Chapter 163: Welcome to the Back Alleys
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 163: Welcome to the Back Alleys
Abbey wore her uniform for the first time in a long while.
She returned her favorite casual clothes to their packet and loaded the freshly laundered uniform she had carefully stored into her bio-receptor. A constricting pressure, impossible to replicate with civilian wear, enveloped her body, feeling slightly foreign.
Still, it was the same uniform she had worn every day for years. Abbey quickly grew accustomed to it.
She had been told to nurse Anna, but a captain of the Military State was not a nurse.
Abbey was a Signaller. Besides transmitting information throughout the State with her Unique Magic, gathering intelligence was also a Signaller’s duty.
She could do nothing by Anna’s side, but as Captain Abbey, the Signaller, there was something she could do.
“I will track down the entity disturbing the peace.”
The captain pushed the stiff service cap down firmly on her head and left the room.
“Anna said she was going to the market in District 13. She must have been heading for the civilian market there.”
The civilian market in District 13 sold packets, foodstuffs, and various small tools needed by low-level citizens.
Since even Level 2 luxury goods were permitted for sale there, commoners who came into a bit of money would visit from time to time.
Naturally, pickpockets and robbers targeting citizens’ money also existed, but this was the Military State. The risks of getting caught were so enormous that one wouldn't even attempt it without serious resolve, and without meticulous planning, one’s trail would be quickly found, leading straight to the labor camps.
“Since I was the one who discovered this illegal act, I have a duty to gather information on the case.”
She could not leave it to the police or the Military Police. They wouldn't investigate a crime committed against a level 0 citizen. They would merely log it, intending to pin it on some other criminal they caught later.
That was why Abbey decided to act in her capacity as a captain. She resolved to gather undeniable evidence and hand it over to the Military Police.
She couldn't reveal her identity as a Signaller, but a captain was a captain. She had the authority.
“A life destined to end, anyway…”
Her body stiffened for a moment as she uttered the words, but Abbey steeled her resolve and stepped forward.
Was it because she had experienced so many enjoyable things before her time was up?
Or was it because she had experienced so many new things?
Abbey no longer feared death. If she could die holding these memories, she felt that would be enough.
“Before I go, I will gather information for Anna.”
With firm determination, Abbey walked the streets of the Military State.
Late at night, the roads were sparsely populated by laborers returning from the night shift. Arriving in District 13, Abbey stood with her back against the wall of a large building.
She placed both palms on the wall and extended her mana in all directions. A faint magical glow spread from her hands.
Partial release of Unique Magic: Morning Glory Vines.
With her fingers as roots, an intangible energy coiled around the wall and floor. The Morning Glory Vines, searching for something to climb, instinctively sensed the flow of mana and rode its current.
Using the mana conductive metal as a trellis, the vines climbed until they reached their end. The mana seeped into an opening it found. And then.
Kigik, kik.
Somewhere in the Military State, a ‘Window’ prepared solely for Signallers raised its head with a harsh, metallic screech.
This wasn't a remote connection using a bio-receptor, but a close-range method, deploying her Unique Magic to synchronize from nearby.
Abbey’s Unique Magic was Morning Glory. A Synchronization Magic specialized in close-range infiltration.
The fact that she had been assigned nearly fifty of the synchro-type magic golems known as ‘Windows’ was due to the specific nature of her Unique Magic.
Since the Windows assigned to her had all been destroyed, she hadn't had a chance to use this ability until now…
“This is part of an intelligence-gathering operation. A Signaller has the authority to operate the magic golems stationed throughout the Military State.”
Synchronization Magic leaves no trace. Therefore, this act would not reveal her identity.
Besides, Abbey only ever used the golems for information gathering. The golems would not act directly, nor would they be seen by anyone.
Therefore, this was not a violation of the rules. Having convinced herself, Abbey raised her head.
And every golem entwined by her vines opened its eyes in unison.
“I am exercising my authority.”
It was a loophole she slipped through using the rules themselves, because she was so bound by them.
Invisible vines wrapped around a small golem nestled at the top of a clock tower, a golem on a building’s rooftop looking down, and a head-only golem hidden beneath a searchlight.
The golems stationed everywhere opened their eyes at once, responding to the Signaller’s synchronization. Gaining control of the golems, Abbey unleashed her mana.
Parallel Window Connection. Kaleidoscope.
Then, dozens of views from different locations fractured like a broken window and flooded into Abbey’s vision.
The overwhelming amount of information pouring into her mind, despite the dark of night, made her head spin. Abbey staggered, leaning more heavily against the wall.
But Abbey was a specialist in handling information, and one of the few Signallers capable of parallel connection. The unified root greedily absorbed the information transmitted from all the different vines. Dozens of lights reflected in her blue eyes.
“Commencing search.”
Her pupils darted rapidly. She compared and analyzed the scenes reflected in her vision. The flow of people, incongruous speeds, strange noises, scenes that shouldn't exist.
