Chapter 864: Handover (32)

“Lapis Falcia. Leader of the Eyes of Blue. Direct descendant of the Ascendant, Heavenly Sight Madria Falcia. A Saint-level ability user who has reached Level 7. Specific spellcraft system is unknown.”

In Jenny’s bar, located in Area 49.

Beneath the soft glow of the ambient lighting, only Jenny’s voice echoed quietly.

“She began her activities immediately after Heavenly Sight’s death. After confronting the drug lord Dominic Cavaro in the Pilenom Autonomous Region, she rapidly expanded her influence, entering the Central Front in just a few years.”

“……”

Jenny explained as she flipped through the papers.

“Aside from her clash with the drug lord, she’s rarely appeared on the front lines. It’s said her recent appearance was to showcase her Saint-level ability. Considering how she manages her public image, she must understand the importance of justification, even at her young age.”

“It couldn’t have been easy to wedge her way into the entrenched front lines of the Central and establish a foothold.”

Felix, the eagle-headed giant who had been listening to the report with his arms crossed, shook his head.

“It seems she had trustworthy talent by her side.”

“That’s the key part.”

Jenny pointed at Felix, as if he’d explained it perfectly.

“She built her organization by recruiting powerful, unaffiliated superhumans, and there’s been a surprising lack of internal division or rebellion. You’d have to say she has an exceptional talent for managing an organization and winning people over.”

“You’re saying she’s likely a very charming person? Now that’s someone I’d like to meet.”

Dylan, who was downing whiskey like water, spoke with interest.

“Who knows where our boss is wandering around these days. It’s hard to even see his face once every few months now!”

“Dylan, don’t be like that. According to the story Antares told us when he came back recently-”

“What did Antares say?”

A young man’s voice smoothly joined the group’s conversation.

Realizing the voice was incredibly familiar, a dozen people turned their heads in unison.

At the far end of the wide bar, a wizard, who had neatly taken off his coat, was leaning back with a cigarette.

“Van!!”

“You bastard. Where the hell have you been…!!!”

As Dylan shot up, his overturned chair struck Mila’s knee, and the incensed Mila kicked Dylan in the back.

Crash!! Bang!!

Blood trickling from his nose under his mask, Dylan jumped up and roared.

“Fuck, you wanna go? Is that it?!”

“Look who’s talking, you idiot!!”

“I’m so sick of this. Fighting again?”

As the bar instantly grew rowdy, Weian shook his head, and Tatiana, who was sipping her drink from afar, let out a smirk.

“Calm down. Is this how you’re going to act when Van has finally returned? With your fists?”

Grabbing Dylan and Mila by the scruff of their necks, Felix hung them both on the coat rack on the wall.

The twins cackled as they watched the mercenaries dangling in the air, and Manson, phone in hand, captured their disgrace on camera.

“Don’t film me, you tin can!”

[Don’t touch me. If Van is in the shot, the recording won’t be clear, so I need to adjust the angle.]

“Kyaak! Kyaak! Eek-gyagyagyak!!”

“Haaah…”

Watching Mila shriek like a pterodactyl to disrupt the filming, Jenny let out a deep sigh and approached Lennok.

Having already politely accepted and sipped a cocktail made by Jordan, Lennok smiled.

“It’s been a while, but this place hasn’t changed a bit. Right?”

“No. It’s changed a lot,” Jenny retorted, sitting down in front of Lennok with a bored expression.

“For starters, everyone’s IQ seems to drop whenever you show up. It’s a very serious problem.”

“An interesting hypothesis.”

“It’s been over a week since you came back, right? What have you been up to?” Jenny asked, glaring at Lennok with narrowed eyes.

“That’s—”

“Ah, you don’t have to explain the Vulcan business. I’ve heard all about how you ran wild wherever you pleased, from the underground fighting ring to the research institute.”

“……”

Indeed, he had rarely paid attention to others’ gazes while using his Van identity recently.

What with meeting Evelyn and all, it wouldn’t be strange for Jenny to know everything Lennok had been doing in Vulcan.

“A lot has happened. It’s true I’ve been a bit busy.”

“I bet. Do you even know how this district has changed, or how noisy the Magic Tower business has gotten?”

As if she’d been waiting, Jenny unleashed a torrent of complaints at Lennok in a rapid-fire voice.

“Do you know we had to replace half of the Magic Tower’s affiliated businesses because of accounting fraud? And that the kids and I had to chase people through the city all night in the process? You probably don’t know that the technical advisory committee kept hounding us until Antares stepped in and sorted it out, or that Balitz Corp. established a new item brokerage department either.”

“From the sound of it, it seems quite fun.”

Lennok, who had been listening quietly to Jenny’s words, replied with a smile.

“A shame I couldn’t see it with you. My apologies.”

