Translator: SumTLMan
Ice Ridge Wilderness, Midnight, Thick Fog.
A rusty steam-powered personnel carrier moved silently under the cover of foggy night. It’s steel treads tumbling, leaving deep plough marks all the way across the frozen tundra.
In the last section of the carriage, more than twenty men dressed as thieves were crowded inside.
The air was thick with the foul smell of sweat and smoke.
“S… an S-rank mission?!”
“No way… How did we get involved in such a high-level mission?”
“Captain Tyger, have you made a mistake? This mission is to infiltrate [Blazing Steel Fortress] and assassinate an Imperial Baron?”
“I heard that the lord of [Blazing Steel Fortress], Marquis Barrett… has awakened the fourth-order genetic lock, so no one dares to cause any trouble in his territory…”
“Aye, Captain. And although that target, Dr Maureen, is only a baron, he is, after all, a full-fledged noble of the Empire. If he’s assassinated, the Imperial Inquisition will directly intervene in the investigation… Won’t we [Demon Weasel Bandits] be in deep trouble?”
“…”
In the carriage, the “Demon Weasel Bandits” trainee assassins never would’ve imagined that their first mission would be an “S” ranked mission, the highest danger rating in the regiment!
It’s been mentioned that… Even the mortality rate of such a mission was considered too high for a transcendent, not to mention recruits who had yet to awaken.
Listening carefully, the eyes of a brown-haired boy with delicate features in the corner jumped.
Sure enough, the same bad luck since crossing over has followed him.
……
Rayne thought that he was probably the most miserable transmigrator ever.
A year ago, after working late into the wee hours of the morning for half a month straight, he woke up in this strange new world, and his soul crossed into the body of Rayne Hermes, a fifteen-year-old teenage refugee.
He thought that he had thoroughly escaped his fate as a social animal. But on his first day in this fog-filled world, he was almost mauled to death by a “gigantic rabbit” that had a mouthful of fangs while lost in an endless wilderness!
He later learned that this creature was a carnivorous animal at the bottom of the wilderness’s food chain — the fanged rabbit.
Only then did he realise that he had arrived in a deadly, magical world.
Before he was mauled to death by this rabbit, he saw a scene that he would never forget.
With a violent roar, a steel steam-powered castle with exaggerated metal tracks and wheels burst roughly into view like a behemoth escaping from the fog.
Atop the castle, a hooded assassin leapt from a dozen-storey high sentry tower and slashed the calf-sized rabbit’s neck.
Rayne was saved.
Initially, he thought that his luck was turning around, but he didn’t expect it to be the beginning of his nightmare.
The [Demon Weasel Bandits], a band of fugitives with a reputation for being a concentrated place of crime and where bandits can commit all acts of evil!
This group finds orphans from all over the world, controls them with poison and trains them to become cold-blooded professional thieves and assassins…
In this way, Rayne has been receiving cruel training for nearly a year at the “Demon Weasel Bandit’s” base and has become a trainee assassin.
Today, he went on his first mission out of the training base.
Well… A mission to assassinate a man.
……
Tyger, the leader of the 19th team and the drill instructor for recruits, bellowed: “Hey, hey… Shut up, you imps!”
The mission had reached the highest peak, S rank, which was indeed beyond everyone’s expectation.
The calm trainee assassins in the carriage gradually became panicked.
Tyger lowered his lips and added: “Don’t worry, although there are certain risks involved in this mission, Boss Quinn will be tagging along for the ride, so there won’t be any major mishaps… You brats, just follow along and gain your merit points.”
Hearing the instructor say this aloud, the recruits were overjoyed and finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
“Oh, really… Boss Quinn will also be joining us on this mission?”
“Well, there’s definitely no problems now. With someone as powerful as the boss, this mission will be a cinch.”
“I told you so, there’s no way only us recruits would be involved in such an important mission…”
“…”
As Rayne listened to these words of consolation, his slight frown relaxed.
Finally, the cloud of “bad luck” had lifted and he no longer felt that this was a train headed to his demise.
