Raid on Sector 41 Port -6-
Raid on Sector 41 Port -6-
After the death of the Blue Scale Family's swordsman was confirmed.
Max took off his mask and vomited blood.
"Uwe-ek!"
It was because he had overworked his circuits despite signs of overload.
His insides were ruined. His vision was dizzy, and it felt like he would lose consciousness at any moment.
"Magician! Are you alright!"
Usagi's urgent voice buzzed ung-ung and pierced his ears.
He couldn't even feel the characteristic fishy scent and coolness of the sea breeze.
'...I must regain my senses.'
His consciousness was hazy like fog, but one thing was certain.
The request wasn't over. If he collapsed here, there was no answer.
"Kkeu-u!"
Max, feeling his breath blocked, forced his back straight.
He barely secured his airway.
"Huu!"
His vision slowly became clear.
Max checked on the Steiger who was on the verge of death and asked Usagi.
"Go ahead and find Bibol first. I'll catch my breath and move too."
The possibility that Bibol had betrayed or neglected the request was low.
Because this request itself involved people who had passed the Association Head's own standards.
Nevertheless, Usagi was conflicted about Max's condition.
"..."
"If you're a mercenary, prioritize the request. You said you need money, right?"
Usagi nodded heavily.
Even if only trivial things remained compared to the battle, the request wasn't over yet.
"If there's a problem on Bibol's side and we're pinned down, I'll shoot a fire flare into the sky."
Usagi, as if his legs were heavy, began moving at a noticeably slower speed than before.
Jeobeok. Jeobeok. Jeobeok.
After sending Usagi to another place, Max approached the Steiger directly.
Despite such wounds and blood loss, he was clinging to life by a thread. Even as a mage, he was 4th rank after all.
Max forced his heavy steps to move.
He glanced at the dead swordsman with a hole in his head.
'An opponent I never want to meet again.'
In Max's memory, the people of the Blue Scale Family he had encountered at Cheonmyeong Pharmaceutical were generally like that.
With a languid voice and a flippant demeanor as if they didn't care at all about the corporate desire for agile and intelligent talent.
Though they wielded the sword like a demon enough to attract the interest of a Cheonmyeong Pharmaceutical executive, the tip of that sword carried no urgency, and the family itself had few members.
If the Blue Scale Family had abandoned their habitually hazy eyes and only possessed a bit of clarity in their desires, the situation might have been different.
They might have escaped the miserable position of being the executives' hands and cleaning up messes, becoming a prestigious family proudly situated in the center of Haze.
"Hey. You alive?"
"..."
At Max's voice, the Steiger lifted his head slightly, then slumped down.
It seemed he had accepted death and given up everything.
"You disrespectful bastard. Take off your helmet."
The Steiger couldn't resist Max. As the helmet was removed, his face was revealed.
He was a middle-aged man.
Blood oozed from his mouth and nose, his beard was a mess, and the vitality in his eyes was about to evaporate.
But Max knew. He could recognize who it was.
'...Hoof Steiger?'
He was one of the adults he had seen since childhood, always hanging around his father.
But he had no memory of actually talking to him.
It wasn't strange. From the start, Max was treated like a ghost in the family, so in the Steiger family, apart from his mother, there was no one he had properly conversed with.
"What orders did you receive to be at the harbor?"
"..."
He didn't seem to intend to answer.
He looked at the sky and kept silent.
'Since he's going to die anyway, not answering must be the way he thinks he can fuck me over.'
Should I say it's typical of a Steiger to be curling his lips in a spiritual victory?
I hate myself for understanding this mindset.
"I don't know why you keep making me the bad guy. If you're this uncooperative, there's no beautiful and clean farewell."
Max approached the corpse of the Blue Scale Family swordsman and grabbed the sword.
A coolness flowed through his grip.
"..."
Max stabbed the blade into the Steiger's hand with a puk!
'Uh?'
Actually, he had intended to just set it down and threaten first.
The blade was so sharp that when he lightly placed it, it went in ssuk.
"Kkeu-euk...!"
The Steiger cringed in pain.
Seeing him writhe in pain, it seemed he still had some time left to live.
"I'll ask again. What orders did you receive to be at the harbor?"
"...I don't know."
"Your answer lacks sincerity."
Max twisted the embedded blade.
—Ppudeudeuk! A gruesome sound erupted as flesh tore.
"I don't know! I told you I don't know, you fucking bastard! I was just told to be here!"
A voice of desperation hard to believe from someone on the verge of death.
Watching Hoof Steiger's irritation, he was reminded of his father, Layton Steiger.
"Anyway, with that temper and no time, let me change the question. What is the relationship between the Steiger family and Cheonmyeong Pharmaceutical?"
"...!"
An unmistakable fluster crossed Hoof Steiger's face.
Max was satisfied with that alone.
"So there is a relationship? That's enough. At a glance, you're not carrying a heavy responsibility."
"You... who the hell are you..."
Max crouched down next to the muttering Hoof Steiger.
"Hey. Look at my face."
"...?"
"Disappointing. I've had my face uncovered this whole time, and you don't recognize me?"
