Chapter 83
Chapter 83
“Actually, the people here wouldn’t allow me to take you up there.”
Arietta nodded at Benjamin’s words. It made sense. She couldn’t bring herself to say she’d understand if he left her behind, nor could she promise to wait. Arietta didn’t necessarily want to be Benjamin’s lover. She simply yearned to accompany him on the airship, to witness the celestial city’s splendor with her own eyes—Seia’s land. And after that, her ultimate goal was to leap back down to the surface, to Isaac, as if embracing the ground.
“There must be a way, right? I really want you to take me to the sky city. You can’t back out now.” Arietta coaxed Benjamin with a sweet, gentle voice, the very tone that would have made Isaac scowl. Benjamin, however, adored it.
Lost in the surface world’s rapture, he rested his head at Arietta’s feet and sighed, a sudden urge to kiss her toes rising within him.
“I just need to distinguish myself in the search.”
Arietta touched the nape of Benjamin’s neck with her toe. His warm skin flinched.
“But I’ve heard the Remains Retrieval Unit’s search has stalled. The Downstream soil corrodes everything; finding traces of life long gone isn’t easy.” She paused, then added, “Unless it’s a completely sealed, airtight space… then the form might remain intact…”
But such a place was unlikely to exist.
Arietta sighed and looked at Benjamin. He seemed to be the son of a high-ranking nobleman, yet he held little sway within the unit. Or rather, he had little say in their missions. Others, including the frequently deployed General Soluten, held the reins. Arietta’s gaze turned skeptical.
Benjamin bristled under Arietta’s scrutiny.
***
“I think I need to investigate the forest,” Benjamin announced to General Soluten.
General Soluten fixed him with a look that clearly said, Just once, can’t you follow orders?
“Can’t we just stick to the route Marquis Tygra provided?”
“I have a feeling he’s deliberately leading us in circles. After all, it benefits him if we keep getting deployed and fail to find the creatures.”
General Soluten couldn’t deny the logic. Isaac gained considerably each time the Remains Retrieval Unit descended. While the unit received something in return, Isaac always walked away with the true prize. He held a strong bargaining position, using the remains of the mysterious creatures that perished on the surface as leverage.
“Besides,” Benjamin continued, “I heard the previous unit wasn’t given a reason for the forest’s supposed danger.”
“That’s true…”
Isaac always repeated the same warning: the forest was too dangerous. Even if the creatures had wandered there, no trace would remain, making a search pointless. But without an explanation, it sounded like a fabricated story to Benjamin.
“I need to at least get a sense of the place before we commit to a full search.”
“Don’t go alone. I’d have no face to show Marquis Lenota if something happened to you down there.”
Benjamin turned his head. “No, if several of us go, Marquis Tygra will surely ask why. I need to be alone to move freely.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” He practically guaranteed it to General Soluten. “What could possibly go wrong?”
These words, however, were the reckless arrogance of someone blind to the future. But Benjamin had his reasons for believing he’d be safe. He decided to slip into the forest unnoticed by Isaac and bring back some evidence.
General Soluten, though uneasy, had to concede. If I document this in the meeting minutes, I won’t be held responsible if something happens to the Viscount, he thought, clinging to that single hope.
Arietta was completely oblivious to Benjamin’s scheme. Her only thought was that Benjamin needed to succeed so she could go to Downstream.
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