The Ceremony of the Beginning
The centaur race is like gypsies on Earth.>
Free souls drifting across vast grasslands.>
They roam freely, unbound by form or rule, craving a life without chains.>
Yet one thing sets them apart: they are staggeringly wealthy.>
The goblin agitator at the front of the protest suddenly froze.>
“My world… Mr. Therion? What are you doing here…!?”>
He must have recognized the centaur leadership in an instant.>
Which meant he was doing serious business in Clovan City.>
Most building owners in Clovan City are centaurs.>
Therion’s gaze sharpened like a blade.>
“There is a vicious plague spreading. What business could you possibly have here?”>
He looked exactly like a landlord checking his own properties.>
“Who is that guy? The head of the management office is practically crawling over him.”>
“What is there to look at? He’s half human, half beast.”>
One vigilante, unable to hold back, raised his voice.>
The management office guy jumped in alarm and waved his hands frantically.>
“Quiet! Do you have any idea who he is?”>
“Who?”>
“It’s Therion! The landlord of this city.”>
“Hah… That’s Therion, the guy who owns every plot around here?”>
A stifled chuckle escaped.>
The centaurs were a lordly race that once claimed large swaths of what would become Clovan City.>
When the city was built, they fled the chaos and moved to the grasslands as a group.>
But they never let go of the land titles.>
They refuse to trade the land itself. They see it as a divine blessing and their eternal bed.>
Still…>
‘Whenever the city faces crisis, they appear like the wind.’>
Is it their good-heartedness, or just their nature?>
Whenever Clovan City falls into great trouble, the centaurs come running from somewhere.>
Three years ago, during the massive flood, they had arrived in a flash.>
They donated enormous sums and rebuilt what they could with their own hands.>
And just as mysteriously as they left… they have returned once more, before the plague.>
The vigilantes hurled words at the centaurs like trash.>
“Those filthy goblins are pouring evil curses on us every single night!”>
“The goblins killed people and dumped their bodies into our water source!”>
“That’s right! They’re praying for our death every night!”>
The vigilantes fired baseless accusations like garbage.>
Their fury was growing, justified and amplified by the hour.>
Therion’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the goblins.>
“Those goblins are saying something?”>
“Yes! Mr. Therion!”>
In the place where Therion’s gaze rested, a frightened goblin trembled.>
His gaze moved slowly… then fixed on me.>
“Prosecutor Zeo Blood, is what they say true?”>
“Therion… still the same after eight years.”>
A reunion after eight years.>
“I could never forget you, Prosecutor.”>
* * *>
There was a time when the labyrinth was in chaos.>
For reasons unknown, an enormous number of monsters had erupted from the labyrinth entrance.>
The monsters that poured into the city killed indiscriminately.>
Labyrinth hunters, the Capital Defense Command, and the entire military had all been mobilized.>
Back then, Therion and I had worked together as labyrinth hunters.>
Back when we were still Team Blood… before Team Zeo.>
The sight of centaurs fighting in the middle of monsters was like a legend from ancient myths.>
Their immense muscles and high affinity with magic had allowed them to slaughter every monster imaginable.>
Once the monsters were driven out of the city and the chaos ended, they vanished back to the grasslands.>
“Um… Mr. Therion?”>
The vigilantes called out to Therion and me in turn, hesitantly.>
“Clovan City is in crisis because of those goblin bastards. Please help us!”>
“Yes! The chairman is right. If we just drive out those filthy goblins, we can all survive!”>
“My daughter at home is dying. Because of those dirty goblin bastards!”>
Despair etched itself onto the faces of the vigilantes. They too had loved ones they wanted to protect.>
Therion asked.>
“The situation seems complicated. What exactly is happening?”>
“I’m currently investigating the plague.”>
“Is it confirmed that goblins are the cause?”>
“We’ll have to investigate that. Nothing is confirmed yet.”>
Therion’s gaze turned toward the vigilantes. They carried hand signs with crude curses written in goblin script and various weapons.>
“Hmm…”>
Therion frowned.>
At that moment, a sob echoed from the alley.>
Therion walked toward the sound, and the vigilantes parted to let him through.>
Inside the alley, a terrified little goblin was sobbing and hiccupping.>
“Huuuk… hic.”>
The trembling child was crying and hiccupping in fear.>
“Len!!! My, my baby… p-please… r-return it… guek…”>
The child’s mother screamed hysterically.>
A thin, skeletal goblin woman reached through the iron bars meant to block the advance into Scrap Ville and shouted.>
Therion scooped up the little goblin and placed him in the woman’s arms.>
“Ma… ma… mom… waah…”>
“Len!!! G-gra-grateful. I-I’ll pay. Guek…”>
The goblin woman hugged her wailing child and kept bowing to Therion.>
Therion watched the scene for a moment, then turned to me.>
“Should I take this place in your stead?”>
I nodded.>
“I won’t be back for two days.”>
Therion smiled and said, “Then return before the sun rises twice.”>
I gave a small nod and boarded the carriage.>
Therion gave a signal, and two massive centaurs, arms crossed, blocked the entrance to Scrap Ville.>
The vigilantes stepped back in fear, and our carriage pulled away once more.>
“Prosecutor, who are those centaurs?”>
I looked at Piaget’s assistant, who asked in surprise.>
I was more shocked.>
How could I not know?>
“You don’t know?”>
“What?”>
“Who that person is.”>
“I’ve never seen him before.”>
“That’s Therion.”>
“Therion?”>
Piaget’s assistant, who had been thinking for a while, said, “Therion… Therion… the name is familiar… Ah!!! Our building owner!”>
Right.>
Therion was also the landlord of my office building.>
A landlord who has frozen my rent for years—a kind landlord.>
But the connection to Therion seemed to go beyond just me.>
