Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: The Traitorous Mayor
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1
“Are you absolutely sure you know what the contact looks like?”
“I’m telling you, I do. This contact is someone I know.”
Louis poked his head out from behind the wall, grumbling.
He had pulled his hood low over his face and was wearing glasses, disguised so the contact wouldn’t recognize him even by some slim chance.
Honestly, it didn’t suit him at all.
The words rose in my throat, but I held them back.
Louis was intently watching the passengers disembarking from the passenger ship in real time.
“They said the contacts change every time.”
“Not every time is a new person.”
“The Federation’s really sloppy about this stuff.”
“They usually don’t get caught.”
“Then what’s the point? I caught you, didn’t I?”
“…Even if we’re on the same side now, you’re still annoying as hell.”
“Quit complaining and find the contact already.”
“I never should’ve teamed up with you…”
Louis grumbled and let out a sigh.
But only for a moment—then he pointed out a small, skinny man paired with a hulking, muscular one.
“Found them.”
“Those two?”
“Yeah. The small one’s Mori. The big one’s Hanson. They always move together.”
Mori and Hanson… how to put it? They looked like the typical disposable villain henchmen.
The small and skinny Mori seemed pretty feisty, while the massive, muscular Hanson came off as dumb.
Like a burger and fries, or pork soup with shrimp paste, or jjajangmyeon with fried dumplings—a classic combo.
“Let’s tail them for now.”
I stepped out from behind the wall with Louis.
It was already late for lunch by now.
Mori and Hanson must not have eaten on the ship, because they headed straight into a restaurant.
We followed them into the same place.
We naturally took seats right behind them.
Fishing operations hadn’t resumed yet, so the menu was all king squid dishes, but no one complained and just ordered.
“Damn, I’m exhausted…”
“Hold on just a bit longer.”
I shut my mouth and pricked up my ears, and their voices came through faintly.
The place wasn’t crowded yet, which was lucky.
If there had been more customers, I wouldn’t have heard a thing.
“What’s there to hold on for? Ugh, I’m beat. No more ships for me.”
“You’ve got to ride one back too…”
“Cut the annoying talk. I don’t wanna hear it. Haa… damn it, working us like dogs. Are the bosses up top seriously planning a war or something?”
“Shh, shhh…”
Hanson held a finger to his lips.
But Mori waved him off.
“There’s hardly anyone else in the shop. Who’s gonna care about our conversation anyway? Don’t be such a chicken. This is about guts, guts. Act confident, and no one notices. How long have you been in this game and you still don’t get it?”
“You think so…?”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“No, if you say so, Mori, then it must be right.”
…Are these guys idiots?
The Federation’s using morons like this as contacts?
For real?
I shot Louis a look of disbelief.
His face flushed red as he hung his head.
“…Senior.”
“Don’t… ask. Please…”
He seemed pretty shocked himself.
Even for Louis, this was too pitiful, so I just nodded.
“I heard through the grapevine that the Federation Council wasn’t even planning to launch this operation.”
Meanwhile, Hanson changed the subject.
“What’s that supposed to mean? The Council hasn’t decided?”
“Rumor has it…”
Hanson glanced around.
We pretended to chat casually with each other.
Maybe because of that, he ignored us and leaned in, whispering even lower.
“There’s someone above the Federation Council…?”
“What…? Dude, that’s conspiracy theory nonsense! Get a grip! Say something that makes sense!”
Mori burst out laughing, incredulous, and slapped Hanson’s back.
The two contacts just let the conversation fizzle out like that.
I could see why they’d dismiss it as a conspiracy.
The Carmut Federation was an alliance of five autonomous states.
All major decisions for the Carmut Federation were made by the Federation Council, composed of the leaders of each autonomous state.
No operation could proceed on one person’s whim.
Let alone some order overriding the Council—that was impossible.
It was the kind of story you had to call a conspiracy theory.
Bang!
Suddenly, the quiet restaurant door flew open violently.
In strode city guards in light armor.
The guards marched past us and stopped right in front of Mori and Hanson.
“You two—Decalt and Maximize, came in on the Golden Wild today, right?”
“That’s us, but… what’s this about?”
Mori’s bravado from moments ago was gone; he asked meekly.
Decalt and Maximize must be their aliases.
“We’d like you to come with us to guard headquarters for a bit.”
“Out of nowhere…?”
“You can’t just drag us off without explaining why.”
Hanson protested in a hard voice.
His previously dim-witted aura had vanished completely, replaced by something quite menacing, but the guards didn’t flinch.
“We’ll explain on the way. If you don’t come willingly, we’ll have to arrest you.”
“…L-Let’s go, Maximize.”
Starting a fuss here would ruin their mission as contacts if they got arrested.
Mori must have figured that out; he tugged at Hanson’s collar and stood up.
In the end, the two followed the city guards out of the restaurant.
“Ugh, at it again…”
“Again?”
The server, who had just brought our food, put her hands on her hips and scowled.
“They’ve been hauling off everyone who arrived today. God knows how many customers ordered and got dragged away…”
Dragging off every single arrival.
Not right at the port, but waiting until they scattered a bit before grabbing them—that was to avoid drawing eyes.
And the ones doing the arresting were the city guard.
Moving the guard required the mayor or the guard captain at least.
Either way, I couldn’t figure out why they were rounding up arrivals wholesale.
“Who, and why…?”
“Only the mayor could pull something like this. Name’s Liam Duncan, I think.”
Louis poked at his king squid dish with a fork and added.
Liam Duncan—that name rang a distant bell after I mumbled it a few times.
