Chapter 33 - Pursuit (2)

All kinds of people flocked to the capital's black market. Thieves, con artists, fences, thugs... The abandoned. The forgotten. And misfits who had left society of their own accord.

And if asked which of its infamous haunts was the darkest abyss, the very worst of the lot, everyone would have the Nest on their list. Alongside the Valley, the vilest of drug dens, and the Furnace, a gathering place for arms dealers, it ranked among the three great dens of iniquity.

An employment agency open only to those who had blood on their hands. Serial killers, contract killers, illegal mercenaries, assassins. A gathering place for those who made killing their trade, in whatever form.

Beneath its dim lights, the place was perpetually thick with the smell of drugs, tobacco smoke, stale alcohol, and the reek of blood from neglected, rusting weapons.

... In short, no matter how you looked at it, this was no crowd for a well-heeled young lady.

It was hardly surprising that everyone's eyes turned toward the door the moment it burst open. The young woman in unmistakably aristocratic religious robes simply did not belong in this scene.

She pattered cheerfully inside and looked around with a smile. To an onlooker, she might have been a child out on a picnic...

"Raise your hand if you're confident you've done more bad things than anyone else here."

... And after making such an eye-catching entrance, even the question she abruptly posed was anything but ordinary.

"..."

"..."

While everyone in the Nest blinked at the incomprehensible sight, the young lady who had asked the question frowned slightly and looked around again.

"No one?"

"..."

"Is this really the best you've got? You're more spineless than the last two places."

... Whatever she meant by the last two places, someone was bound to take offense after hearing that much.

Someone slammed a weapon down, and every head turned toward the sound.

"If you're in a hurry to die, I won't stop you."

Everyone shrank back upon seeing who had spoken. A hulking man, his bare upper body covered in scars clearly carved with a knife. He was a well-known local contract killer, better known as the lunatic who cut a scar into his body for every person he killed.

"Keep poking around like that, and they won't even find your body in one piece, little lady. Hmm?"

Everyone cowered at the sight of him flicking his tongue and sneering with unfocused eyes. Even by the standards of the monsters here, getting tangled up with him was a sure way to ruin your life. They didn't even want to meet his eyes...

Everyone except one person. The woman who had asked the question tilted her head and trotted up to him.

"Are you the worst person here?"

"... I don't think I'll be winning any model citizen awards."

"Really?"

"Why? I could prove it on your body, if you'd like."

The woman nodded at that.

"The way you talk certainly proves it."

Then she gently laid her small hand over his.

"What's this? Decided to offer yourself up voluntar—"

Then a knife plunged down mercilessly through it. It pierced the back of her hand and the man's beneath it before biting into the wooden table.

CRUNCH!

"Aaaaaagh!!"

Blood spattered everywhere. As the man let out an ear-splitting scream, those nearby sprang to their feet and drew their weapons.

"... You fucking—!"

"I'm going to ask you a few questions. I'd like honest answers. A friend asked me to find out, you see."

The woman responsible was still smiling, her elbow on the table and her chin resting in her hand. She looked perfectly at ease.

"What the hell are you talking about, you bi—"

"If you've done lots of bad things, that means you've had lots of work here. And that means you know lots of things. Right?"

But no one in the Nest could bring themselves to rush her. They recognized the searing flames rising around her as she spoke, instantly heating the room into the heart of hell.

"... Divinity?"

Anyone wielding that supernatural power was at least a paladin, and might even be a member of the Holy Kingdom's royal family. More than enough reason to reconsider attacking.

The woman responsible for that atmosphere, however, continued without the slightest hesitation.

"There have been some people poking around the black market lately, haven't there? I'd like to know where they are."

"Hh, haaah—"

"Hellfire bombs, Suppression Pillars, and roots for spellwork. There must be people who've been handling all of them. Those aren't ordinary goods, so word must have gotten around. Do you know anything about it? Tell me everything, and I'll pull out the knife and let you go."

"Fuck off...! I'll kill you, you goddamned...!"

"Mm, yes, yes. That's what they said at the last two places, too."

"... What?"

"What were they called... the Valley? The Furnace? Cute little names like that."

"..."

"They reacted the same way when I did this."

Everyone else's faces went blank as she casually rattled off the names of the capital's most notorious black-market organizations besides the Nest. ... The way she spoke made it clear she had already barged into the other places and done exactly the same thing.

"..."

"..."

Everyone with a drawn weapon exchanged awkward glances. Honestly, the sensible thing would be to assume she was bluffing.

Criminal organizations that they were, the three great dens weren't on friendly terms. Still, they would normally hear soon enough if one of the others had been hit. The rumors would be everywhere within half a day at most.

In other words, this woman was claiming to have laid waste to all three of the black market's great dens in less than half a day.

'... Is that even possible?'

They were probably all thinking the same thing. But the problem was her demeanor as she said it.

"It's all right. They all talked in the end."

"..."

As though it were nothing. No boasting, no air of menace. As though she were simply stating a fact. Still smiling, she cheerfully continued.

"Usually they start talking by the time I've burned my way up from their hand to their arm."

Then she immediately set the flames around her in motion. While the man with a knife through his hand turned deathly pale, she kept smiling, her face shadowed by colorless flames that seemed to devour the surrounding light.

Of course, by now, that expression was starting to look rather different. No one could object to calling her a demon.

"You fucking—!"

But everyone here killed for a living. Cornered this badly, they would at least fight back. With his free hand, the man drew a curved sword and swung it in a half circle. In the blink of an eye, it severed the seated woman's neck.

And then... she quietly snorted. No scream, no blood, nothing that could even be called a reaction. As though he had slashed empty air.

"Hmm."

