Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 67

Flicker

If Irena vouched for Kairus’s alibi, no one would have any reason to suspect him.

“Alright, I’ll stay here for about an hour and then head back to the training ground.”

Irena, who had brought Kairus into her quarters, said this to him.

“What if someone comes looking for me?”

“I’ll tell them you’re sleeping in my room. That should be enough for an alibi.”

At her words, Kairus let out an amused sound and, after a brief moment of thought, said,

“While we're at it, could you wait about two hours instead of one? I don’t want to come off as someone lacking stamina.”

“Goddamn. If it weren’t for the oath, I’d cut your throat right now...”

Irena gave a rather grim reply to Kairus’s joke.

“That's the thing about signatures. Once it’s done, it’s too late to regret.”

Kairus, now fully disguised in Irena’s room, said this to her.

Seeing his disguised appearance, Irena made a dumbfounded face.

“Honestly, seeing you in that disguise really drives home the fact that you’re a damn criminal.”

“Thanks for the compliment. I’ll leave it to you now.”

With that, he jumped out the window.

Lodging provided to outsiders was usually located on the outskirts of the garrison.

With a bit of finesse, jumping out the window landed him just outside the garrison.

“Finally, the museum.”

Kairus took out Melvin Istovan’s ID badge to check it once more, then made his way to the museum.

He had done his best to imitate Melvin Istovan’s appearance. But their builds were so different that it was impossible to make it perfect.

“The body of a scholar who never left his study and the body of a punk who went through the labor correctional facility being the same—now that would’ve been stranger.”

There was no helping it. He had tried, but at this point, Kairus looked neither like Melvin nor like himself.

It didn’t matter. People working government jobs always cared more about authoritative documents than their own judgment.

“...”

When Kairus arrived at the museum and showed his ID badge, the soldier guarding the entrance to the vault checked it and let him through.

“They don’t use stained glass here.”

No archaeologist walked around in battle gear. Before entering the vault, there was also a body check. It wasn’t as humiliating as in the labor correctional facility, but still, no one was allowed to enter with battle gear on.

But that didn’t pose much of a problem for Kairus.

“There’s plenty of battle gear inside the vault anyway.”

And not just any gear—these were high-quality battle gear sets distributed to knights when the Empire declared full-scale war.

If an emergency occurred, he would use those.

“If nothing unexpected happens, I’ll just sneak out without touching anything.”

In any case, the vault inventory was just paperwork. Kairus was confident he could take it out without being caught.

Smuggling items on his person while walking around was a basic skill one had to master in the labor correctional facility.

“Ha.”

Upon entering the vault, Kairus was quietly amazed by its scale. The underground was filled with compartments of various sizes.

People bustled about, all clad in white coats and fresh cotton gloves, busy identifying the artifacts.

“...”

A few of the stored items caught Kairus’s eye, and an uneasy feeling rose within him.

The battle gear stored in the vault was made up exclusively of items so exquisite that they were beyond valuation. He could tell without needing to inspect them closely.

“Expecting the Empire to collapse on its own is pointless.”

The throne of the Valorn Empire was sturdy enough to endure two or three more tyrants yet to come.

To ruin the Empire and kill the Emperor, time alone wouldn’t suffice. Someone would have to take action.

Like Simid Kellogg did. Kairus reaffirmed his resolve and began searching around with renewed focus.

He had to find the inventory list. Each piece of battle gear in the vault was dazzling, but at the same time, made him not want to linger even a second longer.

The more he felt the grandeur of the stored items, the more keenly he realized just how dangerous a place he was in.

“Once I secure it, I’m out of here without looking back.”

He had to get out. Thinking like a petty thief—“There’s so much here, surely it’s okay if I swipe just one for myself?”—would be a fatal mistake.

Even a small slip-up that caused a problem would trigger Dana Watson’s arrival.

There was a better chance of the sky collapsing and the moon rising instead of the sun tomorrow than there was of Kairus beating Dana Watson.

While Kairus was inspecting the vault, a commotion erupted outside the museum.

“Captain of the Scarlet Leaf Order… This wasn’t my doing. I wasn’t involved in—!”

The battalion commander, standing before Dana Watson, struggled to swallow his dry throat.

It wasn’t his first time facing her.

During Dana Watson’s assignments in Rezantin City, the commander recalled seeing her at least three times.

But never like this.

“Shut it. I don’t recall ordering you to speak.”

Normally, Dana Watson was someone who stumbled around in a drunken haze, nearly naked like she had an exhibitionist streak, flinging lewd jokes.

But not now. She was fully dressed in the official uniform of the Imperial Order of Knights, complete with ceremonial sword and cloak, and carried on her back an enormous greatsword of absurd proportions.

The hard liquor Dana Watson had been downing at the bar just moments ago might as well have been water—there wasn’t a trace of intoxication on her face.

“Military flechette, Type 3,”

said a knight from the Scarlet Leaf Order who had accompanied her, after examining the body.

“They killed him first, then shoved it in. You think this is my first time seeing a corpse?”

Dana Watson’s life was littered with the corpses of countless men and women, young and old, both allies and enemies.