Hoof Steiger captured Max's face in his dying eyes.
After blinking for a long time, he understood the situation.
"Ha! Did you come looking to take revenge, given your place?"
"Revenge? I just ran into you while working as a mercenary. What's between you and me?"
"...You're a shameless moron. A scion of a prestigious family becoming a mere mercenary?"
Hoof Steiger glared and shot back, but Max chuckled and took out a lollipop.
The taste was weird mixed with blood, but it was melon flavor. He felt buoyant.
"Being unfazed by such words is proof of my growth. I grew up well, didn't I?"
"Treat me now! Then I'll tell hyung-nim Layton—"
When Max made a motion to pull out the sword and strike down...
Hoof Steiger cut off his words and shut his mouth.
"You're useless now. I said I was disappointed when I saw the face inside the helmet. Because I figured you wouldn't know anything."
"..."
After roughly stabbing the blade into the ground next to the Steiger's face,
he continued speaking as if expecting him to listen.
"You see... I never really thought about building power to massacre the Steiger family or anything? Because once I grew up, a few words would make Layton Steiger clutch the back of his neck and collapse. I thought seeing that would be enough."
That was my thought when I went through regression and entered what I thought was the right path.
But whenever I'm about to forget, I keep seeing them.
Even walking mindlessly, I trip over them like a stumbling stone.
The more information I learn that I didn't know in the past, the more I'm filled with the intuition that inevitable friction will occur.
"Have you ever thought about what family is?"
"..."
"We share blood. Is that it?"
Hoof Steiger didn't give any answer.
Max had expected that.
"I feel that my recently acquired little sister is more like family and more precious to me than my father. The time we've known each other isn't that important."
At Max's gesture, the blade moved. It slanted diagonally like a guillotine before falling.
To Hoof Steiger, whose pupils were shaking, he informed him for the last time.
"I don't know how Layton Steiger built a bridge with the Crimsonhowl family, but if he intends to harm her, I won't be able to stand by and watch."
"You bastard...!"
"Depending on the circumstances, I might end up in the worst relationship with the family."
"Do you think a defective piece like you can touch the Steiger family and survive?!!!"
At the shout that ignored his bleeding, Max curled his lips.
"I'll live. I'll send your friends to you soon, so hear the rest of the news in heaven."
Seogeok! The blade split Hoof Steiger's neck, and blood spurted like a fountain.
A body with mana and stamina completely depleted is this fragile.
'Shall I move?'
Max slowly stood up.
Actually, there were many things he wanted to ask. But Hoof Steiger wouldn't open his mouth to Max.
Because for most Steigers, it's no exaggeration to say their pride is above their lives.
'Besides, I don't have enough time.'
He was satisfied with the information he had gathered on his own.
He could deepen it gradually later.
"..."
Max turned his head to look in the direction Usagi had moved.
He walked carrying the Blue Scale Family's sword and the Steiger's gun.
'I'd better hand these weapons over to the Mercenary Association.'
First, the gun is an expensive item. I don't know much about the sword, but the moment I grabbed it, I thought it was a famous blade.
So selling them directly is too risky.
If the Association has any sense, they'll consider it a bonus and handle it themselves.
'Ah, I'm tired.'
Max pushed away the desire to lie down and walked through the harbor.
··
··
After moving repeatedly, Max found Usagi and Bibol.
The surroundings were densely covered with corpses.
"Yo, Magician! You're alive! I heard it was a big deal?"
Bibol had just finished a battle with a group of 3rd-rank mercenaries who were using 2nd-rank mercenaries as meat shields.
Uncooled heat blazed from his tattoos. A broken sword was stuck in his back; he looked beastly.
Since he was the type who found covert handling difficult like Usagi, he was caught from the start and the mercenaries swarmed him, he said.
Max thought it couldn't be helped.
'Hiding that bulk is a job in itself.'
The degree of injury was similar between Max and Bibol. Usagi, who was agile, was relatively lightly injured.
That meant compared to the two; even Usagi's wounds were not light.
"Wait here."
Usagi, who had spoken, stepped on containers and headed toward the control tower.
When he returned, he was carrying a box of medical supplies.
"It's an item I spotted while setting up kunai."
From powdered hemostatic agents to various other items, it was well-stocked.
Max and Bibol, chatting about how they survived thanks to that, performed rough treatment.
After regaining enough energy to move, they headed toward the containers that the forklifts had been diligently stacking.
If they dealt with the items here before the ship arrived, they could clock out quickly.
What was inside that the mercenaries surrounded the forklifts and even aimed guns when they moved or sped up?
"Only these containers have a fingernail-sized sticker on them. Is this how they mark them?"
"Probably. Let's not touch the other containers and just handle these."
"Why?"
At Bibol's curiosity, Max answered lightly.
"We need to show that we were after these. That's what the Association wants, right?"
"Oho!"
"Besides, destroying all the containers in the harbor is impossible time-wise."
"First! Let's see the contents!"
Bibol stepped forward with a hearty voice.
Without giving Max and Usagi a chance to speak, he opened the container.