Chapter 48: Because That’s More Important to (2)
Ignoring the repeated attempts of the two to dissuade , I calmly finished preparing to move.
“Hey, do you think the Magic Tower is so kind of neighborhood village? You’re just going to barge in there without even asking for cooperation?”
“I’ll have to see for myself.”
“At this hour?”
“I can’t just leave her like this.”
Even after that, Belfor kept stepping in beside , trying to stop .
“Wait, what about the training?”
“I’ll have to skip it this ti. I’m counting on you, Belfor.”
“You bastard, seriously….”
“Sorry. But this cos first for . Oh, and Walter.”
“Huh, yeah?”
“I’ve got one favor to ask of you too.”
I leaned close to Walter’s ear and whispered quietly.
“…That’s not too difficult. But why?”
“Just in case sothing happens.”
After giving them a few more instructions, I carefully laid Rubia inside the carriage.
To keep her from toppling over even if the carriage shook, I filled the empty space with blankets.
Then I climbed up onto the driver’s seat and looked down at the two of them.
“I’ll see you again at the eting, Belfor?”
“Haah… seriously. You owe for this, you know that, right?”
“Of course. I’ll treat you later, so keep your schedule open.”
With those words, I lifted the whip and gave it a light swing.
With the sound of powerful hooves, the carriage quickly surged forward.
After suddenly announcing that he was heading to the Magic Tower and preparing on his own, Eugene Carter disappeared with Rubia Magnus.
Even thinking about it again, Eric Belfor couldn’t help but sigh in disbelief.
“I thought he’d cald down after coming back, but he’s still as reckless as ever.”
It was a situation that should’ve been irritating—getting all the responsibilities dumped on him without warning—but strangely enough, he didn’t feel angry.
Maybe it was because he already knew what kind of guy Eugene was.
‘That’s part of it, but…’
There was sothing oddly romantic about it.
Heading alone to that secretive Magic Tower, all to save a woman who’d been injured because of him.
‘Didn’t think that realist had such a side to him….’
He glanced at Walter, who was getting ready to leave, and asked casually,
“You’re coming back after you go, right?”
Flinch.
“Uh… well… let’s just say my injury isn’t as bad as Professor Magnus’s, but it’s still pretty serious….”
“If you don’t want to co, just say you don’t want to, man.”
“Ahaha….”
Walter only scratched his waist and laughed awkwardly.
“But still… can we really run the Karbenna training session without a single Karbenna official around?”
“One of the professors from the main departnt is coming over, but….”
Belfor sighed as Walter continued to dodge the question.
“…Alright. I’ll handle the training session myself, so make sure to properly hand everything over to that professor. I don’t want to hear any complaints later.”
At that, Walter’s face imdiately lit up.
“Ooh, really? That ans I can finally catch a break! Thanks, Belfor!”
“Don’t ditch us even if you’re able to co back.”
“O-of course not!”
After sending Walter off, Belfor looked up at the night sky, where a half-moon hung faintly.
“Damn it, my classmates are gonna work to death.”
He organized the situation report and gathered the soldiers.
“There were injuries from the earlier explosion, soldiers. Since treatnt here was deed difficult, the Karbenna faculty mbers have returned to the academy.”
At that, the soldiers began to ask questions one by one.
“Then what do we do now, sir?”
“Are we going back to the base?”
Even though their faces were full of hope, Belfor’s response was firm.
“Of course not. The schedule proceeds as planned. However, since we can’t carry out the original training, we’ll be changing the program.”
The soldiers’ disappointnt was obvious, but he didn’t even blink as he continued.
“So, instead of a beast subjugation drill, this training will be conducted as a camping exercise.”
“……”
“There’s still plenty of ti before we start, so everyone except the minimum personnel, get so rest. Squad leaders, stay behind.”
“Yes, sir!”
Fifteen kiloters from Operation Area C―1997, in the outskirts of Benamaur.
Having barely escaped with her life, Evelin had summoned the organization mbers who’d taken part in the operation.
In her arms lay the cold corpse of Abattoir Maledic.
“Maledic….”
They had always bickered, but in the end, family was still family.
When carrying out missions, getting injured was common, and sotis, you could even lose your life. That much, she already knew.
But even so, death still felt unbearably heavy.
The thought that her sharp-tongued brother, who had always lived beside her, was suddenly gone made her chest ache.
She had endured beatings and abuse from people who didn’t even deserve to be called parents, until she couldn’t take it anymore and fled from her family.
Life in the back alleys had been brutal and harsh, but even then, it had been happier than living as the child of that trash.
And then, for the first ti, she t people she could truly call family.
At first, she denied it, and later she kept her guard up, but in the end, she let go of her birth na and accepted the alias “Evelin.”
Organizations fall apart for all sorts of reasons. To prevent that, their leader, Abattoir Schroeder, bound his mbers with absolute rules and ran the organization with the concept of “family.”
