Chapter 78: Humanity (2)

There were many people with great strength.

Many were also skilled in combat, and many were blessed with grit, effort, and talent.

However, those who could read the flow and arrange the board were few enough to count on one hand.

It wasn’t enough to simply be intelligent—one had to know how to use and apply it.

‘If I hadn’t brought Queen back then, it would have been much harder.’

Perhaps it would have taken him longer to come up to the capital and grow his influence as he had now.

That was how important Queen was to Carl.

“Yaaawn.”

Just then, someone entered the office with a yawn.

Second, looking disheveled as if she had just woken up, stood by the door in light clothing.

“Queen, you haven’t eaten yet, right? The weather’s nice, so let’s go out and—”

Second, still half-asleep, scratched her stomach lazily and yawned again—only to freeze the moment she sensed another presence deeper inside the office.

On the sofa was Queen, fast asleep under a blanket, breathing softly.

Then the one sitting at the desk was…?

“……”

It was only then that Second remembered the Master was supposed to return here today.

She glanced up, and sure enough, there was the Master, looking at her with a calm expression.

“...Ah.”

“Second, I see you’ve slept well. Good. Rest is important.”

“Master, just a moment.”

Taking a few cautious steps backward, Second slipped out of the office door and bolted down the hallway at tremendous speed.

She passed a fellow member in the corridor, who tried to greet her, but she rushed past and returned to her own room.

About a minute later—

Second reappeared at the office door, perfectly dressed in her usual neat state.

“You’ve returned, Master.”

“You can relax. Everyone’s off duty today anyway.”

“My apologies. I trained late into the night yesterday…”

“If that’s the reason, I can overlook it a hundred times over, so don’t worry.”

At Carl’s words, Second smiled faintly.

Then she glanced toward Queen, still fast asleep without stirring on the sofa opposite.

“When did this careless woman fall asleep? Don’t tell me it was before you arrived?”

“I put her to sleep midway. She seemed quite exhausted.”

“Hmm.”

Second nodded quietly.

Everyone in NOX knew how much Queen had been overworking herself lately.

“There’s been quite a lot of work recently, so it couldn’t be helped.”

“It seems the Lahan side is finally gaining momentum as well.”

“It looks like NOX’s involvement has provoked Turgar. Judging by how they’ve hired a large number of outside mercenaries, it won’t be long now.”

Carl nodded.

A battle between the underboss brother and the legitimate heir son of an organization’s leader—

Either side could win without it being strange.

Originally, Turgar, as the underboss, had the clear advantage. But since NOX had been cutting away at his side branches, the scales were gradually tipping toward balance.

The fact that Turgar, who held a larger share of Lahan’s side, had hired so many mercenaries showed that he felt the crisis.

Driven into a corner, the time was approaching for him to bare his fangs and bite back.

“By the way, how’s your progress with the divine art?”

“I’ve just reached Three Stars.”

“Three Stars, hm.”

Carl nodded in satisfaction.

The martial art he had taught Second was White Tiger Divine Art—one of the supreme divine arts of the Central Plains.

As its name suggested, it was modeled after one of the Four Guardian Beasts, and was one of the Four Divine Martial Arts famed across the Central Plains.

For her to reach Three Stars in such a short time meant that Second and the White Tiger Divine Art were highly compatible.

‘As expected, the Black Label members are fundamentally gifted in martial arts.’

Carl had taught NOX members various martial arts suited to their individual styles.

Of course, there were also those who didn’t learn any martial arts from him.

If they already possessed their own techniques and were on the path to completion, forcing them to learn something else would only get in the way.

That, too, could be considered a form of Artenian martial arts, so Carl never forced it.

The only exception was Primal Unity Qi.

In that area alone, the martial arts of the Central Plains were clearly superior to Artenia’s.

That was something he made sure to teach all members, and it had resulted in a significant increase in their combat power.

“Thanks to Queen’s thorough preparations, I should be done with work earlier than expected. If you have no plans after this, Second, how about a light spar?”

“Are you sure?”

Second’s eyes lit up.

Truthfully, she had been hoping to ask first, but not knowing the Master’s schedule, she had held her tongue.

There was no one else around who could properly withstand the power of her not-yet-refined White Tiger Divine Art, so she had been wondering if she would have to train alone again today.

‘This is a rare chance.’

Second, already excited, swayed her head slightly as she looked at Carl.

“Then I’ll take you up on it.”

“I’ll be there in less than 30 minutes, so be ready.”

“Understood. Hey, sleepyhead, wake up.”

“...Uuhh—huh?!”

Second snatched away the blanket covering Queen in one swift motion.

Even if she had been in such a deep sleep from blood loss and exhaustion, there was no way she wouldn’t wake in this situation.

As Queen slowly raised her head with a dazed, startled look, Second reached out without hesitation.

Whoosh.

She promptly hoisted Queen over her shoulder like a sack of goods and stood up.

“W-wait, Second! My skirt! It’s riding up! Put me down!”

“Don’t worry. The Master isn’t interested in your plain-colored panties.”

At Second’s words, Carl averted his gaze with a wry smile, while Queen’s face flushed so red it seemed she might explode.

