Chapter 167

Had Jin's group noticed the Transformer's existence back then, they would have looked for him and ordered a confession; how he transformed people, and what he was trying to gain with such power.

However, the situation was different. The Kinzelo Group was dangerous beyond compare, and the infamous Transformer had to be an integral member of the organization.

If anything happened to Bouvard, the organization would not let it slide.

'Thank god we found out. I was gonna deal with Bouvard pretty soon…'

When Kashimir reported that Bouvard was an executive of Kinzelo, he was a little surprised. He didn't think that dealing with him would be that much of a problem.

'We almost made a fatal mistake. I was about to touch a wasp's nest… I'm gonna have to thank the dark magicians some time.'

Jin didn't really have a reason to seek Bouvard immediately. However, having a light encounter wouldn't be too bad, since he gained an ample amount of valuable information from the dark magicians' hideout.

"The young master? Hm, I don't think capturing and dealing with him like Mato Baker is…"

"No, Miss Alisa. I just want to disguise myself as a customer and enter his fragment workshop once. I don't think the Kinzelo Group and the Dark Magic Association have such high security. But how can we know for certain? What other information can be dropped?"

The Kinzelo Group and the Dark Magic Association gave Jin their information not because their security was poor. They just didn't know about 'magic swordsman Jin Runcandel'.

Seeing their plan to capture the academy magicians, Jin knew that they had been doing this the entire time, even in his past life. 

'I should take advantage of the situation presented before me. Once the world begins to divert their attention towards magic swordsman Jin Grey or Jin Runcandel becomes a little too famous, it'll be much harder to take action.'

At that point, gathering intel would be harder by tenfold. The moment that people find out about Jin Runcandel, they would also find out that Tikan was under his wing.

"Hm, if you say so. Seeing his face at least once isn't a bad idea. And Kinzelo doesn't know your face at all… Will you be going alone?"

Kashimir asked. Jin shook his head and responded with a smile.

"No. I got just the person to go with me. Oh, and Sir Kashimir, please make the Seven-Colored Peacock gather some information about the relationship between Kinzelo and the White Wolf Tribe."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Vermont Special Forces diverted all of their attention to investigating the novices at the Dark Magic Association eradication mission. Looking into the case were the leader of the 3rd Division Wratch and three of his subordinates, together with Special Forces of Magic 1st Division 3rd Lieutenant V and five of his subordinates.

"Did seriously no one remember their faces? Pascal Chip. You, Kin Maura, and Moz Orel are the ones who brought them as followers. Does it even make sense that you don't know their faces?"

"We really don't know, Lieutenant."

"We lost almost twenty magicians that would've protected the empire, and two 6-stars along with one 7-star died. If you don't tell me at once, the empire will be in great danger!"

V shouted at them, and the three novices clenched their eyes shut.

The courageous one was Chip.

"But sir, we really don't know anything. It's probably because of the overflow, but I have no memory of the event. We told you everything we know."

"You little—"

"And above all, if it weren't for them, not a single novice would've survived. Honestly, we want to find them to repay the debt…"

"Th-That's right, Lieutenant. We only remember the names Jin and Austin Grey. If you find them, will you please tell us?"

"Not just us three, but I'm sure everyone else is of the same mind. As respected academy novices, we should never forget our indebtedness…"

Wratch and V sighed.

All of the novices were the same. They definitely knew something, but they all kept their mouths shut.

Maura, Orel, and Chip said that they just wanted to return the favor. Nothing good would happen if the two agents found out that the novices got tricked by a pair of Special Forces impersonators. Plus, their fear of Jin was greater.

As for the other novices, they had different reasons. Amongst those who experienced the Heavenly Defiance, they just thought that Kidard of Profusion returned from the dead.

To magicians, Kidard's notoriety was nothing to be compared to. Although the novices haven't seen it for themselves, many of their parents experienced Kidard's magic firsthand. And following their parents' footsteps, the novices gagged in the presence of overload spells.

Regardless, it was either Kidard's second coming or his apprentice killed the dark magicians, so they knew that the Special Forces had no reason to pursue him.

Compared to buying Kidard's hate, making the Special Forces a little more disappointed was better.

The novices' parents thought that as well. In reality, the ones that the Special Forces should be pursuing should be the Dark Magic Association, not Kidard.

V spoke once the novices went away.

"Phew, the emperor said to never torture the novices. This has got to be a joke. I don't understand why they're doing that. It must've been that much of a shock. Sir Wratch, what do you think?"

