Chapter 589
Episode 153: Kinzello’s Objective (Part 1)
“H-Ha, haha! W-What are you talking about? The Bimant royal family has found the body of the first head of Runcandel?”
Marziella averted her eyes and replied nervously.
“Don’t play dumb. You definitely knew about this.”
“Oh? And what makes you say that?”
In the past, Marziella had come to the Garden of Swords with Berakt and informed Jin that the royal family was searching for Temar’s tomb. At that time, she had promised to reveal why they were after Temar’s tomb if Jin joined Kinzello. Naturally, Jin had flatly refused. Yet, without Kinzello’s help, he had uncovered the royal family’s true intentions—and even learned that they already possessed part of Temar’s physical remains.
“Because I said so.”
Jin’s terse answer caused the Kinzello officers’ faces to tighten.
“I always thought Lord Jin was a rational, cool-headed, and admirable man—just like my own brother. But ‘because I said so’? That doesn’t suit you at all.”
“Marziella, that devil’s always been like this. You know how much trouble I’ve had dealing with his hot temper, don’t you?”
“So this is the Jin Runcandel our friend Bubar cursed so much. I’m Ainas Caligo! A princess of the Caligo family, and I love sweet potato croquettes. I challenge you to a duel! How many can you eat?”
“What?”
“How many croquettes can you eat at once? Five at most, right? I can eat five hundred… heh heh heh! I’ll make a massacre of them.”
“P-Please, Ainas…”
“Listen carefully, you lowly human. If I hadn’t stopped you, you’d be dead!”
Suddenly, Jin recalled that Amela might have been part of this foolish group. The thought that Amela would fit right in with them gave him a sudden headache.
“Looks like you’ve made some interesting new friends while I wasn’t looking.”
Jin’s sarcastic remark made Vishkel’s face flush so red it looked like it might burst.
“And you say my ‘because I said so’ isn’t a valid reason? You must have misunderstood me. Whether my reason is ‘because I said so’ or something else doesn’t matter. What matters is that if you don’t spill the royal family’s secrets, I won’t be able to examine the items I brought.”
“Hah! There he goes again, making baseless demands! How the hell are we supposed to know how they got Temar’s body?”
“If you don’t know, then find out, Bubar. I’m guessing you’re the one in Kinzello who’d want to analyze the blueprints and mechanical devices the most. And to save time, if you really don’t know, just say so quickly. Then I’ll leave immediately.”
Jin said this as he pulled the mechanical devices and blueprints from his coat and waved them in front of the Kinzello officers.
‘Murakan once said Lord Jin could be incredibly irritating at times—this must be one of those moments.’
‘Whether in the cabin or now, he seems to have a knack for driving people crazy.’
Jin’s companions smiled wryly as they watched him. The Kinzello officers barely managed to suppress their boiling anger.
“Zephyrin? Looks like, aside from the captain, you or Marziella are the leaders here.”
“Our vice-captain is Vishkel Ivliano.”
Berakt grimaced. Since Zephyrin’s arrival, he had felt a slight threat to his position.
“Is that so? Whoever’s in charge, make a decision quickly. Haven’t you heard the saying ‘time is money’?”
“Wow, Lord Jin is quite unlikable today.”
“We don’t need your approval.”
“Is this how it’s going to be? Have you forgotten that my kind family helped Lord Jin?”
“I’ve forgotten all that. But I still remember everything you did to the Holy Empire and the Sword Emperor’s realm…”
Marziella’s eyes smiled, but her teeth were clenched. After a moment’s thought, she decided to accept Jin’s proposal.
“Lord Jin, honestly, we don’t know how they obtained the body of the first head of Runcandel.”
“Then that’s settled.”
“But we do know what part of Temar’s body they possess. If we tell you, will you share information about your items?”
“Go ahead.”
“This is outrageous abuse of power. Marziella, is there any reason to listen further? Lord Jin, I don’t know what you’re counting on to act so brazenly, but this is Kinzello’s territory. If we wanted, wiping you out would be easy…”
“Of course I have a trump card. Mote!”
[Whoooom!]
At Jin’s shout, Mote and Siris, who had been hiding nearby, appeared. Jin and his companions had originally come to the beastmen’s land riding Mote.
“Thank you, Siris. And Mote. You really think I’d come here without some safety measures, Zephyrin?”
“Tch.”
“And this is just a safety net. You think you can wipe us out? That’s just hot air.”
