Chapter 187: Say You Want To Live - 3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 187: Say You Want To Live - 3
To the captain's sorrowful question, I gave a firm answer.
“I don't know.”
“…That’s irresponsible.”
“What can I do? I'm not a prophet like the Saintess of Origin. No one, myself included, knows what the future holds.”
I shrugged.
“But I do know one thing for certain. To those who will lose something in this incident, your actions will be more valuable than anything. No matter how brilliant a tomorrow awaits, for those who will die today, it's nothing more than sunlight shining on their graves.”
She didn’t answer, but I could hear her reply in my mind.
From the start, she was never the type to look away. If she could have easily ignored people she had the power to save… she wouldn’t be in this position.
Her mind made up, the captain looked me straight in the eye and spoke.
“This officer… no, I will fulfill my duty, not my mission.”
The mission she was given and the duty she had to perform. In the end, the captain made the choice herself. The Military State's doll had reclaimed her life.
She looked squarely at the value she herself had created and spoke.
“It may be impossible. The other signallers may have information I don’t, and they might have already tracked my movements. There is a high probability that my attempt will be in vain.”
Though it might be the final decision of her life, the captain’s words were calm. It wasn't the calmness of a business-like tone, but the unshakeable gravity of one who has made their resolve.
“It will be difficult.”
“Affirmative. Nevertheless, it must be done.”
The captain grabbed her hat and shot to her feet. There was no more time to waste.
It was a race against time: would the Military State detect the information the Shadow had spread, or would the captain intercept and block it all first?
Just as she was about to exit the carriage, her hand paused before it touched the handle. She flexed her fingers in the air a few times, then curled them into a light fist and asked with hesitation.
“However, please tell me just one thing.”
‘From the very beginning, I have only received. From the moment I was found in the box until my arrival here, I have received so much help from you…. You saved my life and even gave me a sense of duty. My body and my mind, it seems, were both gifts from you.’
Even beasts know gratitude. In fact, one could say that humans, with their heads full of doubt, are the ones who fail to appreciate it.
So you finally get it. Just how much I've given you. Took you long enough.
What greater meaning could there be than to teach the meaning of life to one who never had a life of their own? I smiled to myself, feeling a sense of warmth.
…This is how you create a backer who will never betray you.
And just as I expected, the captain clutched her hat to her chest and asked me.
“…Is there anything I can do for you?”
Perfect. This is it.
I answered, feigning indifference.
“Just stay alive.”
As long as she’s alive, I can make use of her somehow. As long as she can think and act, she can be a reliable backer for me.
A signaller… I thought she was just a captain in name only, with no real authority. But she’s far more useful… and dangerous… than I imagined.
Specifically, if the Military State uses a signaller for long-range surveillance, I’ll be caught with no way out. For times like that, it’s convenient to have a signaller like Captain Abbey deeply indebted to me.
Military State. You may have been wary of something like this happening… but I'll make good use of your tools.
Just as I was about to continue, she spoke.
“I see. I understand.”
“?”
What do you suddenly understand? You should at least hear me out.
There’s a mountain of things you can do for me. Cutting off any investigations into me, warning me with a golem when I’m in danger, relaying any news about wars or related events. You have a lot to do, you know?
‘It's just as the Weaver Girl said. Granting wishes. If that is your will… then I, too, will give as you have, as much as I am able.’
“Thank you. I must hurry now.”
With a deep bow, the captain opened the door and stepped outside. Left alone in the carriage, I just nodded my head, bewildered.
Just then, I heard the captain’s thoughts from beyond the door. As she connected to a golem, she repeated a single phrase in her mind.
‘You may not see me, but I will always be watching you. Living the life you gave me.’
Uh, you don't have to watch always… Just when my life is in danger would be fine?
As the captain was about to depart, a scene flashed in the corner of her vision, reflected in one of the windows under her influence. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening in horror at the sight.
‘The retired soldiers from the Shelter…! Wiped out?!’
What?
Those people?
The largest military academy in District 12. Its training grounds.
The place where the retired soldiers from the Shelter had been disciplining the delinquents was now in chaos, the scene of a vicious attack.
“Hah, hah, hah. Dammit. If only I were ten years younger…”
Frontaine, the head of the Shelter, was bleeding from all over his body. Blood from his wounds trickled down the lines of his wrinkles before dripping from his chin.
Gathering Qi throughout his body, Frontaine shouted at an unseen enemy.
“Where are you! Stop hiding from an old man and show yourself, Shadow!”
“I was not hiding.”
A gloomy voice reached Frontaine’s ear. He whipped his head around to see a single shadow emerging from the school entrance.
Frontaine yelled.
“You, Shadow!”
“I would have preferred not to reveal myself. That way, the Military State would not have noticed anything amiss.”
An emotionless, gloomy voice seeped through the shadows. It felt as if it were whispering in his ear, yet also as if it were coming from far away.
Neither the retired soldiers, who were barely still standing, nor the delinquents, who were staring around in confusion, could tell where the voice was coming from.
