Codename Vestia

Chapter 41

“It’s not because of money…”

The woman spoke with a hoarse voice for the first time.

“Then?”

“Te…”

When the woman seemed about to faint, Jain grabbed her head, tilting it back again.

“It’s not over yet. Give me water.”

At Jain’s words, one of the Ituhas quickly fetched some water and handed it over. Jain mercilessly splashed the water on the woman’s face.

“Te what?”

The woman’s rolled-back eyes returned to normal. Then, staring at the ceiling, not even seeing Jain or reality, her eyes glazed over with a strange fever as she whispered,

“Terenti, Ase Suei Eustachis…”

Jain looked at Tora.

“Did you know she was out of her mind?”

“She seemed fine,” Tora muttered.

“It doesn’t sound like any language I’ve heard, but check just in case.”

Then, speaking to the Ituhas, he approached the woman and asked,

“Hey. Who took Rato?”

The woman kept her gaze fixed on a spot on the ceiling without moving. Tora frowned.

“She looks too much like Marti. It’s unsettling.”

“They knew you’d feel this way, so they used her,” Jain said, not hiding the scorn in his eyes.

At that moment, the Ituhas who had checked spoke up.

“It’s not showing up. It’s not a language registered in any of the language databases. Seems like nonsense.”

Jain grabbed the woman’s hair again, shaking her while demanding,

“Speak properly. Who are the men that Captain Rato met?”

Suddenly, the woman’s eyes snapped down to stare directly at Jain. The intensity made even Jain flinch for a moment, as if an exorcist was needed.

“Legion.”

Her gaze was entirely different from before, brimming with seething venom.

“Captain Rato was the one who sought out Legion first.”

“Rato would never do that,” Tora immediately refuted.

The woman sneered.

“Listen to the file in mailbox WZ-2153. The password is 0813.”

Tora searched the mailbox and played the file.

[“The condition for helping us is our island.”]

What played next was Rato’s voice.

[“The Pacific Union is claiming our island as part of their territory, saying they own it. They’re calling our Satadi tribe their citizens. The Ituhas, their army.”]

When Jain looked over, Tora nodded. This matter had been troubling both Tora and Rato recently.

Indeed, the Ituhas were a military force any government would covet, and the Pacific Union, which barely owned the waters near Satadi Island, was one of them.

[“They said they’d suppress us by force if we don’t surrender. MCTC tried to mediate, but considering how much the Union pays them, they wouldn’t intervene recklessly. My brothers died in the MCTC’s wars. And look at how they act now.”]

Rato let out a low groan.

[“I should never have trusted the people of the civilized world in the first place.”]

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

Tora’s fist slammed down, shattering the desk into pieces.

“How can we believe that’s Rato’s voice? What’s the proof it hasn’t been fabricated?”

The woman twisted her lips into an unsettling smile.

“If you’re so suspicious, see it with your own eyes.”

Suddenly, the Ituhas spun around.

“Captain.”

A presence followed deliberately made to be noticed.

And then, as if black water was surging in, a group of men appeared.

“Captain Tora.”

The man leading them, dressed in a black suit, looked directly at Tora, indicating he knew exactly who led the Ituhas.

With a gesture that seemed almost elegant, the man pointed behind him.

“Please, come with us.”

Jain was dumbfounded. Who would respond to such a blatantly obvious invitation…?

As he processed the situation, he saw Tora stepping forward, as if about to follow. Alarmed, Jain grabbed his arm.

“It could be a trap.”

No, it was definitely a trap.

But Tora, with a determined expression, replied as if it didn’t matter.

“I need to find Rato.”

“Request a formal rescue mission from MCTC. The information Captain Rato might have obtained during his contact with Legion would be valuable enough to convince the higher-ups”

“We don’t have time for that drawn-out bureaucratic process! Even if we ran there right now, we’d be too late!”

If Tora hadn’t experienced it himself, he might have been persuaded. But he knew the painfully slow process all too well, which made it even harder for him to understand why Jain was suggesting it.

“Do you know why I don’t care much for the civilized world? Because they don’t understand what’s truly important.”

His tone was unusually rough for him. Jain’s eyes twitched.

Honestly, the idea of what was “like Tora” was probably just a bias she had created, but regardless, she couldn’t let him go like this.

“It’s about calculating probabilities,” she insisted.

But Tora, with a face colder and more arrogant than she’d ever seen, replied,

“That’s why humans are unnecessary. Especially women.”

He couldn’t help it Tora was still a vampire. Jain realized it then. Vampires had a tendency to overestimate their physical abilities.

In fact, considering how the Ituhas had helped MCTC win battles they were on the verge of losing, Tora’s confidence wasn’t entirely unfounded. But it was still a trait of vampires an overwhelming belief in their own strength.

Seeing Jain at a loss for words, Tora turned away. Then he addressed the Ituhas.

“You all stay here.”

“Captain.”

The Ituhas protested, but Tora was firm.

“You’re still in training. This isn’t your place. I’d be better off going alone.”

Especially considering what had happened with Rato.

“But”

The Ituhas tried to protest again, but Tora stepped forward, making it clear he wouldn’t listen anymore. The men followed behind him.

Jain could only watch with tightly clenched eyes, powerless to stop it.

