The Time for Negotiation
Time for negotiation… What the hell? It’s too quiet.
In the dim hospital room, Ellyse Bertman lifted her eyelids as she registered the unnatural silence. When peace arrived so suddenly, it only made her uneasy about what scheme might be lurking beneath it. She let out a long sigh, then propped up just her upper body to check the bed across from hers.
“……Oh.”
Ellyna Bastard—the woman who couldn’t stay quiet even in her sleep, who snored, ground her teeth, and talked in her sleep throughout their entire hospital stay. Ellyse had even begun to suspect she was doing it on purpose just to torment her. Yet today, for some reason, Ellyna lay fast asleep with both hands neatly folded over her chest in an almost reverent pose. With her mouth closed, she looked surprisingly lovely, breathing softly—suu, suu—deep in peaceful slumber.
Witnessing this miraculous sight, Ellyse unconsciously lifted one corner of her mouth and muttered,
She wore a satisfied little smile as she lay back down on her bed. Please, just let me sleep through the night this time…
Thanks to that earnest wish, Ellyse Bertman enjoyed her first proper night’s sleep since being admitted to the hospital.
It was the middle of the night.
The first time is always frightening.
Even a boy drunk on ideals and arrogance still knew how precious his own life was. Bathory Erzsébet. At first, he had been quietly afraid of that demon. He had maintained strict formality, constantly on edge, wondering when the creature might suddenly turn and seize him by the throat.
But as time passed and he grew wiser, he eventually reached an epiphany: beasts should never be treated with respect. They were the kind that forgot gratitude the very next day and immediately started causing trouble again. She was probably smirking right now, thinking she had properly fooled him once more.
Bang!
So he kicked the door open and stormed into her room.
Bathory stared at him with a dazed expression, clearly wondering what was going on. She blinked silently for a moment before her face twisted into a venomous scowl.
When dealing with a crazy bitch, you had to go crazy yourself. That was the lesson he had learned.
Click-clack. Click-clack.
Without answering, he walked straight up to Bathory, who wore a sulky expression. Their eyes clashed fiercely before he demanded the truth first.
“What? You called me out here in the middle of the night just to ask that? I was having such a good time!”
Seeing her shout like that only convinced him he had done the right thing by summoning her. There was no telling what kind of mischief she might have pulled on that inspector. It was bound to be something nasty. Besides, if there was anything she hated, he was more than happy to choose it. And the charges hanging over her head right now were far from trivial.
Among them, the heaviest accusation of all.
The entire laboratory had been caught in the explosion and collapsed in a catastrophic disaster. The helicopter landing pad’s poor location had even sent them plummeting downward. In the worst case, they would have had to call for help. It had been an incredibly dire situation. And if an ally had deliberately tried to bury them alive, the severity only skyrocketed.
He glared at the girl as she narrowed her eyes and rolled her pupils around. Soon she returned her gaze to its original position and shrugged with a playful expression.
“No, I knew there was a bomb there, but I didn’t set it off myself. I had no idea the blast power was strong enough to blow everything away like that.”
Nor did I know you would throw yourself in to save Ellyse Bertman.
Bathory Erzsébet added that last part with a sly smile, resting her chin on her hands atop the chair. He simply stared at her in silence.
He had to exact a price. Otherwise, she would interfere with his work without any sense of proportion.
The demon, who had been humming and twitching her eyebrows for a while, finally waved her hands as if she couldn’t endure his steady gaze any longer.
“Tsk, fine, fine. I got to watch a good show, so I’ll give you a thank-you gift. You asked me to do all that work and you can’t even give me a single word of praise? That’s really too much, don’t you think?”
“Shouldn’t that have been the first thing you asked? You stupid human! You’re so blinded by a woman that work has taken a backseat now!”
“I took care of it in a place no one knows about, so don’t worry. Just as you requested, Slain Pavlov will remain permanently missing. It should be perfect for stirring up an unsettling atmosphere for the time being.”
“His body?”
“I turned his brain into paste, pulled out his fingernails and teeth, did all sorts of other things, then killed him nicely and burned him. Quite the considerate colleague, wouldn’t you say?”
