Chapter 164: This is the Back Alley
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 164: This is the Back Alley
He was a thuggish-looking man with a scar on his face. The moment she saw him, even the objective Abbey immediately thought of crime.
With a keenly sharpened longsword resting on his shoulder, he reacted nonchalantly to Abbey's officer uniform.
“…An officer?”
Criminals usually couldn't even meet an officer's gaze. From their power to their authority, they were simply no match.
But the fierce-looking man before her showed no sign of fear. He even flashed a defiant smile.
“Well now, Officer. That fellow's one of ours. Sorry, but how about you hand him over?”
Abbey replied stiffly.
“He is already deceased.”
“Heh heh. I know. We just need his corpse more than we needed him alive. He was our comrade, you see. We were thinking of giving him a proper funeral.”
Snickers rippled through the group.
They showed no signs of grief for their fallen comrade. They were just staring at the body with greed, as if it were a treasure chest.
“The bastard had to run off and get himself killed… Hurry up. We want to get our hands on it before it goes bad. Now, are you going to step aside?”
Since he was already dead, Abbey had no reason to care, but that didn't mean she had to comply with the demands of these suspicious men.
Abbey refused flatly.
“I refuse.”
“Keh. Why?”
“I have no obligation to answer you.”
“Well, well. So says our dear officer.”
His tone was mocking, without a shred of respect for her rank.
The man leveled his longsword threateningly.
“You've got some nerve for an officer. You're all alone… Besides, captains are a dime a dozen.”
A subordinate standing beside the man cautiously pointed out.
“Uh, Boss. Captain is a pretty high rank. The next one up is major.”
“Stay out of it, you bastard!”
The man roared and aimed his longsword at Abbey. She knew what a pointed sword meant, and he clearly didn't care that he was threatening an officer of the Military State.
“So what if she's a captain? You think a sword won't cut her? That bullets won't work?”
Again, the subordinate cautiously interjected.
“Bullets won't work. Captain-level officers are the first to learn Qi Deflection.”
“You're so damn clueless! Hey, you! Go first!”
Furious at being corrected twice, the man turned his sword on his subordinate, who flinched back in fear.
“Y-Yes?”
“Bullets might not work, but a blade will! Go stab her! And cut that bastard's stomach open, quick! Before what's inside is ruined!”
The man shouted, swinging his sword wildly. Spurred on, the other thugs began to close in on Abbey.
It's said that many hands make light work, and the same is true for fear. Emboldened by their numbers, the thugs' steps grew more confident.
Sensing their hostility, Abbey warned them in a low voice.
“Warning. You are currently exhibiting threatening behavior toward a soldier of the Military State. Cease immediately. This is an order. If you disobey….”
However, Abbey's clear voice held little threat for them. The thugs just scoffed, growing bolder.
“What are you gonna do? Take us all on by yourself?”
“Let's see if that high-and-mighty officer's skin can even be cut by a knife.”
Abbey was in a bind. She never imagined they would attack her, knowing full well she was an officer.
The Military State dealt with the murder of ordinary citizens severely. If word got out that an officer had been attacked and killed by criminals, the Military Police would be dispatched without a moment's hesitation or mercy.
They were a force authorized to unleash the State's full power on its own people. Not even the most hardened outlaws could withstand them.
And yet, here they were, threatening an officer without a thought for the consequences. Unless they wanted to bring the Military Police down on this place….
Could it be?
Abbey muttered.
“…Perhaps that's their real goal?”
No one answered her quiet words. The thugs advanced, each gripping a blade.
“Heh heh. I wonder if an officer's blood is the same color as ours….”
There were seven of them, all armed with blades. She could even sense traces of Qi Art from the thin man who appeared to be their leader, though it wasn't at a high level.
“Warning: predicament….”
The logical solution was to use her golem, but that would expose her identity as a Signaller. And after that, only suicide would remain.
Should she fight them in close quarters? It would be futile, like throwing an egg against a rock. Abbey was not a combatant trained in Qi Arts.
Kill them and then die, or simply die?
Use the golem to defeat them and then take her own life, or be cut down by their blades?
It was a decision that required careful thought, but the moment to choose was rapidly approaching. The blades glinted coldly in the dim glow of the streetlamp.
The cold steel blades that would pierce her body and spill her red life….
Just as Abbey made her decision and clenched her fists.
“You crazy sons of bitches!!”
Thud-thud-thud.
Dozens of people poured into the street. Without a word, they descended upon the thugs. Caught by surprise, the attackers were instantly overwhelmed by the crowd.
Screams and chaos erupted, followed by the relentless sound of brutal beatings.
Even men with blades were no match for the sheer violence of numbers, especially when the newcomers were all armed with long weapons of their own.
“Have you lost your damn minds! First a magician, now an officer! You're poking every hornet's nest in sight! If you want to get stung so badly, go tap-dance naked in front of a hive! Stop stirring up trouble everywhere!”
A stout, middle-aged man at the head of the group shouted as he pummeled a thug. The scar-faced man, recovering from the surprise, raised his longsword and charged him.
“You bastards, you're from the Market! A bunch of smugglers who don't know their place…!”
The scar-faced man thrust his Qi-wreathed sword forward. A blade infused with Qi could tear flesh and shatter bone; not even the stout man's body could withstand such a blow.
But the man retreated with an agility that belied his stout frame. The glowing blue tip of the sword passed inches from his nose.
“Heek! The rotten bastard is actually trying to cut me!”
Feigning panic, the man produced a large crowbar with a forked end. He caught the incoming sword in the crowbar's notch. The entire sequence was so fluid it looked rehearsed.
Clang! The blade was trapped. A look of bewilderment crossed the scar-faced man's face.
With a twist of his wrists, the stout man sent the longsword flying from the thug's grasp. Disarmed by simple leverage, the scar-faced man was met with the full force of the crowbar.
“You're the one who doesn't know his place! This is our territory, you bastard!”
Crack.
The sound of bone breaking echoed from the man's skull. His face would now bear the mark of a crowbar to match his scar.
What the man thought of this new facial feature would remain unknown, for the simple reason that he was now unconscious.
His eyes rolled back in his head, and his thin body collapsed to the ground.
“Son of a bitch. Nearly gave me a heart attack….”
Breathing heavily, the stout man immediately scurried over to Abbey. Before she could even raise her guard, he bowed low, rubbing his hands together in a subservient gesture.
“Oh, Captain. Please don't think this reflects on our whole district. Those guys are the problem. They're a bunch of lunatics calling themselves the 'Shadow of the Military State.' They run around causing all sorts of trouble, and frankly, we're sick of it too….”
From Abbey's perspective, this group that had appeared out of nowhere to subdue the first was just as suspicious.
But unlike the thugs with their threatening blades, most of the items this new group carried were familiar things like crowbars and pokers. They looked as if they could blend right back into daily life without issue.
Perhaps it was the innocuous nature of their tools, but Abbey slightly lowered her guard.
“…Query. And who might you be?”
“Oh, dear. I should have introduced myself first!”
The stout man, sweating profusely, made a great show of introducing himself.
“Yes, yes. My name is Klin. I'm the manager of the public warehouse for the market merchants.”
The market needed goods, and to keep those goods safe, it needed a warehouse.
But this place was a haven for petty criminals. A simple lock and warehouse wouldn't provide peace of mind when a thief could appear at any moment.
The market merchants had banded together to safely store and transport their goods. Deliverymen and laborers joined in, and their group gradually grew into a force of its own.
“So, to put it simply, a merchant's union… no, not even that. I'm just someone who looks after the merchants' goods. A simple warehouse keeper.”
Klin spoke humbly, but Abbey felt a sense of déjà vu at the name.
Klin. Store Manager. Market.
The pickpocket she'd caught had definitely mentioned them.
“…Store Manager Klin? Are you perhaps the leader of the organization called the Market?”
At that, Klin practically foamed at the mouth and shook his head.
“No, no! Leader? Heavens, no! I'm just a figurehead! We're a sort of alliance to protect the goods in the warehouse, a horizontal relationship! Flat as calm water!”
Considering the agility he'd just displayed and the Qi he'd used with his crowbar, he was clearly no ordinary man. But Klin was determined to downplay his role, bowing his head repeatedly.
He only took a moment to curse someone who wasn't there, in a voice too low for anyone to hear.
“That damn Magician, what kind of nonsense did he tell an officer…!”
Though she had her suspicions, Abbey didn't press further. Being skilled in Qi Arts or possessing unusual agility wasn't a crime.
“Acknowledged. I have questions regarding this incident. You will cooperate with me.”
“Of course! Isn't that the duty of a model citizen!”
Klin stood at attention, waiting for Abbey's words. Abbey took a moment to organize the information, then asked her most pressing question.
“The Shadow of the Military State. What is it?”
Klin answered as if he'd been waiting for the question.
“They're a criminal organization that's suddenly appeared and started running rampant in the State.”
“A criminal organization? Are they part of the resistance?”
“Oh, no. The resistance at least pretends to seek cooperation from the citizens. These guys… they're just outlaws.”
“How can outlaws operate so openly when the laws of the State exist?”
Klin emphatically agreed.
“That's what I'm saying! We've been racking our brains over it, too. It's like they have no fear of the law. Lately, they've been running wild everywhere. Robbery, looting, arson, even murder. They move in small groups and commit all sorts of crimes. It's a real headache for us.”
“Have the authorities not taken any action?”
“Well, the State's been a bit busy lately, hasn't it? They already conducted a massive random questioning about three months ago. I think they're not acting yet because the heat from that hasn't died down.”
Abbey recalled the events of three months ago.
There had been a prison break at Tantalus. As soon as she observed it, she had reported it to the homeland, and they had responded immediately. They declared martial law across the nation and conducted extensive interrogations to recapture the escapees.
But the Tantalus escapees had vanished as if into thin air. Instead, only unlucky petty criminals were rounded up.
“…That is a plausible theory.”
Perhaps this current situation was the fallout from enforcing a crackdown when public order hadn't actually worsened.
“Well, I'm sure if things get worse, the higher-ups will step in and sort it out! Hahaha! A commoner like me can only trust in our leaders!”
After a hearty laugh, Klin lowered his voice and spoke conspiratorially.
“S-So, what I mean is, when you speak to your superiors later, please tell them that our people are innocent. It would be a terrible injustice if we got rounded up with those idiots. We'd be too upset to even do our labor sentences.”
Klin's groveling attitude made it sound like he was asking for a favor. Abbey felt an instinctive revulsion, but there was nothing problematic about the content of his request.
Abbey nodded.
“Affirmative. Regarding this matter, I will report to my superiors should the opportunity arise.”
“Oh! Thank you, thank you, my lady!”
A satisfied smile spread across the store manager's face as he bowed respectfully. But that smile froze at Abbey's next words.
“Second question.”
“Yes? A second…?”
Klin's eyes twitched in surprise. Despite his reluctance, Abbey pressed on without a care.
“Who, exactly, is the Magician?”
The self-proclaimed Shadow of the Military State was intentionally disrupting public order. Their actions lacked a certain rationality.
That meant there was a larger conspiracy at play.
Abbey knew this with the intuition of a Signaller.
If so, who was the Magician who hunted them?
“The Magician? Ah, him. How should I put it?”
Klin kept glancing around, sweating bullets, before finally answering.
“Haha. Well, you know. 'Magician' is just a general term for the tricksters you see in the back alleys. People who run shell games, stack the deck in card games, put on puppet shows, or amaze people with sleight of hand. People like that.”
“Do such people still exist?”
“Heavens, no. Almost none. We call them magicians, but they're really just con artists and cardsharps. With the country in good order, how could scum like that run around freely? They've almost all disappeared. Almost all.”
Waving his hand, Klin's eyes narrowed slightly as he asked. For a moment, his raccoon-like eyes glinted with cunning.
“But why are you looking for a magician….”
Abbey answered truthfully.
“The man who just fell before me mentioned a being called the Magician.”
“…Is that all?”
At the question, Abbey snapped her head around and asked.
“You. I am warning you. If you know anything more, testify immediately. If you fail to cooperate, I will have no choice but to consider you a suspect.”
Klin jumped in surprise at Abbey's retort.
“Oh, no, ma'am. What could I have done?”
“How did you come to be here?”
Returning to his subservient posture, Klin looked around as if afraid of being overheard and answered in a small voice.
“To be honest, I also came here because the Magician called me. He said those bastards had appeared in our district and told me to catch them.”
Abbey nodded, her observation sharp.
“So 'Magician' refers to an individual. Confirmed.”
“…Haha.”
Klin gave an awkward laugh, clearly trying to avoid saying anything more. Abbey nodded and glanced around.
