novelraw Chapter 128 : Killing Intent in the Dark Night
Chapter 128 : Killing Intent in the Dark Night
Chapter 128: Killing Intent in the Dark Night
For the passengers, this sudden duel became the best topic to pass the time.
For Levi, however, this meaningless duel was not without gain.
“Hm… as expected.”
Looking at the opened suitcase before him, Levi chuckled.
According to the tradition of duels, the victor had the right to claim everything belonging to the loser. Naturally, all of this passenger’s belongings had been personally delivered to Levi’s room by the conductor.
As for the corpse, it would be cremated into ashes by a priest of the Holy Lord Church and sent back to his homeland.
Naturally, everything on that corpse had also been thoroughly searched by Levi.
Pocket watches, wallets—he had no interest in those. What he was looking for was something else.
And… he had indeed found it.
“Just as I thought.”
What Levi held in his hand at this moment was a scrapbook.
Such things were rarely seen in the modern world, but in this era, they were quite common. As the name suggested, a scrapbook was made by cutting out newspaper articles and pasting them into a notebook for collection.
After all, there was no internet in this world, nor computers for data storage. If one wanted to gather information, it had to be done manually.
The contents of this man’s scrapbook were quite intriguing—it was filled with numerous reports about the Empire, as well as news clippings regarding the Empire and Melisia.
As a Francis man, he seemed unusually concerned about the situation between the Empire and Melisia.
If the scrapbook merely proved the man was suspicious, then another item directly revealed his identity.
It was a confidential letter.
Sent from Francis, written by the Foreign Minister of the Francis Republic, its contents concerned military trade relations between Francis and Melisia. For example, in the letter, the minister proposed a highly tempting condition—they would provide loans to Melisia, allowing them to purchase weapons to resist the Empire first and repay later.
Thus, this man’s identity was now completely clear.
Just as Levi had expected—this man was a Francis spy.
In fact, the moment Levi first saw him, he had already felt something was off. Aside from his Francis identity, although the man behaved frivolously, there was a trained coordination in his movements. Even his walking posture was steady and light—not at all like an ordinary playboy.
From his demeanor alone, Levi had determined he was no simple aristocratic dandy.
The situation between Melisia and the Empire was tense.
But in truth, Melisia was still merely a territory of the Empire—and not even a developed one.
They had no airships, no warships, no mechs, and no fully armed army.
How could they possibly fight the Empire?
But what if Melisia had the support of the Francis Republic?
As early as the Seven Years’ War, there had already been trade between them. Francis could easily transport military equipment to Melisia via merchant ships.
…Perhaps that was why the Empire had blockaded Melisia’s sea routes? Or perhaps Francis had other means of transportation?
What Levi couldn’t quite understand was this—
Judging from everything, this man should have been carrying an important mission. So why would he waste time flirting with a woman during the journey, even going so far as to duel him?
Could it be that Francis people were truly this unrestrained and carefree?
The last few pages of the scrapbook answered that question.
There were articles about the Arctic Star and the Sea Monster, as well as Levi’s photo. On that page, the man had circled Levi’s face with a pen. And in that same article, Annie was standing beside him…
…In other words, he hadn’t been unaware of Levi—he had been targeting him from the very beginning?
Well, well. That was something.
Seeing the final page, Levi finally understood.
Clearly, this man had discovered that Levi was also on the train and intended to deal with him. That entire performance had been staged deliberately. After all, everyone knew Francis people were passionate and flamboyant, and duels were commonplace for them.
That “peacock” had clearly been confident in his own strength—killing Levi in a public duel would have only benefited Francis.
Unfortunately—
Levi had an unfair advantage.
Otherwise, the outcome might not have been so certain.
Which meant…
The series of incidents involving the Holy Lord Church had indeed been orchestrated by the Francis Republic.
Although Levi had already suspected it, having concrete evidence still brought peace of mind.
This letter could be taken back.
