Chapter 30
Gold, and Something Better
* * *
Kairus, after finishing what he had to say, climbed up to the ceiling of the train and swiftly reached the compartment loaded with the safe.
“...”
This place was important, of course. But Kairus cast his gaze toward one of the soldiers.
“Where’s the room that bastard who used to be a Holy Knight was staying in? Lead me there.”
At Kairus’s words, the Holy Knight flinched. It was a small movement that others would have struggled to notice.
But Kairus, who had been paying attention to that man’s movements from the start, had no trouble noticing it.
There was something in the room. Kairus was convinced.
Just then, the soldier he had questioned looked at the crippled Holy Knight and hesitated for a moment to answer.
“Think about your options based on the situation.”
In that instant, Kairus’s blade sliced the soldier’s neck. He immediately turned to another soldier and asked.
“Same question. You know?”
This time, the soldier didn’t hesitate. He stood up right away. Between his legs, urine streamed down, and both his legs were trembling like those of a newborn deer.
Even so, the soldier stood up. He clenched his teeth so hard that blood dripped out between his tightly shut lips.
“Thank you.”
The soldier somehow managed to guide Kairus. Kairus, acknowledging that resolve in his own way, smashed the door apart and stepped inside.
“Modest, aren’t we. Even if he’d known he’d end up crippled today, he probably would have lived this same life.”
It wasn’t a particularly extravagant room. On the contrary, it was rather plain.
But no matter how humble it looked, Kairus was convinced that the most precious thing on this train was inside this room.
‘Even if we split the gold bars fairly, there’s no reason I need to share what I find here.’
Kairus calmly examined the room.
“I’m telling you, I have a knack for inspecting rooms.”
He was confident. In the labor correctional facility, one of the guards’ main duties had been searching the prisoners’ rooms.
And the prisoners, to hide things from such searches, would rack their brains desperately and carry out unimaginable acts.
They had to. If they didn’t, they would starve to death, freeze to death, or be killed by improvised weapons in other prisoners’ hands.
Those who are good at hiding things are also good at finding what others have hidden. It’s only natural.
Just like counterfeiters are the quickest to spot fake bills, and swindlers are quick to catch others cheating.
“If it were me…”
Kairus swept through the room. His hands and steps were unhesitating. He checked the pillowcase, pressed down on the blanket to feel inside, and inspected the mattress.
You had to start with the most basic spots, checking one by one. Most people didn’t hide things like prisoners in a labor correctional facility. They concealed them within the realm of ordinary imagination.
“Yeah. Normally, this is about the extent of how well things are hidden.”
Kairus finally succeeded in finding a bundle of documents wrapped in plastic inside the toilet tank. About fifteen minutes had passed by that point.
Knights weren’t meant to hide things or uncover hidden things. It simply wasn’t their field of expertise, so it was inevitable they would be sloppy.
“They should have sent an intelligence agent instead of a Holy Knight.”
If there was something that had to be hidden this thoroughly, that would have been the more efficient choice.
Kairus peeled off the wet plastic and took out the documents, reading through their contents.
“...”
After going through everything, Kairus wore a complicated expression.
“I honestly have no idea how this empire is still functioning.”
The documents were a report going up the chain of command. Inside, there was a detailed record of the taxes embezzled from the Treasury over the years and the processes behind it.
The amount siphoned over five years amounted to roughly fifteen percent of the Empire’s entire annual budget.
“They really did gorge themselves in style.”
There was no way His Majesty the Emperor didn’t know about this. It must have been exactly why he sent people to investigate. And this explained perfectly why whoever hired Kairus promised the entirety of the secured tax funds as payment.
“So the transported tax shipment really wasn’t the objective.”
The identity of the person who wrote this report had already been exposed, and it seemed they’d even been dealt with.
“I knew something smelled off. From today on, this is mine.”
All he had to do was handle this document, and it would be over. Kairus whistled as he tucked away the secured papers.
These were records of corruption inside the Valorn Empire Treasury. If used well, it was a bargaining chip that could drag the Treasury itself to the negotiation table.
Worth as much as the gold bars in the safe.
No, perhaps even more valuable than the gold.
“If I get my hands on this…”
Kairus scratched his head. The document had tremendous worth, but there was one problem with it.
“I’ll have to endure at least one attack no matter what.”
The Imperial Treasury wasn’t stupid. Once they realized that documents detailing their corruption were being transported alongside the national tax convoy, they were competent enough to ask the Rose Garden to raid this train.
After robbing Kairus and the others of the tax funds, they’d send people to inspect the train and try to retrieve the documents that exposed their misdeeds.
But if the papers were gone?
‘They’ll definitely pursue me.’
If documents that should have been here disappeared, they would obviously suspect that one of the people hired for this job had taken them.
And among everyone, Kairus was the one who had spent the most time on this train.
‘They’ll be coming.’
Once they were convinced that a mere restaurant worker rather than the head of some powerful organization was in possession of documents listing their weaknesses, the Treasury would never try to negotiate.
If all they had to do was kill me and take it, why would they bother negotiating?
Once suspicion narrowed down to Kairus, they would definitely send people. And it wouldn’t be some middling decorated knight like the Holy Knight he had just dealt with.
If Kairus wanted to make use of these documents, he would have to fend off that attack at least once.
He had to show them that he wasn’t someone they could simply send a hitman to kill. Only then would the Treasury agree to negotiate with him.
“There’s plenty I’d like to ask the Treasury for.”
The Valorn Empire Treasury probably knew to some extent where the Featherwing family’s legacy had been scattered.
The Veil of Plumed Mist.
The secret manual containing the family’s swordsmanship.
The equipment called add-ons that assisted combat by channeling battle gear output.
It didn’t matter what it was. If he could get information from dealing with the Treasury, Kairus would act immediately.
