Author’s Note: In last Chapters, J Cop has been replaced by P Corp in the narrative.
...
I needed Nyra, the Director of L Corp, to do the operation on Henry.
However, giving her knowledge as is was dangerous.
She would treat as her servant if I gave her knowledge for free, and everything would spiral downwards from there.
"Give this guy life support," I said.
Nyra nodded.
She snapped her fingers, and various compartnts in the corridor opened up.
Long tubes with chanical arms at the end slid out of the walls like sothing waking up from a shallow sleep.
They moved with practiced precision, unfolding and rearranging until a bed ford in front of .
I laid Henry on top of it.
"Alice, make sure he receives the best life support," Nyra said.
"Understood, Director," the L Corp’s AI answered in a monotone tone.
"And don’t touch him until I tell you to," I added.
"What he said, Alice," Nyra spoke.
"Understood," Alice answered again.
The bed rolled away on hidden wheels, guided by automatons that erged from a side passage.
They didn’t speak.
They didn’t even look at us. They just took Henry and disappeared around the corner.
Nyra turned to then.
She had an excited smile, but the madness in her gaze was clear to .
"Then, should we start with so knowledge exchange, Rune Sage? I’m sure you must be—"
"First give the tour of the L Corp," I cut her off.
"...what?"
"Give a tour. I need to know about the place I will be working at."
She blinked, clearly not expecting that answer.
Her enthusiasm dipped, just for a second, before she recovered.
"...okay."
She gestured down the corridor, and we started walking.
The first thing she introduced was the [Lantern Production Facility].
We stood behind a thick glass wall, looking into a wide chamber filled with lines of machines.
tal fras held glowing cores, each one emitting a soft, steady light.
Workers—all half-machines, half-human with no sapience—moved between them, checking readings, adjusting settings, and sealing finished units into crates.
"Lantern is the patented technology of L Corp. Its light soothes the cyborgs and automatons in the roads and in the City, making them less aggressive," Nyra said.
She spoke with pride, like she was showing off a prized creation.
"This is used by humans in the City while they were walking through the streets. It makes sure the berserk cyborgs don’t lash out on them."
I nodded, even though I already knew all of this.
"Does the Lantern work on high-rank cyborgs?" I asked, despite knowing the answer.
"Yes."
"Let rephrase the question. Does the comrcial Lantern that is sold work on high-rank cyborgs?" I questioned.
"...no," she shook her head. "The comrcial Lanterns are already very expensive.
"If we were to sell powerful Lanterns, no one would buy them due to cost. And the people who can afford them are strong enough to deal with automatons.
"So we don’t manufacture powerful Lanterns, only weak comrcial ones," she said.
"in other words, we don’t earn much from our product?" I asked.
"...yes."
"How high are we in the Sector ranking?"
"..."
"How high?"
"...first."
I stopped walking and looked at her.
"What?"
"First from below."
Sectors were ranked by the total earnings of the Corporations leading them, not by combat strength.
This ant L Corp, and Sector L by extension, was the poorest place in the City.
Nyra looked ashad of it.
I clicked my tongue openly.
I had known about this already.
It was one of the reasons I chose this place.
The other reason was the insane personality of the one standing right in front of .
We continued the tour.
The next area was a massive open hall, tall enough that I had to tilt my head back to see the ceiling.
Thick support pillars ran up the walls, and cables as wide as tree trunks hung from above.
In the center stood the Rank 5 Automaton of L Corp.
"It has an exceptionally powerful inbuilt Lantern that can stun almost all automatons and cyborgs for several seconds, and—"
Nyra kept talking.
It was at least five stories tall. Its body was a mix of smooth white plating and dark, reinforced joints.
Where a head should have been, there was a massive lantern, longer than a bus, glowing with a pale, steady light.
"It’s called [Jasmine 000]. It’s Rank 5 in combat strength," Nyra said in the end.
Yes, it was Rank 5 in combat strength.
Every Corp had roughly one Rank 5 combatant. Though the strength of these combatants varied greatly.
Jasmine 000, combatant of L Corp, would be as strong as the headless Vampire Prince Valen.
In other words, it was stronger than Rank 4 Exorcists, but nowhere near actual Rank 5 Exorcists.
