Chapter 53
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Black Market (2)
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The deepest, dampest underbelly of the capital.
We headed into the slums where even sunlight drowned in the mud, our footsteps cautious as we slipped into the back-alley black market.
"Can't you idiots walk straight! You worthless rats! So damn slow!"
"S-Sorry, Mistress!"
Hilde led the way, her voice trembling oddly yet laced with icy sharpness.
Her stiffly pressed uniform and haughtily lifted chin screamed arrogant foreign noble lady down to her bones.
Sena and I followed in the shadows, hoods of ragged cloaks pulled low—a perfect act of thoroughly broken beastkin servants.
'How the hell does she know these streets so well?'
Hilde plunged into the labyrinth of tangled back alleys without hesitation.
Her familiar dodges around trash heaps and cuts through narrow paths didn't feel like a first or second visit.
'No need to ask right now.'
Everyone has scars they don't want poked.
Finally, we reached a dingy underground tavern reeking of rotting filth.
Hilde slammed a heavy leather pouch onto the sticky bar table.
Clink!
A dull yet clear metallic ring.
The bartender's dull eyes sharpened as he silently opened the creaky door to the basement without a word.
Beyond the door, faint lamplight flickered.
A shady informant with a freshly crawled-out-of-a-rat-hole look sat across from me.
"Good to see you again, elf miss! Haha, I've got some personal ties with your family's elders too..."
The man rubbed his hands eagerly. Hilde crossed her legs and cut him off coldly.
"You'd better not utter my family's name."
"Oh dear! Of course not, I'd sooner have my mouth sewn shut."
"...Anyway, I'm here on private business today."
The informant's murky eyes slithered over Hilde like a snake.
"Business, you say...?"
"I need a bulk order of quick, tough ratkin from our estate. Word is stock's dried up lately? I'll pay extra, whatever it takes—show me your best."
The plan was working perfectly.
The elven racial quirk, the bone-deep arrogance of a foreign noble.
And above all, the weight of gold crushing the table!
Greed blinded the informant as he bowed low.
"Oh, miss... er, noble lady. Good ratkin are hard for us to come by these days."
Adding to the act's detail, perhaps?
Hilde suddenly kicked at me where I cowered beside her.
Thud!
"You lazy rat brat! You got dirt on my shoe—clean it now!"
But the touch on my shin was soft as cotton candy.
'Ugh! Too half-assed!'
She'd only pretended. For a moment, suspicion flickered in the informant's dull eyes.
'Kick for real!'
I shot a fierce glare from under my hood. Realizing her mistake, Hilde bit her lip, then this time stomped my shin with a solid thwack.
"Ow! Squeak! My fault! Forgive me, Mistress! Squeak!"
I let out an exaggerated yelp, collapsing to rub her shoe toe with my ragged sleeve.
The informant eyed us and let out a mocking chuckle.
'Good, it's working.'
Hilde snapped irritably.
"I said I'd pay extra. Who the hell's been snatching up all the rat brats to waste my time? Think my family's elders will sit idle?"
The informant glanced around and lowered his voice.
"Well... the Blackstone Mine crew up north has been sweeping up every ratkin they find. Acts like a sorting hub, you see."
'Blackstone Mine!'
The name that had flashed by in Oakwood's guildmaster's secret ledger.
Buried memory fragments erupted violently to the surface.
"They shove the sturdy ones down the deepest shafts to toil, bundle the decent ones as special goods for the higher-ups... cleaning house completely."
His casual tone made my crossed arms tremble.
My fists clenched until the blood drained white. Rising killing intent soured my mouth to the root.
'Those filthy scum!'
For an instant, the chill of cold metal piercing my skull.
The northern highway where Polly's caravan had been abducted.
And the clue just spilled from the informant's lips!
Scattered hints aligned with chilling precision on a single target.
"Hmph, tangling with mud-grubbing mine rats is beneath my dignity."
Having got what she wanted, Hilde snorted and brushed off her skirt.
"No deal today."
"Right away, sure thing. Shame, but come again!"
We'd found the enemy's heart.
'Is Polly's caravan there too?'
I wanted to charge in right now.
'Daring to touch our rats!'
I swallowed the surging kin-rage.
'Can't rush. Not just my problem.'
Behind me were the wheel village folk looking only to me. Rash anger from their chief would solve nothing, only make it worse.
It could doom the whole village.
Before drawing swords, I'd exhaust every other means.
I pushed through the heavy iron doors of Dunholm Security Headquarters.
The cold marble lobby hung heavy with musty ink and old paper dust.
"A caravan vanished on the northern highway. Clear armed abduction!"
After the front desk, I finally sat with an investigator. He rifled papers, eyeing me sourly.
"Evidence?"
"Right here!"
I slammed the tranquilizer needle and gunpowder-scented paper cartridge on his desk with a thunk.
"Dispatch a search team now! It's urgent!"
The investigator barely glanced at the evidence.
"Oh, this? Already reported. Little brats like you came crying before."
"Really?"
'I wasn't the only one who noticed!'
Of course. Folks tied to Polly's caravan, scattered caravan members—they'd reported first.
