Codename Vestia

Chapter 38

“Are you okay?”

Tora approached, extending his hand as he asked. Jain looked at him.

“What’s going on?”

Jain grabbed his hand and stood up.

“I think someone’s tailing us.”

“From which direction?”

“How would I know?”

As she spoke, Tora still hadn’t let go of her hand. His hand was large and warm. Jain immediately pulled her hand back. She then walked over to the shop owner, who was frowning at the minor commotion in their store, even though it wasn’t particularly serious.

“Sorry about this. It seems a stalker showed up.”

“Do stalkers roam in groups these days?”

The owner didn’t seem particularly convinced by her explanation. Nonetheless, Jain remained calm and shrugged her shoulders.

“Who knows? Maybe these days, they’re dividing up roles.”

Apparently, this was the kind of approach SAU used to handle situations.

Regardless, the owner, though skeptical, still had enough civic awareness to ask, “Should I call the police for you?”

The way he glanced at Tora seemed to imply he thought someone that big following her around would make police unnecessary.

“It’s fine.”

Jain smiled faintly—a rare sight for Tora—and added, “I’ll just kill them myself.”

Why that sent chills down his spine, Tora couldn’t understand.

***

Jain and Tora checked into a hotel and took the elevator up. Following her usual routine, Jain first inspected the room where Tora would stay. After confirming that there was nothing unusual, she said, “Get some rest.”

Tora smiled softly. “Thanks, Summer.”

Jain regretted ever asking him to address her by her last name. She wanted to slap herself for it, but since she was the one who made the request, she couldn’t exactly take it back now. Moreover, she was certain he was intentionally making it sound sweeter.

Jain went into her room, took out her gun to check it, and then returned it to its place.

Creak.

She opened the window. Looking down at the dark alley below, she felt a cold night breeze brush against her face. The fifth floor wasn’t extremely high, but for a human, falling from this height would result in severe injuries.

Jain gripped the window frame, checking its sturdiness. She then used her arms to lift herself out, turning her body as she climbed outside. Carefully stepping along protruding parts, she moved to the window of the room next door.

She peeked inside to see Tora, who seemed to be getting ready to shower. He was shirtless, wearing only pants, as he walked into the bathroom. The bathroom door then closed behind him.

Jain waited for a moment before stepping onto the balcony. From her pocket, she pulled out a device resembling a sticker and attached it to the window frame.

It was a silencer—a machine designed to absorb sound or stabilize sudden spikes in decibel levels by maintaining consistent wave patterns. Humanity, needing to conduct espionage against the Luas, whose senses were extraordinarily sharp, had developed various devices like this.

She carefully opened the window. During the earlier room inspection, she had deliberately left the lock undone while pretending to check outside, making it easy to open now.

Swish…

The sound of running water came from the bathroom.

Jain approached the bathroom door with her gun drawn. The only chance to subdue Tora was when he stepped out of the bathroom, momentarily off guard. She waited for the water to stop running.

Wait a minute.

Jain suddenly realized something was wrong. The sound of the water wasn’t that of an irregular splash hitting someone’s body. Instead, it was a steady flow hitting the floor.

The moment she understood, Jain spun around, aiming her gun. Tora was standing there, fully dry and expressionless.

“……!”

But before she could do anything more, Tora grabbed her wrist holding the gun and slammed her against the wall.

Thud.

Her gun fell from her hand as her body collided with the wall.

When Jain tried to use her legs to counterattack, Tora momentarily stepped back, only to twist her around and pin her from behind. She struggled, but it was like being trapped under a boulder—she couldn’t move an inch.

This was why fighting a vampire required exploiting a weak point and finishing them in a single move. Now, she was in the worst possible situation.

“Shh.”

As Jain resisted fiercely, Tora leaned in closer and whispered by her ear, “I’m not trying to hurt you.”

Jain glared at Tora, her eyes sharp as blades.

“Let me go.”

“I’ll explain everything, just stay still for a moment. Honestly, Lieutenant, I knew you wouldn’t stay put, so I had no other choice.”

Still holding her firmly, Tora turned his head toward the front door and called out, “Come in.”

At that moment, the door opened, and two men entered. They were the same men Jain had seen earlier that day.

Tora gave them a wry smile, looking exasperated. “This is your fault. I told you not to follow me.”

One of the men, looking apologetic, replied, “I’m sorry. We just couldn’t shake the feeling.”

Jain narrowed her eyes.

“The Ituha unit shouldn’t be able to move right now.”

She had immediately identified the men as members of Ituha. But she also knew that the Ituha unit, part of the 1st Jaeger Regiment under the MCTC Central Guard Division, was currently under a full restriction order. They weren’t allowed to leave their base.

One of the men responded, “We’re not with Ituha.”

Jain was about to refute him when the man added, “We’re Ituha aspirants.”

Dark-skinned with black eyes, their features resembled those of native tribes, a look Jain was all too familiar with. But more familiar than their appearance was their impossibly inhuman movements, despite being human.

Shiraka.

In the Satadi language, that word meant “vampire.”

“See? I told you, we stand out too much.”

Tora let out a sigh. Jain smirked as she looked at him.

“So, the aspirants have come to see their commander, have they?”

Tora’s expression turned amused.

