Decryption (2)
Buzz Hoover, the late mayor, had wanted to change how the outside world saw Baran.
The prejudice that it was a city of gambling and booze. Homeless people wandering the streets drugged out of their minds, and the corrupt corporations who did nothing to fix it — worse, who watched and encouraged it. For the sake of Baran's better future, he had argued, everything needed to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up.
"I heard there was a fierce back-and-forth between the city and the corporations behind closed doors. In the end, they reached an agreement to cut out exactly one of them."
Oscar murmured as he listened to Kilian's explanation. "The drugs, I'd wager."
The corporations would never give up alcohol and gambling, the pillars of Baran's economy. Instead, they must have hung the drug trade — a business their own hands never touched — up as the sacrificial lamb.
"Correct. And sure enough, Buzz Hoover declared war on the drug trafficking organizations."
"And the result?"
"I hear the drugs circulating through the city dropped by eighty-six percent in just two years."
"Oh."
A far more positive outcome than Oscar had expected. Drug deals happened in the shadows, which made cracking down on them extraordinarily difficult.
"But on the eve of opening a treatment center for the addicts, he suddenly dropped dead at his own home."
"...That smells a bit off."
"Some people believe the drug cartels had him assassinated, and there are rumors that a drugged-up man of power hired the Violet Brigade — but the truth is something nobody knows."
Having heard enough of the background, Oscar asked, "So what exactly is this material that needs its code broken?"
"No idea. All I know is that of everything Buzz Hoover had, it's said to hold the most secret contents of all."
"Hmm."
With a very high probability, it would be material on the political enemies who'd killed him. Then, recalling Ara Sweet, Oscar asked, "What about the Sweet family? Was there bad blood between them and the Hoovers?"
"Hm? Quite the opposite. Marc Sweet was actually a staunch supporter of Mayor Buzz, and he's the one who stepped up as the spearhead of the drug eradication effort. Thanks to that, he's now widely favored to be elected the next mayor."
"...Is that so."
So the father was a decent sort after all? In that case, maybe the problem was simply that he'd spoiled his only daughter rotten.
"Hey. They're here."
Oscar rose from the plush sofa in the ornate parlor just as the door opened and a boy of thirteen or so stepped inside — young, but composed. Flanking him on either side stood no fewer than six hired mercenaries.
Every one of them a Level 4. He must have spent real money.
Oscar quickly sized up their caliber, then withdrew his gaze, and the boy gave a dignified bow of his head.
"A pleasure. I am Jake Hoover, eldest son of the family. You're the mages from the White Tower, I take it?"
"Yes. I'm Oscar Crucian, a Level 3 mage, and this is—"
"Kilian Lockwood. Level 4."
"...Kilian Lockwood?"
Jake blinked twice, then suddenly cried out, "Ah! You couldn't be the one who served as Marin Maria's bodyguard recently, could you!?"
"..."
Kilian stared straight at him.
Well, what could he do? Explaining it all one by one was too much of a hassle anyway. Oscar shrugged and spoke up.
"Yes. This is the White Tower's Rising Star — the man who dealt with the infamous Udok Brothers."
"I never dreamed someone of such renown would come all this way to see us."
Jake's eyes sparkled with excitement as he ushered them to their seats. He then ordered a servant to bring tea and continued, "I assume you two know why I'm hiring mages?"
His gaze stayed fixed firmly on Kilian.
He thinks Kilian's the one who calls the shots here.
Meanwhile, Kilian kept glancing sidelong at Oscar every time a question came his way.
And he thinks I'm the one who calls the shots.
Left with no choice, Oscar took over. "We heard you're looking for someone to break an encryption."
"Ah — yes, that's right."
Only then did Jake realize who his actual conversation partner was, and he turned to face him properly.
"My father once said that the material contains the most secret, most shocking information in all of Baran City."
"So you believe that material is connected to your late father's death, Mr. Jake."
"...Yes. Honestly, at first I was only half convinced. But recently, that doubt turned into certainty."
Turned into certainty?
Intrigued, Oscar asked why.
"After my father passed, we immediately invited renowned encryption mages from outside."
"A wise move."
Sharp-headed for such a young age. And in truth, entrusting encrypted material to random hands and risking it being ruined was far worse than calling in experts from the start.
"But on their way to Baran, strange things began to happen, one after another. Falls from horseback, exploding carriage engines, bridges collapsing as they crossed a river, even bandits — a rarity these days. In the end, not a single one of them ever reached Baran City."
"That is certainly strange."
"Yes. It means someone doesn't want this material made public."
"...If the material is closely tied to your father's death, that would make sense."
"Exactly!"
The matter ran deeper than Oscar had anticipated. "Could we take a look at this encrypted material, then?"
"Of course. On one condition, though — a single procedure first."
With that, Jake placed two sheets of parchment on the table.
"Parchment of Covenant, sold by the El Terra Order. I trust you both know how it's used?"
"We do."
A vicious contract, the kind that claimed your life if you failed to honor what was written on it. The terms inscribed there were simple.
1. The contractors shall do no harm whatsoever to the encrypted material.
2. The contractors shall disclose nothing related to this commission to any person.
3. The above rules may be waived, in limited scope, only with the express permission of Jake Hoover.
4. All terms herein become null and void upon the conclusion of the commission.
The material was important enough that a security measure of sorts had been built around it.
