1445. Dark Moon
I returned home after receiving Yuria's call.
The three uninvited guests were locked in the basement, arms and legs bound, gags stuffed in their mouths. I scanned the basement on reflex. It was the space I normally used for magic practice and research. Aside from a few magical tools, there was nothing special about it.
I'd told Yuria she could use the basement freely, so there was no reason to hold her accountable. Besides, all my magical research materials were already in my head.
"…How did you subdue them? They can't even move."
"I severed their spinal cords. With the nerves cut, they cannot move their arms or legs. They can still move their necks, of course, and speak as well."
"And why bind their limbs?"
"Just to be safe, Master. They might possess some secret technique I'm unaware of, so I bound them."
I approached them. The wounds on their backs were covered with what looked like filthy old rags — a rough first-aid job with no concern whatsoever for infection or disease.
Impressive work.
Looking at them, there were no other visible wounds. That meant she'd overwhelmed them with sheer skill.
As expected of someone from a knight training academy…
That she'd subdued them wasn't particularly surprising. She was a maid. From the moment I first met her, I'd guessed she possessed a certain degree of power.
I grabbed one of them and sat him in a chair. His pupils trembled, cold sweat beading on his forehead. I'd deliberately chosen the one who looked the most fragile.
Silence
Before removing the gag from his mouth, I cast a spell. It would block all sound from the basement. If his screams leaked outside, that would be a problem.
I pulled out the gag. He didn't scream. He bit down hard on his trembling lips.
"…Just kill me."
"Why would I do that? Right now, death would be the greatest mercy I could offer you."
"I can't feel anything in my body. No matter what torture you put me through, I won't feel the pain. Killing me would be easier for you. Or are you planning to wipe my ass for the rest of my life? Heh heh. That doesn't sound so bad either. A life where a pretty maid like that cleans up my shit and piss… Ghk!"
Slap!
I backhanded him across the face.
Hearing him speak of Yuria like that made my blood boil. Yuria was my woman — my responsibility. I wouldn't let some worthless piece of trash defile her name.
I grabbed his head and moved my mana, intending to scan his body with it.
Crack.
A blue spark flashed. I felt a flicker of curiosity. I hadn't cast any lightning magic. My mana had simply transformed into a faint electric current on its own.
…This might actually be more convenient for scanning a human body.
I went with the easier option.
A fine current flowed through his body, feeding the information back to me.
Not a mana awakener. Still, compared to my own body, his physique is remarkably well-trained. Can ordinary training without mana really reach this level…?
The answer came immediately.
Drugs.
I'd heard of muscle-enhancing drugs before. Expensive, sure, but not completely out of reach.
Just as Yuria said, the nerves are severed. Cleanly cut. Remarkable skill. But this… I think I might be able to do something about it.
The way a person moved ultimately came down to electrical signals sent from the brain. If I could control those signals…
Crack.
Current flowed. The man suddenly stretched out his left leg, forcing it straight down to the tips of his toes.
"W-what the hell did you just do?!"
"So this is the right foot."
I controlled the current differently. This time his right arm swung sideways. Crunch! His elbow shattered as the arm twisted completely behind the chair.
"M-my arm…!"
The arm didn't stop there — it rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees. Of course, the price was that the arm was completely destroyed.
I ran several more experiments after that. Forcing his other limbs to move, stopping the biological activity of his internal organs…
Somewhere along the way, I got into it. Mana taking the form of electric current. A body responding to it. Magical inspiration flashed and flickered through my mind.
What if the current could manipulate the brain itself? What if it were possible to alter someone's memories or mind?
A magic that could manipulate humans at my will. Creating something like that isn't impossible.
Filled with anticipation, I guided the fine currents toward his brain.
The result was failure.
The moment the fine current touched his brain, his eyes rolled back and he died. The human brain was far more complex and sensitive than I'd imagined.
I felt my interest evaporate in an instant. I'd realized that no matter how many times I tried this approach, it wouldn't work.
"Killed him by accident. Still, I've got a rough sense of it."
I dragged the corpse off the chair and sat another one down. He swallowed dryly, watching my every move. His eyes were full of fear — he'd just watched me conduct human experiments right in front of him.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. Crack. A fine current flowed through his body.
"GAAAAAAAH!"
He screamed. It was probably the sensation of every single cell being tortured.
"If you want this to stop, you'll tell me everything — starting with your name."
He didn't last even a minute.
"I'll talk…! I'll talk, just stop…!"
I took my hand off his shoulder. The moment the pain vanished, he let out a sigh of relief. Then he quietly glanced at his companion. The other man slowly nodded. Resignation shone in his eyes. He'd chosen talking and dying over continued torture.
