Chapter 040
Felix's eyes were bloodshot.
'Damn it! Those idiot holy knights, how the hell did they mess things up so badly for this to happen?!'
He was walking with angry strides when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
'I'm getting nervous?'
His palm was damp and clammy with sweat. His pounding heart showed no sign of calming down. It was an unfamiliar sensation.
"Ha, haha."
A hollow laugh escaped him.
He had spent more than half his life as a human hunter. To some, "Tracker Felix" would forever be a terror never to be forgotten, terror personified.
And yet now, he was the one being hunted.
By an even greater terror called 'Mad Dog Ran'.
'... I shouldn't have messed with him.'
It was an instinctive intuition, like a wild animal facing its natural enemy.
Perhaps he had developed such a premonition to sense his own end, as if cursed by someone he had killed with his own hands.
'So this is what it feels like to see death flicker before your eyes.'
He took a deep breath and opened the door to the office.
The officers of the Special Unit were gathered around, with Tessa Dergagne, the successor to the highest seat, at the head.
"Felix."
Tessa shot Felix a cold glare.
"Did... did things go wrong?!"
He answered before she even asked. Anyone could see he had lost his composure.
Felix sat with a visible slump in a vacant seat, then cleared his throat.
"He let himself get caught by the holy knights on purpose."
"On purpose?"
"If he had been declared wanted, it would have been hard for him to pass through the gates, so he just used the holy knights for a while."
It was something only a person with extraordinary nerves could do.
Felix's interlaced fingers trembled at the tips.
"He came back, even when he knew we tricked him by using High Priest Ortolio's name. He didn't run, but deliberately returned."
"Is he back to take revenge on the Special Unit for betraying him?"
Felix hesitated. He wasn't sure if the young unit leader was simply fearless or just full of bravado.
"Look here, commander. Zima is currently missing, and his son, Mad Dog Ran, raised hell openly in the middle of the capital. Do you not fully grasp the situation?"
"No, I do. I now realize how foolish I was to try to make use of you like Bern did."
"... What?"
With misfortune piling up, the Special Unit was now in dire crisis. In such a situation, it was obvious what further crisis could come if a young woman rose as the new leader.
'We have to prioritize consolidating our internal unity.'
That was why Felix had been retained. The inquisitors were a double-edged sword for the Special Unit, but in this kind of situation, they were necessary.
He thought former leader Bern had also kept Felix close for this reason.
"It was my misjudgment."
"What do you mean?"
"Your plan to eliminate Zima and Ran first. Look. Poking the hornet's nest made things worse. Now the holy knights will hold us responsible."
"You're... you aren't trying to pin all the blame on me, are you?"
Just a moment ago, he had been racking his brain about what to do with the inquisitors.
Now, his mind was made up.
Tessa put her hand to her forehead and glanced sideways with one eye half open.
"At least you catch on quickly."
"You crazy—?!"
Felix suddenly shot to his feet, his fist trembling. The other officers cautioned him.
'Damn!'
He had nothing else to say. The dealings with the holy knights had been his own act done independently. Tessa had not interfered at all. She had merely turned a blind eye, since she also considered Zima and Ran a thorn in the side.
* * *
Felix immediately turned and left. He didn't want to disgrace himself any further and trample on the last shreds of his pride.
"How did grandfather ever handle people like that?"
He heard someone talking behind his back as he left the office.
'That whelp with blood barely dried on her head... so arrogant.'
Thud!
He punched a wall in the basement passage, causing dust and pieces of stone to rain down from the ceiling.
'Everything is spiraling toward the worst case.'
Felix cooled his head. He needed to stay calm, especially in a situation like this.
His eyes flashed sharply from within the corridor's shadow.
'From the holy knights' perspective, they've kicked away the feast after doing all the work themselves, so they can't say a word to me. The Special Unit probably wants me to just disappear quietly.'
His pupils darted back and forth.
'But I can't just run away, either. Now that Gordon also knows what I know about the Vessel.'
For a moment, he wished he could go back to when he knew nothing.
Felix shook his head.
'Bern gave me a little hint about the emperor's intentions.'
The emperor, having obtained the Vessel, would reveal the truth of the Apocalypse to the world and proclaim himself as the one who could avert the calamity mentioned at the end.
The emperor would become the god of a new age, and the Holy Church would become a relic of the past.
The inquisitors, of no further use, would disappear along with the vestiges of the Holy Church.
'I was doomed to die without a trace, anyway.'
He didn't want to die. He wanted, no matter what, to survive and bask in luxury.
'There's definitely a way to live. First, I've got to get out of Mad Dog's sight.'
Sssrung.
A shadow flickered on the wall.
His nerves instantly tautened as his hand went to his waist. A habitual movement, one ingrained in his body.
'?!'
He couldn't grip the hilt that should have been there.
A cold chill pressed against the nape of his neck. Felix instinctively knew—the knife now at his throat was actually his own.
"Shh."
His heart plummeted in an instant.
The voice—why was it so familiar? Because he'd heard it often in his nightmares recently. He'd had many sleepless nights because of this very voice.
But hearing it for real, it was nothing short of the voice of death itself.
"Relax your body. Unless you want to die looking that pathetic."
Felix nodded, trembling.
He had expected this would happen someday, but never thought it would be so soon, and especially not inside the headquarters of the Special Unit.
"How... how did you get in here?"
"This is a road I've walked thousands of times, drawn tens of thousands in my head."
It wasn't memorized in his mind, but remembered by his body.
The number of steps for each stride, timing, humidity, texture, smells, even the shape of the ground as felt through the soles of his feet.
There couldn't be anyone who knew the underground passages of the Special Unit headquarters better than Ran. Ran knew several shortcuts that didn't even appear on the map.
