Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Red Star (2)
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I ran by kicking off the walls.
From wall to wall, bouncing as if slamming into the ceiling, I ramped up my speed.
Just as Asren reached for the emergency exit.
I grabbed his nape with one hand and slammed him straight into the ground.
Pinned beneath me, Asren flailed wildly.
He strained with all his might to break free and swing his sword.
I crushed his elbow under my knee.
A crunch like bones grinding echoed from his arm.
“Guh, uwaaaah!!!”
Even shrieking in brain-searing agony, he refused to release the sword gripped in his hand.
Just before Asren could muster his Aura Energy, I stabbed the tendons in both his shoulders with my blade.
It wasn't some expert technique.
Just poking both shoulders with the edge of the blade.
But apparently even that was enough to subdue him—Asren let go of his sword.
“You crazy bastard...!!”
“You still seem pretty healthy.”
Screams reverberated down the corridor.
A moment later, I dragged the now-immobilized Asren Park out of the Auction House.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ An old warehouse.
After locking the door, I sat him against the wall with Asren Park bound to my waist.
He was bleeding and gasping for breath.
“...If you just let me live, I'll give you money or anything you want.”
A cliché line.
A suddenly kidnapped criminal wouldn't have much else to say, but still.
“Yeah, yeah. I'll let you live, so spill everything you know about Red Star.”
Asren's face went blank, then he let out a hollow laugh.
The look of someone properly hooked.
“...Even if you say you'll spare me after I talk, it's obvious I'll die anyway.”
“But I would still let you live.”
“Fuck you.”
I pretended to rummage through some reports right in front of him.
I vaguely recalled reading somewhere that acting like you already know something is effective in interrogations.
Whether it's true or not, now was the time to test it.
“First, explain what you've done.”
“...I, I don't know anything. Everything I did was ordered from above.”
Thwack.
Without a word, I kicked his shin.
Infused with Wave, it must have hit like a full-force swing from an iron pipe.
Asren screamed alongside the sound of twisting bones.
While I was at it, I kicked him two more times.
“Again.”
“Guaaaah!! Got it!! I got it...!!”
“If you get it, then talk.”
I kicked him again.
Drool trailing from his mouth, Asren panted and hung his head.
I wondered if it really hurt that much.
“I only distributed the Test Subjects and corpses supplied from above. Really, just distribution. Yeah, nothing but distribution.”
“How are the proceeds from the Auction House sales handled?”
“That's...”
This time, I sliced his hand with the dagger.
With Asren's scream, his left ring finger came clean off.
Now he'll have to wear his wedding ring only on his right hand.
If anyone loves this half-cripple, that is.
“...90% of the sales revenue goes up top, and we split the rest among ourselves.”
“Do you know what they do with the funds after taking them?”
“No.”
As I drew the dagger again, Asren panicked and yelled.
His expression was utterly desperate.
“I-it's true! This time it's really true! What they do with the money isn't my business!”
“So before, you were faking not knowing?”
“Even if I said that, you broke my bones and I spilled everything anyway!”
Cross-verification would be needed, but at least he was talking.
At this point, I couldn't wrap my head around Asren's mindset.
Just say something plausible and it'd end cleanly—why drag it out?
And weren't his lines a bit off?
Anyway, it didn't matter.
Time to move on.
“Who gave the orders?”
“I don't know names. This is true too. ...We all use code names. James, Charles, Louis, that crap. Just once a month, supplies arrive. Then I prepare accordingly... That's it....”
“Did you see their faces when receiving supplies? Any distinctive features?”
“Not like every dumb bald guy has some standout tattoo.”
His tone grated on me, so I kicked his other shin.
One side was already shattered, bent backward.
“Guaaaah!! What now!! I told you everything!”
“A bit more politely.”
“You kidnap me to squeeze out info, what more do you want!!”
“Since you're spilling anyway, wouldn't a little courtesy hurt less?”
“......You're right.”
From there, I kept interrogating Asren and dug out more info.
What I learned was this.
The higher-ups supplied Test Subjects, slaves, and various goods to Asren.
Asren hosted auctions according to instructions delivered with the supplies.
Contrary to expectations, Asren knew far less than I'd thought.
Still, there were a few noteworthy details.
When supplying Test Subjects, they always called them “failures.”
The items put up for auction always bore their traces, knowingly or not.
Asren's guess: they were plotting something more through the auction participants.
“Master.”
I turned to Astier.
She had already gathered the Test Subject lists and evidence items.
From locations only Asren knew, she'd extracted the documents.
“With this, we've secured physical evidence.”
I turned to look down at Asren Park.
He'd writhed in agony until finally losing consciousness.
Denied knowing anything, yet spilled every last bit he did before passing out.
Astier, sorting the documents, eyed him with a subtle expression.
“Looser tongue than expected, this guy.”
“Seems he hates pain.”
“Guess he's not the type who enjoys taking it.”
“Who knows. Doesn't strike me as particularly that, either.”
“...Oh.”
Astier glanced at me and tilted her head.
“I have a question for you, Duke.”
Back to “Duke.”
Maybe because she realized Asren had passed out.
“What?”
“Have you done anything like this on the Northern Frontline?”
“No. Never once.”
“I feel like I know what kind of man you are now.”
Astier poked Asren's sprawled cheek with her finger.
Unconscious, he didn't so much as twitch.
To the point where I wondered if he was dead.
“Hmm. For now, we need to tie him up properly somewhere. Too many fake fainting to make a break for it.”
I found some rope nearby and secured him to a pillar.
Astier wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
“At this point, may I rest a bit?”
“No reason not to.”
“Exactly 10 minutes. 11 would be luxury.”
“20 would be fine too.”
“No. 10 is plenty.”
Astier pulled some candy from somewhere and popped it in her mouth.
A sweet scent wafted through the air.
I gave her a puzzled look, and she replied like she was making an excuse.
“Sugar replenishment is key during ops. Can't let low blood sugar dull my judgment.”
She flicked one of the two toward me.
I just stared at it.
“Don't like candy?”
“Not dislike... just never really had it.”
Meals on the Northern Frontline were mostly jerky.
“Then why not try it? It's decent.”
I put Astier's candy in my mouth.
Pure sugar sweetness bloomed, no artificial sweeteners.
As she said, not bad.
Not something I'd buy myself, but.
Astier's familiar flick as she pocketed the candy again.
Different from wielding a weapon—a daily habit woven into routine.
She straddled an old chair and re-tied her braided hair.
“Are you accustomed to killing, Duke?”
“...Lots of questions today.”
“You don't have to answer. Just curious.”
A brief silence passed.
Astier stared blankly at the ceiling, then spoke again.
“I'm not used to this work. Even after falling into danger over it time and again, I'm still not.”
I stared at Astier's leg.
She had bandages wrapped around it.
The ones near the wound were soaked red with blood.
Injury from the clash with Asren.
“Think this job doesn't suit you?”
“Hard to deny.”
“Quitting?”
Astier looked at me.
I met her gaze.
I gazed at my reflection in her pale blue-gray eyes.
A scarred face, fierce impression.
Widening my view: an intellectual woman with tied brown hair.
“Were all the things you went through on the Northern Frontline suited to you, Duke?”
The question cut sharp, yet felt purely innocent.
Why it struck me that way, I couldn't say.
Her words simply rang clear.
Was that why? Or something else?
I couldn't answer lightly.
Astier met my eyes squarely and gave her short reply.
As if she'd heard my answer in my silence.
“Me too.”