Blue Jade

"One hour left."

Shrike sat in a chair, watching the time on his pocket watch with a solemn expression.

This was an abandoned platform outside Old Dunling, but after several days of construction, it had effectively become a temporary base.

According to the plan, Shrike would board a train to a small town called Ende. Based on Lancelot's intelligence, the mysterious Sacred Coffin was stored there. No matter what awaited him, he had to conquer the place... or at least hold out until Lancelot arrived to recover the Sacred Coffin.

To avoid alerting the enemy, the operation was split into two parts. Shrike brought a large armed force to wait here in advance, while the Radiance train would arrive in one hour.

Shrike had originally intended to head there directly, but with Galahad down and no Knight Commander present, their odds of victory were shaky. To compensate, the Perpetual Motion Pump had mobilized a secret weapon for them, and the Radiance was currently transporting it.

"Are you ready?"

He looked at the side, where the massive machine sat silent in the darkness. Its hulking steel frame was outlined in a menacing shape, with only cold light sliding across its surface.

It was a heavy-duty crane. In the darkness behind it sat several reinforced heavy-armored carriages. Per the plan, the Radiance had departed from the Berhans Arsenal carrying the weapon and would stop here. The heavy crane would swap the carriages; passengers would continue their journey, while the carriage carrying the weapon would be hitched here and then head straight to the mysterious town of Ende.

He stood up slowly. Because time was tight, Shrike's injuries had not fully healed. He tried taking two steps and felt it wasn't bad, though the noise was a bit loud.

His lower body was currently covered in a layer of transmission structures. Power rods connected to his leg joints, with copper pipes extending to a small steam pack at his waist. Every so often, a faint mist would be released from it.

This was a masterpiece from the Perpetual Motion Pump. They called it Exoskeleton Armor, but due to technical issues, it couldn't be used in actual combat—it was like a useless vase. However, it was enough to help someone with mobility issues run.

He looked down at the gleaming metal. Precision gears turned beneath it, interlocking and operating with a structure that defied imagination.

Truth be told, Shrike's knowledge of mechanics was mediocre at best, but even so, he could see the precision of this device. Yet, let alone understanding the principles, he didn't even know where the power came from. If not for the pipes on the sides of his thighs occasionally venting steam, Shrike would have truly believed the thing had achieved so-called perpetual motion.

Sometimes, he really wanted to cut open the brains of those lunatics to see what kind of structure they had.

"What's the situation?"

Shrike asked as he watched Blue Jade walk in from the other side.

"Equipment is fully stocked, and the soldiers are ready. Once we link up with Kestrel, our firepower will be enough to win a local war."

Blue Jade wore a black bodysuit and a domed iron helmet equipped with an electric light, though the light was off since they were indoors. She wore a warm cloak over it; it looked light, but in reality, the lining was reinforced with high-strength, lightweight metal mesh, which provided a layer of protection against violent impacts.

"That's just how the Mechanical Institute is. The Perpetual Motion Pump pursues forbidden technology, while they pursue lethal firepower. Every mission eventually devolves into a weapons test for these two research institutions."

The thought made Shrike uncomfortable. Most of the weapons in his hands were prototypes; before the end, you never knew if the weapon would kill the enemy first or explode in your hands... just like that damn Original Sin Armor.

"So, what did they add to the shipment?"

"Not sure. But the object should be quite special, considering it was shipped directly from the Berhans Arsenal."

Blue Jade had once been fortunate enough to visit that place. For her, just mentioning the name made her feel a wave of heat.

The Berhans Arsenal was the largest military industrial center in Inverwig. During the Glorious War, mountains of metal were melted down there every day, and hundreds of trains transported lethal weapons out of it. It was said that the scale of its steam furnaces was second only to the Mechanical Institute, making it the industrial heart of Inverwig.

Shrike pondered, then took out a piece of paper and began to write.

"What are you writing? A will?"

"You could say that. The place we're going is extremely dangerous; we might just die there. And since my position is so specific, I have to hand over my work."

"You really do love your job."

Blue Jade raised an eyebrow. Unlike the dutiful Shrike, she had been completely unwilling to take this job at first.