A strange ability, whether it was Qi Art or some other power of his.
“Has it truly been so long? How fleeting it all is. That place, where a terrible being I dare not even mention resides, was an infernal realm where one could not let down their guard for a single moment…. In this peaceful city, everyone has grown old and weak. Both the Military State and the Shadow.”
Wolfen spoke as if lamenting. By now, his form had reached the edge of the training grounds.
In response, Frontaine raised his staff above his head and charged.
“You bastard! Fight me!”
There was no chance of winning in a drawn-out fight. He had already been worn down enough as it was.
The surprise attack by Umbra Wolfen, the leader of the Shadow, had been stealthy, swift, and lethal. Wolfen had taken down five men in an instant before calmly departing. An enraged Frontaine had given chase, only to be ambushed and wounded himself.
While Frontaine was on guard for a moment, Wolfen vanished. Unable to find where he had gone, the retired soldiers held their ground, not daring to move recklessly.
And when Wolfen revealed himself again, the remaining veterans, sensing this was their last chance, charged all at once.
As the few remaining soldiers rushed forward with their weapons, Wolfen’s form disappeared, leaving only his voice behind.
“The fight is already over, and your defeat has been decided. You just don't know it yet.”
Shlick.
In the middle of his approach, the one-armed veteran was struck by an invisible blade, his remaining shoulder deeply gashed. With no time to manage the pain, his eyes flew open.
“I used… Qi Deflection!”
“Do not put blind faith in it.”
The voice whispered right beside his ear. The one-armed soldier swung his iron flail toward the sound, but the weapon, powerful enough to shatter concrete, struck nothing but empty air.
Shluuk. And again, the sound of life draining away. A blade pierced his chest.
His chest deeply cut, blood flowing freely, the one-armed soldier began to slowly collapse. But then, his eyes flashed as he reached out and grabbed Wolfen’s clothes.
With a right arm that sprouted from his severed shoulder—an arm that shouldn't exist.
“A Qi Hand?”
Wolfen reacted. Even he would not be able to shake off a hand made of Qi.
As he held the Shadow in place for a moment, Frontaine closed in.
“Got you! You baaastard!”
A ghostly fire ignited in his wrinkled eyes. He had been conserving his strength due to his failing stamina, but this was his last chance.
The staff, saturated with Qi, began to vibrate. A flash of light erupted in the darkness. Frontaine’s staff fell like a bolt of lightning.
Wreathed in a storm, the staff was a fatal blow with a mere graze. If Wolfen dodged, he would detonate the energy.
An assassin, caught and held, with a decisive strike bearing down on him.
“…Black Anterior Arts.”
However, the darkness seeping from Wolfen’s body permeated the flashes of light. For a moment, the lightning was swallowed by the darkness. Having bizarrely woven his Qi into the attack, Wolfen deflected Frontaine’s descending staff with a dagger.
The staff was deflected, tracing a smooth arc through the air. Despair washed over Frontaine’s face, and in that instant, the Shadow’s blade mercilessly tore into the old soldier’s body.
Who knew there was so much blood in that withered frame? It gushed from the old man’s chest.
“Keoheok…. Dammit…” the old man groaned, his breath catching in his throat.
Wolfen Fenshtein is an assassin. He specializes in prepared strikes, making him weak in a direct confrontation…
“…To have thought that… was that my fatal mistake…?”
“The reason I do not fight head-on is simply because it is more efficient.”
Wolfen muttered, his eyes devoid of emotion. Frontaine coughed up blood and retorted.
“I know… too. That in this world… there are many who are far more skilled… than the likes of me…”
And perhaps, among the children he had raised, one of them might emerge. A child who could surpass the generals, perhaps even rival one of the Six Generals.
Like the Gunmaster, the youngest to have recently been recognized as one of the Six Generals.
Children held infinite potential. It was the job of adults to help that potential bloom before it withered.
That was why, before he died, Frontaine left his final words.
“We… did not mention a single word about your identity…. Those kids, they don’t know who you are…”
All the retired soldiers he had brought with him were dead. Though retired, they were soldiers to the end, and they had stood before Wolfen, ready to die.
They had been defeated, but still. He had left one last bit of insurance.
“There’s no need… to silence them…”
Killing them all isn’t your goal, is it? Frontaine shielded the children to the very end.
To the dying old man’s plea, Wolfen replied with his emotionless eyes.
“If that’s the case.”
Wolfen’s goal was to spread the Taboo, so he wouldn’t kill them.
He didn’t know how the Military State would react to them once the Taboo was discovered, but there was no reason for Wolfen to explain that.
Whatever was on Wolfen’s mind, Frontaine heard his words and closed his eyes in relief. His final sleep was longer than his life.
The old soldier was dead. Of course, Wolfen felt nothing. He simply stared at his next target with his deep, sunken eyes.
Next is the Market. Wolfen's form seemed to melt away into the dark street….
As he headed toward the Market, Wolfen’s eyes fell upon a carriage drawn by two horses.