Chapter 85: Acquiring Weapons
Chapter 85: Acquiring Weapons
Morning.
All the Blue Seal Commons had gathered in the barracks mess hall.
When Jiha walked in, they swallowed hard, eyes gleaming.
They were clearly itching to ask questions, but they held their silence, waiting for Jiha to speak first.
"......."
Confirming his subordinates' discipline, Jiha nodded.
By now, the Blue Seal Commons would follow Jiha's words straight into hell if he asked.
"I'm sure those of you with sharp ears have already heard, but starting today, all Commons are free to leave the barracks. However, you must return to the barracks by 10 p.m., and you are not to clash with the citizens. Stake your lives on those two conditions."
"Understood!"
The Commons roared in unison.
Jiha nodded and moved on.
"And you've probably heard this too, but as of today, the Common Special Price is abolished. If anyone tries to make you pay even ten rel extra because you're a Common, report it to City Hall immediately. City Hall will smash that shop owner into the ground."
"......You mean we really don't have to get ripped off anymore?"
The Commons couldn't hide their shock.
Before now, you could only leave the barracks with an exit permit, or by going with a friend who'd won a Summoning War match. But even when you got out, you got gouged on everything. That was a Common's life.
And now the very foundation of that had been overturned.
"......You're saying we pay the same as everyone else, whether we're buying food or drink?"
The Commons kept asking for confirmation.
Even hearing it from their commander, it didn't feel real yet.
Jiha nodded firmly.
"Yeah. No more exit permits. No more getting ripped off. If you want to go out, go anytime!"
"Whoaaaa!!"
The Commons sprang to their feet and let out a thunderous cheer.
After bowing their heads to Jiha, they scrambled out of the mess hall.
They were frantic to see if Jiha's words were true—if they could really come and go as they pleased, if the price-gouging had genuinely vanished.
Jiha sat down and let out a wry smile.
"They sure do love it."
Jiha knew exactly how dreamlike it was to be able to go out freely and not get ripped off.
Back when he was in the military, if he'd had a senior who did this for him, he'd have followed that man to hell.
"Alright, then...."
As Jiha gazed at the now-emptied mess hall, Uben approached.
"You're not going out?"
At Jiha's teasing, Uben grinned sheepishly.
"Of course I want to go out. I'm curious to see if the price-gouging is really gone."
What Jiha had accomplished was so staggering that even Uben couldn't yet fully believe it.
Uben got to the point.
"The Purple Commons badly want to meet you, Commander. They're all fired up. Some of the idiots are even seriously agonizing over whether they could transfer to Blue Seal."
Jiha nodded.
Today's measures didn't only apply to Blue Seal Commons.
The Commons of Purple Liberation could also go out freely now, and price-gouging them had been legally prohibited.
"From their perspective, I must look like America. A country far across the sea, a god who sends aid raining down by the planeload."
"I don't know the proper nouns, but I get the nuance. They're all itching to prove their loyalty to you, Commander. I'm being flooded with their pleas—it's honestly exhausting."
Uben lowered his voice further.
"On top of that, the tale of you wiping out those elves is spreading among them in an exaggerated form. They're losing sleep over it, even jealous of the Blue Seal Commons."
Commons were Commons. Their hearts worked the same way.
Jiha nodded.
"Alright, I'll meet them. Set it up."
"Yes, sir. Is there anything else you need me to do?"
Instead of answering, Jiha pulled out the daggers.
The daggers he'd taken after beating down the gnolls yesterday. Uben took them, examined them from every angle, and his face grew serious.
"......These are Grade 2 daggers. Even I would have a hard time getting my hands on these."
"I know. A Common getting a decent weapon isn't easy."
The only official place a Common could buy weapons and armor was the tool shop inside the barracks.
And even those items only made it onto the shelves after passing through strict inspection.
Uben had once secretly obtained a human-use sword for Jiha through a back route, but even that had been Grade 3.