“Impressive. You even know our language.”

Tora Satadi. One of the two founders of Ituha and the commander of its 2nd squad.

It was a fact Jain hadn’t wanted to believe from the moment she met him, but there was no mistaking what she had been told by her superiors.

This unbelievably laid-back man was the leader of a mercenary unit that was considered an overwhelming force even within MCTC’s elite 1st Jaeger Regiment.

“Aren’t you going to let me go?”

Jain glared as she spoke, and only then did Tora release her. He then unexpectedly extended his hand.

“Hand it over.”

“What?”

“The precious thing the lieutenant’s been carrying close to her chest.”

Jain frowned and was about to protest when Tora cut her off.

“I already know. Just give it to me.”

A tense silence followed. Jain couldn’t find a way out of this situation. Even if she did, she couldn’t leave Tora’s side without orders from her superiors, and it wasn’t clear whether turning against him was the right choice anyway.

Left with no alternative, Jain reluctantly pulled a slim case from the inner pocket of her jacket and handed it over. Tora opened the case and took out a metal syringe containing a stabilizer substance.

The expressions of the Ituha members—or rather, aspirants—turned grave.

“Commander, could that be…?”

“So, they’ve finally managed to create a substance that can kill us.”

Tora muttered without taking his eyes off the syringe.

“I expected this day would come eventually, but it’s arrived sooner than I thought.”

At that moment, Tora seemed like a completely different person. Despite knowing he was the commander of Ituha, his casual demeanor had made it hard for Jain to believe. But now, the weight of his authority was unmistakable.

Tora fixed Jain with a serious look and asked, “What’s in this?”

As Jain opened her mouth to reply, Tora interrupted her again.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know.”

“I don’t know.”

Jain answered stubbornly.

“Then we’ll just have to find out ourselves.”

Tora began to hand the syringe to one of the aspirants, but Jain instinctively interjected, “That would be a clear breach of contract.”

Tora pointed the syringe at her.

“And MCTC? The ones manufacturing this in secret? What do you think will happen if this ends up in Legion’s hands? And why would they give you something like this and send you, an SAU-affiliated special forces officer, to me? To kill me if things went south, no doubt.”

Jain froze. Tora, as if waiting for this, continued.

“Yeah, I know. You’re SAU. They must’ve assigned a human operative to me on purpose to avoid suspicion.”

Jain exhaled deeply and reached into her jacket’s inner pocket, pulling out an envelope. She removed a photograph from it and placed it on the table.

“This is the reason. Commander Rato has made contact with Legion.”

The photograph showed Rato meeting with unfamiliar men, exactly as described by the woman who claimed to have slept with him.

“And he did so without informing our side,” Jain added.

“Such actions are highly susceptible to misinterpretation.”

Tora looked at the photo and immediately tore it into pieces. Jain, unfazed, asked matter-of-factly, “You’re aware there are duplicates, right?”

“I know. It’s just a performance. Symbolic. This kind of thing doesn’t mean anything. Rato would never betray Marti.”

He spoke as though it was as undeniable as the sky being blue or the earth being round.

“Then what are ‘Marti’s’ intentions?”

Jain pressed, her gaze unwavering.

“There’s no such thing,” Tora replied, his tone almost spitting venom.

“Marti was only trying to escape that wretched Grand Duke Misery. But it was clear that running forever wasn’t a solution. That’s why Rato and I founded Ituha—to eliminate that bastard of a Grand Duke.”

In the beginning, Ituha operated like guerrillas, staying covert and executing small, rapid strikes.

At some point, however, their superhuman physical abilities, despite their seemingly human appearances, caught the attention of MCTC.

At the same time, SN—the precursor to Legion—was arming itself with increasingly heavy weaponry, growing into a genuine terror organization. Small militias could no longer effectively oppose them. Both Ituha and the government needed a way out.

The government required the agility and stealth of militia forces, while Ituha needed the government’s regular troops and weapons.

Tora picked up a T-shirt draped over the sofa as he continued.

“MCTC proposed we work together to eliminate the Grand Duke. That was enough for us. If we could get rid of him, Marti would finally be able to live freely.”

He put on the T-shirt with an irritated motion.

“But MCTC didn’t kill the Grand Duke. They put him in prison.”

“He was judged according to the law,” Jain interjected. “And the Grand Duke was sentenced to 780 years without parole or reduction. That’s practically equivalent to a death sentence….”

“Have you ever been stalked?” Tora interrupted.

Jain was momentarily taken aback by the sudden question.

“Do you know what happens to a victim after just one year of being stalked? Now imagine the perpetrator is family. If you kill them, you’re burdened with the stigma and guilt of having killed your own family. Do you have any idea how maddening that kind of situation is?”

Jain stayed silent for a moment before replying in her usual unyielding manner.

“But there are rules and agreements that have been established.”

Tora tilted his head back in frustration and sighed heavily.

“Soldiers,” he muttered.

He knew there was no point in debating this subject with someone entrenched in military protocol. Waving his hand dismissively, he changed the topic.

“Rato was trying to put an end to it somehow.”

“And as a result, he became a hostage,” Jain shot back.

“Eight.”

Tora’s voice suddenly cut in, seemingly out of nowhere.