"...I'm sure of one thing. Jin Grey was Kidard's apprentice, maybe even the man himself. If not, he would've never obtained the magic tome for the Heavenly Defiance from Vankella's eternal storage."

"I agree. When I first heard that Kidard died, I just thought that he died to an assassin. However, from all the press all over the world, they said that the tome for the Heavenly Defiance was still in the eternal storage…"

"In the case where Jin Grey is Kidard himself, we can't forget about the assistance from the Transformer. For many reasons, he could've faked dying by Jin Grey's hand and changed identities."

"Ah, the mysterious transformers that Groups 1 and 3 are pursuing… Hm, if so, then did Austin Grey kill the White Wolf Tribesman?"

Wratch didn't answer and looked around the scene.

'Austin was smaller than Jin Grey and had an unfitting mustache. They also said that his voice sounded weird. Estimated age is mid-teens to early twenties.'

That was the evidence provided by everyone other than Chip, Maura, and Orel. Even though their parents would've told them to keep their mouth shut, not telling the Special Forces anything was still a little suffocating.

Because of their late arrival, Goltep's corpse had already decomposed a little, but not his hammer. Wratch couldn't get his eyes off the weapon that was perfectly split into two.

He could only think of one name.

'Dante Hairan. Small body, weird voice, and a boy who could split that hammer in half… From my knowledge, Dante is a strong suspect. I must go to the Hairan Clan sometime.'

That night, Wratch took both halves of the hammer and sought the Hairan Clan. Then, he heard these words.

"I am not at a level where I can split it this cleanly. Looking at the cross section, the person you're looking for has to be at least 8-star. Anyway, who was the one who killed the dark magicians? Jin Grey?"

Thanks to that, Dante had more to talk about with Beradin. They also got more to talk about with Jin on their next meetup.

* * *

October 30th, 1796.

On the way to meet Bouvard in the Curano Dukedom, Jin had to go through the Kon Kingdom's transfer gate. He then stopped by the bar where he drank with Beradin and Dante.

He spent the day like that. At around lunch, he bought the ticket to transfer from the central region of the Kon Kingdom to the Curano Dukedom. 

In the afternoon, the transfer gates were filled with traveling nobles and workers on business trips. With glasses on and without a sword, Jin had gloves to hide all his calluses. He looked like a businessman.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the transfer gate will open in fifteen minutes. Until then, please remain in your seats…"

The stewards checked the passengers.

Clop, clop.

Jin heard the sound of shoes—ones that recently went trending in the Kon Kingdom.

The owner of the footsteps stopped next to Jin and spoke.

"Can you move your bag? This is my seat."

Jin looked up at a woman with gorgeous red hair and a suit, then awkwardly smiled.

"Ah, yes. Sorry."

A little later, the transfer gates opened, and the passengers were swallowed with mana. 

As soon as he arrived, Jin sought and found the street with the fragment workshop.

Bouvard's fragment workshop was not in the street where all the workshops were located. It was intentionally far away, in the outskirts of the capital.

Jin could buy suspicion, so there was nothing bad about being careful. He decidedly went from workshop to workshop and naturally asked each one about the most talented fragmentor. To which everyone brought up Bouvard's name.

"I don't know which clan he's from, but it seems he's searching for a genius fragmentor."

"I wanted him to fragment a bust of someone I truly respected…"

"In a little corner on the west side of the city, you can find Bouvard Gaston's workshop. Try going there. If you think he's still lacking, then there's no one else in Curano who can satisfy you."

"I was actually looking for a famous fragmentor on the way, it's the first time I heard of such a name. Bouvard Gaston? Never heard his name in the Vermont art magazines."

"The most talented ones aren't always famous. If only Bouvard's personality was fine, he would've become the emperor's sculptor. Maybe he would be scouted by Emperor Vermont."

"Is he that great?"

"Between those who know, Bouvard is said to be a god of fragmenting. Tsk, I don't understand why the gods gave such a horrible person such great talents. I'm so jealous, I could kill him!"

"Haha, calm down, sir…"

"You wouldn't know, since you're not from here, but Curano's workshop street used to be twice as big. But after Bouvard appeared, many fragmentors saved his creations and stopped their work."

"Huh."

The Bouvard Jin saw at the banquet didn't have that kind of image, but it seemed he was treated as the best of the best.

'What's the relationship between transformation magic and fragmenting?'

With that question in mind, Jin began to walk towards the fragment workshop. After a while, he arrived in a forest and spoke.

"Is it okay to reveal yourself now, Elder Sister Yona?"