Chapter 222
Episode 72: The News That Came Through, The News We Must Find (3)
“Two—or rather, three of them.”
Kasimir spoke without turning his gaze away. Alisa and Quikantel had also sensed that they were being followed.
Only Kuzan, whose full attention had been on Beris, seemed to just now come to his senses.
“They’re moving along the main road and making themselves obvious. It can’t be helped.”
Quikantel shook his head wearily.
“The good news is, they’re not Runcandel knights. If they were Paladins or Executioners, they wouldn’t be tailing us quietly—they’d have attacked outright.”
This was Hupester, the land of Runcandel. There was no reason for Runcandel knights to stalk a trainee like Jin.
If they had been Runcandel knights, the moment they encountered them, saving Beris would have been out of the question. Kuzan himself would have been sent straight to Joshua. That was the kind of power the two Runcandel trainees wielded in Hupester.
Winning a fight was possible—even if ten Paladins came, they could handle it. But engaging in open war with Runcandel knights, rather than mere ‘hounds’ outside the family, was a serious burden.
Especially for Alisa, Kasimir, and Quikantel, who wanted to avoid having an official record of fighting Runcandel knights at all costs.
“So that means they’re either Joshua’s hounds or his informants.”
“What should we do, Lord?”
After a moment’s thought, Jin spoke.
“They definitely reported to their superiors as soon as they spotted us. It doesn’t seem serious enough to report directly to Joshua, so there’s probably someone running at full speed right now. I’m guessing there were originally four, not three.”
Currently, three were tailing them.
But as Jin suspected, there had been four at first. One had taken off like mad the moment they were spotted.
Straight for the southern gate.
“Alisa.”
“Yes, Lord.”
“You need to head to the southern gate first. To report, you have to reach where the knights are—either central or eastern. One of them will definitely be heading to the gate.”
“I understand.”
They deliberately chose Alisa. No one in the party was better at scouting and tracking than her, especially since she was from the special forces.
“What should we do if you find him?”
“He’s Joshua’s man. We can’t let him live. Please send him off without pain.”
“Understood.”
Alisa didn’t move immediately.
If she moved first, the tailing enemies might sense something. She had to wait for Jin’s full orders.
“And Kuzan.”
“Yes?”
“It’s time to test your skills. Assassinate the other three.”
“Should I wait until we reach the forest path?”
“No, right now. Can you do it?”
They were in the bustling streets in broad daylight.
Silently and cleanly assassinating four people here was something only top-tier, unknown assassins could pull off.
But Kuzan nodded immediately.
“I can.”
Jin was inwardly surprised by the answer.
“Really?”
“Fortunately, I have the perfect poison on hand.”
Kuzan wasn’t just skilled with the deadly toxin that dissolved people into an unidentifiable black liquid. Given the right ingredients, he could concoct thousands of poisons, including some specialized for ‘natural’ assassinations.
“Under no circumstances can you draw attention.”
“Understood. I’ll pretend to buy drinks at that stall over there and slip poison into their drinks. Then I’ll rejoin you, so just keep going as if nothing happened.”
“What will happen to them?”
“They’ll keep watching me for a moment after I step away, but once they see me buying drinks, they’ll keep following. They won’t realize the poison’s in their system and will keep walking until they collapse in about five minutes. Without emergency treatment within ten minutes, they’ll die.”
“…What? You can pull off an assassination at that level?”
This time, even Quikantel’s eyes went wide in disbelief.
“It seems you’re pushing yourself for that woman’s sake. Are you sure it’s okay…?”
Before Quikantel could finish, Kuzan slipped out of the formation, heading naturally toward the drink stall.
The group exchanged silent looks for a moment. Then Jin deliberately shouted toward Kuzan, “I want apple flavor!” and everyone else shouted out their preferred drinks at random.
While the stall owner prepared four drinks, the group continued on their way, and the tailing enemies passed by Kuzan.
At that moment, Kuzan pretended to spill the drinks, splashing poison onto all three. The toxin absorbed through the skin numbed their nerves and would eventually kill them.
Splash!
“Oh, sorry!”
The tailers glared briefly at Kuzan, then resumed following the group. Kuzan took a fresh drink and rejoined them.
“Already done?”
“Yes. From what I saw, they seem to be Joshua’s local informants. None of them were particularly skilled, and I didn’t recognize any of their faces. I think it’s safe to send Alisa to the gate now.”
Jin was about to ask if he was sure, but decided to send Alisa first as Kuzan suggested. Beris’s life was at stake, so they had to trust that Kuzan handled it properly.
Also, waiting five minutes for the enemies to collapse could be too late.
“Alisa.”
Alisa nodded and handed Kasimir the robe wrapped around Beris.
