Right or Left (5)
After what could hardly be called a tearful reunion—more like an awkwardly premature one—we each took our seats. The inn room was cramped, so she ended up on the bed while I took the chair. It was the perfect setup for things to get weird between a man and a woman who were little more than acquaintances, so I spoke before the atmosphere could sour.
“You speak Britannian pretty well too. Learn it for the job?”
“I’m an information broker. Three languages is basically the baseline. Romanian’s the most comfortable, obviously, but I’ll make a point of using Britannian for a while. Nothing beats learning a language on the ground.”
“If that’s how you want to play it, I’ll stick to Britannian too. I’m here to put in a request. I’m looking for someone. Think you can handle it?”
“I run a detective agency on the side, so that’s no issue… but this person isn’t dangerous, right?”
“She herself should be fine. Still, if you spot anyone tailing her, better to steer clear.”
“…Can I hear the details first? I’ll decide after that.”
“Was planning on it.”
I laid everything out while carefully omitting what needed to stay hidden. Catherine jotted notes as I described the quarter-dwarf with the golden sun tattoo—Zoid Twostas—along with his distinctive features. Once I finished, she frowned.
“I’ll look into it, but there are two things you should keep in mind.”
“Shoot.”
“One, finding someone this vaguely described is incredibly difficult. Two, long-term requests like this require periodic payment renewals. Any other agency would tell you the same.”
“…The second part makes sense, but you’re saying someone this distinctive is still hard to find?”
“You know better than anyone how big the world is, Sir Nord.”
She had me there. Even kids understood how hard it was to locate missing persons. Back in my homeland of Korea—a post-apocalyptic surveillance state packed with CCTV, vehicle black boxes, citizen fingerprinting, genetic registries, and serial numbers—missing child posters still ended up on the back of snack packages. In a world like this, with zero developed surveillance infrastructure?
If some rural bumpkin packed a bag and vanished under cover of night, even the FBI would throw up their hands at the total erasure of personal records that would follow.
“He probably fled abroad. I could check immigration records… except I don’t have the authority.”
The Armaals family crest might get me access to Romanian records. The family head who issued it was a senator on the Elder Council, and the Council was a state body. But that influence wouldn’t extend to foreign nations.
After a moment’s thought, I said, “I’ll narrow the scope. Search only within those bounds. Would the information guild be any help?”
“It’s a Romania-only organization, so it’s useless here. Personally, I think it’s a state agency disguised as a private guild. It’s useful, so I tap it when appropriate.”
I got the picture. Basically the FBI monitoring social media and the press. If it let them control both information and public sentiment, it was worth making national policy.
“If it’s no use, forget it. Focus on Britannia and Narmer-Nile.”
“It’d be easier if I knew your criteria for narrowing it down.”
“Process of elimination.”
I didn’t feel like explaining the deeper reasons, so I kept it vague. Zoid had likely left Nidavellir after his brother’s death. Most people in this world preferred to be buried in their homeland, but as a second son he’d inherited neither house nor legacy. People like that usually drifted into peddling, adventuring, or the clergy. He’d probably been an adventurer in his youth. A merchant? A golden-sun scion from a trading company playing street peddler? And if he’d lived as an adventurer, he wouldn’t hesitate to cross borders.
So where would he have gone? Not Germania. Too close to Nidavellir, too full of memories of his brother’s death. Not Romania either. Would a man who lost his elder brother to a fake Thor willingly head there? He hadn’t exactly burned with vengeance. He would have avoided the place, not sought it out. The remaining countries were either too far or too close. By elimination, that left Britannia and Narmer-Nile.
“If you’re paying, I’ve got no reason to refuse. Work’s been scarce in the city anyway. I didn’t expect a place this relaxed and peaceful.”
Catherine accepted with a sigh. I simply smiled at her grumbling. I’d teased her plenty about being a country girl, but she’d adapt to Sargadis eventually. It wasn’t the kind of rural backwater with vicious territorialism.
“…Although, there is one strange thing about this city.”
