—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator:Bobt
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Red lights and blue lights flashed alternately. The faces of the people illuminated by that light also took on different shades at every moment. When it was blue, they looked extremely cold, and when it was red, they seemed excited as if drenched in blood.
Daniel, who had been frowning for a moment while looking at the light, opened his mouth at the sight of a shadow passing by his side.
“Sunbae-nim!”
The one called sunbae turned around. He was an orc. His protruding lower fang on the left side gleamed in the police car’s light.
“What.”
“…Pardon?”
“If you called, say something.”
Daniel scratched his head dismally.
“No, well. Let’s go in together. We’re partners, aren’t we?”
The orc snorted and turned around without a word. Daniel followed behind him with an awkward expression. They were heading towards the stairs with yellow police tape. A police officer who saw the two of them approaching lifted the tape up.
The two detectives who went down the stairs beyond the tape could soon face the wide open steel door and the scene beyond it.
“Goodness… What a mess this is.”
Daniel clicked his tongue and shook his head. The orc just lightly snorted.
The inside of the club was a mess. It was so even considering that clubs were playgrounds for people intoxicated with alcohol and drugs. Corpses, shell casings, smashed tables and chairs were strewn across the club floor. Broken bottles and glasses sparkled in the flash of the forensics team’s photographs.
“What, did Romanos have a war with someone or something?”
Daniel said that upon seeing Siberian werebears with white fur among the dead. At those words, one of the forensic investigators responded.
“If this was a war, it must have been a pretty one-sided war.”
“Pardon? Why?”
“The dead guys, they all seem to be Romanos gang members.”
Daniel tilted his head for a moment, not understanding what that meant.
“…Only Romanos guys died? All the dead ones here now?”
The investigator just shrugged his shoulders silently in affirmation. Daniel’s expression turned serious as he looked back at his senior.
“Sunbae-nim, if it’s a war between gangs, isn’t it a bit too big for us to handle on our own?”
“Why do you think it’s a gang war?”
The orc asked without even turning his head at the scene. Daniel said, stroking his own chin,
“With a scene this messed up and only Romanos guys as corpses, it’s right to think that all the other bodies were collected except for Romanos gang members. They would have wanted to at least hold funerals for their members. Then it’s probably the Osaka Brothers, the Bulhandang Faction, or the Bellators. Those guys value such rituals.”
In Daniel’s opinion, the orc just snorted with a hmph.
“Most of the bodies are in pieces. The flesh at the cut sections is even burned black… Then it’s likely to be an ultrasonic blade. The Japanese guys like those things. Going on about katanas and samurais.”
Daniel nodded his head as if his thoughts were being organized while rambling to himself like that.
“This must be a war between the Siberian gang and the OB guys. There were rumors that some were eyeing Romanos’ business lately. That was the OB. They raided this club to weaken Romanos’ power. Maybe they’re preparing to strike somewhere else too.”
Having finished speaking, Daniel looked at the orc with eyes that seemed to ask how his short deduction was. But the orc was still just squatting there without looking back at Daniel.
“Sunbae-nim?”
“This isn’t something like a gang war.”
The orc’s eyes were looking at the corpse of a polar bear that was split in half at the waist.
“…It’s not?”
The orc interlocked his fingers with both hands while squatting.
“Rather than a war, it’s a massacre. Caused by a single person.”
“Pardon?”
The orc said, still squatting with his hands clasped together,
“None of the dead died from gunshot wounds. Of course, it’s not that there are no gunshot wounds at all, but those are just from them shooting wildly at each other and hitting each other by mistake. Even if the OB likes to reenact katana action, it’s not to this extent.”
“…Are you saying they all died from sword cuts?”
“To be precise, an Auror Blade.”
At that word, Daniel’s face became puzzled.
“Auror Blade… An Auror Master? Those sword Masters?”
