The Gullyman Hunt (3)
The heart of Greenbug.
I was there meeting with Manfredi to discuss our next moves.
I was the same as ever, but so was Manfredi. His blunt expression gave off a rough impression, and the way he’d cropped his hair short—as if styling it was too much trouble—made him seem indifferent even to himself.
“Luke, I’ll handle things as planned, then.”
“...You’re going after the others right away?”
“Yeah. Neither of us has time to waste on scum like them. Am I wrong?”
He wasn’t.
The Marinelli Family. They were probably just as busy reclaiming their old glory and territory. The two families that had split Greenbug between them planned to clean up the other border zones. Once it was all over, their territories would likely sit flush against each other.
“Oh, and one more thing before I go.”
“Yeah?”
“Take good care of Felicia. Brother-in-law.”
“...I will.”
I never expected to hear anything like that from the Marinelli siblings. I’d assumed Felicia’s brothers—including Manfredi—would be completely against the marriage.
After parting ways with Manfredi in the center, I headed straight for the northeast of Greenbug.
Giovanni and Sarina were waiting for me there, the Gullyman boss held captive between them.
“Boss, this is the boss of the Gullymen.”
“He really does have a nasty face. What’s his name?”
“Uh… Oh, it’s Konakri Nyerere.”
What?
In this city, you sometimes heard names that gave you no clue which culture they belonged to. Elves in this world usually carried an Italian flavor from my old life, but Konakri… I’d never heard anything like it before.
“Konakri is a nickname.”
“Then we’ll just call him Nyerere. Simple enough.”
The alligator-man, forced to his knees and bound, spoke with clear displeasure. Giovanni ignored him and kept acting smug.
“I heard you attacked the hotel while we were gone.”
We’d attacked Greenbug while they were away, so it was the same story.
The races that made up the Gullymen were all tough. The threatening looks of the alligator-men and shark-men in particular left a strong impression on me too.
Thank god it was Carso and his men left behind at the hotel.
“As you all know, Greenbug will now be split between our Fellini Family and the Marinelli Family. We’ll rule it together.”
“Hmph.”
Nyerere acted like none of it had anything to do with him anymore.
For the leader of a crew, he seemed far too detached. I glanced at Sarina beside me. She closed her eyes calmly and nodded several times.
BANG—!
At once, Sarina put a sniper round through Nyerere’s head from point-blank range. Given the thick hide of an alligator beastman, only a rifle like that could do the job.
“....”
The other Gullymen reacted in all sorts of ways to their boss’s pointless death.
“Boss, it’s this one.”
An alligator-man smaller than the last. His name was Samia Zakaya.
“Zakaya, from now on you’re the boss of the Gullymen.”
“Huh? Oh, understood!”
The rest went smoothly. We handed the northeast of the divided Greenbug to the Gullymen under Zakaya’s lead. At the same time, Zakaya became a Caporegime of the Fellini Family.
Naturally, the Gullymen members now had an obligation to join our fights against other organizations whenever Elena and I required it.
“Boss, are you sure you don’t need to discuss this with the lady?”
“I was about to.”
“That’s not discussion, that’s just telling her how it’s gonna be.”
“Do you really see Elena as the kind of woman who wouldn’t give me that much authority?”
“....”
Giovanni had nothing to say to my near-arrogant question.
Calling her would have been fine, but I planned to return to the Rufus Carlton Hotel myself. After a Gullyman attack, both Elena and Felicia must have been at least a little shaken.
“Giovanni, Sarina. Can you two handle the rest of them?”
“Yes. We’ll have everything cleaned up in a few days.”
Before leaving, I assigned each of them their zones. Once they finished clearing their sectors, the areas between Greenbug and the port would all fall into our hands.
“Armo, let’s go.”
“Yes, Underboss.”
He could have just called me boss. Armo was always strangely rigid about things like that.
*
The trip back to the Rufus Carlton Hotel near the port didn’t take long. The Eighth Pier, where the fighting had happened, was still a disaster zone.
Carso had called in Rimini and his men just in case, and they were helping clean up the scene.
“Armo, take your men and help them out.”
“Yes, understood.”
Hevilly’s cops were unusually busy lately, but there was no point giving them extra reasons to cause trouble.
A few organization men and dockworkers had died, but if we got our stories straight we could smooth it over. We’d have to pay the families of the deceased, of course, but that kind of expense couldn’t be avoided. Besides, trying to pinch pennies on something like that was never smart.
“Boss, I heard you finished cleaning up Greenbug.”
