Episode 118

‘So that’s why it didn’t show up.’

Luca scanned Albino’s hint with a curious expression.

‘Does that mean we were supposed to meet differently in the first place?’

It seemed that this wasn’t the scenario God had in mind.

But that didn’t matter.

So long as the hint had been generated, nothing else was important.

‘Still, Albino’s reward should be better than Bern Doyner’s, right?’

He had been a little disappointed with the quirky alchemist’s reward.

But then again, he barely appeared in the original work.

Albino, on the other hand, had a main storyline that took up nearly a full volume, so the reward should be quite something.

“Is this it?”

At that moment, Hav wore a rather deflated expression.

Luca had been all over the place, but he and Moula had done very little.

At his age, it wouldn’t be strange if he wanted to be more active.

“It’s a stretch to say everything is over, but Potro won’t have to worry about any more danger.”

“That’s… a relief.”

There was some relief in both Hav and Moula’s voices.

To that, Luca spoke indifferently.

“You have two choices. One, follow me and completely wipe out Albino. The other, I’ll get you your tickets so you can go on ahead to Havok and wait for the new term.”

“Wipe out… Albino?”

Hav looked slightly surprised.

Luca nodded slowly.

“Leaving them alone does nothing to help the Empire. They’re like parasites. Many people suffer because of them. So, I’m taking this opportunity to exterminate them.”

“Oh…….”

“However, it’s dangerous, so I’d rather you not tag along. I don’t have the luxury to protect you too.”

At Luca’s words, Hav pouted.

“What are you talking about? We fought so well until now!”

“Unfortunately, Moula’s firepower won’t be useful this time. Your capsule shooter is definitely handy, but the risk isn’t worth dragging along Moula who won’t be able to do anything.”

“Moula can’t do anything?”

Hav looked puzzled.

Luca swept his gaze around.

“In a place like this, there’s no problem using Moula’s magic power beam cannon. But if you use that in a crowded city, it’d be a disaster. Albino’s main bases are probably in big cities, and you can’t use his weapon there, can you?”

“That’s… definitely true……”

Hav accepted it straight away.

In a rural area with no people, Moula’s magic power beam cannon could fire without issue, but he didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if it were used in a city.

“But even if we go ahead to Havok on our own……”

Hav and Moula glanced at each other.

Even if they got there first, they had nowhere to stay.

Luca seemed to understand, as he nodded slowly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll arrange lodging or give you living expenses—Ottbo will.”

“…… M-me?!”

Ottbo was flustered by Luca suddenly volunteering him.

Luca just shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure. They are the organization’s first honored subordinates. They should be treated well.”

“The first subordinates?”

“Yeah. Bern Doyner and his disciples.”

Hav also looked surprised at Luca’s words.

“What? Us too?”

“What, your master has joined me—are you not going to join too?”

“Well… put that way, I guess there’s no reason not to……”

Being called a noble’s subordinate didn’t feel great.

But being Luca’s subordinate didn’t sound so bad.

“Um… I’m not Bern’s disciple though……”

At that, Moula raised a hand.

Luca stared at her for a moment, then looked at Hav.

Hav scratched his cheek as if to say, “What do you mean?”

“I’m Master’s only official disciple. Moula is kind of… more like my disciple than Master’s.”

“That was pointless information. Let’s just move on.”

“Okay……”

As Moula quietly put down her hand, Luca sighed a little and looked at Ottbo.

“So you’ll have to look after these two, too.”

“Uh, uh-huh……”

With a reluctant look, Ottbo pulled out his cash card and handed it to Hav and Moula, explaining how to use it.

“Wow… I’ve never used one of these before.”

The two marveled at the card.

Watching them, Ottbo suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Hey, Luca. Am I going back too?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… I’m not much help either.”

In fact, Ottbo was no help in a fight.

He wasn’t good at magic, didn’t have armored soldiers, and couldn’t drive an unauthorized auto-carriage within the city either.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Or do you just want to keep hearing it?”

“Huh?”

Ottbo’s eyes went wide at Luca’s blunt tone.

Luca clicked his tongue.

“You’re more useful than you think. I’ve already been helped by you several times. Even this time, you did your part.”

“Did I… do something……?”

Ottbo had a mystified look.

He wasn’t obvious, but thanks to him, a lot had been resolved easily.

He just didn’t notice it himself.

Watching Ottbo clearly trying to remember what he’d done, Luca spoke coolly.

“And I can handle protecting just you. Leave the fighting to me, you just have to pull out the money when it’s needed, right?”

“I’m the wallet guy……?”

“If you don’t like it, make yourself more useful. Learn magic or prepare a new armored soldier.”

Ottbo gave a bitter smile, looking glum at Luca’s words.

“Guess it’s a blessing I can do at least that.”

“That’s enough. Let’s get moving. If we want to wipe out Albino before the new semester, we’re short on time.”

“You’re really going through with this? Just us?”

Seeing Luca looking dead-set on wiping out Albino, Ottbo was flustered.

No matter how you looked at it, taking down an organization like Albino with just Luca, Ottbo, and Bella—three people, was impossible.

He knew Luca was hugely powerful against Albino’s officers.

But Luca was only one person.

