving Bisel's farewell behind, Jiha exited the library.
The moment Jiha stepped into the corridor, Uben was approaching.
"Commander, Guason sent word... Quority's gotten outrageously full of herself, and it's chaos."
"To what degree?"
"Every day she acts like she's a queen, throwing her weight around, and she's beaten down all five of the remaining Seven Council members who tried to stop her. The elves are sick to death of Quority, but no one dares stand up to her."
"At that level, aside from Leticia, she'd be the strongest among the elves in Waris."
Uben nodded.
"What should we do? Shall we prepare troops?"
"No. We drive Quority out and make her crash into Heinrich."
Jiha made the call and issued rapid orders.
"The elf residential area and Barjet's lodging aren't that far apart. Position troops along that straight line. I'll smash Quority, but not kill her... and drive her toward Barjet's lodging."
"Understood."
A beat-down hunt. The plan was to kick the rampaging Quority right through the door of Barjet's lodging.
It was a ploy that would be hard to pull off downtown, but now thousands moved on Jiha's command, and the merchants of Waris were cooperative.
It was entirely achievable.
"Separately, disguise about two hundred troops as normal patrols and surround the area near Barjet's inn. Be careful not to get too close and tip Heinrich off. Put Enril in overall command of this unit."
If Enril was commanding, even if Heinrich noticed, they could smooth it over.
"Stir up a few disturbances elsewhere, too. Do whatever works to draw Alex's attention that way."
Alex, too, would be mobilizing his information network to monitor how things between Jiha and Heinrich were developing.
A diversion: make him look elsewhere, then handle business in the gap.
"I'll execute it without a single gap."
Uben bowed his head deeply at Jiha's plan.
The day had finally come when Jiha would personally step in to clean up Heinrich and Quority and take Barjet into his hands.
"I'll drive Quority out personally. I should see how she's changed."
"Who should I attach to you?"
"Not necessary. I'll handle it alone."
"That won't do, Commander."
Uben urged earnestly.
"You're a man under scrutiny now. Not just the citizens, but both camps and the Ouroboros lot are all tracking your movements. Going around alone is a bad idea. At least keep one Unique at your side."
"......."
Uben was right.
Moving alone was more convenient, but in case of the unexpected—plus having Uniques visibly tailing Jiha was an excellent image strategy, even for ordinary citizens.
"Fine, then...."
Leticia was beside Barjet, and Enril had to command the troops.
Asira was pouring herself into her instructor duties, and he didn't want to pull her.
"Yura?"
"She went out with Pairan Amaut. From what I heard, they went to a clothing shop."
"......."
What? It was baffling, but Yura presumably had her reasons.
"Nobody useful available."
"There is one."
When Uben said it with a note of mischief, Jiha tsked.
"Hey, you can't just bring that thing out."
"People say she's foul-mouthed, but the way she trots along after you is rather cute."
"Aren't you people going way too soft?"
"Only her mouth is foul. She doesn't actually do anything. And her frame's small."
Jiha furrowed his brow.
"All right. Tell Guason I'm coming, and bring her."
After also giving orders to contact Leticia, Jiha readied himself to move out.
Crossing the barracks' training ground, he could see units in the distance changing formation under Asira's commands.
"Everyone's working hard."
Back on Earth, he'd been on the receiving end of training like that. Here, he was the one giving orders.
He continued with a strange feeling, and there was a figure waiting ahead.
It was Narsha, wearing a pale pink dress that fell below her knees. With a shoulder bag and a folding parasol, she was completely dressed for a little outing.
Utterly baffled, Jiha asked,
"You off somewhere to play?"
"You called me. So I prepared."
"Do you even know where we're going?"
"Didn't catch that. Do I need to know?"
"......."
She said it so naturally, it left him speechless.
The queen-like temperament: she'd accompany him, but wouldn't bother with trivial details.
"Ah, fine. Just follow along quietly."
It was only for show anyway; explaining anything was too much trouble.
When Jiha looked less than pleased, Narsha pouted her lips a little but still fell in beside him.
Her personality was still a mess, but she didn't defy his words.
'This one's going to take a lot of work too....'
She had no will to resist him, but she wasn't cooperative and had no intention of changing herself.
At this rate, bedding her a few times wouldn't tame her. It'd take patience and a careful hand.
With that thought, Jiha set his eyes forward and set off.
He'd finish it all today.
Eliminate both Heinrich and Quority, and claim Barjet.