After sending the telegram, the butler returned to Kronos's room with an envelope.
The butler had returned during the few days Kronos spent at the factory, and the envelope contained what Kronos needed.
After he opened the envelope, he found some information written in the letter:
"Sequence 9: Monster ... Sequence 8: Robot ... Sequence 7: Lucky One ..."
Kronos had not expected Booze to keep his mouth shut for this long. He had thought someone like that would spill everything after a little intimidation as soon as he entered the dungeon.
What Kronos did not know was that Booze had indeed wet himself in terror, but he still clung to a sliver of hope. After all, he was so lucky-perhaps a chance to escape would turn up.
If a Sequence 8 had been holding him captive, his luck might really have given him an opportunity. Unfortunately, Argyle Manor had more than one Sequence 6.
His luck had only been so unfailingly effective because everyone he had faced so far had been at his Sequence or below.
"What did my father end up doing with Booze?" Kronos asked casually.
The butler replied somewhat awkwardly, "The Marquis said a Sequence 8 was of little use, alive or dead, so he made him drink a Sequence 7 Potion before killing him. He said he would make a weapon for you."
Kronos could not hold back his laughter. "Now that's some sound logic. A Robot isn't much use, so help him become a Lucky One before killing him. I'll have to remember that approach. It might come in handy someday."
Kronos roared with laughter, but the butler did not dare join in. He simply stood beside him and watched.
"All right, you may go." Kronos did not make him watch for too long before dismissing him.
The following evening, Kronos and Gner met near the Black Skull Gang's headquarters, the little house beside the docks.
"Gner, is everything ready?"
"Everything's ready." As he spoke, Gner handed Kronos a bag containing a fully loaded revolver, a battle saber, and a dagger.
After taking it, Kronos strapped the dagger to his leg, tucked the gun into his waistband, and held the battle saber in his hand. He gave it a few swings and found it just right.
The Black Skull Gang's leaders had not arrived yet, so they still had to wait a while. Besides, a few people were still walking along the street. Taking action now could easily attract the police.
The two found a good vantage point, then hid in a corner and patiently watched.
After a while, their targets arrived, but the street had not emptied yet. Neither of them moved, instead carefully studying the guards for openings.
There were relatively few guards that day, nine in all. None were regular soldiers; they had probably been picked from among the local thugs. Kronos and Gner were confident they could deal with all of them within a few minutes.
Had the guards been standing together, they would not have been so easy to handle. Instead, they were scattered around the house, giving the two an opening.
Another twenty-odd minutes passed. Once the street was completely deserted, the two made their move.
After creeping closer, Kronos realized that a dagger was clearly better suited to this sort of ambush than a battle saber. He quietly set the saber aside, drew his dagger, and cautiously crept toward the man ahead.
Kronos had no experience, so he only needed to handle three of the nine guards. Gner would take care of the remaining six.
Although Kronos had long since prepared himself mentally to kill, he still preferred to avoid it whenever possible.
So he attacked with the intention of knocking the guard unconscious rather than killing him, punching him in the back of the neck.
Unexpectedly, things went wrong with the very first guard. Because Kronos did not want to kill him, he had instinctively held back some of his strength, leaving the punch too weak to knock him out.
Seeing the man sway without falling, Kronos knew something had gone wrong and hurried to salvage the situation.
More than anything, he feared the guard would cry out. He had no choice but to raise his dagger and plunge it into the man's throat without hesitation.
When he used to read novels in which protagonists vomited in disgust after their first kill, Kronos had always thought it was an exaggeration.
Now that he had experienced it himself, he understood. It was not the smell of blood that made a person sick, but the psychological revulsion of killing a fellow human being.
"One-Pronged Hand Seal, Rin!" There was no time to recover slowly, so Kronos chose this method to forcibly suppress his discomfort.
After killing the first guard, his mental burden inexplicably eased considerably. Although he did not kill the remaining two outright, he struck them hard. Whether they survived, and whether they would be left disabled if they did, was up to fate.
Ever since Kronos began killing, the Potion had become active. Although digestion had not yet begun, it clearly showed signs of starting.
Once both men had dealt with their targets, they charged into the little house without hesitation.
That was rather reckless. Kronos had completely forgotten to scout with his eyes.