Jin wiped the smile from his face and began to radiate energy. The ground trembled, and blue lightning crackled in all directions.
The warriors of the Red Tiger and White Tiger tribes, who had been patrolling or waiting near the market, collapsed to the ground.
‘He’s grown…’
Berakt wasn’t intimidated by the aura Jin unleashed, but he was shocked by how different it was from the Jin he remembered.
His growth had been unbelievably rapid. At barely twenty years old, Jin was radiating an aura close to the level of a 10-star warrior.
‘The flow of his energy is unusual, too. There’s a hint of chaos mixed in, and if given the chance, he could explode in power again at any moment. Did he surpass his limits during the Sword Emperor War?’
Jin glared at Zephyrin.
“Besides, you’re in no condition to fight properly. That’s why you got beaten by Talas at Tikan last time. And since the captain hasn’t appeared, he probably can’t use his power either. Am I wrong?”
“Uh! Zephyrin, you’re right… ugh.”
“Then what about the bump on the Grand Duke’s jaw back then? Or—”
Vishkel covered Bubar’s mouth, and Bianca did the same for Ainas.
“So if you want a fight, I’m more than willing.”
“Your arrogance is excessive, Lord Jin… I wonder how you’ll handle the consequences later.”
“And don’t forget, this beastmen land is very close to the Jan Kingdom. The Jan Kingdom is under Runcandel’s jurisdiction. So if a fight breaks out here, we just have to hold out until our family’s reinforcements arrive. It seems Lord Stam has some grudges against you, too.”
Having just used the captain’s power again, they really couldn’t afford to pick a fight. Zephyrin had no choice but to grit his teeth as usual.
“Looks like you’re starting to understand the situation. Now, Marziella, tell us what you know.”
“The part of Temar’s body the royal family possesses is an arm.”
Valeria’s record magic had only revealed that the royal family had ‘some’ part of Temar’s body. Hearing the specific term ‘arm’ made Jin’s chest tighten painfully.
That meant Temar’s body had been torn apart and used in pieces, even after death.
“An arm?”
“Yes, the left arm. As you probably know, the royal family is trying to complete their mind-control magic using it.”
“How do you know they have the left arm?”
“We’ve dealt with the royal family before.”
In truth, the captain had discovered this through his abilities. Jin didn’t bother to clarify.
“From what we’ve seen, Temar Runcandel’s body is essentially a repository of ancient prime-era magic information. Our deal fell through, so we never got a chance to analyze it properly.”
Valeria had suspected as much—that Temar’s body contained a wealth of ancient magic data.
“You’re not going to argue that you don’t believe this, are you?”
Jin nodded at Zephyrin’s question.
“I’m not that unreasonable.”
“Lord Jin, how did you find out the royal family has Temar’s body? You didn’t even interrogate the emperor… Is it because the record magician is with you?”
Jin said nothing and slipped the items back into his coat.
“Huh? Why put those away now? You’ve heard our information, so don’t think about running off. If you do, it won’t end with words. No matter what damage we suffer.”
“Oh, I just put them away because they’re inconvenient to carry. Don’t misunderstand. The door to negotiation is still open. I was going to show you the items after hearing about Temar’s body, but you just added another offense—threatening to wipe us out. That’s not very pleasant.”
“Hey, twelve knights of Runcandel, cut it out. I can’t listen to this anymore.”
Berakt drew the greatsword from his back. Marziella grabbed his arm and smiled.
“Uncle Berakt, it’s okay. Let’s hear them out. It seems Lord Jin has a lot he wants to know today. And Lord Jin hopes you’ll remember me as I am now—making a sincere effort to resolve this through dialogue.”
“I’ll try. Fine, last question: Kinzello, what exactly is your objective?”
In his past life, Jin had never been curious about Kinzello’s goals. He had only thought of them as a third-rate terrorist group that had started causing trouble worldwide shortly before his death.
But the Kinzello of today was on a whole different level.
“More precisely, you probably had this power back then too, but you were just hiding it. So much has changed because of my return.”
Marjiela and Jin’s eyes met.
“As far as I know, you guys aim to crown your king as the one and only ruler of the world. But somehow, I don’t think that’s the whole story.”
“That’s all there is.”
“Making your leader the sole king of the world—that’s it? So your goal is world domination?”
Marjiela smiled and replied,
“Haven’t I told you before? We just want to create a better world. So rather than ‘domination,’ I think ‘purification’ fits better.”