Chapter 594
Episode 155: Return to Laprarosa (2)
There wasn’t a single member of the family in a position to ‘notify’ Siron and Rosa.
Rosa didn’t take offense when Jin said he would leave again as soon as he arrived. On the contrary, she sensed a certain confidence—and even a hint of hope—in his demeanor.
She also caught a glimpse of Luna.
Luna, too, had unilaterally informed the family of her intention to give up the headship. But while Luna’s message was about relinquishing the position, Jin’s was the opposite. From Rosa’s perspective, everything Jin did was aimed solely at swallowing up the family.
“Just now, you’ve barely returned, and the first thing you do is tell me an interesting story. You must know how chaotic the family is right now. It seems you lack a bit of awareness as the family’s highest-ranking knight.”
Despite her words, Rosa wasn’t scolding him. Jin responded with a light smile.
“I’ve been receiving intensive healing in the Holy Kingdom, and I’ve identified the makers and uses of the items we obtained in the Sota Desert.”
“What are they?”
“Just as the Prophet said, these are items capable of changing the course of the war. The machine is a core component of a teleportation device.”
He deliberately called it a teleportation device, not a space-time device. Though they might seem similar, the two concepts are distinctly different—and there was no need to share every detail with Rosa.
“Information obtained through Aria Hister, I presume.”
Jin wasn’t fazed by Rosa’s confident tone. It was an open secret among the great powers that Valeria was now aligned with him.
“Yes.”
Capturing Valeria and bringing her to the Garden of Swords was a routine mission for the knights.
Rosa didn’t reproach him for that either.
By causing Joshua’s downfall, she had already granted Jin a certain degree of freedom. He hadn’t crossed the line she set.
“The creator of that device is Lokia Ganesto, one of the Ten Knights of old Runcandel.”
“…Lokia Ganesto?”
“Yes. Until recently, Lokia Ganesto had been erased from Ziphl’s history. Just as the family’s curse has weakened with Ziphl’s decline, the lost history of old Runcandel is gradually resurfacing.”
Ganesto.
Rosa had known that name long before the power of stories began to fade.
“So, according to you, teleportation devices and shipbuilding are technologies from a thousand years ago, and at some point, the family lost them to Ziphl.”
“Are there no records of this in the family archives?”
“None. Even if there were, records about when the items were lost mean nothing. If there had been instructions on how to use them immediately, you would have already reclaimed them for the family.”
For Rosa, the discovery of lost history was less important than immediate victory and survival.
Jin believed that without restoring old Runcandel’s dignity, victory was impossible—but Rosa did not share that belief.
“The items are not yet usable.”
“So, how much longer will it take?”
“I don’t know. I’m leaving Inse to complete the items with the help of my brothers.”
Jin’s reason for heading to Laprarosa wasn’t just personal ambition.
A flying ship powered by a radiant core. When he first saw Ziphl’s mass-produced fleets in the Sota Desert, Jin had dreamed of such a thing.
“If my master and Quaul can complete the space-time device and summon my brothers to Inse, this won’t be just a pipe dream.”
Quaul had already vouched for the possibility when he saw the radiant core in Jin’s chest.
“Even if it takes time, can you be sure the Pluto clan will help you complete it?”
“I can’t guarantee that.”
“Not yet, don’t know, can’t guarantee. You keep saying things that don’t suit you. I didn’t grant you autonomy for this.”
“It’s no different from the acting head hesitating whether to negotiate with the Prophet or not. And I think you already rejected the Prophet’s temptation once during the Sword Emperor War.”
Jin hadn’t heard the conversation between Rosa, Mew, and Anne during the war, but he was certain the Prophet had made some offer to Rosa—and that she had refused.
“If Mother had made a deal with the Prophet then, the situation would have changed before Sir Ron reached Changseong. Joshua would have been reinstated by now.”
Joshua was still locked in an underground prison.
And Rosa’s outright rejection of Mew and Anne’s proposal at that critical moment was because she knew the Prophet would inevitably have to ‘coexist’ with Runcandel.
If Runcandel were truly on the brink of destruction by Gliek, the Prophet would have lent his power regardless of her refusal. For the prophecy to come true, the Prophet had no other choice.
