Chapter 76: Dominating the Market - 3
Chapter 76: Dominating the Market - 3
Scurrying!
The merchants instantly rose from their seats and pressed themselves against the walls.
Jiha stepped forward, addressing Enril and Leticia as he moved.
"Don't interfere."
Thud! Thud!
Two Stone Giants approached.
'Mana Guardians, huh...'
Jiha had heard of them before.
A type of Mana tool—guardians capable of executing simple commands. Used primarily as bodyguards, their quality varied wildly depending on price.
Crack!
A Stone Giant, finding the table in its path, pressed down and snapped it apart before advancing on Jiha.
The one-eyed elf calmly smoked her cigarette and watched him.
'She wants to see what I'm capable of. In that case...'
Jiha coiled Mana around his arms and lunged toward the Stone Giant.
Whoosh!
The moment Jiha entered its range, the Stone Giant threw a punch.
Unlike its lumbering steps, its reflexes were viciously fast.
Jiha drove his own fist forward to meet it head-on.
Craaack!
A fist of flesh collided with a fist of stone in midair.
Ordinarily, flesh and bone would have shattered, but Jiha's body was reinforced with Mana.
Still, pain was unavoidable.
Jiha grimaced as the other Stone Giant beside him hurled a punch at his head.
'Damn...'
If he blocked this one, the first would attack again. A straightforward type with high offense and defense—an irritating opponent.
Jiha summoned a Shadow Hand, seizing the Stone Giant's arm and halting the attack.
That should pin it down for a moment.
"Oh-ho."
A woman's murmur of admiration reached his ears.
But an arm was not the only weapon. The second Stone Giant swung its free arm to smash Jiha's head.
And before that was finished, the first one in front of him was winding up another punch.
'Reduce their numbers first!'
A swift, decisive blow. Jiha threw a punch at the first Stone Giant, coiling a Wind Blade around his fist.
The Special Ability consumed Mana at a ferocious rate, but dragging this out was dangerous.
Crack-crunch!
Unlike the first collision, the Stone Giant's arm trembled violently as it met Jiha's fist in the air.
Torn apart by the invisible blade his swing had generated, the Stone Giant's upper body shattered and crumbled. Its remaining lower half staggered before collapsing.
Then the second one's stone fist slammed into Jiha's head.
"...Ngh."
A splitting pain. If he hadn't reinforced his defense with Mana, his skull would have burst open.
If this had been before he'd drunk Leticia's blood—if his Mana reserves had been insufficient—he would have taken a critical wound.
Jiha quickly pulled back out of range, and the remaining giant advanced with heavy, ponderous steps.
Jiha tsked inwardly.
'I don't want to give that woman any more information.'
Only one left. He wanted to finish this without using another Special Ability.
After a brief moment of thought, Jiha opened his palm, extended it forward, and advanced toward the Stone Giant.
Just as before, the moment an enemy entered its range, the Stone Giant threw an honest, straightforward punch.
An attack he'd now seen three times—familiar to his eyes. Jiha shifted his palm aside, seized the Stone Giant's arm, and pulled.
Then, channeling every scrap of his remaining Mana into raw strength, he grabbed the arm and hurled it.
"Hraaah!"
A mass of stone weighing close to four hundred kilograms flew forward in a low arc.
Straight toward the one-eyed elf who had been watching the situation from her chair.
"..."
Crack-shatter!
A strange sound rang out as the Stone Giant's body disintegrated and tumbled across the floor.
The fully dismantled chunks of stone rolled over the ground, but the woman sat there composed, not a single hair harmed.
She withdrew the long bamboo pipe she had swung and spoke in a low voice.
"You're good."
"It's how I make a living."
At Jiha's reply, the woman rose from her seat.
Her gray hair, grown down to her hips, rippled softly.
"I keep my promises. The merchants present here will give their full support to this reconciliation between Blue Seal and Purple Liberation, and will comply with the abolition of the Common Special Price."
"..."
The other merchants signaled their agreement through silence.
Jiha steadied his breathing and asked,
"What's your name?"
"Iroha."
The woman, whose coat hadn't gathered a speck of dust, turned to look at Jiha and smiled coldly.
"It's been a long time since I've had to give my name to anyone. Iroha Deadheart."
