CHAPTER 28

My breath is heavy. My muscles are loose. What is this feeling? I’m leaving my control. Why? I might be killed! Why? Why won’t I try to run away?

“I’m sorry,” says the Barbarian. “This is the only way for me to talk to you without relying on my ability.”

He sits beside me. For some reason, I’m mad that he step aside? Why?

“I apologize for my earlier behavior. I was under the control of Surpassing Freedom. I’m thankful that you freed me from it. Is there any way for me to repay you? I’ll try to fulfill it if I can.”

I don’t know why but I want him to drown me.

“If there is nothing, I would like to hear your plan to fight against the Ambrous Knight?”

“My plan?”

“Yes. Whenever I’m in rage, I’m actually aware of what’s happening without having the faculty to control my own body. Even when enslaved, I can still hear everything. It was said that a Steam Sapien Sorcerer led an attack against the knights. That’s you isn’t it? If you have any further plan, I would like to know more about it.”

“I… don’t know?”

“Is that so? Then is it correct to assume that your assault on Bread Village was done on a whim?”

“Yeah.”

“I see. That doesn’t invalid that it was the most successful attempt I’ve ever heard.”

“I’m sorry?”

“There is a record of siege attempts on Bread Village ever since Ambrous Knight occupy it. Every other attempt led to total annihilation and subjugation with zero survivors. You however, freed me. That’s better than anyone ever done. Granted there’s less attack since the whole area was sealed. But you had the best result ever recorded.”

Please, praise me more!

“Even if you didn’t have any plan, you still have the instinct and capability to save yourselves. If I stay with you, my chance of living without being enslaved will increase.”

You can stay with me however long you want!

“That aside. You’re wearing the uniform of an Ambrous Knight while heading towards a place. Where is this place?”

He could be a spy! But… I can trust him, right?

No! Whatever I’m feeling right now, it is bad! It doesn’t matter if he’s a spy or not, I must not fall for it! I should be spying on him the same way he’s spying on me! There is only one way I can trust him. His helmet is broken while mine isn’t. He won’t be able to see anything in a steam.

“Where is the smoke coming from?” he asks.

I walk around in the steam. “I’m sorry but if I have to do this or I won’t trust you.”

“If you have any question, feel free to ask. I have nothing to hide.”

“Does this armor has any tracking?”

“Yes, it does.”

Flour! The Nostra brothers are in danger! I can locate them, but so does the other Ambrous Knight!

“What is the weakness of the Ambrous Knight?” I ask.

“The knight? The armor of course. Due to how the Ambrousian Empire reprogrammed this reality, they cannot patch the armor. Any Adventurer can use the armor to gain any information of the empire.”

No wonder why they would want contract spells. It’s to prevent Adventurers from spying on them while having control over their entire faculties. They can’t control Demons or Feys, so they programmed them to be boss for Adventurers to kill! Since gaming system is far reaching, Adventurers will assume that all of this works like a normal video game!

“How?”

“Just ask your Detail Check to link to the armor and you’re good to go.”

Wait a minute! I just realized that I never really ask my floating words anything about the blue armor! Why didn’t I think about that sooner?!

“Can I disable the tracking on the armor?”

“If you ask your Detail Check to do so.”

Floating words! Can you connect to the armor I’m wearing?

DETAIL CHECK
Certainly.

Do it!

DETAIL CHECK
Connection established.

Stop the tracking!

DETAIL CHECK
Order confirmed.

Okay then. Next question.

“Can I use the armor with my Detail Check to hack anything in the empire?”

“Gaining information, yes. You can actually ask your Detail Check to download all information if you want. Other than that, there’s not much that you can do with it. Perhaps you can control a few systems but not the entire network.”

Okay. That’s good enough for me. I’m sure that I can find something useful out of that.

“Take out your armor. Destroy it.”

“Why?”

“So that I’ll know that you’re not connecting yourself to the empire.”

“Suit yourself.”

To my disappointment, he’s fully clothed behind the armor. He still has a nice body though. It’s a place where I want to bury my face in.

He’s good enough to earn my trust. In the meantime, floating words, find the location of Nostrades and Nostreidon. Then, download every data that you can from Ambrousian Empire. Tell me when you’re done.

DETAIL CHECK
Orders confirmed.

Great! I have the brothers’ location. I should go there now! Please! I hope that none of the knights got them!