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Chapter 531: New Normal (3)

“What do you mean? ‘In custody’?”

As Yeongwoo gaped at Resham’s guidance message, Earth tilted its head.

『Looks like that “Visit” really is that kind of visit.』

“Wait, you’re telling me our client is in a cell right now?”

『That’s how it looks. This is awkward.』

Earth kept scratching its forehead helplessly.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo’s brow furrowed hard.

“King Teroph, that bastard.”

『Wh… what’s with you, all of a sudden?』

“He definitely said it. That Koatu ‘recently’ sold weapons.”

Yeongwoo’s memory was spot on.

◇ Arms dealer Koatu. He sold weapons for a recent war between houses, so he should be flush with cash right about now.

But Earth still didn’t seem to get it.

『…And that means what, exactly?』

“You don’t see it? Teroph would’ve known perfectly well that Koatu was in prison.”

『C’mon, no way. Even so, His Majesty is… he’s a doer of good, right?』

“They’re not doers of good in my book. They’re extreme balance-ists.”

Yeongwoo squeezed his eyes shut.

In this rough universe, the thought that he’d been blindsided again made his blood boil.

“…Those sons of bitches.”

『So what now? We turning back?』

“Can’t do that. There’s a stack of cash right under our nose—how could we walk away?”

『…….』

Only then did Earth realize Teroph might well have anticipated things even this far.

He’d seen through that, even if the client was in prison, Yeongwoo would still force the collection.

And he’d done it from that brief meeting.

『A king is a king, huh.』

As Earth muttered in a deflated voice, Yeongwoo shifted his gaze to the hologram screen.

Koatu. Incarcerated at the Black-Iron Prison.

Would you like to “Visit”?

“No helping it. We’ll have to try a visit first.”

『Visit and do what? Don’t tell me you’re planning a jailbreak?』

“Why not? If this planet belonged to Koatu, we would’ve punched through their shield with ship guns anyway.”

『Uh… no? We never made a plan like that. That’s just something you were thinking by yourself, isn’t it?』

“My thoughts are our plan.”

Of course, they might not need to go as far as breaking Koatu out.

They didn’t yet know exactly what this planet’s prison was like.

For all they knew, Koatu could be living it up behind bars, and as a career criminal arms dealer, there was a decent chance prison was practically his residence.

“I will visit.”

When Yeongwoo hit the Visit button on the screen, a new line soon appeared.

Follow the guiding line down and find the Black-Iron Prison’s visitation room.

“They say to follow a guiding line?”

『They want me to send the ship to the coordinates they give. Want to hear something wild?』

“What?”

『The Black-Iron Prison’s location is the same as the coordinates you gave me.』

“You sons of… called it.”

I mean, in this brutal universe, who’s there to trust?

“Still, they must’ve given it to us because it’s doable.”

『They wouldn’t hand out a suicide mission. And besides us, it didn’t look like they had anyone else to send for collections.』

Both Yeongwoo and Earth spun their positive-thinking circuits and opened the passageway to Resham’s Black-Iron Prison.

Chuiaat!

『Go through there and you can take a drop pod down. Use a recall stone to come back.』

Earth pointed at the portal that had opened on one side of the cockpit.

Yeongwoo fingered the recall stone in his hand and asked,

“What about coming back for two?”

『…Huh?』

“If I’m bringing Koatu off-planet with me, how do we do that?”

『Uh…….』

Earth faltered.

He hadn’t thought that far ahead.

『If you grab the other person while using a recall stone, joint recall is possible… but it takes a really long time.』

“That’s a problem. During a jailbreak, who has time to stand around waiting in place?”

『…Right?』

Even to Earth, that sounded true.

So he pulled out Plan B.

『Then the only thing left is to go analog.』

He tapped a point in midair with his index finger, then dragged downward.

『We send an escape craft.』

“We have an escape craft?”

『We don’t have a proper ship. Calling it an escape craft is generous—it’s really a recoverable drop pod.』

Which meant there was a high chance it would be shot down by the facility’s anti-air guns, Earth explained.

『Even you would have a hard time surviving a hit from AA guns.』

“Now it’s starting to sound like a suicide mission.”

『That’s why Plan B needs suppressive fire from the Earth-ship. We have to neutralize the Black-Iron Prison’s anti-air capability.』

“…Oh. First plan I actually like.”

Earth frowned.

『We’d basically be pre-emptively striking Resham to save one arms dealer. It’s honestly crazy.』

“We can charge high prices because we can do crazy things like that, no?”

And this was the Earth-ship.

A planet specialized for escape.

Which meant it would also be specialized for breaking someone out.

『Times like this, I wish we had some secondary guns. Kinda a shame. The main gun can’t be sprayed, and the firepower is way too high.』

So they couldn’t directly target the prison, Earth added.

Otherwise, they might not just breach the walls—they might erase all the inmates.

『Think it through to the end. If you mean to break Koatu out, he has to walk himself all the way outside the prison.』

“I’ve thought that far.”

With that, Yeongwoo set his foot on the portal.

“Shall we?”

Earth nodded, and Yeongwoo stepped through without hesitation.

* * *

A disposable drop pod of the Earth-ship.

