Chapter 1252: Post-War Cleanup (5)
Late afternoon, not a single customer visits. Jenny’s bar, located in District 49.
A faint ray of sunlight streamed through the crack in the door, illuminating the dark lobby, a tranquil scene.
In a scene where time seemed to have stopped, Lennok silently watched Jenny.
Clink, clink.
An irregular sound arose as she alternately added ice and liquor and began to mix them.
Jenny, her back to him, spoke as if it were nothing.
“The restoration of District 49’s infrastructure will be finished in a few days. Thanks to the preservation spellcraft I cast beforehand, reconstruction is progressing rapidly.”
“I see.”
“Normally, facility preservation spellcraft is a waste of money because it’s expensive and short-lived, but knowing it could be destroyed at any moment, like this time, makes it a definite advantage. Thanks to it, I saved a lot on insurance premiums.”
Jenny shrugged.
“Even our idiots got a bit hurt, but no one died. Most of the injured were only lightly hurt, not enough to be caught in Ouroboros’s ‘Circulation’.”
“……”
“Rather, dealing with the captured prisoners and spoils of war is a bigger problem. And who knows how many tank and armored vehicle wrecks are piled up in the Outer Zone… If we’re not careful, we might have to bear the incidental costs of dealing with them.”
Jenny grumbled without waiting for Lennok’s reply.
“We didn’t start a war, so there’s no way we’ll let that happen. We’ll absolutely coordinate with the Outer Zone Management Bureau and dump it all on the city government. Do they think they can hold out if we make it a battle of justifications?”
“I’ll help. Don’t worry.”
“No, I’m not really worried. All the truly dangerous things are over, so what’s there to be afraid of?”
Jenny shrugged.
“Thanks to you, Van, having prepared so many insurances, we’re fine. Of course, we’ll have to check on people’s traumas and after-effects separately, but we’re sending them for check-ups as time allows, so it should be okay.”
“As for the Tower’s colleagues and associates, I’ll personally check and inspect their condition later.”
Lennok slowly ran his finger along the table as he spoke.
“Although everything is over, it wouldn’t be strange for such a war to break out again at any time. This subjugation operation was also a stage for me to test what I could do in preparation for that.”
“……”
“It’s only possible because you’ve taken on so many of the Tower’s tasks. If not for that, it would have been difficult to utilize the labyrinth so extensively in this war.”
“Oh, no need to praise me so much now; I know perfectly well what I’m capable of.”
Jenny awkwardly avoided his gaze.
Her voice became much faster than before.
“Ultimately, the hardest part is winning the war. Van, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have handled things this way. I might have sought alliances to minimize losses, or tried to involve the city government, even if it meant giving up a lot of rights.”
“……”
“Well, it’s all in the past, and everything is working out incredibly well for us, so don’t worry. This kind of work is what I do best. The reason I started working as a broker in the first place was because I knew I didn’t have the talent to work in the field—”
At that moment, Jenny’s rapidly flowing words abruptly ceased.
The clinking noise of the shaker faded and then died down.
Jenny, standing with her back to him, silently gazed down at the shaker.
“……”
But Lennok didn’t ask Jenny anything, quietly waiting for her.
The reason Lennok had sought out Jenny first thing after waking up from his sleep.
The reason he was chatting with her in the bar, just like old times.
The Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign. The annihilation of Kaiser Bajour and the death of Ethan Bajour.
The outcome for Jenny, who had lost all her talents due to their transaction and survived alone.
How she, the sole survivor of the Bajour bloodline, was supposed to accept this fact.
She deserved to hear everything Lennok had done so far.
And so, the opposite was also true.
“Even a child who knew nothing could make cocktails.”
Jenny suddenly spoke, as if a thought had occurred to her.
“I was clumsy with my body, so I couldn’t do anything well. Even if I managed to get a job, I’d quickly make mistakes and get fired.”
“……”
“I learned to read and studied accounting from old textbooks Jordan gave me. I thought that because there was a high demand for jobs involving money, someone somewhere would hire someone like me.”
