"The current situation in the city isn't looking good for the forr Babel rcenaries," Felix said quietly.
Ines nodded slightly, understanding what he ant.
Originally, Babel had left Kazdel precisely because their ideals clashed with the Military Commission's. They sought a new path of their own. By all rights, now that they had returned after the city's capture, they should have been the victors. Yet, not long after their success… Her Highness...
Rumors claid it was an assassination, but the truth remained unclear — even to the forr Babel rcenaries themselves. Most of them suspected the Commission's hand behind it, their hostility toward the latter growing ever deeper.
Though the tension hadn't yet erupted into conflict, it left Felix with a persistent headache — there was no one left among the forr Babel mbers who could act as a representative leader.
After the Princess's death, several elite operators had left alongside Kal'tsit aboard Rhodes Island, while others vanished with their own small squads, leaving behind only the rank-and-file.
Felix believed there were still capable people among them — talents he could nurture and trust, perhaps even raise a new leader from within.
Still, he couldn't help but imagine a certain scene — when Theresa awoke from her ice-bound slumber one day, saw the state of her forr Babel comrades, and started lightly hamring his chest with her little fists in indignation.
But for now, what he truly needed… was soone who could command and unify the remnants of Babel.
---
Outside the city, in the encampnt area, tents stretched across the fields. Players and rcenaries moved about busily, and as Felix passed, many greeted him respectfully. He nodded in return.
Those rcenaries who had donned the black-and-white uniforms of Tomorrow's Developnt now looked entirely transford. Their gear was flawless — only their rough presence still betrayed their old roots.
He stopped before one particular tent. Ines, standing behind him, hesitated for a mont — then sighed softly as he lifted the flap and walked straight in.
"Looking for death—?! Ah, wait—oh, it's you two."
W's voice rang out, sharp and impatient. She tumbled off her cot, a live grenade still in her hand. Clearly, she had been lying around tossing it out of boredom.
In the dim light, Felix found the tent's only chair and sat down, extending a hand toward her.
"What?" W scowled.
"Your hand," he said simply.
"And why should I—"
Felix sighed. "You've been overusing your Originium Arts again, haven't you? If you don't rest or take treatnt, the concentration of Originium in your bloodstream will keep rising. You do know what that ans, don't you?"
"Tch… mind your own business!"
Still, she grudgingly extended her arm — though she wore nothing but a grimy rcenary vest, loose enough to show more than it should.
Sarkaz won, Felix thought briefly. Even the young ones are… formidable.
He pulled out a jar of ointnt — a recent Columbian invention capable of soothing crystallized Originium lesions and easing pain. It could even help infected individuals fall asleep more easily.
W's forearm bore claw-like crystalline scars. Putting on dical gloves, Felix began applying the salve with practiced care.
Ines stood silently by the entrance, arms folded. W glanced between her and Felix, her mouth twisting as if she wanted to say sothing — but the words never ca.
"You should rest properly," Felix said after a while, his tone calm. "Not spend the whole day picking fights with the city's rcenaries."
"So you heard about that, huh?"
W gave a small, bitter laugh. "They were talking about Her Highness. What do they know about her?"
"So you decided to draw your gun on them," Felix replied evenly. "And threw a grenade for good asure. If the Goliath guards hadn't been nearby, those two might be half-dead by now."
"..."
W's silence was admission enough.
"Anywhere else hurting?" he asked, glancing up. "Tell , I'll help you apply the rest."
W glared at him, then snatched the ointnt from his hand. "I'm not like Ulšulah. Don't think a bit of kindness will get you anywhere. I'll handle the rest myself."
Ines coughed lightly. "...That would indeed be more appropriate, Felix."
"Fine."
He removed his gloves without complaint. W's jab didn't bother him — after all, from the mont he decided to take this path, he'd stopped caring much about how others saw him.
The first rule of being an NPC, after all — was to have a thick skin.
