Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 200

The Verdant Pearl Knights (1)How had a member of the imperial family managed to survive while evading the Emperor’s gaze? Simid Kellogg gave a brief answer.

“Overseas life.”

Kairus scoffed.

“Of course they were outside imperial territory. If you want to live, that’s only natural.”

Even if they had been abroad, that alone would not have been enough. Unless it was a special case like Bennett City, one could never truly escape the Emperor’s grasp.

The only place that came to mind was the Aylan Republic.

“No imperial subject would accept a member of the imperial family who lived in an enemy nation as Emperor.”

Considering the relations between the two countries and public perception, it was an absurd notion.

“I only know that they were in seclusion in a frontier region.”

A frontier region. Any land other than the border facing the Aylan Republic was collectively referred to by the Empire as frontier territory.

It meant that although the land originally belonged to them, they had left it unattended because they had no immediate need for it. In reality, countless minor disturbances occurred in the frontier regions, but they always ended in the Empire’s victory.

“I heard they lived among nomads in the frontier. They still liked mare’s milk wine.”

“Those idiots still riding horses in this day and age? No wonder the Emperor found them difficult to touch.”

There were no trains, nor roads suitable for automobiles.

In the frontier regions, travel had to be done on horseback. In a world like this, the only place one could even find horses anymore was at racetracks.

Moreover, the horses at racetracks had been bred solely for speed, making their endurance terrible, so they were useless in the frontier regions.

That was how, despite being of imperial blood, they had managed to escape the Emperor’s clutches and survive until now.

“If we had known the location, we would have gone to find them.”

“The frontier is rather vast.”

Even the identified territory alone amounted to a quarter of the Empire’s land. Finding a single imperial descendant hiding in such an immense region was extremely difficult.

Simid Kellogg would never have found them either if the imperial had not contacted him first.

“All right, I get the gist. When I have time later, I’d like to see their face at least once.”

But now was not the time. Only one Knight Commander had been dealt with so far.

Moreover, there were many ways Kairus could assist these rebels besides beheading Knight Commanders.

“We just need to confirm it, right?”

“I’d appreciate it.”

“Focus on your daughter. She went through a lot this time.”

One of those ways was aerial reconnaissance. It was the process of verifying whether the positions of the Imperial Army currently identified by the rebels matched their actual locations.

Kairus took the map he had been given and soared into the sky. After watching the sky for a moment, Simid picked up a drink and headed toward the tent where his daughter was resting.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

After finishing her wash and changing clothes, Irena answered in a calm tone.

“That’s a relief. It seems you’ve grown quite close to him.”

“Yes. It couldn’t be helped.”

Even when she had been in the Order of Knights, there had been no one with whom she had spent as much time as with Kairus. The same was true at the Kellogg family mansion.

It wasn’t that the absolute amount of time was long; rather, the number of incidents they had faced together during that short time was tremendous.

Simid handed her a drink.

“So, do you think it might go beyond just being close?”

Irena looked down at the drink in her hand before replying.

“I don’t think we’re the type who can handle several things at once.”

Kairus was consumed by revenge, and Irena’s family had already been branded as traitors.

All other matters would have to be considered later.

“My cheeks don’t turn red just from looking at his face.”

Her heart didn’t melt into jam, nor did she feel the kind of intense, electrifying emotion that blurred her vision and made it hard to think straight.

If, after drinking themselves senseless together, she were to wake up the next morning—

—and found herself lying naked in the same bed—

‘Ah. So you and I have finally become that kind of relationship.’

She would probably think something like that.

Afterward, she would most likely smack the back of Kairus’s head while he slept and tell him to go have breakfast.

What was certain was that if her drinking companion weren’t Kairus, she would never drink until she completely lost her senses.

“This isn’t the time for you to be curious about my private life.”

Rebellion was no joke. Simid Kellogg nodded in agreement at Irena’s words. In truth, it was as though he had already received his answer.

“Alright. Get some rest.”

Irena nodded and saw Simid off as he left the tent.

Meanwhile, Kairus was flying through the sky, alternating his gaze between the map and the land below.

“I’d say about eighty percent matches.”

He couldn’t afford to spend too much time on reconnaissance. If he had enough time, he would have checked the mismatched information and even tracked down where those who were supposed to be here had gone.

But Kairus did not have that luxury.

‘Three Knight Commanders have been confirmed.’

Each was stationed at a location housing major facilities the Empire could not afford to lose.

“I don’t see Dana Watson.”

The Scarlet Leaf Order was nowhere in sight. Even Simid Kellogg had been unable to determine their position. In truth, it was only natural that the Scarlet Leaf Order could not respond to this situation.

‘Because Irena belonged to the Scarlet Leaf Order.’

It was the very Order of Knights to which the daughter of a rebel belonged. The normal course of action would be to detain and interrogate them first. Why would anyone trust the Scarlet Leaf Order enough to dispatch them to a strategic stronghold?

Considering Dana Watson’s personality, she would be furious by now. At the very least, she had been a Knight Commander whose loyalty to the Empire was genuine.

From Kairus’s perspective, it was good news that he wouldn’t have to face that insane woman who could erase mountains with a swing of her sword. After completing his reconnaissance, Kairus headed back toward the rebels’ encampment.

They slept, and by the time the sun’s tail signaled the coming of morning, it was time to depart. As soon as Kairus opened his eyes, he went straight to the tent where Irena was sleeping. Even from outside, one side of it bulged noticeably.

