42. Underland
"So. How about taking a little business trip to Underland?"
Every eye in the room turned toward Ash.
Under that collective gaze, Ash answered.
"I must decline."
"Wh-what?"
It clearly hadn't crossed Santa's mind that he might refuse, and the old man's face went slack with disbelief.
"Wait, hold on—Ash? You do know what's going on here, right?"
"Of course I do."
"Then why? This is the best option!"
"That's true. I think so as well. The old master's scheme is one I find quite agreeable."
"That's what I'm saying! Then why are you turning it down?"
"Because duty comes first."
His voice was low, but the will behind it was hard as forged steel.
"My role has already been set. To serve as Assault, guarding Sohyeop Akina the Technomancer—that is my charge. I cannot abandon her and journey to Underland alone. Least of all while she remains under threat, as she is now."
"Then the two of you could just go together—"
Santa tried to argue, then bit the words off. Even to his own ears, sending Akina down into Underland was unthinkable.
A Technomancer.
A young woman, no less.
And Akina, barely more than a child, sent into that hotbed of crime? Only a lunatic would suggest it out loud.
In the meantime, Ash carried on.
"As I said before, the plan itself pleases me. So how about this—seek out another fixer and post the commission. The old master's connections run wide and deep, do they not?"
"...Damn it. I forgot who you were for a second. Forgot what kind of man I was dealing with."
Santa dragged a rough hand down his face.
Ash was right. Painfully, stubbornly right—right to the point where no rebuttal could even be found.
A heavy silence settled over the room.
It was Akina, of all people, who broke it.
"Just a moment!"
She scampered over and planted herself squarely between Santa and Ash.
"Grandpa, about that job—how much does it pay?"
"...What?"
"The pay! Credits! A private trip to Underland? Whoa, that's crazy dangerous! Which means the payout has to be huge, right? Our mister here doesn't come cheap!"
Hands planted on her hips, the girl fixed Santa with the imperious stare of a seasoned businesswoman. That sheer audacity nudged the heavy atmosphere, just slightly, off its axis.
"Sohyeop Akina. Enough—"
"Mister."
Akina cut him off.
Then she looked up at him.
In her blue eyes there was none of her usual mischief or brightness—only something grave, and utterly sincere.
"You said your duty is to protect me, right?"
"That is so."
"Then right now, the way you protect me is by going to Underland."
She was resolute.
"Anyone can see those things chasing it are strong—what were they called again? Ninjas? Whatever. They're the ones hunting the chip. Could you really hand it off to some stranger who doesn't even know that? What if he gets greedy and delivers it straight to the client?"
"...The old master will find someone suitable."
"I wouldn't trust it. No—I won't trust it. Not anyone but you, mister."
"But—"
"Ugh, honestly!"
Akina seized Ash's steel hand in both of hers and squeezed tight.
"Mister, the truth is you want to go."
At that one short sentence, every thought circuit in Ash ground to a halt.
The endless ruminations filling his main core, the churning vortex of emotion, the longing he had swallowed without ever letting it show—all of it scattered like smoke at the girl's single words.
She had struck the heart of the matter.
He wanted to go.
The sword of Kunlun, which had once been everything to him.
He wanted to follow its trace with his own two feet and see it for himself.
It was something closer to instinct than to choice. A primal yearning granted to one man alone—Ash Blade, who still carried the azure vastness of Kunlun within his chest.
"······."
A long silence passed before Ash finally spoke.
"...How did you know?"
"I told you already. I can read you just by looking at your face."
Ash reached up and touched his head unit.
Still steel, all of it.
"Truly, you can see something in this face of mine?"
At his dead-serious question, Akina burst out laughing.
Then, with that impish grin still in place, she said:
"Go. And don't you worry about me."
With even his inner heart laid bare, searching for another excuse to refuse would have been absurd. Ash lingered a moment on the warmth of the small hands clasped around his, then lifted his head and turned to Santa.
"I've changed my mind. Opportunities to fleece the old master come along but rarely—too rare a prize to pass up, I find."
"...I was standing right here, you know? That's a hell of a reason to change your mind."
"You were eavesdropping? I am disappointed."
Santa's mouth opened and shut a few times before he gave up and settled for lighting another cigarette.
Meanwhile Ash glanced around the room, and finding the one he sought, let out a low electronic hum.
"Yeohyeop."
"Hm? Me? What for?"
The one Ash had been searching for was Ifrit.
"Might you be interested in a job?"
At that, Ifrit flashed a wicked grin.
"You asking me to come along?"
"Wrong."
"...Huh? Then what?"
"I wish to hire yeohyeop as Sohyeop Akina's temporary bodyguard."
"Hmm?"
The heart-shaped glow in her eyes glittered brighter.
"Ooh, this is getting more and more interesting~"
"The commission, as I said, is 'protection.' Term: until I return. Payment: I was thinking one million credits. What say you?"
"A million? Where'd you get that kind of money?"
Ash turned his head toward Siren.
"To be precise, I shall soon have it."
"Oh, right—you skinned her for it back then?"
"...A rather violent turn of phrase, but correct."
Ifrit shot Siren an unpleasant little smile, then shook her head.
"Forget the credits. Me and ROA would be protecting Akina anyway, commission or no commission."
