Dark Moon
I sat facing Rose across the desk in the X Employment Agency office.
"I looked into what you asked for. It's all true. The Prong Gang, was it? Cyborg thugs are operating on Neo London's northern roads."
"Hard to believe a mere gang is inspecting Neo London's northern roads and openly pulling heists. Do the London Guards just shove their taxes straight up their asses?"
"That's already common knowledge. These guys operate pretty smart. They stay hidden most of the time and only show themselves when easy marks pass by to rob them. The London Guards went out to wipe them out, but… they never even found the hideout. And the gang's level is surprisingly high. There's talk that knights will step in to subjugate them."
"So even if I don't get involved, the gang will get cleaned up on its own."
"If they don't run first… yeah, probably. But your position isn't that simple, is it?"
"……."
Subjugating Lana Gomez's Prong Gang was closer to a secondary objective. The top priority was reclaiming the item her daughter had stolen from her by those Prong Gang bastards.
Would the London Guards return the goods they seized after wiping out the gang to the citizens? Some of them, sure. The London Guards needed to polish their image too. But most of the items would be announced as destroyed in the fighting and quietly swallowed whole.
Normally in cases like this, greasing palms on the London Guard side is faster, but…
It would cost a fortune.
Without connections like Lana Gomez's on the London Guard side, it would cost even more. I could see why she had set those conditions.
"What about the other information I asked for?"
"Mila Gomez, right."
Lana Gomez's daughter.
"She quit clinic work ten years ago, worked as a fashion designer, then opened a clothing shop three years ago. She's got good sense. Knows how to package herself well, I guess…?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"From what I found, she's overvalued in the market compared to her actual assets or ability."
"Isn't that a good thing? She's not even working in this industry."
"Well, yeah. Packaging matters in clothing. But the problem is that three months ago, Mila Gomez took a commission to make a party dress for the Freewood Countess. Mila left the dress she designed to a famous atelier in Divine France, and the Freewood Countess's party is less than two weeks away."
"……So the item the Prong Gang stole is that dress. Mila's shitting bricks right about now."
"The dress itself is expensive, but it's also a matter of credit. If she can't recover the dress and deliver it? That woman will have to face the Freewood Countess's wrath. Her career's finished for sure, and even if she leaves this city, she won't have a smooth life ahead."
Having heard everything related to the job, I sank into thought.
There was some divergence from the original work.
In the game, if you go find Lana Gomez, a few interactions let you learn some info. One of them was that she'd cut ties with her own daughter. So this is before the estrangement? But why did they cut ties? Because of this incident? Lana Gomez makes a lot of money. Hard to see them cutting ties over money.
Lana Gomez and Mila Gomez. The trigger that would sever the bond between mother and daughter. That bothered me a great deal. The problem was that it was something that hadn't happened yet, so there was no clean way to confirm it.
"What are you going to do? Accept Lana Gomez's offer?"
"What's your opinion?"
"My opinion doesn't matter. You're the one involved. You choose. If you refuse, I'll introduce you to a decent restorer. Not as solid as Lana Gomez, though."
"For a mage, a mana rod is as good as a lifeline. I'd rather entrust it to a restorer with proven skill if I can."
"Alright. Then shall we draw up a plan?"
I looked at Rose with surprised eyes.
"You're offering to help? All I requested was information."
"Gotta put you in my debt at times like this. Oh, of course I'll take money. I'll give you a discount compared to others. If you don't need it, go it alone."
"…I'll gratefully accept your help."
After drawing up the plan, I contacted Lana Gomez right away and told her I would accept the deal.
I borrowed a suitable car from Rose and headed for the northern roads outside Neo London. Inside London, carriages were the default, but outside it didn't much matter whether you took a car or a horse.
Clunk!
Racing down the unpaved road, the chassis shook hard.
"Can't you drive straight for once?"
The woman in the passenger seat needled me the moment she got the chance. Wearing a cyber suit and a fox mask over her face, she was the female ninja known as Invisible Blade.
"We're running through wasteland. Can't be helped."
Her role was critical for this job. She would infiltrate the gang hideout and secure the dress, then I would sweep the gang from the front with lightning magic.
Never expected the infiltration specialist Rose was attaching to me would be this woman.
Rose's intent was obvious.
She wanted Invisible Blade and me to work together and naturally grow closer. Invisible Blade was probably only working this job because of Rose. The five million credits I'd paid Rose would never have been enough to hire Invisible Blade on her own.
Well… Rose doesn't know what happened between me and Invisible Blade, so she can do this sort of thing.