“Ha! As if you mean a word of that…”

Scoffing, Jenny glanced at Lennok and asked, “If I ask what you’ve been doing… you won’t tell me, will you?”

Lennok looked at Jenny with feigned surprise and asked, “You’re only just realizing that?”

“……”

She said nothing, but the twitching of her lips showed she was furious.

Bringing the glass to his lips, Lennok said, “I was doing some necessary investigation of my own.”

“Investigation?”

“I haven’t had much time lately, so it was hard to travel far. There was something I needed to finish while I had the chance.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’d expect not. I wasn’t saying it for you to understand.”

“…Van. Are you going to keep playing word games with me?”

Just as a vein was about to pop on Jenny’s temple, Lennok offered a proper explanation.

“I was investigating the Black Consumer Project.”

“……”

“I found a connection to the military and it took some time to dig into it. It’s nothing to worry about.”

He couldn’t explain what he did in Yorta as Victor, but he had to at least tell Jenny his purpose.

Jenny, too, seemed to understand what Lennok was trying to say just from that, her eyes wavering slightly.

But instead of pressing further about what he was planning, she quietly lowered her gaze.

“…Right. I see.”

She likely knew that futile persuasion—telling him she was fine, that it was dangerous, that it was meaningless—would have no effect on Lennok.

So instead of clinging to it, Jenny downed a shot of strong whiskey and briskly changed the subject.

“Oh, right. We were just talking about the Eyes of Blue. Interested?”

“The Eyes of Blue?”

As Lennok feigned ignorance, Felix, who had approached them at some point, naturally sat down next to him.

“Van. Good of you to come.”

Thump!!

The bar lobby trembled slightly as the massive body of the eagle-headed giant took a seat.

“A mountain of incidents has piled up in Area 49 while you were away. You might have heard from Jenny, but you should at least get a simple rundown of the events, shouldn’t you?”

“Felix, it hasn’t even been five minutes since Van got here. How could I have explained anything in that time?”

“What? So he doesn’t know anything yet?” asked Dylan, appearing behind Lennok without even thinking of wiping the blood from his nose.

“You mean he hasn’t heard a single word about how we ran all over this city to protect the Magic Tower?!”

“…Alright. I get it, so calm down. I’ll hear all about it later.”

Lennok understood that there had been several disturbances concerning the Magic Tower while he was away in Yorta.

It seemed Jenny and the members of the Antares Mercenary Group had been through quite a tumultuous adventure.

“More importantly, I’d like to hear the conversation you were just having.”

As Lennok said this, he pointed to the projector Jenny had displayed on the bar wall.

The screen was packed with text and various source citations. In the center of the screen was a single photograph.

The image of a woman standing on a vast hill, one hand holding down her flowing blue hair.

An emotionless face and an aloof atmosphere, as if detached from the mortal world.

It was a photo of someone from Lennok’s memory, yet it felt quite awkward.

This was likely due to the considerable gap of time between the girl Lennok remembered and the woman captured in the photo.

But without letting any such feelings show, Lennok asked, “Why were you discussing the Eyes of Blue?”

[Hoh, Van. You know the Lighthouse Keeper?] Manson asked with interest from behind Lennok.

“Was there anyone who didn’t know about the secret society that entered the Central Front?” Lennok replied nonchalantly.

“They’re a group so famous it’s hard to even call them a secret society anymore. I am aware of Heavenly Sight’s granddaughter.”

“Hmm.”

At his words, the other companions looked at each other and nodded in understanding.

“Well, Van is a great wizard. It’s not strange for him to know about the descendant of an Ascendant.”

“In the first place, descendants of Ascendants barely exist. It’s not a talent that’s usually passed down through bloodlines, is it?”

“Ah, speaking of which, in the Central…”

Tatiana seemed to remember something but stopped mid-sentence.

“No. It’s nothing.”

“Ah! Why do you stop talking like that?”

The people who had turned their attention to her protested vehemently.

After a brief moment of focus on the topic, the mercenaries instantly started chattering among themselves again.

“The first way to piss someone off is to stop talking mid-sentence, and the second is…”

“Shit, Belber, I told you not to do that.”

“He’s always learning weird proverbs from investment advice sites and spouting bullshit.”

“Do I have to install an internet blocker for you? I’m not your mom.”

“Van, look at this.”

Jenny leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed and muttered with a fed-up expression.

“I think I’m right about the kids’ IQs dropping when you’re around.”

“……”

“Tatiana, what were you going to say? If it’s something you can’t say, tell us now.”

“No, it’s not really related to the current topic, but…”

At Jenny’s prodding, Tatiana glanced at Lennok, her fingers fidgeting strangely.

When Lennok tossed her a cigarette from his pocket, she snatched it, lit it, and smiled.

“Thanks. I kept thinking about it.”

The witch spoke as she exhaled a satisfying puff of smoke.