“I haven’t disappointed the acting head often. So please, trust me.”
“Little one.”
“Yes?”
“Are you really so afraid of me negotiating with the Prophet? To the point of begging me?”
Only then did Rosa realize what Jin was trying to say.
“It might look like begging. Then this time, I’ll ask you, acting head…”
How much time do you have left?
Jin’s voice grew heavy. What he feared was Rosa’s ‘demonic corruption.’
He had no way to gauge how quickly the chaos infecting her was consuming her.
“Mother was undoubtedly exposed to the most intense level of chaos.”
When Ron sacrificed his life to stop Gliek’s self-destruction, the ones who bore the brunt were Rosa and Keliak.
Keliak had at least shielded himself somewhat with the Demon Stone, but Rosa was left with only a sword and the family’s retainers waiting for death behind her.
Despite being exposed to more chaos than Keliak, Rosa seemed to function normally because of her sheer strength.
Demonic corruption.
Jin had experienced the overwhelming chaos inside Gliek’s pocket dimension.
He knew well how that power could drive a person insane and lose themselves.
Even Ron would have become a monster if not for Jin and Dante. Jin expected Rosa was going through the same ordeal.
No—he was certain. To Jin’s eyes, Rosa was fighting the demonic corruption every moment just to keep her composure.
“You seem to underestimate me a little.”
Rosa showed no anger this time.
She wasn’t sure if the surge of rage she felt was entirely her own. If even a trace of the corruption was mixed in, she had to suppress it.
“Just as I was honest with you, please be honest with me. If time is critically short, I can’t trust you to leave.”
Their eyes met.
Both looked at each other as if facing an enemy. Though they shared the goal of Runcandel’s survival and prosperity, their paths were so different that they could only become foes—even while running toward the same destination.
“If my answer is no, does that mean you’ll change your plan?”
“My journey to find the brothers in Laprarosa is fixed. It’s the only way to complete the items. But if your time is shorter than I expect, I intend to cut off the Prophet’s agents before I leave.”
“The Prophet’s agents?”
“The 8th and 9th Knights. After Joshua’s downfall, I’m certain those two became the Prophet’s new heralds. If I kill them, the Prophet will need time to recover. That will naturally reduce his chances of getting close to you, even while I’m gone.”
Jin’s voice was full of conviction.
They only had circumstantial evidence that Mew and Anne were the Prophet’s agents. And even if killing them would force the Prophet into a recovery period, Jin had no real intention of killing them.
Even if it was confirmed that Mew and Anne were the Prophet’s agents, there was much information to be gained through them.
“Even if Mew and Anne have become the Prophet’s agents, do you think I’ll just stand by and watch?”
“Even if the acting head and the family oppose me, I will deal with them.”
In other words, Jin was threatening Rosa based on mere suspicion.
He could afford to do so because neither Rosa nor Runcandel were in a position to crush Jin and the Balmere Alliance with a single word like before the war.
“And while the family might not know, the Prophet doesn’t have the power to stop me right now. If he did, he would have taken control of the family when Joshua was still around. The Prophet’s chaos-based abilities are real, but he’s clearly in a weakened state.”
“Like Kinzel’s commander, the Beast King Orgal.”
Jin swallowed the rest of his words and smiled.
“Also, I’ll reveal the Prophet’s existence to the world as justification for killing them. Now that everyone hates chaos because of Gliek, if it comes out that our family has long been allied with a chaos-wielding entity—and from my own mouth—”
“Enough.”
Jin stopped speaking.
“So you’re saying that even if I’m gone, the moment I negotiate with the Prophet, I can throw the family into the gutter anytime. After all, your people are here in Inse, outside Laprarosa.”
“That’s right.”
Rosa, who had been glaring at Jin ever since he mentioned killing Mew and Anne, finally burst out laughing.
“Now you’re finally talking like yourself.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I’ve clearly received your message. I’ll be more careful with the calculations, so you can stop worrying about my mind. Just remember—threats only hold power until they’re carried out.”
“Of course.”
“Three years.”
Rosa looked down at her wrist, darkened and stained.
“If my demonic corruption continues at this rate, I should be able to hold out for about three years. Make sure you return by then.”