Ch. 19
Chapter 19
“Huh?”
Belle blinked at the thief’s sudden change of heart.
“I’m deeply grateful for your sacrifice. To serve the nation at such a tender age—truly admirable.”
The words sounded like a slogan he’d half-remembered from somewhere.
He followed them with an awkward smile and crooked his elbow toward the gloomy interior.
“This way, please.”
Belle and Amon traded wary glances, then stepped inside.
The building felt like a forgotten attic.
Especially the ceiling—
or what was left of it.
Someone had patched the holes with scrap planks, the kind of repair you make when you’d rather cry than hammer.
Buckets squatted here and there to catch the drip.
“Bad vibe,” Amon muttered.
“Hand it over and let’s bolt,” Belle whispered, waving the folded cipher.
The thief dragged two stools from beneath a table, slapped the dust off with his bare hand.
“Sit.”
“Ah—no, thank you. We only came to deliver this.”
Belle held out the paper.
“What is it?”
“No idea. We were just told to bring it...”
“...All right, then.”
He unfolded the sheet and read slowly.
‘If they know our code, they must be...’
His face darkened line by line.
Belle and Amon watched, fascinated.
‘Right. Of course. I thought I was safe once they shipped him to the Center, but out of nowhere—’
His finger halted on the last bolded sentence.
‘Five swords? And what in hell is an “Orc model”...?’
He cleared his throat.
“The person who gave you this—?”
“Mago. You know him, right?”
“...Figures.”
He wanted to rip the paper to confetti.
‘Why should I take orders from that lunatic? I could just crumple this—’
His fist closed—then froze.
A scorch mark licked one corner of the page.
The memory flashed: Mago, eyes wild, Kinjo’s spell crackling around him like a whip.
‘If I ignore it... I’m a dead man.’
The thief forced another brittle smile.
“Tell him it’s received.”
He bowed until his back was level with the table.
“...Will do.”
Belle and Amon offered stiff nods and fled.
Outside, Amon spoke first.
“Definitely a thief. Twin daggers on his belt.”
“Yet he turned into Mr. Politeness,” Belle said.
“Only after he saw the uniform. At first he was ready to slam the door.”
“True.”
“How does Mago scare a guy like that with a single note? And how did he even know the code?”
“Maybe before the Center, Mago ruled the underworld.”
“Don’t be daft. He was Kinjo’s family slave.”
“Exactly. Doesn’t that make it creepier? Lately he’s got that secret-smirk face.”
***
“Belle became a princess,” El began—then caught herself.
“Well, she was treated like one.”
“Treated how?”
After dinner, El and I sat by the campfire swapping stories.
“When Belle... traveled alone, she ran into an orc pack. But their Boss never touched her.”
“That’s odd. Before the war, orcs attacked anything that crossed their turf.”
“You’ve fought demon beasts?”
“Often enough.”
“Then you get it. Anyway, the Boss... raised her as a princess. In the vilest way.”
“You mean captive pampering.”
“He kidnapped her, tossed her food, kept her like a pet.”
“Horrible.”
It was the first I’d heard of Belle’s past.
In my last life I’d never grown close to Elizabeth Red, and Belle herself had died early.
“Are you sure you should tell me? It’s Belle’s worst memory.”
“Worst memory?” El echoed.
“Yes.”
“My sister isn’t that fragile.”
For once El didn’t stumble over the words.
“The Special Task Force rescued her. She came home thinking life would return to normal. Then—”
“So the war broke out.”
“Right. And that wasn’t the end. When the war started, Belle saw it—inside the green horde.”
El shook her head once and went on.
“The Orc Boss the Special Task Force missed that day.”
The one who’d charged the orc model.
I remembered Belle sprinting forward, eyes blank with rage.
She hadn’t even realized it was only a dummy.
Now I finally understood why she was obsessed with orcs.
“Belle’s going to join the Task Force and kill that bastard herself, just to prove she can. To be honest, I... I wished she’d never pick up a sword again.”
A brief silence fell.
To break the gloom, I changed the subject.
“Ms. El, you used your ability twice and still didn’t collapse.”
“Mm-hm. I know the trick.”
“A trick? Then Belle could—”
So it’s reusable, not single-use.
Calling it a “trick” makes Belle sound less than human.
“Belle doesn’t know. And it’s not something you learn through training either.”
“Then what?”
“Liquor.”
Liquor?
“You mean alcohol?”
“Yeah. She keeps her body temperature up with booze. Why body temperature, you ask—”
“The Red Family trait. I get the gist.”
“You two really are close.”
El laughed.
“But why doesn’t Belle know? It’s her family’s trait.”
“I deliberately kept it from her. Didn’t want her becoming a drunk who hunts for booze every single day...”
“Sounds exactly like something Belle would do.”
Alcohol, huh.
If I hadn’t met El, I’d never have heard this.
“Mago, where are you applying? The Knights, I bet—safe, good pay. With your skills, you could aim for the Imperial Knights...”
The question reminded me of that mage I’d run into.
The irritating one who’d claimed he was with the Imperial Knights.