“An Auror Master is a realm that can only be glimpsed by transcending not just swordsmanship but Mastering all kinds of martial arts to become a god of combat. Don’t think of it as the level of a neighborhood kendo dojo Master.”
Daniel looked at the investigator next to him as if he didn’t know what this orc guy was trying to say. The investigator who met those eyes just shrugged his shoulders again like a moment ago.
Daniel opened his mouth again.
“Even so, aren’t they just outdated people who can’t even get implants, let alone a wired socket? And I heard they’re weird people who train to death with cold weapons like swords and spears while extremely hating firearms.”
“That’s the only way they can obtain an Auror Blade. Only by surpassing the limits of the pure body through training alone can they form that blade of light.”
The orc’s eyes began to sweep from the polar bear to the inside of the club.
“There are only a few active Auror Masters even in this Midland. And most of them work as arbitrators or bodyguards under megacorps or high-ranking politicians. So ordinary people very rarely face an Auror Masterdirectly in their lives.”
“Uh… Then did Romanos touch some big shot? Esmi, or the Midland mayor’s office?”
Daniel played along appropriately with the thought of just going along with it for now. Then the orc licked his protruding fang with his tongue and continued.
“Romanos is a very cold person, unlike his nickname of the Soviet madman. So he tries his best not to make enemies with those he can’t handle. It wouldn’t have been a mistake.”
“…Wait a minute, sunbae-nim. Didn’t you just say Auror Masters are bodyguards for big shots?”
The orc laughed as if it was funny.
“That’s right. But not all of Midland’s Auror Masters are like that. Among them, there’s a strange one who throws away wealth and honor and lives in back alleys with the label of a mercenary. A Mercenary Blade, called a ‘ronin’ by the intelligence department.”
Daniel realized that this orc was getting a bit excited now. Come to think of it, he remembered that the orc guy had been specially recruited to the MLPD as a martial artist in the past. He shook his head inwardly. Orcs and their romanticism, indeed.
“Judging by the shape of the wounds, it’s definitely him.”
“You can tell just by looking?”
“It’s a trace I’ve seen from time to time over the past few years. If I can’t recognize this, I should pluck my eyeballs out.”
Daniel ended up letting out a small sigh and quickly continued to hide it.
“Then we just need to catch that guy. If the intelligence department even gave him a nickname, they would at least know his address.”
“No. So far, he hasn’t caused any major problems, so the intelligence department has only confirmed that such a person exists. They probably think there will be a corner to use him someday. And the most important thing is that there’s no grounds to arrest him in the first place.”
“What? How is that…”
The orc grabbed his knees and stood up.
“The MLPD protects the safety and lives of Midland citizens. But the corpses lying here are all illegal residents or wanted criminals. None of them have proper citizenship.”
Daniel and the investigator’s mouths opened slightly. The orc turned his head and looked at them. Blue light was flickering in his two eyes. His electronic eyes had been verifying the identities of the corpses.
“…Then what do we do?”
“What do you mean what do we do? Don’t waste effort and contact the city hall’s environmental department to clean up the trash. The investigation is over, no, there’s no need to even start. Tell the cops upstairs to withdraw.”
“But so many people died here…”
But despite Daniel’s protest, a sneer-like expression appeared on the orc’s lips. He said,
“If you think of them as people, you won’t last long in this job.”
At that moment, Daniel’s expression hardened. His eyes glowed blue. The criminal records sent by the orc were flashing through his electronic eyes.
The rising list of crimes. Murder, robbery, rape, illegal firearms trade, drug smuggling, human trafficking, and so on. Daniel’s lips were tightly pressed into a line.
The orc spoke again.
“If you understand, go up.”
Daniel mumbled his lips as if to say something, but in the end, he turned around. The orc looked at his back for a moment, then rummaged through his coat pocket, took out a cigarette, and put it in his mouth. The lighter made a flick-flick sound, and soon hazy smoke rose.
