Chapter 186
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 186
I finished meditating in the safehouse, my strength recovered. When I opened my eyes, Anguis Regina was spoon-feeding the assassin.
"That's the woman who tried to kill you. You don't need to be so devoted. Just dump it in a bowl and she'll shove her face in and eat like a dog."
Leaning my back against the wall, I blinked my bloodshot eyes. In combat, the eyes are the first thing to fatigue after the brain, and I had been pushing mine to their absolute limit every single time.
"Still, I feel sorry for her. It's not like we have a personal grudge."
Ridiculous compassion.
"Would you feel the same sympathy if she were a young man?"
"Such hypotheticals are meaningless. What’s in front of me isn't a young man, but a dying old woman."
Anguis Regina didn't rise to my provocation. The assassin, however, let out a raspy, wheezing laugh.
"You're wandering with nowhere to plant your feet, kid."
The assassin spoke, struggling to swallow her food. I crossed my arms and tilted my head.
"Trying to act wise just because you're old? You've actually gotten stupider. Your brain function and cognitive abilities have clearly deteriorated."
"That is also true. But being smart doesn't mean you only speak the truth, just as being foolish doesn't mean you only speak falsehoods. Those who wander without an anchor, like you... you either desperately crave love or, conversely, strive to be hated. Only when crushed by such extreme emotional pressure can you truly feel your own existence."
"And some people delude themselves into thinking they're profound by spouting pedantic bullshit."
"In the past, you struggled endlessly, yet you still tried to find the right path. You moved with your own convictions, even if they were just a candle flickering in a storm."
I shouldn't engage. And yet, I kept talking to her.
"You're the one who said there's no right or wrong."
"But you boldly shot back that you had yours."
"If you want to lecture people so badly, why don't you become a teacher instead of an assassin?"
"I already am. Being an assassin is just a side gig."
For the first time, a piece of her personal information slipped out. Instead of acting surprised, I snatched up the lead and listened closely.
"Are you teaching kids at some school you built with dirty money? How touching. Truly wonderful."
"The Akies Victima conversational style is always amusing to hear. The moment you think you've found a leak, you predict the next piece of the puzzle, subtly probing to draw out more."
"I thought Akies Victima was some grand secret art, but everyone I meet seems to know about it. It’s feeling pretty underwhelming."
"It's not common, but it's not unheard of either. The only thing you can call truly rare in this line of work is a Force user."
I had to agree with that.
"So, I just need to find the school run by an old woman and tear it to pieces? I know your face, so it shouldn't be hard."
The assassin only laughed at my threat.
"You'll never find it. And even if you did, you wouldn't be able to do it."
"I can."
The wrinkles around the assassin's mouth deepened.
"My name is Ragnata Anima. I was born a Nomad, one of the wanderers who belong nowhere. Now, I run the Anima Mobile School, a school that accepts any Nomad who wishes to learn."
I had obtained more information. However, it was hard to hide my extreme displeasure. I would have been better off not knowing.
"I guess you want to see all your precious students die."
"You grimaced when I said that. Put away your pathetic pride, child. You aren't the kind of person who can kill innocents just to vent your anger. You need proof, a reason to believe someone deserves to die."
The assassin, Ragnata, was grating on my nerves. I soon realized her intention.
Damn old hag...
I was in checkmate.
If I lost my temper and killed her now, I'd end up worrying about that mobile school she runs. I might even end up sponsoring it if I had the spare cash. Ragnata was my captive, her future uncertain, and her skills as an assassin were only going to decline. She could no longer support the school. She must have figured it was better to throw her life away and plant a seed of guilt in me.
But if I don't kill her and don't retaliate against the school, I'm just proving to myself that I'm a soft bastard who only talks big.
I knew it, too. This was a meaningless battle of pride. And I had lost. I didn't have the stomach to wipe out the Anima Mobile School.
I racked my brain for a counterattack, a way to change the subject.
"So that's why you didn't kill me back then. You could make up all sorts of plausible excuses, but in the end, you were thinking of your students, weren't you?"
"That's right. Our school has many kids just like you. I couldn't bring myself to kill you with my own hands, so I concocted a reason I could accept and spared you."
Since she admitted it so readily, I had nothing to say. Ragnata knew how to acknowledge her own weakness.
...It seemed she hadn't lived all those years for nothing. At least she was more of an adult than I was. Well, being so much older, of course she would be.
My head cooled. I stopped wasting emotional energy and checked the situation on my terminal. There was still no word from Japa.
Looking at the terminal, the news was broadcasting the attack, adding commentary as if it were a sports game. Every time this happened, I was reminded that the culture of Border City wasn't just lawless—it was downright frivolous.
—Amazing! Japa Trading's headquarters is still standing! Only the outer wall was destroyed by the explosion!
—It truly is an impregnable fortress! They must have prepared for a day like this. It looks like nothing short of a full-scale bombardment will bring it down.
—Ah, and I can see the attackers now—their affiliation is unknown. There are Equesians, Crawlers, Sauras, and Predos. It's a dream team of combat races! Ah, and of course, humans are in the majority. We humans are no slouches when it comes to fighting, either!
