The Search (3)

"...Hmm. Then I want the fried chicken we had at the hospital last time."

"Alright. But I probably won't be back until evening, so you need to look after the house until then."

Looking back, it hadn't been a particularly difficult cipher at all.

I'd gone over the satellite maps with the Van Helsing people again and again, even checked whether the map itself had some kind of special treatment applied to it, and we hadn't found a thing.

That was because the whole exercise had been meaningless from the start.

I had to throw out the prejudice that a genius scientist would make everything outlandish and impossibly hard.

"Oh, you're here, Capella? Find anything?"

"I cracked the cipher. Now we just have to prove it."

"What? You cracked this?"

When I walked into the exchange, the Bartender was clutching the paper, looking like he'd been on a bender the night before. He hadn't actually gotten drunk, of course — he'd been wracking his brains trying to pry the secret out of that map copy. Unfortunately, it didn't look like he'd gotten anywhere.

"We've been overcomplicating it. Once I shifted my approach even a little, it came apart right away."

"Don't just talk — explain already."

I spread the map out and set down a pen and paper as well.

"You'll see if we list out the places marked on the map."

Six locations in all.

At first we'd assumed Ethylene's hidden treasure was stashed at one of them. We shook our heads not long after. Even if he'd buried it in the middle of Federation soil, there was no way anyone from the outside would ever get to it.

The Federation was under heavier surveillance than ever thanks to its friction with the Corvo Family. Go poking around a city on your own and you'd be surrounded by soldiers before anyone even knew you'd vanished. Ethylene would have known that better than anyone, which meant he wouldn't have hidden it on Federation land. The first thing we needed to find was which ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠land he'd hidden it on.

"First, we line them up by distance. Left to right."

"Alright. Let's see it."

Lined up from left to right, that was the order.

"And that gets us... what, exactly?"

"Now we take the first letter of each marked location."

"They're all plastered with Flheim."

"Obviously we're not copying the names as-is."

What I was getting at was simpler than that. Instead of each place's fussy official name, you boiled it down into something plain — something you could take in at a glance.

That was what scientists were for in this world. They took advanced technology and the unknown power of awakeners and made it friendly, simple, easy to understand. Making people's lives better than they were — that was what the greatest scientist here had wanted, too.

"No way he'd make it that simple. This isn't some kids' game, taking the first letters of— wait."

He was starting to notice something off. I'd double-checked on the way over, wondering if I was just forcing it to fit, but nothing else came to mind anymore. The university had thrown me at first, but looking at it now, this had to be the answer. Almost like he'd made it confusing on purpose.

If I'd never met Ethylene, I would have dismissed it outright.

The Vellir Federation.

A neutral nation founded on an island by the world's technological awakeners, and the primary manufacturer of the equipment used against monsters and awakeners alike. Even the gear worn by Hero City's named heroes was all made in the Vellir Federation — which was another way of saying their technology was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that far ahead. There was even a saying that anything unhinged came out of Vellir.

They weren't a large power, but they were firm about their neutrality, and they'd made it clear that no dispute among the nations would ever change their stance. In other words: whatever happens out there, we're still selling weapons, so stay out of our business.

"It does look like the Vellir Federation when you put it like that... Problem is, where in the Vellir Federation? Even if they're a small outfit, the place is still huge."

"We already found that, last time. In this line."

A place beyond the eyes of the Federation and the crows could only mean the Vellir Federation. As a neutral power, they ran thorough identity checks even at entry, and awakeners above a certain rank weren't allowed in at all.

"So among these six locations, what's the one thing that could reasonably exist in the Vellir Federation too?"

"They're all places that only exist in the Federation... Hang on. Let me look, just in case."

The Bartender clattered at the keyboard for a moment, then his face went slack with surprise.

"Korchma Taras! It's a shop that serves traditional Northern cuisine, and it has exactly one overseas chain location — in Vellir!"

"Figures. Vellir's cooking is as unhinged as its weapons. Even the locals can barely eat it."

Enough to call a certain famous country on Earth to mind. The motif had probably been taken from there, so it might even have been a kind of realism. Think about it: a bunch of technicians huddled on a remote island — of course the food wasn't going to be any good. Their most famous dishes were things you could eat while you worked. Sandwiches. That said it all.

"...Ugh. Just remembering it makes me want to throw up."

"You've eaten it?"

"Snuck in once on a weapons-smuggling job... Don't even start. I threw up three times on the ship."

I'd never tried it, but looking at the Bartender's face, I didn't need to. That was why Vellir was so reluctant to let foreigners in — and why, rumor had it, they welcomed chefs and almost no one else. People exaggerated, of course, but still...

"Can we even be sure, though? This whole thing could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just be a coincidence that happened to line up."

The Bartender's eyes sharpened as he asked. Fair point. I wasn't sure I should be certain either. There was a chance it had fallen together by accident — or that Ethylene himself had dug a pit for us.

"I couldn't stay in Vellir that long either. Detection-type awakeners sweep the whole island every week, so hiding's a nightmare, and they grab people at random for quick interrogations."