"Could a Normal get their hands on these easily?"
"It's not impossible. Grade 3 can be bought freely as long as you have money. Grade 2 requires official authorization. Though bulk purchases are a different story even with authorization."
"The gnolls in the back alleys were carrying these."
Jiha left out any mention of Iroha for now and only explained about the gnolls.
Uben's face turned grave.
"It's strange for grunts to be running around with gear like this. The Dirga wouldn't hand out their weapons carelessly, so that rules them out. That leaves either forged authorization papers or a hole in the factions' weapon-monitoring system. Either way, this is no small matter."
"We're going to eat it."
At Jiha's order, Uben's eyes flashed.
Even for a wolf beastman who rarely got excited, this proposition made his blood run hot.
Jiha smiled at his advisor's reaction.
"What do you think would happen if we armed Garaon with a Grade 2 weapon?"
"......You'd get a monster of a warrior who could comfortably sweep away two or three hundred Normals. He can probably handle fifty or a hundred as he is now."
Precisely to prevent that very scenario, Blue and Purple were vigilant about keeping Mana weapons out of Common hands.
Commons had no Mana, but their physical abilities were generally outstanding.
If the tiger you use as a slave suddenly grows wings, who knows what might happen?
If Jiha tipped off City Hall—or either faction—that gnolls were hauling Grade 2 weapons, the problem would be handled on its own.
But Jiha wanted to seize those weapons for himself.
Which meant handling it quietly, directly.
"Understood. First, I'll gather as much information on them as I can. However... a Unique is supposed to arrive the day after tomorrow. Once she's here, moving freely might become difficult."
"Leave that to me for now."
When Uben asked if there were further orders, Jiha spoke.
"The Unique who's coming is a demon knight called Asira Hellrunner. Know anything about her?"
"They say she's a righteous and fair-minded Unique."
"......."
Jiha let out a dry laugh.
Uben nodded as well.
"I don't believe it myself, but that's the rumor I've heard."
"Alright. I'll handle that side of things. Go on."
"Yes, sir."
Uben bowed his head and left the mess hall.
Left alone, Jiha sorted through his thoughts for a moment.
"I'd like to wipe out the gnolls and seize every weapon they've got... but another Unique just had to arrive right now."
The thugs he'd dealt with yesterday hadn't been much to speak of.
But the skill of whoever led them—evading the faction surveillance network and putting Grade 2 weapons in his underlings' hands—couldn't be taken lightly.
And for now, he had zero information.
"If this demon knight woman is coming to investigate the situation, handling it right away will only make things harder."
He and the soon-to-arrive Unique, Asira, were bound to become competitors over the same prey.
For the sake of his own strengthening, and to strengthen the subordinates who followed him, Jiha had to succeed in this matter.
"No point in getting impatient...."
Jiha steadied his breathing.
Acting rashly could ruin everything he'd built so far.
"First, I need to gather as much information as possible on Asira, and then advance the plan to monopolize the gnolls' weapons...."
Jiha rose from his seat.
He needed to see Yura.
Uniques were provided with personal offices within the barracks.
Jiha headed for Yura's office.
With everyone giddily out on the town, the barracks were quiet.
Lijin, walking from the opposite direction, greeted him.
"Hello."
"I thought you'd gone home?"
"Just in case, I'll stay in the barracks for the time being. Would it be alright if I paid for lodging?"
"Make yourself at home. But it's all rough men here—must be uncomfortable for a woman."
When Jiha said it with a smile, Lijin answered obligingly.
She was so obliging by nature that things always turned out this way.
"I've already been staying here for days. Everyone's been very kind."
The Commons who saw Lijin following Jiha's orders had accepted her as a comrade.
She wasn't a Common, but she was an outside talent Jiha had recruited.
"Good. If anything's bothering you, tell me."
"Yes. And... is there anything you need me to do?"
Jiha thought for a moment.
He'd already tasked Iroha and Uben with looking into the gnolls.