"...Before we begin, there is one thing I'd like to ask."
Taking his eyes off the parchment, Oscar looked toward the mercenaries standing at attention behind Jake. "Have all of those men gone through the same procedure?"
"Of course. Security was the thing I took the greatest care with in arranging all of this."
Jake beamed with pride. Then, as Oscar glanced at the men behind him one by one, the hired mercenaries squared their jaws with confidence.
"So you have no need to doubt them — you can rest easy."
"That's for me to judge. Bring me the Parchments of Covenant they signed."
At Oscar's firm tone, Jake's face went pale with confusion. At the same moment, one of the mercenaries in the back furrowed his brow.
"A mere Level 3 mage dares to speak before—"
"Kilian."
The instant the name left Oscar's lips, low and quiet, the man shot forward at a speed no one in that room but Oscar could even register.
CRUNCH!
"...G-GRAAAGH!"
In a flash, the mercenary's head was smashed against the floor, and he screamed.
F-fast!
I couldn't even see him move...
He's the same Level 4 we are?
The way his body moves — better than any ordinary warrior. A combat mage focused on martial technique, then.
The moment the remaining mercenaries, a beat too slow, drew their weapons and leveled them at Oscar and Kilian — Oscar spoke with a composure so total it was hard to believe he'd caused the whole commotion.
"This is for the sake of mutual trust. Hardly a difficult request, I'd say."
"...Very well. One moment, please."
Jake nodded and returned shortly with the signed Parchments of Covenant. Oscar examined each one carefully with a keen eye — and then, "Ah. Found it."
He looked up and, like a teacher taking roll, called out two names. "Don Frank? And Mr. Kurt Barry?"
The eyes of Jake and the mercenaries split two ways. One gaze went to the mercenary pinned down by Kilian; the other, to the man who had just been pointing his sword at them.
"What the hell is this!? Why are you calling my name all of a sud—"
The moment Kurt Barry raised his voice to protest under all those watching eyes —
BOOM!
Compressed air detonated right in front of his face. He went flying backward and slammed into the wall, out cold on the spot.
"...Kindly explain what just happened here."
To Jake's deliberately furious expression, Oscar answered with a question. "This Parchment of Covenant — who procured it?"
"I had the mansion's servants fetch it."
"Then arrest that servant as well."
Flap, flap.
Oscar waved the two men's parchments. "They're fakes. Utterly ordinary paper, carrying none of the El Terra Order's divine power."
"...!"
At those words, Jake's eyes went round as saucers and he stammered, "Th-then, that means..."
"Yes. Those two aren't bound by any of these rules. They've almost certainly already funneled our internal information outside."
It was only possible because they had signed mere paper masquerading as a Parchment of Covenant.
The shock of it knocked the legs out from under Jake, and he collapsed onto the sofa. "This— this can't be. Spies, you say...?"
"By now, the other side knows exactly what's going on in this room."
Oscar walked over to Don Frank, the one Kilian had subdued, and crouched down in front of him. With an icy stare, he looked down at the man sweating bullets.
"Tell me who you're working for."
"D-damn it! I was hired remotely — I don't know either!"
"..."
It wasn't a lie. Which meant they'd been meticulous about severing every possible tail in case things went wrong.
"What information did you pass along?"
"...The number and caliber of the hired mercenaries."
What the opposition would do, having grasped all of that, was obvious. Oscar turned his head toward Jake. "They'll come to steal the material soon. And they'll send forces stronger than the mercenaries gathered here."
"..."
As the boy's face turned ashen, Oscar threw him a lifeline.
"Ahem. Let's say 500,000 bel for the decryption fee, plus another 500,000 to hire Kilian and myself as mercenaries. One million bel in total — how does that sound?"
It was probably a more expensive sum than hiring all six of the mercenaries in this room combined. But with no room to haggle over hot or cold water, Jake nodded like a madman.
"I-I'll do it. The contract."
"You won't regret it."
Oscar smiled and signed the Parchment of Covenant.
With no way of knowing when the enemy would strike, every second counted. Oscar asked for the encrypted item first.
"This bag is it, then."
"Yes. I found it in my father's personal safe."
There was no problem at all with simply gripping the handle. But every time he tried to touch the clasp of the cover, a powerful mana repulsion flared up.
"Hm. Quite a few layers, aren't there."
Three spells in total had been placed on the bag: Triple Encryption, Repulsion, and Detonation. Attempt to force it open physically, and the material would be annihilated along with the bag itself.
Jake's mouth had gone bone-dry; he swallowed and asked, "...Can you — is it possible?"
"Yes. It's possible."
The reason Oscar radiated such confidence was simple. These were spells he'd used like breathing in his past life.
During the war, every single piece of data had to be encrypted before it could be transferred.
Imperial and human intelligence that could turn the tide of the war if it ever fell into the demons' hands. None of it could leave the premises until it had passed through dozens of layers of encryption.
Not that it compares to the codes we had back then...
Triple encryption was child's play by those standards.
Without hesitation, Oscar drew up his mana and let it seep into the bag's cover. The moment it penetrated, a vast sea of mana codes unfolded before his eyes.
He observed them for a moment, deduced the pattern, extracted the correct code, and entered it.
The whole process took exactly twelve seconds.
With a soft click, the bag opened, and Jake blinked rapidly. "Surely... it's done already?"
"Yes."
"..."
Was there some kind of problem?