Chapter 146: Nameless (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 146: Nameless (5)
“Hey there, Jin!”
Veradin waved with a goofy grin.
“It is good to see you, my friend!”
As Dante smiled and tried to step closer, Jin pointed Bradamante at them.
“My nerves are a bit frayed right now. You’d better give me a damn good explanation for why you two are popping up at this time, in this place.”
“Ahem. Are you not happy to see us?”
“Of course I’d be a little happy if I ran into you by chance at some tavern. But that’s not the case here, is it?”
“Only a little…?”
Dante looked down, appearing dejected, and Veradin grabbed his shoulder.
“To think you’d only be a little happy even if it were at a tavern… That’s cold.”
With even Veradin lamenting, Jin couldn't help but feel bewildered.
Is that really what’s important right now? No, wait. Am I being too harsh?
For some reason, his conscience felt strangely conflicted.
Jin sighed and lowered Bradamante as if he had no other choice.
“You wouldn't say that if you knew how hard we worked to find you!”
“He’s right! At the very end, I even had to dip into my slush fund to secure Nameless Passes in a hurry.”
“Haaa, fine. I get it, so just explain. How on earth did you find me, and for what reason?”
“Well, you see, what happened was…”
Veradin began to explain the process of how they had tracked Jin down.
They had scoured the travel records of every teleport gate in the Viment Empire and its principalities, finding forty-five individuals named ‘Jin Gray.’ Then, they had personally visited every single one of them.
By the time they finally found the real Jin, they had already met fourteen other Jin Grays.
“When we arrived in the central region of the Con Principality, I had a feeling. So, we searched every pier and coachman across the north, south, east, and west. This is where Samil is located, after all.”
“And since you killed Kidad Hall not too long ago, we figured this had to be the place. Our intuition was spot on! Now, do you have any idea how much we suffered?”
After hearing the story, Jin’s mind went blank for a moment.
These crazy bastards…
What kind of sheer tenacity was this? He had never felt quite like this before.
“Phew, alright. I’ve heard the ‘how.’ Now, what’s the ‘why’?”
“The reason we came to find you?”
“Yeah.”
“Because we missed you? Because we longed for those nights at the Arena?”
“Does there need to be a grand reason for us to see each other’s faces?”
“Fine… sure, I guess. A reason isn't strictly necessary. Then, one last thing. Since you managed to find your way to Samil, why were you two huddling in the corner of a restaurant?”
“Ah, that. It looked like you were picking a huge fight with Nameless. We thought we’d be in deep if we got caught up in it.”
“We arrived about three hours ago and were about to look for you, but then the city suddenly got noisy. Once we grasped the situation… it seemed you were on a rampage, ready to tear the whole city apart.”
“And we were starving. We spent every last cent of our emergency funds getting those Nameless Passes, so we didn't even have money for food.”
“So the reason you were in the restaurant was to fill your bellies under the cover of chaos?”
Dante shook his head vigorously.
“We had no intention of dining and dashing! We planned to ask you to pay the bill later. It was merely a coincidence that you came here.”
“Exactly. We didn't have the slightest intention of stealing food like petty thieves. You know us, right? We aren't those kinds of people.”
A brief silence followed.
Soon, Jin noticed the sauce smeared around Dante and Veradin’s mouths. A smirk spread across his lips, and the other two burst into laughter as they looked at each other.
“I’ll pay for the meal.”
Jin pulled about fifteen gold coins from his pocket and handed them over.
“Well, of course you should!”
“In exchange, earn your keep.”
Jin’s smile vanished as he stared at them.
“Earn our keep…?”
“It means help me fend off the bastards who are about to jump us. Veradin, watch your back.”
“Huh?”
Swish!
A group of cadets who had just entered the restaurant threw a volley of daggers. Clang! Jin brushed past Veradin and deflected the blades. Dante had already drawn his sword and taken a defensive stance.
“Did I almost just die? Wow, Samil really is something else.”
“Stop talking nonsense when you knew I’d block it, and get your magic ready. It’s time to clear out this poison mist.”
Veradin grinned and began to gather mana in both hands. The speed of his mana release was so immense it even surprised Jin.
And Jin was able to confirm once again that Veradin’s simultaneous casting was ‘triple.’
I caught a glimpse of it when he cast healing magic on Dante at the Arena… but he really is using Ultra-Simultaneous Casting.
Being able to cast three spells at once meant that even with the same amount of mana, he could achieve nearly triple the efficiency.
The mana gathering in Veradin’s palms took the form of fire, wind, and ice.
And Dante… what on earth has he been doing? His blade has become even sharper.
Dante, who had just started moving, was displaying swordsmanship that was clearly a step above what he had shown during their fight at the Arena.
It was at a level where Jin would have to bring out either his spirit energy or his magic to guarantee a victory.
Dante had technically trained for three years longer than Jin, but the progress he had made in just a few months since the Arena was hard to believe.
“Dante! Don’t kill them!”
“I had no intention of doing so, Veradin.”
The assault from the upper-level cadets began again, but unlike before, Jin could face them with a relaxed mind.
Instead of showing my true strength, I’ll just consider these guys joining in as my contribution.
He had only been holding back because it would be troublesome if his identity were revealed. If he had used magic and spirit energy from the start, the upper-level cadets wouldn't have stood a chance.
Whoosh, roar!
The wind rising from Veradin’s hands surged forward, sweeping away the poison mist in the restaurant.