The man had looked sloppy, but in practice he'd already laid in every last contingency. One wrong move and we could end up detained by the Vellir Federation.

That massive explosion in the Federation that had been on the news last time — that was probably the vault Ethylene had mentioned going off. Lilac had delivered it and gotten out, and then the Corvo Family had checked the contents and blown themselves up. The damage would have been enormous. From the footage alone, there'd been a mushroom cloud.

"There's no way to know if this is the answer without checking. We've already spent days looking at this and gotten nowhere."

In the end, we weren't going to get an answer without going to see for ourselves.

"Yeah, I guess..."

More than that, now that I knew it was Vellir, we were out of time. If Ethylene's research really was sitting in Vellir, we had to find it as soon as possible. I didn't know the exact date, but a terrorist attack was going to hit Vellir soon. The villain syndicate Regulus would send a swarm of villains to kidnap one person there.

"So if you're going, when?"

"A week from now. Right away."

"A week? Hold on. Didn't you watch the news? Do you have any idea who's visiting the Vellir Federation then?"

"I know."

The most famous hero in Hero City. An S-Rank healing-type awakener who went by the name of the Saintess. Rumor had it she could even bring the dead back to life — an extraordinary ability. There were limits, of course: it didn't work on anyone who'd been dead too long, and she couldn't save someone whose limbs had all been badly destroyed in a single attempt. Even so, the power to revive the dead was dramatic enough that people called her the Saintess. No one but the woman herself knew what her ability actually was, which was why they called her that at all.

"And you're still going? The timing's about right, isn't it. In exchange for equipment support besides weapons from the Vellir Federation, Hero City sends the Saintess every year to do medical volunteer work."

"In reality, she's going to Vellir because she wants to see her family."

Around this time, Regulus staged a large-scale terrorist attack on the Vellir Federation to kidnap her. Vellir wasn't without strong awakeners of its own, but the numbers gap threw their suppression into disarray. Regulus used that opening to abduct the Saintess's parents on Vellir soil, then forced her to come with them with their lives as leverage.

"How did you know the Saintess's family is in Vellir? We only just got that information ourselves."

"Trade secret."

I had the Saintess's entire profile memorized. That she was the only conscience left in Hero City. That she had acrophobia despite being an S-Rank awakener. She was the branching point where the game's difficulty shifted hard — I'd had no choice but to learn it cold, whether I wanted to or not.

The Saintess who appeared in Hero Maker had already been kidnapped by Regulus. When she showed up again, she'd lost her memories, fallen, and was operating as their puppet. Saving her at that point was where the branch opened. Kill her and the difficulty got easier. Fail to save her and it went up. Save her and the difficulty went insane.

"You sure you'll be alright? Security's going to be even tighter while the Saintess is there. We've already pulled almost all our people out as it is. Can't you just go later?"

"I want to go while we still have time. And even if her condition's improved, making Lena's treatment could still take a while. I need to find a lead as soon as I can."

I didn't mention that Regulus was preparing a kidnapping. Even so, if those bastards destroyed Ethylene's research or made off with it, we were in serious trouble. The assault would leave several of Vellir's major cities completely leveled, conditions so bad they couldn't rebuild without outside help. There was no guarantee that restaurant would be spared the terror.

"Which is why I wanted to ask. I need your people to help me sneak in."

"Ugh. You had to pick the hardest possible time to go in? Someone like you could just walk in as a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tourist."

That wasn't an option. After the coming attack, Hero City would conclude there had been a collaborator on the inside and investigate everyone who'd visited the Vellir Federation within about a month. Awakeners in particular got the Golden Witch's personal, oh-so-gentle interrogation — so if you didn't want to end up one-eyed, you stayed away. Get unlucky and you could spend the rest of your life in the witch's prison as her doll. Especially me. She already remembered my face. Even now I sometimes woke from nightmares of her.

"Hmm. It's going to be tough, though... A plane's obviously impossible, so that leaves a ship."

"I don't care. Even inside a container is fine."

"You'd be locked in for two days."

"Two days would be getting off easy."

"Come to think of it, there was this little kid I met just once who boarded our ship carrying a newborn."

"...I'd rather not remember that."

I'd already snuck into Hero City as a child, hiding in a cargo-ship container with Lena. It had been less illegal immigration than a way to run from a conflict zone, and it had only been possible because Lena — four years old at the time — had stayed quiet for a full week. The timing had just happened to be winter, and the two of us had nearly frozen to death before anyone found us...

"Can't be helped, then. There is exactly one ship headed for Vellir. But... do you really not care what kind of ship it is?"

"Even a container packed with illegal immigrants — I can last two days."

If it got really dangerous, I could always leave the container and swim. It was only early winter, so it would be a little cold, but I could endure that.

"Well. You said it yourself that you didn't care..."

Something in the Bartender's voice sounded ominous. A week later, I would come to regret that remark. Profoundly.

"You goddamn lying con artist..."

I never in my wildest dreams imagined he'd lined up a ship like that.