Chapter 308

It was a narrow gap.

That was the current distance between me and Kinuan.

Kinuan, who once seemed to be far ahead, shrouded in an unreachable veil, was now right before my eyes. If I just stretched out my hand properly, I felt like I could reach him.

If I moved forward just a little more, just a little bolder, I could catch him with my own hands. That thought filled my mind.

"The Parish Overseer is dead?"

I organized my thoughts and questioned Quilia.

She had said that the Parish Overseer was dead—at Lars' hands, no less.

"I don't know the details either. But if I was certain that Sir Luka had ordered it, I would have attacked you already."

I let out a dry chuckle and added,

"If you were confident you could subdue and interrogate me, you would have attacked anyway."

Quilia knew she couldn't defeat me. That was why she had waited for an opening.

'She must have received the news through a private communication while we were eliminating the assassin and moving to the teahouse...'

Her emotional signals were faint. If she was determined to hide them, even I would have trouble noticing.

I didn't dwell on it for long. Looking straight into her eyes, I spoke.

"I have nothing to do with the Parish Overseer's death."

"I had a feeling you would say that. But even that could be a deception. You and Kinuan are of the same kind, after all."

Quilia's sleeve trembled slightly. Along with that faint movement, the tip of a sharp dagger gleamed.

"A wise choice. It's better not to trust me. It's an unfortunate and frustrating reality for me, though."

I spoke honestly. Honesty could be both a weakness and a weapon.

Quilia wanted to trust me on an emotional level. It would be best to exploit that. But this wasn't the same kind of deception as Kinuan’s. Because in reality... I wasn't the culprit.

An incident had unfolded in a way I hadn't expected. My head felt like it was going to explode.

'Lars? Why Kinuan? Is Lars really the culprit?'

I recalled my last contact with Lars. He had finished his security duty at the hospital, met with Ilay, and was supposed to rendezvous with me afterward.

"You said Doctor Gaya was gravely injured too?"

"Lars attacked Sir Gaya. We'll have to return to the temple to understand the details. And I need you to come with me."

"You can't take me by force, Quilia."

"That's why I'm asking for your cooperation. If you're truly uninvolved and innocent, come with me and clear your name."

"I'd love to follow you, but... I can't. If I hesitate, Kinuan will laugh. I can't explain in detail, but we must not give him time."

I couldn't afford to be held back here. Every move I made had to bring me closer to Kinuan.

'Who ordered the Parish Overseer's death?'

Several possibilities came to mind.

'First, the central church ordered the Parish Overseer's assassination, and Lars was framed.'

The Border City Parish Overseer was a minority figure within the church. There were likely factions eager to get rid of him. In fact, assassins from the mainland had been lurking around Border City.

'Second, it was Ivan Accretia's doing. If the Emperor ordered the assassination, Ilay and Lars wouldn’t have had much choice but to comply.'

The Empire had more than enough reasons to assassinate a key foreign figure.

'Third, it was Kinuan’s scheme. His cooperation with the Parish Overseer had ended, making the man a liability. So he took the opportunity to eliminate him—whether by using Lars or framing him for the crime.'

My thoughts revolved mainly around the third possibility. But the first and second couldn't be ruled out either.

"Quilia, I promise. Once this chase is over, I’ll look into the assassination of the Parish Overseer as well. You must already suspect that this isn't a simple matter."

"You and I aren’t close enough for me to trust mere words. But it’s also true that I don’t have the strength to subdue you."

Quilia stepped back, withdrawing from her battle stance. I heard the subtle sound of a weapon being concealed within her sleeve.

'For now, I've managed to patch things up.'

The situation was growing more complicated. The sudden death of the Parish Overseer had thrown everything into chaos.

'And behind tangled webs like this… Kinuan is always there.'

I turned my gaze back to the wall. It was covered with information revealing Kinuan’s thought process.

'This is a thought map for formulating a plan.'

It was a method commonly used for planning and hypothesis-building.

The problem was that someone like Kinuan shouldn't need a physical thought map.

Both Kinuan and I could create hundreds of these in our minds alone, running simulations effortlessly.

'So why would he need something like this?'

That was my biggest question. It was too sloppy to be bait or a trap.

'…Maybe this is Kinuan’s weakness.'

He had a reason for using a thought map—one so compelling that he placed it where he could see it the moment he got out of bed.

'A reason strong enough to overlook security risks.'

Something was about to unravel.

If I could just learn a little more about Kinuan... I felt like I could understand everything about him.

When that time came, Kinuan would no longer be a mysterious monster but just another ordinary human. I would strip away his mask.

My gaze stopped on Giselle’s photo.

It was from her time as the CEO of G&G Cybernetics. Dressed in a pristine uniform, she looked composed and intellectual. There was no trace of an immature girl.

'Giselle, where the hell are you?'

Kinuan wasn't the only one I was desperate to find. The uncertainty of her whereabouts was driving me insane.

At this point, I wondered if she was already dead.

'If Giselle is dead and no one knows where she is…'

I would never escape the curse of Giselle. I would spend my life searching for her, only to collapse in the end.

Two curses bound my existence—Kinuan and Giselle. I had to break free from both.

Chhh—Chk.

My communicator opened with static noise. A coded message appeared on my retinal display—seemingly random letters with no apparent connection.

Following decryption principles, I filtered the letters and rearranged them in my mind.

It was from Ilay.

'Give me your location, and I'll come to you.'

Ilay was coming. Did he know that Lars had assassinated the Parish Overseer?

And what had Ilay been doing all this time? Had he really been tracking Kinuan? Or was he involved in something else behind my back?

Ilay was my friend. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t doubt him. Friendship didn’t exclude deception.

'Is it the right decision to call Ilay here?'

I hesitated as I encrypted my current coordinates and sent them.

...Well, I needed to face him and talk. Nothing would move forward otherwise.

*         *         *

I called Ilay and waited.

In the meantime, Maria entered and joined Quilia in examining Kinuan’s thought map. They had the right to see it.

"Khrrk."

Outside the teahouse, Sariel was keeping watch. With the Crawler stationed there, no riffraff would dare approach.

"Hey, kid. This old lady has a question."

Maria, resting her chin on her hand, spoke while staring at the thought map. She must have realized just how complex and massive this situation was.

"If it's something I can answer, I will."

"Here, it says… you won’t be able to ignore me and will end up helping me. Like I’m going to hold you back or something."

"Because I'm just that nice. They call me Good Boy."

I shrugged. Fortunately, there were no pictures or information about Gabriel on the wall, proving that Maria’s crew was an unexpected variable for Kinuan as well.

'If Kinuan had planned to use Maria from the start, there would have been a picture of Gabriel. Or he would have already captured him.'

I, too, examined Kinuan's thought map, peering into his mind.

"You... know more about me than you're letting on."

Maria clicked her tongue. "Damn it, I was planning to sell off the artifact and take a few years off… but now everything’s gone to hell."

Even with limited information, she had sharp instincts. She might lead a small group, but she was still a boss. It was only natural that her insight exceeded that of ordinary people.

"Khrrrrk!"

Outside, Sariel let out a guttural growl, his throat rasping.

Click.

Maria instinctively shouldered her gun, and Quilia also took a ready stance.

Only I remained still, staring at the door.

"He’s my guest. Tell Sariel to stand down."

Maria whistled, slipping her fingers into her mouth. Like a well-trained hunting dog, Sariel immediately eased his guard.

Step. Step.

Someone was walking into the teahouse.

Ssshhhhh…

A chill ran down my spine. It felt as if a massive glacier had just crashed before me.

A solemn weapon of the Empire had arrived.

Whirr.

I saw Ilay—his helmet still on. The optical lenses in his visor glowed cold and sharp, and his jet-black combat suit was laden with advanced equipment.

Anyone could see that Ilay was one of the strongest. His very presence radiated the unspoken message that, if he wished, he could massacre everyone in this room.

Even though I had introduced him as a guest, Maria and Quilia couldn’t let down their guard. They instinctively understood that Ilay's very existence symbolized death.

'The Ilay I see… and the Ilay others see are entirely different beings.'

To me, Ilay was an old friend. I knew his humanity, his struggles.

But Ilay was also an imperial agent directly under the Emperor. He had carried out countless assassinations and covert operations.

Few who had seen Ilay outside the Empire had lived to tell the tale.

To others, Ilay was that kind of monster.

"Luka, can these people be trusted?"

Ilay slowly turned his head, scanning the room. The sheer pressure he exuded was overwhelming.

"For now, they’re not our enemies. And the more hands we have, the better, right?"

I answered while remaining seated, deliberately avoiding mentioning Ilay’s name or personal details as much as possible.

Maria and Quilia were well aware that their lives were hanging by a thread. If I said anything remotely negative, Ilay would kill them both in an instant.

"Half-baked allies are just dead weight. They'll drag you down at the crucial moment, Luka."

Ilay’s words were fierce and arrogant, a blatant dismissal of Maria and Quilia.

Maria frowned but kept her mouth shut. She must have sensed that saying the wrong thing here would mean her death.

Ilay wasn’t the type to show mercy. If something became an obstacle, he wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate it—even if it was his own subordinate.

'Maria didn’t survive the wasteland for nothing. She knows when to keep her head down.'

Having Ilay standing right beside me like this made me realize something again—

...I really was soft.

The moment Ilay appeared, Maria and Quilia had swallowed their breath, their bodies stiff with tension.

"So this is... Kinuan’s hideout, huh? And he’s been living in such an obvious place all this time? Ridiculous. I guess it’s true what they say—‘the darkest place is under the lamp.’"

Ilay turned his gaze to the wall. He studied the tangled thought map for a long time.

Watching his back, I bit my lower lip slightly.

Ilay wasn’t mentioning Lars.

"You’re not talking about Lars," I said. "He was supposed to meet with you before joining me. But now, suddenly, they’re saying he assassinated the Parish Overseer. What the hell happened?"

Ilay slowly turned to face me. His movements were cold and mechanical, like an android.

"...I don’t know. Lars never contacted me."

His words were layered with meaning. It suggested that Lars might have received a separate imperial decree from the Emperor.

But there was another reason Ilay hadn’t mentioned him.

"Lars has been captured."

I murmured the realization aloud.

"Forget about Lars. Our mission continues. And let’s get rid of the priest beside you. We can’t afford to be dragging around someone from Corite territory."

Ilay moved without hesitation.

I shot up from my seat, grabbing his wrist just in time.

A moment slower, and he would have already drawn his gun to shoot Quilia.

I stared straight into Ilay’s eyes, my tone firm with warning.

"If you want to find Kinuan, follow my lead. I said I’m taking them with me."

"If you keep making decisions with such a weak mindset, you’re going to face ruin. And once was enough for that, wasn’t it?"

Ilay’s voice was ice-cold. I twitched the corner of my lip.

"You’ve let Kinuan slip through your fingers time and time again. I’m the one who tracked him this far—not you. The actions and decisions you dismissed as meaningless were the very things that cornered him. You won’t find Kinuan just by making ‘rational’ choices to eliminate unnecessary variables. If you disagree, go ahead and argue—I’ll be happy to prove just how incompetent you are."

Even as I let go of Ilay’s wrist, I remained tense.

Swish.

Ilay slowly raised his hands in a small gesture, signaling that he had no intention of attacking.

He looked up for a moment, as if lost in thought, then turned his gaze back to me and spoke.

"In the past decade, the only irrational decision I ever made was saving you… and that turned out to be the key to finding Kinuan. So, fine. I’ll trust you, Luka. But if that priest tries to escape from us, I’ll kill her immediately. No objections to that, I assume?"

Instead of answering, I turned to Quilia.

Now suddenly a hostage, she removed the earpiece-like communicator from her ear and let it drop to the floor.

Crack.

I crushed it underfoot.

"Quilia, your side has secret facilities for detaining and interrogating criminals, doesn’t it?"

The meaning behind my words was obvious—we were going to rescue Lars.

"If Lars truly assassinated the Parish Overseer, I will kill him myself," she said.

"You know there’s a chance he’s not the assassin."

"And if he is?"

I blinked. Lying wouldn’t work.

"Then I’ll kill you and rescue Lars. He’s my subordinate."

Quilia nodded.

"Honest. That makes it trustworthy."