Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 3

Pardon (3)

* * *

Kairus was staring at the knight and the wolves without saying much.

The knight was the one who had invited these guests with the roasted meat. Naturally, it was only proper etiquette for the person who sent out the invitations to host them. But…

“Hey, driver.”

Kairus spoke to the driver, who was trembling nearby with a face gone pale.

“What… what the hell? Why are you suddenly talking to me, damn it?”

“If I cut all of them down, can you take me to the town with the train station?”

At Kairus’s question, the driver snapped back nervously.

“What kind of bullshit is that! The knight is standing there so confidently!”

Confident, huh. Kairus immediately snorted.

“Seems the usage of the word ‘confident’ changed while I was in the Correctional Facility.”

That knight looked like he needed a diaper. Was the courage the driver spoke of the kind that made you wet your pants?

Of course, from the knight’s perspective, there were plenty of reasons to feel wronged.

He had spent a fortune to buy the position of apprentice knight, only to be dragged into this mess, and now he was destined to become a snack for wolves on a frozen road.

To be honest, this entire situation was his fault for ignoring people’s warnings and roasting the meat, but if he had the integrity to regret his mistakes in this moment, he probably wouldn’t have spent money to buy an apprentice knight title in the first place.

“U… uugh…!”

At last, the fear surpassed the knight’s sense of dignity. He immediately threw down the heavy sword he held and turned his back to run away.

“That idiot.”

Kairus looked at the sight with an expression of contempt. Turning your back and fleeing in front of hungry beasts?

It was like hanging a sign on your back saying, ‘Tonight’s late-night snack!’

As soon as the knight turned, the wolves lunged at him. A mournful scream rang out as the wolves’ teeth and claws tore his uniform apart.

To the wolves, it must have felt like unwrapping a nicely packaged present.

“Well, the knight who was standing so ‘confidently’ has now set off on a journey from which there’s no return.”

Kairus looked at the driver as he spoke.

“Do you plan to be the next course on our wolf friends’ dinner table? Wouldn’t it be easier to just take me to the nearest train station? It’s a cheap price to pay for your life.”

At Kairus’s words, the driver looked at him. A mere convict just released from the Correctional Facility was going to deal with wolves that looked like they had crawled straight up from hell?

There was no time left to doubt it any further.

“Damn it, damn it all. Do something! If you can get me out of this alive, I’ll take you past the damn border itself, not just the train station!”

“No, just take me to the train station.”

Kairus picked up the sword the knight had thrown to the ground.

“For a so-called knight, at least he had battle gear.”

A sword-type battle gear this was the form Kairus was most familiar with.

As Kairus examined the sword here and there, a visibly disappointed expression appeared on his face.

“A typical military supply piece.”

The moment he gripped the sword, a pain like a heated needle stabbing into him spread along his arm.

After that, a short metallic click sounded inside his body. It was the signal that the battle gear in his hand had completed optimization to match Kairus’s body.

“It’s been a while.”

When Kairus tightened his grip on the sword, his joints cracked with a dry pop.

As he moved the sword he was holding, the thick snow piled on the ground clung to the blade’s motion and fluttered into the air.

The wolves, which had been tearing into the dead knight’s body, filling their bellies with flesh and quenching their thirst with warm blood, instinctively sensed danger and fixed their gaze on Kairus.

Even the wolves knew from repeated lessons that the blade in Kairus’s hand was dangerous.

“So… what am I supposed to do now.”

Sword in hand, Kairus felt a hollow sense of futility. It wasn’t because of the wolves snarling just in front of him, baring their yellow fangs.

It was because he pitied his own miserable situation.

“There’s no elder of the family left to become my mentor… no manual with the family’s secrets left behind. The symbol of the house is gone.”

Kairus was far too young. To perfect the family swordsmanship, he still had a long way to go, but all his guides were dead and the map had been lost.

“Hey, what are you doing?!”

As Kairus stood still in his lament, the driver hiding behind him shouted in desperation.

