Even in This Life (4)
The Demon Knight would never have fled without reason. Holding that sentence—one anyone who knew the Demon Knight even a little would agree with—Deathbringer sank into thought.
Saying a man would never run without cause also meant that, given cause enough, he could run.
But this was the Demon Knight. How much justification would it take to make a man like him turn and flee? What kind of reason would he need to hear before he chose to vanish?
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
At the very least he would not have simply sat in a cell and then suddenly thought of it. That man was not the type to scheme for mere survival, and inventing a reason now to abandon a hardline stance was strange as well—if anything of the sort had existed, the Demon Knight was the sort who would have settled it long ago.
“Excuse me?”
“The one who laid hands on him.”
So there had almost certainly been outside intervention. A third party who had given the Demon Knight a new way of seeing things.
“Let’s not waste time dancing around it. You and I both know we’re in the same trade.”
With that suspicion in mind he made his inquiries, and the answer came easily enough.
An adventurer who had raised a ruckus in front of the prison holding the Demon Knight just before the escape. And Meister, who had happened to be speaking with the Demon Knight and had taken delivery—right then, of all moments—of an item he claimed he had ordered.
To a man who had dealt in information for years, it was more than enough to raise suspicion.
“Hah. Showing up out of nowhere and saying crap like that…”
But knowing that much did not mean the rest would simply fall into place.
“Listen, kid. When things are like this, the decent thing for people in the same business is to respect each other and look the other way.”
Of all people, an adventurer from the same information guild seized him by the collar and yanked their faces close. To any onlooker it would look like a fight; in truth it was only a way to keep their voices as low as possible.
Every syllable the man spat out sent a breath across Deathbringer’s cheek.
“I’ve got nothing to say to the likes of you, so get lost.”
Learning that the person he needed information from belonged to the information guild was a double-edged sword. Succeed in the negotiation and he could extract far more than from an ordinary man; fail, and he might find the entire field wiped clean of every last clue.
At least this one had not had time to tidy up and had left him a trail… but that was as far as it went. The temple would certainly have grown suspicious after the disturbance and investigated; the fact that the man was still walking around free made the rest obvious.
He would have coordinated his story with Meister down to the last detail. Perfectly enough that even a reluctant temple had no choice but to let him go.
“You might be like that, but I’ve got business.”
So Deathbringer grabbed his fellow professional by the collar in turn. The other man, who had just released him to leave, was left looking foolish.
His plain face crumpled as he glared.
“Hey, green-ear. I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’ve got business with that adventurer. Let go of him, will you?”
In the middle of it an unexpected figure cut in. Meister.
“And you are…?”
“Huh, the clien—?”
Deathbringer started to demand why the man was here, then decided to be glad instead. He had been planning to seek Meister out anyway over the part he had coordinated with this adventurer. Having him arrive first saved time.
“Here you are.”
But premature joy was apparently forbidden.
Another unwelcome variable appeared—one he had never wanted, did not need, and felt no fondness for. The other party almost certainly felt the same about him.
“…What, the temple? Why again?”
Meister seemed to share the sentiment. He glared with open disgust at the newly arrived figure: Inquisitor Daniel.
There was no chance those two and Meister actually knew each other; he was simply reacting to the temple affiliation alone. For the first time, Deathbringer found himself liking that rotten attitude.
“What is it this time, Inquisitor? Has he already been declared a heretic?”
“…Excuse me? No. I came because I have business with this gentleman.”
Good. Keep going. Get angrier!
Deathbringer watched their exchange crookedly without releasing the collar. Unfortunately the misunderstanding did not last long. He had hoped it would swell until they forgot this side entirely.
“What, why are you here too?”
But attention had already shifted to him.
Deathbringer spoke curtly, tightening his grip so the information merchant disguised as an adventurer could not slip away. Daniel’s brow furrowed of its own accord.
“I came because I have something to ask you… but more than that, why are you holding that man by the collar? I do not know the situation and will not interject carelessly, yet would it not be better to release him and settle the matter through conversation?”
Says he won’t interject, and then interjects anyway?
Deathbringer mocked him inwardly and twisted his lips, even knowing that Daniel’s “will not interject” only meant he would not carelessly criticize.
“That’s just how it looks to you. Stay out of personal business and get lost.”
It could not be helped. He hated the man that much. Once Daniel learned the Demon Knight had fled, he would insult him again—and Deathbringer already knew he would no longer be able to refute the insult. He hated it to the bone.
It was the absolute worst.
