Chapter 106: Caleb the Bait
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 106: Caleb the Bait
A famous trot singer once left behind these wise words:
‘A true superstar drives both their fans and their haters wild.’
For some reason, that really resonates with me.
Because right now, at least one ‘hater’ was seriously pissed off.
Krom, the orc berserker and owner of the Blackdog Casino, glared at me with a terrifying expression.
On the surface, I was alone, but behind me was a whole crowd of allies: Meldini, Isilof, Consul Peterson, Isel, Neko, and many others.
Each was either disguised, under a transparency spell, or acting like a passerby in the back alleys, waiting on standby.
He probably didn't know the exact details, but he could clearly sense something was off.
“What are you doing here?”
Krom made no effort to hide his displeasure.
“Just here to have some fun.”
“Do I look like an idiot to you? Did the Assembly send you?”
“It’s nothing like that.”
“Unlike that rogue in your party, you’re not the type to enjoy this back-alley entertainment.”
So he knew about Back Attack.
It seemed he’d done a thorough investigation on me after the casino incident and dug up information on my party members as well.
“You must be here to stir up more trouble. Otherwise, why would a guy who almost died show up here just two days later? Did the knife hit you in the head instead of the gut?”
“Almost dying made me regret working so hard all the time.”
“I’ll be watching you. The casino just reopened. At the very least, don’t cause any trouble in there…”
“Caleb-hyungnim!”
Right on cue, Back Attack appeared, waving his hand.
“Ah, hyungnim, you finally made it. I’ve been waiting.”
He threw an arm around my shoulder and pulled me aside.
“I hit it off with this girl at the club in front of here the day before yesterday, and she said she’s bringing a friend today. Perfect for a two-on-two.”
“…Let’s go.”
Who could have ever imagined this?
Not even I could have guessed. That I’d be possessed into this world, only to be set up with a girl in a back alley during a moment of crisis.
“Oh, and Mr. Owner.”
Back Attack greeted Krom as we passed.
“Congrats on reopening the casino. By the way, slot machine number four is broken.”
“…”
Krom scowled, shooting daggers at both me and Back Attack.
“Stay out of trouble and have your fun quietly. If any commotion breaks out in this neighborhood, you’ll be the first ones I come looking for.”
“Ah, honestly, I can’t make any promises.”
Back Attack joked playfully.
“Girls fighting over me is practically a bi-daily occurrence.”
“Get the hell out.”
“Make sure you fix that slot machine.”
The massive news—that a university student was murdered near the dormitory and the Wyndham duo had invaded the dorms to fight the professors—had already spread throughout the back alleys.
I hadn't known, but apparently, Back Attack and Aimus had come to visit me in the hospital while I was unconscious for two days.
And they had offered to help with the current operation.
Their method was…
‘Drawing aggro in the back alleys? No, hyungnim. I’m being serious. When it comes to that, I’m number one in Sohen.’
The master of the back-alley arts, who had once drawn the aggro of even ragged zombies.
The genius player of various games, from dodging paintballs at the casino to darts and slot machines.
A wild horse that could never be tied down, who had made countless women’s hearts flutter and ache.
Back Attack, the back-alley delinquent, had begun to corrupt the bookworm of the Magic University!
“To be honest, hyungnim, I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.”
His eyes had a crazed look.
“I needed a friend to work with in the Labyrinth and party with in the back alleys. No offense to my old party, but Hershel was kind of a boring gnome, Caelin was a girl, Aimus-hyungnim is a married man, and Yernil is an idiot.”
“…”
“So I’ve had my eye on you for a long time. I’ll introduce you to all my friends today.”
Most of them were women.
Starting with the one he mentioned for the two-on-two date.
“Are you Backstabber Bro’s friend?”
Seriously, Attack?
Is that what they call you in the back alleys? Backstabber Bro?
“You’re kinda cute…”
We played roulette at the casino together (I lost 500 gold), then went bar-hopping for three rounds.
“Hey, beautifuls!”
Everywhere we went, Back Attack greeted gangsters and women who recognized him.
“Long time no see.”
“Been well?”
“This is my party leader, my hyungnim.”
Thanks to him, the news that I was hanging out in the back alleys spread like wildfire throughout the neighborhood.
Always with Back Attack’s introduction.
“His name’s Caleb. You know how the casino got flooded that one time? That was all this hyungnim.”
“He’s gonna live it up with me before we enter the next Labyrinth.”
“Ah, my hyungnim here is too much of a bookworm. I’m just showing him a different side of the world.”
