The Magic City and the Great Detective
The sound of violent banging against the door continued without pause. As Han Seong-il walked toward it, he spoke to Charlotte.
"I'll take the front line, so would you support me from the rear with your wand, Detective Charlotte?"
"Understood~!!"
The moment he heard her energetic reply, Seong-il gathered his inner energy and threw the door open. The instant it swung wide, five burly thugs appeared before him.
"Well~ aren't you that Will Wheaton or whatever the fuck, you worthless little shit?"
"...Who the hell are you, you son of a bitch? How dare you talk to me so arrogantly...?"
"Han Seong-il. I'm the assistant to Charlotte Moriarty, the special advisor to the Windom City Police Department."
"...So you're the police department's dog? What, you think dropping the police department's name is gonna make me scared? A measly detective who isn't even an officer dares to—"
When Wheaton sneered like that, his gang burst into laughter and began mocking Seong-il.
"Puhaha! Look at this bastard. If you've got balls, you should trust your own fists instead of hiding behind your backers, dumbass. Listen up, you little prick. If we're talking backers, we're direct subordinates of Lord Logan, the king of Kowloon Walled City."
Wheaton nodded at his subordinate's words and continued.
"Did you hear that? When it comes to backers, we're not exactly losing either. Now I've got to go meet my little cumslut and do some proper fucking, so why don't you fuck off?"
As he spoke, Wheaton thrust his hips forward, crudely mimicking a doggy-style position. The blatant provocation finally made Seong-il's blood boil. He concentrated his inner energy into his fist and unleashed the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist as he roared.
"You're right about that! If you've got balls, you should trust your own fists!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Seong-il's fist shot forward like lightning, smashing into Wheaton's jaw in a surprise attack.
CRACK!
The lightning-fast surprise punch caught Wheaton completely off guard. His jaw twisted and shattered as he collapsed to the ground. Seeing their leader taken down, his comrades drew their daggers and charged at Seong-il.
"You fucking little shit, how dare you!!"
One thug lunged from Seong-il's side, stabbing his dagger toward his abdomen. Using his sharpened senses from Induction, Seong-il didn't even need to look at the blade. He read the trajectory perfectly, sidestepped with minimal movement, and slammed a knife-hand strike down onto the top of the man's skull.
"Guh?!"
Even though it wasn't a fist but a knife-hand strike, the destructive power was monstrous. The thug felt as if his head had been split open and doubled over at the waist. Seong-il didn't miss the opening and drove his elbow into the man's spine.
"Kuhek!!"
The blow was so devastating that the thug felt his organs rupture. He vomited blood and collapsed spread-eagle on the floor.
"This bastard dares!!"
Enraged at seeing two of their comrades taken down in an instant, the remaining three thugs slashed at Seong-il with their blades.
"Hup!"
As knives flew at him from multiple directions and Seong-il pulled his body back to dodge—
Superior Impact!!
—Charlotte's shout rang out. The air warped as a shimmering haze shot toward the thugs.
"!!"
BOOOOM!!
It was essentially a fireball in all but name—an incredibly powerful shockwave without the flames. The thugs who took the direct hit couldn't withstand the force and were sent flying in every direction.
'Now's the chance!'
Seong-il charged at the defenseless thugs who had been blasted by the shockwave.
"Miss Charlotte! I need covering fire!!"
"Don't worry!!"
Charlotte carefully avoided casting any magic in Seong-il's direction. Instead, she mercilessly hurled impact spells at the thugs who were farther away. Using her perfect support, Seong-il assumed the opening stance of the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist and hurled himself at one of the isolated thugs.
"Taking a nap, you piece of shit?"
The thug was still staggering to his feet, trying to shake off the effects of the shockwave while gripping his dagger. Hearing Seong-il's taunt, he quickly raised his weapon and began swinging wildly.
'I can see it!'
Thanks to his continued training in the dual cultivation technique, Seong-il's body had reached near-superhuman levels. When he executed the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist with that foundation, the world seemed to slow down. The thug's crude sword path became completely readable.
Seong-il bent at the waist to narrowly avoid the dagger stabbing toward his face, then struck the man's elbow from below with the back of his hand. The thug's arm holding the dagger flew upward, completely opening his guard. Seong-il immediately drove his fist into the man's face.
CRACK!
A dull sound rang out as the thug's teeth scattered through the air.
"Kek!!"
With a choking gasp, the thug vomited blood and collapsed. As the dagger clattered to the floor, Seong-il quickly kicked it away. Then he turned to the last two thugs and roared.
"You bastards! Drop your knives and get on your knees right now. Or you're really going to die!"
The two remaining thugs looked stunned at how quickly their comrades had been subdued. They stood there awkwardly, still pointing their daggers at him. Seong-il glared at them and shouted sharply.
"What, you idiots still haven't come to your senses?"
He slammed his fist into the wall beside him.
BOOM!!
The solid stone wall crumbled like sand. The thugs turned deathly pale at the display of monstrous strength and screamed at him.
"Y-you bastards... you think you'll get away with doing this to us? You'll only learn your lesson after Lord Logan deals with you!"
Having lost confidence in defeating Charlotte and Seong-il through force, the thugs began trembling and threatening them by invoking their backer. Seong-il gave them a cold smirk and threw their earlier words right back at them.
"If you've got balls, you should trust your own fists instead of hiding behind your backers. Wasn't that what you bastards said earlier?"
"...This son of a bitch."
One thug ground his teeth at Seong-il's mockery and began threatening him.
"You... just because you can throw a few punches, you think you're hot shit? Watch yourself. We'll hunt down your family and destroy them."
"Ha...?"
"We'll catch your father, slice him up like meat, and feed him to the pigs. We'll chop off your mother's limbs and sell her to a brothel. Got it, you fucking dog?"
Seong-il's eyes flashed with genuine rage. He raised his fist, ready to kill the thug on the spot—when a calm voice cut through the tension from the corner of the alley.
"Hmm... that's quite interesting. I heard Logan recently unified the gangs in Kowloon Walled City. It seems he now thinks the Windom City Police Department is a joke."
Restras, the chief inspector, emerged from the shadows holding his magic wand, followed by his subordinates.
"Uh...?"
The thugs were visibly shocked by the sudden appearance of the chief inspector.
"What do you mean, 'uh?' When a chief inspector from the police department shows up, you should be on your knees begging for mercy. Hey! What are you waiting for? Arrest these bastards immediately!"
At Inspector Restras's command, the officers immediately drew their wands and fired impact blasts at the thugs.
"Kugh!"
Five officers fired their impact spells simultaneously from all directions. The two thugs couldn't even put up a proper fight before they were instantly subdued.
SLAP!
Inspector Restras slapped one of the handcuffed thugs who was forced to his knees.
"You stateless bastards with no citizenship. You dare threaten honest citizens? Did you really think the police department was too scared of the likes of you to set foot in Kowloon Walled City?"
"..."
"If we put trash in the trash can, you should be grateful and stay there quietly. Yet you dared to spout such nonsense at our special advisor."
"W-we're sorry..."
"Shut up! Not only did you bastards violate the treaty and invade Windom City, you launched a preemptive attack on innocent citizens. You will pay for your crimes."
"B-but that's..."
"Therefore. Pick two."
"...What?"
"Pick two."
"W-what do you...?"
"According to the special treaty between Windom City and Kowloon Walled City, we technically cannot detain you. However, our pride does not allow us to simply let this slide."
"..."
"We'll take two of you under the pretense that you're turning yourselves in. So choose. Which two bastards are going to die?"
"B-but the t-treaty..."
Inspector Restras clenched his fist and punched the thug in the face.
"You arrogant piece of shit. The humiliating treaty the kingdom was forced to sign with the empire after losing the war a hundred years ago only has four years left. Don't you know that even the empire can't raise an issue over something like this?"
"..."
"Besides, this incident started when you bastards arrogantly came out of Kowloon Walled City and caused trouble, only to get caught in Windom City. The justification is entirely on our side. So choose, you bastard."
The inspector glared menacingly as he threatened the thug. The man trembled violently and pointed at Wheaton and one of his remaining subordinates with both hands.
"Hey. Take those two."
"Yes, sir!"
The officers moved to secure the unconscious Wheaton and the other thug. Watching them, Inspector Restras spoke to the remaining gang members.
"Hey. You worthless scum."
"Y-yes...? Yes..."
"Tell Logan this. It's fine to act tough while relying on the empire, but make sure you don't get caught by us. Understood?"
"Y-yes...! Yes!"
The thugs hurriedly gathered themselves and fled. At that moment, Yuna emerged from the room holding her cat, Mr. Gigglesworth, and shouted triumphantly.
"Keltuza... No, this is the victory of magical engineering! Did you see that, Mr. Gigglesworth?"
'...What the hell is she doing now?'
Seong-il stared at her ridiculous behavior in utter bewilderment. After cursing the thugs who had tormented her for so long, Yuna approached Inspector Restras and Charlotte's group with a bright smile and bowed.
"Thank you so much, everyone! If it weren't for all of you, I would have suffered something terrible!"
"Not at all~!! Miss Yuna is an honorary member of our Moriarty Detective Agency, so protecting you is only natural, isn't it?!"
'...Since when did she decide that? Who made her an honorary member?'
Yuna smiled brightly in response.
"I'm truly grateful! From now on, if you need any engravings or magical engineering items, please let me know anytime! I'll process them at cost price!"
"Oh! That's wonderful news! Ohohohoh!!"
'Finally...!'
One of the main reasons for recruiting the magical engineer Yuna was her ability to create increasingly impressive minor artifacts as time passed. Of course, she couldn't make them unconditionally. If a user provided major artifacts, she could disassemble them to mass-produce minor versions. Although they were degraded copies inferior to the originals, the fact that replication was possible was an enormous advantage.
'If I can obtain an item like the Black Ball later and give it to Yuna, she might be able to create a degraded version! This is an incredible benefit!'
Seong-il thought back to how the Pocket Girls world had ended so anticlimactically.
'Sigh... If I had seen a proper ending in Pocket Girls, I could have obtained the White Ball and asked Yuna to make a degraded version... What a shame.'
Pushing aside his bittersweet feelings, Seong-il offered his thanks to Inspector Restras.
"Thank you, Inspector. For listening to our difficult request..."
"Haha! Think nothing of it! Dealing with those villains is our job!"
"...Won't this cause diplomatic problems later?"
Inspector Restras smiled gently at Seong-il's concern.
"You don't need to worry about that."
"...?"
"Are you aware that after the Magical Industrial Revolution, our kingdom's national power has grown comparable to the empire's, and we intend to forcibly break the unequal treaty with them soon...?"
"...I'm just an ignorant outsider, so I'm not familiar with such matters."
"Hehe... It's information even the children of Windom City know, yet the brilliant assistant to the detective doesn't? How surprising!"
Inspector Restras then gave a brief explanation of the kingdom's current political situation.
The kingdom had been defeated in the war against the empire. Forced to sign an unequal treaty, they had been compelled to cede vast territories and had nearly been driven to ruin. The most infamous of those ceded lands was the symbol of humiliation built in the corner of the kingdom's heart—Windom City. It was Kowloon Walled City.
To commemorate their victory, the empire had designated a port in the corner of Windom City as a special zone. They turned Kowloon Walled City into a lawless area beyond the kingdom's jurisdiction for a hundred years, using it to mock the kingdom.
What seemed like endless days of humiliation. However, instead of falling into despair, the kingdom and its people united more tightly than ever. They advanced the study of magical engineering and triggered the unprecedented Magical Industrial Revolution. It was a monumental revolution that extended magic—once exclusive to mages—to ordinary citizens.
With that revolution as their foundation, the kingdom's national power had skyrocketed. They had grown strong enough to stand at the empire's throat. Inspector Restras explained that the current situation was one in which the kingdom might soon find a pretext to start a war against the empire.
'Whoa... There was this kind of backstory?!'
Shocked by the explanation, Seong-il asked the inspector.
"Then... why haven't you subjugated Kowloon Walled City, which was created by the unequal treaty with the empire?"
"We will."
"...?"
"The current political conditions aren't right, so we're holding back. But I believe the higher-ups will soon issue orders for a full-scale subjugation."
"I see..."
"If we subjugate them clumsily and they scatter into Windom City to hide and leech off the population, it would be a headache."
"Hmm..."
"That's why we've been brainwashing them into thinking we can't touch them because of the treaty—until we're fully prepared to completely eradicate them. That way, they'll stay relaxed and gathered inside Kowloon Walled City."
"I see..."
"Once preparations are complete, we'll wipe them out in one fell swoop without caring about the empire or anything else."
"I understand..."
"Oh dear! This is information only known to high-ranking officials within the police department. Mr. Seong-il, please be extremely careful not to let this information leak! Do you understand?"
"Yes! O-of course!"