The investigator snorted and slammed his file shut.
"Higher-ups are handling it. Obvious bandit work. They'll find 'em soon—buzz off."
What the hell, this attitude?
"Wait, can't you see? Foreign weapons! No mere bandits use tranq darts and guns. It's vicious armed forces!"
"Yeah? Then definitely no place for a kid adventurer to meddle."
His dull eyes oozed annoyance.
Unbelievable.
'Stupid me, expecting 21st-century Earth cops!'
Winster Kingdom was doomed.
These guys as officials?!
Their military police were either idiots or bullies.
"Northern highway's just bandit territory. Quit making noise and scram, rat kid."
I choked down the bile rising in my throat and stormed out.
'Can't let it drop. Gotta reach someone reasonable up top.'
Grinding my teeth, rounding the hall corner—
Thump!
"Ack! Squeak!"
My shoulder hit a solid chest.
"Watch where you're—hmm? You."
Immaculate blue uniform, sharply trimmed mustache. Inspector Coldwell.
"Hmph, rat kid adventurer. What brings you here?"
Of all people. Irritation flared, but my mind raced.
Maybe this stickler was different. Worth testing.
"I-Inspector Coldwell!"
"What's up?"
Like grasping a rotten rope, I clung and explained everything.
"Bandit abduction, huh..."
"Not simple bandits! Targeting beastkin only, dragging to northern mines... maybe Blackstone Mine!"
"What? Blackstone Mine?"
Deep furrows creased Coldwell's brow. I shoved the paper cartridge and needle from my pocket right in his face.
"Found on-site. Adlerheim needle-rifle paper casings."
He knew them—his gaze froze on the cartridge.
"Hold on, real deal. How'd mere bandits get...?"
Coldwell tugged his mustache irritably, deep in thought.
"...Impossible. Such a major armed incident, HQ couldn't miss it..."
His steely gaze wavered. He snatched the gunpowder cartridge.
A thick vein bulged on his clenched jaw.
"Follow me."
Surprisingly cooperative.
'This works?'
Coldwell strode ahead to the top floor. His rank got us straight into the top brass superintendent's office—no wait.
"What is it, Inspector Coldwell?"
The superintendent, chest glittering with medals, greeted us with a fat cigar.
Coldwell silently placed the evidence and explained.
I caught my breath and ranted about Polly's caravan abduction.
The response was brutal.
"..."
The superintendent's face twisted in thick displeasure after hearing it all.
He exhaled long cigar smoke, leaning over the desk.
"Good work, adventurer. But your tales? Just bandit work on highways from security woes."
"Evidence right here? Empty wagons too."
"Evidence? We decide that."
He ground out his cigar in the crystal ashtray.
"Adventurer meddling everywhere—why?"
"What?"
Through the drifting acrid smoke, a viper's cold stare.
"Spreading vicious rumors sans proof—beastkin to mines? Cross the line more and..."
Screeech.
His chair shoved back roughly. The hefty superintendent shot up.
"Deceiving HQ, military police, High Court! Treason against the Winster throne and law. Out of my office!"
His blunt, pudgy fingers drummed the mahogany desk irritably.
The grand Winster royal crest and police banners on the walls pressed down like stranglers.
I silently swept the discarded cartridge and needle into my pocket.
'Damn it! Senile bastard!'
I fled the office like a whipped dog.
"Haa..."
Later, the firmly shut door opened. Coldwell emerged.
His slumped shoulders said he'd been chewed out too.
Silence sealed his tight lips.
He irritably fished a matchstick from his pocket, brought it to his unlit cigar.
His thick fingers trembled visibly.
Snap!
The match broke before lighting under his grip. He hurled the pieces to the floor.
"...No investigation."
A suppressed growl leaked through his teeth.
"What?! You tore our village apart over illegal fort fences, but Polly's abduction—no?!"
Coldwell glared down with bloodshot eyes at my outburst.
"Just got official orders from above to ignore your nonsense. Plus... Blackstone Mine's private imperial noble land."
He ground his teeth, spitting it out.
"High nobles tangled like spiderwebs. Personal testimony alone? No HQ, no High Court noble approval moves a single policeman past the gate."
I shut my mouth seeing his ashen face as I opened mine to argue.
'Not one of them?'
Then I realized.
This rigid rule-stickler cop was just a leashed watchdog, snapping matches in impotent rage before the mighty.
Staring at the cold marble floor, the truth sank bone-deep.
'The law doesn't care about lowly races like us.'
No more time in this rotten bureaucracy pit. I gripped the pocket cartridge tight and turned away clean.
Just before descending the stairs, I glanced back and tossed bait casually.
"Say a big riot or fire erupts inside that private land—what then?"
Coldwell's brow twitched.
"Well... private or not, security first. Police mobilize to protect the mine and quell it."
Mechanical, by-the-book reply.
Then he caught the ominous intent and gasped.
"No way, you... planning something illegal...!"
Before his shout echoed the hall,
I vanished like a shadow.
We're ratkin.
Human laws' borders? One rat hole dug, and we're gone!