And so it continued, bar-hopping, drinking, throwing up, fighting—no, more accurately, stopping Back Attack from fighting—dancing at clubs, and then drinking some more.
Ugh, my head is spinning.
How does Back Attack do this every day?
“Caleb…”
After just three days, I came to my senses and found I’d made a ton of trivial, shallow connections in the back alleys. Along with a few clingy women.
“Should we… go sober up for a bit?”
The girl currently clinging to my arm was someone I’d met at the club earlier.
Was her name Mary? Or Linda?
“Over there?”
She pointed to a hotel chain, one of the businesses run by Blackdog.
“Sorry.”
I politely declined and detached myself from her.
It’s not that I dislike women, but I was currently being watched by dozens of people!
Besides, entering an enclosed space alone with anyone, no matter who they were, was something to be avoided for the sake of the operation.
But seriously, is this method actually going to lure out the culprit?
On the second floor of the Public Security Headquarters.
In one of the most heavily guarded places in Sohen, Yernil was lost in a gloomy mood.
It had already been three days.
Caleb was out there acting as bait, roaming Blackdog’s territory, while Yernil was on standby at the headquarters.
Pathetic…
She was feeling an immense sense of powerlessness.
What had Yernil sworn when Caleb woke up after being critically injured for two days?
I’ll protect you from now on.
That’s what Yernil had said. That even though she wasn’t a Deep Layer adventurer like Hyedam, he should rely on her more.
That she would never let Caleb go into any dangerous place alone again.
That’s what Yernil had said.
But, embarrassingly enough, the Public Security Headquarters and the Magic University had cleanly excluded her from the operation.
‘Protecting two targets is more difficult. It divides our manpower. Yernil, please remain on standby at the headquarters.’
Yernil had to agree with the Consul’s point that there should only be one target.
But who was that one person going to be?
‘I’d rather go out and be the target myself!’
Yernil had tried her best to persuade him, but the Consul wouldn’t budge.
‘You are not a Citizen Constable, Yernil.’
‘I’ll do that too! I have a medal, don’t I?’
‘If you wish to become a Citizen Constable, we can register you. However, it has already been decided that this operation will proceed with Caleb.’
And that was that.
Yernil’s vow to never let Caleb fight alone again, no matter the opponent, had been reduced to nothing.
A cruel fact, number one:
She was not as skilled an adventurer as Caleb.
A cruel fact, number two:
There was no place for Yernil in a chaotic battle against Deep Layer monsters.
“…”
And so, here she was, sitting at the Public Security Headquarters, just killing time.
“Still, don’t worry too much.”
The one small comfort was that she wasn’t alone.
“The professors and the Consul are with Caleb, you know.”
Aimus said.
“That’s… what upsets me the most.”
What if Hyedam had been here? What if Hyedam were in Yernil’s place right now?
The Eight-Tailed Deep Layer Fox Spirit Shaman, a Deep Layer adventurer. The woman who was said to be one of the strongest in Wyndham.
She probably wouldn’t be stuck here at headquarters alone.
That feeling of powerlessness was what tormented Yernil the most.
“But Aimus, why do you come here every day?”
“Because I feel like our party is on the verge of falling apart.”
“…Then you should go help Caleb. I’m stuck inside the headquarters.”
“A monk getting married is already a violation of my vows. How could I possibly wander the back-alley bars?”
“…Is… that so?”
Yernil stood up and walked toward the main staircase of the headquarters.
“Where are you going?”
“To the underground archives.”
In her attempt to become the bait for this operation instead of Caleb, Yernil had, in a fit of pique(?), become a Citizen Constable.
Thanks to that, she now had access to the Public Security Headquarters’ Level 2 records.
The Labyrinth Eruption from 12 years ago.
Caleb was curious about those files.
Unfortunately, Caleb was incredibly busy right now, and it seemed he would be for the foreseeable future.
With nothing else to do, Yernil decided to read the records in his stead.
The night of the fifth day.
A club owned by Blackdog.
As the music thumped and people danced around me, I was burning with anxiety.
I have to do something, and soon.
I had to find the culprit and end this case one way or another.
Before a real problem arose.
What problem, you ask?
I need to enter the Labyrinth!
The Labyrinth would be opening soon, and I had to go in. If I didn’t, it would erupt.
But in a situation like this, with my life under threat, did I really think the Labyrinth Union would coolly let me go?
The university professors, the Public Security Headquarters, the Labyrinth Union, the Adventurer’s Guild—they would all try to stop me.
They could even legally block my entry.
Damn it.
Two weeks is too short.
“Caleb!”
Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to see Birtanen, with Jikal beside him.
As expected, Emma wasn't at a club like this, probably because she was a priest.
“Hello.”
“I never thought I’d see you in a place like this.”
“Just came for a change of pace.”
“Same here, actually.”
The faces of the two men darkened.
Avison, Antonelli, and now Teramond.
It seemed that any wizard who joined their party ended up dead.
Though Avison had survived.
“It’s a real shame. That friend, Teramond. He worked so hard to become a freeman.”
“He hadn’t been a freeman for long, I take it?”
“That’s right. Of course.”
Birtanen sighed as he drank his beer.
“A debt of 30,000 gold is no small amount.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Ah. To you, Caleb, that might not be a lot of money. You’re a mid-level adventurer now, aren’t you? Haha. But for us, who are barely 2nd-floor adventurers, it’s not a small sum.”
“Wait a minute. His debt was 30,000 gold?”
“That’s right.”
What the fuck.
Something’s not right here.
Teramond was a war slave. But what could a normal commoner who ran a general store have done to have a ransom of 30,000 gold?
To incur a debt like that, his crime must have been severe.
It would have to be a crime ten times heavier than my charge of killing a possessor or Yernil’s for drug trafficking.
But Teramond wasn’t like that, was he? What in the world…?
“Caleb.”
As I was talking to Birtanen, someone suddenly wrapped their arms around me from behind.
“Hello.”
Her head rested on my shoulder as she back-hugged me.
The hair I could see in my peripheral vision was red.
Just as Krom said, it was irrational for a guy who almost died two days ago to suddenly start roaming the back alleys, drinking and partying like there was no tomorrow.
If the culprit was a cautious person, she might suspect that I was working with the Public Security Headquarters to set a trap.
Of course, someone like Yernil might not think that deeply.
But it didn’t matter if she was suspicious.
Why?
First, the small clue Yernil found—the ‘red-haired woman’—was incredibly valuable. Even if the culprit had magic to erase object memories, she couldn’t possibly erase her entire trail.
All we had to do was thoroughly investigate the area around the dormitory with psychometry magic and track the red-haired woman.
Second, Sohen was currently under a complete lockdown. All gates on the outskirts were locked, and no one could leave. Though someone with the strength of Bisan or Mugol could probably break through.
So, the culprit was like a rat in a trap. Getting caught was only a matter of time.
Then why did the Consul launch an operation like this?
Because time was of the essence.
Eventually, the Labyrinth would open. That would give the culprit another way out.
Of course, the Labyrinth Union would screen for a red-haired woman, and the Public Security Headquarters would investigate everyone, but the administrative power consumed in that process would be enormous.
Not to mention the flood of complaints from adventurers whose entry into the Labyrinth was delayed.
That’s why the Consul wanted to end this case before the Labyrinth opened.
And it didn’t matter if she was suspicious.
Since her capture was inevitable, she was cornered. Even if she suspected it was a trap, there was a high chance she would bite anyway.
With the mindset of taking one more person down with her before she was caught.
Given the nature of slave-hating crimes, it was highly likely the culprit felt no shame, but rather a sense of justice, believing she was passing judgment on her targets.
Therefore, we had anticipated that the culprit might suspect the presence of disguised consuls, constables, professors, and wizards in this club.
What the fuck.
But I never expected this.
“There are constables here, right? All of you, back off.”
The woman flung open her coat. Inside was…
[Corpse Explosion Scroll]
[Corpse Explosion Scroll]
[Corpse Explosion Scroll]
[Corpse Explosion Scroll]
[Corpse Explosion Scroll]
[Corpse Explosion Scroll]
…
A pile of scrolls that covered almost her entire body.
“They’re set to detonate automatically the moment a corpse appears. My corpse, your corpse—doesn’t matter.”
Agents who had been in disguise swarmed out from all directions.
“Caleb!”
“Th-This is insane.”
“What is that!”
The Consul, in particular, turned pale.
“With that many scrolls, she could bring down the entire club.”
And my body, which was protected by Soul Preservation, would be turned to dust without a chance of being preserved. Furthermore…
“There are a lot of civilians here, right? Stay back, unless you want them all to die.”
The woman threatened the constables and wizards, tightening her grip on my arm.
“Let’s you and I have a little talk.”
This was nuts.
This was truly strange.
“You.”
Corpse Explosion Scrolls weren’t cheap, and they were rare. You couldn’t just wrap your body in them like bandages.
Even with the purchasing power and connections of a professor, this didn’t make sense.
“Who’s backing you?”