The situation was exactly as broadcast. Mercenaries from multiple species were attempting to breach the Japa Trading headquarters. Japa Trading wasn't taking it lying down, either. Gun barrels emerged from the windows of the building, firing back at the intruders.
They're having a fucking siege in the middle of the city.
This would be unthinkable in any other city. Even elsewhere in the Federation, things would never get this out of hand. In the Lower District of Akbaran, the military would have stepped in to suppress a situation this serious long ago.
"Now it will be decided by close-quarters combat inside," Ragnata said with a shrug and a laugh. "No matter how lawless Border City is, if the damage spreads, external forces will intervene."
It probably didn't matter to her anymore.
I thought for a moment, then grabbed Ragnata by the scruff of her neck and stuffed her into a duffel bag. It felt like a few more of her bones broke, but that was none of my business.
Ragnata probably realized what I was about to do. Anguis Regina, standing nearby, looked at me with questioning eyes.
"I'm going to the headquarters to help Japa. I can't leave this woman with you, so I'm taking her. If the worst happens, she can be a human shield to block any bullets aimed at my back."
I slung the duffel bag onto my back. I could hear Ragnata giggling, her head poking out slightly.
"If it's Japa, he'll manage to hold out..." Anguis Regina said, as if trying to stop me.
"What if he dies while we're just standing around? Then I'll be in trouble, too. I told you, I owe Japa. Besides, indoor close-quarters combat is advantageous for my kind."
It wasn't Anguis Regina who answered me, but Ragnata.
"And your body must be itching for a real fight. A young man in his prime wouldn't be satisfied with just me."
...It was true, but the phrasing was a bit questionable.
* * *
I walked for a long time after leaving the safehouse.
"Receiving sympathy from your target... if it were me, I'd have bitten my tongue and killed myself. Though, of course, actually biting your tongue to death is pretty hard," I said to Ragnata as we moved down the street. She was inside the duffel bag with only her head sticking out. True to Border City form, hardly anyone paid us any attention.
"Do I look like I'm in a position to afford shame right now? More importantly, Anguis Regina was more sensible than I expected."
"She's just pretending to be sensible. That woman harbors her own monster, too."
"A person who doesn't harbor a monster is the real monster. It means they can survive this insane world without needing to create one."
It was clear I wouldn't beat Ragnata in a battle of wits. Her claim of being a teacher must have been true; her vocabulary and metaphors were those of someone who had read more than a few books.
I headed toward the Japa Trading headquarters with Ragnata on my back. Even though the morning sun had risen, the sky was dark with acrid smoke.
The closer I got, the more onlookers there were, the entire area buzzing with individuals and companies broadcasting the chaos. Corpses littered the ground—unlucky souls caught in the crossfire.
"If you had succeeded in assassinating Fransek, war would have been a near certainty. You're a terrible human being, Ragnata."
"For Nomads like us, war is an opportunity. The current political situation is so stable it's disadvantageous for us. The three great nations are maintaining a delicate cooperation. Kid, for the powerful, peace and war aren't goals or beliefs to be pursued—they are merely tools to be used as the situation demands. Regardless of my actions, when the time comes for war, Planet Novas will burn."
"You're dodging the point. I'm criticizing you for putting your finger on the trigger. Don't blow this up into some grand philosophy to obscure what you did."
Ragnata fell silent for a moment, then spoke with a chuckle.
"...You are surprisingly kind, young berserker. You kill people, yet you wish to save them. That is a very painful path."
"I've never wanted to save anyone..." I replied reflexively, then shut my mouth. That wasn't true. There had been times. More than a few, actually. Times I'd saved people even when there was nothing in it for me.
The duffel bag shook. Ragnata was laughing even louder.
Whack!
I elbowed the duffel bag and moved forward. With no police or military blockade, nothing stopped me from walking right into the danger zone.
Click.
I pulled a mask from my coat and slipped it on. A lot of eyes were on me. It was about time I started managing my identity.
"Someone is heading inside! He has a strange old person on his back! Is he a crazy man trying to commit suicide with his elderly mother?"
Fucking idiots. I ignored the reporter babbling into his microphone and entered the Japa Trading headquarters.
The intruders I'd seen on the news had already breached the lower floors. They would be climbing to the top where Japa was, scaling the building like a tower.
Hiss.
The entrance to the headquarters hissed, the air hot with the residual heat of heavy weapon fire. Mangled frames and debris still radiated an intense warmth.
The interior, however, was surprisingly intact. The decorations on the inner walls were merely shaken loose by the impacts. I couldn't even begin to guess how sturdily this place had been built; it was more durable than most military facilities.
The intruders were making their way to the upper floors via multiple routes. The elevators, of course, had stopped working long ago.
"Japa," I broadcasted on the building's internal frequency.
Crackle, crackle.
The connection was dead. Communication jamming was active throughout the building.
It didn't matter. The time for my release had finally come.
A vicious monster, one capable of swallowing my troubled mind whole, was stirring inside me.
"You've finally found people you can kill to your heart's content, boy," Ragnata commented from the bag.