Knock, knock.
The wooden door was gently tapped.
Inside the room, Chelsea recognized the agreed-upon signal and quietly let out a breath of relief.
As for the possibility that the other two had been captured, tortured into revealing the signal, and then sold her out—she did not even consider that.
Oarburgh was not some third-rate outfit.
Barbara might look like an old woman, but she was ridiculously stubborn and tough.
Taeko had inherited that from her completely.
Because of that, Chelsea opened the door with almost no guard up.
Of course, she did not open it all the way.
She had done that before and gotten scolded by Barbara for ages, told that she was far too careless.
Chelsea had no desire to be hung up and lectured for two or three hours again.
Creak.
She pushed the door open a crack.
Through the gap, Chelsea saw Taeko's natural expression.
This time, she immediately opened the door and said happily, "Welcome back, Taeko."
"Mm. I'm back, Chelsea."
Chelsea turned around and walked into the room, planning to pour Taeko some water.
But after taking only two or three steps, she suddenly heard Taeko speaking to someone.
"Lamur-senpai, please come in."
Eh?
Chelsea's steps stopped.
There was someone else?
Not Instructor Barbara?
"Mm. Thank you, Taeko."
Noah responded softly, then walked into the room naturally and casually looked around.
A drop of cold sweat slid down Chelsea's forehead.
Because this was too strange.
Why would Taeko suddenly bring back a strange man?
Where was Instructor Barbara?
Was she not with Taeko?
Why?
Hadn't they agreed to come back together after the mission was complete?
A wave of panic spread through Chelsea's heart.
'Calm down.'
'You need to calm down, Chelsea.'
Haaah.
After calming the turmoil in her heart, Chelsea pretended nothing had happened and walked to the tea table, picking up the teapot and cups.
Though what was inside was only plain water.
She took one extra cup, meant for Noah.
While placing the cups on the table and pouring water, she asked in a natural tone, "Taeko, who is this?"
"It's Lamur-senpai," Taeko replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
That left Chelsea completely confused.
No, no, no.
That was exactly what she was asking.
Who was this Lamur-senpai? This was way too strange!
Did Taeko know someone like this?
This guy was not from Oarburgh.
Who was he?
Why did Taeko's every movement show such trust toward him?
"Um, Mister Lamur? Please."
Chelsea brought the poured hot water to Noah.
Only, as she offered the water, her little finger trembled lightly twice, mixing the poison hidden under her nail into the cup.
Her instructor was Barbara, after all.
Although that old woman had many irritating points, especially her personality, there was no doubt about her ability.
Chelsea seemed to remember hearing Barbara mention techniques like "hypnosis" before.
Had Taeko fallen victim to something like that?
With that suspicion in mind, Chelsea did not use a lethal poison. Instead, she used one that would rob a person of the ability to move.
Noah accepted the hot water, looking as though he had no guard up at all.
He drank the water in the cup rather casually.
"Thank you, Chelsea."
"Ah?"
Chelsea froze.
Why was this guy calling her by name right away?
Wait, how did he know the name Chelsea?
Did Taeko tell him?
This was getting more and more confusing.
Where on earth had Instructor Barbara gone? Something was wrong with this guy. He was kind of scary…
"My name is Lamur. I came to find you this time because of one matter. I'd like to purchase the makeup case in your hand through a peaceful transaction."
Chelsea's hand instantly tightened.
She gripped the handle of her makeup case tightly, feeling an overwhelming urge to run immediately.
"Makeup… case?"
"Yes. The one you're holding."
"No!"
"I can give you gold. As much as you want."
Noah made that guarantee with complete confidence.
He was not a bandit.
Although he could take it by force, if the other party was willing to sell it, he did not mind paying.
To him, gold was about as cheap as dirt anyway.
Hearing him say that, Chelsea sensed his determination to obtain it.
Could it be… he knew this thing was a Teigu?
Thinking that, the girl glanced at Taeko beside her, only to happen to see Taeko staring at her too.
For some reason, Taeko's gaze felt unfamiliar.
Unlike that old woman Barbara, Taeko had always spoiled her.
She would satisfy any request Chelsea made, and even during missions, if Chelsea got tired from walking, Taeko was willing to carry her.
The old woman was always telling Taeko not to spoil her.
Chelsea really liked that kind of Taeko.
But what was with that look?
It was almost as though Taeko was watching her every movement, afraid that she might suddenly escape.
The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.
"Gold?" Chelsea paused.
She could not sense even the slightest killing intent from the man before her.
Was he really after the Teigu?
Also, saying he could give as much gold as she wanted was far too arrogant.
Did that mean if she asked for ten tons, he would give her ten tons?
Thinking that, she could not help revealing a slightly disdainful smile.
What she did not know was that Noah saw all of it.
Guessing the girl's thoughts, he casually said, "Even ten tons wouldn't be impossible."
Bang!
The girl stood up in panic.
Her expression was awkward, her face constantly shifting as she stared uncertainly at the masked man who refused to show his true face.
What's wrong with Taeko?
Why did she have no reaction at all?
"S-Sorry, I don't understand what you mean…"
"Is that so? Then I'll put it simply. No matter how much you want, as long as you sell Gaea Foundation to me, I'll give it to you."
Chelsea's pupils instantly contracted. Her eyes changed as she retreated several steps.
While retreating, she pulled a gun from behind her and aimed the muzzle at Noah.
"Who exactly are you?" Chelsea demanded loudly.
Yet even with the gun pointed at him, Noah did not panic at all.
He explained, "I introduced myself just now. You can call me Lamur."
Chelsea grew angry at that.
"Are you messing with me?"
"No. I'm quite serious."
Damn it.
