Chapter 104
Captured by the special task force, Yan effortlessly escaped their grasp.
It was thanks to Jin, who had headed to headquarters and vouched for Yan’s identity through the communication portal.
“I apologize. There was an order from above to apprehend anyone suspicious, and we’ve committed a discourtesy.”
At the task force mber’s words, Yan offered a slight smile and nodded in understanding.
“No need for apologies. As soone who cooperates with the task force, I actually found the investigation quite reassuring.”
“Thank you for saying so.”
Having stepped outside, Yan imdiately made his way to the Airl Spirit’s train station.
There, he showed his badge and boarded the gate returning to the training center.
It was ti to return to the training grounds.
* * *
Squeak.
As Yan entered through the main gate, a chilling atmosphere pressed down within the training center.
Even the trainees, in the midst of self-directed practice, seed to sense it, their spirits seemingly dampened.
Then, he encountered Roman, who had just stepped out from the practice arena for a break.
Roman approached Yan.
“Did you just get back?”
“Yeah. Was there any trouble?”
“The Cheif instructor was looking for you yesterday... but since you’ve arrived on ti, there shouldn’t be any issues.”
“Really? What about the others?”
“They’re all honing their skills in the practice arena or the royal armory.”
“Thanks.”
With a word of gratitude to Roman, Yan moved towards his quarters.
Along the way, he stealthily glanced at the instructors’ faces laid out around him.
Their expressions were coldly set, and a frosty aura emanated from their eyes.
He had thought the instructors beca quite friendly after passing the second exam.
‘It feels like the first day of enrollnt all over again.’
It was as if the air was thick with the prelude to war. The reason was unclear.
‘Well, I guess it’s ti to find out what’s going on.’
With a spark in his eyes, Yan passed by them.
* * *
Creak.
Yan’s face tensed as he opened the door to his quarters.
The room, usually so neat and orderly, was in complete disarray.
“Lia?”
There was no sign of her presence.
The chaos of the room and the absence of Lia weighed heavily on Yan’s mind.
‘Could this be the work of the Cheif instructor?’
Who else in the training center would dare such a thing?
If they had realized Lia wasn’t really the task force leader’s daughter, it was entirely possible.
Then, soone trudged into the quarters.
Yan turned with an icy expression to face one of the Cheif instructor’s trusted aides.
“The Cheif instructor summons you. Follow .”
Without a word, Yan followed, his mind racing with thoughts of how to handle the head instructor.
If he had hard Lia...
Yan shook his head.
‘There’s no way the head instructor knows Lia’s true identity.’
The task force leader would have done anything to keep the ‘Destroyer Project’ a secret from him.
As these thoughts spiraled, Yan and the aide arrived at the Cheif instructor’s office.
“Enter. He’s waiting.”
“Yes.”
Yan opened the door to the office, first taking in the Cheif instructor’s expression.
He was massaging his temples, as if plagued by a headache.
‘Has he figured it out?’
As Yan stepped inside, the Chief instructor asked coldly.
“What kept you?”
“I was relieving so accumulated fatigue.”
“Did you take a trip or sothing?”
Yan’s lips twitched slightly.
“Before discussing how I spent my ti, I need to know Lia’s whereabouts.”
Ignoring Yan’s question, the Chief instructor’s gaze grew colder.
A frosty silence filled the space between them.
After a mont, the Chief instructor broke the silence.
“Shall we end this pointless standoff? I’m quite tired. I don’t wish to expend energy on you right now.”
A flicker of interest crossed Yan’s eyes.
‘He would usually start with threats, but now he’s offering an olive branch?’
He rembered the tense atmosphere he’d felt upon entering the training center earlier.
‘Could it be related to that?’
Considering the Chief instructor’s rank as second in command of the task force, it wasn’t hard to guess the opponent.
‘The task force leader.’
Had the task force leader been engaged in a covert struggle, affecting the training center to this extent?
But sothing didn’t add up.
‘If it’s not an all-out war, there shouldn’t be any damage, right?’
And even if they hated each other enough to wish death upon one another, outwardly, they were still family.
So, even the task force leader would struggle to justify a full-blown conflict.
Especially against the Chief instructor, who, though a bastard, was still of imperial blood.
The Chief instructor sat down and looked at Yan, speaking bluntly.
“The task force leader has taken back his daughter.”
“How? Surely the task force leader didn’t co to the training center himself to fetch her.”
“Indeed. If that were the case, the instructors would have reported it, and I would have buried him in the back mountains without anyone knowing.”
The head instructor smiled, but his fists were clenched.
The bulging veins on his hands showed just how furious he was.
“The kidnapping happened just a week ago, while we were at the imperial palace. And it turns out, five out of the ten senior instructors were the task force leader’s straws.”
Spies, in other words.
The spies under the task force leader had taken the opportunity of Yan and the Chief instructor’s absence to abduct Lia.
Yan frowned.
The Chief instructor wasn’t foolish enough to be played by spies.
But the Chief instructor’s next words made sense.
“Ever since I took over the Dragon Soldier Project, those n followed , not the task force leader. I had also completed investigations on their families.”
The Chief instructor’s words, implying he would take their families hostage if necessary, drew a bitter smile from Yan.
It was a rough thod, but effective.