Simultaneously, a straight line of fire spread in all directions, while Dante blocked the attacks of the cadets coming through the windows.
“There’s no end to this if we stay inside. Let’s break out!”
“What do we do once we’re out? It feels like the entire city is hunting you.”
“We’ll do what I’ve been doing. Now that you two have joined, even more cadets will surely come. Maybe even a real assassin from Nameless.”
“I stayed on the sidelines because I didn't want to get involved, and now this makes it all meaningless!”
“Consider it the price for infringing on my privacy and tracking me down.”
In the end, Dante and Veradin had no choice but to contribute to the riot.
However, they didn't particularly hate it. From the moment they set out to find Jin, both of them had a premonition that they would inevitably get caught up in some sort of incident.
Though this incident was a bit larger than they had anticipated.
*
Sitting on the roof of the Nameless Hall, Yona let out a long sigh.
“So annoying! Who are those guys, anyway?!”
She vented her frustration as if she couldn't stand it, feeling a strange sense of jealousy.
“Hmm… Yona, what is the matter?”
A man approached Yona and put a cigarette in his mouth. He wore the milk-white robes of Nameless, and around his waist was a black belt that only one person in Nameless was permitted to wear.
The Nameless King, Oul.
“I was having such a good time playing with my little brother, and then some weird kids suddenly jumped in and ruined everything. I’m so mad, Lord Oul. Besides, they looked close with my brother. I haven't even been able to have a proper conversation with him yet!”
“Is that why you are sulking?”
“Yes! This is probably the first time in my life I’ve been this angry.”
“T-That much?”
“You wouldn't understand, Lord Oul. I was so happy to see him… I was even going to help him open his Mind’s Eye! Those jerks! Oh, and you can’t tell anyone that my brother is a reserve flagbearer of our family, okay? You know that, right?”
“I am aware, but…”
Oul shook his head, looking troubled.
The next patriarchs of Zipple and Hairan… This is the first time I’ve seen Yona this angry. Surely she won’t kill them, will she?
“I’m going to kill them!”
“Oh, Yona. You mustn't do that.”
“Why not? I’m going to kill them. My brother came to find me for the first time, and they ruined everything! The white-haired mage and the brat with the sword. I’ve memorized their faces perfectly.”
“Must you kill them? It could put all of Nameless in a difficult position.”
“I can’t hold back this time. I’ve yielded on everything until now, haven't I? I killed people I didn't want to kill because I was told to, and I even killed people from the main house when they came.”
Oul smacked his lips bitterly.
Amidst the recent suspicious movements of the great powers, Oul believed that Nameless had fortunately avoided destruction by gaining Yona.
Without Yona, he believed this generation—or at most the next—would have been their limit. That was how massive Yona’s presence was in the current Nameless.
And Yona possessed a personality that was far from conventional. Though she was twenty-three, she had a side to her that was as pure as a newborn child.
Being pure, in other words, meant she was capable of anything. It also meant that what was important to her and what was not could change at any moment.
This is dangerous. If Yona moves personally, those two cannot escape death. To protect them myself, I would have to kill Yona or cripple her. I don’t even want to imagine that.
It wasn't because Oul lacked skill. It was simply that Yona possessed abilities so superior that no assassin in history could compare.
A being born for assassination, the second coming of the God of Murder.
That was what the assassins of Nameless called Yona. And the very few who knew everything about her used a different expression:
The Blade Stained by Chaos.
Fortunately, Oul was among those who knew best how to handle Yona.
“Then how about we do this, Yona?”
“Go ahead.”
“Let’s play a game. We will send real assassins, not cadets, three times. If they die, you win. If they survive, you lose.”
Naturally, from Yona’s perspective, it was a proposal with absolutely no benefit.
However, Yona began to contemplate with a suddenly serious expression.
“Hmm, but then the chance of my brother dying goes way up. I’d prefer it if my brother didn't die. He plays so well with me. He’s such a sweetheart.”
“If you just want to let them live, we can act as if this never happened. Your brother lives, and they live too.”
“I don’t like that either… Hmm…”
Her deliberation didn't last long.
“Fine! Let’s do it, the game. But, Lord Oul, you absolutely cannot interfere. If you help those guys or anything…”
“Do not worry about that.”
“Heehee, then I’ll see you later. I’m going to go pick out the assassins.”
Oul gave another bitter smile as he watched the beaming Yona.
“By the way, Yona, do you know how many houses were destroyed in Samil today?”
“I don’t know.”
“…Thirty-seven houses were destroyed. This is the result of you sending people after your brother, so make sure to write a reflection paper.”
“Okay!”
Yona hummed a tune as she headed down from the roof.
Phew, I’ve stopped Yona from moving personally for now. But I wonder if they can hold out…
Even if the assassins killed Veradin and Dante, Zipple and Hairan wouldn't immediately have a justification to attack Nameless. It was a fact that they had participated in the destruction of the city.
However, as the pressure gradually mounted, Runcandel would surely take Yona away before the situation escalated. After that, Nameless would likely face destruction or lose its autonomy by becoming subordinate to a great power.
No matter how great an assassin group Nameless was, the great powers who lost their next patriarchs would surely retaliate without weighing the costs.
I didn't expect the fate of Nameless to become so absurdly precarious. I should take a look at Jin Runcandel myself, without Yona knowing.
Oul thought to himself as he pulled out another cigarette.