W's hand brushed against her waist as she watched Felix rise to leave. Her voice ca out rough, betraying the confusion beneath.
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
Felix paused at the tent's entrance, turning his head slightly.
"What I want to do," he said evenly. "Coincidentally, what I want isn't much different from what Theresa wished for."
W's eyes widened. She wanted to snap back — to demand a real answer — but his words froze her. If Felix's goal truly aligned with Her Highness's… then didn't that an she herself didn't even understand what Her Highness had wanted to accomplish?
Unacceptable.
As Theresa's most devoted follower, W refused to let that ignorance stand. She bit down hard on her lip, crimson eyes flickering between anger and uncertainty, before finally speaking in a low, raspy tone.
"Tell … tell what you're trying to do. Spare the usual speeches you feed the other rcenaries — I know those are half-truths dressed up to sound noble. I want the real answer."
Felix raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusent crossing his face. His reaction only made W's blood boil. Did he really think that little of her?
"…Fine," he said after a mont. "In the short term: raise the living standards of Kazdel's civilians to match the Frontier District. Establish offices for Tomorrow's Developnt. And—make peace between the forr Babel rcenaries and the forr Military Commission troops."
"The first two I get," W snapped. "But the last one—what the hell?! That's impossible!"
Felix t her glare calmly, his expression almost saying, See? Exactly as I expected.
A vein pulsed on W's forehead.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because those bastards helped kill Her Highness!"
"You think they even knew about the assassins?" Felix countered quietly. "You investigated the trail yourself. I just helped you organize the leads. You know as well as I do that only one channel connected to the killers — the rest of the Commission had no idea."
He stepped closer, his tone steady but firm.
"Maybe their positions and ideals differed from Babel's, but they're still Sarkaz. Their wish to see Kazdel thrive isn't a lie."
"Through war, then?" W muttered with a scoff.
"I spoke to Her Highness about that once," Felix replied. "We concluded that if General Theresis agreed to postpone external wars until after Kazdel was stabilized, it could indeed unify the Sarkaz people — make them truly stand as one. But you know what would happen if we went to war now, surrounded by enemy nations. Kazdel would burn."
"Those damned…" W hissed, biting her nail. "I want to burn them."
Felix didn't respond imdiately. When he did, his voice had softened.
"Her Highness was too gentle. She gave Babel a radiant vision of the future — but she never realized how high the cost would be."
"What's that supposed to an?" W shot back.
"You know what she focused on," Felix said. "Education and dicine. Education targets children — the next generation of Sarkaz. She placed her hopes entirely on them. But what about the people still living now? What happens to their lives?"
"As for dicine… all our doctors are outsiders. Once they leave, what happens to Kazdel's healthcare system?"
W fell silent. She understood all too well. Babel's fad dical strength had always depended on foreign aid. After that woman left, the system nearly collapsed — if Tomorrow's Developnt hadn't stepped in to bridge the gap, even basic dicine for the infected would've vanished.
"Putting hope in the next generation—what's wrong with that?" W muttered, defensive despite herself. Felix's words made sense, but they rubbed against her loyalty — against the image of Theresa she held sacred.
Felix sighed, giving her a long look.
"Let ask you sothing. Can you even write my na?"
W blinked. "What kind of question is that? Of course I can! Hand sothing to write with!"
He passed her a twig. W crouched down and frowned at the dirt floor, thinking hard. After a long, painful silence, she suddenly threw the stick down with a snarl.
"Damn it! Why'd you have to pick such a complicated na?! Why not use a simple codena like everyone else?"
"I have one," Felix said mildly. "The Pioneer."
"Damn you! That's not what I ant! I'm talking about a proper codena — sothing simple. Like W!"
Their exchange ended there — abruptly, tension still hanging thick in the air. W turned away, jaw tight. If she knew that this man held the key to Kazdel's future, she might've tried to tear his throat out right then.
