Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 62

Finding the Weak Point (4)

While the meal continued, Kairus asked various questions. It was undeniable that many of them touched on military secrets.

However…

‘I’ve had military experience myself since before I hit puberty.’

Kairus was also someone who had gone through all kinds of experiences in the military at an unbelievably young age. He was fully aware of the boundaries he needed to respect when asking questions.

On top of that, the fact that this battalion commander was quite proactive in trying to showcase his capabilities worked in Kairus’s favor and made him smile.

In the commander’s case, it was like a job applicant trying to present himself well to an interviewer. Even if the comments were somewhat risky, he was revealing them to highlight his competence.

‘Ambitious for promotion, as expected.’

And the more the battalion commander made these appeals, the clearer the feasibility and potential success of Kairus’s plan became.

Kairus etched the patrol schedule the commander proudly mentioned into his memory and asked,

“That’s impressive. But… you know, right? Often, the enlisted men on patrol are more focused on the act of patrolling itself than on finding anything unusual.”

They didn’t aim to detect oddities through patrols but simply saw value in walking the patrol routes as prescribed.

“To prevent that, we’ve created a checklist, of course…”

As he spoke, the commander pulled out a small metal plate. One side was painted red, the other white.

“At checkpoints that must be inspected during patrol, we’ve placed these metal plates and instructed the men to flip them every time they pass.”

“Excellent. Your thought process is impressively efficient.”

Moreover, the battalion commander continued to boast about the various systems he had implemented for the unit.

Since the rest wasn’t of much interest, Kairus only pretended to listen while sinking into his thoughts.

‘So those metal pieces are placed along the main patrol routes. That’s it.’

When systems like this are implemented, it’s quite common for their original purpose to be lost.

Regardless of whether the location is strategically important, the patrolling soldiers usually don’t care much about that sort of thing.

Now, the goal of those on patrol would no longer be detecting suspicious elements—it would simply be flipping the metal plates placed in specific locations. That was all that mattered to them.

‘In other words, all I have to do is avoid the shortest paths connecting one plate to another.’

Then there’d be almost no chance—no, absolutely no chance—of running into any patrolling soldiers within the base.

Right now, the soldiers of this battalion had no reason to inspect anywhere other than where the metal plates were placed.

‘First, I’ll check where those plates are today…’

Afterward, all that remained was to avoid the locations of the metal plates he’d memorized and deliver the body to the battalion commander’s quarters or office.

“Thank you for the dinner invitation. With someone as exceptional as you in the military, the Empire’s future is bright.”

“Exactly. You seem like someone destined for great things, so I’ll make sure to remember your name.”

At Kairus’s words, Irena nodded in agreement.

“I’m merely doing what little I can for His Majesty the Emperor’s prosperity and the safety of the Empire’s citizens. It’s not something worthy of such high praise.”

Despite what he said, the corners of the commander’s lips stretched all the way to his ears. He believed his self-promotion had worked quite well.

Hearing that the only daughter of House Kellogg would remember his name was music to the commander’s ears.

That one flattering remark, which suggested a promising future, wiped away any lingering concern he might have had about having said things he probably shouldn’t have.

“Well then, let’s talk again sometime.”

After wrapping up the farewells, Kairus and Irena left the quarters.

“Good work.”

“Glad you noticed.”

The mask Irena had worn throughout dinner came off the moment they stepped outside the quarters. Though they’d given the impression of a deepening relationship between a man and a woman, neither of them had any real feelings for the other.

“I’m going this far, so couldn’t you at least give me a hint?”

To her words, Kairus replied,

“Of course, I could. But if I gave you the immediate satisfaction, your growth would stop there. If you’re fine with that, I’ll tell you.”

To Kairus’s words, Irena replied,

“No thanks.”

Kairus nodded at her answer.

“You’ll be able to do it.”

“Such a half-hearted reassurance.”

It couldn’t be helped that Irena felt that way, but Kairus’s words were grounded. He wasn’t just giving vague encouragement.

The vast amount of data compiled by Featherwing already indicated that Irena would succeed.

“Oh, then should I tell you that you’ll fail instead?”

“That’s even worse.”

Kairus took out his pocket watch to check the time.

‘It’s impossible to act tonight.’

It was already past 8 p.m. Starting anything now would be difficult. Besides, the news that Kairus had dined with the battalion commander would soon spread throughout the military base.

‘From tomorrow on, I should have much freer movement.’

As long as he didn’t try to enter places like the cryptography center where military secrets and codes were stored, Kairus would be able to move around with minimal restriction.

Satisfied with the results he had achieved, Kairus parted ways with Irena and returned to his lodging.

“Let’s begin.”

Tonight, I needed to identify the locations of the colored metal plates, and tomorrow, I had to begin the operation immediately.

Finding out where the metal plates were wasn’t all that difficult.

‘All I have to do is tail a few of the patrolling soldiers in reverse.’

The patrolling soldiers moved in pairs, and altogether, there were eight pairs wandering inside the garrison.

Each pair followed a different patrol route, so to pinpoint all the metal plate locations, I had to tail several of them.

‘Once I know where the metal plates are…’

The military was an incredibly rigid organization. That’s why I planned to stage the most typical kind of situation one could expect.

