Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 214

An Unexpected Variable (1)Amid the chaos, Irena was somehow barely managing to withstand Kairus’s relentless offensive.

“The airflow….”

At the same time, Irena realized that the air around the battlefield where she and Kairus stood was twisting in a bizarre manner.

“You’ve definitely improved.”

Most others would only notice and react after the distorted flow of air had already turned into turbulence. But Irena was different.

She moved at once, trying somehow to correct the manipulated airflow riding along the tip of Kairus’s blade. The sword Kairus wielded swung rapidly, carrying abrupt temperature changes and overwhelming force.

‘Fighting imaginary enemies really isn’t enough after all.’

There was inevitably a limit to fighting opponents that existed only in imagination. In that sense, having a sparring partner like Irena was enjoyable.

“You think I was just fooling around this whole time?!”

Irena’s body slid smoothly backward. Then she shot straight toward Kairus. But the form of her movement was far from ordinary.

“She lifted her body.”

Irena’s feet were no longer touching the ground. Only slightly, but she was floating in midair. That meant friction from the surface no longer applied to her.

Instead of kicking off the ground to charge forward, she could maintain her original speed almost perfectly just by gliding smoothly.

“You worked hard on this.”

She only planted her feet on the ground at necessary moments. More specifically, only during the split second her sword collided with Kairus’s.

It was a feat impossible unless one could predict the exact instant of collision.

Kairus highly evaluated the value of the technique Irena had developed through painstaking research as he continued the spar.

“Ah, this…!”

Irena, who had been trying somehow to suppress the surrounding air, ultimately failed to achieve her goal. The wind began to swirl, then instantly transformed into a violent torrent beyond her ability to handle.

“Ugh… aaah?!”

Caught in the raging current, Irena’s body lifted into the air. Unlike Kairus, it was impossible for Irena to move as she wished within this chaotic turbulence.

And shortly afterward—

“So annoying.”

The blade of Veil of Plumed Mist touched the back of Irena’s neck as she lost her balance.

“At times like this, you’re supposed to say, ‘Please spare me.’”

Irena gave a bitter smile as she replied.

“Then will you spare me?”

“Since this is just sparring.”

“Fine. Please spare me.”

Having heard the answer he wanted, Kairus withdrew his sword. With a schwing sound, Veil of Plumed Mist returned to its sheath once more.

“We’ve definitely chosen different paths.”

Unlike Kairus, who focused on controlling the surroundings through turbulence, Irena concentrated on strengthening her own movements through Swift Blade.

“Your attacks are getting more and more fierce too.”

To be precise, it could be described as nothing but overwhelming ferocity. She focused on maintaining a tyrannical offensive without pause or rest, continuously pressuring her opponent.

“What, you think I should fix it?”

“Not really.”

Kairus shook his head at Irena’s question. There was absolutely no reason to change it. If she continued refining it, she would only become more outstanding.

“You’re starting to resemble your knight captain.”

Irena briefly looked down at the sword in her hand before shrugging.

“She’s not our captain anymore.”

Irena was no longer part of the Scarlet Leaf Order. But the person she had always aimed toward was Dana Watson.

Since the image she aspired to had already been decided, it was only natural that repeated training would shape her closer to that goal. After checking the time, Kairus rose from his seat and spoke.

“I’m going to pick up my ID.”

“What are you disguising yourself as this time?”

Kairus mimed putting on glasses as he answered.

“A graduate student.”

It was a word that carried an oddly sorrowful resonance. This time, Kairus and Irena were disguising themselves as graduate students sent to a factory under a professor’s orders.

Nora and Tanya were scheduled to receive their forged identities through a barge that would approach during the voyage.

“We don’t know anything about medicine, though.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Tanya has more than enough medical knowledge, so she can handle most questions. And if the documents are perfect and we act naturally, almost nobody will suspect us.”

“The Empire’s administrative chaos is still ongoing.”

Documents that had all burned to ashes could not suddenly reappear from nowhere. Every single document needed to verify authenticity had been destroyed.

“If you compare it to a restaurant, it’s like all the recipes burned away, so now nobody can tell whether the steak they made was prepared the same way as before or not.”

There was a reason why the criminals of Bennett City were rapidly expanding their territory while simultaneously shaking up the Aylan Republic.

The Empire was currently leaving its doors wide open for criminals and waiting for them to walk in.

“Should I come with you?”

Kairus shook his head at Irena’s words.

“You should think over that spar from earlier.”

It would help her a lot. Irena could still become stronger. Though the speed of her growth was, how should he put it, somewhat slow.

Still, it was far better than endlessly chasing after Kairus’s footsteps. Even if somewhat slow, she was walking the right path.

With that, Kairus headed toward western Bennett to secure the forged identities.

“Wish, huh.”

For a place where prostitutes poured drinks while making people pay absurd alcohol prices, then enforced payment through various methods if they couldn’t pay, it had quite a cute name.

“Survivor-nim.”

As soon as Kairus slid open the door and entered, a man wearing a colorful shirt sprang to his feet as if he had already been waiting.

“The thing I requested?”

Immediately afterward, a silver tray carrying forged identities for Kairus and Irena was carefully set down.