"You see?" Felix said, spreading his hands. "You're out of practice. And you're not the only one. Half the rcenaries in this camp don't even know how to read beyond their own nas. It's ignorance on top of ignorance."
W bared her teeth. "So what do you plan to do about it?"
"Open schools," Felix said simply. "And you're coming to class."
"...What?"
"Not just you. Every adult rcenary will attend. We'll start an adult education program — basic literacy, arithtic, civic lessons. I'll teach, along with Loughshinny, and Hoederer."
"Hoederer… and you?"
W was the first to protest. She had no idea who this "Loughshinny" was, but she did know Hoederer — and Felix.
Just imagining Hoederer watching her with that smiling, squint-eyed stare as she did howork sent a chill down her spine.
And Felix? What could he possibly teach?
"You'll find out soon enough," Felix replied with an infuriating calmness. "You're more than welco to attend my class—ah, correction, you're required to. No skipping. If you skip, I'll have Ines co drag you back."
From outside the tent, Ines could only sigh quietly. "..."
W groaned, flopping back into her chair like a sulking child. Her entire posture scread, Say whatever you want, I don't care.
"So that's it?" Felix's tone suddenly cooled, the warmth draining away. "You plan to just keep regretting things?"
His voice cut through the lazy air like a blade.
"With Her Highness gone… is this all you can do? Drown yourself in guilt and the past? Is this how you want to live — as a forgotten, ordinary rcenary?"
"What else can I do?!"
W exploded. She surged to her feet, grabbed Felix by the collar, and slamd him to the ground.
Outside, the tent flap rustled open — Ines peeked in, only to freeze. W was straddling Felix's waist, fists clenched, red eyes blazing. Felix lay pinned beneath her, expressionless. The two turned to look at Ines in eerie silence.
Ines blinked. "…My apologies for interrupting."
The flap closed again.
Felix's gaze returned to W. She swung her fists, pounding his shoulder with frustration.
"Don't act like you know ! You think saying stuff like that is going to change ?!" she shouted. "You think I'll suddenly find peace?! No — I'll get angrier! I'll hunt down every last one of those Military Commission bastards! I'll burn down this neat little order you've built!"
Her voice cracked. The red in her eyes shimred wetly, but she wiped it away before it could fall.
Then she kept hitting him — small, furious blows against his chestplate — the helpless anger of soone who no longer knew where to place her grief.
The chanical armor absorbed every strike without leaving a dent. Felix didn't flinch.
"Good," he said quietly. "That's more like you. If you ever forgot your hatred for Her Highness, I'd think you weren't W anymore."
"What do you want from , then?! Spit it out already!"
She could tell he was pushing her — deliberately provoking her, forcing her to explode instead of rot away.
And damn it, it was working.
Felix smiled faintly.
"I want you to lead the forr Babel rcenaries — to beco their core, their spirit."
He straightened slightly, eyes gleaming under the tent's dim light.
"In the future, Kazdel will have three powers. Tomorrow's Developnt — under . The forr Military Commission — led by Goliath and Luna. And as for the forr Babel…"
"You want to be their leader?" she asked, half in disbelief.
"Don't you think you have the potential?"
A slow grin tugged at Felix's lips. Despite the faint Sankta halo shining faintly above his head, he looked far more like a devil than an angel.
"Tell , W — wouldn't you like to see Kal'tsit bow her head to greet you? To see the Doctor tremble at your approach? To make those rcenaries who once looked down on Babel kneel before you?"
W's jaw clenched. She hated how much those words made her want it.
"Fine," she muttered, voice trembling ever so slightly. "Tell what you want to do."
Her tone had softened. Just a little.
Felix loosened his grip on her hands and rose slowly. He cupped her face gently — W imdiately tried to bite him, only to realize, with so shock, that his strength far surpassed hers.
Then again, after seeing him cleave open the moving city's gate with a single strike, she really shouldn't have been surprised.
"I want your loyalty," he said simply. "That's all."
"Like hell I'm swearing loyalty to you!" she barked back.
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