The orc detective, Harry, deeply inhaled through the filter and scanned the inside of the club once more. The space that had vibrated endlessly intensely when people were alive couldn’t be so still.
“I wonder how Romanos will react.”
The face of that old man flashed through Harry’s mind. The white-haired human elder who held the leash of Midland’s polar bears. He would probably try to find the culprit. Even if his business had been precarious lately, if he let this slide, his very position would be in danger.
“…Well, it’s none of my business.”
The orc detective, who had roughly sorted out his thoughts, turned around. Hazy cigarette smoke trailed long behind him.
As the last customer left the club, the lights that had brightly illuminated the hall automatically turned off. All that remained there was stillness, darkness, and coldness.
* * *
A black muscle car stopped at a dock lined with warehouses. After a moment, the rumbling engine turned off, and a man rose from the door as it opened. It was Locke.
After briefly looking around the dock, Locke took out a hard case bag from inside the car and closed the door. And he began walking towards Warehouse 13, which was visible not far away. It was the place he had agreed to meet the magician Melissa.
He sniffed his nose as he walked towards the warehouse door. It was good that he had a wild time at the club, but thanks to those guys shooting bullets like crazy, the smell of gunpowder still lingered in his nose. He would have to take a shower as soon as he returned home.
Soon Locke stood in front of the warehouse gate. Looking around calmly, there was a small entrance next to it. Since the door was not locked, Locke went inside as he was. The inside of the warehouse was pitch dark without lighting.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly. The atmosphere was unusual.
At that moment, bright lighting suddenly turned on from inside the warehouse. Locke raised his hand to cover his dazzled eyes. Looking at the light with squinted eyes, a dark silhouette standing against the lighting was visible.
“Welcome.”
“The light is dazzling. Turn down the lighting a bit.”
The identity of the dark silhouette was Melissa. She took a couple of steps forward and said,
“You brought the items well, Locke.”
She didn’t seem inclined to reduce the light. Locke shrugged and put down the bag.
“Yeah. What you were looking for is here.”
“Ah, yes. You brought that too.”
Locke’s Eyebrows twitched. Melissa’s words were a bit strange.
“…The serum, drugs, and data chips. Isn’t this what you were looking for?”
“It would be nice to have those too. But what I really wanted was something else, Locke.”
Locke, who had slowly straightened his waist after putting down the bag, gave a bitter smile.
“This, it seems like some shitty words will come out of your mouth.”
“It might sound like that. Want to hear it once?”
“Go ahead.”
Locke’s Eyes had already adapted to the brightness of the lighting. So he could read Melissa’s expression as she stood against the light.
Her face was full of excitement.
“I want your body more than those trinkets.”
“Oh, if I had heard that at a bar, there would have been cheers.”
“You can cheer here too.”
Locke lightly shook his head and spread his right hand. Then the wooden stick attached to his waist flew on its own and nestled into that palm. Seeing that, Melissa’s eyes widened.
“Auror Blade…!”
“Looks like you did some research.”
Even with Locke’s Half-mocking tone, Melissa’s blue eyes flickered as if burning.
“Auror Blade. A blade said to be able to cut anything in the world, an invincible blade created by an Auror Master. The privilege of Auror Masters that cannot be reproduced with spells or science. An unfathomable phenomenon that only manifests through simple physical training, just as incomprehensible as cyberspace.”
At her excited appearance, Locke’s Expression turned sour.
“…Yeah, you did a lot of research-”
“Auror Masters. Relics of an bygone era that are outdated beyond outdated. Purists who do not tolerate even terminal connection sockets, let alone implants. Strange firearms haters who are obsessed with martial arts for killing others more than anyone else, yet do not even glance at firearms with triggers. And blind fools who do not know the beauty of spells and 0s and 1s.”
Locke blinked.
“…What? Are you trying to write a thesis on Auror Masters or something?”
“It’s not like such literature doesn’t exist. Since the beginning of history, there have been magicians and Auror Masters who tried to unravel the secret of the Auror Blade. But none of them have been able to uncover the secret of the sword.”
