Barenberg's Darkness (3)
"Is that true?"
In the villa's study—a modest room fitted for light administrative work—Bernus turned to Schwarz and asked the question.
Three years earlier, certain forces had stirred up an incident in the count's territory. The claim that those same forces had resurfaced was difficult for Bernus to accept at face value. That they had appeared in the very heart of the kingdom, right in the capital of Barenberg, made it harder still.
"Yes."
"…"
At Schwarz's answer, silence settled over the study.
"I understand. If you say so, then it must be true."
Knowing full well that Schwarz would never lie to him, Bernus nodded and rose from his chair.
"Where are you going?"
"To the royal palace. Look after things here while I'm gone."
Answering Milia's question, Bernus took his coat from the rack and slipped it on. With hurried steps he left the study, joined the waiting attendant, and strode out of the villa. Milia and Schwarz watched the carriage roll away into the distance and let out a short sigh together.
"Well then. We have our own work to do, don't we?"
"Shall I prepare everything at once?"
"Yes. Please."
When Schwarz asked, Milia simply nodded. At once he set off in one direction while she followed the still-chaotic corridors of the mansion toward another.
A short while later she arrived before an old door that led down to the villa's basement. With a creak the door opened, and as she descended the stairs her eyes fell on a woman whose body was bound in iron chains.
"Preparations are complete."
"Good. Then let's begin."
Milia settled into the chair that had been set out for her. The chained woman looked up at her and spoke.
"Couldn't you undo these? They're terribly uncomfortable."
"Shut your mouth. If it were up to me I'd kill you right now, but Schwarz says we have to keep you alive, so you're still breathing."
Milia snapped the words at the woman, who had spoken with shameless ease. Truthfully she wanted nothing more than to snap an arm or a leg on the spot, yet Schwarz had insisted so firmly that she had been forced to leave the prisoner alone.
"Please calm yourself, My Lady. Information comes first."
"Nngh…"
At Schwarz's continued restraint, Milia let out a short, frustrated sound. Even so, she kept glaring at the woman's arms and legs with sharp, hungry eyes.
At this rate we won't get any interrogation done…
"Will you conduct the questioning yourself?"
"I'll leave it to you. If I do it, I'm liable to smash something."
"Understood."
Still simmering, Milia watched as Schwarz offered her an awkward smile, nodded, and stepped toward the chained woman.
"If you cooperate willingly, I will not resort to rough methods. You understand?"
"Fine."
At his gentle tone the woman gave a weary, defeated little laugh and nodded.
Schwarz let out a low hum as he ordered his thoughts, then drew out a notebook and began his questions.
"Name and affiliation?"
"Lizvice. Call me Liz for short. No affiliation."
"No affiliation… Then what about the others who were with you?"
There had been more than a dozen assassins at the scene. That so many people could move together yet claim no organization was hard to accept.
"I only met them all yesterday."
"What do you mean by that…?"
"It's a little complicated to explain…"
Seeing Schwarz tilt his head, Liz gave a soft sigh and continued.
"I was originally a death-row prisoner."
"Death row?"
"It was a false charge, but still. I was sitting in a cell waiting to die when someone came looking for me."
"Who?"
That person must be the one who arranged all of this. Holding that conviction, Schwarz pressed her.
"Even if you ask, I don't know. He was wrapped head to toe in a robe—face, everything, completely hidden. Anyway, he offered me a deal. Do one job for him and he'd give me my freedom."
"And that job was to kill me?"
"That's right. The people who gathered for it were the ones you saw."
"Hmm…"
Liz nodded at his question. Schwarz simply studied her in silence.
"What do you think?"
"I don't believe she's lying."
From behind them Milia asked, and Schwarz answered with a short sigh. With the deal already broken and her own life possibly on the line, the woman had no reason to invent stories.
"What do you know about that monster?"
"Not much. They just said something about a last resort, this and that. It gave me a bad feeling, so I took it but never planned to use it. Still… a pill that turns people into monsters? Creepy."
"Wait… Then you still have that pill now?"
"Huh? Yes. It's in my back pocket."
At the unexpected revelation Schwarz's voice rose with excitement. Liz stammered in surprise and glanced toward her own pocket. In the next instant Schwarz slipped a hand into it and drew out a small pill.
"…"
"Well?"
"It's faint, but I can feel the same mana as back then."