The fact that each Corporation had at least one Rank 5 combatant was why the System Church was so powerful that even the Exorcists Union couldn’t destroy them.
After that, Nyra introduced to Jasmine 001, Jasmine 002, Jasmine 0003, Cook Jasmine, Junior Director Jasmine, Assistant Jasmine, and so on.
They lined up in different sections of the facility, each one a variation of the sa base design.
So carried tools instead of weapons. So wore what looked like simplified uniforms.
A few even had faces, retained from when they were humans.
The more "people" we t, the more Yuna’s face stiffened.
She flew close to , her eyes moving from one automaton to the next. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides.
Knowing only I could see her, she spoke openly.
"Lord of Shadows... why have we not seen a single human... no, a single sapient being?"
’Yuna, do you rember how I told you the chanics of Earth lack a lot of knowledge, so they do human experints to learn through error and trial?’
"Yes, I rember. That’s why there are so many of those... abominations in this ’City’. But what does that have to do with our current situation?"
I slowed my pace, letting Nyra move a bit farther away.
’Normally, a Corporation wouldn’t do too many experints on their own people, lest their minds be destroyed.’
’Instead, they experint on humans living in the City.’
"And...?" Yuna muttered, a bad feeling creeping into her voice.
’This woman here is a lunatic. She loves knowledge and would do anything to learn as much as possible.’
’She couldn’t be satisfied with the humans they abduct from the City and experinted on the people serving her too.’
Yuna’s face beca stiff.
The color drained from it.
I wasn’t joking when I said Nyra was crazy.
Even among the entire City, where all Corps were crazy in their own ways, L Corp was the only one that had turned all of its people into abominations of cyborgs with no sapience.
Others had the decency to at least spare their own people.
You had to walk the halls, see the empty stares and the perfectly tid movents, to really understand how creepy the L Corp felt.
Even I wouldn’t be spared from this fate.
Within a few days, Nyra would grab and turn into [Instructor Jasmine], so I could teach her all the knowledge I had without ever being able to leave.
"Th-Then we need to leave this place as soon as possible!" Yuna shrieked.
I glanced at Nyra, who was walking ahead, and shook my head
’We can’t. She is our best ticket to save Henry.’
"How is a lunatic like that—"
’She is a rank 4 chanic.’
Yuna clamped her mouth shut so fast I almost heard her teeth click.
Rank 4 chanics were precious, and rare.
They were people who could change the balance of entire Sectors with what they built.
One must know that right now, there was no Rank 5 chanic on Earth.
The Exorcists Union killed anyone who reached Rank 5 chanic rank, since they were afraid of another [Emperor Legion] appearing.
Even if it ant antagonizing the Pri Five and sustaining substantial losses, the Exorcist Union would do anything to kill a Rank 5 chanic.
In other words...
Nyra was among the highest-ranked chanics on Earth.
’She is a bit too crazy though. Actually, she is the most insane among all Rank 4 chanics alive right now.’
Yuna swallowed and nodded.
The tour ca to a quiet end in a wide corridor lined with sealed doors, each one marked with warning symbols and serial numbers.
Nyra stopped and turned to face .
Her hands were clasped behind her back, and she gave a sweet smile.
"Then, Rune Sage, that’s it for the tour. Now, how about you have so tea with ? We can talk about machines at the sa ti. While I don’t know as much as you, I’m sure I can—"
"Take this and read everything," I said, cutting her off.
I pulled a thick folder from my pocket and handed it to her.
Instead of reading the docunt she looked at pocket.
"Is that spatial pocket?"
"Yes."
"But it looks newly created due to how runes have no damage. Did you create it? How? To create spatial runes, you would need mana or blood of mages of space elent. Isn’t the only person—"
"You can create spatial runes by using spatial Elental Catalyst, or other objects with spatial affinity."
Before she could ask more, I added, "Alan Veritus, the disciple of Monkey Sage is a spatial mage. That’s why I am learning about Spatial Runes and know about them. Now, ask about these things later. First, check the docunts I gave you."
"Okay," she nodded, already opening it.
She read the first page.
She froze.
Slowly, she turned the page and read it. Then she turned it again. And again.
