No More Meetings

"How am I supposed to get there?"

Ymir's explanation opened up a whole new world for Rein.

It turned out that, in some remote corner along the border between the two great empires, there was an ungoverned neutral territory called the City of Radiance.

It sounded a little like a utopia, filled with an air of freedom and idealism.

Ymir said, "If you want to go there, this train terminates in Andohar Province in the western part of the empire. You can transfer to an intercity train there, then at Twilight City on the territorial border, there will be some black-market caravans and Scavenger Gangs heading for Shining Gold Outpost before the Alkolon Mountain Range. The City of Radiance is three hundred li east of the outpost. Once you get there, nearly everyone crossing over will be scavengers sneaking across the border. With your identity as a doctor, it shouldn't be hard for you to join a group."

Rein listened while nodding, committing it all to memory.

Ymir seemed very familiar with this smuggling route. She explained every detail of the path to the City of Radiance, including where the black markets were and whom to contact.

There were many tricks to this smuggling route. Without insider knowledge, it was absolutely impossible to make the journey.

Only after hearing Ymir's directions did Rein finally feel that the City of Radiance was no longer some utopia, but something gradually becoming real.

At least his urgent problem had been resolved, and he let out a huge sigh of relief.

He had decided. That was where he was going!

Turning his attention back to reality, Rein looked at the two blood-soaked corpses on the floor and found himself in another difficult situation.

If no one else had been around, Rein would have chosen to put the corpses into his folding space first, then clean up the murder scene.

Without the bodies, no one would suspect anything in the short term.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Miss Ymir, what should we do with these bodies?"

The compartment had already been tiny. Two people and a pile of luggage had made it cramped enough, and now there were two more corpses. There was barely room to move a foot.

Ymir said flatly, "Leave them here. I'm leaving later anyway."

"Huh? You're leaving?"

Though he knew they could not keep traveling together forever, Rein was still caught off guard by her sudden words.

"Mm."

Ymir nodded and said nothing more.

Rein pursed his lips and sighed inwardly. His powerful patron was slipping away. He would not be able to hold on to her.

The night had grown deep. The steam train raced across the wilderness, and the fog grew thicker and thicker. The penetrating lamps illuminated less and less distance, so the train was not moving very fast.

Cold air poured in through the ventilation holes, carrying flakes of snow. It was not hard to guess that a blizzard was probably raging outside on the wilderness.

After Ymir boarded the train and sent those ten short messages, Rein had known that she was probably in contact with her family. She had been bound to leave sooner or later.

He just had not expected it to happen so soon.

Sure enough, after midnight, someone gently knocked on the compartment door.

Knock, knock. Knock, knock. Knock. Knock.

The rhythmic tapping sounded like some sort of signal.

Rein immediately woke up, but he could not sense footsteps or breathing outside the door. It was as though a "ghost" were knocking.

When he looked toward Ymir nearby, she seemed to have expected it all along. She answered the questioning look in Rein's eyes and said calmly, "The people I was waiting for are here."

"You're leaving now?"

Rein did not know what to say.

The big shot had already planned out a route for him. Clearly, she had no intention of taking him along on her journey.

"Mm."

Ymir rose and walked toward the compartment door.

"Oh."

Their relationship was neither close nor distant, so Rein did not say any words of farewell.

He watched her back. Parting like this suited her cold personality.

But just as her slender hand grasped the door handle, the usually taciturn noblewoman paused for a moment.

With her back still to Rein, she unexpectedly offered an explanation. "You saved me, so it would not have mattered if I brought a doctor like you along. But this journey is full of uncertainties, and I do not want to drag you into it."

"I understand."

Rein listened, and an unconscious smile curved his lips. "Take care, Miss Ymir."

After a pause, he added, "It was nice meeting you."

He had already realized that any crisis capable of nearly getting someone of her caliber killed in the wilderness was not something a small fry like him could meddle in.

The fact that she was willing to explain even that much showed she had given him, her "tool," enough respect.

"Mm."

Ymir did not turn back again. She opened the compartment door and stepped into the darkness.

Just as Rein stared blankly at her retreating figure, he suddenly saw something glittering fly toward him and land in his hand.

Then a soft female voice, growing more and more distant, drifted into his ears.

"We won't meet again in the future. Consider this repayment for the hundred Gold Kron I borrowed from you. Crush it when you're in danger. It might save your life."

Her tone was as cold as ever. No, it seemed even more emotionless than before.

Rein looked at the item in his hand, his expression complicated.

Ymir had left him an azure crystal bead that resembled a teardrop. It felt slightly cool to the touch, and he guessed it was probably a spell crystal condensed from ice elements.

With one person gone, Rein felt that the cramped compartment had suddenly become empty.

"We won't meet again."

He murmured the words, then gave a self-mocking bitter laugh after a long while.

He was currently wanted on the black market and could not show his face. Once he left for the City of Radiance, he probably would not set foot on the territory of the Oma Empire again for many years.

Besides, she was the young lady of a top noble family. What the hell was he even fantasizing about?

They probably really would never meet again.

"Pah. You're just lusting after her body!"

After cursing himself, Rein's mindset shifted quickly, and he stopped dwelling on it in an instant.

At least the big shot had treated him well and left him a "life-saving treasure."

But it was true that Ymir's departure had left him feeling empty.

After all, his protective umbrella was gone, and every sense of danger immediately came crashing down on his shoulders.

Before, with a big shot at his side who could scare off a Jackalman with a single glare, he had not needed to worry about his safety.

Now, he could only rely on himself.

Then Rein thought, Even the gangsters and thugs on this train got hold of notices about my bounty. This face of mine probably makes me something of a "celebrity" in Oma. Looks like I'll have to keep wearing my gas mask and never show my face again.

He sighed softly.

Fortunately, he was on a train. If he had charged blindly into some major city without knowing any better, there would have been nowhere for him to run.

"Maybe dye my hair and disguise myself?"

With his thoughts jumping about, Rein quickly shifted his attention away from the farewell.

After some thought, he decided he should alter his appearance.

After all, for wanted notices, the most important thing was still one's face.

As for disfiguring himself with sulfuric acid, Rein felt he had not yet gone insane enough to do something like that.

Besides, he suspected that whoever had put out the bounty on him must have used some obscure spell to confirm his identity.

If they were truly determined to find him at any cost, disfiguring himself would be meaningless.

The best solution now was really just to run farther away.

After all, Mystic System Transcendents such as diviners and prophets did not cast spells without paying a price.

The farther away the target was, the greater the cost of locating them.

The City of Radiance on the border between the two great empires was already the farthest place humans could reach within the mist region, and it happened to lie outside the jurisdiction of either empire.

What Rein needed to do now was hurry there without stopping and lie low for a while.

And just as Ymir's subordinates came to escort her off the steam train.

Inside the luxurious room in Carriage One, Canossa J. Crofeller, vice president of the Black Gold Merchant Guild, seemed to sense something as well. A flicker of surprise appeared in her beautiful eyes.

Under the lamplight, curiosity appeared on that foxlike, gorgeous face as she murmured, "Oh? An expert has boarded the train. It seems the woman who sent the telegram has quite an unusual identity."

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