Then she mounted the horse she had been leading and took off at a full gallop. The tailers immediately reacted—one of the three had slipped away.
Exactly five minutes later.
“Ahhh!”
“Here! Someone’s collapsed!”
The tailers who had been following suddenly dropped to the street, causing bystanders to scream. The men were frozen like statues, unable to move even their fingers.
“This is a neurotoxin made from the Western Desert Spider. It doesn’t affect unmanned units above six stars. It’s actually a weak poison that dilutes even in water, but if you don’t know, you fall for it easily.”
Kuzan spoke as if it were nothing.
The one who had gone off to report was probably collapsed somewhere too.
‘…I’m really glad I got that Man Poison.’
He shuddered thinking that while he had immunity, his comrades without it could have been taken down like that.
‘We could use at least one poison master in Tikan.’
The main family had many poison masters, but they could only use their skills after becoming riders.
As the street grew chaotic, the group slowly made their way toward the gate.
Two hours later, they finally reached the southern gate.
“You’re here, everyone.”
Alisa smiled as she saw the group.
“Just as Lord predicted, one of them went ahead to the gate. I took care of him and buried the body roughly. The security forces will find it soon.”
The skill gap between Alisa and the enemy was wide. If Joshua’s local informants had been more capable, they wouldn’t have made it safely.
Thanks to her efforts, Joshua had yet to receive any news of them.
The gate attendant initially refused them boarding, but upon seeing the Delki royal insignia, he opened the gate.
“You’re from the royal family, then. Welcome. I hope you have a comfortable journey.”
Only after boarding the gate did the group finally relax.
“I’ve noticed something—this land’s people really support the royal family.”
Quikantel shrugged.
“After the old civil war, when the king’s faction lost, the prince’s faction, which is now the core of Delki, always centered their policies around the people. It’s no wonder they have such high support. Those guys were abandoned after the war, though…”
Kasimir glanced at Kuzan and Beris.
“Anyway, Kuzan Marius. Looks like your gamble paid off.”
“…Thank you.”
“Enough thanks. I want direct compensation. If no valuable information about Joshua Runcandel comes up, you won’t be able to stay with me. Understand?”
Kuzan nodded gravely.
But Jin had no intention of abandoning Kuzan. Even if no satisfying intel came through, Kuzan was a useful asset.
Still, Jin planned to watch him carefully before fully trusting him.
“Well, regardless of the intel, I’ll spare your friend. Just hope the Saints of Vankela don’t make things difficult.”
As the attendant announced the gate’s opening, the group was enveloped in a glow of magical light.
The moment they returned, all the top healers in Tikan swarmed Beris.
This was an unprecedented major surgery in Tikan.
Kuzan paced anxiously outside the treatment room, unable to calm down. Jin didn’t pressure him for information about Joshua until the surgery results were out.
The healers, drenched in sweat, finally emerged 32 hours later.
“Thanks to Lord’s timely gathering of rare herbs, the surgery was successful. Beris will need absolute rest for a while, but we’ve stabilized him to a life-safe level.”
“However, without additional treatment from the Saints of Vankela, he won’t be able to use magic anymore.”
“I see. Thank you all for your hard work.”
As soon as he heard Beris was safe, Kuzan collapsed to the floor and broke down crying. His sobs were so raw and intense that even Jin fell silent.
Grasping the handkerchief silently offered by Gilly, Kuzan kept murmuring his thanks. It was a scene utterly at odds with the ruthless work he’d done under Taimun and Joshua.
While waiting for him to calm down, Enya hurriedly sought out Jin.
“Lord! Julian just woke up. Alisa has already gone to the basement.”
“Is that so? Gilly, do we have any sandwiches left?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Good. Let’s go, Kuzan. Once Lady Alisa starts the interrogation, that Julian guy is going to be in serious trouble. Let’s eat and talk before that. You must be pretty hungry—haven’t eaten anything for two days, right?”
“…Julian was here too?”
“Yeah, we brought him in after subduing him on Cheongsae Island. Want to hear something even more surprising?”
Jin grabbed a sandwich and continued.
“I killed Joshua right then and there. But the bastard somehow survived and even showed up at the coronation in the Kingdom of Shcheron… Either you or Julian has to know something about how that’s possible.”
Julian sat in the basement, tied up, staring blankly.
Jin set the sandwich down in front of him with a smile.
“He slept like a rock, the contractor of Feitel. Whether this ends up being your last meal or not is entirely up to you.”
“…Kuzan? Don’t tell me you betrayed Lord Joshua?”
“If anything, Joshua’s the one who betrayed us. When you became a vessel, you almost died by Joshua’s hand. So let’s just forget about loyalty to that bastard and move on.”