“Eeek! Eeeekkk…!!!”

“Then I’ll go get ready.”

Clack.

After Queen and Second left the office bickering—

Carl, now alone, sat in the quiet office and let out a short breath.

“I’d better hurry.”

It seemed he would have to finish his work before Second was assassinated by Queen.

“……”

The next stage after anger was resignation.

Queen sat crouched in the corner of the training ground, staring blankly into space like someone whose soul had left her body.

Whoosh, whoosh!

While spinning her spear to loosen up, Second looked at Queen with an awkward expression and said,

“I said I’m sorry.”

“……”

There was no reply.

Queen just kept staring blankly into space as before.

Seeing her like that, Second scratched her head.

‘Was I too much?’

When the Master said he would spar with her, she got too excited and acted without thinking.

Since she was in the wrong, she lowered her spear slightly and walked toward Queen.

“Queen, I’m sorry. I went too far.”

“……”

“Queen?”

“The Master.”

“The Master?”

“He didn’t seem interested at all.”

“…What?”

Second tilted her head, not understanding what she meant.

What exactly was he not interested in?

Queen turned to her with a soulless face.

“The Master’s a man, isn’t he?”

“Well… yes?”

He wasn’t a woman, after all.

“He’s in his prime, and at an age when men are usually interested in the opposite sex…”

“Aha.”

Was she disappointed that he didn’t look at her underwear?

Second let out a short laugh.

She had been wondering why Queen looked so gloomy, but the reason was absurd.

“…And you, on the other hand—how can you be so utterly lacking in delicacy?”

Suddenly, the target changed.

Between her despair, anger began to bubble up, creating a gradient of emotion.

“I try so hard to maintain a good image in front of the Master, and you just smash it to pieces…”

“B-but, the Master!”

Sensing that she would soon reach a state of extreme fury, Second hurriedly cut in.

“The Master looked away, right? If he really had no thoughts at all, he would’ve just stayed still. Don’t you think he looked away because he was embarrassed?”

“He was being considerate of me. I was on the verge of dying from shame.”

“No. You were hanging upside down so you couldn’t see, but I definitely saw it. The Master tried not to show it, but he was definitely unsettled.”

Second shamelessly told a lie.

Right now, getting past this crisis took priority over everything else.

“…Really?”

“I definitely saw it that way. Why would I lie?”

There were more reasons than she could count.

Even so, Second kept a perfectly straight face and lied without batting an eye.

She believed the Master would understand such a clumsy subordinate’s falsehood.

“…Hmm.”

Queen’s expression shifted.

Seeing that her lie seemed to be working, Second felt relieved—

“…!”

But suddenly, a cold killing intent brushed the back of her neck. Second let out a startled breath and raised her spear.

Clang!

Bright yellow sparks flew.

Just moments ago, Queen had been in front of her, but now she was behind, thrusting her sword at her.

“Second.”

“……”

“No matter who you are, I won’t forgive you for slandering the Master.”

She was caught.

Feeling the chill of danger run down her spine, Second lifted her head and protested,

“No, it’s true! Why would I lie?”

“…To get out of this situation?”

“If that were the case, I’d just slam my head to the ground and apologize!”

“……”

Queen looked at her with a puzzled face.

She had been certain it was a lie, but seeing Second frown so deeply and look so wronged made her waver slightly.

‘…Is she telling the truth?’

Meanwhile, seeing her hesitation, Second pressed on to drive the point home.

“Queen, you know how attractive you are. Unless someone’s made of stone, it’s impossible not to feel your beauty. Even the Master, right? He’s just good at hiding his emotions, not someone without them.”

“…That’s true.”

Queen nodded.

He was good at concealing his feelings, but that didn’t mean he had none.

In fact, sometimes she felt he was the most sensitive person in NOX.

Confirming that Queen was being swayed, Second pushed harder.

“So that’s why—”

Clang!

But before she could finish, another sharp strike came flying in.

Since she had been on guard just in case, Second easily deflected the attack aimed at her blind spot—

But feeling the genuine killing intent in it, she stepped back and cried out indignantly,

“Why! I’m telling the truth!”

“Even if that’s so—”

It didn’t erase the original sin of making her look shameful in front of the Master.

Whoosh.

Spinning her sword in her hand, Queen smiled faintly.

“Before sparring with the Master, you should warm up too, right? I think it’s about time to reestablish the pecking order. The organization’s discipline has gotten a bit lax lately.”

Extra Numbers.

King, Queen, Jack, Ace.

These four, among the Black Label executives, possessed exceptional strength.

The King was originally strong in his own right, Jack and Ace had learned Heavenly Demon Divine Art and Bright Heaven Divine Art, and Queen had learned Silent Shadow Kill Technique, the martial art of the Unkillable.

Compared to other Black Label executives, they were on a level above.

Even with White Tiger Divine Art, Second couldn’t be certain she could withstand Queen if she went all out.

Swoosh.

As Queen’s figure blended into the air and her presence vanished entirely, Second gripped her spear shaft tightly and let out a deep sigh.

‘I’m screwed.’

All she could do was hope the Master finished his work and came before she was killed.

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