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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Filthy pipes twisted and turned across the ceiling, and beside them, polluted water of unknown depth rushed by. We had left the underground village area and were passing through the sewer tunnels. We paused briefly at the sewer path leading to Neon City.
There wasn’t any particular reason for stopping; a few people were blocking the way.
Considering the situation, with them standing at the city entrance, they could have been mistaken for Ko-ozaka’s hostile employees, or perhaps even adversaries of the Vice President.
However, their appearance was too shabby for that. Honestly, they were sporting genuine “street fashion,” the kind you’d rarely see even in the lower levels of Neon City.
One of them spat out a thick wad of phlegm. Another had a prosthetic arm, a simplified hook replacing his hand—the kind that could smack Captain Hook right across the face—which stood out.
It was a very rare type of prosthetic in the cyberpunk world. In an era of mass-produced cyberware, even homeless people in day-to-day survival neighborhoods didn’t wear prosthetics like that. In a way, it was quite unique. It was also a stark representation of the reality faced by outsiders living beyond the city walls.
The homeless vagrant-slash-thug spat out another unnecessarily long string of saliva. He tilted his head at us defiantly.
“Huh? What’re you bastards… gurgle.”
Fortunately, the situation was resolved peacefully, with a conversation (electric shock treatment) rather than violence. Catherine casually kicked the collapsed vagrants into a corner with her foot. Her actions clearly conveyed her unwillingness to touch them with her hands.
Ko-ozaka William muttered with an embarrassed expression as the vagrants lay foaming at the mouth.
“…Is this alright?”
“Well, what’s wrong with it?”
After all, the reality outside the city was that basic human rights couldn’t be guaranteed. Frankly, if we had been weaker, we might have been stripped of our organs and become someone’s dinner.
Well, we (probably) didn’t kill them, so there was no need to worry about any problems.
Before entering the damp sewer, I took out the mask I had received from the bespectacled man and handed it to Ko-ozaka William.
“What’s this?”
“As you can see, it’s a mask.”
He carefully accepted the mask I offered. Then he asked me,
“Does it lessen the smell a bit if I wear this?”
He still hadn’t adjusted to the stench. His face lit up as if he had found a ray of light in the darkness.
I shook my head firmly.
“No, it’ll smell the same even if you wear it.”
“…Then I’m fine.”
He returned the mask to me.
“I don’t really wear masks because they’re stuffy. Anyway, my lung-function bioware is a special model, so it filters out polluted air cleanly.”
“Oh…”
As expected of a rich person.
But I didn’t take back the mask he offered. I asked him directly,
“Does that mean it also purifies poisonous gas? Also, it varies from area to area, but there are also tear gas components and highly lethal germs floating around. Is that okay too?”
“……”
Perhaps it wasn’t. Ko-ozaka William quietly took back the mask he had offered me. Then, with awkward hand movements, he immediately covered his face with it.
“…What kind of place is this?”
Ko-ozaka William muttered to himself in an awkward tone. It certainly was a strange place. Even by my standards, which had been greatly broadened thanks to being dropped into a cyberpunk world, it was beyond the pale.
Well, seriously though, maybe it’s because it’s like a dungeon in a game. Even so, it wasn’t a place for humans to live, no matter how you looked at it. It was astonishing that people were actually scraping by in such a place.
Ko-ozaka William fumbled with the slightly askew mask, trying to put it on properly. Then his gaze turned to Catherine, who wasn’t wearing a mask. He seemed to find it strange that she wasn’t wearing one, despite my explanation.
“What about that mercenary?”
“Oh, she’s fine.”
Unlike the ‘special model’ the Vice President mentioned earlier, she had a real special model built into her. Ordinary people like us didn’t need to worry.
After confirming that we were wearing our masks, Catherine walked towards the sewer’s metal door. What followed was a powerful kick.
BAM!
The large metal door flew off entirely into the dark, unlit corridor beyond. Catherine looked at me and said,
“Ready?”
Hmm. I thought it would have been nice if she’d asked before kicking the door down.
I nodded.
“Yeah.”
Come to think of it, this was the second time I’d passed through this door. The first time was when Catherine and I first entered Neon City together. After that day, I thought there wouldn’t be a need to enter Neon City through the sewers ever again…
I guess you never know what the future holds.
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“…Oh, Shun Li and Catherine, aren’t you the famous mercenaries from Monolith?”
“Ah, we’re not actually affiliated with them. We just take a lot of their requests.”
We walked down the dark corridor. We conversed peacefully as we walked through the sewers, as if we were on an impromptu picnic. Catherine was in the lead, Ko-ozaka William in the middle, and I was at the rear.