Identifying the cause of death just by glancing at a dead hunk of flesh was second nature to her.

Dana nudged the corpse with the tip of her boot, flipping it over. There wasn’t even a sliver of respect for the dead in her actions.

“Whoever did this had real skill. This wasn’t an impulsive kill. No way a civilian did it.”

The wound at the back of the neck was the fatal blow. No ordinary person could drive a blade so precisely between the vertebrae.

Most civilians couldn’t even hold a sword properly without injuring themselves.

When Dana took out a cigarette, the knight beside her immediately struck a match and lit it for her.

“Frankly, in Rezantin City, the only people with experience stabbing others…”

The knight trailed off, and Dana’s gaze naturally turned to the battalion commander.

“I have no motive to kill the newspaper editor. Captain, please think this through rationally.”

“It’s true we haven’t yet found a motive that would make you kill him.”

And that was enough.

If a motive came up later, the battalion commander would be back on the list of suspects, but for now, continuing to doubt him would just be forcing it.

“What about the museum?”

“What’s the museum got to do with this all of a sudden…?”

In response to the commander’s question, Dana exhaled a heavy puff of smoke and answered with a twisted expression.

“Hey, you moron, listen up. In this city, even if a fire breaks out, even if a building collapses and dozens are buried alive, even if a child’s dismembered corpse is found by the river!”

Dana Watson’s voice burned with fury.

“The museum is always the first place to raise the alert.”

Even if that delayed the response elsewhere, so be it. The museum took priority above all.

“If it’s just a lifeless hunk of meat, let the grieving family do whatever they want—bury it, cremate it, scatter the ashes in the river.”

Dana Watson wasn’t a gravedigger. She was a captain of the Imperial Order of Knights.

Her duty wasn’t to protect the dead, but to protect the living and annihilate the enemies of the Empire.

“Shut down the museum immediately. No one goes in, no one goes out. Anyone who resists gets executed on the spot.”

“Understood. Right away…!”

As the battalion commander moved to carry out Dana’s orders, she let out a sharp “Ah,” and stared coldly at him. From the start, Dana Watson hadn’t been giving orders to him.

“You’re dismissed. As of this moment, all military and security forces in Rezantin City fall under the command of the Scarlet Leaf Order.”

At Dana Watson’s words, the knight standing beside her saluted immediately and fired a signal flare into the sky.

Until further orders were given, the entirety of Rezantin City would be locked down. Anyone who resisted, even slightly, would be executed on the spot.

“Should we keep the citywide lockdown in place?”

“No. Execute anyone who raises suspicion near the Royal Museum on sight. As for the rest of the city, attempt detainment if a suspect is found. If they resist, execute them.”

Dana Watson tossed her cigarette to the ground with a flick and then hurried off.

“To the museum, ma’am?”

“Where else would I be going in this mess, to screw a man? You’re coming too.”

Dana Watson’s operating principle was very simple.

[No matter what happens in Rezantin, she heads straight for the Royal Museum.]

Even if city hall collapsed, even if every imperial official appointed by the Emperor was slaughtered and their bodies displayed in the center of the city park.

Dana Watson would still go to the Royal Museum.

She always went to the Royal Museum. And that incredibly simple doctrine was now being swung like a blade aimed at Kairus’s neck in the vault.

“Ha, found it.”

Meanwhile, Kairus had somehow succeeded in securing the documents he had been targeting.

All he had to do now was get out of the museum. Then return to the military garrison, climb over the outer wall, and reach Irena’s quarters.

That was his plan, but suddenly the atmosphere in the vault changed.

“Everyone, do not move and remain where you are! From this moment, anyone who resists orders will be executed!”

The moment he heard that, Kairus grabbed one of the swords he had previously identified just in case, and dashed toward the entrance.

“Shit, goddamn it. What a fucked-up mess!”

He didn’t know exactly what had happened. He didn’t need to. All that mattered was that the museum had suddenly gone into lockdown.

Which meant, Dana Watson was on her way to the museum.

“Stop righ—”

A soldier tried to tell Kairus to halt, but never finished the sentence.

Disguises only worked when the situation hadn’t turned into this.

“There’s no sneaking out quietly anymore.”

Dana Watson was approaching the museum even now. His disguise could be discarded the moment he made it out.

The documents Simid Kellogg had requested were already in hand. Now the only thing that mattered—by any means necessary—

Was getting out of here as fast as possible.

Kairus moved with urgency, but not recklessly. He wasn’t flailing or panicking with fear. He didn’t want to die, but he wasn’t afraid.

“Three down already.”

If he moved quickly enough, he could escape before the lockdown team tightened their perimeter.

He glanced briefly at the sword-shaped battle gear he’d taken from the vault. Its hilt and scabbard looked ordinary, but the blade had a unique pattern.

A mosaic of black and white squares in varying brightness.

“They called it Flicker.”

It meant flickering light. Even with masterpiece battle gear, its true potential couldn’t be used until the wielder understood its special abilities.

But the gear in the vault had already been researched and cataloged, including their capabilities.

Kairus had read the research notes. He knew exactly what this blade could do. That’s why he had chosen it.