But the driver’s shout did not agitate Kairus instead, it provoked the wolves that were facing him.

One of the wolves lunged at Kairus. This brave wolf, as it happened, was the very same one that had been the first to attack the knight moments ago.

It was an assault attempted in the belief that the same result would follow again.

“My mood was already all over the place today.”

But what awaited the brave wolf this time was the exact opposite outcome.

At the movement of the blade, the wind began to dance, and the swirling wind drew up the snowflakes to dance with it.

The blade, the wind, and the snow wrapped around the wolf. The beast that had leapt to pounce on Kairus lost its balance in the whirling air and was slashed apart midair.

Dozens of wounds burst open across the wolf’s body, and its blood soaked into the piled snow.

“These damn mutts don’t have the slightest clue what I’m going through.”

Muttering like a madman to himself, Kairus kept swinging the sword.

“Not guilty.” Those three words had a power that drove Kairus insane the more he ruminated on them.

“And now what?”

The storm that had engulfed the airborne wolf grew even more ferocious, slicing the creature alive. The wolf’s body, already lifeless, was shredded until it could no longer retain a coherent shape before it crashed to the ground.

“This is no damn joke!”

The driver, who was watching this scene, was trembling in fear.

“Not… not human. Dear god.”

The driver wasn’t the only one appalled by that sight. Even the wolves, mere beasts, felt the same emotion.

The wolf Kairus had shredded alive had been the leader of the pack. The largest and most intelligent specimen. The instinct of the beasts sounded an alarm.

‘The leader died without even being able to resist.’

It was a gruesome spectacle, enough to make their tails tuck between their legs on their own.

Their leader had been turned into minced meat midair in real time, an absurd scene beyond comprehension.

Not a single wolf dared to think of attacking.

“Where do you think you’re going. Do I look like a roadside rest stop bathroom? Coming in and out whenever you feel like it.”

As the wolves began creeping backward, Kairus charged at the remaining ones.

The roles of predator and prey had already been reversed.

To the wolves, the sight of Kairus rushing at them was no different from the grim reaper.

One by one, in the blink of an eye, four more wolves crossed the river of no return.

“Ah.”

At that moment, one of the wolves that had been fleeing rolled onto its back and exposed its belly. It was an instinctive action to somehow survive in a situation where there was no escape.

It was right before the sword would have pierced the creature’s throat. A drop of blood, trickling down the tip of the blade, fell onto the wolf’s fur.

“...”

Surrender and flight were two different acts. At least, to Kairus, they were.

If one trusted in their own abilities and attempted to escape, it was simply another fight between the fleeing one’s skill and Kairus’s pursuit.

But if one completely gave up and entrusted their life to the other’s judgment, that was no longer a battle.

“There won’t be a second time.”

Kairus moved the sword to carve a small X on the creature’s belly. If he encountered this beast again, he would recognize it by that mark.

And if it tried to attack him then as it had this time, he would kill it without hesitation.

“The weather’s cold enough. Stop showing me your belly and get lost.”

He had no more business with the surrendering creature.

Kairus lightly tapped the wolf’s stomach with the tip of his boot, then turned back toward the driver while inspecting the sword in his hand.

“The output’s exactly one horsepower. That takes some skill, matching it like this.”

One horsepower. It meant that if he directed the entire output of this battle gear into strengthening his physical power, he could exert the strength of a single horse for eight hours.

If he forced it beyond its limits, he could probably double that for a short time, but soon enough it would break down.

As he kept examining the sword, Kairus spotted the letters engraved on the blade and let out a derisive snort.

“Heaven-Slaying Star… What a pathetic joke.”

A name that flashy was far too grand for a mass-produced battle gear issued by the military at best.

‘If it were called Veil of Plumed Mist, I’d understand.’

The battle gear used by the head of the House Featherwing, and the very symbol of the family.

According to what the now-dead knight had said, Veil of Plumed Mist, the Featherwing’s symbol, had gone missing.