"And what line of work are you in?"
"A service business for lonely men. I run a brothel."
He hadn't misheard.
Leticia, who had retreated to the side, now wore an expression of intense revulsion.
"Good business?"
"Historically, we've always had customers at the door."
Iroha produced a slip of paper from her breast and flicked it toward Jiha.
On the palm-sized black note, only a solitary gray bird was drawn.
"If you ever want to loosen up, show that at the establishment. You'll be well taken care of."
"See you next time."
Iroha pulled her hood back down and left the meeting room.
The remaining merchants exchanged glances, then filed out in a rush.
Jiha stood staring at the paper. Leticia approached, clear displeasure in her voice.
"...You're not actually going to some filthy place like that, are you?"
"Do you know who that woman is?"
"What?"
Jiha kept his eyes on the paper as he asked,
"Could you do what she just did?"
"The Mana Guardians? That's nothing special."
Leticia looked incredulous, but Enril understood what Jiha was getting at.
"Handling them that cleanly is different. Seated, without shifting her legs or weight—finished it with just her hands. That's the skill of someone who has spent a truly long time fighting."
"What's so impressive about—"
Leticia grumbled the words, but her face betrayed agreement.
Raw power aside, it was strange that two Unique Grade individuals like themselves had never heard of a seasoned combatant of that caliber.
Enril spoke quietly to Jiha.
"Judging by her skin tone, she's a Gray Elf. It's my first time seeing one in person, too."
"...That's impossible. They still exist?"
Leticia, an elf herself, looked as if she couldn't believe it.
At Jiha's glance, Leticia explained.
"I don't know much either. They're an extremely rare race. I was only told they were wiped out during the Thousand-Year War."
"..."
The fact that neither of them knew anything meant Iroha had kept her true identity tightly hidden.
'Well, she is running a brothel... Most people wouldn't even think to look.'
Leticia's reaction—failing to hide her disgust the instant she heard it—was natural for any woman. And every Unique Grade was a woman.
'Did she deliberately choose that line of work to stay hidden?'
Jiha stowed the paper inside his coat and summarized.
"Both of you, find out whatever you can about that woman."
"...Do we really have to?"
Leticia's face was openly unhappy, but Jiha was entirely serious.
'Sending two Stone Giants instead of one—that was to gauge my capabilities. She came here to confirm my weakness: my total Mana is insufficient.'
Until now, Jiha's official victories had almost all been one-on-one. His total Mana pool wasn't generous enough for consecutive attacks.
If he hadn't drunk Leticia's blood recently and acquired the Wind Blade, if his Mana hadn't been just barely enough, he would have been in serious trouble in this fight.
This opponent was different from the ones before.
"Finally, someone who actually uses their brain has shown up."
Jiha grinned and turned to Dudinel.
"Do you know anything about her?"
"She's such a secretive woman that even I don't know how long she's been in Waris. This was only the third time I've actually seen her face."
"Is she really a Normal Grade?"
"Until just now, I believed she was."
The ability to split a Stone Giant apart while seated—that meant she possessed Mana.
"So a woman who's been hiding her true identity and abilities came to check me out."
Which meant they would meet again soon enough, in some other setting.
Next time would be different.
This time, Jiha had been caught off guard because he didn't know. Now he knew a woman like that existed.
Jiha shifted mental gears.
"Dudinel, let's draft the agreements right now. Two separate documents: an agreement not to pursue this incident any further, and an agreement regarding free outside access for Commons and the abolition of the Common Special Price."
"You're really going through with this?"
The question came from Dudinel, but Enril and Leticia, who were listening, had the same look.
If the two of them—the Uniques of Blue Seal and Purple Liberation—signed, the agreements would carry legal force.
"We have to."
Leticia answered.
She believed in Jiha's capabilities, and there was no resolving this situation without negotiation.
"Dark Elf, what about you?"
Pressed by her nemesis, Enril looked steadily at Jiha.
Jiha said nothing. He simply met her gaze.
"...I'll do it."
Enril nodded.
Dudinel drafted two copies of the agreements. Jiha conducted the final review of the contents, and with Leticia's and Enril's signatures, they took immediate effect.
As they exited the mayor's office, Leticia spoke.
