Chapter 895 – You and I Are Kindred Spirits

000

A shout of joy could be heard from outside.

However, her place was filled with a dark and gloomy aura, and her heart was not calm enough for her to be happy with such shouts.

The Eastern Bureau’s Chief Antiquities Investigator, Artis Slainen, went to the Kingdom’s military base and entered the temporary prison where she was shown, with a lollipop in her mouth as usual, looking at the man whom Selena had introduced. Br〉

“It’s quite noisy outside. You don’t have to go see it?”

And, a sarcastic voice coming from behind.

When Artis turned his gaze at the sound of a young girl’s voice, there was a girl imprisoned like everyone else, along with a seal that sealed magical power.

The girl with burn marks on her face was thought to have looked quite cute if she hadn’t had those burn marks.

However, her personality was clearly that of a villain, and her affiliation was an organization with a hostile relationship with Attis.

An executive of the ‘Exiled Church’ and a ‘Seeker’ class wizard. Mia.

After being defeated in the siege of the fortress, she was captured by Lila and others and brought down to the ground.

Then, she was captured as an important reference and prisoner of the Exiled Church and imprisoned in the kingdom’s garrison.

Originally, it would have been right to imprison them in a prison in the Eastern Country, but right now there was no one in the Eastern Country who could interrogate them, and because the prison in the royal palace collapsed due to Dharma’s rampage in the palace, they were first placed in the kingdom’s military garrison. It was decided to imprison it.

“Unfortunately. “I have to wait here for this guy to wake up.”

With a quiet voice and eyes, she answers the girl who is teasing her.

As she said this, she sat down on her chair, crossed her legs, and crossed her arms before turning her gaze back to the man in front of her.

There, the figure of a middle-aged man unconscious was seen sitting by the wall with her body curled up.

She had the same dark blue hair as herself, but Artis knew the man well, with half of her face replaced by a machine.

‘Sigmund Sleinen’.

A person who knew that his biological father had lost his life while exploring the Four Dragon Mountains.

But, he was alive.

Attis thought he was killed by the returnees living in the Four Dragon Mountains, but strangely enough, he survived with half of his body replaced by a machine.

Then, he became a member of the Exiled Church and rose to the position of ‘seeker’, an executive rank.

When I first heard Selena’s explanation of this absurd fact, I burst out laughing.

After seeing his body and face, Artis had no choice but to admit that it was true.

Why is it still alive after becoming like that?

Why didn’t he tell me he was alive?

I wanted to ask him all those things, but he showed no signs of waking up.

Selena said that she had originally planned to have Artis meet him after finding out everything.

However, when he stopped moving and fell asleep during the interrogation, we tried our best to wake him up, but when he did not move, we had no choice but to call Attis.

In this land – in this city, the person who knew the most about the machine, which can be said to be an ancient relic, was none other than Artis himself, who was presumed to be his daughter.

When Artis first saw Sigmund’s unconscious face, she felt like she had seen a ghost and almost collapsed on the spot.

The moment her strength gave way to her legs, she would have really done it if Diora, wearing her armor, had not been there behind her to receive her.

Thankfully, I didn’t fall, but if I had fallen and lost consciousness, I would have woken up thinking it was all a terrible nightmare.

In order to do what he had to do despite feeling dizzy, Artis examined Sigmund’s unconscious body and figured out the cause.

That’s because half of his body had already been replaced by a machine, so it wasn’t moving with his heart.

The thing that made him move was a device that replaced the heart, a magic furnace, and when all the magic energy stored in it ran out, his mind stopped working because of it.

So… To be precise, he did not lose his mind, but in human terms, he was ‘dead’.

It was no different from my heart losing strength and stopping.

And annoyingly, his magic power was not an improved version of a magic power that could directly inject magic power from the outside, but an older version of the type that had to be connected to another machine using a specific device.〈 Br〉

That said, no matter how much magical power was lined up in this place, he couldn’t be awakened unless he went through the proper procedures.

Artis asked Selena and Diora to retrieve a machine that could recharge his magical power within the crashed fortress.

Directly, with illustrations depicting the appearance of the machine.

He would have preferred to go himself, but Attis decided to stay here and wait for them.

With the man in front of me, organizing his thoughts –

Because I had to think about the questions he would ask when he woke up.

“I heard. “You said you might be that man’s daughter?”

As I was quietly organizing my thoughts, I once again heard a voice from behind.

Attis looked back at her again, flinching and fluttering her eyelids.

This little guy… Repeats what he said earlier, scratching his temper.

Aside from the fact that he was already in tatters, Artis felt like his personality from his academy days would come back to him when he heard a girl who had her magic sealed and would probably lose even if she were to compete with him talk like that.

＂Then?＂

Artis said that even though he thought it would be foolish to answer them one by one.

Since she had been persistently talking to me since a while ago, I had no choice.

“Hey. Now that I think about it, it seems like they look a little similar, right? What. Even though the man said in his own words that he had no family.”

At her words, Attis could not help but shake his eyebrows once again.

＂Maybe… That man was denying the existence of his family. The man had a habit of saying that the Exiled Church was where he should be. More than his real family, the Exile Church is the one that can satisfy his thirst for knowledge…”

＂What do you want to say?＂

Attis interrupted her and stood up.