Jenny set down the scoop, speaking as if reminiscing.
“After finally getting my certification and applying for jobs, no one would hire me. At first, I thought my forged ID had been discovered. But that wasn’t it.”
“……”
Ethan had directly negotiated not only with Kaiser but also with the City Council to protect his daughter.
It was unclear what he had to give up to the City Council for it, but it was certainly a form of insurance to protect Jenny’s person.
As a result, even if Jenny couldn’t officially join any company or organization under the City Council’s purview… it wasn’t surprising.
An ordinary, degraded Bajour bloodline, without the Talent for Reversing Heaven, posing no threat.
If the City Council had evaluated Jenny in such a way, and given her no attention beyond sparing her life.
“I lived my entire life hearing that man’s name.”
Jenny said quietly.
“I had to wear that name like a tag my whole life.”
“……”
“I thought I had met him, but it seems even that wasn’t true. The things I remembered, it seems they meant nothing to him.”
“…Jenny.”
The Talent for Reversing Heaven that Jenny possessed was one that ignored all regressions passed down through the Bajour name.
That’s why she vaguely remembered the timelines where she had met both Kaiser and Ethan as a child.
What it must have meant to Jenny that those memories, like broken film reels, didn’t even exist in the current timeline.
“Why… did they leave me alive?”
Jenny’s hand, holding the shaker, was deathly pale.
“Doing nothing, just… merely staying alive, was that enough for him?”
“……”
What her life must have been like, bound for an eternity to a name with nothing left to it.
How much Jenny must have struggled to attain a life like this, before meeting Lennok.
That’s why Lennok couldn’t offer Jenny any words of comfort.
What Ethan had to sacrifice for his daughter, what kind of outcome Kaiser had desperately wanted.
Because he understood and accepted it, he knew he had no right to comment on Jenny’s life, swept up as it was by their decisions.
What Lennok could always do for Jenny was—
“Jenny.”
Only help her make her own choices.
“If you wish… I can return the Talent for Reversing Heaven you once possessed.”
“……”
At Lennok’s soft message, Jenny’s body froze solid.
Lennok quietly spoke, looking at her back.
“The current me can do it. It wouldn’t take long.”
“……”
“If you wish… I will help you discover everything you’ve been curious about, firsthand.”
“…Why?”
“Because that was a qualification you should have had from the beginning.”
Lennok said quietly.
“If you want to reclaim the time you lost… you should be able to do so.”
“……”
“You can choose.”
Lennok met Jenny’s pale gaze as she turned, and spoke softly.
“If that is what I must do in place of Kaiser and Ethan.”
Silence fell.
It was likely because Jenny also understood what Lennok was saying.
The Talent for Reversing Heaven that had once clearly existed within her.
A possibility that Kaiser and Ethan had severed through their transaction, one believed to never return.
If she could regain it, what Jenny could do would undoubtedly be very different from now.
She might even be able to train forgotten spellcraft or martial arts and become a high-level superhuman.
She might no longer be content assisting Lennok, but fight alongside him on the front lines.
She knew. She had always wished for it. She had only suppressed it, without showing it.
The efforts and practice she always felt were meaningless. The clumsy motor skills that made her feel self-conscious. The things she secretly cared about even while working as a broker—
“…No.”
The moment her thoughts reached that point, the answer flowed naturally from within Jenny.
Clack!
Jenny, who had been holding the shaker, set it down.
Pouring the finished cocktail into a glass, Jenny spoke.
“I won’t do that. I don’t need the Talent for Reversing Heaven.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve already chosen.”
Jenny looked at Lennok with a calm expression.
Just like when she made her decision and choice during her conversation with Baragan.
“This is who I am now. Even if I’m clumsy and lacking, I am myself, including all the time I’ve lived that way.”
“……”
“The suffering, the giving up, and yet the effort… I won’t abandon those feelings from that time. They cannot be reversed.”
Pushing the glass towards Lennok, Jenny smiled.
“So I won’t go back. I’ll choose and decide what I want myself.”
