Thousand Transformations — a Level 8 Hunter said to be able to see through everything.
One of the reasons Kuhl had considered using that Hunter's name — the one who had made a name for himself in Zebuldia by pulling off numerous desperate gambits and resolving many difficult quests — to establish something called the "Wailing Evil Spirits," was that extraordinary strategic brilliance wasn't something visible at a glance, unlike combat ability.
He thought no one would find out. Klahi Andrich clearly possessed outstanding talent and was a perfect fit as a stand-in for Thousand Transformations.
In fact, everything had gone smoothly right up until the time they ended up participating in the Martial Emperor Tournament. He'd had no plans to approach Zebuldia, and no one had suspected anything.
But now, he understood clearly.
The fact that he hadn't been noticed up to that point was nothing more than dumb luck. And establishing something called the "Wailing Evil Spirits" had been the gravest possible mistake.
The idea that amateurs couldn't tell good strategies from bad was nothing more than self-deception.
Kuhl himself had been confident in his strategic abilities — but the real thing was nowhere near so simple.
Even an amateur could tell that the man's strategies, his actions, were incomprehensible. They would think them absurd.
And then — they would marvel at the results those strategies produced. They would have been astonished. Just as Kuhl had been, back when his thinking had ground to a halt from sheer shock.
The label of "extraordinary strategist" was simply an evaluation that followed on the heels of pure, unadorned results.
And this time, Thousand Transformations' actions had been equally abrupt and incomprehensible.
Fleeing from the defense system, chasing after the Leader who had jumped out the window.
Passing through a small transport room and bursting out of the building at full speed.
When they got outside, Klahi was just getting up from where he'd been crouching. The lightning that had enveloped his entire body dissipated in an instant.
Klahi dusted off his coat with a few pats and let out a breath.
The metal road — the spot where Klahi had landed was blackened and scorched by lightning.
In principle, Mages were physically frail. But Klahi Andrich was different.
Since his defeat at the Martial Emperor Tournament, Klahi Andrich had devoted himself to training. His combat ability had temporarily dropped after losing his Treasure Weapon staff, but the current Thunder Emperor was stronger than he had been during the tournament.
One reason for this was his body — honed and sculpted in a way that was unusual for a Mage.
It was a tactic developed to compensate for the combat ability he'd lost without his Treasure Weapon staff. By converting lightning arts into self-enhancement, his physical capabilities had risen to the point where he could leap from the top of a high-rise building without suffering a single injury.
It seemed the defense system didn't attack beyond the building's exterior.
The Leader of the Wailing Evil Spirits looked up at the top floor of the building he'd just been in and let out a small sigh.
"I'm beaten — the difference in skill is just too much. If I could've at least used 'Heavenly Thunder Spear of Annihilation, Divine Blossom,' I might have broken through the door too... I'm still too inexperienced."
Hearing Klahi rattle off the name of one of his original spells — a secret technique he'd also used at the Martial Emperor Tournament — without a single complaint despite having been ambushed, Kuhl caught his breath and spoke.
"...Even if you could use it, doing so would've turned Princess Alisha inside the room into charcoal."
Klahi Andrich was undeniably strong, but he had a tendency to over-simplify things. That was perhaps the biggest difference between him and the genuine extraordinary strategist he was impersonating.
Fortunately, Klahi didn't seem to have sustained any serious injuries. No — it was precisely because Thousand Transformations had judged that he'd be fine that they'd made that reckless demand in the first place.
A moment later, Zurii and the others came flying out of the building. Rusha, who had been dragged along until moments ago, ran up to Klahi in a sweet voice.
"Big brother!! Are you okay!?"
"Ugh, honestly — the real deal with his crazy demands, what a pain," Kutory said, scratching her head. Even she, who had been plying her trade as a swindling Alchemist long before joining the party under a false name and had weathered all manner of hardships, had apparently been feeling a bit overwhelmed by recent events.
Kutory gave a small cough to get Klahi's attention — he was being smothered in Rusha's embrace without resistance — and said: "Oh, Leader, the princess said something — apparently you're never getting back into that building. Not unless you deal with the defense system."