Everyone recoiled in horror as the severed surfaces slid back together. Like a doll made of clay smoothly fusing back into one piece, the cut sealed in an instant. It was grotesque by any standard.

She was still smiling.

"If you were going to cut something, you should've cut off your own hand instead of cutting me."

Then she lightly tapped the back of her impaled hand with the other and spoke.

"I'm not pulling this out until you talk, you know?"

"..."

"You're not going to?"

"..."

"Then I'll start burning you now. Tell me when you can't take it anymore, okay?"

And at that sight, everyone there must have suddenly realized something. This woman hadn't been bluffing about tearing through all three great dens. She was a monster more than capable of doing it...!

"I-I'll talk! I'll talk!"

Seeing the flames slowly creep toward him, the man cried out in terror, cold sweat pouring down his entire body. The instant she heard his answer, disappointment spread across her face.

"... You really are the most spineless of the lot."

... The implication that she had actually been burning people until just recently drained even more color from his face, and he began obediently answering her questions.

As she nodded along through that chilling interrogation, the front door suddenly burst open again. Everyone, too overwhelmed by the woman to move, turned toward it at once.

Was it an associate of that monster? What would they do if an even worse monster came in...?!

"Are you finished?"

... Fortunately, contrary to their fears, the man who entered was utterly ordinary. The problem was...

"Oh, just now!"

...the monster's attitude upon seeing him. Until a moment ago, she had dominated the room like a woman possessed. The instant he showed his face, that sinister aura vanished.

The man frowned and glanced around.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"Oh, all I did was stick a knife through my hand!"

"... Again, why do you have to hurt yourself?"

"It scares them more!"

They went back and forth as if nothing were out of the ordinary. As though they were close. As though he could stand on equal footing with a monster like her.

"Well, if you're finished, let's go. This was the last place."

"Why aren't there any more...?"

"... Unfortunately, there are only three places this nasty."

After answering the woman, who smacked her lips in genuine disappointment, the man gave the room a slight bow.

"Oh, have a nice day."

With that farewell, he trudged out of the building, the woman clinging tightly to his arm at his side.

"... Who the fuck were those two?"

Everyone there probably shared the sentiment. ... That crazy woman was one thing, but a man who could hang around her like a friend couldn't possibly be normal either.

▣

Aiden sighed and crossed out the last name in his notebook.

'... That takes care of the last den.'

To find a needle in the sand, all you had to do was bring in heavy machinery and scoop out the places where the most sand had gathered. The tremendous results of clearing out the Empire's most dangerous, filthy haunts in less than half a day proved just how effective that method was.

Normally, he would have had to settle in for weeks or months of delicate information gathering. Thanks to this far more aggressive approach, though, he now had a nearly complete picture of who the operatives were.

It would have been impossible without Katya, who enjoyed throwing her weight around. He had already lost count of how many people she had sent to the hospital in that short span. ... This was why he couldn't bring Noel.

As he thought that, he noticed Katya staring at him from beside him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, I was just thinking that when you decide to cause trouble, you really don't hold back."

"..."

"Normally you seem pretty timid, but when it's time to act, you really go for it, don't you?"

... Hearing that from her, of all people, stirred all manner of complicated feelings. Sadly, he couldn't argue.

"You have to when it's necessary. Speed is everything when you're tracking down people like that."

He was making such a violent sweep precisely because things would become difficult if word got out and their targets went to ground.

"... Though, to be honest, that isn't entirely accurate."

"Hmm?"

"They'll already be getting ready to disappear. People taking orders directly from the higher-ups aren't going to have poor intelligence networks."

However quickly they had moved, they had now smashed three organizations. Word would be starting to spread, which meant the other side would have begun responding.

His years as a criminal hadn't been for nothing. He had a fairly good grasp of how organizations like these operated. They would be destroying evidence and preparing to split up, withdraw, and go into hiding.

"In that sense, we're not quite finished yet. Are you all right with that?"

"Of course I am. This is perfect."

"..."

"Nobody complains when you torment bad people. I get to enjoy my hobby and help a friend."

As Katya's smiling declaration left him speechless, a window suddenly appeared before his eyes.

-System Message

▶ Target 'Katya' is now in a remarkably good mood!

▶ This activity has been identified as ideal for raising the target's 'affection.' A related entry will be added to the compendium!

▶ Repeating this activity has an extremely high chance of raising the target's affection level!

... Well. It did seem true that people didn't change easily.

She might turn into a docile pet around him, but she still regarded all that savage beating, breaking, and crushing as nothing more than stress relief. Fixing that part of her personality seemed a long way off.

Still, he was grateful for the timing of the notification. What he was about to say was very likely to rub Katya the wrong way. If she was in a good mood, she would at least hear him out.

"Now, Katya."

Aiden scratched his head and spoke.

"We're going to need Dame Noel's help from here on."

"..."

Sure enough, Katya's ever-present smile vanished at once. The change was so abrupt that she might have been hurled straight from heaven into hell.

"... Why her?"

"Now, now."

"..."

"I told you to get along with Dame Noel, didn't I?"

"..."

"Katya. You need to answer me."

"... Fine."

Her pout drew an involuntary inward chuckle from him. He felt like a father scolding his teenage daughter.

"But you still owe me an explanation. Why exactly are you calling her?"

"Oh, that?"

Now that he knew where they were, the truly important part began. Catching the operatives was ultimately about screwing over the prince and the minister of administration. For that, he needed evidence connecting those two to them.

That meant meeting those operatives face-to-face was a necessity, not an option. And the method he had chosen to accomplish that was...

"... First, I need Dame Noel to get really angry."

"..."

Whatever else might be uncertain, just hearing that Noel would be angry had clearly put Katya in a better mood.