After all, the three people inside were Beyonders of the Corpse Collector Pathway. However careful Kronos and Gner had been, they sensed it as soon as someone died outside.
The moment the two burst inside, they found themselves facing six rifles, two in the hands of each gang leader.
Fortunately, Gner reacted quickly, pulling Kronos into a sideways roll.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! A string of gunshots rang out.
Once they had dodged the shots, things became much simpler. At such close range, their opponents had no time to reload. Kronos drew his battle saber without hesitation and charged.
Just as Kronos bravely rushed forward, the last trace of the Potion in his body finished digesting.
But he had no time to pay attention to that. He was already fighting one of the men.
His opponent was Moreira, the only Sequence 9 among the three leaders.
Beside him, Gner had engaged Lima, but Godopus kept his distance, retreating as he loaded his rifle.
Seeing that Godopus was about to finish reloading, Kronos let out a roar, took two punches from Moreira, and knocked his opponent unconscious with the back of his blade. Then he charged at Godopus.
When Moreira fell, Godopus thought he had been hacked to death. Without a word, he raised his rifle and fired.
But Kronos was already upon him. He slashed at the barrel with all his strength, delivering a blow powerful enough to sever it and cause the rifle to explode.
The force of the explosion sent Godopus tumbling, his gun still in his hands. Two of the three leaders had been subdued.
The remaining leader, Lima, gradually realized that the two intruders did not want to kill them, so he hurriedly shouted, "Gentlemen, tell us what you want! Everything is negotiable!"
Since Kronos had finished digesting his Potion, there was naturally no need to keep fighting. He waved for Gner to stop.
"We're from Marquis Argyle's family. To think a little gang like yours would dare extort protection money from the Marquis. Are you relying on the East Balam Restoration Society to back you up?" Kronos named the Restoration Society outright precisely to put them in their place.
Sure enough, terror appeared on the faces of both Lima and Godopus, who had survived the explosion without losing consciousness. Most of the Loen Kingdom's colonies on the Southern Continent were in East Balam, which made the East Balam Restoration Society a rebel organization in Loen.
"Sir, you've misunderstood. How would small fry like us dare provoke the Marquis? There must be some misunderstanding."
"Really? But that man insisted he was related to Lima. His sister is Lima's mistress, isn't she?" Kronos laid out the information directly.
Now Lima and Godopus both understood what had happened.
"Sir, we'll accept our punishment. Just say the word!" Lima knew when to bend and when to stand firm, and immediately admitted fault.
"I don't care what you're planning to do, but if you dare cause the Marquis trouble again, none of you will have an easy time of it." Kronos said no more. Having delivered his warning, he turned and left, with Gner following him out.
Neither spoke or stopped. They simply walked briskly onward until there was no chance of anyone in the little house seeing them.
"Why did we leave so quickly?" Gner could not figure it out, so he asked.
"Your timing was precise. Any later, and the conflict would have escalated." A figure in a black robe suddenly appeared beside them. He was the Nightmare who had defeated Gner at the manor that day.
"Exactly. I felt it. The moment Godopus fell, I sensed intense malice. When I mentioned Marquis Argyle, it eased considerably, so I got out of there as fast as I could." Kronos was breathing heavily.
The Nightmare might only have sensed a single Sequence 7, but Kronos had learned his lesson after nearly being riddled with bullets from six guns. He had kept the Eye of Time active ever since.
When the fighting began, there had indeed been only one Sequence 7. But that Sequence 7 had clearly sent a message calling for reinforcements. No people came, but five Wraiths arrived one after another, all stronger than a Sequence 7.
When he saw those timelines rapidly trembling before his eyes, Kronos nearly wet himself. Had his nerves been just a little weaker, he would have turned and fled on the spot.
He really had underestimated these organizations. Because he could not readily explain the source of his information, he had not told the Marquis about the Restoration Society.
He was certain that if the Marquis had known, he would never have sent only a single Sequence 7. He might not have allowed Kronos to choose the Black Skull Gang at all.
The original story had misled him after all. They had been wiped out so quickly in it that Kronos had assumed they would be easy prey.
But thinking about it carefully, Klein had controlled Godopus and detonated the explosives outright in the original story. Even if there had been powerful figures nearby, they would never have had time to come to their aid.
Before you continue