What was going on? Why had the poison not taken effect yet?
So much time had already passed.
This man should have collapsed, unable to stand!
Noah tilted his head, then seemed to realize something.
He raised a finger and, like a conductor with a baton, guided the water out from inside his body.
"You… you're fine?"
"As you can see, poison doesn't work on me. All I have to do is wrap it in water like this and prevent my organs from absorbing or breaking it down."
Chelsea stared blankly at the miraculous scene before her.
The man gently moved his finger, and the water ball containing the poison swayed back and forth in the air.
What kind of principle was this?!
"How is something like that possible…"
Chelsea had originally wanted to deny it loudly, but looking at the scene before her, she could not force out the rest of her words.
What was possible or impossible no longer mattered. This was already a fact happening right before her eyes.
Rather, she needed to run.
So her poisoning attempt had been discovered from the start.
"Damn it."
Chelsea prepared to use the gun in her hand.
Noah spoke first. "Are you planning to attack me with that? Don't waste your effort."
Whether it was a waste of effort… she would only know after trying!
Chelsea prepared to pull the trigger.
But at that moment, an astonishing killing intent rose beside her.
Before she knew it, a shining blade was resting in front of her neck.
Cold sweat slid down Chelsea's face.
In disbelief, she said, "Taeko, do you know what you're doing?"
Faced with the question, Taeko merely answered coldly, "You are not allowed to attack Lamur-senpai."
Chelsea looked at the unfamiliar Taeko and gritted her teeth in fury.
"What the hell did you do to Taeko?!"
Taeko's condition was clearly wrong.
Could hypnosis really be this terrifying? It had actually made Taeko completely obey his orders.
Damn it!
When the old woman came back and saw Taeko hypnotized, she would definitely cut this guy into pieces.
Seeing Chelsea's furious eyes, Noah waved his hand and signaled for Taeko to step back.
Then he pointed at the gun muzzle, then at the position of his own heart.
"That gun can't fire bullets. Put it down and let's talk properly. My goal is only the Teigu. Before you fire, let me make this clear. Killing indiscriminately isn't my style. But if someone is clearly my enemy, I absolutely won't hold back."
A trace of killing intent leaked through the gaps in Noah's mask.
A vision of mountains of corpses and seas of blood naturally surfaced.
For an instant, Chelsea could almost smell the stench of the dead.
Intimidated by that killing intent, her entire body trembled, yet she was so stiff that she could not move.
Noah took the gun from her hand and pulled the trigger against his own temple.
When she heard the click of the firing pin, Chelsea was so frightened that she shut her eyes.
Even though the muzzle was not aimed at her, at this distance, the act of firing still filled her with fear.
Huh?
There's no sound?
After waiting for a while, Chelsea still did not hear anyone collapse.
Forget collapsing—there had not even been the sound of a gunshot.
She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the unharmed man before her, then at the gun that had somehow been returned to her hand.
Was it… broken?
Seeing that she could not understand the situation at all, Noah kindly explained, "I suppressed every ignition phenomenon in this room. That gun is no different from scrap metal right now."
What?
Ignition?
Chelsea could not understand what that short sentence meant.
In any case, the gun was unusable.
"You should be glad I'm not a Teigu user."
Noah poured himself another cup of water, and while he was at it, poured Chelsea one too.
Under Chelsea's horrified gaze, the already cold water somehow began steaming again.
If Teigu users fought each other with the intent to kill, then the battle would inevitably end with one side's death.
That was one of the ironclad rules regarding Teigu.
And an ironclad rule meant there were almost no exceptions.
At least, there had not been any in the past thousand years.
"Taeko, did you sell me out?" Chelsea's expression looked somewhat pained. "Was this Instructor Barbara's idea too?"
This girl had brought the man here and easily forced Chelsea into a dead end.
If it came to fighting, setting aside this eerie masked man, Taeko alone was ten times stronger than her.
If Taeko intended to kill her in this situation, Chelsea would not even be able to resist.
"Instructor Barbara?" Taeko tilted her head, her face full of confusion. "Who is that?"
Hah?
Chelsea froze.
What did she just say?
She asked who Instructor Barbara was?
What kind of joke was this?
What kind of ridiculous joke was this?!
She stopped looking at Taeko and turned toward Noah instead. "What exactly did you do to Taeko? Is this hypnosis? Brainwashing?"
This was too much.
To do something like this…
Although Chelsea was an assassin and had no right to preach righteousness or morality, there was still a basic human boundary.
Twisting another person's will without permission was the kind of thing she hated most.
"Change Taeko back!" Chelsea shouted loudly.
But Taeko did not understand at all.
From her perspective, this witness had been saying strange things for a while.
First, she had made up a name Taeko had never heard before.
Then she started saying all kinds of weird things that had nothing to do with her.
Taeko looked toward Noah and asked, "Lamur-senpai, this woman seems to have something wrong with her mind. I think this kind of conversation is only wasting time. Would it be better to simply kill her?"
"Taeko?"
Chelsea stared in horror at the girl releasing killing intent towards her.
And she understood.
Taeko was serious.
Because they had always been together, Chelsea knew.
The girl was not joking at all.
So that was it.
Right now, she did not have the luxury to search for the truth.
More than figuring out what had happened to Taeko, she had to survive first.
"Hey, you called Lamur right? Are you trying to become a Teigu user? Let me say this first. Even if I hand the Teigu over to you, someone whose wavelength doesn't match can't use it!"
Noah set down his cup and said calmly, "You don't need to worry about that."
When it came to understanding Teigu, even Teigu users could not compare to him.
Besides, he had never intended to use such a girly Teigu in the first place.
Once it was in his hands, it would probably be dismantled into parts within two days.
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