Levi silently tucked the letter into his pocket. Once he handed it over to the Old Butler, things would surely become interesting.
As for the rest, Levi looked through them—nothing was of use. He set them aside, planning to return them tomorrow along with the unfortunate man’s ashes to Francis.
“Knock knock knock.”
Just as Levi finished organizing everything and was about to rest, a knock sounded.
He stood up and opened the door.
Standing outside was none other than Annie Branson.
“Good evening, Mr. Levi.”
Annie still had that same expressionless, calm demeanor. Thinking about it, she was almost always like this. The only time Levi remembered her showing excitement was when he allowed her to dissect the Sea Monster corpse…
“Good evening, Miss Branson. What can I do for you?”
“I came to thank you. Thank you for risking your life to help me today.”
“Oh, no need to be so polite. Strictly speaking, this wasn’t your responsibility…”
“?”
“In any case, you don’t need to worry about it, Miss Branson.”
Levi naturally wouldn’t tell her that the harassment had likely been aimed at him, so he quickly changed the subject.
Annie didn’t ask further. She simply nodded, lifted her skirt slightly in a polite gesture, and turned to leave.
This young lady was quite interesting.
Watching her departing figure, Levi chuckled.
Among all the girls he knew, Annie seemed the least interested in everything around her. The only things that truly interested her were animals and ancient creatures—everything else seemed meaningless to her.
In contrast, there was Katie.
That young lady was curious about everything. Unfortunately, she couldn’t leave the Mist City. Otherwise, bringing her to Melisia would surely have been interesting.
As for Irene, she was a good maid, but Levi couldn’t risk her life. Katie and Aurelia both had special abilities and could handle danger. But Irene was just an ordinary girl—if something happened, she wouldn’t even be able to protect herself.
So Levi had her stay behind—
To take care of the house, make puppets, and maintain the Phantom.
With that thought, Levi withdrew his mind, closed the door, and went to bed.
Tomorrow would be a new day.
“Rumble————!”
Heavy rain poured down.
A man leaned over his horse, staring at the dark railway ahead, letting the rain beat against his face. Around him stood several masked men, armed and vigilant.
“Boss, is the intel accurate? Will they really pass this way?”
“Of course.”
Hearing the question, the leader snorted.
“I’ve already confirmed it. Their train was delayed by a herd of bison earlier—it stopped for three hours. This is our opportunity.”
“If it weren’t for this damn rain, we could’ve just blown up the tracks.”
Another man muttered.
“And that detective too—why pick today to travel?”
“That’s not for us to worry about.”
The leader smirked.
“The client was clear—his head is worth 500 Pounds. And everything else we take is ours!”
At this, the leader revealed a satisfied grin.
On the surface, they were bandits—but in reality, they were mercenaries secretly colluding with the Continental Council. More than once, they had disguised themselves as bandits, attacking Imperial convoys, looting valuable goods, and sabotaging Imperial plans.
This time, the reward was generous—500 Pounds for a single head.
The mercenaries were eager.
If not for the rain, they could have simply blown up the tracks and searched at their leisure.
But now…
“Listen carefully.”
The leader steadied himself and looked at his men.
“As before—when the train rounds this bend, it will slow down. That’s our chance to board. Aka, you take control of the driver and conductor. John, you seal off the carriages. The rest of you come with me to find the detective.”
“Remember—shoot immediately. We only need his head, not him alive!”
“Don’t worry, boss!”
The mercenaries laughed.
“We’ll definitely take his head!”
“Stay sharp. That detective has some skill. And after it’s done—blow up the entire train. Leave no trace.”
“And the passengers…?”
“Leave no survivors.”
“Understood.”
No one was surprised. This wasn’t their first time doing such things.
“Rumble—Rumble—”
At that moment, a beam of light pierced through the rain, shining ahead.
Seeing it, the mercenary leader tightened his grip on the reins.
“Now! Move!”
At his command—
Dozens of mercenaries shot forward like ghostly riders of the night, charging straight toward the distant train.