"...Protecting the royal family, breaking through a door guarded by the defense system — his demands really are completely absurd. For a Level 8, they might seem like nothing, but..."
And to make matters worse, with no detailed explanation whatsoever — even Klahi had to admit the task was beyond him.
Klahi was strong, but only in terms of combat ability. The legwork, the preliminary research — that was all handled by Kuhl and the others. And Kuhl and the others didn't have the ability to meet a Level 8's demands.
After all, they'd spent days racking their brains and couldn't even come up with a single idea to break Klahi out of prison.
"Heh heh heh... how about we just bail, Leader? He practically kicked us out with his big mouth, so he can't exactly complain," Kutory said, grinning as if scheming something.
Indeed, with Klahi's abilities, protecting a royal might be difficult, but escaping from Code would be well within his power.
But Klahi had never once chosen to run from a situation like this. It seemed to be the same with this Code as well, and Klahi shook his head without hesitation.
"Not yet. I haven't shown the results of my training, and I still haven't repaid my debt."
"But what are you gonna do? I don't think hanging around outside until you get called in is gonna work..." Zurii said with a sigh.
That was based on experience. Kuhl and the others had supposedly been asked to help rescue and assist Thousand Transformations, but they'd never once been called upon. The research they'd done had all been their own initiative.
This was just speculation, but it was probably the same even with Klahi.
In the first place, he wasn't just renowned for his strategic brilliance. In terms of combat ability too, he fought on equal or better terms against the masked man who had once completely defeated him.
Could someone like that Hunter ever really need anyone's help? That was highly questionable.
If you wanted to repay a debt to a man like that, you had no choice but to take the initiative yourself. Klahi had been resting his chin on his hand in thought for a while before— "You're right... Kurai said he wanted anyone to go protect the royal family. Let's start there."
"!? Big brother, are you serious?! The royals right now are on maximum alert with the succession approaching!"
"And we don't even know where they are. We looked into it too, you know. The Thunder Emperor is constantly under surveillance — it's a fool's errand. Besides, nobody's gonna want to meet with the Leader, who's got such a terrible reputation as the Thunder Emperor."
Kuhl and the others had researched this city as thoroughly as possible when planning to rescue Klahi. That naturally included information on the royal family.
But outmaneuvering the royals, who held the second-highest authority in the city after the King under the urban system, was an enormously difficult task.
Moreover, Klahi was the first attacker on Code in a hundred years. He'd destroyed numerous city weapons. Freshly released, surveillance on him would be intense.
And naturally, even behind the protection of the defense system, the royals wouldn't want to meet with a man like that.
Of course, with the exception of Nora Code.
"I know which areas they control... but there's a prince among them who hasn't shown his face at all recently. Honestly, we wouldn't know where to begin."
The Code royal family — Class 8 — consisted of five people, excluding Princess Alisha.
First Prince, Angus Code. First Princess, Nora Code. Second Prince, Tony Code. Third Prince, Morris Code. Fourth Prince, Zachary Code.
Each had a designated territory, but the only ones whose locations were roughly known were the top three — strong candidates for the throne.
Morris Code was famously cowardly and reportedly moved his location constantly — only a select few of his collaborators knew where he was.
Zachary Code occupied an even more complicated position.
The youngest among the royals, excluding the exception that was Princess Alisha, Zachary Code was the most problematic of the lot.
Violent and ruthless to anyone who defied him, he harbored a grudge against his own siblings of the same Class 8 and the King, as if possessed by something.
His assigned territory was the second-smallest after Alisha's, but it had been half-abandoned, and the few faction nobles who had existed there had all been expelled. It was said that no one had seen him in recent times.
The city did have a location search system, but those of a lower class couldn't find the location of anyone of equal or higher class without permission.
In other words, the only one who could find Zachary was the King.
He was apparently alive — that much was certain — but to "protect" Zachary, or rather, secure him under that pretext, they first needed to find him somewhere in this vast Code, shielded by the system.
A Class 8 could easily erase their traces from the system's surveillance.
Kuhl couldn't even see a starting point for how to find Zachary by any means.