He was a thorough man when it ca to missions, but as long as you carried them out well, he rarely interfered.
In particular, his treatnt of the long-serving executives was exceptional—within the bounds of discipline, they could do whatever they wanted.
And today, that sa Abattoir had suffered his first major loss.
“…Where did it all start to go wrong?”
Beside the corpse of Maledic, Evelin stared blankly into the air.
For so reason, the moonlight felt unusually bright tonight.
Ever since she had chosen to live in the underworld, she had always known a day like this might co.
She had always hoped it wouldn’t—but things never went the way one hoped.
“Cunning bastards…”
Now that it had co to this, Evelin saw things more clearly.
Those people had always dirtied others’ hands for their own gain.
Before doing anything shady, they always sought an interdiary.
Sotis, that interdiary was another noble family, and sotis, it was a criminal organization like theirs.
When problems arose, they would simply cut ties and feign ignorance, hiding behind the justification of “righteous cause.”
It was the sa this ti. They had ordered them to use any ans necessary to kill the target, but the mont their secrets were at risk of exposure, they would surely say, “We don’t know scum like you,” and wash their hands of it.
The very suggestion to use drugs had been no different from a threat.
It ant that if they failed the mission, they would be discarded like useless dogs.
It took about an hour for all the mbers to assemble at the scene.
Not yet aware of the full situation, they were all shocked speechless when they saw Maledic’s body.
After briefly explaining what had happened, Evelin looked over her people and declared firmly,
“Everyone, this mission has failed. I’ll take full responsibility, so you all return to your quarters. Understood?”
The mbers hesitated, glancing at each other uncertainly.
“Didn’t you hear ?”
“Ah—yes, understood!”
Forcing an answer out of them, Evelin began preparing for Maledic’s burial.
The body would certainly rot if they tried to move it, so she planned to hold a simple funeral here and later propose a proper family burial.
As she worked, one of the n cautiously approached her.
“Um… Sis.”
It was the most senior among the younger mbers.
“What.”
“We may have missed the first target, but we can’t rule out the second one yet, can we?”
“……”
“If we can at least perfectly eliminate one of the targets, the Boss probably won’t hold you too accountable.”
“It’s already too late.”
“It’s not even three o’clock yet, Sis. We can resu the operation after the eting.”
“I said it’s too late, you idiot.”
“But…”
She grabbed him by the collar and hissed,
“We don’t even know if Eugene Carter is dead or not, and the battle dragged on too long. By now, the Special Task Force must’ve already grasped the whole situation.”
“……”
“The training will definitely be canceled, and Eric Halenber won’t have any chance to leave Karbenna. You still want to go through with it?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Letting go of his collar, she sighed in frustration.
“It ended the mont we failed to finish him off in the first ambush. Bernhardt will never let the failure slide. So I’ll take responsibility myself—that way, the Boss will have sothing to say later, right?”
The young man looked at her with a heavy heart before asking,
“…Then, what will you do now, Sis?”
When he brought up her future plans, Evelin’s expression softened slightly.
“Well… I’m thinking of getting in touch with Brown first.”
“You an Jack Brown?”
“Yeah. He got kicked out of Bernhardt after failing his mission too, but it seems he’s found himself a decent hideout.”
“…Good luck, Sis.”
“Forget that—just help with this. It’s too damn hard digging without a shovel.”
She pointed at a small pit she’d dug nearby.
“Ah…”
The man nodded and turned to the others.
“I’ll take care of it. Hey, you lot! Co here for a second!”
At that sa mont, in Abattoir’s main base—
The Boss, Abattoir Schroeder, who had been asleep in his bedroom, woke up imdiately at the vibration from the table in the center of the room.
The receiving orb atop it was faintly glowing.
The report ca from 4th Seat, Abattoir Evelin.
She briefly relayed the current situation, her plans, and her final request.
The mission had failed because the enemy had predicted their ambush.
Not wanting to give Bernhardt any pretext, she had cleaned up everything thoroughly. Not a single trace of the Beast Mutation remained.
However, during the battle, they had lost 2nd Seat Maledic and 5th Seat Vicious.
The scouts and surveillance units were to be sent back to their respective hideouts.
She would take responsibility for everything and leave the organization.
And her final words were—
Take care of your health.
“……”
When the report ended, the glow of the orb quickly faded.
Schroeder stared at it for a mont before stepping out of his room, his expression grim.
Within the silent mansion, only the conference room was noisy.
Inside, five people were rrily chatting over cheese and drinks.
Clack!
When the Boss burst in, all five froze stiff.
Normally, this would have been cause for a harsh reprimand—but Schroeder didn’t even acknowledge it.
He simply walked to his seat, sat down heavily, and spoke one short command.
“Ergency assembly. Call everyone.”
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