“Hmm, are you going to uncover that secret? With my body?”
Melissa nodded her head with an upright posture.
“The old predecessors were too soft. After cyberspace began, they didn’t even try to find out, calling them worthless swordsmen who only swing outdated cold weapons. But if there is an old challenge, isn’t it the attitude that explorers of infinite wisdom should have to unravel it? If I dissect your body and brain one by one, I should be able to thoroughly examine the secret of that light.”
The glow that could be madness or infinite curiosity squirmed in her blue eyes. Facing that, Locke smiled bitterly.
“I’ll have to scold Philip a bit. Bringing this kind of client after last time.”
“A lone Auror Master Unaffiliated with any corporation or government agency. I searched for a long time. The well-known ones all had formidable backgrounds. I heard there used to be a mercenary company composed only of Auror Masters, but by the time I became interested in Auror Blades, they had already disappeared. So I’m really happy to find you like this, Locke.”
Melissa’s smiling face was visible. Her black hair, blue eyes, and snow-white skin were beautiful. If he had really heard such words at a pub or something, he might have thought to follow her and see what it was about, even if he didn’t know what it was.
But this was a warehouse at the dock.
“Hey. Do you know why your old predecessors didn’t have such thoughts?”
“Such thoughts?”
“The thought of cracking open an Auror Master’s head and taking a look.”
At Locke’s Words, Melissa shook her head as if it was funny.
“Why didn’t they?”
“Obviously because the person in question wouldn’t stay still.”
Just as Locke’s Calm tone, the gray blade slowly rose from the wooden handle he was holding in his right hand. A blade that looked both burning and cold as ice.
However, upon seeing that light, Melissa’s two eyes narrowed. She was still smiling.
“Sorry, Locke.”
The next moment, the entire warehouse brightened. And before Locke could take a single step, strange vibrations rushed at him.
“…Hmm.”
Locke’s body staggered for a moment. It was because the entire field of vision suddenly became very bright and intense vibrations shook his head.
Melissa looked satisfied at the sight.
“Unlike the Auror Masters who haven’t changed at all from a thousand years ago to now, we magicians have long shed the old habits of just throwing fireballs and telling fortunes. This is modern magic.”
She raised her right index finger and lightly twirled it. Then the vibration holding Locke’s Body became even stronger.
Locke gritted his teeth and focused his eyes amid the pain that felt like his head was shattering. Then the brightened scene of the warehouse was visible.
Devices that looked like speakers were hanging from the ceiling of the warehouse. The strange vibrations that were now blurring his vision and threatening to split his head were coming from those speaker devices. Controlling the output and aiming point of those devices was Melissa’s finger in front of him.
The fortress of a prepared magician is not to be entered. It was an old saying that existed even before the world wars. The danger of the spells a magician could prepare given sufficient time could only be described with the word fatal. Locke was experiencing that saying with his whole body.
Of course, if he had intended to kill Melissa, he wouldn’t have created a situation like this in the first place. More stealthily, as fast as lightning so as not to give the magician a chance to pull any tricks. But quiet like a shadow. He knew well enough how to deal with magicians. His past had made him so.
And because he had recalled that past over mere pain like this, Locke gave a bitter smile. His lips muttered. Damn it.
The next moment, he let go of the Auror Blade he was holding.
“…Dropping the sword?”
A look of doubt rose on Melissa’s face, who had been wearing a relaxed smile. Her gaze turned to the wooden handle that had lost its light and was rolling on the floor. As far as she knew, Auror Masters never let go of their swords even in the face of death. Because that small piece of wood connected to the Auror Master’s spirit was the only conduit that manifested the sword in their heart into reality.
Although blood was flowing from Locke’s Nose and ears as he lowered his head now, his brain and body did not cross the irreversible line as they were needed intact. Dropping the sword over just that level of pain was not befitting the reputation of being called a seeker of the way of the sword.