If anything, getting the King on their side would make it possible — but if they could manage that, the request from Thousand Transformations would essentially already be fulfilled.
In this city, no matter how many others banded together, they couldn't match the King's power.
"...But first, we need a new base. We can't exactly use a building that Klahi can't enter as our headquarters..."
Ideally, it would be a base that was easy to defend and easy to flee from. There had to be many who saw the Thunder Emperor as a nuisance.
At the very least, considering the attacks launched during the prison escape, Angus was targeting them.
As long as rules existed, direct attacks should be rare — but they couldn't let their guard down.
Hearing this, Kutory crossed her arms and grinned.
"In that case, Kuhl — I know just the place. The lower-class citizens' quarters."
"Lower... class citizens?"
Klahi furrowed his brow. Lower-class citizens — in Code, they were people who weren't managed by the city system and held no class designation.
They were the overwhelming underclass of this city, unable to even access the basic systems, and it was said that a considerable number of them lurked throughout.
Kutory had been the one in charge of gathering intelligence from the lower-class citizens.
Apparently, Thousand Transformations had once floated the idea of recruiting the lower-class citizens as personal guards — which was, of course, impossible under the system — and the fact that they'd launched the first attack on Code in a hundred years worked in their favor. The report had indicated they were managing things reasonably well.
In the end, they hadn't obtained any information useful for breaking Klahi out of prison, though.
"Heh heh heh... those people seem to hold a grudge against the citizens of Code, so — we attackers are like heroes to them. They said they wanted to meet the Thunder Emperor too, so I'm sure they'll give us a warm welcome."
It didn't sound like a bad deal... did it? The lower-class citizens would have their own networks that only they possessed. There was a possibility they had information useful for securing the royals.
They'd need to be cautious since they couldn't avoid the royals' surveillance, but the royals were primarily focused on the Thunder Emperor and Thousand Transformations. Especially Klahi, who tended to stand out — and since Kuhl and the others had been mostly useless during the Code attack, not many would be paying close attention to their movements.
Even with all-seeing eyes, it was still people who decided which information to act on. There had to be gaps.
Doing what Klahi couldn't — that was Kuhl and the others' job. That was an unchanged, solid fact from before and after the Martial Emperor Tournament.
Klahi thought for a while, then nodded slightly and looked up.
"You're right... time spent standing still is time wasted. Kutory, lead the way."
§ Lower-class citizens — people living lives cut off from the incredibly convenient urban system.
In this highly mobile fortress city of Code, everything was provided by the urban system. Clothing, entertainment, buildings, weapons — as long as the urban system was running, you could survive without doing anything, and most of those who worked in this city did so to kill time.
But that also meant that without the urban system, you couldn't get anything in this city.
The biggest problem was — food. There was no hunting in this city, nor any livestock farming or agriculture. Food was manufactured by the urban system, and citizens could access it to obtain whatever they wanted, in whatever quantity.
When Kuhl had first learned about the lower-class citizens, he'd found it very puzzling.
How did they, unable to use the urban system, obtain the resources they needed to survive? And what kind of society had people who weren't even considered citizens by the city built?
The place Kutory led them to was one of the nondescript buildings in a corner of the narrow territory given to Princess Alisha. A mid-sized building of no particular distinction.
All buildings in this city were provided by the urban system, and many went unused. If you didn't know in advance, you'd never guess that someone was living in that building.
Kutory went ahead and entered the building alone. After about ten minutes of waiting, she emerged from the dim building accompanied by several tough-looking men.
Kuhl couldn't help but widen his eyes. They were well-built men. Their gait and physical conditioning suggested someone between a civilian and a Hunter.
But what surprised Kuhl most was that, unlike the lower-class citizens he'd encountered before, these men were armed.
Guns with bizarre mechanisms and long barrels, countless metal cylinders hanging from belts at their waists. Even what looked like simple vests were probably a type of armor produced by Code.
As far as Kuhl had been able to research, obtaining weapons in this city required a minimum of Class 4 clearance. And the more powerful the weapon, the higher the class required. There was no way these could be assembled by lower-class citizens alone.