Then, Mia continues her story.

“Hehe… Don’t you belong to that category too?”

＂…＂

“I can recognize my peers. You, too, are a person who focuses more on satisfying your own desires and curiosity rather than dwelling on various morals or useless affections.”

Mia readjusts her posture and talks to her.

“Aren’t you tired of being bound by the values ​​imposed by those around you? It would be better to throw away all those restrictions and be able to do only what you want…”

When she spoke without erasing her smile, Artis gave no response.

“The reason you are still tied to that… Is because you know that if you do that, you will be separated from the society you are in, and you will never be able to return… Because for a being without power, the risk is too great.”

For example.

Let’s assume that the search for the Sarong Mountains, which you wanted to do at any time, was carried out ignoring the restraints of Miyeomgong.

Of course, there is a price for doing something forbidden.

She will be hunted by her government forces, and with only an investigative team of assistants under her command, she will soon be captured by them.

If that happens, it’s over.

It is the rule of society that you don’t stop at receiving attention and end up rotting in prison.

No matter how talented she is, no matter how important her knowledge is.

The Eastern countries are not lax enough to accept someone who breaks the rules and deviates from the rules of society.

But – what if she had her powers?

For example, she has the ‘power’ to shake off the oncoming government forces and ensure her freedom enough to go where she wants and do what she wants.

When it’s there, how does she behave?

Artis was looking at her Mia without making any response.

Then, Mia felt that the baton of conversation had been passed to her, and she continued to talk.

“I’ll give you that power. You know it well, right? The place that suits you is not a society that is cramped and bound by various useless rules… But an ‘exiled church’ where you can explore knowledge as you wish and satisfy your thirst for curiosity.”

Mia talks to Attis as if she is seducing him.

When Attis’ eyebrows twitched once more, she put her hands into her own pockets.

Mia, who thought it was to hide her agitation, continued her words.

＂If you release me and help me get out of this camp… No, if you help me cross the wall of Asteris and go to the outside of the barrier, I can take you to another base of the Exile Church. Then you will be able to become an official of the Exiled Church as a reward for saving me. Because the position left vacant by the failure of this raid must be filled. Even high-ranking people in the church will recognize you.”

Mia said that, and her eyes showed confidence, saying, ‘It’s not a bad idea, right?’

Then Attis bit the candy in his mouth and crushed it.

Come on! A voice is heard, and Mia flinches her body and speaks.

“Think about it carefully? In the end, the Eastern countries, which put their national interests first, force you to ‘remain quiet’! How long are you going to pretend to be a good kid? In that case, come with me-“

Bang!

A sound like a lightning strike echoes throughout the prison.

Mia closed her mouth in an instant, and her expression was so shocked that she froze, looking at Artis.

What Artis took out of the pocket he had put his hand in was a black mechanical device.

However, Mia knows its identity well.

It is a weapon of the primordial world.

A weapon that is simple to use and has a much more powerful killing power than existing cold weapons, as it is not affected by strength or endurance, and physique does not have much significance in training.

It was a ‘gun’.

The bullet fired from the muzzle penetrated between the bars of the prison and became lodged in the ground.

Although Mia was in a cold sweat, she could not say anything because she was well aware of the power of her weapon.

“This is my first time shooting at a person. But it will take some practice. Even though I shot it from this close, it didn’t hit.”

As Artis says this, he looks down at the gun in his hand.

It wasn’t that long ago that she got that weapon.

As for when it happened, I found it at the weapon development laboratory in the original world that I had previously entered with Cleon and Lila, and secretly took it for self-defense.

Since the technology to duplicate the bullets inside was not yet available in this successor world, if all the bullets inside were used up, they would just become a lump of iron.

Artis had no intention of analyzing this and mass-producing it for the people of the successor world, so it was planned to be discarded after use.

This is because it was judged that this technology could change the situation even in today’s world where magic has developed.

＂You… How did you get that item?＂

“I don’t want to tell you?”

As Attis said, he put the weapon back into his pocket.

“You say I hate discipline? Definitely, what you said. Acting the way you want to do something is definitely a good thing.”

Saying that, she pulled out the candy bar from her mouth and threw it on the ground.

Instead, he pulled out a cigarette she had kept in her breast pocket, put it in her mouth, and lit it.

“But what should I do with this? I’m not as broken of character as you are… I’ve already experienced the ‘responsibility’ that comes with acting like that.”

If she had still been at the academy, she might have accepted her offer.

She also quietly waited for permission from Miyeom-gong to explore the Four Dragon Mountains.

At best, she did not announce the firearms she discovered and did not analyze this technology to shake up the world situation.

It was because she properly recognized that it was something she shouldn’t do.

＂…＂

Mia glares at her without saying anything.

At that time, she heard a voice coming from outside her prison.

＂Mr. Artis! I brought the machine you mentioned!”

It was clear that the chatty voice was Selena’s.

Then, Attis smiled at the corners of his mouth and exhaled smoke.

“Just shut up there and watch. Damn you kid. And… I will kindly pass on to Diora the information that you know of the bases of other exiled churches.”

After saying that, she walked outside the prison to greet Selena.

Inside the prison, where only her silence remained, only the hazy cigarette smoke she exhaled remained.