Shock crossed her face first. Then excitent. Then sothing close to exhilaration, like she had just been handed the answer to a question she didn’t even know how to ask.
Her gaze snapped up to , and her lips trembled when she spoke.
"This knowledge is too valuable. It can revolutionize the entire City. Wh-what do you want to pay in exchange—"
"That’s just low-level knowledge. I don’t need anything in return."
"...what?"
"Just read it and learn it. I don’t need idiots under . If you are going to work for , you need to et a minimum standard of expertise. Right now, you are too low level, so read and learn."
"Understood! I will learn everything! Thank you!"
Then she bolted down the corridor, clutching the folder to her chest like it might disappear if she loosened her grip.
Even though she was the Director and I was supposed to be an employee under her, I had just said she would work for . And yet, she didn’t point it out.
She was too excited to care.
Yuna stared after her.
"What was that?" she muttered.
’Knowledge is her holy grail. She would do anything for it. Right now, she is too excited to learn new things to think about anything else.’
"Isn’t this bad? If you show off too much, she might just turn you into Instructor Jasmine to wring out everything from you."
’Yeah, you’re right. That’s why I need to move quickly.’
She looked at sideways.
"...what are you planning?"
’It’s nothing special this ti. Just the usual stick and carrot,’ I said, waving my hand. ’Now, it’s ti to return ho.’
I took out the Key and stepped toward the door.
Yuna suddenly flew in front of , blocking my path.
"Don’t go back yet. What about Henry? Won’t she operate on him? You said she is dangerous "
’The docunt I gave her will keep her occupied for today.’
’She won’t have ti to touch Henry.’
’Tomorrow, I will give her another docunt. She will remain busy and will never have ti for Henry.’
"I-I see." Yuna nodded, but she didn’t move.
She looked around, then back at .
She bit her lip, hesitating.
"Erm, how do I look?"
"...?"
I frowned at the sudden question.
But when I saw her anxious expression, I decided not to ignore her.
’You look good.’
"Better than usual?"
’I guess?’
Why would I focus on her appearance? I never bothered checking how she usually looked, so I gave the most neutral answer I could.
She opened her mouth to say sothing else.
’Alright, that’s enough. We are going back ho.’
I inserted the Key into the door.
She blocked again.
"Let’s go to the Drinking Whale Inn!"
’...what?’
"Anywhere is good other than ho. We can’t go ho right now! Let’s go to the inn! You promised you were going to et the inn girl every day, so you need to go et her today either way!"
She was talking fast now, like she was afraid I’d cut her off if she slowed down.
Yuna was acting suspicious.
Why?
I should have thought about it.
I should have questioned it.
But for so reason, I didn’t.
I felt like there was no need to worry about the reason for Yuna’s suspicious actions.
’Alright,’ I said.
Her shoulders relaxed almost imdiately, and we stepped through the door.
The world shifted, and the cold tal walls of L Corp vanished.
I appeared in my inn’s room.
"As expected, the inn girl kept this room for ."
The room was simple. A bed, a small table, a window that looked out over the lower streets of the ship.
I stretched, feeling the tension in my back loosen a little.
I was about to leave the room when Yuna spoke again.
"Lord of Shadows, cancel Shadow Assimilation and send your Shadow to eat the Shadow Essence of the Cursed Spirits on this ship."
I paused with my hand on the door.
"...?"
"Just do what I say."
I turned to look at her. Her expression wasn’t playful or nervous anymore. It was serious, focused in a way I rarely saw.
’Why?’ I asked.
She hesitated, then shook her head.
"I’ll explain after. Please."
I studied her for a mont longer, then nodded.
I canceled the flow of Shadow Assimilation. The familiar weight at the edge of my senses faded, replaced by the quiet presence of my Shadow, separate again, waiting for a command.
’Go,’ I told it.
It slipped through the floor like it was never there, heading toward the deeper parts of the inn, where the ship’s old structures and hidden spaces held things most guests never saw.
Yuna let out a slow breath.
"Thank you."
We stood in silence for a mont.
"Yuna, if you dragged here for a reason, you should probably tell ."
She nodded, then flew to the window and looked out at the dim lights of the City below.
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