“The other areas should be wrapped up soon too. I left them to Giovanni and Sarina.”
“Have you decided on the next target?”
“...The Academy is still the most likely choice.”
After finishing my talk with Carso, I headed straight for the top floor.
The Academy was the perfect place to move the drugs we had in storage. Of course there were other options. If we pushed north from the port and secured a route out of Hevilly, we could supply the drugs that organizations in other parts of the country were supposed to receive.
But the situation at the Academy wasn’t developing favorably for that plan.
Our collaborators there were diverse—administrators, professors, staff, students. The professors were the problem. Resistance from non-human professors was weak, but the human ones were putting up a strong fight. Still, there was one human professor who had willingly cooperated with us.
Amadeo Bottari.
He had started threatening to blow the whistle on us from the inside, taking advantage of the chaos after his father’s death. The other professors hadn’t reached that level yet, so the situation remained stalled.
Of course, even though Bottari was using internal exposure as a threat, he was no saint. He was the number one contributor who had used his human status to help circulate our drugs throughout the Academy.
In short, he was a rat who switched sides depending on which way the wind was blowing.
Ding-dong—!
While I was thinking about the Academy, the elevator reached the top floor of the hotel.
“...Luke.”
I was on my way to the suite I shared with Elena when Felicia poked her head out of her own room and beckoned to me.
“Felicia? What are you doing?”
“Come here for a second?”
She said it and disappeared inside without even closing the door.
“....”
This was incredibly awkward. Even as I walked toward her suite, I couldn’t stop wondering how Elena would react if she found out I’d seen Felicia first.
“What the—when did you bring that thing?”
“First day.”
When I stepped inside her suite, Felicia was already seated. On her lap sat a giant silkmoth the size of a medium-sized dog.
The Marinelli Family loved flashy luxury, and that luxury naturally included collecting rare animals.
“....”
Its size was enough to make first-timers faint on the spot.
But I was already acquainted with the creature, so I wasn’t surprised. That didn’t mean the giant moth wasn’t creepy, of course. Still, my eyes were drawn far more to Felicia’s beauty—her gorgeous golden hair and those deep purple eyes with vertically slit pupils like a serpent’s. Grace radiated from every inch of her.
“Kiiik.”
The moth kept trying to crawl from her lap toward her tail.
“No, it’s fine.”
Felicia answered as if she understood the creature. My gaze naturally followed it to her tail.
“Felicia, what happened to your tail?”
“I had something to discuss with Elena.”
There was no way a discussion would have injured her tail.
“Wait, did you two actually fight?”
While I was dealing with the Gullymen, had Elena and Felicia ended up throwing punches at each other?
At this rate I won’t be able to leave my seat with any peace of mind.
“Luke, don’t misunderstand. I didn’t lose to Elena.”
Felicia didn’t deny that they had fought. She only denied losing. The part she chose to deny seemed off, but since things had already reached this point, she let the moth do as it pleased.
“Kiiik!”
The moth instantly clung to her tail and tapped its head against it. Small sparks of light appeared and vanished repeatedly. Yes—this giant silkmoth possessed the power to heal. If it had been nothing more than a big moth, it would never have made it into the Marinelli collection.
“Elena will explain the details.”
Even as she said it, Felicia seemed reluctant to send me off and kept the conversation going.
“Luke! Are you there?!”
But that only lasted a moment. As if Elena had sensed my arrival on the top floor, she pounded violently on Felicia’s door.
“She really is impossible.”
“Felicia, I’ll head over now.”
“Okay.”
Felicia reacted as if Elena were an especially troublesome little sister.
“Hey! Open this door!”
“Elena.”
BANG!
The moment Elena lost her temper and kicked the door, I opened it and stepped out.
“Luke, why are you coming out of there?”
“....”
I finally understood why Felicia had insisted she hadn’t lost.
Elena’s condition was just as bad. She had tried to fix herself up in a hurry, but her hair was still a mess, and several wounds remained on her long ears.
An Elf’s ears and a Dragonkin’s tail. It seemed the two of them had targeted each other’s racial weak points. Both were extremely sensitive areas for their respective races.
“Felicia, lend me Hev!”
“Got it.”
When she heard the voice from inside, Elena tried to enter, but I blocked her path.
“What? You’re taking her side now?”
“No.”
Hev was the name of the giant silkmoth. Felicia soon brought out another one. Since there wasn’t only one, I was able to borrow Hev.
“Hev, come here.”
“Wait, what is that disgusting thing?”
“Elena, let’s go back.”