“I’m going to the Special Task Force.”
“Didn’t see that coming. Why?”
“Dunno. I just want to fight on the front line.”
A half-truth.
“Wasting your talent on the Knights seems a shame. Not that I look down on them...”
“Would be nice if you and Belle could join the Task Force together.”
“You’d be a rock, Mago.”
First, we have to stay alive.
That night, I didn’t even try to sleep.
Pulling a hooded raincoat over my head, I slipped into the Chief Instructor’s room.
I eased the door half-shut.
He was tossing on the cot.
“Ngh...”
I froze at the sound.
“Kinjo Shua...! Move it, I said move!”
A professional habit, maybe—barking orders even in his sleep.
It showed how much the 66th class still weighed on his mind.
I waited until he settled, until his breathing leveled out again.
Then I crept closer.
Target: the liquor bottles on the shelf.
Silver-stamped flasks, halfway between ornate and messy.
I pulled the prepared flask from my coat pocket, rose on tiptoe, and grasped one of the bottles.
“Mago!”
My body locked.
That voice made my shoulders curl in instinctively.
Eyes half-closed, I twisted only my neck.
“Hah...”
A soft sigh slipped out once I saw his face was still slack.
Another sleep-talk.
He hadn’t woken.
“Didn’t I tell you not to close your eyes...”
A snore followed.
I twisted the cap gently, taking forever to muffle the sound, then poured the liquor into my flask.
Almost done.
Just get out unseen.
I returned everything to its place and slipped into the corridor, pulling off my hood.
I let out the breath I’d been holding in one long rush.
“Weapons, people, even a way to wake Belle.”
The pieces for the fight were sliding into place.
I knew the Demon Beasts would swoop down from the sky.
Now that I’d roused the lake, only one task remained: change the future.
* * *
“Five swords?”
a thief asked.
“That’s right. I already told you—stop asking. I’m irritated enough as it is.”
The Thief Boss, who had received Mago’s letter, scrunched his face until the straight scar beside his left eye folded with it.
“Then let’s move. The hyung-nim requested it.”
“Who’s your hyung? Have you lost your mind?”
“W-why, Mago hyung-nim, of course...?”
“Drop the ‘hyung.’ He’s ten years younger than you.”
“Still, the Boss always says: in the underworld, the strong are the elders.”
“...Shut it.”
The Boss exhaled a slow, weary sigh.
“This is the last time I take orders from that white-haired brat. Might not be so bad to hold a debt over him, either.”
“We’re only doing this because he told us to, right?”
“I said shut up!”
“After we prep the five blades, what then?”
“We hit the carriage headed to the Training Center.”
“What’s inside the carriage that’s worth it?”
“Nothing. We take the whole carriage. And inside... there’s a model. An orc model.”
“Huh? A model?”
“We stick the swords into the orc model’s body, haul it to the center, and we’re done.”
“Blades... inside an orc model...”
“Any of you idiots good with a needle and thread?”
* * *
I had given the thieves three orders.
One: secure five top-quality swords.
Two: hijack the cart transporting an orc model to the Training Center.
Three: sheath one blade inside each model—hide them in the dummy’s body.
Early this year I’d flattened every thief in the capital and Kinjo.
Controlling humans requires two levers: desire and fear.
This time I chose fear.
I burned terror into them.
One day remained until the Fourth Exam.
One day until the Demon King’s Army launched its Second Invasion.
The cart arrived, orc model aboard.
Before the Training Center’s main gate opened, I inspected the cargo myself.
Two thieves sat on the driver’s bench.
The hijacking itself was already done.
I recognized them.
The one holding the reins stood out: the Boss with the straight scar at the corner of his eye.
“Hey, White Hair. You’ve got our payment ready, yeah?”
he called.
“Payment?”
“You didn’t think we’d do this for free, did you? We’ll squeeze something out of you, one way or another.”
“And how exactly would you do that?”
“The job’s not finished. What happens if I start yelling right now that you ordered this?”
“Then what happens to you for stealing the cart?”
He clamped his mouth shut.
“This is Imperial Army territory. Shut up and play your part when the instructors show.”
The Boss ground his teeth.
“Hyung-nim!”
It was the thief beside him.
“Me? You talking to me?”
“Yes, hyung-nim! Long time no see! How’s life at the center?”
He waved cheerily, as if greeting a convict on release.
“Was I ever your hyung?”
“In the back world, the strong—”
“I said cut it out...!”
The Boss slapped a hand over the man’s mouth.
“Job done properly?”
“Mmph, mmph...!”
The right-hand man answered with his fingers instead: an OK sign.
“Looks good.”
“Hey, White Hair.”
“And one more thing,”
I cut in.
“Tomorrow, leave the capital and head south.”
“What kind of crap is that?”
“The Imperial Army expects the Demon King’s Second Invasion. The capital’s the choke point. If your sorry bunch doesn’t want to be smashed in the first wave, you’d better run.”
It was a lie that the Imperial Army had foreseen anything.
“...Can I trust this?”
“That’s all I know. Seems like more than fair payment.”