“As I just said, I came because I have questions for you. And for me to accept ‘do not meddle in personal affairs,’ the situation is…”
“Hey, you two can talk all you want, but let go of the adventurer first, yeah? Just like you have business with each other, I’ve got business with him too.”
“Yes, yes. Please leave me out of it and talk. I haven’t really done anything wrong, so there’s no reason for me to be held like this. Right? Priest.”
At least Daniel still seemed not to have heard the news about the Demon Knight… yet Meister was already desperate to pull the adventurer away.
Whether he meant to coordinate their story again or had some other reason, Deathbringer could not simply stand by. If the two of them decided to keep silent, he would be the one left in trouble.
“You haven’t done anything wrong…?”
“I was just walking down the street when this guy picked a fight with me first.”
“Is that true?”
“No—ha. There are circumstances for this…”
He could invent a story that the other side had started it, but then this stubborn wall of a man might drag them off to a place full of priests to settle right and wrong. That had to be avoided at all costs.
Deathbringer ground his teeth at the damnable pressure coming from both sides.
“Please make it clear. Regardless of your station, threatening an innocent person is…”
“Damn it! I said there are circumstances!”
“Then if you would simply explain…”
“Ah, I was trying to handle this nicely, but you’re just wasting people’s time. Is this how a priest who claims to care for people is supposed to act? Grabbing people, dragging things out, and causing harm—is that allowed?”
What saved him then was, unexpectedly, Meister.
“Ah, I’m sorr—”
“Just words? Shouldn’t the sincerity of an apology be shown through action?”
“…Th-then what am I supposed to do?”
“Doesn’t look like you came with any prior appointment, so just get lost—please leave. We’ll settle the matter between the adventurer and this idiot ourselves. After that you can meet separately and handle your business.”
“My own business would be fine that way, but the altercation that was—”
“The parties involved will work that out themselves. So please just go. Because of you, a compromise that could already be reached is being dragged out.”
Strictly speaking he had stepped in more because he valued his own time than out of any desire to rescue anyone, but good was still good.
Daniel, who had been unilaterally steamrolled without managing a proper sentence, awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
“Understood. Then I shall visit your lodging this evening.”
I am not going back to the lodging today, Deathbringer resolved for later. Daniel departed in the meantime.
“Alright. Shall we talk?”
What remained now were people who each held pieces of information.
“We’ve wasted enough time, so let’s be frank. First—you. Why did you come looking?”
They moved to reduce the chance of words leaking. Even though Meister claimed to have a tool that swallowed noise and eased any worry about listening ears, three men standing blankly in the street still drew eyes.
So they deliberately sought work to thin the gazes around them. Fortunately a house was being repaired by several people at once. With Meister among them, no one found it strange that the three of them joined in.
“You two were involved in the Demon Knight’s escape, weren’t you?”
“What, you want to start talking heresy too?”
“No. I want to know why Sir Knight left.”
But opening with something that large…
Meister fell silent for a moment at Deathbringer’s words. Through his mind flashed the residual image of the one who had stood guard before the Demon Knight until he woke.
Surely that had not been a lie.
“I didn’t help directly.”
“Then the opportunity?”
He made a quick judgment. The green-ear had spent a long time with the Demon Knight; there was also the crafty hope that he might yield another clue.
“I need to find out now.”
“……?”
“You there, adventurer. Do you know what the item you delivered then was?”
“I don’t know. There was no clause in the request saying I was allowed to look.”
As expected, the first button had not been fastened properly. The man had been a mere courier.
Then on what basis was he supposed to speculate? Meister sank into thought.
“…Wait. You don’t know the contents either? Didn’t you take it from that man and give it to Sir Knight?”
He had been about to fall into the trap.
“I did hand it over in his place. But all I know is that it was a bundle of papers; I never looked at the contents. At the time I didn’t think it would be anything that important.”
When he had asked whether it was important in the first place, the Demon Knight had not even properly affirmed it. Not a suspicious pretense of ignorance, but genuine awkwardness rising from the heart.
In that situation, how could he have guessed its value? Had he known the knight would take it and escape, he would have asked what it was.
“A bundle of papers?”
“Yeah. Pretty thick.”
But at the time he had not known, and so he had simply assumed the man was buying some thesis to read. Seeing it was not bound into a book, it was probably not a formal paper anyway.
“What kind of information did you sell?”
At that the green-ear turned his head and fixed the adventurer with a direct stare. To Meister, who had never doubted the man was an adventurer, the question sounded rather abrupt.
“As I just said, there was no such clause in the request, so I don’t know anything—”
“That that excuse won’t work is something both of us already know.”