Suddenly Catherine’s eyes gleamed. I recognized the curiosity-stoking tone as a sales tactic, but there was no reason to shut her down with a straight face, so I played along.
“Strange thing? I’ve lived here for months and never noticed. What is it?”
“Hehe. Something I realized through keen intuition and cool observation. The truth is, this city…”
Catherine paused dramatically, then whispered.
“………………”
“Surprised? Or maybe just dumbfounded. But it’s the truth.”
She puffed out her chest like a new hire giving a presentation to the CEO.
“Lots of stray cats and birds isn’t unusual. But seeing one or two everywhere you go is remarkable, and it’s extremely rare for city animals to maintain such prolonged interest in humans.”
“………………”
“So I investigated. Amazingly, every animal in this city—regardless of species—has gathered under a single ordinary cat! The only way that’s possible is if there’s no food competition among them.”
I knew exactly where this was going without hearing the rest. More importantly, here she was in a closed room with only two people, proudly laying out evidence and reasoning like a mastermind. Without realizing it, she was acting exactly like the victims in the opening of a locked-room murder mystery. If I were a truly evil big boss—no, cat boss—I’d already have a rope in my hands. Staging a suicide would be child’s play. This world didn’t even have mystery novels. A perfect crime would be as easy as slicing cake.
“For that kind of interspecies unity, you need a real boss! An entity capable of subduing the animals and taming them with food! Only someone as sharp as me would ever notice something like this!”
Catherine boasted proudly. Poor thing. I decided to humor her deduction until I revealed the truth. No malice intended. If she was going to be embarrassed anyway, she might as well enjoy herself until then.
“Wow, really? That’s incredible. Any idea what the boss is?”
“No. That’s the thing—I have no clue. There’s not even a hint of its presence…! It’s almost like it doesn’t exist…!!!”
Well, that’s because it came home today.
‘This girl is so hilariously off-base.’
Misreading something this badly was actually entertaining. As I smirked to myself, Catherine—lost in her own little world—didn’t notice my expression at all. Her lips twisted in satisfaction.
“But who am I? The genius information broker of the problem-solver agency ‘Tick Tock’—Catherine Heswald! I’ve already secured a clue!”
“No way! You’ve only been in the city a few days and you’re already that far ahead?!”
It was a reaction that made even me cringe, but it apparently meshed perfectly with this world’s sensibilities. Catherine pulled out a cage she’d hidden under the bed, beaming like she might float away.
“Behold!! My captured evidence!!”
—Clatter!
The cage containing food and a water dish was set before me. Inside was a cat wearing the expression of someone experiencing every bullshit moment this world had to offer simultaneously.
“Nimi-nyang. (Fuck.)”
It was our family cat, Teresa.
“I captured the cat that was assembling the animals in the mastermind’s place and confined it perfectly like this!!!”
I planted a fist in Catherine’s stomach.
You absolute idiot. No wonder I hadn’t seen her around.
“I had no idea even in my dreams!! Oh my god!! Who could have guessed Sir Nord was the mastermind?!”
“Shut it. Lower your voice.”
“Ugh kek kek!!”
After delivering appropriate punishment to the phantom thief who had kidnapped someone else’s pet cat and part-time subcontractor, I left the inn Children of Mutarat. I’d naturally slipped a bottle of liquor into my inventory slate as well.
I stroked Teresa, who was cradled in my arms.
“Nyang nyu-neu-nyang. (I’ve seen some shit.)”
“Shaaak—! Haaak—! (That’s what I’m saying!)”
Calming the hissing cat, I headed back. A mana-less feline had no hope of escaping Catherine’s absurdly fast dash skill—one I’d genuinely wanted to copy. Maybe it was the several days of suffering after being captured. Her once-glossy fur had grown noticeably frizzy despite my half-feral raising.
I should feed her some nourishing food.
Otherwise she might quit her drone supervisor post.
“Nyaaaaang——!!”
Before tempting her with catnip, I considered buying her favorite fish from a street stall, but Teresa batted at my arm. Recognizing the gesture as a bid for attention, I set her down.
Teresa, angrily thumping the ground with her tail, spoke.