However, it wasn’t Yan’s preferred approach.
“That would make one complacent.”
“To think they would go to such lengths, even risking their own families’ lives... It’s unbelievable.”
“It must an they’re desperate. The task force leader wouldn’t have easily placed them, and yet he’s expended them all on this incident.”
“That’s not all. Sothing felt off, so I looked into it, and it turns out the task force leader has been recruiting nobles who bear a grudge against .”
The Chief instructor chuckled.
His laughter was filled with a chilling murderous intent and cold fury.
Yan could guess why the task force leader was so desperate to eliminate the Chief instructor.
‘Lia’s very existence is a trendous burden to the task force leader.’
She’s a living witness to the ‘Destroyer Project.’
If she were presented to the dia, the task force leader would have no choice but to face execution.
Moreover.
‘It could even implicate the emperor.’
No matter how legitimate the emperor’s rule over the empire might be, he couldn’t escape the promises made at the founding of the nation.
That’s why the task force leader was in such a frenzy.
His life was in the hands of the Chief instructor, whom he despised.
Yan’s lips curled up.
‘I must find Lia at all costs. Even if the emperor is out of reach, the task force leader is a card I can play.’
Not only that, but using her could also bring benefits.
For instance, promoting the Chief instructor, who had followed his father, to the position of task force leader.
But first, he needed to share his strategy with the Chief instructor.
“Chief of the task force. Are you interested in making a move?”
“What?”
“This might be an opportunity.”
The Chief instructor’s expression soured at Yan’s unexpected suggestion.
“Opportunity? What opportunity?”
To the Chief instructor, unaware of Lia’s true identity, Yan’s words sounded like nonsense.
Yan’s smile widened.
“Lia, that girl, she’s not really the task force leader’s daughter.”
“...What?”
The Chief instructor’s icy gaze turned towards Yan.
If looks could kill, Yan would have been torn to shreds.
Yan had confidently claid from the start that Lia was the task force leader’s daughter.
But now.
“You’re saying she’s not the task force leader’s daughter?”
The Chief instructor’s face twisted with a violent killing intent.
Yan nodded.
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to do?”
“The card of being the task force leader’s daughter is far less powerful than what she truly is.”
“...?”
The Chief instructor’s face contorted in confusion.
He was irritated by Yan’s continuous, incomprehensible babble.
Yan’s smile showed no sign of fading.
“Perhaps she’s a powerful trump card that could even reach the august emperor himself.”
At those words, the Chief instructor’s face hardened.
“...Have you lost your mind?”
“Even the emperor himself cannot escape certain actions.”
TheChief instructor’s eyes flashed for a mont.
“The promise of the founding.”
* * *
Before the founding era, before Bahamut Caballan erged,
The continent was dominated by four races.
The Orcs, Elves, Beastkin, and Giants.
The Orcs had boundless fighting spirit and endless fertility.
The Elves had spirits and magic.
The Beastkin had fierce wildness and formidable strength.
The Giants had infinite wisdom and mighty bodies.
And in contrast, humans, with no special abilities, were walking through a dark age because of these four races.
The other races treated humans as playthings, prey, or slaves.
Many were sacrificed for experints to benefit their wisdom and knowledge.
At the bottom of the food chain, humans eked out an existence worse than death, until a hero appeared like a cot.
Bahamut Caballan.
He swept away the dark age of humanity and ushered in a golden era.
The Orc tribes, Elven forests, Beastkin wilds, and Giant lands.
None could withstand the forces of Bahamut, and the years they had road the continent crumbled away in futility.
Thus began the golden age of humanity, and Bahamut made one promise as he built his kingdom:
“The dignity of humans is inherent. Simply by being human, one has value, and that personhood must be respected.
Should any group, like the previous races, enslave humans or use them for experints, they shall not be excused for any reason.”
This promise has been handed down to this day.
Violating these two tenets of dignity is considered a far graver cri than even treason.
* * *
Yan flashed a knowing smile at the Chief instructor’s ntion of ‘the founding promise.’
“Yes, His Majesty the Emperor and the task force leader violated that promise by conducting human experints on children.”
Yan’s smile deepened.
“And Lia is a survivor of that experint, the Destroyer Project, the only one who escaped.”
The Chief instructor glared at Yan with a heavy gaze.
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“If it weren’t true, why would the task force leader be so frantic? If his daughter had been kidnapped, wouldn’t it make more sense to negotiate rather than act so recklessly?”
“I understand what you’re saying, but...”
The scale was too large.
It was enough to potentially entangle even himself.
The Chief instructor looked at Yan warily.
This was beyond the level of a talented individual.
He had thought Yan was under his control until now, but it seed he had been out of his control all along.
And it was strange how Yan was pulling information from sowhere the Chief instructor didn’t know.
A mory flashed through the head instructor’s mind.
There was no record of Yan’s past, origins, or family in his personal file.
“What... are you?”
Yan sensed the mont had co with the Chief instructor’s serious expression and stern voice.
‘To make the Chief instructor a complete ally.’
It was ti to change the long-standing tedious battle of wits with the Chief instructor.
Yan spoke up.
“I heard you followed the commander of the revolutionary army quite closely.”
The Chief instructor’s eyes widened.
Yan knew sothing he should never have known.
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