“They’d report anything suspicious they discover. But…”

There was a specific uniform required for soldiers on patrol duty.

‘It’s still the dead of winter.’

Even though the Winter’s Farewell Party had ended and the weather was gradually warming, it would still be a while before the temperature rose above freezing.

If my memory served right, in this kind of condition, the Valorn Imperial Army would still be following the Type-2 winter uniform regulations even during the day.

On top of the cheap coats issued to the soldiers, they were required to wear an additional set of cold-weather gear. And that cold-weather gear was shared among the soldiers doing the patrol.

‘If I manage to swipe that winter coat…’

It wouldn’t be seen the same way as spotting a suspicious person or evidence.

Those kinds of things would immediately be reported through the chain of command, but if a winter coat disappeared, the response wouldn’t be a report—it would be a halt in patrol to search for the coat, wasting time.

‘I don’t need to do that to multiple teams.’

Just one team.

If only one team ended up wasting time looking for a missing winter coat, a gap would form in the patrol routes.

I just needed to use that brief gap to move the body into the commander’s quarters.

“Alright. I guess thinking time is over.”

Now that I’d finished planning, it was time to act. I opened the door and slipped outside, moving through the darkness of the garrison while keeping myself hidden.

‘Well, it can’t be helped. It’s nighttime, after all.’

I gave a wry smile as I looked at the hot air balloons floating in the sky above. They were shining searchlights down toward the ground from the air.

“But if it’s a hot air balloon and not an airship…”

I had a way to counter that. Swift Blade gave me the power to generate and control wind.

Unlike airships, which had propellers and could resist to some extent, hot air balloons were fundamentally helpless against the wind.

‘That’s not flying—it’s just floating.’

Hot air balloons simply drifted in the air, swaying wherever the wind took them.

That’s what set airships apart from hot air balloons. I raised the output of the stained glass and swung my blade.

‘…I can reach it.’

Reconnaissance balloons were designed specifically for patrol, and to keep them in place, they were tied down with ropes.

Due to various limitations, these patrol balloons typically floated at an altitude of around 50 meters. At that height, Kairus’s Swift Blade could exert enough influence.

“Even just creating a sudden updraft should be enough…”

The stakes securing the balloon would pop right out. Then the balloon would be forced to make an emergency landing. Whether that landing succeeded would depend a lot on luck.

‘That’s why they get hazard pay.’

Hot air balloons were inherently quite dangerous. So even if a sudden accident occurred, the troops stationed at the garrison wouldn’t find it suspicious.

Kairus surveyed the surroundings and swung his blade to take control of the airflow in the area.

‘This is the proper use of the technique.’

Swift Blade wasn’t a sword art meant for fighting a single opponent. The Featherwing swordsmanship was designed with war, not duels, in mind.

Its original aim was mass slaughter.

Techniques intended for small-scale skirmishes were just peripheral derivations. A strong updraft surged throughout the garrison, rising from the ground to the sky.

It wasn’t a wind strong enough to send a person flying into the air. Kairus could generate such a gust if needed, but there was no need for something that powerful right now.

The updraft he created blew at about 10 meters per second. Just enough to make holding an umbrella difficult and bend tree branches.

But that level of updraft spread instantly over a very wide area.

“Good.”

For a large structure like a hot air balloon, even a gust like that was a significant burden. How significant?

Enough to yank the stakes tying the balloon to the ground right out.

The balloons, which had been sweeping the area with searchlights, lost stability and began attempting emergency landings.

“Perfect.”

With that single strike Kairus had just delivered, all the reconnaissance balloons watching over the garrison had been rendered useless.

Now that the patrollers floating in the sky were gone, he could check the patrol routes on the ground and choose which one to disable.

“…Ugh.”

The reconnaissance took a long time. When he checked his pocket watch, it was already past 5:30 a.m.

It was lucky that the nights were long in winter. If this had been summer, the sky might already be growing faintly bright.

Still, thanks to the long hours he had invested, Kairus had managed to identify all the patrol routes.

‘If I had to pick one, it’s Route 3.’

That was the patrol route stretching from the battalion commander’s quarters to the main building of the garrison. The key was to steal the winter gear from the company in charge of that patrol.

It didn’t require much time.

Five minutes. That was all Kairus needed to move the body into the quarters. Returning to his lodging, Kairus let out a long yawn and rubbed at his eyes.

“Damn.”

Saying he wasn’t tired would be a lie, but it wasn’t like he had the luxury of collapsing just because he was exhausted.

Lying down on the bed, Kairus managed to sleep for about two hours—until Irena came knocking to say it was time for breakfast.

“…Aren’t you drinking way too much coffee?”

“There’s a reason for that.”

Kairus answered Irena’s question while sipping coffee brewed so strong and dark it was almost pitch black, alongside his breakfast.

“If there’s nothing else going on today, I’m thinking of holing up at the training ground. That alright?”

She had been wrestling with tissues until 3 a.m. the previous night but hadn’t gotten much out of it, and she was incredibly frustrated.

Kairus agreed immediately to her suggestion.

“If you want to get something out of this, that’s probably your best bet.”

To Kairus, those words from Irena were very welcome. He needed to move alone and if she stuck around, it would make things needlessly complicated.