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Chapter – 09
If I recruit him, my plans will become much easier.
Shaylin smiled brightly.
It almost felt as though the heavens themselves were helping her.
She hadn’t even planned to come out today, yet somehow she had been given the perfect opportunity to meet him.
Whether it was simple coincidence or the intervention of some transcendent being, to her, this was a chance.
A chance to build an information network under her command.
But before she could even rescue him from the thugs, Sentileon had disappeared.
Shaylin clicked her tongue.
Had there been anyone trying to contact Sentileon around this time?
She searched through every fragment of information from her previous life stored in her memory.
Eventually, she reached a rough conclusion.
…Was it Casireto? That criminal organization.
The gang that once controlled the slums.
The same organization that had tried and failed to recruit Sentileon in her previous life.
If that was true, then this must have been the period when Casireto was trying to swallow Sentileon whole.
Shaylin silently praised her own foresight for sending Relina away so quickly.
After all, she couldn’t very well drag her younger sister into a dangerous place.
Meanwhile, the knights were bewildered by the princess’s declaration that they were going to rescue an innocent citizen.
They had seen the earlier argument too, but was it truly serious enough to justify a rescue mission?
Seeing their hesitation, Shaylin inwardly clicked her tongue.
She understood they hadn’t grasped the seriousness of the situation, but daring to resist the daughter of their liege?
“What am I?”
“You are a princess of the Kingdom of Lavantra and our liege.”
“Then why are you not immediately obeying my command?”
“……”
“I judged that this was not merely an argument. More importantly, I saw the mark on those thugs’ necks.”
In truth, she knew the knights’ eyesight was probably better than hers, but she pushed forward anyway.
“They bore the emblem of a spider perched upon a web.”
“A spider emblem? Don’t tell me…”
“Casireto?”
“That trash organization that kidnaps people and traffics humans?”
Casireto.
A massive criminal syndicate that had conquered the underworld.
They were the cancer of the shadows, making darkness itself even blacker.
Kidnapping. Violence. Prostitution. Smuggling.
If it was evil, they did it.
At this point in time, Casireto was still thriving, so naturally the knights knew of them.
“Yes. That’s my suspicion. I believe those men abducted that innocent citizen, which is why I intend to intervene.”
Although Shaylin appeared calm on the surface, inwardly she was anxious.
She knew Casireto would not break Sentileon.
She knew he would survive.
And yet she still felt restless.
Perhaps because she wouldn’t feel reassured until she saw him safe with her own eyes.
The knights’ expressions turned serious.
“We will uncover Casireto ourselves. Princess, we believe it would be best if you returned.”
“Indeed. If those men truly are Casireto, protecting Your Highness may become difficult.”
What nonsense were they talking about?
Sentileon absolutely had to become hers.
She could never allow anyone else to take him.
“Do any of you know where Casireto’s headquarters is?”
“W-Well, that…”
“I do.”
“What? How could you possibly know that?”
“It once came up during a state council meeting, so I investigated it personally.”
In reality, it wasn’t because of a council meeting.
It was because of a report she had seen in her previous life.
After Sentileon conquered the underworld, he publicly exposed everything about Casireto.
Their size. Their headquarters. Their member count. Their assets. Their crimes.
That was why Shaylin knew exactly where their current base was located.
“Since I know the way, wouldn’t it make sense for me to guide you?”
“……”
“At the very least, I wish to rescue a citizen who was abducted before my eyes. I believe that is the duty of royalty.”
More than anything, they didn’t have time to waste.
In rescue missions, time was everything.
“I have no intention of becoming a burden to you, so don’t worry about that. I know my own limits well.”
She only intended to guide them there.
And if she happened to spot Sentileon—
She would snatch him up.
It’s not as though I’ll get in the way.
She possessed no martial strength.
No special abilities either.
If she recklessly interfered and became a hostage, it would only ruin things for everyone.
The knights were shaken by the princess’s sincere desire to save a citizen.