"I'll go back for now and tell the elves the agreement is settled. I'll also send people to return the dead elves' remains to their families."
"Let me know if any problems arise."
"And..."
Leticia hesitated a moment, then spoke quickly.
"About the one-eyed woman—I'll look into her, so don't go to a place like that."
"Report to me as soon as you get any information."
Leticia still looked dissatisfied at Jiha's reply, but she left soon after.
Enril, who remained, asked,
"What are you going to do now?"
"I plan to go back and tell the Commons, but..."
The Blue Seal Commons, who had just gained freedom of movement overnight, would be overwhelmed with emotion.
But Jiha remained lost in thought.
"...Does that woman really bother you that much?"
When Enril asked with some hesitation, Jiha nodded.
"Because until now, I've never heard a whisper about her."
To overturn this world, Jiha's plan had been to first establish Waris as his base.
Waris was a strategic point both factions were desperate to control—a city of immense value.
So he had taken in Enril and Yura, seized control of the Blue Seal Barracks, and subdued Leticia to bring the Purple Barracks under his sway as well.
Mayor Dudinel now supported him, and the merchants—his purse strings—had bowed their heads.
He had thought it was nearly time to step fully into the open...
'There's still one missing piece.'
Iroha was a complete unknown.
How should he handle this?
Jiha kept turning it over in his mind as he walked out of City Hall. Enril followed silently at his side.
"...What business do you have?"
Enril's expression hardened as she addressed someone. Jiha looked ahead as well.
In front of the City Hall building, the one-eyed elf with a long bamboo pipe held between her teeth stood smiling coolly.
She had been waiting for Jiha to come out.
"Don't be so stern, Unique. I've got no blade in hand, and I'm alone."
"..."
Enril didn't relax her guard.
Of course, Enril was a Unique. She wouldn't lose, even to a Gray Elf from legend.
But the lack of information—and the clean, precise movements the woman had displayed earlier—gnawed at her.
"You still have business?"
Instead of the wary Enril, Jiha asked.
Iroha held her pipe and nodded.
"I have something I'd like to discuss in private. Just the two of us."
"A woman I've never met suddenly asking for a secret talk in private... I think my adolescent-boy shyness is about to resurrect after more than a decade. What do you think?"
"I thought you might want to know more about me."
"Is inflated self-importance a trait of all elves?"
Iroha gave a wry smile.
"Live long enough, and it tends to happen. I set aside time because there's something I want to ask of you. Aren't you even going to hear it? You could argue things went smoothly today thanks to me."
It meant she had judged he had the skill to smash the Mana Guardians, but she had deliberately stepped in to tidy things up.
"..."
Jiha shook his head.
This woman had calculated in advance how Jiha would move and was seizing the initiative. Once he let himself be led around, nothing would work.
"No matter what you tell me, I'll decide whether to keep that secret. So just say it."
"That's fine by me, but... are you sure? I imagine your innocent young lady here would find it hard to stomach."
"'Innocent' is a new one."
Enril wore a smile that said the idea was beneath her.
Proud and haughty—the Enril from before she'd shared a bed with Jiha. No, even afterward, she only shrank back in front of Jiha. With others, she was always like this.
"Then follow me. The Common and the Unique of Blue Seal. I'll guide you to my castle."
"Why should I waste shoe leather on you?"
"Most men usually go mad with excitement over an invitation like this."
If anything, Iroha seemed to find Jiha's reaction the strange one.
Well, if a brothel's madam extended an invitation, an ordinary man would be ecstatic.
"I'm out for the first time in a while, and I don't want to stay outside for long. I'd rather go back, wash up, and drink some warmed wine."
"...It'll be a trap."
Enril glared at Iroha and spoke under her breath.
Jiha shook his head.
"If it were a trap, they'd set a better one."
At Jiha's assessment, Iroha spoke calmly.
"Then how about this? I'll tell you who the Blue Seal Unique arriving in a few days is, and what their purpose is for coming here."
"...You've done your homework."
With that one line, Jiha understood that his opponent had approached him armed with considerable intelligence.
"I had plenty of time and nothing to do."
As the Gray Elf watched him with her single eye, Jiha made his decision.
"Let's go."
Sometimes, you had to leap into the tiger's den.