The largest man among them stepped forward, approached Klahi, and spoke with barely contained excitement: "Oh! It's an honor to finally meet you! Thunder Emperor — do you have any idea how excited your attack made us? You're the first person to wound this city in a hundred years!"
"Well... that wasn't exactly my intention, but — I seem to have gotten famous for all the wrong reasons," Klahi said, furrowing his brow in an awkward expression. Being celebrated despite having lost must have been a strange feeling.
"When we heard you'd been thrown in prison and targeted by Nora, our hearts ached... but well, it's good that you've been freed. We welcome you and your companions wholeheartedly."
The men's eyes gleamed darkly. Their voices carried no trace of the weakness one might expect from the oppressed.
In her report, Kutory had mentioned that the lower-class citizens were planning something.
Kuhl had had enough trouble already. Before Klahi could say something unnecessary, he quickly stepped in.
"Just a moment. We're technically in the position of Princess Alisha's personal guard. You'd still welcome us?"
At Kuhl's pointed question, the man narrowed his eyes, smiled, and said: "Princess Alisha is no enemy of ours. Rather, if she was the catalyst that led to the Thunder Emperor's release, we might even call her a blessing. Some among us wouldn't be able to survive in this territory without her. Princess Alisha has had her freedom taken away — she has our sympathy. And it goes without saying that you who came from the outside are also not our enemies."
Right? His eyes seemed to be asking Kuhl.
It was true — just as Kutory had said. This was more than just wariness. It looked like they were planning something.
But even if the lower-class citizens were plotting something, what could they accomplish in Code, a city dominated by the urban system? If it were royals or nobles, they could use the urban system to freely eavesdrop on this very conversation.
Reading Kuhl's expression, the man said with confidence: "Rest assured. Even a Class 8 cannot monitor our conversation in this place. There's a reason for that. Follow me and you'll understand quickly enough."
§ They walked through the building guided by the men. The structure wasn't much different from Princess Alisha's home. The interior was almost completely empty, silent, and devoid of any human presence.
He'd been told this was the lower-class citizens' base, but were there really that few of them? As Kuhl was thinking this, the man walking ahead suddenly stopped.
Not in any particular room — just in the middle of a hallway. Kuhl stared in confusion as the man grinned and placed his palm flat against a blank wall.
There was neither sound nor vibration. A section of the floor opened, revealing a staircase leading underground.
Hidden staircases to underground areas were a common mechanism in the Treasure Hall. But this wasn't something you'd expect to see outside one.
And — the man before his eyes had appeared to access the urban system.
Could it be... some kind of trick to fool the urban system?
If there existed a way to evade the interference of Code's urban system, the situation would change entirely. Without the system's defenses, the people of Code were no significant threat.
It would also be good news to report back to Thousand Transformations, who had dumped this absurd task on them.
The man descended the stairs. Klahi followed. Kuhl swallowed hard, steeled his resolve, and followed after them.
— What awaited them at the end was a small, single room.
"So we finally meet. Welcome — we share the same purpose, don't we?"
The man sat upon a crude throne, surrounded by lower-class citizens armed with Code's weaponry.
Unyielding, fiercely blazing eyes. A voice that trembled with intensity, as if barely restraining violent emotion.
That was when Kuhl finally grasped the situation.
The lower-class citizens hadn't been fooling the system to obtain weapons. His confident assertion that their conversation couldn't be monitored by a Class 8 now made perfect sense.
Class 8 — the royals. While there were differences in their support bases, there was no difference in their system authority. What one royal tried to hide couldn't be detected even by another royal.
It was a simple matter.
The lower-class citizens had a king. More than that — they had one who could reach the throne of Code's king.
Zachary Code. The royal family member with the worst reputation, who had been missing. One of the people Thousand Transformations needed to secure.
Could it be that Thousand Transformations had understood this all along and attempted contact?
Before the frozen Kuhl, Zachary rose to his feet and let out a wild cry: "Hahahaha! Thunder Emperor! You're the last piece! I've been waiting! Let's tear this country apart together — kill every last one of those insane bastards who don't know what they're going to do next!"