Chapter 41: Good Citizens

“So, what do we do now, Captain?”

“We’ve already checked around.
This is the human central city called Tian Tan City.
Their defenses are still formidable.
When we escaped, we found out even Vice Staff Officer Auston was killed.”

“Tch, that guy Auston, what the hell was he doing?”

Aibrune spat disdainfully, clutching his head as if injured, focusing his energy to heal.
The dizziness hadn’t subsided yet.

The three team members exchanged glances and nodded.

“All the Otherbeasts in this operation were wiped out by the Humanoid Weapon Research Society.
We also lost track of Zero Otherbeast, so this mission was basically a failure.
Next—”

Truth be told, they hadn’t initially planned to attack this human central city.

It was Vice Staff Officer Auston, under orders from the Second Progenitor, who was tracking Zero Otherbeast.
By chance, that Otherbeast tore open a void rift above this city during a spatial leap.

Normally, it was difficult for Bloodkin to infiltrate human inner cities.
Prolonged conflicts typically only occurred at the borderlands.

Tian Tan City had always been peaceful.
The people here knew little of the world’s darker side, with only rumors circulating as occult gossip.

They’d thought the defenses here might be lax, but they were gravely mistaken and met with failure.

Lingering just a bit too long had gotten them immediately detected by humans, who swiftly deployed forces, nearly costing them their lives.

The mission was incomplete, and they were unsure whether to retreat or stay in Tian Tan City to bide their time.

They all awaited Aibrune’s decision.

As captain, the next course of action was his to decide.

Aibrune rubbed his head, pursed his lips, and stared at the dark, damp ground nearby.
After a moment of thought, he reached a conclusion.
“We can’t go back.
The state of the Rose Legion is plain for all to see.”

“You can tell from the forces assigned to this mission.
The legion is critically weakened.
I shouldn’t need to say it—you all know.
The chaos we caused was quickly contained by the humans.”

Before their arrival, nearly all the students had evacuated the campus, leaving only an empty school and forces sent to eliminate them.
This showed the humans had tight control over their central city.

It was an utterly unsuccessful mission.

With the Vice Staff Officer dead, returning would likely mean severe punishment.
Their four-person squad would face a grim fate.

The Rose Legion was plagued by internal strife and external threats, teetering on the edge.
The Blood Dragon King, his wings broken, was greatly diminished and could no longer hold it together.

The Rose Legion, it seemed, was wilting and decaying…

What a pity.
One of the ten great legions, the Rose Legion, nearly annihilated in the Otherbeast War, reduced to this state.
The entire legion would likely collapse soon.

And then… Aibrune, for personal reasons, wasn’t keen on returning to Bloodkin territory just yet.
He had private matters to attend to, though he hadn’t shared them with the others.

“But, Captain… if we don’t go back, how do we avoid human pursuit?
We’re in the heart of enemy territory—every step is perilous, danger lurks everywhere.”

A team member raised a critical point: returning meant heavy punishment, but staying was risky and terrifying.

Aibrune scratched his messy blonde hair, considering.
“Suppress your Bloodkin powers, hide your red eyes, and change your clothes.
In appearance and demeanor, we’re nearly indistinguishable from humans.”

“Oh, I get it!
We blend in as humans during the day and come out at night to hunt and feed on blood.”

“No, we’ll be good Tian Tan City citizens.
We shouldn’t ambush people on dark streets—that lacks the dignity of nobles.
We’ll get jobs, earn money, and buy blood packs from cold storage!”

“Huh!?”
X3