The [One-Eyed Wolf] Quinn, a wanted man with a 16 million lire bounty from the Omagh Empire, was indeed a powerful figure and gave him a much needed sense of “security”. He had watched this man jump from a cliff hundreds of metres high and land unscathed. Another time, he had also witnessed this man easily pierce thick steel plates with only a dagger…
At this point, another recruit curiously asked: “Captain Tyger, what makes Baron Maureen so special that the client would dole out such a huge sum for us to infiltrate [Blazing Steel Fortress] and assassinate him?”
It wasn’t just the onlookers; this was also a doubt held in Rayne’s mind.
There was indeed something unusual about this mission.
According to reason, a band of ragtag bandits such as themselves, who hunted in the wilderness, would never risk infiltrating into a large territory to assassinate a nobleman.
Not to mention that the mission itself would be tremendous challenge, even if they succeeded, they’d be endlessly hunted and pursued by the Omagh Empire.
Even if the employer was willing to pay an exorbitant price for the commission, no sensible bandit group would dare to take it on.
But this time, Boss Quinn had not only taken on the mission but was personally involved in the execution of it, which made the event particularly unusual.
Rayne surmised that Baron Maureen must be hiding some great secret that would tempt even Boss Quinn to take on such a risk…
“Who knows? I hear he’s a pretty rich surgeon…”
Captain Tyger replied with a disinterested look on his face as if it made no difference who he would be killing.
With a shrug, he added: “Besides, what difference does it make to us whether it’s for a vendetta or for money? Aren’t we all just getting paid to do our jobs?”
“Oh, that too…”
“Shhh… Stop talking, put on your gas masks and get ready to head out of the carriage!”
“Aye, Captain.”
“…”
No sooner had the words left his mouth, was there no more extra sounds in the carriage.
This group of assassins in light leather armour were arranging their daggers and holstering their muskets, then quickly donning their various gas masks to cover their faces.
In the corner, Rayne, also expressionless, was donning a black leather raven-shaped gas mask.
In an instant, the young men wearing dark gas masks turned into cold killing machines, and the carriage was filled with a strong aura of murder.
……
Shortly thereafter, the centipede-like steam carrier arrived at its scheduled location.
“All of you get off and sneak up to the walls. Remember, no one from Maureen’s estate is allowed to escape!”
“Aye, Boss Quinn!”
“…”
Tonight, there was a ‘fog wave’, a heavy fog that made visibility extremely low.
The group took advantage and stalked quietly under the cover of night.
Rayne has become accustomed to this fog which contained mild toxins.
This is a mysterious world, shrouded in thick fog all year round, where hidden danger and the unknown crises lay abound.
After walking a short distance through the fog, the vast city, covered by the thick fog, suddenly became clearly visible.
Then, he was once again shocked by the structures of this world.
“This… Is this a human city belonging to this world?!”
Although he had heard about it, Rayne was still shocked when he had witnessed the steel castle in front of him.
“It’s truly a miraculous piece of steel, such a large city is actually a steam-powered steel castle…”
Even he, who was used to seeing the high-rise buildings in his past life, was shocked when witnessing such a sight presented before him.
It had been almost a year since he had crossed over to this strange world, but this was the first time he had seen such a large city populated by humans.
Inside [Blazing Steel Fortress], a giant searchlight dispelled the fog and gave a clear view of the steel behemoth that stood before him.
This city is enormous, roughly the size of a county town in Rayne’s past life, but the buildings were much more densely packed.
Gothic-style spires lined the streets, and the jagged walls, thirty storeys high, surrounded the city. The city’s tall buildings are connected by a spider’s web of bridges and pipes…
Giant war hammers and arms, siege horns, metal cutters tens of metres in diameter… Large-calibre artillery pieces, several metres short and dozens of metres long were a particularly eye-catching sight.
Dense rivets hold together the heavy steel plates, and the vast, exaggerated tracks and wheels had all propped up this entire city.
The most bizarre thing was… At the top of the buildings in that blackened city stood a chimney that towered into the clouds and billowed out thick smoke.
This was the sign of a large steam boiler!
The whole giant city exuded a strong and robust industrial style, like a steel hedgehog, giving it a powerful visual impact.
This is a castle of steam and steel, a true mobile fortress of war.
This steel fortress is also the greatest reliance the human race had for survival and reproduction in the endless wilderness where beasts are rampant and monsters plentiful!