He almost responded to the proudly boasting Bathory, but simply closed his mouth instead. Slain Pavlov had been an especially heinous criminal, so perhaps it was only right for a demon to handle him. Yes, that was correct. The man had probably spent a long time unable to die, screaming and repenting for his sins. He hoped those screams had brought some comfort to all the people Slain had sacrificed. With that, he moved on to the next item.
“Ah, that tin can you wore last time? You’re paying close attention even while you’re busy? But why are you asking? Didn’t I say I’d tell you once I finished it?”
“Because I want it as payment. Didn’t you say with your own mouth that you’d give me a thank-you gift?”
“……Do you even have a conscience? That’s completely different from what you ordered beforehand, you wicked employer.”
“Is that so? What a shame.”
“Even if you don’t nag me, I was going to give you a perfectly suitable reward anyway.”
With that, Bathory winked and held up two fingers.
“There are two things I can give you outside of our contract.”
An object, or information.
“If you choose the item, I’ll not only repair the suit you wore today instead of that tin can, but I’ll also install a dedicated power core right in the chest.”
He looked down at his half-tattered bodysuit following her finger. He had indeed been thinking that its power felt insufficient after being buried in the debris. It was a surprisingly decent offer for a demon. But in cases like this, she always saved something even better—something harder to refuse—for last.
“I received a revelation just today.”
Bathory Erzsébet smirked as she twirled the finger pointing at him.
He blinked blankly and answered,
“No, I’ll tell you the rest if you choose. Your personality is really rotten, you know.”
“I meet dozens of people through my business. Telling me that gives me no help at all.”
At those words, Bathory blinked, tilted her head, and said,
“……What?”
“What you’re talking about are just business partners. Don’t you have any connections where it would be a big problem if they disappeared? How many people like that do you even have? Stop showing off and think carefully before you choose.”
The demon rested her chin on her hand again and smiled brightly, clearly enjoying this moment. He was momentarily stunned by the remark that he had no friends, but quickly regained his composure and began thinking of people whose disappearance would cause him trouble.
A certain inspector briefly crossed his mind, but he shook his head and continued listing names. Most of the people he recalled were ones whose absence wouldn’t matter much, but among them was one critical figure whose loss would disrupt his grand plan. Especially at this point in time, that person’s importance was exceptionally high.
After carefully considering his options, he finally named the individual and told the demon,
“An excellent choice!”
Bathory Erzsébet exclaimed cheerfully and recited in detail the scene she had witnessed in her revelation. After hearing the full story, he quietly lowered his eyes and felt relieved. If he had tried to respond based on vague guesses without hearing this, it would have been disastrous. He had wanted to install a shiny new power core in the chest of his bodysuit, but preserving the foundation he had built so far was far more important.
The demon smiled sweetly at his conflicted expression and asked,
It wasn’t just one person.
……The council chamber in the administrative district of Central City.
Within the chamber’s heavy atmosphere, everyone took their seats one by one in silence, each maintaining strict decorum. Once all the key figures of the nation had gathered—excluding the total number of attendees from the supreme command, the city councilors, high-ranking military officers, and ministers and vice-ministers from various government departments—the heavy doors connecting the chamber to the outside slammed shut with a resounding boom. The military police had moved with perfect coordination.
The already oppressive mood grew even more tense as their presence added to the pressure. The newly elected council members, who had only recently taken office after the election, were practically shrinking in their seats.
Abriham Dolores, the Minister of Finance, watched the scene and recalled the time he had first entered politics. He had wondered whether a coup or mass execution might break out at any moment. The assembly hall back then had been so rigid that even Abriham, who had gone from ordinary citizen to councilor, had imagined such things. The atmosphere remained just as stifling now. He had simply grown used to it over time.
“I really can’t understand it.”
Yet today, Abriham Dolores found himself facing his own unexpected tension once again. It was all because of the guest who had suddenly taken the seat beside him—one he had never wished to sit next to.
Abriham broke into a cold sweat and glanced sideways. There sat a seasoned politician, a hardline soldier, and a dyed-in-the-wool nationalist.
“……”
“……Haha, execution seems a bit extreme.”
Third in the national order of protocol, Minister of Military Affairs, and current highest operational authority in the military. Cagan Bertman offered his old friend a gentle smile even as he spoke with firm resolve.
He was the father of one particular inspector.