Genius
“Ah, that hit the spot.”
Kael walked down the street, picking his teeth with a toothpick.
His stomach was full, and so were his miserably thin pockets.
I found myself a cafeteria.
Kael had no intention of letting this be a one-time stunt. He planned to keep coming back every day.
Luke, who had been staring at Kael all this time, asked, “...What do you plan to do now?”
“I’ve got a plan, so don’t rush me.”
Hard as it was to believe, Kael actually did have some kind of plan in his head.
My rice bowl is my own problem.
He had learned firsthand that if he relied only on his axe, he wouldn’t have much left to stand on.
In a harsh world, you survived by trusting yourself, not other people.
This might actually be better.
At first he’d been pessimistic, but looking at things now, the situation wasn’t so bad.
If Kael had stayed in the imperial guard, every day would have been unbearable.
Everyone was frantic trying to find Balmung, and what if that Balmung was in his hands?
He’d have been on edge every second, unable to breathe easy for a moment.
But Nox was different.
No one here seemed to care what Balmung was, or what it looked like.
Of course, he couldn’t relax completely, but at least he didn’t seem like he’d be jumping at every shadow the way he had in the capital.
And more than anything, hadn’t he gained the title of “commander” now?
Even if he was only the chief of a guard force with barely four people in it, including himself, that position had been officially granted by the Empire.
Short of some complete lunatic, no one would find it easy to ignore that authority.
Lost in those thoughts, he soon arrived at the old guard office building.
It looked so worn down it was past shabby and straight into haunted-house territory, as though it could collapse at any moment.
“All right, then. Let’s start by rescuing the office.”
Kael put a hand on his hip and looked up at the building.
He was the commander of the public security force, wasn’t he? There was some pride to that title.
He couldn’t possibly live in a dump like that, could he?
* * *
Kael’s name spread quickly through Nox.
The reason was simple.
The havoc he caused kept getting more and more outrageous.
Bipolar and Iron Thorn each controlled a variety of businesses.
No matter how much of a criminal nest Nox was, they couldn’t blatantly expose everything. They had to at least make a token effort to hide it.
Criminal operations disguised as legitimate businesses.
Gambling dens, black markets, illegal fighting pits, entertainment houses, and so on.
Kael showed up at the establishments run by those two giant criminal organizations day after day and picked fights over the most absurd things imaginable.
If he had come with clear evidence and a legitimate reason to crack down on them, it would have made sense. But there was no evidence, no justification, nothing like that in what Kael did.
He wasn’t there to enforce the law. He came purely to start trouble.
“Ah, all cleaned out again today... Hey, I’m short on cash. Can you lend me some? It’s all fake money anyway, right? Right? You’re not seriously gambling with real money, are you? I trust you guys.”
“H-ha! O-of course not! Hahaha!”
“Exactly. You’ve got to enjoy a game as a game, don’t you?”
After extorting a fortune with that ridiculous line of reasoning, Kael shamelessly said, “Mind if I take the fake money I won today as a souvenir?”
“......”
“What, why aren’t you answering?”
“N-no, not at all... P-please, take it easy and go ahead...”
“Thanks. I’ll come again tomorrow.”
At first they had thought he was joking. He hadn’t been. After that, Kael kept showing up at the gambling den every single day like clockwork.
“Y-you crazy bastard...!”
It had only been a few days, but the money Kael had shaken out of them was already substantial. When Hagen, the boss of Iron Thorn, checked the losses, he clutched the back of his neck.
This was far beyond something he could just grit his teeth and swallow.
At this rate, they’d go bankrupt. He had thought it was only a single fish muddying the water, but this was more like a dragon wrecking the entire ecosystem.
If it were up to him, he’d drag Kael over right now and tear him apart. What the hell did they ever do to him that he was tormenting them like this?
Damn it! At least let us breathe!
That wasn’t all. Their income had also dropped through the floor lately. It was all because Kael kept causing trouble everywhere he went. Who would come in as a customer when he showed up at every business and made a scene like that?
“...We can’t keep letting this slide. We have to do something...”
Hagen’s eyes glinted like a snake’s. If things went on like this, the organization’s authority would be driven into the dirt. People would stop fearing Iron Thorn, and then the whole organization would be finished.
Watching Hagen seethe with rage, one of his underlings offered an idea.
“Boss Hagen. What about... this?”
“...Go on.”
“There’s an establishment that guy Kael has been showing up at a lot lately. You’ve been there yourself a few times, so I’m sure you know it. The place is called the Fight Club...”
“Fight Club? You mean the arena?”
“Yes. That Kael guy seems to have taken a liking to it, because he’s been dropping by often. I heard this from the younger guys, but apparently he keeps watching the matches and pretending to coach the fighters. Says he’d be better off in the ring himself.”
“Get to the point already. What about it?”
When Hagen snapped back irritably, the underling went on with a serious expression.
“We let him take part in the Fight Club if that’s what he wants. If we butter him up a little and feed him the right compliments, it shouldn’t be too hard.”
“...Go on.”