She was the eyes, ears, and mouth of the Military State.
A Signaller was its head, the nerves through which fragmented information flowed.
That was why information about their identities was restricted to general-level officers, and even the Six Generals could not use them for personal reasons.
“Search, search, search.”
If they had gone inside a sealed building, she would have no way of finding them, but Abbey predicted they would move under the cover of night. If they had stolen something, they would want to dispose of it before the next day.
“Search, search, search, search, search, search…”
As she scanned the streets of District 13 from her spot, Abbey discovered a man with suspicious movements. Bleeding from his shoulder, the man was running with a limp, clutching his stomach.
He looked more like a victim than a perpetrator, but it was clearly a scene where a crime was suspected.
“Search, terminated.”
Abbey severed the connection to the other golems and headed in the direction where the suspicious person was found.
Considering his escape route, the man would pass the next block. Having finished her calculations, Abbey headed to the next block to cut him off.
And just then, she came face-to-face with the man, who was running toward her in terror. His eyes widened when he saw Abbey’s uniform.
“An officer?!”
If he were the robber, he would either run or show fear upon seeing her. If he were a victim being chased by a robber, he would ask for help.
Even if he wasn't the robber Abbey was looking for, it didn't matter. There couldn't be that many people audacious enough to commit crimes in the Military State; if she tracked him, she would eventually find the one who attacked Anna.
Abbey was formulating responses for both scenarios when it happened.
“I-I was wrong! Take me in! I'm Number 1!”
But the man’s reaction was completely different.
The man, calling himself Number 1, gasped for breath and fell to his knees before Abbey.
“I committed robbery! With Number 1, Number 2, and Number 3! Number 2 is Milsen, and Number 3 is Galen! Please, just take me away!”
This was outside her predictions, but a Signaller couldn't afford to be flustered. Abbey replied stiffly.
“…I require you to explain what happened, clearly and concisely.”
“There’s no time for that!”
The man seemed to have lost his mind. Or perhaps he was in a desperate hurry. Or both. In Abbey’s common sense, there was no other explanation.
Because he was clutching his stomach, his face a mask of pain and fear, confessing to his crime.
“Number 2—no, that bastard Milsen, he told the whole organization. That there’s gold in my stomach…! They’re all coming to cut me open…!”
“I find it difficult to understand the full details of this incident, but I surmise that you feel your life is in danger. Are you requesting personal protection at this time?”
“Yes! Yes! P-protect me!”
The man nodded his head frantically. In any case, Abbey asked, intending to at least get some information.
“Request accepted. However, before that, I require information from you. To understand the full story, I need to know what item you stole, from whom, and what was done to you by whom.”
“I don’t know who. It was some lady at the market trying to sell poison—no, spices… We stole it and were celebrating, then he, he… he put it in my mouth.”
The circumstances made it clear that he was the one who had attacked Anna. She hadn't expected to find the culprit so easily.
But finding the culprit and arresting him were two different matters. The man’s expression was filled with a terror and pain that went beyond that.
“He… the man in the strange hat. The glass bottle of poison. To me.”
Muttering, Number 1 suddenly grabbed his own face.
Abbey revised her assessment. The expression he had shown until now didn't contain even a fragment of the terror on his currently contorted face.
“Aaaah. The magician. Right. The magician…! It was him! Why—why couldn't I remember…!”
Muttering to himself like a madman, the man was now crying as he grabbed the captain’s pant leg. His other hand was still clutching his stomach, as if he believed it would split open the moment he let go.
“Please. I don’t want to die like this. Getting my stomach cut open by the comrades I trusted, what is this…! I, I. This isn’t what I. This isn’t what I wanted, sob. Ah, ah.”
As he begged, Number 1’s eyes suddenly shot wide open. In the night air, cold enough to make one shrink, beads of cold sweat formed on his face.
As if something were grabbing his head and legs and twisting them, he made a sound from his lungs with a twisted tongue, like his insides were being squeezed.
“Aheurgh. N-no.”
Then, at a certain moment.
“Gyaaaaaaah! Aaaargh, kraaaaaaaah!”
Number 1 collapsed to the ground. As if he had absorbed all the pain in the world, he thrashed his legs, kicking violently at the ground. He didn't stop, even as his fists were scraped raw and his body became bruised.
At some point, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell limp. A soapy foam spilled from his mouth, along with the last of his life.
Throughout it all, there was nothing Abbey could do.
She was a Signaller, not an army surgeon.
“…Death confirmed. This is a murder case.”
Even in the Military State, a murder isn't ignored. Killing is a grave crime that eliminates valuable labor, so murderers are made to pay a commensurate price through servitude.
For that reason, even criminals had to be careful. One wrong move and they would be caught in the State’s security net.
And yet…
“…What is the reason for a group of you to be chasing him in the middle of the night?”
The captain said, watching the approaching crowd. From beyond the dim street shadows, a thin man with cold eyes appeared, a long sword slung over his shoulder.