"We're members of the Praxon Mercenary Corps."
I'd already figured they weren't mafia or gangsters. Their vibe was a bit different.
"You took a job?"
"…We thought it was easy pocket money."
"I don't care what you thought. Who hired you, and what was the job?"
"The client is Oren Harvers. Boss of the Harvers Gang. The job was to kidnap you. He wants the chicken recipe."
"Why hire you for this? Something this simple, he could've handled himself."
"The Harvers Gang is currently under heavy scrutiny from the Council and keeping a low profile. If they moved openly, the Council might get involved. They hired us to avoid the worst-case scenario."
"Never heard of them… Are they big enough that the Council actually cares?"
"They killed a Council official, apparently."
That made perfect sense.
Any organization becomes ruthless when you touch their own. Especially officials — going after them is basically declaring war on the state itself. The fact that the Harvers Gang still hadn't been wiped out after killing an official was almost more surprising.
I'd gotten what I needed. Still, just in case, I asked about other things. There wasn't much useful. The only thing of note was that the Harvers Gang belonged to Jupiter, Neo London's gang alliance. Of course, I'd never heard of Jupiter either.
"We're the Praxon Mercenary Corps. If you let us go, this ends here. If you kill us, the Praxon Mercenary Corps won't sit still."
"Hilarious. You think I don't know how this world works? No matter how I kill you, the Praxon Mercenary Corps won't lift a finger."
I hadn't attacked the Praxon Mercenary Corps. This had nothing to do with them. As they'd said earlier, they'd targeted me for pocket money, and I'd killed them in self-defense.
Just because a mercenary failed a job didn't mean their corps would step in for revenge. That would never end. They might send another mercenary to finish the job for the sake of their reputation… but before that, the Praxon Mercenary Corps would hold the Harvers Gang accountable.
"You know this business well, huh? You in the same line of work?"
Instead of answering, I turned my gaze away. Time to cross-check whether the information he'd given me was accurate.
Once I'd extracted the information, I cleanly killed the captives. I incinerated the bodies with magic. As annoying as they'd been, there was no need to keep them around for more torture. That would have been a waste of manpower and time.
I left the house immediately. I intended to finish this annoying business before daybreak. My destination was District V, notorious for its high concentration of gangs. The Harvers Gang was based there as well.
I entered District V. I walked along, absently adjusting my coat.
I deliberately left my face uncovered.
This was retaliation. The Harvers Gang had touched me first, and I was simply returning the favor. In the underworld, that was the natural order of things.
I need to show my strength here if I want things to stay quiet going forward.
The Harvers Gang wouldn't be the only ones looking to interfere with my business and take it for themselves. I needed to show them I wasn't someone to mess with.
Wiping out one small gang won't make me so famous that everyday life becomes impossible. And even if it does, I just won't show up at the chicken shop in person.
Raise the hourly wage and finding workers would be easy enough. I walked, scanning the walls and alleyways. Gangs marked their territory the way dogs marked theirs with piss — by scrawling graffiti on the walls. If you knew how to read the tags, you could find a gang's hideout.
The real gangs aren't in places like this. Those outfits are practically corporations.
Most of the ones here were small fry. That was why I was walking these streets so openly.
Found it.
An alleyway marked with the Harvers Gang's tag.
I walked down the alley, thinking. The Harvers Gang belonged to the Jupiter gang alliance. That was why they still hadn't been wiped out even after killing a Neo London official.
Obvious. They've got connections with high-ranking officials. If I wipe out the Harvers Gang… odds are they'll try to kill me next.
What I needed to do was clear.
Show them the power I possessed. Then negotiate with Jupiter. Make them understand that turning me into an enemy would cost them more than insisting on revenge.
An alliance. A gang of that size can't afford to act on emotion. The Harvers guys touched me first, so the justification is on my side.
My feet stopped mid-stride.
Three thugs leaning against the wall were watching me, chewing gum. Their weapons were brutal — assault rifles, pistols, grenade belts. Threatening tattoos of skulls and monsters covered their rough skin.
"The hell are you?"
"You know whose territory this is?"
"If you're a guest, give the password. You've got five seconds."
I ignored them and kept walking. In my head, I was already deciding how to kill them.
They reacted with hair-trigger aggression. Guns swung toward me and triggers were pulled. Bullets poured out. None of them touched my body.
Ting-ting-ting-ting-ting-ting!
A barrier cast by a 5-Class mage. Ordinary bullets could never pierce it.
"Son of a bitch!"
A grenade with its pin pulled came flying toward me.