Creak.
Ran, with practiced ease, found an empty secret room and opened the door. Apparently, he knew all the blind spots in the patrol routes, so there was nothing to be concerned about.
Shush!
"Mmmfh?!"
As soon as they entered and closed the door, Ran slashed at the inside of Felix's knee. To prevent the screams from leaking out, he tightly covered Felix's mouth.
Felix collapsed, clutching his leg, unable to bear the pain.
"Kh, khhh... khkh."
It was impossible to tell if he was laughing or crying. It almost sounded like admiration.
Ran looked down at him expressionlessly.
"This won't take long. Where is Zima?"
"Zima...? Where could he be? I'd like to find him too."
Ran acted as if he knew Felix would respond that way. He peeked outside through the slightly open door, scanning the hallway.
He shut the door again and this time cut off Felix's right hand.
"Kyyaaaagh!"
"You have one arm and one leg left now."
Felix, facedown, clamped his remaining hand to the stump of his arm. Finally, unable to endure the pain, he started rolling on the ground. Groans seeped through his clenched teeth.
"Spare me. Please, Mad Dog..."
Ran twisted up one corner of his mouth and crouched.
Felix's sweat-soaked hair trembled. He looked up at Ran with terror in his eyes.
"I can help you find Zima. You know my skills."
"I know them all too well. You've relentlessly dug into my business, haven't you? Honestly, I was surprised. If I'd known you were this good, I should've killed you sooner. My mistake."
"I'm sorry about Peco. I-I didn't think Bern would go that far, either."
"Shh. Don't say Peco's name."
Ran pressed his knife to Felix's lips.
Felix bobbed his head furiously.
"I just wanted to live. I only did what Bern told me to do. The Vessel or whatever—I don't really care. So just let me go. Please?"
"Let's stick to business. So, you really don't know where Zima is?"
"He's vanished completely for the past few days. But I can find him. Just give me a little time—"
Clack!
The moment he heard the metallic sound, killing intent flashed from Felix's sleeve.
Ran jerked his head aside in an instant. A blue blade whipped past his face—it was the kind of dagger used by assassins.
Thunk!
Ran, unfazed, grabbed Felix's remaining arm and severed it, too, without even checking what device had been triggered inside Felix's clothing.
Felix let out another agonized scream.
"You keep doing pointless things."
"Keh, keh... that's just how our line of work is."
"Our."
At that word, a shadow of gloom crossed Ran's face.
"I'm not like you people."
"Cut the crap and just kill me. Unless you plan to let me live."
"You could have survived. If only that person hadn't died."
Felix looked over at Ran with just his eyes.
Ran wore a faint semblance of a smile.
"—Zilla. She had nothing to do with any of this, with us."
It is said that people see their entire life flash before their eyes before they die.
Felix, however, was looking at something else. His face contorted in pain and regret.
Before he could reflect on his life, he lost consciousness.
* * *
Ran had shaken the holy knights' pursuit by hiding in the backstreets, then slipped back into the inner city, biding his time before sneaking into headquarters.
It was all to kill Felix at the Special Unit's headquarters before he lost his chance forever.
He had promised himself countless times to avoid meaningless murder. But he had realized, far too late, that meaningless murder didn't truly exist.
Each time, he had prayed for forgiveness. To ease his own guilt, if only a little.
At some point, he had stopped even counting how many times.
Step, step.
In Gerinhild, there is a church standing in the outer city, the inner city, and within the imperial palace.
The Grand Cathedral in the inner city is mostly for those of noble or high status. Sometimes, ordinary citizens are allowed in—for example, on the monthly day of prayer.
The imperial palace church is reserved only for the imperial family to offer their worship.
'...'
Ran paused mid-stride and looked around.
It was quiet. It was a secluded location and the night was deep.
The church in the outer city.
This one is visited by those at the bottom—the downtrodden, the persecuted, or those worn out by life, who earnestly seek the blessing of Lord Asriel.
Creak.
The old door groaned as it opened. The warmth inside touched his skin. Ran felt a kind of comfort.
The lanterns hanging on the walls burned brightly to illuminate only one thing: the symbol of the Holy Church. As soon as Ran walked in, the lanterns all flickered dangerously a few times.
Rows of worn pews were arranged in order.
Ran sat at the very back.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a young girl's voice sounded. Startled, Ran looked over.
The girl had been praying in the front pew.
"What brings you here at this hour...?"
The girl looked flustered. The people who sought out the outer city church so late were usually obvious: runaway children or people facing death. Just a few days ago, a vagrant had come in bleeding after a drunken brawl in the backstreets.
To the girl, Ran didn't fit any of those categories. So she asked again.
"Sh-should I call the clergy?"
"No, that's all right. I'll just sit here a while."
No sooner had he said so—
Creak.
The door opened again. Ran casually glanced over.
His eyes widened. For a moment, he couldn't breathe.
"You are...?"
The man, with a plain face and no makeup, was unmistakable.
What unsettled Ran even more was the man's demeanor.
The man in neat clerical robes stood with a faint smile, as if he had been expecting Ran—waiting for him.
"... Adolph?"
Ran's voice quivered.
Adolph. He was the man who ran Susan's establishment, where Ran sometimes visited. Usually, caked in heavy makeup over the shadow of his beard, he would flirt coquettishly with Ran.
But above all, he was a demon.
"So you've finally arrived, brother."
Ran was so shocked, he froze completely.
Adolph's expression, his voice, his gaze—everything about him defied the natural order.
Adolph walked up to Ran, then gracefully knelt on one knee.
With his customary solemnity, he said,
"You've done more than enough, father Cyrano."
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Damn.
How many agents did Quersa send to destroy the mainland church?
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】