This oval, ultra-small craft was just big enough that when Yeongwoo stood straight inside, he filled it exactly.

‘What the—this is tiny.’

As Yeongwoo balked at the cramped space that didn’t even let him turn sideways, Earth spoke in his mind.

○ It’s because the craft is only for one thing: a hard drop. If you want to make some grand entrance like a chairman, go buy an actual ship somehow.

‘Like we’ve got the budget for that right now.’

○ I’ll keep it simple. The cushion around your skull is just for show, and the only survival aid is the footplate under your feet.

‘Footplate?’

○ On impact at the drop point, the pod’s outer shell will crumple and spring away to all sides, and in the same moment the footplate will shatter and bounce you upward.

A system to keep the rider from smashing into the pod’s debris.

‘Why is everything about this just breaking?’

○ There’s no attitude control either. Which means you can only fall to the coordinates I’ve input.

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‘So I’m arriving right in front of the Black-Iron Prison’s main gate?’

○ Probably. Can’t be sure—their external scan is blocking me.

‘Not easy, huh.’

○ Okay, launching now. Commence drop!

At Earth’s cue, Yeongwoo’s pod jolted.

Likely it had been chambered in some launch tube he couldn’t see.

‘…….’

Then—

Drrrrrrrk!

A sensation like rolling along rails washed over him as tremendous speed wrapped around his whole body.

Puuuuuuung!

At last they were outbound for the Planet of Power, Resham.

○ I’ve opened an entry lane for you through Resham’s shield. So you won’t splatter against it.

‘You little punk—having fun, are we?’

○ You should feel what it’s like to be helpless in space for once!

Earth’s voice was full of glee.

Meanwhile, the pod carrying Yeongwoo was plunging fast into Resham’s atmosphere.

The holographic flight path hanging in front of his nose said as much.

Kuiiaaaat!

Because the craft existed purely for descent, the knife-edged, air-rending shriek from outside piped straight in.

“This is nuts. I’m a head of house, and this is what I—”

As Yeongwoo grumbled, Earth warned him.

○ Touchdown imminent. Brace for impact.

“What? Already?”

And almost at once—

Kwaahtz-euut!

The whistling outside shifted strangely.

The air had changed.

Then—

Click!

From inside the pod came the sound of some kind of latch unlocking.

“Uh? That’s not right—something just popped early!”

○ It’s prepping to come apart. Impact is right now.

“What?!”

That was the end of their exchange.

An enormous shock smashed the pod, and Yeongwoo’s body was flung upward.

Kuuuuuung……!

“Son of—!”

Catapulted in an instant to some twenty meters up, Yeongwoo saw the pod below him shatter to pieces.

Kwajak!

And then—

“…Huh?”

He realized a massive shadow had fallen across everything.

Roughly fifty meters ahead of the landing point stood a colossal jet-black citadel.

Countless needle-sharp spires rose, easily hundreds of meters high, and around the base of those spires, walls of staggering thickness ringed the citadel like a mountain range.

“Oh, shi—This Koatu fellow picked one hell of a spot. Are you seeing this?”

As Yeongwoo touched down amidst the pod debris and asked, Earth stirred in his mind.

○ I see it. Even bigger than I expected. Are all the universe’s prisons like that?

“How would I know? It’s my first time seeing a prison in person.”

○ Is it even possible to break someone out of a place like that……?

While Earth spoke in a daunted voice, a signal came from ahead.

Jiiiiiing!

《0929, approach slowly without drawing any weapons.》

“0929?”

○ The temporary code we used talking with them.

“Ah, so they’re telling me to come in.”

Fifty meters ahead, there was a massive gate big enough for most ships to pass through. Updates are released by NovєlFіre.net

It was shut tight at the moment, of course.

‘If I go in there, they’ll probably take my weapons. Even on Earth, you can’t carry sharp objects into a visitation room.’

○ Then stash them ahead of time?

As Earth said that, Yeongwoo was already putting Bastard and Aratubank into the Catalog.

In their place, he pulled out a single junk sword registered in the Catalog and slid it at his waist.

○ Why that one?

‘You hand over something—anything—and it looks less suspicious.’

He strode toward the gate.

Clack, clack.

When he was about twenty meters out, a small postern on the right side of the main gate slid open.

Drrrk.

-0929, this way, please.

Three knights stood there, clad head to toe in pitch-black armor.

As Yeongwoo angled toward the postern, they stepped aside and led him in.

-Go to the end of that corridor you see there. There will be a simple equipment check.

“An equipment check?”

-We do not allow equipment with offensive capability in the visitation room.

With that, one of the knights raised a hand to indicate the corridor, and Yeongwoo walked along as directed.

Tiles beneath his feet lit up each time he stepped.

‘What’s this? Only the floor I step on lights up?’

When Yeongwoo was about halfway down the corridor—

Biiiiiiip!

A vicious alarm blared, and a system message flashed in midair.

《Warning, 0929, Catalog detected.》

“What.”

As expected of a prison—they could instantly pick up on something like an Equipment Catalog.

And it didn’t stop there.

《Evil Karma ratio, 83%.》

“Huh?”

《Subject may be an assassin. Security team, apprehend the target immediately.》

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