He was the one who later became the Finance Minister in the Tekat Kingdom’s central government.
An ambitious guy who rose fast for his age, as I recalled.
“What kind of person is Mayor Liam, if I may ask?”
“The mayor? He’s a good man. Kind, always thinking of the citizens first.”
The server who brought the food answered immediately.
He sounded like a saint from the description alone… which only made it more suspicious.
Just a few hours ago, Bayford City had been in utter chaos.
When the public mood sours, the first to get pelted with stones are the power holders like the mayor.
Yet his reputation was this glowing?
Only two possibilities here.
Either the mayor was a cult leader or a thorough con artist.
2
Click. I shape-shifted my demon sword and unlocked the office window.
Only after brazenly breaking in like that did I finally catch my breath.
“Phew… anyone seeing this would think I’m a career thief.”
Lord, grant me the grace to be a righteous thief today too…
Not that I planned to ask permission.
Anyway, I’d slipped into the mayor’s office while dodging the guard.
Possible only because it was night; daytime would’ve been impossible.
I checked the desk and drawers first, but nothing noteworthy.
Of course sensitive stuff wouldn’t be out in the open.
It’d be hidden in some clichéd secret spot.
Like a safe behind a picture frame or under a rug.
No rug.
But there was a sunflower painting in a frame on the wall.
Slightly off-level, enough to bug the viewer.
Just in case, I took the frame down.
Sure enough, a wall safe appeared.
“No way this actually exists…”
People are the same everywhere, huh.
The safe was a dial combination type—would take real skill to crack.
Of course, I didn’t have those skills, so I wedged the demon sword into the door crack and sliced the whole lock mechanism off.
“Let’s see…”
Inside were bundles of cash and stacks of documents.
Half the papers were slush fund ledgers; the other half looked like records of various schemes and docs that couldn’t see daylight.
I skimmed them quickly.
Liam Duncan had known in advance that Carmut Federation spies were docking in Bayford.
He’d turned a blind eye in exchange for slush funds, supplies, and power from the Federation.
Not content with that, he’d planned to use the Federation spies’ terror attack on the Esterro Academy dormitory to assassinate Count Samid in central politics.
“Count Samid—the current Finance Minister.”
No wonder Liam Duncan climbed to Finance Minister at a relatively young age.
He must’ve cleared out rivals like this to force his way into the seat.
Of course, the Carmut Federation wouldn’t allow it.
In fact, tying up the contacts’ feet until the festival ended seemed to be the plan’s core.
“So that’s why they rounded up the arrivals.”
More precisely, to nab the contacts Mori and Hanson.
Which meant the contacts were probably long dealt with by now.
But my thoughts weren’t there.
The king squid, thick with the possibility of being manipulated by the Demon of Delusion’s fragment.
Ten to one, Liam Duncan was behind controlling the king squid.
“Killing off citizens left and right just to eliminate rivals, and pocketing slush funds on the side? It’s so absurd it’s not even funny.”
And somehow, he’d spun some PR to paint himself as a saint.
I clicked my tongue at the perfect villainy.
But for a villain, Liam Duncan was too diligent.
Just take this intel and blow it open, and he’s done.
As I gathered the documents, a familiar phrase caught my eye.
A snake eating its own tail—the Ouroboros emblem.
In my memory of Broken World, only one group was tied to Ouroboros.
The Precursors.
Why was their emblem here?
Just as I started tracing the connection, I heard footsteps outside the office door.
I’d stayed too long.
I hastily grabbed the money and ledgers, then leaped out the window.
3
“Yawn…”
Night travel really takes it out of you.
I slept in the carriage, but some fatigue lingered oddly.
Still, Monday morning’s first lecture was at 9, so I dragged myself back to Esterro Academy at dawn.
No time to even wash up before heading to class.
On the way, I unfolded the extra edition newspaper, and the contents were quite satisfying.
“Handled it all in just hours? Carolina’s pretty capable, huh?”
The front page detailed Liam Duncan’s crimes down to the last one.
Colluding with the Carmut Federation, amassing slush funds, plotting to assassinate Count Samid—now known across the kingdom.
All Carolina’s doing.
Right before leaving Bayford, I’d handed her all the evidence of Liam Duncan’s slush funds and corruption.
I’d entrusted it to her, though I had my doubts if that was wise.
But at least I was sure Carolina wasn’t strapped for cash and had the guts to step up for the greater good.
No one short on money would run a massive sailing ship doing fake fishing and pirate play.
The result was a resounding success.
Liam Duncan was locked up for good, and as a bonus, the contacts Mori and Hanson were taken care of.
On top of that, when I visited the Federation spies’ safehouse, I’d tricked them by saying the plan changed and told them to raid the Precursors’ lackeys’ hideout.
With the Federation spies striking the Precursors first, they’d be tearing into each other for a while.
Thinking that way… the Ouroboros emblem from Liam Duncan’s office naturally came to mind.
“Why was the Ouroboros there…?”
Muttering didn’t bring answers easily.
But suspicions piled up, one feeding into the next.
The black mage Anir who appeared in the Viper family subsidiary Corvus Family’s hideout.
The Ouroboros emblem in Liam Duncan’s office, who’d colluded with the Carmut Federation.
The two separate incidents now shared a common thread: the Precursors.
In other words, the possibility that the Precursors were pulling strings behind it all.
Of course, this was just suspicion.
Nothing I could confirm now.
“Preconceptions can be dangerous.”
Even so, the doubt circled my mind like Ouroboros, refusing to fade for a long while.