Blue Jade was born in a small seaside town. Her father died young, and after her mother remarried, her stepfather was a drunkard who spent his days waiting for Blue Jade to grow up so he could marry his beautiful stepdaughter off to some wealthy family in exchange for a dowry that would support his retirement.

Honestly, it wasn't a fond memory; it was soul-crushing. The drunken stepfather would look at the growing Blue Jade with a strange glint in his eyes. To escape this cursed fate, Blue Jade hid in a cargo truck one day. She didn't know where it would take her, but she only hoped to be as far away from that nightmare as possible.

She survived for several days on the bread she brought and the condensation on the copper pipes. When the truck doors finally opened, she found herself in that dreamlike city. For Blue Jade, who had lived in a remote town, everything here was magical, as if it were a place from legends.

Massive airships cruised the sky, and steam trams and automobiles sped along the smooth roads. Compared to this perfect city, she, dirty and disheveled, felt completely out of place. She looked up at the station sign, using her meager knowledge to barely decipher the text.

Welcome to Old Dunling.

"But if I can, I still hope to survive. After all, I'm still young, and I've planned my retirement quite well."

Shrike said while writing. There was still some time before the Radiance pulled into the station, so he could chat for a while.

"For example?"

"For example, buying a small island in the ocean and living by the sunrise and sunset, or chartering a ship to sail around the world... or going to the East. I'm still full of curiosity about that mysterious country."

That was the country called Jiuxia. Ever since its stunning appearance over a decade ago, it seemed to have been forgotten by the world. If no one mentioned it intentionally, almost no one remembered that such a mysterious country still existed in the East.

"If it weren't for the demons, I might have become a navigator. What about you, Blue Jade? I remember you kept trying to get Arthur to fire you through sheer incompetence. You seem to dislike this job very much."

Blue Jade rolled her eyes at Shrike and sat down beside him with her heavy equipment. She wasn't wearing her mask, but the domed iron helmet still obscured most of her face. Even so, one could see her striking beauty from the exposed corner.

"Yeah, fighting those twisted, abominable things every day—only lunatics like you would enjoy that!"

Blue Jade cursed angrily.

"I have only one wish: find a rich man, marry him, try to find a way to kill him within five years, and then live happily ever after with the money."

Men were all unreliable. She knew that from her late father, her damn stepfather, and the guests she had served in the past.

Blue Jade had struggled in Old Dunling for many years. As she grew older, her appearance became increasingly enchanting. Someone discovered her and made her an actress at the theater.

Many didn't care about the new girl, thinking she was just lucky to have a pretty face, but the girl's subsequent actions exceeded everyone's imagination.

She was a girl driven by purpose. Her status in the theater rose step by step. Relying on the skills she had honed over years of drifting in Old Dunling, she cleared away every enemy who tried to block her path. Her fame grew, and every day her door was covered in flowers from admirers.

But this was not the end for Blue Jade. No one was reliable; only she herself could be trusted. She began attending balls, getting those who held power drunk one by one, stealing their scandals, and trading them for wealth.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, Blue Jade's influence grew ever larger. Under the threat of scandal, even the high-and-mighty nobles became her pawns. They called her the Queen of the Underworld, until the day she tried to get a man codenamed Arthur drunk.

Only two paths lay before Blue Jade: rot in prison until death, or join the Purification Agency. Arthur needed a highly skilled female knight.

And so, Blue Jade entered the den of thieves, where she had remained ever since.

"That sounds truly terrifying. Are men really that unreliable?"

"Do you think Galahad is reliable?" Blue Jade asked with a look of disdain. "The pure knight, the youngest Knight Commander—and yet he nearly killed you and Robin. If it weren't for Nikolai, he would have slaughtered his way through the entire Lower District before his strength completely gave out."

"That is why only one's self is reliable, Shrike."

As Blue Jade spoke, the melodious sound of a steam whistle rang out. At the end of the darkness, the train's headlights appeared like an approaching meteor, bringing with them steam, a cold wind, and the thousands of troops hidden within the carriages.