Chapter 17
“Is there no reward?”
When Kael asked that, silence descended over the room for a moment.
Lin, the old man holding her, and the guards aiming their guns all turned their eyes toward him as well.
Everyone was momentarily at a loss for words.
Kael still stood there with both hands raised.
The old man who appeared to be Lin’s grandfather slowly released his granddaughter. Then, after brushing Lin’s shoulder once more as if checking her condition, he turned and looked at Kael.
“A reward?”
The image of the old man trembling as he embraced Lin moments earlier had vanished.
He quickly looked Kael up and down.
At the same time, the guards shouldered their guns more firmly, heightening the tension in the room.
Harun stood beside him with his lips pressed tightly together, only rolling his eyes.
‘Damn bastard. A reward at a time like this? You crazy son of a bitch.’
With that expression.
Just then, Lin hurriedly stepped in front of the two men and shouted.
“Grandfather!”
When Adrian’s gaze immediately turned toward Lin, she pointed at Kael and Harun in turn.
“They’re the ones who saved me. This is Kael, and this old man is Harun.”
“They saved you?”
Adrian’s eyes turned back to Kael.
“Here, in the underground levels?”
His voice held a note of bewilderment.
The underground levels Adrian had seen had been horrifying enough in the brief few minutes he had spent there. Yet his granddaughter claimed she had survived here for days, protected by a young man and an old man she did not even know.
Lin nodded.
“Yes. When I fell through the drainage pipe… Kael caught me. He hid me and helped me evade the people Pale sent after me.”
Pale.
At the mention of that name, the corners of Adrian’s eyes turned cold.
Lin caught her breath for a moment before continuing to explain what had happened.
“Grandpa Harun helped me too. He gave me somewhere to hide and gave me food.”
Harun cleared his throat for no reason.
“It wasn’t exactly proper food, though.”
“But you still gave it to me.”
Perhaps embarrassed by Lin’s words, he grunted and said nothing more.
Adrian looked at Lin for a while.
He was checking whether his granddaughter had been forced to lie.
“….”
Those were not the eyes of a liar.
Once Adrian was convinced, he gestured.
Only then did the muzzles of the guards’ guns aimed at Kael and Harun lower.
Kael slowly lowered his arms.
Harun finally lowered his stiff arms and grumbled under his breath.
“I thought my shoulders were going to fall off.”
Adrian looked at Lin once more, lightly straightened his clothes, and approached Kael.
The head of the security team reflexively moved to follow, but Adrian stopped him with a gesture.
Adrian stood in front of Kael and extended his hand.
“I’m Adrian Arclight.”
“Kael.”
“Thank you sincerely for saving my only granddaughter.”
Adrian drew a short breath and added,
“I mean that.”
Kael took the old man’s hand at his sincere words.
“Don’t mention it.”
Adrian released his hand and nodded.
Then he turned his gaze toward the guards and gestured again.
“Wait outside.”
The head of the security team immediately answered, but—
“CEO, your safety has not been confirmed.”
“It has been confirmed.”
“But….”
The security chief backed down under Adrian’s gaze.
“Wait outside.”
“Yes, sir.”
Then Adrian added one more word.
“Soundproofing.”
At that, one of the guards immediately flung open an equipment case.
Inside were numerous magitech devices. The guards attached them to the four corners of the walls and beside the door. Thin circuits on the surfaces of the devices lit up blue, forming a thin barrier that prevented sound from escaping the room.
Kael looked at the devices.
The flow of mana was being blocked through the devices. They caught vibrations passing through the walls and confined the wavelengths of sounds in the air within a certain range.
They were devices that combined soundproofing with vibration dampening and interference with mana detection.
‘Convenient.’
Kael unconsciously traced the circuit structure with his eyes.
‘The input section is over there, and the amplification happens here. Any residual echo that might leak out is blocked with this….’
Perhaps his gaze had lingered too long, because Adrian asked,
“Is it interesting?”
Kael turned his head.
“Just an occupational habit.”
“What kind of occupation makes you look at it that way?”
“A mage.”
Adrian stared at Kael for a moment, seeming unsure whether the answer was a joke or the truth.
He made no attempt to press Kael about what he really meant.
Once all the guards had gone outside and the door closed,
only Kael, Harun, Lin, and Adrian remained in the room.
“There aren’t any cushions. Will you be all right?”
Adrian hesitated for a moment at Kael’s words, then burst into hearty laughter.
“Then can’t we just sit on the floor?”
Harun blinked.
“I thought upper-level gentlemen couldn’t sit on the floor.”
“When I was young, I sat in places far worse.”
Adrian literally sat down on the floor. His black coat touched the dirty, worn surface, but he did not seem to care much.
That calm and forthright attitude appealed to Kael in its own way.
At least, he seemed like someone Kael might be able to reason with.
He looked at Kael and said,
“Well then.”
He adopted a serious attitude markedly different from before.
“Shall we begin discussing the reward?”
***
Adrian looked at Kael.
A young man with black hair and black eyes. He did not look very old—perhaps barely an adult.
Yet his demeanor was strangely calm. He had not even blinked when Seraph Industries’ guards had aimed their guns at him, and he did not shrink back even in Adrian’s presence.