***

The prison dining hall buzzed with the noise of inmates eating.

Even in a place filled with violent criminals where the mildest conviction was second-degree murder, lunchtime remained oddly peaceful.

At some point, one inmate furrowed his brow and tilted his head as if something was off. He tried to resume his meal but coughed softly, spraying something onto his food tray.

“Ugh…”

The inmate next to him, eating his meal, cursed and turned to scold him.

Bang!

The coughing inmate collapsed face-first into his food tray, lifeless. Chaos erupted instantly.

“What the? What’s wrong with him?”

“Nobody move!”

The guards stationed at the entrance barked, quickly radioing for emergency medical support.

“Is he sick or someth”

Before he could finish, another inmate clutched his mouth, choking as something surged up his throat. Blood burst violently from his eyes, nose, and mouth. He collapsed, flipping his tray onto the floor.

Crash. Thud.

It didn’t stop there. All around the room, inmates began collapsing, blood pouring from every orifice.

The floor turned slick with blood, pooling among the scattered trays and spilled food. The rising murmur of panic grew louder.

“Hey, why is every?! Oh, God! H-He’s dead!”

“Wait, I feel… weird”

“Something’s wrong here! Let us out!”

The inmates surged toward the dining hall doors in a frantic stampede.

“Stop right there!”

The guards raised their guns, aiming at the crowd. When the inmates refused to stop, gunfire erupted. The room filled with the deafening crack of gunshots and screams.

Even so, the panicked prisoners didn’t stop pushing forward. The guards, overwhelmed, retreated from the dining hall and locked the doors behind them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The inmates pounded on the reinforced metal doors, screaming.

“Help us! P-please! Help!”

The guards exchanged panicked glances, unsure what to do. Then, one of them blinked, his face twisting in confusion. Without warning, blood erupted from his body.

There was no time to react. The other guards began clutching their throats, skin turning pale before collapsing, vomiting blood onto the floor.

Far away, in solitary confinement, Kunis slowly opened his eyes.

The sound of a tactical unit moving swiftly echoed past his door.

And then

BOOM!

A deafening explosion shook the facility. Heat and thick dust blasted through the gap in the metal door.

A smaller explosion followed, and the door burst open.

Through the dense black smoke, they appeared like an army from hell.

Figures clad in black tactical gear, their faces completely obscured by night vision goggles and gas masks.

“You’re late.”
Kunis stood up, his prison slippers whispering softly as he walked past the men and out of the cell.

He glanced once down the chaotic hallway and then began walking in the opposite direction with such a natural gait that it was impossible to tell he was wearing a prosthetic leg. No one stopped him.

The armed figures silently followed.

“There’ll be plenty of empty cells starting tomorrow.”

Living up to his nickname as humanity’s nightmare, the Grand Duke had no qualms about killing every inmate to facilitate the escape. No if anything, he seemed pleased by it.

Kunis kept walking, a faint, bitter smile curling on his lips.

“It should at least bring some small comfort to their victims.”

After all, this prison only housed the most heinous criminals, unworthy of life.

As for the guards? One might wonder what they had done to deserve such a fate, but, of course, no one here cared enough to ask.

***

Doyeong hugged Sarang, then let go. Sarang, in turn, embraced Gamal.

“Come again.”

“I will. Even if Gamal tries to stop me.”

Sarang chuckled at Gamal’s playful defiance. Elio turned to Doyeong.

“Take care.”

Doyeong nodded.

“I will.”

In his youth, Elio had often left home for long stretches, while a young Doyeong held his mother Sarang’s hand, watching his father depart.

Back then, Doyeong hadn’t understood. While the family lived peacefully, his father was constantly on the brink of life and death.

Now, the roles were reversed. And Elio, who had once endured that same struggle, understood all too well. His son was about to head into danger again.

Yet Elio smiled as he saw him off, especially this time, feeling strangely reassured by Gamal’s presence at Doyeong’s side.

Doyeong and Gamal turned toward the gate. Before stepping through, Gamal glanced back and flashed a wide smile.

***

Doyeong unfastened his seatbelt and slung a sports bag over his shoulder. Gamal, carefully holding a large box of jelly like an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) specialist handling a bomb disarming kit, followed him out of the transport plane into the base.

“You’ve arrived.”

Captain Tao greeted them, then turned directly to Gamal.

“Let’s go.”

A debriefing was scheduled immediately upon their return.

Doyeong glanced at Gamal.

“Go on, I’ll see you later.”

Gamal nodded. Normally, Doyeong might have insisted on going with her, stubborn as he was, but something unspoken seemed to pass between them. For once, he let her go without protest.

As Doyeong grabbed the handle of the jelly box, he said,

“Let me take that.”

“Oh, right. See you later.”

“Dinner?”

Gamal nodded shyly.

Doyeong watched her leave, a quiet intensity in his gaze. For a moment, an unmistakable sweetness lingered between them, thick and palpable.

Captain Tao blinked, glancing back and forth between the two, clearly puzzled by the sudden shift in their dynamic.

Before he could question it further, Gamal turned and followed him.

Just then, a sergeant behind Doyeong asked,

“Sir, is it just me, or… do you two seem a bit different lately?”