I'll Leave It to You
Lyman tilted his head, eyes narrowing to slits.
"You're telling me these people are spies from the Reconnaissance Bureau?"
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
Leon spoke with unmistakable pride as he addressed Lyman, whom he'd summoned to the casino.
"Check their dantians if you don't believe me."
"Hmm."
Lyman approached the three men and women dangling like butchered meat. He placed a hand against each of their abdomens and closed his eyes. A moment later, he nodded.
"You're right. They're using a mana cultivation method unique to the Republic."
"Told you. These spy bastards."
Leon gave one of their heads a casual kick for good measure.
"And take a look at this. This is the drug they were distributing here."
He held out boxes and pouches packed full of pills. They were the same pills he'd received at the poker table earlier. After tailing the spies in secret, he'd uncovered a considerable stockpile of samples they'd stashed away.
"Quite a haul."
"Doesn't this look like a Black Sand derivative to you? Pitch-black and shady as hell."
"Hmm…"
Lyman rummaged through a box with his hand. A heap of pills cascaded through his fingers.
"One moment."
Without the slightest hesitation, he plucked a pill and popped it into his mouth.
"…Hyung-nim?"
The gesture was so natural, so utterly unbothered, that Leon was left thoroughly flustered.
"…"
Lyman rolled the pill around on his tongue, tasting it, then spat it out.
"Definitely contains Black Sand."
"…Are you sure you're supposed to just eat that?"
"Hm? Ah, I'm fine. I only checked the composition — no real effect. Hey, why are you drawing up mana? Take your hand off that sword. I said I'm fine."
"…"
Leon stared at him with deep suspicion.
Lyman cleared his throat and pressed on.
"At any rate — Reconnaissance Bureau spies distributing Black Sand…"
Only then did his thoughts turn to the orc colony he'd wiped out in Elaim. The orcs' awakening reaction had been caused by Black Sand, and the humans who'd been with them had been Reconnaissance Bureau spies as well.
"This is serious."
"Damn right it is. We need to crush every last one of them."
"Agreed. These three can't be the end of it. There must be superiors, a branch office somewhere."
"Yes. These ones are the lowest of the low."
"How do you know that? Did you interrogate them?"
Crouching down, Leon peered steadily into the spies' eyes. Their bodies trembled like aspen leaves.
"Just a quick round. But that was more than enough. They barely knew anything."
"Damn."
"From the looks of it, they don't even have mental barriers in place… All they did was receive orders and drugs from above."
"A cell structure, then."
"Yes. But they weren't nearly thorough enough about cutting loose ends. Each of them has one direct superior they meet in person. If we start with that person and climb the ladder, we should get somewhere."
"That's fortunate, at least."
Lyman nodded, then suddenly asked,
"Is there a particular reason you called me instead of the Intelligence Bureau?"
"…"
Leon turned to look at him. It was a sharp question.
"I don't trust the Intelligence Bureau."
"The Intelligence Bureau?"
"They're far too incompetent. I'd much rather leave this to you, Hyung-nim. You're far more reliable."
Of course, Leon's distrust of the Intelligence Bureau went well beyond simple incompetence.
He literally could not trust them.
There was always the possibility that spies — or planted agents — had infiltrated their ranks. It was entirely plausible. For all he knew, their incompetence was a deliberate result of someone's interference.
Which was why Leon had judged that blindly summoning the Intelligence Bureau would be a reckless move.
Lyman, on the other hand, was the perfect man for the job.
No one could stand in the way of Lyman's single-minded pursuit of justice.
His personal martial prowess ranked among the highest even of Masters, and his status was that of the eldest son of the Crusif ducal house. He held an unshakable conviction to protect the weak and punish evil. He possessed a spotless reputation trusted across the entire continent, and the freedom of belonging to no organization.
If a man like that decided to tear into a drug crime ring with everything he had, who could possibly interfere — and on what grounds? Whoever they were, they'd be too busy praising and cheering him on.
Putting Lyman on a case like this was nothing short of a cheat code.
"I understand."
Lyman accepted it readily enough, having realized that Leon was treating him as a reliable hunting hound.
Leon studied his expression, then added a stream of further remarks.
"At some point they might start cutting their losses and severing the trail, but we could still uncover the factories where Black Sand is manufactured, or the warehouses where it's stored. That alone wouldn't be meaningless. At the very least, we'd be able to stall the spread of Black Sand for a while."