“After that, it’s simple. Once he has to go into the ring, he’ll naturally be separated from that annoying Luke, and then we can quietly dispose of him under the guise of a match, can’t we?”
“That doesn’t sound as easy as you’re making it out to be. Wasn’t that Kael guy famous because he beat Luke?”
“True, but that was only because he had a weapon in hand, wasn’t it? You know this too, Boss Hagen: no matter how well a man handles a sword, bare fists are a different matter.”
“...Fair enough.”
Hagen nodded. The logic was sound enough.
Fighting with your bare hands was not the same as handling a blade well. In a fistfight, build and physical ability mattered far more than technique.
“And I’ve heard this too... There were a lot of people there, but nobody actually witnessed the moment he subdued Luke. Doesn’t that strike you as strange?”
“Nobody witnessed it? That is... now that you mention it, it does seem a little strange.”
No witnesses?
That smelled off.
“Yes. In my opinion, the two of them were probably in on something together. Honestly, just look at Kael’s behavior. He’s a complete thug. How strong could some bastard like that really be?”
“......”
Hagen said nothing, but he was already being won over.
If we stage it as an unexpected incident during the match... we can get away with it.
The Fight Club had no rules or referees. It was a battlefield where both sides risked their lives.
Deaths actually happened there with some frequency.
If Kael died there?
The justification would be on their side. A guard commander had recklessly entered an illegal fighting pit and lost his life. The Empire would likely hush it up and let it pass.
...Not bad.
Hagen’s heart gradually tilted. No matter how he looked at it, this was a deal with nothing to lose.
“...You confident?”
“Leave it to me, sir! I’ve got this!”
Hagen stared hard at the underling.
“...If you pull this off without a hitch, I’ll promote you to executive. I’ll even give you one of the good establishments.”
“R-really...?”
The underling’s eyelids twitched. The reward was far more extravagant than he’d expected.
Hagen rested a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m counting on you.”
“...I won’t let you down.”
The man bowed deeply, and the resolve in his voice was firm.
* * *
“Hmmm. I should probably get up now.”
Kael stretched as he rose after another profitable day at the gambling den.
No matter how much he liked money, too much was no good. Knowing when to stop was what mattered most.
Besides, this isn’t even that fun.
If he lost, it was their money. If he won, it was his money.
It was a fight he couldn’t possibly lose, so there was no tension at all.
“Y-you’re leaving already...?”
“Yeah, I’m about ready to head out. This game’s getting old.”
“...I see.”
“I can take the fake money I won today as a souvenir too, right?”
There was deep anguish in the gambler’s eyes as he looked at Kael.
He looked like he had a lot he wanted to say, but Kael wasn’t especially curious.
“Um... where do you plan to go after this?”
“No idea. I don’t really have a plan. Why do you ask?”
Kael tilted his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
“It’s not anything in particular, but I heard the Fight Club card for today is supposed to be pretty interesting... Heh, haha...”
The gambler’s rambling, with his eyes fixed anywhere but Kael’s face, was pitiful enough to watch in silence.
Kael stared at him for a moment, then spoke.
“Really? Then maybe I’ll go take a look.”
“R-really?”
“Why are you happier than I am when I’m the one going out for fun?”
“It’s not like that at all...!”
“Ha, I’m joking. Relax. I’m heading out, so work hard.”
“P-please be careful on your way!”
Kael gave the gambler’s shoulder a couple of light pats and left the den.
For a gambler, he sure is bad at keeping a straight face.
Maybe he should consider another line of work.
Looks like there’s something going on at the Fight Club today.
Despite how he looked, Kael was actually quite perceptive.
For the past few days already, he’d sensed that the Iron Thorn bastards were subtly trying to steer him toward the arena.
“...Are you really planning to go?”
“I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
Kael shrugged in answer to Luke’s question.
“...Didn’t you call me trash and all that before? Lately, it really looks like you’re no less trouble than they are, Commander.”
“Hey now! You and I are completely different. What are you comparing me to? I actually come out ahead.”
Kael jingled the money pouch proudly. Luke made a dumbfounded face at the sight, but didn’t bother adding anything else.
...He doesn’t even look like he’s training.
How had he reached that level? No matter how much of a genius he was, Luke couldn’t make sense of it.
The man Luke watched was slothfulness itself.
But there was something Luke hadn’t expected.
That this very appearance was a deliberately crafted mask Kael had put on.
So, what do you want to do? Go?
[What are you asking me for? You were going to go anyway, weren’t you?]
Come on, I should at least ask. I haven’t even done today’s training yet.
[Do what you want. Sometimes real combat is necessary too.]
Huh? You noticed too, old man?
[Only a fool would fail to notice that.]
Fair enough.
Balmung fell into thought as it watched Kael chuckling with a roguish air.
Unlike the way he looked on the surface, Kael never skipped training, not even once. Even on days when he got thoroughly drunk, he was still swinging a sword at dawn.
Honestly, it had been a little surprising. Balmung had thought he was a man with talent, but that was all.
...I hate to admit it.
But there was no denying it.
Kael was a genius.