Lair Under the Bridge (4)
Serpina knew nothing about Ayoung. She had zero interest in learning, either. In fact, she still didn’t even know the girl’s name. Since she had never once felt the urge to find out, it didn’t matter. Even so, she had discovered one thing today.
“Doesn’t this ride feel amazingly smooth? They ran a ton of ads saying they put special effort into this model. Honestly, the last electric scooter had similar marketing, but it was a total flop. The mana efficiency was nowhere near what they promised, and the design was so obnoxiously unique that you had to slap on both concealment and security spells every time you parked it. Compared to that…”
This kid talked way too much. She was clearly obsessed with the damn electric scooter, or whatever it was called. Serpina tuned out Ayoung’s endless chatter, letting it drift into the back of her mind. Instead, she focused on the flow of mana she felt beneath her feet.
Increased durability on the main components, boosted output, and a handful of miscellaneous tweaks. They mixed electronic parts with mana circuits so it wouldn’t be obvious.
When she had seen the spells Ayoung placed on that selfie stick and the fishnet stockings earlier, Serpina’s first thought had been, Why go through all this hassle when you could just use attack or binding magic?
Now, after examining the enchantments on this scooter, she had reached a new understanding.
They designed it so no one could tell magic was involved just by looking.
Take this scooter, for example. After layering on all those spells, it had become something that could no longer be called a mere electric scooter. A vehicle that maintained a stable sixty kilometers per hour and cornered smoothly deserved to be called a motorcycle. Yet on the outside, it looked no different from an ordinary scooter. That was the realization Serpina had reached.
“Hold on tight! This is my favorite part of the whole route!”
Ayoung shouted, her voice bright with excitement. The scooter slammed into some construction equipment on the roadside with a loud bang. It shot up the ramp and—
launched into the air.
“Yeehaw!”
The scooter flew. For about three seconds. Then it came crashing back down.
The front wheel smashed into the pavement, throwing sparks everywhere. “This! This right here! I can never get enough!” Ayoung thrust her fist into the air and cheered.
Serpina simply closed her eyes. This one’s not right in the head either.
…….
After racing along for roughly fifteen minutes, a paid parking lot came into view. Ayoung parked the scooter and planted her feet on the ground. She looked up at the sky and let out a sigh heavy with conflicting emotions.
“…I’m sooo sorry!”
She bowed deeply toward Serpina.
“I get a little too excited once I grab the handlebars! I mean, that’s not an excuse or anything, but, um, well…”
Serpina waved a hand to cut off what promised to be a very long apology. It wasn’t that she was particularly bothered. She didn’t think this warranted an apology at all. Ayoung might still have a long way to go in Serpina’s eyes, but a mage was still a mage. And in Serpina’s opinion, every mage ought to have at least one screw loose somewhere. Going wild behind the handlebars was actually kind of cute.
“It’s fine. Just show me the way. We’re there, right?”
“Ah, yes! Just go down this alley and walk a little farther!”
Ayoung led Serpina into the narrow passage. Streetlights were spaced far apart, and most of them were broken or flickering, leaving the alley oppressively dark. Ayoung navigated the shadows with practiced ease until she stopped in front of one particular pole. She placed her hand on it and sent a pulse of mana through.
Blink. Blink.
The light on the pole flashed twice.
Then, a little farther ahead, the wall at the dead end of the alley rippled with a low hum.
“Hurry! This only lasts thirty seconds!”
Ayoung urged Serpina forward as she walked straight into the wall. Her body vanished into it as if sinking into water. Serpina followed right behind her.
And then…
a completely different scene unfolded.
It looked like the bustling downtown streets on a Friday or Saturday night. The crowd wasn’t quite as dense, but the lively atmosphere was comparable. A witch flew past overhead on her broom, while a vampire on the sidewalk sipped blood from a pack through a straw, chatting with a friend. Everyone’s clothing resembled what Serpina knew as mage attire, though far more modern. Still, the magical symbols and mana circuits hidden in every hem and seam proudly declared their identities.
And above it all was a ceiling.
In other words, an entire city had been built underground.
This was the city of mages and non-humans—Shinsi.
“Whoa.”
Even Serpina, who had grown jaded toward most things, let out a small sound of admiration. The sight was something the twenty-first century could scarcely imagine, and the magic that had brought them here from that dark back alley was impressive too. She analyzed the ripple in space they had just passed through.