No one knew just how big Albino was, but it was certain they would be overwhelmingly outnumbered.

Plus, as Bella said, if strong mercenaries were called in, things could get out of hand.

Luca responded without concern.

“Like always, I do it because I can.”

“…… That’s true.”

Luca had always overcome insurmountable odds.

There was no use worrying.

As Ottbo nodded, Luca glanced towards the train station.

“Let’s go get tickets. Got to send these two on their way as well.”

He fiddled with the phone in his pocket.

“And I need to get ready to tighten the noose around Albino’s neck.”

* * *

In the count’s office in Lubak Castle.

Tron Way was working there.

Crash!

“T-Tron! S-something terrible… something terrible has happened!”

“?”

With a loud crash, her subordinate Bray burst into the office.

He was so flustered that his pale skin was slightly flushed, and his breathing was ragged.

Normally, Tron would have scolded him, but seeing his state, she just furrowed her brow.

“What’s going on?”

“Vasco… Lord Vasco… and Okota…….”

“?”

Bray stammered at the names Vasco and Okota.

He seemed overloaded.

But Tron had a rough idea.

“Bray. Did something happen to the two of them?”

“Well… They…”

“Calm down!”

She shouted at the babbling Bray.

At her command, Bray paused, took a deep breath, and then, more calmly, spoke.

“All the subordinates who accompanied them were taken out, Lord Vasco is dead, and Okota has lost most of the White Noise in his body.”

“…… Where is Okota?”

“He’s in the infirmary. I’ll take you.”

Bray led Tron at once.

The place was in Albino’s hideout, in the underground infirmary of the castle.

It was where wounded members of Albino were healed with White Noise.

“I’m going in to see Lord Okota!”

“Hey, wait……”

It was an officers-only infirmary.

Bray barged through the door.

Okota apparently didn’t want anyone coming in, but it was too late.

“Okota.”

“…… Tron.”

Tron bit her lip as she looked at Okota in the infirmary.

The wounds all over his body were one thing, but she also sensed that the amount of White Noise inside him had fallen to an ordinary member’s level.

Okota gave a bitter smile.

“I made a fool of myself.”

“What happened?”

“……”

At Tron’s question, Okota fell silent.

It seemed he didn’t know where or how to begin.

“…… I was taken out by that ‘Apostle of God’ guy. Both me and Montana, and Vasco.”

“Vasco and… Montana, both……?”

Tron’s voice was heavy with disbelief.

Montana was one of the top five among the officers.

And Okota and Vasco were just below that rank.

For all of them to have lost was almost impossible.

Okota looked on the verge of tears.

“Yeah. Vasco… right before my eyes…….”

“……”

“Damn it.”

Okota covered his face with his hands.

Rough and thuggish on the outside, Okota cared deeply for his comrades.

Losing one was hard for him to bear.

Both Tron and Bray turned solemn and gave him time.

After a while, Okota, having calmed down, spoke in a subdued tone.

“That guy is White Noise’s nemesis.”

“Nemesis?”

Tron looked visibly confused by the term.

Up till now, to her, White Noise had been simply omnipotent.

It could heal wounds and even bring someone back from the dead—a power with no equal.

So the idea that it might have a nemesis was unimaginable.

Okota spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

“Yeah. He absorbed the White Noise I had wrapped around my body.”

“Absorbed?”

“Literally. The White Noise protecting me was sucked up by his hand.”

Remembering the sensation, Okota shuddered.

“It was creepy. And the moment his lightning touched me, the White Noise vanished.”

“Lightning?”

Some of Albino’s members had fought enemies with lightning magic before.

But back then, even if White Noise was struck, it didn’t matter.

“This was different from typical lightning. It burned White Noise away completely.”

“Completely……”

The frightening thing about White Noise was that, even if it looked as if it had been erased by an attack, it could recover by absorbing life force, unless its core strength was lost.

But Luca’s lightning erased it for good.

“He’s our nemesis. We cannot fight him.”

“…… So you mean?”

To Tron’s question, Okota licked his lips and replied in a wintry tone.

“We have to use the power of another organization.”

Soon after, a directive went out to all criminal organizations under Albino’s control.

― Kill the boy with the jade-green hair and blue eyes.

* * *

Just because the southernmost tip of the South was infamous for poor law and order, it didn’t mean every southern region had bad security.

Major cities at the southern gateway, like Malbab, were well-regulated, and there was even a national organization in charge of all law enforcement in the region.

The Hernan Empire’s official Security Guard, Tularik.

It was distinguished, with elite graduates from Hernan Academy occasionally joining.

At the very least, in major cities including Malbab, incidents were prevented, and for large territories that paid significant taxes, guards could be dispatched promptly.

Criminal organizations like Albino could get by mostly by avoiding their surveillance, and in the case of Count Lubak, by being shielded by nobles.

To Tularik, the security guard, one letter arrived.

Hosé, a Tularik administrative officer, raised his brow at the delivery.

“Sender… the Traverse family? Why’s the Traverse family sending here?”

He at least knew where the Traverse family was.

When Hosé opened the parcel and read the contents, his eyes went wide.

“This is……!”

On the very first page, this was written:

― Everything about Albino, the major criminal organization in the southern regions.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep