Cloverbloom (4)
Even after the meeting with Spinel, plenty had happened, yet the schedule at the Black Market flowed on without any real trouble.
The most positive development among it all was that Spinel, even after hearing my story, showed no sign of intending to dispose of me.
More precisely, she had deferred any decision about me until later.
It was not, as I had told her, a matter of watching the Successor’s mood.
Apparently Spinel herself had judged that I would prove useful in handling the Cabal’s affairs.
And so Spinel Cloverbloom declared she would keep watching me, then saw Sinel and me off as we left the Black Market.
Of course, Sinel kept her blunt, surly demeanor the entire way back to the office.
“…….”
Just the two of us left in the office.
While I used my phone to order dinner, Sinel’s blank figure sitting on the sofa kept catching my eye.
What had happened with Spinel at the Black Market was clearly the cause.
Their relationship had never looked particularly warm.
Spinel’s younger sister. And my assistant, Sinel Cloverbloom.
I still knew almost nothing about her circumstances.
Rather than clumsily prying into her family affairs, it might be better simply to watch and wait.
“Sinel.”
“Yes, boss.”
“I just ordered pizza.”
“……Pizza.”
Even the mention of pizza failed to brighten her expression.
A gloomy mood, it seemed, was not something pizza alone could fix.
I sighed and tried a different angle.
“It’s a premium pizza—twice as expensive as the ordinary kind.”
“……Premium pizza.”
“I ordered spaghetti as a side, of course.”
“……Spaghetti.”
“And french fries along with it.”
“……Isn’t there cola?”
“Hmm…….”
Looks like I had been fretting over nothing.
I let out a hollow laugh and sprawled back in the chair.
The backrest tilted; the office ceiling filled my vision.
A pure white ceiling, lights densely embroidered across it.
With nothing but telepathy magic I had made this place my own.
Thinking about it afresh, I had accomplished quite a lot in a short time.
The great Dark Merchant, Percival Smith.
That was the name I carried now—unsupported by evidence, unbacked by any real achievements.
“Sinel.”
“Yes.”
“I’m an information merchant.”
“I know.”
“And I happen to enjoy listening to people’s information.”
“Yes.”
“So if there’s something you want to say, feel free to spill it. I’ll listen to whatever it is.”
“……Is that so.”
Creak.
The moment the words left my mouth the door opened.
The sharp smell of pizza stabbed the air as the delivery man stepped in holding the boxes.
I rose, approached him, and held out the payment.
He checked the amount on the receipt, then handed over the pizza with a polite thanks.
“Thank you. Enjoy your meal.”
The solid weight of the food settled into my hands.
Seventy-eight credits. A reasonable sum for a lavish feast for two.
The hinges screeched again as the delivery man left the office the same way he had entered.
I spread the food across the table and took the seat opposite Sinel.
“Do you like pizza?”
“I don’t dislike it.”
“Then eat up.”
I unwrapped the packaging and lifted a slice.
Biting into the still-steaming pizza, I watched Sinel.
Her pale hands picked up a slice; her small mouth closed around it.
The pizza vanished into her mouth at a speed that defied belief even while I watched.
In no time she had finished an entire slice, lips glistening with oil, and spoke.
“It’s good.”
“Yeah. Have as much as you want.”
“Yes.”
“Just leave some for me.”
Hiss. I cracked open a beer can with a soft, deflating sound.
While I washed the greasy aftertaste of pizza down with beer, Sinel, still eating across from me, fixed me with a steady stare.
A stretch of silence.
Then she set the pizza down and spoke.
“Boss.”
“What is it?”
“Since you’re a great information merchant, this is all just… in case. I’m only saying it on the off chance.”
“……Of course.”
She had finally decided to voice her worries.
I nodded and waited for whatever came next.
Sinel took a sip of cola, met my eyes squarely, and began.
“Spinel is my older sister.”
“I know.”
“And the Spinel I’ve known… she’s been good at everything since we were little.”
“So her grasp of magic isn’t fast for nothing.”
“I’ve never once beaten her in skill.”
The Skyscraper Mage was an unparalleled genius.
At a relatively young age she had drawn close to the Inner Truth, and as a result become a 6th-circle Archmage who now shook this city.
Her understanding of magic had always been high; even before she reached Archmage she had toyed with the security forces using her spells.
That was precisely why the Successor had taken Spinel into the Cabal.
“I liked that Spinel. She was kind, and I was proud of her—she was family.”
“Mm.”
“Even after the accident, when the house fell into hardship and only the two of us were left, I believed that moment would last forever.”
“Is that so.”
“But at some point Spinel started to change. Precisely, after people came demanding our parents’ debts.”
The longer Sinel spoke, the more I felt the story beginning to fracture.
The War City of the novel was never a place where everyone was happy.
Wherever there were criminals there were victims; wherever there were happy people there were unhappy ones.
Unfortunately Sinel seemed to belong to the latter.
“They claimed interest had piled onto our parents’ debts and named an absurd sum.”
“…….”
“Spinel told me it was fine and tried to pay it off working as a bounty hunter, but… from then on she gradually started obsessing over money, and……”.
“She became a criminal.”
“That’s right. In the end she killed them all and turned into a completely different person.”
Everyone carries a small darkness inside them.
Even a genius like Spinel was no exception.
She grew slowly accustomed to the sensation of killing.
She became more and more intoxicated with the magic that let her manipulate people.
That was how a person was gradually swallowed by the malice that had always lived within them.
“But if I become stronger still, and earn enough money to satisfy Spinel… then I believe I can force her back somehow.”
That was the end of Sinel and Spinel’s past.
I looked away from her and gazed for a moment at the darkness beyond the window.
There are things no amount of effort can reach.
Efforts whose direction was wrong from the very start.
Listening to a story of an unattainable dream, mixed with the mana of the moonlit night, left me in a strange mood.
“A good dream. I’ll cheer you on.”
I drained the beer can and set it down.
I was no longer a reader who merely watched other people’s stories.
I was another character writing the stories of myself and those around me with my own hands.
Even in a harsh world, I would give myself and my comrades a happy ending.
That resolve began to rise in my chest.
“So I want a big salary.”
“Pfft……”.
And just as quickly it withered.
Cough, cough.
The beer that had been going down my throat reverse-flowed; I choked hard.
While I coughed for a long while, Sinel brought a tissue and patted my back.
I covered my mouth with the tissue and finally managed to settle myself.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad you seem fine.”
“……Thanks for worrying.”
The pity I had felt for her story sank straight into the abyss.
At the end of a heartbreaking tale came a request for higher pay; the emotion that had been building vanished in an instant.
So this was a boss’s mindset.
Somehow the way I looked at the world felt different.
“Boss.”
Once the coughing fully subsided, Sinel—who had been patting my back—sat down beside me.
She popped one of the french fries ordered with the pizza into her mouth and spoke to me as I was still collecting myself.
“I’m listening.”
“One for one. No free information—that’s an information merchant’s principle, right?”
“There is such a principle.”
“So now please tell me your story, boss.”
Sinel was handing me back exactly what I had said to Spinel.
Of course she was not an information merchant, and trading one piece of information for another was not a strict rule either.
Still, the reason she brought it up was simple.
She had finished her own story; now she wanted mine.
“Sinel.”
“Yes.”
“I bought pizza.”
“…….”
“The information fee has already been paid.”
Sinel’s blunt eyes fixed on me.
But I had nothing particular to say.
What could I possibly tell her?
My story was a lie from start to finish.