“These are genuine, perfectly clean goods. They’re clean enough to pass even if the Empire weren’t in such a mess.”

Not only was the wood used for the identity tags authentic, but even the engraving method perfectly replicated the Empire’s system. The paperwork was flawless as well, convincing enough to make nonexistent people seem real.

“You worked hard.”

At Kairus’s words, the colorful-shirted man’s body stiffened instantly. It was the reaction of someone harboring hopeful expectations.

“Well, is there anything you want?”

When those words actually came out of Kairus’s mouth, the colorful-shirted man instead recoiled in shock.

“I-I didn’t even do anything that impressive?!”

That was how lotteries worked. Sometimes people who stubbornly chased after them received rewards, but other times someone just happened to pass by and struck it lucky.

The other organizations that had desperately worked themselves to the bone over Kairus’s requests would probably feel terribly wronged if they heard this, but the world was unfair by nature.

“You don’t want it? Then forget it.”

“No, absolutely not!”

Now that the thing he had hoped for was suddenly right in front of him, he found himself agonizing over what wish he should make.

“Bring me a drink.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a glass of outrageously expensive liquor was placed before Kairus.

“I’ll only wait until I finish this. If you take too long, you’ll get nothing.”

As Kairus slowly sipped his drink, the colorful-shirted man sank into deep thought.

“A bunch called Detente has been causing trouble lately.”

Kairus nodded.

“You want me to cut off their heads, or smash up a few of their businesses?”

“Ah, just taking care of a few businesses will do.”

A napkin was held out before the man.

“Three places. Write the addresses.”

Before the expensive liquor glass became empty, three addresses had already been written onto the napkin. Kairus pocketed the napkin and stood up.

“Keep up the hard work.”

“Thank you!”

He dealt with it simply on the way back. It wasn’t something that took long. It was about as easy as going to a restaurant and picking up a takeout order of stir-fried noodles.

After returning to the office, Irena and Kairus spent several days continuing their training while simultaneously investigating and preparing for their destination, San Paluche.

“San Paluche. A city with many disabled people.”

“It’s a city with a strangely high number of unhealthy people. The reason is mysterious, complicated, and at the same time simple.”

“Not just the river, but even the nearby sea.”

Everything was contaminated. During the drug manufacturing process, all kinds of catalysts and byproducts were dumped into the river.

The citizens, who lacked financial means, relied heavily on fish caught from the sea and river as staple food sources, and every single one of those fish looked bizarre. Some had strangely shaped gills, some had backs bent like bows, and others had multiple eyes.

“There’s no way the bodies of people who drink that water and eat those fish can remain normal.”

It was a city filled with sick people and deformed children. The funny thing was that despite all that, people still did not leave the city.

“Because they provide treatment.”

The citizens of San Paluche could receive treatment at extremely low prices. Though in truth, it wasn’t treatment but clinical testing for new drugs.

They administered all sorts of unapproved medicine to produce results, and the byproducts generated during the drug production process ended up making people sick again.

Perhaps the term perpetual motion machine existed precisely to describe San Paluche.

“I get the city’s situation. So what?”

If it wasn’t information that helped accomplish Kairus and Irena’s current objective, then it was all useless information.

“The Empire’s citizens know about it to some extent too.”

“So we need to hide our forged identities.”

Their forged identities as medical graduate students would help them enter the pharmaceutical facilities, but the city’s residents themselves would likely be hostile toward Kairus and Irena.

“We should send a telegram first.”

They needed to inform Nora and Tanya of this as well. Since they couldn’t place a phone call to a ship currently at sea, they had no choice but to send a telegram.

However, there was one thing Kairus and Irena could not possibly know.

“The rain is really intense.”

The ship carrying Nora and Tanya had run into severe weather. This wasn’t some light passing shower, but violent storm conditions with thunder and lightning running rampant.

“The ship isn’t going to flip over, is it?!”

Nora spoke with visible tension. But Tanya herself remained calm.

“It’s fine. I’m on this ship, aren’t I?”

There was no way a ship carrying her would sink in bad weather. Tanya declared it with certainty.

For someone to ask what gave her the confidence to say a ship wouldn’t sink in weather like this—

Well, Tanya Lysand’s life history up to now had simply been too extraordinary.

“I-I guess that’s true? If I stay with unni, then it should be safe.”

Even Nora herself was reassured after seeing how calm Tanya remained.

But.

Because of the storm, the telegram Kairus sent to the two women never reached the ship.

And the telegram system was not sophisticated enough to notify anyone whether delivery had failed.

Therefore, neither woman knew that Kairus had sent them a telegram, nor did they know what it contained.

“Once the ship arrives, I’ll contact Kairus, and he and Irena should get here within a few hours. Until then, unni, don’t go anywhere and stay right beside me.”

“I will.”

The ship rocked violently amid waves that looked ready to tear it apart at any moment.

But even that storm ultimately failed to sink the ship Tanya was riding on. The voyage continued.

And at last, the two women arrived at the harbor of San Paluche.

Nora immediately called Kairus to inform him of their arrival.

“They said both of them arrived. Let’s head out too.”

“Alright. I’m ready.”

He could have at least asked once, ‘Did you receive the telegram properly?’

Yet for some reason, Kairus did not ask Nora that question.