“Since this is Bennett City.”
If they planned to secretly send hitmen, that was one thing, but deploying a large force or officially dispatching famous knights was impossible.
For the Empire or the Republic to bring their full strength to capture Kairus, they would have to wait for him to crawl out of his hole out of Bennett City.
“So long as I don’t fall foul of the Grand Canal Operations Committee.”
As long as he followed internal rules like the Red Ticket, staying inside Bennett City guaranteed his safety.
‘If I get the chance, I should make myself look better to the Rose Garden.’
Out of all the organizations forming the Operations Committee, it was the only one where he had any kind of connection or acquaintance.
If someone mocked him, asking if that even counted as a connection, he wouldn’t have much to say in response. But right now, Kairus had to use even that flimsy link to prepare a place he could lean on.
“Ah, looks like we’ve arrived.”
He felt the train gradually slowing down. Kairus organized all these new realizations in his head and waited for the train to come to a full stop.
He took a deep breath. He had to set aside thoughts about the future for now.
At this moment, he needed to focus on finishing this heist of the national tax funds.
“In the end, I wound up doing everything by myself. Damn it.”
Kairus pounded the wall of the stopped train with his fist and shouted loudly.
“All right, gentlemen! The train’s stopped. Get out and head home get lost!”
He was speaking to the Imperial soldiers. There were few groups as powerless as conscripts who had lost their commander.
Of course, even if they ran away, it wasn’t as if a bright tomorrow was guaranteed to await them.
But it wasn’t an impossibility either. The Valorn Empire was vast. It took an enormous amount of manpower and time to track down deserters.
If luck favored them a few times, and they showed quick thinking and resourcefulness, they could survive and go on to live happily with their families.
Maybe five out of a hundred would manage to seize that bright future.
“In fifteen minutes, anyone still here I’ll take it you’re all dying to get yourselves killed!”
At Kairus’s shout, the soldiers leapt off the train in a rush to survive.
“Truly, the flowers are falling.”
Watching them jump from the train, Kairus muttered in a tone that sounded almost mocking.
The contractors waiting nearby approached cautiously, wearing bewildered expressions as they watched the soldiers scramble to flee.
“What’s wrong with them?”
From the perspective of those who had just arrived, it was impossible to comprehend what was happening on the train right now.
Almost no one could have guessed that a single man had crushed five knights and terrified all the soldiers.
“You really can’t get anything done in time, can you. I ended up doing all the work myself.”
While the soldiers fled, Kairus climbed onto the engine compartment of the locomotive and waved toward the others.
After hopping down, Kairus briefly explained the current situation.
“You beat up five knights all by yourself? And you said one of them was a Holy Knight. Holy shit… What the hell are you?”
Erickson asked in a somewhat trembling voice. Kairus replied as if it was nothing.
“He was just a White Heron Third Class.”
It was a medal you could only receive by distinguishing yourself in an expedition.
But even so, among the countries bordering the Valorn Empire, the only one where you could even call the skirmishes “local wars” was the Aylan Republic.
“He’d gotten used to killing people, but that was the extent of it.”
He’d been a hunter before, but never the prey.
“More importantly… hey, you there, middle-aged man with the name that sounds like gibberish.”
“You talking to me?”
Daniel, suddenly called by the name of his own shop, looked at Kairus with an uncomfortable expression.
“Get that train car open, and the rest of you, get ready for the job.”
“…All right. Everybody, let’s move!”
The attitude of the people had become far more docile than when they’d first met him at the Upside.
Well, if you tried acting tough in front of the guy who just butchered five knights, at best you’d end up crippled.
Besides, Kairus’s personality was closer to sandpaper than to silk.
Provoking a skilled man with a nasty temper was the shortest path to an early grave.
And beyond that…
‘This is a huge win!’
Everyone had been bracing themselves, thinking they’d have to face an overwhelming number of soldiers and five knights.
But Kairus had wiped them all out by himself.
All that was left now was to crack open the safe, grab the shiny things inside, and run.
Once the safe was open, the rest was easy enough that even well-trained dogs could handle it. Just doing that simple work would earn them an enormous amount of money.
“….”
Naturally, everyone’s eyes drifted toward Kairus.
He’d done the most work. He had every reason to demand a larger share, and the power to shut them all up if he did.
“I’m not going to ask for more. Just hurry up and grab everything. Come on!”
Kairus clapped his hands briskly to spur them on.
“What about transport?”
To Kairus’s question, Zandara answered.
“Cars.”
“Damn it. Well, there’s no other way.”
Kairus made a sorrowful face. In this place, where there weren’t even proper roads, using cars was going to be pure hell.
And since they’d be fleeing, no one would care about the passengers’ comfort.
“Our asses are already bruised.”
Kairus knew. Driving cars over terrain without proper roads often left your backside black and blue.
“I heard that the brand-new cars rich people ride around in replaced the leaf springs with some new system that makes them way more comfortable.”
At Daniel’s comment, Erickson chimed in.
“Since we pulled off a big score this time, maybe I should buy one of those.”
Judging by his expression, it seemed he’d already forgotten about the lover Kairus had killed.
“Unbelievable.”
Kairus’s gaze settled on Erickson’s left hand. A new ring was on his ring finger. He’d already found a new partner.
He was the kind of man who swapped out lovers the way you changed the menu at a restaurant. Well, that attitude had its merits too.
Unless you had the power to bring back the dead, it was better to forget quickly.
Bennett City was the sort of place where life and death were decided in the blink of an eye. The sorrow of losing a lover or friend never lasted long.
In fact, many people felt grateful that the tragedy had struck someone else instead of themselves.
While Daniel put his skills to use opening the train car, Kairus turned to the others and spoke.
“I’d like to hear exactly what you all plan to do next.”