“Got something to tell you. Two suspicious people—”
“What?”
My eyes widened at the abrupt information.
“Humans wearing what you call ‘hoods.’ Two of them. Dangerous. My fur stands on end when I see them. I watched closely and got caught.”
Unusually loyal for a cat, Teresa pointed a front paw toward Dana’s laboratory.
“Those guys keep circling the purple-hair’s other house.”
“…Fuck!!!”
My heart plummeted. I snatched Teresa up and kicked off the ground. The purple-hair’s other house. Given Teresa’s limited grasp of human society, that meant Dana’s lab.
I poured mana into my feet, kicking off walls and leaping onto unobstructed rooftops, sprinting at blinding speed.
Whooooosh—!!
My body tore through the headwind at uncontrollable velocity. Even drawing on every last ounce of strength, my elite mind spun several times faster than my legs.
Dana’s alone in the lab right now!
Other researchers might be present, but expecting combat ability from scholars who had abandoned career ambitions was absurd. If fighting broke out, only Dana could fight. The others would be lucky if they didn’t become dead weight.
Damn it, damn it, damn it…!! They got back before us and infiltrated?!
I glared at the lab so fiercely my eyes felt bloodshot. I clenched my teeth until I tasted blood from my gums. None of that mattered. I shouldn’t have taken things easy. I shouldn’t have let her go to the lab alone. This was my fault. Even though I’d sensed danger, part of me had complacently thought, This might be overprotection.
I wanted to line up every version of myself from thirty minutes ago—who had been fooling around—and skewer them all on a spear. Belated regret and seething rage paralyzed my reason.
I ran like a wolf released onto the plains.
Kwaaang—!!!
The lab appeared before me in an instant. It was the fastest I had ever run, yet it still felt agonizingly slow.
I set Teresa down on a nearby roof and leaped onto the tallest building’s chimney. The motion was completely fluid, without the slightest hitch. The footwork training from my battle with the knight commander had borne fruit.
…Thud!
I landed almost silently on the chimney and glared like a hawk descending on prey.
──Found them.
Behind the lab. There was the unmistakable purple hair. She didn’t appear injured. Dana stood with her arms crossed, still wearing her scholar’s robe.
Indescribable relief washed over me—followed by killing intent that nearly spilled toward the two bastards removing their hoods in front of her.
Grind…!!
I endured, the metallic taste of blood in my mouth doubling, exercising every ounce of patience I possessed. I couldn’t abandon the advantage of a surprise attack. I had to keep my killing intent suppressed until I closed the distance.
Two men. Meeting behind the lab means they’re uninvited guests—neither invited nor welcome.
—Crack!!
My calf muscles twisted with a sound like iron cables winding tight. Eyes widened to the point of tearing, I gathered every scrap of information on the enemy.
The one on the left is either too weak to be worth my time or skilled enough that I can’t accurately gauge his strength. The one on the right is a mage roughly one level below or equal to me.
Then the right one was the priority target. Use the surprise attack to incapacitate him in a single strike, then unload everything on the left.
Crouched on the chimney, I prepared to burst forward using every acceleration technique at my disposal. Combining all buffs and skills into one took less than two seconds.
“…Huh?”
But right before I leaped, the face of the man who had removed his hood first shattered my concentration.
Even in a world full of Caucasians, his skin was exceptionally pale, paired with purple hair! They shared features so similar to Dana’s that they couldn’t possibly be unrelated. Far from the sinister aura of black mages, they were bright, vibrant young men. They displayed none of the arrogance or madness typical of the Compilation Battalion.
…People from Dana’s homeland?
Given the matching hair color, they might even be family.
My heart, which had just settled, sank again with a heavy thud. I had nearly skewered Dana’s own family over a misunderstanding. I felt like I understood the old man’s feelings when he had suddenly attacked me with a blade a hundred times over.
Calm down. Calm…
I took a deep breath. Hadn’t I already suffered enough from misunderstandings in Romania? Even if my head felt ready to explode, I could probably manage a few words with the young man. Morally, that was the correct choice.
Fine. Let’s kill him.