Chapter 170

    In broad daylight, Anguis Regina and I drank. Now, several hours had passed since night had fallen. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    I hadn’t refused to drink with her. Even looking back on my actions, I had no particular reason for it. I just wanted to do something—whether it was drinking or talking with Anguis Regina.

    Thinking about it this way, maybe there was a reason. External stimulation helped me forget the festering rot and stench inside me. That’s why broken people sought endless pleasure and stimulation.

    ......Gabriel must have felt the same. Just like other defeated souls who had given up.

    But I didn’t want to be a loser.

    "Huff, ha... why... why don’t you get drunk?"

    Anguis Regina exhaled a sweet breath as she spoke. A complex scent drifted from her—a mix of perfume, her natural scent, and alcohol.

    "I handle alcohol well."

    I answered briefly and set my glass down. In truth, my insides were already on the verge of revolting.

    My head could hold out, but my stomach couldn’t handle the strong liquor. If I relaxed even a little, I’d end up spewing vomit like a fountain.

    Anguis Regina twisted and swayed her whole body, yet stubbornly kept drinking. Empty bottles rolled around at her feet.

    "The first... ugh... to give up... grants a wish, right?"

    "We even wrote a contract."

    I pointed at the piece of paper beside us. The messy handwriting was something to behold.

    "Bath... room..."

    Anguis Regina got up.

    I didn’t help her. Instead, I simply watched. Unable to stand on her own, she leaned against the wall as she moved.

    Clatter.

    I spun my empty glass on the table, rolling it between my fingers. Anguis Regina wasn’t much different from that glass—staggering, yet managing not to fall. It felt like watching a precarious acrobatics performance.

    Thud.

    She finally made it into the bathroom. I kept my gaze fixed in that direction.

    Crash.

    At last, the sound of her collapsing rang out.

    I rose from my seat and pushed open the half-closed bathroom door. The tip of Anguis Regina’s foot was touching it. Her skirt had flipped up, leaving the skin of her legs exposed.

    ‘The wound healed well.’

    I looked at her bare legs. The skin on her regenerated knee was paler and smoother than the surrounding area. The fresh flesh had a reddish hue, almost pinkish in appearance.

    "Hey."

    I nudged Anguis Regina with my foot. She let out a faint groan and shifted slightly.

    "What..."

    Holding the showerhead, I dragged out the end of my sentence. At that moment, Anguis Regina flinched.

    "...Enough with the act."

    The moment I turned on the shower, ice-cold water gushed out.

    Shaaah!

    Like watering a vegetable garden, I evenly sprayed the stream over Anguis Regina, drenching her. She let out a startled scream and sprang up. Her soaked hair hung limp.

    "Are you insane? What if I had a heart attack? Pffft! S-stop!"

    Anguis Regina widened her gleaming pupils in shock. I lifted the showerhead toward her face, letting the stream pelt her.

    This must be what waterboarding feels like. Enjoying the novel experience, I turned off the water.

    "Don’t worry about a heart attack. I’d break your ribs if I had to, just to keep you alive. Your acting was sloppy, but it was amusing, Anguis Regina."

    "I really was drunk."

    "So, are you going to keep it up?"

    "If I did, I’d just be hurting myself."

    "Good, that means I win. You remember the agreement, right?"

    Grinning, I walked toward the living room. Anguis Regina casually stripped off her wet clothes and followed me stark naked.

    Glancing at her, I frowned.

    "If I stay in wet clothes, I’ll catch a cold. My job requires me to stay in top condition. Unless you’re going to be a gentleman and lend me something to wear?"

    "I am a gentleman, but I’m a gentleman with only one set of clothes, so that’s not an option. Just stay naked."

    I scoffed, and for the first time, Anguis Regina, who had been so confident, blushed. She grumbled curses at me before hastily wrapping a blanket around herself.

    "You are seriously insufferable."

    "That’s my specialty—pissing off people who think they’re the most important person in the world."

