Chapter 15
[Old Mirror]
An old mirror on the desk. Some dirty liquid has splattered on it.
[Hair Growth Tonic]
Hair growth tonic used by Rainer. Doesn’t seem to be working…
[Rainer’s Long-winded Letter]
‘Mr. Wayne. How long must I keep doing these menial tasks? Though they call it managing the fighting pit, I have little authority and the scraps I get are pitiful. If you would trust me and let me…’
[Loreka’s Letter]
A letter from Rainer Gilder’s wife, Loreka. Contains her tender feelings for Rainer, whom she believes to be a mercenary guard. She urges him to settle down.
While Baeksan leisurely surveyed the room, the two groups suddenly began arguing. She didn’t need to listen to know why.
‘It’s natural for those above to take credit for their underlings’ work.’
Andre and Jules eventually left grumbling, receiving only small coin purses.
When the door closed, a voice came from behind.
“Hey, miss.”
Hmm.
‘Well then, shall we begin?’
As she turned around, she saw Rainer approaching with rope.
“Heard you came looking for your friend. You’ve got loyalty, but should’ve known it was dangerous.”
At this sight, Baeksan smiled coldly and said:
“Drop it.”
Rainer hesitated.
“What?”
“Where is Madame Magdala?”
Baeksan said this while sitting on Rainer’s desk. A relaxed pose.
‘Somehow I really don’t feel any sense of crisis.’
With everything having name tags, it felt like a virtual reality game, making it impossible to feel tense.
Perhaps sensing this, Rainer furrowed his brow, unable to rush in recklessly.
“…Madame Magdala?”
“Yes. Where is Madame Magdala?”
“I can’t give out that kind of infor—”
“Tch.”
Baeksan clicked her tongue as if looking down on him.
“Don’t you get it? Damn, did I really have to come in this way?”
Rainer rolled his eyes.
‘His brain works painfully slow.’
Baeksan deliberately frowned and said:
“Hey. So your name is… I’m confused since I only heard it in reports. Rainer Gilder, right?”
Rainer’s face turned white.
“Y-yes, but…!”
“Right. Rainer. How long are you going to keep doing this kind of work? Don’t you need to get promoted to executive?”
“Executive…!”
“Yes. You’re not single either, right? When I meet Madame Magdala, I’ll put in a good word for you, so stop being troublesome and guide me. Time is of the essence.”
By this point, Rainer seemed genuinely confused.
“…Are you really one of us?”
“Can’t you tell?”
Rainer fidgeted with his bald head. He seemed unsure what to do.
The action he finally took was merely to bulge his eyes.
“If you’re really one of us, say the password!”
Baeksan smirked.
[Rainer Gilder]
Middle executive of Magdala’s gang. Subordinate to executive Wayne.
Repeating the password ‘The sick lion roars’ to not forget it.
“‘The sick lion roars.'”
“…!”
Rainer Gilder’s eyes instantly widened.
Baeksan was certain she had him. Her voice lowered.
“This is no time to be standing around. We have intelligence that the Grand Duke is going to raid this place.”
“G-Grand Duke Zahig?!”
“Yes. Now do you understand the gravity of the situation?”
The bald head turned pale as he nodded. Grand Duke Zahig must be quite a terrifying existence to criminals.
‘Though he just looked like a fresh-faced youth, must be different for criminals.’
Anyway, that wasn’t her concern.
Baeksan frowned, got up from her seat, and kicked Rainer’s shin.
“If you understand, guide me.”
“Yes! Right away!”
Rainer shouted vigorously.
Baeksan smiled faintly. It had been an easy success.
Of course, she didn’t forget to add instructions for Lira.
“Ah. Release and let go a girl named Lira Magnus from below. She was carrying out my orders… Don’t you have any sense?”
“I apologize!”
Rainer hurriedly went outside and kicked his subordinates’ shins.
“Clear the way!”
Baeksan followed behind with a composed face.
‘First phase successful.’
Now it was time to meet the real boss.
* * *
“M-Madame Magdala, please have mercy…!”
Before Magdala’s eyes, people wearing hoods were kneeling and crying.
All were those who had tried to betray her and side with Grand Duke Zahig.
Sitting before them, Magdala played idly with two daggers.
Short black hair cut carelessly, black leather clothes, and a muscular body.
Because she never showed herself to others, she was often misunderstood, but basically, Magdala was strong.
However, Magdala didn’t use her strength for committing crimes. In her opinion, her real strength wasn’t physical power.
Her strength was knowing ‘when to hit and run.’
Magdala had seen many criminals who relied only on strength, or got caught because of excessive greed.
Taking them as negative examples, Magdala always exercised extreme caution.
That’s how she had succeeded in escaping from Grand Duke Zahig multiple times.
‘Using the Anatol Guild to throw off Grand Duke Zahig twice… It’s about time to leave Ulm.’
After the ‘Year of Sorrow,’ Orquenina had become a decent place for criminals to live.
But because of Grand Duke Zahig, it wasn’t a place to establish a base.
“Magdal— ack!”
Magdala’s dagger pierced through someone wearing a hood.
“Just looking at rats like these shows that.”
Another dagger flew, and no one remained to plead.
The guards nonchalantly dragged away the corpses, then brought back and presented the daggers to Magdala.
Magdala received the daggers and tucked them at her waist. She asked the accountant sitting at a nearby desk.
“The collections?”
“No problems at all.”
“We weren’t tracked?”
“Even Grand Duke Zahig couldn’t trace the shadow accounts at Stellone Bank.”
Magdala smiled crookedly.
‘Time to throw him off a third time?’
Happy times. Being able to make a fool of the famous Grand Duke three times.
“Khe. Khehehe…”
She couldn’t help but laugh.
Having left a fake ticket through ‘The Six’s Pub,’ the Grand Duke should be raiding the wrong location by now.
Just as Magdala was pouring whiskey into a glass, unable to contain her laughter—
“Madame Magdala.”
A guard’s voice came from beyond the thick wooden door.
“A middle executive is here to see you.”
Magdala’s hand stopped mid-pour.
‘Must be Wayne or Marlo.’
This worked out well.
‘I’ll have whoever comes pretend to be me while I leave Ulm.’
This method was possible because even the executives didn’t know each other.
She had designed it that way. To prevent executives from conspiring to betray her.
“Who did they say it was?”
But the answer was unexpected.
“They say it’s Mr. Wayne’s subordinate.”
Magdala’s hand stopped pouring whiskey again. The whiskey ended up overflowing from the glass.
“Not Wayne himself?”
“No.”
“You’re telling me to meet someone of unclear identity right now?”
Just then, the guards inside and outside the door seemed to exchange words, and one guard approached with a perplexed voice.
“They say they know the location of the next base.”
“…!”
At those words, Magdala’s eyes narrowed.
The ‘Magdala Gang’ had always moved between bases. This information was only passed to executives.
Knowing the next base’s location meant they were that trusted by Wayne.
After hesitating, Magdala downed the whiskey in one gulp. Then, gripping her dagger, she gestured with her chin.
“Let them in.”
The door slid open smoothly.
Through the fierce-looking guards walked in one composed woman. Her gait was like flowing water.
She had long purple-blue curly hair braided and wrapped like a scarf.
‘Why is she wearing it like that?’
Just as Magdala wondered this, their eyes met.
Either too slow to grasp the situation or simply dim-witted, those pink eyes were innocent and clear.
Magdala bared her teeth instinctively.
The woman was obviously nobility.
“Ha!”
In an instant, Magdala drew and threw the dagger at her waist.