"…"
"Though I have to wonder what they're even trying to accomplish by spreading this stuff. And how deeply the central nobility might be involved."
"Couldn't they be trying to exploit the dependency Black Sand creates?"
"Well, that's probably a big part of it… but I don't think that's the whole story. Calling it just a drug feels incomplete when it has awakening effects too. And if you go to a Magic Tower, the withdrawal symptoms can be managed to some degree, can't they?"
Suppose they restricted the supply of Black Sand in order to leverage its addictive nature.
Commoners might be trapped — but anyone with serious money, or a noble title, could simply visit a Magic Tower and resolve the problem. It might be a last resort, but it still beat wasting away as a puppet wracked by withdrawal.
Lyman spoke.
"As for their purpose… I've been in District 11 until recently."
Leon's interest was piqued.
"Oh? How was it over there?"
"Filled with chaos."
Lyman had always been fond of that particular word.
"People stabbed each other over a crust of bread and smashed skulls with rocks for a roof over their heads. Parents sold their children. Brothers betrayed brothers. The very concepts of friendship and camaraderie did not exist. Only those with a little more strength, a little more cruelty, survived another day."
"…"
"The lights that blaze so brightly across District 2 — in District 11, those lights are replaced by the venomous eyes of the starving. I never expected to see such sights even here in the capital."
The capital boasted an enormous population and sprawling size. And District 11 was the sewer into which every shadow of the capital drained — a place not unlike Hevilon in the Crusif Duchy. If anything, District 11 was worse, never better.
"Wherever people live, darkness is never far behind."
"…Yes. I can't argue with that."
Lyman smiled bitterly.
"Anyway, I've drifted off topic. Drugs run rampant in District 11 as well. But among them, I only found something that looked like Black Sand once."
"…"
"Members of a violent gang were using it — expanding their territory at a terrifying pace by exploiting Black Sand's awakening effects. As you know, when an ordinary person takes it, they can display physical abilities on par with most Mana Users."
The phrase "were expanding" made it easy enough to guess what had become of them.
Leon thought inwardly not of the Reconnaissance Bureau, but of the Gonghyeol Group. District 11 was the perfect place for an organization like that to grow its ranks — overflowing with lives that no one would notice if a few went missing.
"Sounds like they were trying to carve out a turf in District 11. Did you find out where they got the Black Sand?"
The word "turf" was entirely new to Lyman, yet somehow he grasped its meaning at once.
"Turf… I rather like the sound of that. They claimed they'd gotten it from a broker of uncertain identity. But that, too, was almost certainly delivered or scattered by the Reconnaissance Bureau."
"Right. In the end, if we crush the spies, everything falls into place."
Leon pulled out a cigarette as he spoke.
"Hyung-nim. Helping the weak is fine and all, but solving the root cause of the problem has to come first."
Lyman's quiet gaze met Leon's eyes. Leon held it without flinching.
"You can prune the branches all you want — they'll just grow back. Pulling up the roots is the surest and most effective way."
"…"
"Or at the very least, cut the trunk."
The bitter smile lingered at the corner of Lyman's mouth.
What Leon was saying was simple: focus on catching whoever was distributing the Black Sand.
By now, Leon had a fair grasp of Lyman's character.
The man could not walk past another person's suffering and look the other way. There was a reason Lyman had spent days tied down in District 11.
Without a doubt, he had been spending his time helping the countless weak of District 11, one by one.
In some ways steadfast, in others foolish — the kind of righteous hero straight out of a legend.
But it was not the kind of action that solved the ultimate problem. Just as smashing the factory where drugs were manufactured was better than tending to individual addicts.
Lyman understood this. And yet, the moment he saw someone in need right in front of him, his hands moved of their own accord.
Perhaps this very foolishness was why Lyman had once said he was unsuited for the position of family head.
"I understand."
Lyman answered with firm resolve.
Leon grinned and gave his shoulder a friendly clap.
"Yes, Hyung-nim. I'll leave it to you."
With that, he strode out the door without a backward glance.
"Well then. I suppose we start by meeting that superior of theirs."
Left alone, Lyman murmured as he looked at the spies.
But then—
"…"
And a moment later—
"…!"
His eyes flew wide as he realized Leon had casually slipped away.
His little brother had just dumped the dirty work on him…