“There was a rumor for a while that Pandemonium has a descendant of an Ascendant. It was a little while ago.”

“Pandemonium?”

Not expecting to hear that name here, Weian’s eyes widened.

“I mean, it’s not strange for fiends to flock to a criminal organization… but a descendant of an Ascendant joined them?”

“It was an unsubstantiated rumor, so it was quickly buried, but I remembered it because the words came from the Kabahim side,” Tatiana said with a shrug.

“Useless words rarely come out of that royal nation. Especially if it’s information unrelated to the royal family.”

“Hmm…”

“Forget it. I just mentioned it in case Van might know something.”

Tatiana grinned with the cigarette in her mouth.

“And I wanted to have one of these after so long.”

“…You have some peculiar tastes.”

“Van, what do you think? Have any idea?”

“Hard to say.”

Lennok replied, pouring whiskey into his empty glass.

“I don’t know if it’s true or not, but there’s probably no point in digging into it.”

“Eh, why not?”

“You can tell by looking at Lapis Falcia.”

Lennok said, turning his gaze.

“Even after building such a large organization on her own, she’s still called the granddaughter of Heavenly Sight, isn’t she?”

“……”

“If there were a descendant of an Ascendant within that den of demons, they would become very famous just by announcing that fact. If that’s what they wanted, they would have revealed their origin long ago.”

Lennok smiled as he looked around at the slightly more serious mercenaries.

“So if the rumor is true, doesn’t it mean the person in question doesn’t want to mention it?”

“Hmm, so the rumor disappeared because they killed to silence it?”

“A plausible deduction.”

“Still, Van, you really know a lot about the Eyes of Blue.”

Jenny leaned her head slightly over the bar, looking surprised as she asked.

“Or were you listening to my briefing this whole time?”

“Enough about Pandemonium. Let’s hear why you’re all gathered here. The topic keeps going in circles.”

Lennok tilted his head.

“Why were you conducting a briefing on the Eyes of Blue here?”

“……”

Jenny and Tatiana glanced at each other for a moment, and Felix nodded.

After a quick exchange of opinions, Jenny whispered lowly.

“The Central Council has put out an inquiry to top-class brokers. They seem to want to borrow our strength for information gathering regarding Lapis Falcia’s visit to Vulcan.”

“……”

“I heard the Council is internally split on how to approach their meeting with the Eyes of Blue.”

Jenny glanced back at the screen and muttered, “And at this point in time, the only point of contact between the Council and the Eyes of Blue is the non-aggression pact signed concerning the Pilenom Autonomous Region.”

“So you were investigating Lapis Falcia’s personal details to confirm its authenticity?”

“The non-aggression pact with the autonomous region is a matter with a great deal of Vulcan’s interests at stake.”

Jenny gave a bitter smile.

“Heavenly Sight tied the knot herself, but it was originally a much more complex and inconvenient issue. Conflict is fierce over the autonomous region’s unique environment and the sea area called the Sea of Interests.”

“……”

“And now that Heavenly Sight is dead and her granddaughter has inherited those rights… it’s only natural for things to get this complicated again.”

With Lennok not responding, Jenny stood before the projector again and continued the briefing.

“The important thing is that the Eyes of Blue requested the transaction related to the non-aggression pact. So the main force of the Eyes of Blue won’t enter Vulcan; Lapis will come and go personally with only two or three observers.”

“Figuring out why Lapis Falcia wants to renegotiate the non-aggression pact is included as an additional reward for the job.”

After quickly finishing her explanation, Jenny whirled to face Lennok.

“So, Van, if you’re interested, I’ll put your name at the top of the request list—”

“I doubt it.”

Lennok, having drained the last of his whiskey, replied.

“I’m not so sure. If someone wants to do it, they should decide and handle it on their own.”

“What, you show up at this exact timing and you’re not here to take the job?!”

“What do you take me for?”

Lennok sighed and shook his head.

“I have things to think about. I have no intention of getting involved right now.”

Even without this, due to recent events, he was already contemplating how to handle Lapis’s situation.

There was no reason to bring it up first when he hadn’t made a firm decision yet.

“Certainly, considering Van’s position, it would be difficult to intervene rashly.”

Felix, who had been observing the atmosphere, muttered as he stealthily reached for the tuna sashimi in front of Lennok.

Ignoring Jenny’s glare, the eagle-headed giant turned to the other mercenaries sprawled across the lobby.

“It’s a perfectly understandable fact. However…”

“However?”

“I intend to meet Lapis Falcia, separate from this job.”

Felix said in a firm voice, looking around at the mercenaries.

“The Eyes of Blue are currently the most watched power in the Central, and their observers are by no means to be underestimated. Lapis is rumored to be deeply trusted and a person of great integrity. Putting her in my debt now will surely be helpful someday.”

“Debt?”

