NOVEL NEXT Chapter 15
Our destination, Serreb, is said to take a week to reach even with a train that is faster than the one we are currently on.
This leads to the conclusion that this train does not go to Serreb.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s one more person who will take us.”
Aila transformed her seat into a more comfortable shape and reclined.
If we are deliberately stopping at a place that takes three days by train, that person must be quite important.
What’s important is that we are currently on the run. I wondered if it was alright to relax like this.
“There’s a dining car in the front. If you’re hungry, go eat something.”
Aila pulled out her wallet and handed it to me.
With a dazed expression, I accepted the wallet and quickly tucked it away.
At a glance, it seemed to contain a considerable amount of money.
The train started moving and began to pick up speed.
It seemed that many passengers seen at the platform did not board this train.
There appeared to be quite a few empty seats.
“Jema, want to go see what’s in the last car?”
“Shall we?”
“Wait a minute. It’s fine to wander around, but when you introduce yourself to someone, make sure to use the name written here.”
Aila tossed each of us a business card.
Seeing the name and affiliation written on Jema’s card, I felt a bit strange.
Jema’s card said she was an agent of the JS Group, but mine was not.
The card I received had the phrase “daughter of the JS Group agent” written on it.
“I don’t really need mine.”
“Right. Just write down anything you need.”
I didn’t have a pen anyway, so I couldn’t take notes.
As we moved to the last car, I witnessed a somewhat unusual sight.
In other cars, there were no visible passenger seats, and they were separated by walls, with opaque glass on the doors.
No sound could be heard from inside, making the train feel eerily quiet.
Those kinds of cars continued in succession until we reached the very last one.
Creak.
As the door opened, muted conversations could be heard coming from various people.
This place was labeled as a lounge on the door.
Since it wasn’t sectioned off, if you concentrated, you could hear the conversations clearly.
“Jema, what do you want to drink?”
“Coffee.”
We placed our order at a small shop selling drinks in the lounge.
Moments later, three cups of coffee were served.
“But we only ordered two.”
“It’s a service.”
I was a bit skeptical about what kind of service included a free drink.
We settled down in the lounge and stared at the drinks we received.
“Is it okay to drink this?”
“It’s a service.”
“Why are they giving a service to someone they just met?”
“I have no idea?”
I put the coffee down on the table without drinking it.
Jema, dismissing my worries as unnecessary, took a few sips of her coffee.
The ambient noise that had occasionally been heard in the lounge suddenly disappeared, and it got dark, as if the train had entered a tunnel.
Creak!
“What the hell is that?”
“My name is Kol. I’m an assassin.”
As my barrier blocked the sword he unsheathed, he immediately sheathed it again.
“So why is an assassin looking for us?”
“I heard you’re the escaped demons from Tholis?”
“No. We come from Adren.”
I firmly denied it without hesitation.
Kol pointed at Jema with his finger and spoke.
“You’re Ririan, and that one is Jema, right?”
“No, I’m Sebastian, and that’s Lucas.”
When Jema responded with the title written on her card, Kol politely bowed his head and apologized.
“I’m sorry. I misjudged people! Please forgive me!”
“An apology is enough.”
Even after Kol left us, he continued to ask everyone in the lounge about our names.
“At this rate, we’ll be found out before we arrive.”
“It seems he doesn’t really know our faces.”
Eventually, if he couldn’t find us, he would probably get off the train.
And so, a day passed on the train.
Of course, after that incident, I ran to tell Aila everything that had happened.
“An assassin even introduced himself?”
That day seemed to pass without any issue.
However, there was chaos when Kol got into a fight with another passenger on the train.
The fight occurred in the car we were in, and their conversations were heard clearly.
“I’m not looking for a slave!”
“What? Why are you looking for such demon children?”
“That’s… have you seen a Ririan?”
My name echoed loudly inside the train, causing me to feel momentarily paralyzed.
“It’s okay. You’re Lucas right now.”
“Yeah.”
Kol’s seat was diagonally from mine, a slight turn of my head allowed me to see him.
I couldn’t figure out why he was chasing me.
If he followed us from Tholis, he would be targeting Jema.
So far, I hadn’t been out much, and I hadn’t introduced myself to many people.
The presence of an unknown assassin made me increasingly uneasy.
The next day, as people got on and off at the station, Kol began asking around about me again.
At this point, I was curious enough to approach him, but his profession made me apprehensive.
An assassin revealing themselves openly just didn’t make sense to me.
Aila told me two possibilities.
“He’s either confident in his abilities to show himself, or he intends to instill fear in others.”
Since there was someone pursuing us, Aila said she would be more vigilant.