Elena recoiled when I took the giant moth into my arms, but the creature was precious. It would heal her wounds. I also planned to have it treat the injuries on my own ears while we were at it.
*
Once we returned to Elena’s suite, I lifted Hev first and brought it close to her ear.
“....”
Elena clearly hated it with every fiber of her being, but she couldn’t refuse my repeated suggestion.
“Stay still. This guy is very gentle, so don’t worry.”
The process was the same as with Felicia. Elena kept her eyes squeezed shut, so she probably had no idea what was happening to her ear.
“....”
“How is it? Better now?”
“Yeah.”
The wounds Felicia had left slowly closed and soon vanished without a trace.
This time I asked Elena to do the same for me.
“I really just need to hold it?”
“Yeah. Just bring Hev’s head close to my ear.”
Tap.
I felt Elena press Hev’s head against my ear. But nothing happened.
“What? There’s no reaction at all.”
“...Hev?”
“Kiiiiiiik!”
“Kyaaak!”
Hev thrashed wildly in Elena’s arms. Naturally she panicked and dropped it.
“...Looks like it’s hungry.”
It couldn’t heal people indefinitely. There was a limit.
But how was I supposed to know what a giant silkmoth ate? I had no choice but to set it aside for now and report what I needed to tell Elena.
“Wait. I’ll speak first.”
“Go ahead.”
“I talked with Felicia.”
“Just talked?”
“She started the fight.”
“Fine. Keep going.”
If I nitpicked now the conversation would never end. When I urged her to get to the point, Elena’s expression grew serious.
“Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are mine. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are Felicia’s.”
“...What?”
“What do you think? It’s about who you’ll spend time with between the two of us.”
That left Sunday open. Was Sunday free time?
There’s no way it’s that simple.
“Sunday’s open?”
“Yes. That’s why it’s important. You decide, Luke.”
“Decide which one of you to be with?”
“....”
Instead of answering with words, Elena simply nodded. Her eyes made it clear that if I didn’t choose her, she might kill me.
“Wait. We can decide that when the time comes—”
“What do you mean when the time comes!”
“I have something to tell you too.”
I reported that I had suppressed Greenbug and assigned the northeast sector to the new Gullyman boss.
“...Do you really think they’re useful fighting strength?”
“If it hadn’t been us as their opponent, they might have won. Besides, this is a time when we need every bit of manpower we can get.”
“If you were going to say that, you shouldn’t have killed their boss.”
“Elena, you can tell with guys like that just by looking them in the eye. The ones who show no fear will eventually become a problem for us.”
Guys with just the right amount of fear were preferable. Besides, even though they had lost, they had managed to settle in the city they wanted so badly. It was a good outcome for everyone.
“Then what about the other areas besides Greenbug?”
“We need to decide now.”
Elena thought for a moment before offering a suggestion. Appoint one of my subordinates who managed the port area as Caporegime of the new zone, and absorb the members of the minor organizations there as his own men.
“And that guy will keep an eye on the Gullymen in Greenbug?”
“Exactly. We can’t always have wolves watching their backs.”
“But is one of my subordinates really suitable?”
“We can’t send wolves, Vannela has other duties, and Rimini still can’t be fully trusted.”
Elena reacted as if asking whether appointing one of my men as the new Caporegime was acceptable.
This side of her was something the old Elena could never have shown.
“...Thank you, Elena.”
Though the wounds were already healed, I gently stroked her ear that had been covered in injuries only moments earlier.
“....”
Elena seemed to savor my touch.
“Luke, don’t forget today is Friday.”
It seemed the new rules were taking effect immediately. Since a large part of Friday had already passed, it might have felt unfair to her, but Elena didn’t voice any complaints.
The next day was Saturday. Felicia naturally came to fetch me first thing in the morning, and except for the times I discussed important matters with Elena, I stayed by Felicia’s side.
“....”
Then came the long-awaited Sunday.
Elena and Felicia both watched closely to see who I would choose.
“...Luke?”
Felicia woke up and immediately looked for me, but I was nowhere to be found.
“Luke, are you there?”
When I didn’t come to her suite, Elena came looking for me at Felicia’s room as well.
I felt bad for both of them, but instead of choosing one… I picked a different option.
I chose to head for the Academy and deal with Professor Bottari.
To keep Elena and Felicia from fighting again, I left Armo and Carso to watch over them. With those two around, there shouldn’t be any problems.
............
Meanwhile, the status window that usually bombarded me with messages every single time stayed completely silent. Instead of its usual chatter, it simply displayed a long string of periods, as if it had chosen to remain quiet.
It’s making me anxious for no reason.