Tatiana’s face contorted slightly.

“You don’t know what the warlords of the Central Front are like. Do you think the head of a massive faction has a conscience or integrity?”

“Tatiana.”

At the witch’s sharp words, Soo-ryun tried to stop her with a slightly stiff expression, but Tatiana didn’t stop.

“I don’t know what you think of Lapis Falcia, but there’s no chance she’s as soft as you think. If you’re hoping for a reward without a price, wake up.”

“……”

No one gathered here was unaware of why Tatiana was saying such things.

She herself was a victim who had suffered for a long time at the hands of her master, the Magic Tower Lord, forced to endure sacrifice and pain without compensation.

Tatiana knew better than anyone just how cold-blooded the big shots of the Central Front were, demanding harsh devotion.

“That may be so.”

But Felix still shook his head with a calm expression.

“But I do not believe the Eyes of Blue is the kind of warlord that entered the Central in such a way. If they were, their actions would have been far more radical than they are now.”

“……”

“Do not worry, Witch of Conflagration. In the worst-case scenario, I will strive to end it with just myself.”

“Hah… I can’t get through to you.”

Tatiana shook her head, her brow furrowed.

“Do as you please. It’s not like you were going to listen anyway, right?”

The atmosphere instantly turned sharp and tense, and a quiet silence fell over them.

Tatiana, who had been puffing on her cigarette with an irritated expression, shot up from her seat and was about to storm out of the lobby when it happened.

[Gyaoo~]

A tremendous roar echoed from below the ground, shaking the entire bar lobby.

Kwoong!!

“Wh-what was that!!”

“A monster! A monster has appeared!!”

The mercenaries, looking utterly bewildered, shot up and ran around drunkenly.

Only then did Lennok put down his glass as if he’d just remembered, and nodded.

“Ah, it seems to have woken up.”

“…Woken up? What has?”

“The Guardian Spirit Beast has hatched from its egg. I put it to sleep for a bit before coming out, but it seems to have woken up already.”

“……”

Lennok gestured to the other mercenaries, who were gaping, at a loss for words.

“It should still be in the underground cavern of the tower. Since things have turned out this way, shall we go see it?”

Clatter! Crash!!!

Knocking over tables and chairs in the lobby, the group stampeded out of the bar.

“…You should have told us that sooner!!!”

“Let’s go down quickly!!”

“Tatiana, you come too!!”

“No, I…”

Considering their recent clash, the witch looked around with a suddenly awkward expression.

But Jenny grabbed Tatiana’s shoulder and was the first to dash out towards the Magic Tower.

“You manage the tower’s systems, what are you trying to back out for? Hurry up and follow!!”

“Ah, I get it, so let go and talk!”

“……”

Exclaiming with excitement from all sides, the mercenaries rushed out of the lobby.

Felix, with a bitter expression, was picking at the remaining tuna sashimi, but then slowly got up from his seat as if to follow.

As Felix walked out into the hallway, Lennok’s voice came from behind.

“You should eat the rest before you go.”

“……”

“It’ll spoil quickly if you leave it at room temperature.”

“Van.”

Felix looked at the bowl of tuna sashimi in Lennok’s hand and smiled bitterly.

“If I eat it all, Jenny gives me the stink eye.”

“…Just how much have you been eating all this time?”

Slightly surprised, Lennok still tossed the container he was holding to Felix.

Though he looked dejected, the eagle-headed giant caught the tuna sashimi and said, “I apologize for showing you such an ugly scene after you’ve been away for so long.”

“It’s fine.”

Lennok leaned against the hallway wall and lit a cigarette.

“You’re not impulsive enough to act just because you like someone or approve of their organization.”

“……”

As Felix remained silent, Lennok continued.

“Is there a problem with the mercenary group?”

“That’s…”

“If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. It’s not like I absolutely have to hear it.”

Exhaling smoke above his head, Lennok stood up straight.

“However, be clear about your position with Tatiana. Just like you, she has her reasons for saying what she did. It’s only natural that she can’t trust the Lighthouse Keeper.”

“…No. It is entirely my fault.”

Felix shook his head.

“I may hide it from others, but I shouldn’t hide it from you. It is purely my personal wish.”

“A wish?”

“Lapis Falcia is the granddaughter of Heavenly Sight, an ability user of Chogyeon, who sees farther than anyone else,” Felix explained.

“They say those eyes see beyond the present to the past and future, and even reach the conclusion beyond that.”

“…Don’t tell me.”

“If Lapis Falcia inherited Heavenly Sight’s ability in its entirety, couldn’t she observe the already determined future of a precognitive differently?”

Only then did Lennok’s expression change slightly as he realized what Felix wanted.

“Antares doesn’t have much time left.”

Felix muttered painfully.

“I am going to ask Lapis Falcia… if she can change Antares’s fate.”