‘He’s used to situations like this.’
That was Adrian’s judgment.
That was why he was genuinely curious about what sort of demand would come from the young man.
He had kept the granddaughter of a corporate executive alive in the underground levels.
That alone gave him ample grounds to demand something.
Kael seemed to think for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Upper-level citizenship.”
Adrian listened quietly.
“And provision of food, clothing, and shelter.”
“….”
Silence descended for a moment.
Adrian blinked involuntarily, taken aback.
“…Are you serious?”
It was an uncharacteristic reaction from him, but Kael instead asked as though puzzled.
“Is that difficult?”
“Ha.”
Adrian let out a hollow laugh, too dumbfounded by the question to do anything else.
Until moments ago, he had expected a fairly substantial demand. Access to Seraph’s research facilities, an enormous sum of compensation, permanent residency in an upper-level district, or even a corporate contract using Lin’s rescue as leverage.
But all he wanted was citizenship and basic necessities.
That was all.
For someone from the underground levels, they might be things difficult to obtain even after dedicating an entire lifetime. But for Adrian Arclight, they were matters he could settle with a single gesture.
“No, no.”
Adrian shook his head.
“I was planning to provide that much as a matter of course. Legal status, a residence, living expenses, and medical examinations. Everything.”
Harun, who had been listening silently, opened his eyes wide with interest.
“Medical examinations too?”
Kael, however, still showed little reaction.
Adrian continued, watching him.
“Then let me ask you. Is there anything else you want?”
“No.”
An immediate answer.
Adrian examined Kael once more.
Was he simply free of greed?
Or was he incapable of calculating the value of a reward?
If he had to choose, he seemed closer to the latter.
Just then, Kael raised his head as though he had remembered something.
“Ah.”
His expression grew slightly more serious, so Adrian naturally straightened his posture as well.
‘Is this the real matter?’
Kael rummaged inside his coat.
“Strictly speaking, this also seems to be Seraph’s property.”
He took out a small object wrapped in cloth.
“Can I keep it?”
Adrian narrowed his eyes and looked at the object Kael held out.
“What is that…?”
Kael unfolded the cloth to reveal an ACU and continued speaking.
“It belonged to a man named Pale.”
“….”
“I can keep it, right?”
Shocked by his words, Adrian was unable to continue speaking for a while.
The air in the room grew heavy.
Adrian looked at the ACU resting in Kael’s hand, then slowly raised his eyes to Kael’s face.
“You… killed Pale?”
He asked again in a cautious voice.
“You did?”
Kael answered him.
“Yes.”
The reply was utterly matter-of-fact.
His tone was as casual as if he had merely dealt with a punk who had picked a fight on the street.
Adrian swallowed slowly.
Pale was sixth-tier, one of the most formidable forces within Seraph Industries.
Even if he had been a traitor, even if he had deserved to die, he was not someone who could be killed easily.
Yet this young man had killed him and was showing Adrian his ACU as proof.
“…You.”
Adrian looked at Kael again.
“What are you, exactly?”
Kael answered as though he had heard the question many times before.
“A mage.”
Adrian lowered his gaze for a moment, then looked at Kael differently.
He could no longer view him as merely the young man who had saved his granddaughter.
He was an unidentified force, a variable Seraph absolutely needed to understand. No, a being Seraph needed to draw to its side by any means possible.
Above all, there could be nothing more foolish than turning him into an enemy here and now.
Kael seemed to interpret Adrian’s silence differently and asked,
“Was I not supposed to kill him?”
Adrian came to his senses at the question.
“No.”
His voice had grown calm.
“He tried to kill my granddaughter. If he had still been alive, I would have dealt with him myself.”
“Then it’s fine.”
Watching Kael wrap the ACU in cloth again, Adrian looked at it for a moment before speaking.
“You keep it.”
Kael answered in the same detached manner and said,
“Really?”
He lightly nodded, bringing the negotiation to a close.
“Then our negotiation is over.”
“….”
Adrian took a small metal seal from inside his coat.
It had a silver background and Seraph Industries’ emblem.
“Take this.”
Kael accepted the seal.
“What is it?”
“A small token showing that you’re an acquaintance of mine. If you run into some kind of trouble, showing it should take care of things, more or less.”
Adrian then took out a small terminal card.
“And this is my personal contact information. Contact me if a problem arises. Of course, don’t use it for trivial matters.”
Seeing Kael examine the seal and card, Adrian stood up.
“We should go up now.”
Lin looked at Kael and Harun with an unsteady expression.
“…What about those people?”
Perhaps worried that Lin might be concerned, Adrian answered immediately.
“We’ll take them with us. But some procedures are necessary—citizenship, identity registration, assignment of a residence, and so on. Taking them straight to the upper levels without preparation would actually be dangerous.”
Kael nodded.
“I agree.”
Lin bit her lip and hesitated for a moment before approaching Kael.
“Kael.”
“What?”
“Thank you.”
“It was only a transaction.”
“Even so.”
Lin lifted her head and gave him a final smile.
“See you again.”
“Yeah.”