She rapped a knuckle against her own head.
"Haven't finished pulling the data out yet, remember? I'll be staying right here until the download's done, so relax."
Kindness, freely offered.
But Ash shook his head.
And then he spoke, firm and unhurried.
"Your kindness is appreciated, but it is not what I need at present. Kindness is fickle. A contract is not. I would have yeohyeop's whole heart in this, not her charity."
Ifrit blinked at him, both eyes wide.
She stared at him for a long moment—then shrugged, and drained her beer can in one go.
"Fine. You've got yourself a contract. Happily accepted."
"My thanks."
"My line, thank you."
Next, Ash turned to Siren. Under his gaze she fumbled out her Pathfinder license in a panic.
"H-here it is! Three million credits—"
"I have a commission for yeohyeop as well."
"Uh... m-me?"
Siren froze mid-gesture, caught in an awkward half-crouch, as Ash's electronic voice rolled over her.
"Hailing from Underland as you do, surely you know its ways better than most?"
He wanted her to guide them through Underland.
A simple commission.
"So I would ask you to be our guide. What say you? The payment is the same—one million."
Siren considered it for a moment.
Then she shook her head.
"...Is the payment insufficient? Then I could offer one and a half million—"
"No. I don't need credits."
Her black eyes rose to meet Ash's.
Within them burned an undisguisable admiration, and beside it, a will that had hardened into stone.
"There's something else I want."
"Something else?"
Ash regarded her for a moment, then let out a low sigh.
"The sword, then."
"Yes!"
Siren's face lit up like dawn.
"Wow, look at her—grabbing every advantage even in the middle of all this. Scary girl. Shameless, just shameless."
Siren's cheeks went scarlet at Ifrit's jab, but she cried out as if this chance would never come again:
"Your sword, Ash-nim! I want to learn it—please! You were so incredible just a little while ago! Even a little instruction and I would devote myself to it wholeheartedly—"
"Granted."
"As your Underland guide, I—wait, what?"
"I said yes."
Ash inclined his head.
"However—the swordstyle yeohyp wishes to learn is beyond possibility. Her foundations are... not yet sufficient for it. So I thought instead to teach her a swordsmanship with which to build those foundations. Would that still suit?"
Siren nodded so hard it was a wonder her neck held.
"Of course! Absolutely yes!"
"Then the bargain is struck."
Ash extended one hand.
Siren clasped it in both of hers.
At which Ash tilted his head.
"...That was not to be a handshake, but a request for credits. I must needs pay yeohyeop's hiring fee, after all."
Her face flushed an even deeper red.
Ifrit's howling laughter was simply a bonus.
Dawn had crept up on them unnoticed.
As if all the night's uproar meant nothing at all, the great city of Sanctum was stubbornly greeting another new day.
Beneath that indifferent first light, the Revenant parked in the rest stop's back yard roared to life, belching thunder from its exhaust.
—Knock knock.
Someone rapped on the driver's-side door. Ash, seated at the wheel, turned his head—and there stood Jack and Dullahan.
Jack O'Lantern held out a single data card.
"Boss! This should cover basic operation! I've packed in all the reference material, so you'll be fine!"
[p prob?]
Ash nodded.
"My thanks."
He took the data card and slotted it into a port on his head unit. With a crisp click of connection, green strings of text scrolled up across his optical sensors.
Knowledge of every last detail of the Revenant came flooding down into his main core.
A moment's pause—
—and everything that had seemed, mere seconds ago, to be nothing but meaningless buttons and levers now resolved into devices with clear and distinct functions.
Ash's optical sensors flickered faintly.
[can u drive now?]
In answer to Dullahan's query, Ash quietly raised one hand and extended his thumb. Satisfied, Dullahan returned the thumbs-up and stepped back.
Ifrit, Santa, and Akina moved in to fill the empty space.
Santa spoke first.
"You've got the chip secured?"
Ash drew the data chip from his coat pocket and held it up for the old man to see. The very chip in question, its hologram shimmering with the words [DREAMWEAVER].
"Okay. Safe travels. I'll have a reward prepared that'll knock your socks off."
"I shall look forward to it."
Next, Ifrit.
"Come back in one piece. Don't worry about things here. Whatever I take on, I see through to the end—always have."
"I trust you."
"Oh, and—"
Ifrit's eyes flicked to Siren in the passenger seat.
"...Well. You take care too, I guess."
Siren made a very strange face. A face that said, quite plainly: why is senpai being like this?
And then Ifrit, too, stepped back.
Last of all came Akina.
Between the massive armored doors, Ash and Akina faced each other.
Ash spoke first.
"I shall return before long."
Akina shook her head.
"Don't come back soon. Come back safe."
Then she grinned.
"I'll be right here the whole time."
A low chuckle rolled out of Ash's voice module.
"How strange—our positions seem to have traded places."
"Hehe. They sure have."
Together, the two of them raised their thumbs.
And with that, the short exchange was over.
Ash turned to Siren.
"We depart."
"Yes, sir!"
—GRUMMMMBLE!
The heavy engine growl split the dawn air.
And so the two swordsmen threw themselves aboard the Revenant and set off—
toward Underland, where all of Sanctum's malice gathered and pooled in the dark.