“…I see.”
Jenny was the only person to have formally inherited Lennok’s Ouroboros magic system.
Although she didn’t know much about spellcraft or cultivation, she was still one of the people who best understood Lennok’s answer.
Perhaps that was a philosophy she had gained from observing Lennok for so long as his partner.
Jenny watched Lennok silently sip his drink, her expression sullen, and crossed her arms.
“More importantly, I have no intention of abandoning the Ouroboros I learned from you. Are you asking me to endure such a massive loss now?”
“No, that’s not what I meant, but…”
“Forget it. So, you don’t need a disciple who started learning late in life anymore, huh?”
“……”
Regaining the Talent for Reversing Heaven meant re-filling Jenny’s inner self with the potential and talents that originally existed there.
In that process, it was natural that the Ouroboros magic system she had inherited from Lennok would be lost.
Jenny understood and pointed this out, even though Lennok hadn’t told her.
That was likely possible because Jenny herself understood Ouroboros so deeply.
“Alright, I understand. If that’s what you think, there’s no need to discuss this further.”
Lennok cleared his throat and stood up.
“Thanks for the drink. I’ll put it on my tab today.”
“Van, wait. I already have somewhere to go with you regarding the Magic Tower’s reconstruction—”
Lennok turned away as if he hadn’t heard Jenny and headed out of the bar.
“Ah, I said wait! As soon as I finish cleaning up the bar, I’ll…!!”
It was unclear if what Lennok thought was the truth. It was also unclear if he wanted Jenny to know it.
However, knowing that Jenny cherished her own choice was enough.
Therefore, Lennok was able to stand up without lingering regrets.
“Why are you making such an unpleasant face?”
“…Peshia.”
A raspy voice that sounded vaguely familiar.
A tall woman with disheveled hair leaned against the wall of the hallway leading out of the bar.
She glared sideways at him from the shadows, as if the pouring sunlight bothered her.
Lennok, who had been about to verbally lash out at her as usual, quickly changed his mind.
“I think the truly unpleasant one might be you, secretly hiding and eavesdropping on other people’s conversations.”
“What? Ha!! Who would secretly eavesdrop on your conversation…!!”
“So you’re saying you weren’t? Then what’s the reason you appeared before me as if you were waiting?”
“Damn it, are you calling that talk?!!!”
Peshia, her face contorted like an oni, exuded a menacing killing intent.
“You asked me to watch over Jenicia Bajour!!! I even fought that bastard Baragan to the death because of it, you son of a bitch…!!!”
“Right. That’s how it was.”
Lennok nodded in agreement.
“Thank you. I owe you one this time.”
“…What?”
Peshia was completely speechless at Lennok’s unexpected reply.
Lennok ignored Peshia’s reaction and said quietly.
“During the summit, you broke The Prohibition to tell me about the Talent for Reversing Heaven, which allowed me to quickly grasp a clue.”
“……”
“If it hadn’t been for what I heard then, it would have taken me longer to reach the correct answer. For that, I express my gratitude.”
That day, after the Anathema incident, when Peshia and Jenny met for the first time.
At that time, Peshia broke The Prohibition for Jenny, revealing part of the project’s truth.
A fatal secret that completely contradicted the existing premise: that what Ethan wanted was to completely sever the Talent for Reversing Heaven.
It was because of that moment that Lennok finally realized Kaiser and Ethan’s goals were different and was able to exploit that gap.
Until the truth of the project, which he hadn’t understood then, came full circle after a long time and reached its conclusion now.
How much time had it taken to properly understand and perceive it in its correct form?
Everything had existed in a form Lennok could understand since long ago.
“…Ha.”
Peshia, too, would naturally know what Lennok was referring to.
The memory of that day when she had broken The Prohibition, seeking death, to tell Jenny the truth.
Hadn’t she miserably survived then, unable to die, and ended up here?
She couldn’t hide her complex expression and averted her gaze.
“If you know… that’s enough. That’s all.”