If she knew what had gone on between us, she would have done everything possible to keep us apart.
"Slow down. First point's coming up."
"I know."
The car stopped.
Invisible Blade and I got out at once and scouted the surroundings.
"Bingo."
Invisible Blade grinned as she spoke. In the direction she was looking stood the gang hideout. They had pitched tents, set up a generator, and fenced the area into a base.
"Finding it right at the first point. Lucky."
"Less luck than Rose's skill being outstanding."
"Can you not jinx it? Why do you overrate that woman so much?"
"I'm evaluating her coldly. Rose is one of the top brokers in Neo London. Capable and trustworthy."
"An X-district broker? Are you two screwing each other? That would explain it."
I shook my head. With the job ahead of us, Invisible Blade's reactions were especially prickly.
She's been violated by me twice… so of course. She must want to kill me.
I considered myself lucky she wasn't pointing a blade at me.
Telescope
I enhanced my vision with magic and observed the hideout.
"Lots of cameras. Generator in the center… is that antenna a signal jammer?"
"It's a scrambler. Blocks signals and keeps them off radar too. Military-grade, insanely expensive gear…. This isn't an ordinary gang."
"I heard they're a nomadic sort of gang. Hit one place, hit another here…. How about it? Can you infiltrate?"
"I'm a ninja. Infiltration is my specialty."
She said it with full confidence.
I nodded. But I couldn't completely let go of that last thread of unease. I knew how hard infiltration missions were.
People usually say combat is harder, but…
Infiltrating a place already on high alert against intruders was harder than fighting. If you got spotted by mistake? You might as well consider yourself dead.
Just dying would be the better outcome.
If you were captured, torture came as a basic package.
"Plenty of surveillance cameras. Got a way to deal with them?"
"The suit I'm wearing has a function similar to a scrambler."
"Similar function?"
"I don't show up on surveillance cameras. Film cameras would catch me, but… nobody uses those these days."
"…That suit. Just how many functions does it have?"
"Secret. Shall we start right away?"
"Now? Night would be better, wouldn't it?"
"What are you talking about. Look at how few people are here. The main force is out pulling heists. Moving now is better."
"…True. Looking closer, there aren't many. The problem is we don't know where the dress is. You'll have to find it after infiltrating. That alright?"
"Places that store valuables are all more or less the same. If they know it's not an ordinary item… they'll have stashed it somewhere with tight security. If they don't know its value, they'll have dumped it in some random warehouse."
Invisible Blade walked forward. I handed her an earpiece. She frowned as she took it.
"What's this?"
"It's enchanted with telepathy magic. Wear it in your ear. I'll support you from here while watching the situation."
"Hmph. Not bad. I don't want anything else, so just feed me the info properly."
She fitted the earpiece and circled around before sprinting toward the hideout. I wondered why she was taking the long way until I realized she was avoiding the line of sight of a patrolling gang member.
"—I'm in. Can you see me?"
"I can. Any reason you infiltrated by the right wall?"
"—Because security looked weakest here? Any guards nearby? Ones outside my line of sight."
"None."
She moved. The motion was extremely fast and stealthy. So stealthy that even I lost her position for a moment. Truly a ninja.
Moving that agilely with those huge breasts attached… impressive.
"—Reached the warehouse. Lots of refrigerators and junk? Clothes too. Nothing that looks expensive. The refrigerators are… ha, fuck."
"What's wrong?"
"—Packed full of plastic-wrapped organs. These bastards are wringing people dry for everything they're worth? No wonder they reeked of money… absolute garbage among garbage."
"……."
Anyone who dipped into organ trafficking had already gone all the way.
There was a reason they don't enter the city. Or rather, can't. These guys are too extreme. Existing gangs wouldn't welcome order-breakers, and once the London Guards learned their methods, they'd throw everything into wiping them out.
She left the warehouse and moved elsewhere.
"To your right by your standards. One's approaching. Better hide nearby for a moment."
"—Ugh. This closet reeks like absolute shit. Your shit would smell better."
"Can't you speak a little more nicely? Your looks are wasted."
"—I am pretty, yeah. He's gone. Moving. See that white container over there?"
"The generator's blocking it, so I can't see it clearly."
"—There's a guy sitting in a chair at the entrance guarding the container. Half his body is plated in machinery…. No way around that one. I'll have to break through head-on. They even put a door lock on the container entrance?"
"Door lock? Can you hack it?"
"—Can't. Doesn't matter though. I'll just ask him."