Milia asked while he examined the pill. Schwarz narrowed his eyes as he answered. The small oval tablet radiated the same mana that had clung to the monsters which had attacked the count's territory three years ago.
"One lead secured."
"So it seems. Anything else you can tell us?"
Schwarz nodded at Milia's words, slipped the pill into his own pocket, and asked.
"No. That's everything I know."
"Then maybe we can get a little rougher now?"
"What!? Hey! You said you wouldn't use rough methods!"
At the same moment Milia rose from her chair with a wicked grin and started toward Liz. The prisoner's face went deathly pale as she shouted desperately at Schwarz.
"That was a conversation between you and Schwarz. Not me."
"My Lady…"
"Fine, fine. I was only joking."
When Schwarz let out a short sigh at the malicious smile approaching, Milia muttered a complaint and sat back down.
"We'll stop here for now. But I still cannot release you."
"Well. That's fair enough, I suppose."
Liz shrugged at his words.
Just then—
"My Lady."
The basement door opened and a maid hurried down the stairs.
"Hm? What is it?"
"A guest has arrived."
"A guest? Were we expecting anyone?"
Milia turned to Schwarz as she spoke.
"No. No one should be calling…"
He shook his head.
"The… guest said she has something to tell you about the incident that occurred a short while ago…"
"…A short while ago?"
"What does that mean…?"
Bewildered by the cryptic message, Milia and Schwarz exchanged puzzled looks. Only for a moment, though. Almost at the same instant both of them let out a sharp "Ah!" and spun toward the maid.
"Tell her we're coming right away!"
"Y-yes…!!"
The maid carefully bowed to the urgently shouting Milia and hurried outside. The two of them wasted no time following her out of the basement.
In the villa's drawing room, Milia sat at the head of a large table and regarded the visitor who had come to see her. Across from the two of them sat a woman.
She was a little taller than Schwarz, with skin as white as polished jade, rich brown hair of high saturation, and golden eyes similar to Milia's. Her slender, model-like figure and the beauty mark beneath one eye left a striking impression.
"Allow me to introduce myself. Rebekah Belen. Leader of the Black Fox, one of the three great guilds of the back alleys."
"Black Fox?"
As far as Schwarz recalled, the three great guilds were the organizations that held sway over Barenberg's back alleys—territory that was little better than a lawless zone.
"So. What business does an il.le.gal.guild have with me? I have no desire to get involved in anything unlawful."
"First, allow me to apologize for calling on you so abruptly."
At Milia's pointed emphasis on the word "illegal," Rebekah offered a faint smile and inclined her head.
"I have come to see you, Lady Milia, for the reason I mentioned earlier—to speak about the attack that targeted your servant a short while ago."
"Before that—how exactly do you know about it?"
Milia cut her off at once, fixing her with a sharp glare. Schwarz likewise watched Rebekah closely, ready for any contingency. The atmosphere turned hostile in an instant, yet Rebekah merely smiled lightly at the two of them as though nothing were amiss.
"I trust you know what the Black Fox's primary business is."
"Information brokering, isn't it?"
In any age and under any circumstances, information others lacked was worth money. The chief trade of the Black Fox, one of the three great guilds of the back alleys, was precisely the buying and selling of that information.
"You are well informed. I cannot reveal trade secrets, of course, but there are very few beings in Barenberg who can escape our eyes."
"…"
Milia regarded the nodding Rebekah with open displeasure. Though the words had been carefully roundabout, their meaning was simple: the guild had been watching them.
"Fine. Continue."
"The monster that fought your servant… one of our guild's elite combat teams had to throw themselves at it just to bring it down. Yet your servant disposed of it with ease."
As she spoke, Rebekah turned her head and directed a seductive smile at Schwarz. He, however, responded with nothing more than indifferent coolness. Rebekah's eyes widened slightly at the unexpected reaction—so different from every other person she had ever encountered. But that was not the important matter at present, so she turned back to Milia.
"We need that power."
"…"
Milia studied her in silence. The back alleys were a near-lawless zone where administrative authority barely reached. For a guild to have established itself there, it must already possess considerable force of its own. That the leader of such a major guild would come in person to request aid spoke volumes.
"Something has happened in the back alleys, I take it."
"Yes. Exactly so."
Rebekah nodded at Milia's words. Then, her expression hardening, she rose from her seat and faced her directly.
"Lady Milia. Will you not cooperate with us?"