"Hey, Jin!"
Beradin waved his hand crazily with a big smile across his face.
"Greetings, old friend!"
Dante grinned and tried to approach Jin. However, Jin held out his sword and stayed cautious.
"I'm a little sensitive right now. I would like you to explain why you showed up at this location at this exact moment."
"Hm, are you not glad to see us?"
"I'd be a little glad to see you in a bar, but this isn't that."
"A little…"
Disappointed, Dante looked at the ground. Beradin grabbed Dante's shoulders and held him up.
"Only a little glad… That's too harsh."
Letting down both of his friends, Jin was startled.
'Is that important right now? No, was I too harsh?'
His conscience was confused.
Thinking that it couldn't be helped, Jin lowered Bradamante and sighed.
"You wouldn't say that if you knew just how much we struggled to find you!"
"Exactly! I had to use my slush fund in order to obtain the Nameless Pass!"
Jin sighed.
"Alright, then. Go ahead and tell me. How you found me and for what reason you came."
"So basically…"
Beradin rambled on about their journey to find Jin.
About sifting through the usage history of all transfer gates in the Vermont Empire and finding 45 different Jin Greys, the days they spent tracking down each and every one, meeting fourteen Jin Greys before finding the one they wanted.
"When we arrived in central Kon, I had a good feeling. So we sought every single coachman in the area since this was the place with Samil."
"And you killed Kidard not so long ago, so I just knew you'd be here. And our predictions were right! Do you now know how much we've been through?"
Listening to their story, Jin's head went blank.
'Fucking hell… What kind of tenacity is this?'
It was the first time he questioned someone's resilience.
"Haaa, yeah. I heard you loud and clear. Then what was your reason?"
"The reason why we went looking for you?"
"Yeah."
"Just 'cause… we wanna see you? Because the night at the arena was nostalgic?"
"Don't you think we need not a major reason for us to see each other's faces once more?"
"Yeah… that's plausible, alright. There doesn't need to be a reason. Then lastly, why come to Samil and hide in the corner of a restaurant?"
"Oh, that. I just knew that you were messing with Nameless. And I didn't want to get tied into that mess."
"We arrived three hours ago and were about to go look for you. But then the town got a little noisy, and after understanding the situation… you were destroying and terrorizing the city."
"And we were so hungry. We spent all our money to get the Nameless Pass, so we don't have money to eat."
"Then your reason why you're at a restaurant is to fill your stomachs?"
Dante shook his head.
"We have no intention of eating for free! We were planning to ask you to pay. Coincidentally, you stumbled in on us."
"Yeah, not a single thought to steal food. You know that, right? We're not that kind of people."
Silence ensued.
Seeing the sauce on Dante's and Beradin's mouth, Jin smirked and chuckled. The two culprits then burst into laughter.
"I'll still pay for it."
Jin took out a dozen gold coins and handed it to the two food robbers.
"Of course, we should pay the price!"
"Then do the money's worth."
Their grins disappeared and they looked at Jin.
"Money's worth…?"
"I'm saying let's beat those guys together. Beradin, watch your back."
"Huh?"
Slash!
The cadet swarm threw a flurry of daggers.
Clang!
Jin bolted past Beradin and deflected the projectiles. Dante drew his sword and took a defensive stance.
"Did I almost die there? Wow, I guess this really is Samil."
"You knew I was going to block it for you, so shut your trap and prepare some spells. They're about to release the fumes."
Beradin grinned and began to gather mana in his hands. Jin was surprised at how fast he gathered inconceivable amounts of mana.
And Jin could confirm that Beradin could multicast three spells at once.
'I saw a bit of it when he tried to heal Dante… but he really is multicasting three.'
To cast three spells simultaneously meant that he could get out three times as much output from a static amount of mana.
The mana in Beradin's hands slowed down into fire, wind, and ice elements.
'On top of that, I don't know what Dante did, but his blade got sharper.'
Starting to move, Dante showed more refined yet aggressive movement than when he met Jin at the arena.
At Dante's current state, Jin would have to use either magic or spiritual energy in order to beat him.
He did train there more years than Jin, but it was still hard to believe that he made that much progress in three months after their time at the arena.
"Dante! Don't kill them!"
"I didn't think of doing that anyway, Beradin."
The attack of the advanced cadets continued, but compared to before, Jin fought them with comfort.
'Instead of thinking that I'm expending all of my own energy and using all of my skills, they need to think about these other guys.'
Revealing his magic and spiritual energy would be problematic, but if he used his alternative skills, even the advanced cadets wouldn't stand a chance.
Whoooooosh, fwooooosh!
From Beradin's hands, a wind blew out the restaurant and took the poisonous fumes with it.