That must be Irena. Kairus lightly kicked the bulging section and spoke.

“Wake up.”

“Guh—?!”

Irena, who had been sleeping with the sleeping bag pulled over her head, sprang upright with a jolt. She crawled out, confirmed it was Kairus, and scratched her head.

“Are we leaving?”

“What, you’ve grown attached to camping and want to settle down here?”

At Kairus’s remark, Irena shook her head.

“My back hurts. It’ll hurt even more if we fly, won’t it?”

“Obviously.”

It wasn’t going to get any better. At Kairus’s answer, Irena muttered incomprehensibly and crawled outside, then slipped into her bag.

“Who’s the next target?”

“The Verdant Pearl Knights. They’re guarding the broadcasting tower on Mount Palecia.”

It was one of the key facilities. Simply destroying it would cripple a significant portion of radio broadcasts traveling to and from the eastern Empire.

At present, most radio channels were used by the Orders of Knights and the Imperial Army, so smashing a single broadcasting tower was equivalent to deafening one of the Empire’s ears.

“Are we not going to occupy it?”

“There’s no need. It’s the same logic as cutting off supply lines.”

It would be best if they could use the enemy’s provisions themselves, but when that wasn’t possible, simply burning them was effective enough.

The broadcasting tower was no different. Occupying it for their own use would be ideal, but rendering it unusable was sufficient.

“The Verdant Pearl Knights… Eris Samantha….”

“And the battle gear?”

At Kairus’s question, Irena pointed to her ear.

“An earring shaped like a platinum snake biting a golden emerald.”

“That’s troublesome.”

Battle gear of that type usually turned the entire body into a weapon.

“If you know the form, do you happen to know its ability?”

“Most Knight Commanders conceal their battle gear’s abilities. To find out, you’d have to fight them at full strength….”

But how many people were capable of that? Most were destroyed even without the battle gear’s ability being used.

It had been the same with Dallas. He had known that Esterk was being used, but he had fought without knowing what its ability was.

This time would be no different.

“The second one should be easier.”

They took flight. And as they did, Kairus soon realized exactly why the Commander of the Verdant Pearl Knights was guarding the broadcasting tower.

“A wall?”

Boiling, iridescent foam gathered together, forming the shape of a wall that surrounded the broadcasting tower.

“Damn it.”

Just in case, I swung Veil of Plumed Mist toward the wall of bubbles, but it bounced off with an absurd elasticity. Rather than cutting through the bubbles with a sword, it felt like striking a highly elastic rubber band with a club.

Without hesitation, she had already used her ability—at an output powerful enough to create a wall that enveloped this entire area.

“This isn’t something we can break through by ordinary means.”

The bubbles seemed to possess strong viscosity as well, clinging tightly to one another. No matter how much wind I unleashed, they merely tangled together and wobbled like pudding instead of being blown away.

“Is it impossible to cut through?”

“There’s no such thing.”

If it couldn’t be broken through by ordinary methods, then it simply had to be done by extraordinary ones.

The enemy fortress was still intact? Then all that was needed was to send in more force.

Likewise, if the elasticity of these bubbles was tremendous, then all I had to do was charge with enough power to break through them.

“As I break through and open a path, follow right behind me.”

It was time to fly at full speed. Lifting my body slightly, I spoke to Irena.

“You might get bounced back instead.”

Just like when I had swung my sword earlier. If I failed to break through the bubbles, I would be hurled back at the same speed with which I had entered.

I would definitely be injured.

“Then should we just turn back like this?”

The turbine sound shifted into a sharp roar of propulsion. Irena stepped back. My body shot into the sky and began to accelerate, a thunderous noise tearing through the air.

But I accelerated even further, disregarding the safety of my own body, determined to crash into that bubble wall at full speed.

The scenery flashed by in an instant. Maintaining my velocity while lowering my altitude, I thrust the tip of Veil of Plumed Mist forward and launched myself ahead.

“U—Waaah!”

The tip of the sword touched the bubbles. The distorted bubbles held for a moment before bursting. Yet countless more bubbles replaced them.

“You bastard!”

The moment I made contact, the wall of bubbles writhed as if it had been waiting, clumping together to obstruct my advance precisely.

I hurled myself into that massive cluster of bubbles.

‘At least one thing is fortunate.’

Since the bubble wall was obstructing only me, Irena would be able to reach the broadcasting tower with ease.

“All I need to do is break through this!”

That was enough. There was no turning back. My body, which had surged forward at a terrifying speed, had already pierced more than half of the condensed bubble mass.

If I tried to change direction now, after losing so much of my initial speed, I wouldn’t even be able to escape the bubbles.

A single-point breakthrough.

I had to keep going. With each popping sound of bursting bubbles, my speed steadily decreased.

From five times the speed of sound to three, from three to the speed of sound, and from the speed of sound to subsonic.

The popping noises—ppobobobobobok—were almost comical, but from my perspective, as my speed continued to drop, there was nothing amusing about it.

The speed at which the bubbles burst slowed, and so did my own velocity.

The roar of propulsion grew increasingly intense. I was almost through.

At that moment, the bubbles suddenly diminished, and I finally broke through.

What came into view was Irena swinging Stained Glass toward a tall woman.

‘Platinum snake-shaped earring.’

That must be the Commander of the Verdant Pearl Knights. It seemed her concentration had faltered the moment Irena rushed in to attack.

Was her name Eris Samantha? Irena wouldn’t be able to withstand the Knight Commander’s counterattack.