“They hid the entrance? No, it’s closer to creating a hole between spaces and activating it for a short time. Not bad at all.”
Serpina could have created the same thing if she wanted, but it would have required a considerable amount of materials and no small amount of time. The spell guarding access to this place was that sophisticated.
“Still… why does this feel so familiar?”
She was tilting her head at the strange sense of déjà vu when Ayoung called out.
“Senior! That’s the Association right there!”
Ayoung pointed at a massive building a short distance away. While the surrounding structures topped out at five or six stories, this one soared alone to fifteen floors.
As they drew closer, a huge sign hanging over the entrance came into view.
Wolha Association
“Wolha Association?”
“Hehe. A bit old-fashioned, right? That’s because it’s an old organization. When it was first founded, people praised the name for having real atmosphere.”
Listening to Ayoung’s explanation, Serpina stepped into the Association building. The moment they entered the lobby, a massive screen caught her eye. It cycled through all sorts of news, current market prices for frequently traded goods, and job postings looking for people to handle specific tasks. A crowd gathered in front of it, checking new listings or making calls the instant anything interesting appeared.
Serpina had seen a similar sight in the other world.
An adventurer guild.
The Wolha Association lobby looked just like one. No matter how much technology advanced, places that served the same purpose ended up looking the same. She filed the observation away.
“Ayoung! Ayoung!”
While Serpina was taking in the lobby, a man and woman came running over, calling her name in hushed voices. Ayoung looked at them in confusion.
“Dongseok? Goeun? What are you two doing here?”
“What do you mean, what? We’ve been waiting for you! How long does it take to catch one cat? We thought something went wrong!”
“Well, that’s…”
“This isn’t the time. Ayoung, hide for now. If Kwakdol finds you, he’s swearing he’ll finally give you a proper ‘education’ this time. It’s chaos over there!”
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t know! Just hide for now and bring alcohol later to apologize. That’ll be safer.”
“But I’m with the cat’s owner right now…”
At that moment, a man appeared from the opposite direction and spotted Ayoung. His roar shook the lobby.
“Ayoung!! You!!”
His voice was loud enough to silence the noisy lobby for a split second. The man didn’t seem to care about the disturbance he’d caused. He shoved through the crowd, ignoring the people bumping into his shoulders, and stormed over. Even at a glance, calling his expression “gentle” would have been a stretch.
“How long does it take to catch one damn cat?! The auction already started!”
“Huh? Auction…? When you gave me the request earlier, you said the client wanted to raise a magic beast cat, so I just had to catch it?”
“…! You little—talking back to me now?!”
Caught in his lie, the man doubled down with righteous indignation and reached for Ayoung. As his massive hand—big as a pot lid—came flying toward her, Ayoung instinctively shrank back.
In that tense moment, a relaxed arm stretched out and caught the man’s wrist.
It was Serpina.
Still gripping his wrist, she spoke.
“From what I hear, you’re the bastard who told us to catch our Heemang, right?”
The man glanced sideways, froze for a moment when he saw Serpina’s face, then looked down at her shabby clothes. His expression immediately turned arrogant again.
“Who the hell is this beggar bitch? Let go.”
His muscles bulged as he tried to yank his arm free, but the wrist in Serpina’s grip didn’t budge. He immediately raised his other fist. He hadn’t clenched it yet, but the threat was clear—he was more than ready to throw a punch.
Serpina remained calm in the face of his aggression.
“Doesn’t look like conversation is going to work. Calm down for a second.”
“Who do you think you’re—aaaagh!”
Boom!
Serpina swung the arm she was holding. That was all.
Yet the man’s massive body followed the arc like a rag doll, smashing into the floor tiles and shattering them. The result spoke for itself.
“……”
The lobby fell deathly silent in an instant. Even the people who had been glued to the screen turned their heads. In the heavy quiet, Serpina dispersed the rising dust and tile fragments with a casual wave of wind.
“Get up. I adjusted my strength. It should have been bearable.”
“……”
But the man lay sprawled on the ground, completely motionless. Serpina nudged him a few times with her foot, then—rare for her—spoke in a genuinely puzzled tone.
“…Guess he didn’t train properly.”
It was the man’s lack of training. Definitely not because she had failed to hold back.