“…Wait. How are you so sure?”
“Of what.”
“That that adventurer would know the contents. That the delivered item was information.”
“…Because that guy isn’t an adventurer. He’s an information merchant.”
“What?”
Meister stopped tightening the rope that held a pole in place and stared at the adventurer. He had truly believed the man was nothing more.
“If a man like him calls it thick, then he sold something proper. So what the hell did he sell?”
While Meister sorted through his surprise, Deathbringer pressed the adventurer—the information merchant. The man’s face crumpled again.
“Look… now that you know everything I won’t deny I’m an information merchant, but confidentiality clauses aren’t only for adventurers…”
“Is it a secret even I, with my authority, can’t hear?”
“Your authority… shit. You were Deathbringer?”
“Now that you know, talk.”
“…Still no. I can’t.”
Given the rank he held in the information guild, he had the right to most information. Factoring in the special nature of traveling with the Hero made it even more so.
Yet the man still exercised a right of refusal. Deathbringer flicked his fingers.
Was it truly information of a grade that could not be obtained even with this rank? Truly?
“Then how did the Demon Knight buy it?”
How had the Demon Knight purchased information even he could not obtain? Even with considerable contributions to the guild it would not have been easy—so how?
“…I’ll report it to the guild.”
“What?”
“For Sir Knight to buy information I can’t obtain, something must be entangled in it. And the way I see it, that something is close to corruption.”
If even Deathbringer’s position could not reach it, the information was almost certainly something only the highest executives of the guild shared in secret. Cases of handing that over to an unqualified outsider—regardless of what kind of man the Demon Knight was, he was not a guild member—came down to two possibilities.
Either the outsider had connections strong enough—whether favors or ties—or a guild member blinded by money had sold it.
And the latter would never be tolerated at the guild level. Minor information might be one thing; information shared only among the highest executives was another matter entirely.
“This branch is as good as wiped out, so reporting will take some time… but the way I see it, I’ll be the one laughing at the end.”
In that case the guild would also show displeasure toward the Demon Knight who had bought the information, but that could be smoothed over somehow. With that mindset Deathbringer met the information merchant’s eyes squarely.
“It’ll take long? Then let’s hand him over to the temple.”
It was right then that Meister, having finished wrapping up his thoughts, added a word.
“Excuse me?”
“If that guy is a mere courier, even torture won’t get anything out of him… but if he’s an information merchant, it’s different. Interrogate him and there’ll be something for him to spit out first.”
“That’s…”
“So let’s send him to the temple. Would a nobody like him hold out without spilling everything in front of judgment?”
Even so, selling a member of the information guild to the religious fanatics was a bit much. Just as Deathbringer was about to say so, Meister looked him straight in the eye.
Those violet eyes shone with a truly vivid, almost transparent light.
“…Won’t that put you in trouble?”
“I’ll just confess a little, so what. With the skills I have, the temple won’t be able to punish me much. At most ten years or so of service for the temple. More importantly, you said reporting to the guild takes time? I can’t stand that kind of wait.”
Well, that was a punishment Meister would hate to receive for the rest of his life. Deathbringer pretended to agree even while knowing it. That left only the information merchant without an exit.
“Then that’s perfect. That inquisitor from earlier is famous for being quite skilled. And he has a personal grudge against Sir Knight… against the Demon Knight, so he’ll thoroughly work him over.”
“…Wait, wait. No way? You’re not really going to hand me over?”
“If you talk, we won’t.”
“Are you crazy? This is betrayal of the guild…!”
“If no one knows, it never happened. You know that as well as I do.”
Deathbringer lowered his voice.
“The information guild in Bemyurhen is as good as annihilated. In other words, even if I hand you over, there won’t be anyone left to notice.”
Blurring the perception of ordinary people was no trouble at all. And as long as the connection to the Hero existed, keeping the temple in check was not difficult either.
He pressed the information merchant with those points one by one. It was only possible because the city was in this state.
“On the other hand, if you get caught by the temple and spill information of a grade even I can’t access… and if there’s already a history of selling it to others beforehand—what do you think the guild will do?”
He did not know which branch the man was from, but it would not end well for him.
“Damn it!”
The man who had perfectly read the desperate situation finally spat out a curse. It was also a declaration of surrender.
“Fine. I’ll tell you. But you have to promise too.”
“Promise what?”
“That you won’t report to the information guild that I talked. And that only the two of you will know!”
At the information merchant’s words, Deathbringer and Meister looked at each other.
“Alright. We compromise.”
“Speak. Now.”
It was time to hear the truth.