Miko, the researcher, who had been quiet until then, blushed and said cautiously, “I… am the president of the Therion fanclub.”>
It was a shy confession.>
* * *>
The carriage raced through the empty streets.>
The normally bustling roads were deserted.>
Apart from a few people buying supplies, the streets were quiet.>
‘Is it the influence of the monster plague…?’>
We arrived much faster than expected.>
We had reached the water source in District A-3.>
An important facility that supplies the water of the empire’s citizens in Clovan City’s A-3 district.>
Given its strict protected zone status, it was managed thoroughly.>
“Is that the first line of defense?”>
Piaget’s assistant said quietly.>
Before us stood a transparent magic barrier faintly glowing with blue light.>
“Yes. A magic ward that blocks external contaminants and intruders. That barrier is patented at the Magic Bureau.”>
Miko’s detailed knowledge suggested it was an elaborate magic ward.>
Right behind the water source lay a massive mountain range.>
“The artificial mountain range is truly enormous.”>
It was my first time seeing it up close.>
Various druids had been mobilized to create soil and rock like a mountain, and it looked authentic enough to be a primordial peak.>
The mountain range was covered in lush forest.>
At that moment, faint figures moved near the barrier.>
“Hmm… what is that?”>
Piaget’s assistant asked, tilting his head.>
“A water spirit that helps with water purification.”>
Since magic alone has limits in purification and contamination detection, they were using water spirits directly.>
Around them, druid-led patrol teams kept circling the water source.>
“What brings you here?”>
A druid approached at that moment.>
“I’m from the Capital Defense Command. I’ve come to ask a few questions regarding the incident I’m investigating.”>
“Ah… you’ve come again? I’ll guide you to the management office.”>
It seemed the Capital Defense Command had already visited about the bodies that had floated up from the water source.>
I nodded, and he led us to a tired-looking man.>
He was the water source’s caretaker.>
His tired face was particularly bloated.>
“Prosecutor Zeo Blood of the Capital Defense Command. Has anything strange happened at the water source lately?”>
The caretaker pressed his bloodshot eyes and answered. Deep wrinkles creased his face.>
“I told you there’s nothing unusual except the bodies that surfaced recently.”>
His weary voice made it clear he no longer wanted these visits.>
On his desk, behind a pile of documents, empty fatigue-recovery potions and silver candy wrappers lay scattered.>
“Stop the meaningless questions. Has the body’s identity been revealed? We need to write something in our report.”>
The caretaker sounded bitter; bodies had surfaced in the area he managed.>
I had checked beforehand, just in case.>
Apparently, the decay was so advanced that even the researchers struggled with identification.>
“We are still investigating.”>
“Before you leak it to the press, please tell me first.”>
The caretaker was pleading.>
Then I would have to comply too.>
I asked lightly.>
“Have there been any construction or changes to the water source recently?”>
The caretaker’s expression hardened.>
He seemed unwilling to answer with a tight-lipped look.>
I would have to play one more card.>
A card no civil servant could ever refuse.>
“I am Miko, a researcher from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. I am conducting an environmental impact assessment on the water source.”>
“Ah…”>
I had pulled the high-handed card.>
The supervising ministry for water source management was the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.>
If the Ministry of Health and Sanitation got involved, the water source would be on high alert.>
An unannounced visit like this would only make them more nervous.>
Miko, who had flinched at the impromptu line, was not an oblivious friend.>
Miko handed over her researcher ID and said, “Is there any record of design changes?”>
Miko had already pulled out a file folder and was pretending to write something.>
The caretaker hesitated, then finally spoke.>
“A few weeks ago, we did some minor repairs to the pipes leading from Green Energy Park.”>
“Which pipes?”>
“The ones flowing from Green Energy Park.”>
Miko continued with skillful questions.>
“I see. Since it was a pre-registered project, you should have the related documents. Please present them.”>
“The Environment Ministry said they would handle it themselves, but now the blame is coming this way.”>
Muttering, the caretaker dug through a drawer and handed us a bundle of papers.>
Miko flipped through the documents and nodded slightly.>
That meant it was correct.>
It was about the replacement of pipes due to aging and the installation of a magic filter system for water quality management.>
The filter system replacement was one thing, but the pipe replacement didn’t make sense.>
Once Green Energy Park construction began, those pipes would have to be dug up entirely.>
And the groundbreaking ceremony had taken place yesterday.>
I asked to confirm.>
“When Green Energy Park construction begins, won’t those pipes be fully replaced?”>
“I said as much, but the Environment Minister personally ordered it. What else could I say? The budget has been allocated… if we’re going to dig, we dig.”>
“The minister personally ordered it?”>
The caretaker nodded, his face twisted in fatigue.>
“Yes, the minister personally oversaw it. We’ve been ordered this way and that, so the budget keeps rising… I honestly don’t know why they allocated such an excessive budget. The spirits deserve a break too.”>
“The budget…”>
A stench began to rise.>
The stench was the rotten connection between the Green Energy Park groundbreaking, the water source, and the corpses that had floated up from it.>
“Thank you for your cooperation.”>
I turned to leave and said to the caretaker, “You should probably visit the hospital.”>
Leaving those words, I headed straight for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.