Simultaneously, a trail of flames sped across the floor then spread outwards towards the cadets. Dante defended against the cadets who jumped through the windows.
"There's no end if we fight them here. Let's bulldoze out of here!"
"Then what shall we do? It seems the entire city wants your head."
"Just do what I was doing before. Since you guys are with me, more cadets will come. Maybe a high-ranked executioner will come for us."
"We were watching from the sidelines because we didn't want to get involved, but now there's no point!"
"Think of it as punishment for intruding with my private business."
Ultimately, Dante and Beradin could only join the fight.
However, they didn't really dislike it. When they first began their search, they had a feeling they'd be intertwined with some problems.
Though, the problem was a little bigger than they expected.
* * *
Sitting atop the Nameless Manor, Yona sighed.
"What the hell?! What are those guys?!"
Unable to hold in her anger, she threw a tantrum with a strange envy.
"Hm… Yona, what's wrong?"
A man walked over to her and lit a cigar. A pale white uniform, and a black belt that only one person of Nameless could wear.
The Leader of Nameless, Owal.
"I was having fun with my youngest brother, but some weird kids interfered and interrupted my plans. I'm so pissed, Leader Owal. And they seemed to be close to him. I haven't even had a proper conversation with him!"
"So you're throwing a tantrum?"
"Yes! It's the first time I'm this mad."
"Th-That much?"
"You wouldn't know. I was so glad to see him… I was going to help him open his Mind's Eye! Those fuckers! Oh, and don't tell anyone that he's a provisional flag-bearer, yeah?"
"I do know…"
Owal awkwardly shook his head.
'The successors of the Zipfel Clan and Hairan Clan… It's the first time I've seen Yona this mad. But she won't kill them, right?'
He thought too soon.
"I'm gonna kill them!"
"Oh, Yona. You can't do that."
"Why not? I'll kill them. Jin came to me for the first time, and they ruined everything. Everything! A white-haired magician and a child with a sword. Their faces are already engraved in my brain."
"Do you really need to kill them? The entirety of Nameless may be put in a difficult spot."
"I can't let this slide. I yielded everything until now. I killed people I didn't want to kill, even when people came to visit the main house."
Owal licked his lips bitterly.
When the world powers had been moving ominously, Owal thought he evaded the fate of Nameless's extinction after getting Yona to succeed him.
If it weren't for her, this era—or maybe the next—would have been the last. That was Yona's presence in Samil.
However, her personality was far from universal. Although she was 23, she had a very pure aspect of her.
Putting 'pure' into other words, she could make anything happen. And in her mind, important things and unimportant things could change quickly.
'She's dangerous. If she moves on her own, they may never get out alive. If I need to keep them safe, I either need to kill Yona or make her disabled. But I don't want to think of that.'
It wasn't because Owal was lacking compared to her. It was because Yona's prowess made her the most talented assassin in history.
Born to assassinate. The second coming of the god of death.
The Nameless Executioners called her that. And a small population who knew about her called her a different name…
The Chaotic Blade.
Thankfully, Owal knew well about controlling her.
"Then how about we play a game, Yona?"
"Go on."
"Instead of cadets, we send three executioners. If they die, you win. And if they survive, you lose."
Of course, in Yona's position, she wouldn't gain anything.
However, she fell deep into thought.
"Hmm, then the chance of Jin dying is very high. I don't want him to die. He plays along with me so well. And he's too precious."
"If you let them live, then I won't bat an eye. Your brother lives, and his companions live as well."
"I don't want that either… Hm…"
She didn't think for long.
"Sure! Let's do that game. But in addition, you can't intervene. If you help them in any way…"
"Don't worry about that."
"Heeheee, then I'll see you later. I'll go pick the assassins."
Yona flashed a big grin, and Owal made a bitter smile.
"But Yona, do you know how many houses fell today?"
"Nope."
"…Thirty-seven houses got destroyed. This is because you sent those guys to your brother. So you have to write a self-reflection."
"Alrighty!"
Yona hummed a tune and jumped down from the rooftop, to the balcony.
'Phew, I stopped her from acting on her own, but can they really hold off one of ours…'
Even if the executioners killed Dante and Beradin, the Zipfels and Hairans wouldn't have a reason to immediately take action against Nameless. Since they were often involved in city destruction, the teens could be blamed for the crimes in the city.
However, if the pressure gradually increased, the Runcandels would take Yona before the situation could escalate. Then, Nameless would either fall or become a follower of a kingdom and lose their sovereignty.
Even though Nameless was a great assassin organization, the world powers that lost their successors wouldn't remain still and definitely retaliate.
'I didn't think the future of Nameless would become this dark. I must see Jin Runcandel without Yona knowing.'
Lighting a cigarette, Owal devised his next move.
—————