And honestly, the thought of opposing her terrified them.
If word spread later, they’d surely be condemned as knights who abandoned their code and lacked the qualifications to bear the title.
I don’t know how the princess learned the location, but right now her information is our only lead.
Meanwhile, Shaylin decided to deliver the finishing blow.
“Wouldn’t this also be a good opportunity to earn merit? If you crush them before they grow larger, His Majesty will remember your names.”
After appealing to someone’s morals, one should offer reward as well.
That was how people were handled.
There was also something she hadn’t told them.
Casireto could not be allowed to continue growing.
At the moment, they mainly operated within the slums.
But later, they would spread crime throughout the entire kingdom.
They would take countless civilian lives and even target nobles without hesitation.
In her previous life, the royal family had realized this far too late.
At the time, Shaylin had been brainwashed, and those surrounding her were nothing but wolves obsessed with protecting their own interests.
The royal family only began acting after nobles themselves started disappearing and turning up dead.
And even then, their investigation yielded nothing.
Because Casireto had already been wiped out by Sentileon.
Those bastards were one of the reasons the kingdom’s public order collapsed even before the Devouring appeared.
Avoiding direct conflict was ideal.
But if matters escalated, weakening their forces had to remain an option.
“Then let’s move.”
“Yes, we’ll follow.”
After confirming her robe was secure, Shaylin quickly took the lead.
Following the memories from her previous life, Shaylin entered a narrow back alley leading toward Casireto’s headquarters.
Since it lay near the slums, the environment was worlds apart from the lively plaza they had just visited.
The muddy streets squelched beneath their feet and reeked of filth.
Flies and insects swarmed everywhere.
Empty liquor bottles rolled across the ground, while the eyes of the people visible through windows looked utterly lifeless.
The silhouettes behind curtains were indecent enough to embarrass anyone seeing them in broad daylight.
Occasionally, unpleasant moans drifted through the air.
The knights frowned deeply, but Shaylin walked forward without hesitation.
In truth, she barely noticed any of it.
“I need to catch him before he escapes.”
In her previous life, Sentileon escaped alone even after being abducted.
That was fortunate, of course—
But it also meant that if they missed each other by even a little, the knights could suffer terribly while Shaylin failed to achieve her objective.
“Hurry. We can’t afford to be late.”
She quickened her pace.
Soon, a building appeared beyond a cluster of ramshackle structures barely worthy of being called homes.
Though old and worn like the rest of the slums, that appearance was merely camouflage.
Hidden guards stood watch nearby.
The outer walls were sturdy enough to resist easy infiltration.
And the building’s design revealed almost no visible escape routes.
It was honestly astonishing that Sentileon had managed to escape from such a place in her previous life.
“That’s the location?”
“It’s practically a fortress. Rescuing a civilian won’t be easy.”
“Isn’t accomplishing the impossible precisely your job?”
“…Then we’ll proceed.”
“Good.”
The knights immediately moved into action.
Quietly circling the area, they began securing entry routes.
Meanwhile, Shaylin stayed behind with two guards, intending to wait from a distance until Sentileon was rescued.
Even if they technically remained outside Casireto’s territory, moving carelessly could still expose them.
Hidden safely out of sight, Shaylin stared intently at Casireto’s headquarters.
As though she could collapse the fortress through sheer force of will.
How long had she been standing there?
Suddenly, Shaylin broke into a sprint.
“P-Princess?!”
“Where are you going?!”
The two guards protecting her — along with the other knights preparing to infiltrate — immediately turned and ran after her.
But ignoring them completely, Shaylin rushed forward and grabbed someone by the wrist.
“Thank goodness. We didn’t miss each other.”
“W-What the hell?! Who are you?!”
Startled, the man violently shook her hand off.
His face was swollen as though he’d been beaten.
His clothes were ragged and worn.
But his eyes—
His eyes were still alive.
He was Sentileon.
The very man Shaylin had wanted so desperately to obtain.