While they had been talking, the merchants from the Market had been cleaning up. They were restraining the fallen men as if they were inventory, picking up dropped items, and erasing the signs of the brawl. The street was already clean.
“Leave the cleanup to us, ma'am. We'll take care of it.”
“Hand them over to the police. They must be punished under military law.”
“Of course, ma'am.”
“I will report this to the officers of this district. Be warned that you are not permitted to enact any private punishments.”
“…Of course, ma'am.”
Abbey turned and walked away, leaving them behind.
The Shadow, the Magician, and the Military State.
She was a soldier loyal to the State, and at the same time, a Signaller who had to die soon.
In the brief reprieve she had left, her final act of loyalty to the Military State would be to eliminate this 'Shadow' and uncover the Magician's identity.
Furthermore, making the State a safer place would be a gift for Anna and Hughes.
Starting tomorrow, she would be busy. Abbey walked steadily down the street.
And as she disappeared into the darkness, Klin, who had kept his head bowed, clicked his tongue and straightened up.
“…I've done my part, Magician. That damn bastard, showing up out of nowhere and making me do this ridiculous shit.”
A few hours earlier, Klin had come face-to-face with 'him,' who had appeared as if from nowhere in the heart of the Market.
If the Market's base hadn't been a secret space built in the middle of a massive warehouse, and if only Klin's closest associates knew how to open it, he might have greeted the man with a bit more warmth.
In other words, Klin was not at all happy to see him.
The Magician, who had been leisurely reading through a list of the Market's secretly smuggled goods, had greeted Klin's return as if he owned the place.
In that instant, Klin had a premonition that he was about to be blackmailed and played like a fiddle in the Magician's hands.
His premonition was astonishingly accurate.
—There's some trash in this district. I've seasoned them just right, so why don't you go clean them up?
Klin had immediately set out with all his forces.
Attack the Magician? Klin wasn't the kind of man to take such a gamble. No one knew the Magician's true power, and besides, there was no way he could beat a magician at a game of chance.
And.
“You should let a madman fight a madman. No need for me to get involved.”
The Shadow of the Military State was a strange group with an unknown purpose. They even showed a certain self-destructive tendency.
They would inevitably clash with the Magician. Every time they did, blood would flow in the back alleys.
It wasn't clear who would win, but Klin knew how conflicts in the back alleys ended.
Bankrupt Fighter, Zantetsuken, Firelowe.
All those who had clashed with the Magician had met their end.
The Magician hadn't killed them himself, but he was always the one left standing.
How would it turn out this time?
“Ah, who knows. Let them do whatever they want. I just need to do my job.”
As Klin grumbled, his head a complicated mess, one of his men pointed at the foam-mouthed corpse and spoke.
“Boss! What should we do with the corpse that shits gold?”
According to the Magician, the man's stomach contained a rare spice nicknamed "sprinkled gold dust." Selling it would bring a handsome profit.
But Klin waved his hand dismissively.
“Just bury it. Touching that kind of thing brings bad luck.”
“Seems like a waste.”
“Shut up. How do we know if that's even true? And even if it is, how are we supposed to sell something that's been inside a stomach? Just consider it bad luck and move on.”
“Got it.”
The employee clicked his tongue and muttered as he wrapped the body in a cloth.
“Tch. Lucky bastard. He won't be short on travel money in the afterlife.”
“Bury the bastard and write on his tombstone: 'Here lies the man with the most expensive cause of death in history.' He might even make a name for himself.”
Klin spat out the words and took out a cigarette made from mana herbs. In the street, lit only by a dim streetlamp, the red ember stood out.
Hooo. A deep sigh escaped him, along with a cloud of mana herb smoke. The pale smoke rising under the hazy streetlamp looked like a degraded sun and clouds.
The mana herbs, the very reason the timid Klin had gotten into smuggling, soothed his weary heart and gave his life meaning once again.
As Klin savored this small happiness, another employee approached him.
“Smoking again? It's bad for your health.”
“It's about balance, you punk. My body is too healthy for my mind.”
Taking another deep drag of the mana herb, Klin stared at the now-clean street with hazy eyes and muttered.
“We need to lay low for a while. All hell is about to break loose.”
The Shadow, the Magician, and now an officer. The situation was snowballing.
Klin had weathered many storms before, but he couldn't predict how this one would end.
The night deepened, as deep as Klin's sigh.