But Melissa soon sorted out her thoughts on her own and nodded.
“Hmm. Well, yes. If you were a proper Auror Master, you wouldn’t be doing mercenary work in back alleys, Locke.”
She stood slightly askew and tilted her head a bit with a relaxed expression. It was an attitude that came from believing she had complete control over the current situation. She seemed to think that Locke might be a somewhat lacking Auror Master.
“It’s a bit of a shame that a specimen I barely obtained might have flaws. Do you happen to have a disciple, Locke? According to my research, most Auror Masters have a kind of Master-disciple relationship-”
At that moment, a gunshot rang out in the warehouse.
Melissa blinked stupidly and slowly lowered her head. She saw her white shirt turning red. She also saw the small hole where the bullet had penetrated.
She raised her head and looked at Locke. His right hand holding a revolver was visible.
“…Ah, huh? A gun?”
As her mind faltered, the vibration from the speakers stopped. At the same time, Locke’s Left hand quickly cocked the hammer of the revolver. Since his right index finger was still pulling the trigger, the cocked hammer immediately headed towards its place. Another gunshot rang out. The left hand pulled the hammer four more times after that, and the gunshots rang out that many more times.
Melissa, at whom the muzzle was pointed, flailed like a puppet with strings moving in an exaggerated manner. And after the gunshots ended, she collapsed backwards with a thud.
Her eyes, which had fallen to the floor and were losing their light, were still full of questions. Weren’t Auror Masters firearms haters? They would have to focus their entire mind only on the sword throughout their lives to form an Auror Blade… But that guy…
Her consciousness cut off there.
Locke muttered, looking at the red concentric circles spreading on the floor.
“The problem seems to be on your side. Caught up in prejudices about things you’ve never even seen directly, you didn’t prepare for firearms at all.”
His revolver, caught on his index finger, spun a couple of times with a whirl and returned to the holster on the side inside his jacket. When he spread his empty hands wide, the wooden handle that had fallen to the floor settled into his palm as if it had strings attached. Afterwards, the wooden handle that had been spinning in his palm also went into the scabbard.
Locke blocked one nostril and blew his nose with a snort. A red lump popped out and fell to the floor. Then he picked up the hard case bag he had put down a moment ago. Since the client had died, he had to at least take this.
“…I’ve had a huge dose of bad luck.”
Maybe it was because he took jobs one after another. As he turned his body and left the warehouse, Locke thought he should relax and slack off until he spent all the money he earned this time. He had killed a lot of people just by pretending to be diligent, which didn’t suit him.
Arriving at the Black night after leaving the warehouse, he immediately contacted Philip through the vehicle terminal. He received the call right away.
[Ah, Locke. Did the job wrap up well?]
“It went to hell. There’s a corpse here, so clean it up.”
Philip in the small screen seemed to be at a loss for words and gaped.
[…Again?]
“I’m starting to have doubts about your mediation skills too.”
Philip said, rubbing his temple.
[Yeah, that woman was a bit strange… And it’s my fault for not filtering that out. I apologize, Locke. I’ll prepare compensation separately.]
After looking at the small Philip on the screen for a moment, Locke nodded.
“Just take care of the corpse here. There are weird vibration devices, so you’ll need to bring a truck.”
[I’ll dispatch the cleaners right away. Are you okay?]
Locke answered while pulling the open car door shut.
“I’m going to rest for a while. Don’t contact me unless it’s really urgent.”
[Hey, Locke-]
The screen of the terminal ended.
Locke, who had been sitting in the seat for a moment, blankly staring forward, let out a thin sigh and grabbed the car key.
The Black Night’s engine roared low and lit up the headlights. The light that had been illuminating the dim dock soon turned around and began to retrace the path it had come.
The dock he left was silent. Only the splendid lights of the Midland far beyond the coastline shone like a gathering of giant lighthouses.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