“That magnificent battle gear disappeared.”

Kairus had never touched it himself, since he wasn’t the head of House Featherwing, nor the heir. But as a direct descendant, he had at least had the chance to see it.

It was a sword with a dazzling, magnificent dark green blade.

It belonged to the era before mass-production technology for battle gear had been established.

Artifacts made without worrying about productivity or efficiency, created by craftsmen who had refined their skills, poured their individuality into their work, and invested all the budget and time they pleased.

Angelene’s Answer, Moon Sand, Veil of Plumed Mist…

Among the most powerful and famous battle gear, there were some that were distinguished and called masterpieces.

“Hey.”

The driver called out to Kairus.

“To the nearest train station. Keep your promise.”

Kairus snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the driver.

“Of course I’ll keep it! I’ll, uh… get you there as fast as I possibly can!”

The driver had no thought of going back on his word now. He’d watched those huge wolves get cut down so horribly right before his eyes.

The car began rolling again. Unlike before, Kairus was sitting not in the cargo compartment but in the main passenger seat behind the driver.

“Do you know anything about Bennett City?”

Kairus spoke to the driver.

“Bennett City, sir? Well… someone like me wouldn’t know much worth telling.”

Even using honorifics now. Kairus thought to himself as he continued.

“But you must have heard some rumors, at least. You were the driver attending a knight.”

The driver let out a thoughtful hum, then seemed to remember something and began to speak.

“If you’re thinking of something famous aside from crime, there’s the Antaria Grand Canal.”

“The Antaria Grand Canal. Right. That was there.”

Kairus knew of the structure, too. Among the countless wonders that existed in the world, it was always named as one of the greatest constructions without fail.

It was the legacy left by Dersos. Although Dersos was an ancient kingdom that had fallen 350 years ago, the Antaria Grand Canal was still in use, continuously repaired and maintained.

“Is it really that impressive?”

At Kairus’s question, the driver replied without delay.

“According to what people say, the canal is so wide that even ten whale-class warships can enter side by side and there’d still be room to spare.”

Kairus widened his eyes at the mention of ten whale-class warships lined up. That meant the minimum width was over 200 meters.

“Incredible.”

Even with today’s advanced technology, no one dared attempt to build anything like it. No wonder it was considered a wonder of the world.

“And on top of that, it’s so long that it takes a merchant ship about thirteen days just to pass through it.”

As he continued explaining, the driver let out a dissatisfied sound.

“But what good is it being famous? Those idiots from the Aylan Republic keep throwing fits, claiming the entire area belongs to them.”

The driver went on, his tone tinged with hostility.

“They even went and illegally built some building they call the Central Police Department or whatever right in Bennett City and are throwing tantrums there. Bastards. Acting like that on someone else’s land.”

The Aylan Republic and the Valorn Empire.

These two nations, whose borders met, had never enjoyed good relations.

Valorn had a larger territory, but their national power and military strength were about the same.

To make matters worse, both insisted they were the true legitimate successor state of Dersos, so territorial disputes never ceased.

“Well, it’s not like it’s the first time those lunatics who elect a term-limited king by vote have pulled this kind of crap.”

Kairus casually agreed with the driver’s complaints.

In truth, the relationship between the two nations wasn’t particularly important.

What concerned Kairus was whether he could find information in Bennett City about the whereabouts of Veil of Plumed Mist, the symbol of House Featherwing.

Veil of Plumed Mist was worth far more than just being a powerful artifact. It wasn’t the family’s symbol for nothing.

Anyone who learned the House Featherwing’s swordsmanship could never surpass the head of the family.

‘Without Veil of Plumed Mist, the Featherwing swordsmanship can never be completed.’

Kairus clenched his fist tight. In fact, even if he found Veil of Plumed Mist, it wouldn’t be the end. Because the most fundamental problem still remained.

‘Goddamn it. Who the hell am I supposed to learn the sword from?’

He had no master.