She adjusted her sitting position, pulled out a book, and began to read.
“Where do those books even come from?”
“It’s a secret~”
I didn’t understand why she had multiple copies of the same book.
It strangely reminded me of the training we had in the basement of the JS Building.
That must be Aila’s optimal defensive stance.
Kol was bustling around the train cars all day long.
As I continued to observe, I discovered something that made me uneasy.
“I’m going to have a quick word with him.”
“Don’t go.”
“He doesn’t seem too dangerous.”
“Then don’t go.”
Aila closed the book she was looking at and stared at me intently.
I noticed an intangible aura gathering around her, and it didn’t seem like a joke.
If I insisted on going again, she would likely physically stop me.
“What’s going on?”
Jema poked her head out from the bed, asking what was happening.
It seemed Jema woke up sensing Aila’s aura.
“It’s nothing serious.”
I was forcibly seated by Aila by the window seat.
“I said I wouldn’t go.”
“I know.”
Aila answered shortly and turned her attention back to her book.
“Um…”
Kol spoke first toward us.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m an assassin. Do you know a demon named Ririan?”
His tone was quite different from when it was just Jema and me.
“You’re not an assassin, are you?”
“No, I am.”
“What assassin openly reveals themselves like that? That’s the most basic of basics.”
I had heard that names like Solche or Alium were used when infiltrating.
In other words, for an assassin to openly disclose their identity would raise suspicion.
“You seem to be an expert.”
“A little.”
Kol pulled off the hood he had been wearing.
Bright blonde hair flowed gently and smoothly.
“Is that a girl?”
“No, for now, I’m a boy.”
He sat down opposite Aila.
“Let’s have a chat. What are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for the demon Ririan.”
“Why are you looking for them?”
When asked by Aila, he hesitated and couldn’t articulate his thoughts.
“It’s… personal.”
“Are you going to kill her?”
“No, no! Why would I kill her!”
That was certainly an unexpected response from someone who just called themselves an assassin.
I wondered how he would react if he knew the person he was looking for was right in front of him.
I didn’t know enough about him yet to reveal my identity.
Kol evaded more than half of Aila’s questions, and as I continued to observe, it felt like a detective interviewing a criminal.
“So where do you come from?”
“I’m from the Latnia Empire.”
Upon hearing Kol’s response, Aila glanced at me.
I shook my head in disapproval, watching Kol for any indications.
I hadn’t met anyone from the Latnia Empire except for Den in the Kingdom of Tholis.
What made this situation suspicious was that he was chasing me, not Jema.
The only one who had any reason to hold a grudge against me would be Juan.
“So you’re looking for the ‘girl’ named Ririan?”
“Yes.”
Aila dropped the book she was holding and mercilessly struck Kol on the head.
Whack!
It was so quick that he couldn’t react and fell unconscious.
“Jema, could you help me out for a second?”
Jema, who had come down from the bed, spotted the unconscious Kol with a sleepy look on her face.
“Why is this person here?”
“Let’s take him away, follow me.”
I didn’t know there were facilities like this inside the train.
Aila pulled out some ropes from somewhere and tied up Kol’s body, then began to rummage through his belongings.
“This is…”
Three wanted posters emerged from Kol’s belongings.
They featured pictures of me, Jema, and Solche.
Among them, my wanted poster was particularly clean and neatly folded.
“So you were after the bounty.”
“Then why is my bounty so high?”
Even adding Jema’s and Solche’s bounties together didn’t reach half of mine.
“Ririan. You said you injured a guy named Juan, right?”
“Ah.”
Where would those wanted posters have been distributed?
The Juan family in the Kingdom of Tholis holds considerable power, to the point of being able to influence the country.
As soon as I became a fugitive, he likely placed a bounty on me.
Comparing it to Jema’s wanted poster, mine stated that there was no distinction between life and death.
“You can never go to Tholis.”
“I have no desire to.”
I had wished to escape when I was there, why would I want to go back now?
“So how did you find out?”
“When I called you a girl, you answered affirmatively.”
The image of me on the poster indeed looked ambiguous regarding gender.
One more mystery was that there was also a wanted poster for Jema, yet he hadn’t recognized her.
Even in her original form, before she took the potion.
It felt very unsettling that he was only chasing me.
“Oh, and she’s a girl.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“Want to check it yourself?”
At Aila’s words, Jema pulled me from behind and turned my body.
“Don’t make Ririan do that!”
After the brief commotion settled, we pondered what to do with Kol.
“Shall we throw him out of the train?”
“You occasionally say some terrifying things, Ririan.”
Something felt off. I couldn’t say that this guy had no connection to Juan.