    I sat on the couch and downed the rest of the liquor in my glass.

    "This isn’t fun anymore. I’ll be going now..."

    "Just because it’s not fun doesn’t mean the deal disappears. You owe the winner a wish."

    I waved the agreement in the air.

    "...Say it, like a man."

    Anguis Regina let the blanket drape slightly off her body. She knew by now that such tricks wouldn’t work on me. Her flirtation was more of a second nature than a conscious act.

    "Tell me about Kinuan. What’s his relationship with Jafa?"

    As I spoke, I observed Anguis Regina closely, sharpening my senses like extending tendrils, not missing even the smallest clue.

    The faint trembling of her legs, the slight secretion of stress hormones, the expansion of sweat glands that had shrunk from the cold water, the way she pressed her lips tightly together as if suppressing her expression...

    Controlling emotions requires even the briefest moment of time.

    When an external stimulus occurs, our brain perceives the color of the emotion and interprets its meaning. If the emotion is within a controllable range, rationality determines whether to express or suppress the emotional signal.

    However, even if one suppresses their emotions with strong rationality, there is always a fleeting void in the process where emotional signals leak through the body.

    The inexperienced try to hide their emotions with anger when they are struck at their core, while the seasoned conceal them with laughter.

    Anguis Regina was, of course, the latter.

    "I think you’re misunderstanding something. We’ve just been playing. This wasn’t a serious conversation or an interrogation."

    Vague and evasive words. This must have worked on many people before. Everyone wanted to win her favor, so they would have let it slide.

    "So, in this neighborhood, people bring loaded guns to play? If you have no intention of keeping your promise, then get lost. It was fun while it lasted, liar."

    I waved her away dismissively. Anguis Regina walked toward the door without a word.

    Feigning indifference, I listened carefully to her movements.

    ’If Anguis Regina turns back and sits down to talk, then she’s someone I can use.’

    She opened the door. I casually poured myself another drink.

    ’If she walks out without hesitation, then she’s someone difficult to handle.’

    The door was open, but she didn’t move.

    Anguis Regina neither left nor came back in. She just stood in the doorway, waiting for me to look at her.

    An uncomfortable silence filled the air.

    I closed my eyes and pictured Anguis Regina. A bizarre entity stood there. A woman whose words and actions wavered between making sense and not.

    ‘Akies Victima.’

    Her clever yet ambiguous way of speaking resembled the users of Akies Victima. But there were no traces of her having studied or trained in it. It was simply a natural trait of hers.

    ...Once again, I was overcomplicating things, circling around in thought. Luka.

    I opened the book of my experiences. I had encountered someone like Anguis Regina before.

    ‘A person who constantly speaks and acts beyond reason.’

    People called them lunatics.

    I opened my eyes.

    "Hee, hee, ha, ha, hahahahaha! Hohohoho! Hihihihiieeee!"

    Anguis Regina clutched the doorframe, laughing hysterically.

    I flicked my gaze toward her. She was covering her face with both hands, laughing. Between the gaps of her parted index and middle fingers, her pupils shimmered like a sea of starlight.

    Swish.

    As she let go of the blanket, it slipped down to the floor. Her inner thighs were messily soaked with all kinds of secretions. The sight of it erased even the slightest remnants of lust I might have had.

    "...Hh, hhuhuhu, kikik."

    Anguis Regina let out an ambiguous sound, neither laughter nor sobbing. She pointed a trembling finger at me, revealing only half of her face.

    "Not bad. You’re just like Kinuan."

    It was probably meant as a compliment.

    Her presence vanished completely. Since this was Jafa Trading Company’s building, she would know how to slip away.

    This meeting had been fruitful. I had seen a side of Anguis Regina that even her own managers hadn’t.

    ’Her obsession with Kinuan.’

    That was the common ground between Jafa and Anguis Regina.

    I was the only tracker capable of finding Kinuan. With that premise, the advantage was mine.