But the more information, the better.
"You mentioned your old colleagues are scattered around in various taverns, right?"
"Yes, I can reach them all."
"Lately, gnolls have been running wild in the back alleys. Look into that. Anything at all—don't leave anything out."
Lijin nodded.
"Yes, I'll do my best. But it could be dangerous for me to go alone—could you assign me an escort?"
"Yeah, well...."
The matter of the slain elves had been resolved, mediated by Dudinel and sealed with the pact between Enril and Leticia.
But the elves were surely still grinding their teeth, and there was no telling who might harbor a grudge.
Lijin knew that too, which was why she insisted on staying in the barracks for now.
"......."
Jiha had been about to think of Okram or Garaon when he realized every Common had gone out.
Still, calling back men who'd just rushed out in high spirits just to escort Lijin felt wrong.
You know that feeling when you're on leave, standing in the terminal, and a breaking-news alert says North Korea launched a missile?
"Forget it. Take the day off and start tomorrow."
"......."
Lijin gave him an odd look for a moment, then smiled brightly.
"Yes, understood. Jiha. Do you have other plans?"
"I need to see Yura."
"I think she was in the garden."
"Alright. Get some rest."
With that, Jiha walked toward the garden.
The garden.
The barracks were a grim place, but they did have a garden.
Flowers of every color were in lush, riotous bloom.
The Commons—men dragged here from another world and forced to fight for their lives, their hearts worn barren—would sometimes sit here, lost in a daze, just looking at the garden.
Even those with sensitive noses who hated the flowers would watch from a distance, thinking that even in another world, flowers were beautiful.
"......."
Jiha wasn't ignorant of that feeling, but he had never once come to this garden.
Even when he was on a 28-match losing streak, staring into a hopeless future with no end in sight, he hadn't wanted to escape reality.
The darker the road ahead, the more you had to nurture your venom and grit your teeth—that was the only way a path to survival would open.
"All in the past now...."
The pavilion at the center of that garden.
Stems and blossoms sprawled so thickly over the windows that it was hard to see inside from outside.
A red-haired succubus sat in a chair inside the pavilion.
Yura held a flower in her hand, pulling off a petal.
A red rose petal fluttered softly down.
From the petals scattered on the floor around where she sat, she'd been at this for quite a while.
Jiha stopped and watched. Sensing him belatedly, Yura scrambled to her feet.
"J-Jiha...."
"Were you doing flower fortunes?"
When Jiha spoke with a smile, Yura hesitated and averted her eyes.
"......."
This was more or less how she always reacted.
But thinking about it, how long had it been since he'd seen Yura face to face?
'Is this the first time since I wrecked Pamin at the tavern?'
He'd occasionally given orders through a third party, but it had been a long while since he'd faced her directly.
Jiha studied Yura quietly.
"Feels like it's been a while since we've seen each other, hasn't it?"
"Y-yes."
"No, I mean, I don't think I've even caught a glimpse of your face. Why's that?"
He'd been busy dealing with all sorts of things, true.
But Yura came to work every day. They were in the same barracks.
And yet Jiha hadn't even seen her face while coming and going.
And now this flinching reaction.
Jiha cut straight to it.
"Have you been avoiding me?"
"Well...."
Yura was truly terrible at lying.
Seeing her hang her head low in silence, Jiha tsked.
"What's the reason, all of a sudden?"
"......."
A succubus already bound to him by subordination.
And one who'd even shown a clear personal attraction beyond that.
Why Yura's attitude had changed so abruptly—he had a rough guess.
Jiha probed directly.
"I hear the Unique who's coming is called Asira Hellrunner. I was told you know her. Is that right?"
"......."
Yura finally raised her head.
Her expression was one of grim resolve.
"You need to run away right now, Jiha."
"Me? Why?"
Jiha laughed, but Yura spoke with unyielding certainty.
"Asira is going to try to kill you. Without fail."