“……”
Peshia lowered her head as if to hide her expression from Lennok, muttering as if in pain.
“The heart with which I followed Lord Bajour… now, that’s enough…”
“Did you meet Kaiser?”
“…Yes.”
Peshia roughly turned her body around.
Taking a breath, lost in thought, she spoke in a hoarse voice.
“We are soldiers. Dying on the battlefield is our job, and the others must have been prepared for that too.”
“……”
“But in the end, I don’t think I was a good… aide to him.”
With her back still turned, she weakly raised her gaze.
Looking up at the pouring sunlight, she quietly murmured.
“In the end, I couldn’t understand him until the very last moment. I couldn’t even… comprehend his words.”
“……”
“Because that wasn’t something I was good at. Still, I tried to understand in the end, but…”
Peshia Grisbern, a war orphan, had been taken in by Kaiser and had served him loyally her entire life, like a hound.
She had made a name for herself as a powerful general of Deadrise, but her essence was always closer to a guard dog following its master.
A spear wielder who found meaning in life simply by being loyal, regardless of what Kaiser wanted or wished for.
Before everything ended, Peshia too tried to understand Kaiser’s true feelings, albeit belatedly.
But as with everything related to the project, by now, it was all too late.
“…It seems he did not object to his end being decided by your hand.”
Peshia said quietly.
“If so, that’s enough…”
“……”
“If that was the ending he wished for…”
“Yes.”
Lennok moved past Peshia, walking away.
“You’ve grown up. Before, you seemed like such a child.”
“…Damn it, do you really want to die?!!!”
Ignoring Peshia’s menacing shouts from behind, Lennok pulled out his phone.
Jenny would be very busy with Tower-related matters in the future, so it would be best not to contact her for a while.
Besides, Lennok had so many things to deal with separately that it was better not to casually bother her.
“Peshia.”
Lennok looked back at Peshia, who was stamping her foot, unable to charge at him, and spoke.
“Take good care of Jenny. She’ll have a lot to do from now on.”
“Ha! Who would follow your orders…!!”
Peshia scoffed at Lennok’s words as if she had been waiting, but Lennok was no longer worried about her.
The reason she was still in this city even after meeting Kaiser and the subjugation operation ended.
Because he knew she had already found a reason to live here.
Passing by the scoffing Peshia, he walked towards the outer streets of District 49.
Since the most important task was done, it was time to officially begin post-war cleanup.
All sorts of diverse and complex agendas piled up like mountains in his phone messages and inbox.
He had already decided which to prioritize first. But—
Beep.
Lennok’s steps, walking through the street that was still under heavy construction, halted there.
Davi tilted her head beside Lennok, who was looking at his phone screen.
[Master?]
“…A message just arrived via Konrad Haven’s line.”
Lennok said that, and slowly turned his steps around.
“It seems I need to contact the city government first.”
[Well, coordinating with the higher-ups about this incident is important, I suppose.]
Davi naturally climbed onto Lennok’s shoulder.
[Come to think of it, storming the Central Council and turning things upside down sounds fun—]
“No. It’s not the City Council’s business. It’s even higher up.”
[Even higher up?]
Was there someone in this city with more authority than a Central Council Senator, whom one could call ‘even higher up’?
Just as Davi finally stretched out her tail to check the message Lennok had just received.
“The Vulcan Mayor wants to meet with me privately.”
[…Ah-ha.]
The Vulcan Mayor. The powerful figure who had negotiated with Kaiser over the project’s scenario during his regressions.
The being who had openly declared that he would gather the scenarios of failed projects and use them in the next timeline.
If the powerful figure who had held his position for decades even after Kaiser’s death now wanted to meet Lennok, there could only be one reason.
[The location?]
“District 19.”
Lennok’s eyes, as he put away his phone, grew cold.
“It seems it’s time to enter the most dangerous restricted zone in this city.”
Even after the Black Consumer Project ended, lingering regrets and secrets remained.
It’s always the case that something new begins only after one great ending has been reached.
It was time to meet the most powerful figure in this city.