    * * *

    My entire body ached from the intense exchange with Anguis Regina. A hangover tore through me.

    Alcohol was the worst. I couldn’t understand why someone like Hemillas enjoyed drinking so much.

    Beep, beep.

    My terminal rang. I glanced outside—it was still the dead of night, long before sunrise.

    I had barely slept three hours. My body needed more rest—at least four more hours of deep sleep.

    But my terminal refused to let me.

    Beep, beep.

    My eyes felt too dry to use my retinal display, so I just grabbed the device.

    ’A hospital?’

    The call was from the hospital where Gabriel had been admitted. A bad feeling washed over me. Not that it was anything new. Sudden calls like this were never good news.

    I moved only my pupils to read the message.

    Gabriel had escaped from the hospital. His recovery had been much faster than expected.

    "Goddamn it."

    Clarity slammed into me, wiping away my hangover in an instant. My brain, recognizing an emergency, forcefully jolted my nervous system awake, and my thoughts started racing.

    ’Should I ask Jafa for help?’

    Jafa had plenty of people at his disposal. If I put them on the streets, finding Gabriel would be much easier.

    ’But owing him more favors... that doesn’t sit well with me.’

    The moment I had that thought, I couldn’t help but laugh.

    I was getting complacent. If Kinuan or Hemillas had heard what I was thinking just now, they would have laughed their asses off. Did I really have the luxury to hesitate?

    I had to use everything I could, wring every resource dry. Whether I could repay my debts or not—that was a problem for later.

    If I couldn’t pay it back? What was I supposed to do if I simply wasn’t capable? It was Jafa’s mistake for misjudging my abilities.

    I attempted to contact Jafa. Soon, his sunken voice came through.

    “Gabriel ran away from the hospital. Send people to find him.”

    - Huh? Me? Why?

    His voice was slightly excited.

    It was time to use my trump card.

    Anyone who understood me even a little would know there was one thing they desperately wanted to hear from me. Words someone like me would never say easily. A single phrase that felt like a weight lifting off their chest the moment they heard it.

    Which was why I didn’t use it carelessly. If I overused it, it would lose its power.

    “......Please, Jafa.”

    Laughter came through the comms. I could even hear the way he rolled his tongue.

    - Hyohoho....... Luka, you’re quite the strategist. Just as an evildoer’s rare good deed shines all the more, a request from someone like you is even sweeter. A request that one must swallow, even knowing it’s poison.

    Jafa understood my intentions but accepted anyway.

    Yeah, it was time to admit it. Jafa wasn’t someone I could deceive and use. He saw through my intentions with ease. Only honest dealings worked with Jafa.

    I shook my disheveled hair and gathered my gear. Not that I had much—just a tattered coat, an auto-tracking pistol, and a Firelight Saber I had never drawn before.

    I headed for the elevator. There should be a vehicle waiting downstairs.

    - Not down, go up, Luka.

    Jafa’s voice spread from the communicator at the back of my neck. Seemed he was lending me an air vehicle.

    During my time in Border City, I hadn’t seen many air vehicles. Even the upper class here rarely used them as a primary means of transportation.

    The reason was simple. Since Border City wasn’t a planned city, there were virtually no public airfields for them to land.

    Privately owned air vehicles in Border City had limited use. At most, they were only used by businessmen or the wealthy who had their own personal airstrips.

    ...Enough rambling. I quickly reached the rooftop.

    Ten air vehicles were in sight, and one of them had its engine running.

    It was a sleek, four-seater air vehicle. About half the size of the standard six-seater Akbaran model. It wasn’t tall enough for a person to stand in—you had to sit.

    - Get in, you dumb human.

    As the door opened, the mechanical voice of a translator came through.

    In the pilot’s seat, the Equessian mercenary En sat, wearing a combat helmet.

    “If you came to work, then get moving, knight.”

    I got in the back and gave the front seat a few light kicks.