Only the sound of flowing water echoed loudly in the invisible darkness. As the place was completely unmaintained, there wasn’t a single working light.
Of course, this wasn’t a problem for Catherine or me. Our eye implants came standard with night vision. However, it would have been greedy to expect the same from Ko-ozaka William’s ordinary eyes.
So, for safety reasons, I had created a bright sphere of light floating above my shoulder. Ko-ozaka William’s wide-eyed surprise when I first created the light was a sight to behold.
‘Creating plasma from your hand…!’
It was only then that I realized we hadn’t told him who we really were. After hearing about Catherine’s and my true identities, Ko-ozaka William nodded to himself.
“So, blocking the bullets on the airship was also magic.”
“That’s right.”
“…Shooting Star, and the Only Magician. I can certainly entrust my safety to you.”
Although he didn’t know our faces, he seemed to have heard rumors within the mercenary world. His previously slumped shoulders seemed to straighten slightly.
Seeing this, I said briefly,
“You still need to be careful.”
“Haha, with the legends of the mercenary world protecting me, what do I have to worry about?”
“Things like this.”
As I spoke, I created a mass of cold air in the empty space. Thanks to constantly gathering mana so I could use magic while walking, it was quick and precise.
With a popping sound, something bounced off in mid-air. If I hadn’t used magic, a large mass of liquid that had burst through the ceiling would have landed on Ko-ozaka William.
“Ugh!”
Ko-ozaka William ducked his head with a short cry. Thanks to my quick reaction, he wasn’t hurt.
I slowly walked to where ‘it’ had landed. I illuminated the magically frozen object with the sphere of light. There, a lump of liquid containing a giant eyeball was frozen solid.
I kicked it like a soccer ball, and it rolled smoothly to Ko-ozaka William’s feet.
“…What is this?”
“It’s like a giant amoeba, except it eats people.”
Whether it was a corporate experiment or a mutant created by pollution, I didn’t know its exact identity. There weren’t many of them around, so I wasn’t particularly interested.
I could have incinerated it with fire, but using fire in an enclosed space carried some risk. Also, I thought it would be better to show Ko-ozaka William the dangers directly.
Ko-ozaka William scratched the back of his neck, his face pale. I continued explaining as I watched him.
“Honestly, we’re fine. It’s not that dangerous unless we go down a few more levels underground.”
“…Hmm.”
He understood what I was implying.
We’re fine. But what about you?
Ko-ozaka William’s briefly straightened shoulders slumped again.
He didn’t need to be overly tense, but being too relaxed was also a problem. A certain level of tension was more helpful for protection.
“Now, let’s get going again.”
“……”
With the now quiet Ko-ozaka William between us, Catherine and I started walking along the path again.
Drip, drip. Only the dreary sound of falling water droplets could be heard.
It was a path we’d traveled long ago, but we had risked our lives to get through it back then. We were both weak when we were younger.
Thanks to that, the structure and layout of the place were still etched in my memory. So, there was no worry of getting lost in the complex sewers.
Catherine seemed to feel the same way. She continued walking without hesitation, even when we reached forks in the path.
…
We just kept walking.
Hmm, it was too quiet. And boring.
I was told to maintain a moderate level of tension, not to remain completely silent.
I was about to ask Ko-ozaka William, “What Ko-ozaka stocks should I buy to earn credits?” to lighten the mood a bit. Eve wouldn’t stop me from buying stocks recommended by the Vice President himself.
But at that moment,
[Sudden biological signal detected ahead.]
With Eve’s words, Catherine moved.
She probably hadn’t heard Eve; it was a voice only I could hear. The reason for Catherine’s movement could be understood through sound.
Clang! A metallic glint erupted from the area ahead of Catherine.
I looked ahead. Several curved streaks of light flew through the darkness. Looking closely, I could see they were throwing stars. And among the LED-flashing stars, black-painted ones flew in as well.
It was a classic but effective tactic against opponents who relied solely on night vision eye implants. But with the sphere of light above me, and my experience, I wouldn’t be defeated by something like this.
…Actually, I didn’t need to do anything. Catherine casually swatted away the incoming throwing stars with her bare hand. Her palm, which had deflected the sharp stars, remained unscathed.
Wait, throwing stars? Had the cleaning robots here finally gone crazy? Or, since this was a cyberpunk world, had we encountered a vagrant obsessed with Japanese culture?
I increased the size of the sphere of light, brightening the surroundings.
The narrow passage. The polluted water flowing beside us. The amoebas rolling their eyeballs in the corner.
And beyond all of that, at the end of the sewer passage…
Several shadows appeared.
“Shit.”
I couldn’t hold back my curse.
Ninjas had appeared.
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