Help m.
It was probably ‘Help ’.
That was the content of the text Bell had sent.
Seeing as the sentence wasn’t properly finished, the situation must have been very urgent.
He was a guy who cherished his own life, so it was unlikely to be an accident caused by getting into so unnecessary trouble.
Soone had targeted him.
‘If I narrow down the candidates… there are quite a few.’
Bell Hackerson was a key engineer at Delight Conquem. A company that had almost developed the first android. Even without knowing that he was the actual designer of the android, his specs were tempting enough.
If it was a kidnapping disguised as a corporate scouting, I could rest easy for now. His life wouldn’t be in danger.
However, for so reason, I had a feeling that wasn’t it.
‘The timing is what bothers .’
It was right after I heard from Claire that various council mbers were digging into my background and trying to target .
Could this be a coincidence?
It was then, as I was continuing my thoughts.
“Location tracking complete.”
Beta said to .
“Where is he?”
The fact that he had sent a distress signal paradoxically ant that it wasn’t a life-or-death situation yet. It ant he was sohow running away and looking for a way to live.
“I will transmit the coordinates.”
I checked the coordinates Beta sent on the map.
“……”
I knew very well where the location marked on the map was. It was a very aningful place.
“I’m going out. Guard the house quietly.”
“Yes.”
I packed my things and left the house. Beta diligently followed my words and didn’t even move until the door was closed.
***
“……”
Bell Hackerson swallowed nervously, his face tense.
It was a dark space. Multicolored lights flashed intermittently, and a thumping vibration pierced through the walls and struck his heart. There were no windows, but he could feel nurous presences without even looking.
Which organization’s business site was this?
Bell didn’t know where this place was.
Should he call it a kidnapping?
When he ca to his senses, he was here.
‘It must be magic.’
In this city, when sothing incomprehensible happened, if you just guessed it was magic, you were right about seventy percent of the ti. That’s how incomprehensible and mysterious an ability magic was to a layman.
A loud noise that tore through the silence woke Bell from his thoughts.
A flashing light illuminated an object.
A bottle with a long neck. He didn’t know what was written on the outside. The flash was too short to read the squiggly letters.
“……”
Bell didn’t move a single finger. It was a suspicious place he had arrived at after being subjected to sothing akin to a kidnapping. Even if that was given to him to drink, it was unknown what the contents would be. Truth serum, drugs, poison, many things ca to mind. It was right to stay still rather than take the risk.
A man in a suit waited for a mont and then retrieved the bottle again. Then he went outside. Now, if he waited for a while, he would bring a new bottle. It had been like this since he arrived here. It was a repetitive action, almost reminiscent of a machine. Bell had no idea what that action ant.
‘Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like they’re restricting my movents.’
It was thanks to that that he could request a rescue from Allen. …He hadn’t done anything else suspicious because he was scared.
It was a good thing he had co wearing armor. If he hadn’t even had this protective gear, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything, let alone request a rescue.
‘Hurry up and co.’
Apart from his personal feelings, as far as Bell knew, there was no one as strong as Allen. One way or another, he had defeated a mber of the Mad House and was a contractor who was on friendly terms with the head of a Mage Tower school. He didn’t know where this place was or which organization owned it, but he was sure he had enough ability to rescue one person.
Bell waited anxiously.
How much ti had passed?
The door opened.
“There you are.”
“……!”
It was a familiar voice. That voice was sweeter than the ringing of an angel descending from heaven. Bell quickly lifted his head.
A clear outline even in the darkness, and sharp features that were almost offensively handso.
It was Allen.
Allen naturally sat down next to him. Then he crossed his legs and settled into a comfortable posture as if it were his own ho.
“……?”
Bell, who had been expecting a gunfight or sothing, blinked his eyes.
What was this all about?
When he conveyed that aning with his gaze, Allen nodded his head and said.
“You can go.”
Bell noticed the intention underlying his words and actions.
He was going to send him, who was of no help in a fight, away first.
Indeed, he would only be a burden if he stayed here.
“……Can I really go?”
There was one thing that worried him. Would the gang that had kidnapped him really show the magnanimity to just let him go?
“Why don’t you ask him yourself? If you can go.”
“What?”
Allen turned his head to the corner of the room. Bell, who had followed his gaze, gasped in fright.
Since when had he been there?
A huge figure was squeezed into a red faux leather sofa. He was a giant so conspicuous it was strange that he had only noticed his presence now.
He said.
“You can go.”
“He says so.”
“If you want, I’ll even see you off kindly.”
Bell shook his head desperately. Being seen off, it was better to go alone.
“Then, I-I’m going.”
“Yes.”
Bell took steps that wouldn’t leave, constantly looking back.
Was it because of the situation?
The fact that he had co right away when he called.
The fact that he had taken care of his safety first without just running wild.
Many things were reliable and grateful.
“I-I’ll never run away from ho again!”
The door closed with a voice trembling with emotion.
“……”
After Bell left, Allen looked around the room. A low glass table, glossy faux leather chairs, the presence of people running wild in a frenzy, and loud music. Except for the minor difference that the structure was a little different, it was a place he rembered.
“Then and now, your way of inviting people is really shitty.”
Under the light of the spirit, the giant’s face was revealed.
“Hatig.”
The branch manager of Brotherhood Branch 102. The orc Hatig grinned.
***
“He was a guy with considerable spirit.”
Hatig had a completely different impression compared to before. Should I say he had gained experience? Now, instead of a burdenso sleeveless shirt, he had at least taken care of his manners to the extent of wearing a shirt. Was the reason he wore a size so tight it was uncomfortable to intimidate the opponent with his even larger physique? Unlike his ignorant past, it seed he had learned to use his head a little.
“I guided him with magic, so he should have been flustered, but he didn’t show any sign of it. I gave him so precious liquor to relax, but he refused it with determination, he has guts. A subordinate should be like that. I like him.”
“……”
Hatig grinned, looking at the spot where Bell had left. He seed to have misunderstood a lot, but it was also awkward to correct him. I guess my feeling that his head had gotten better was just my mistake. The clothes? Maybe he just got the size wrong.
I said.
“You seem to have been doing quite well for yourself.”
Experience, atmosphere, attire. The changes were not just that. A tattoo that was not the Brotherhood’s emblem was engraved on his skin, and he was adorned with accessories such as necklaces and bracelets.
「The World Tree is wary of the suspicious energy!」
Familiar-looking accessories. The tattoo as well, it was blatantly of the shamanistic type. I was reminded of Batu, the chief of the Ulpirin tribe, with whom I had fought in the Sea of Quicksand. Although he lived in Gellerg City and belonged to the criminal organization called the Brotherhood, Hatig’s race was orc, and his birthplace was the southern barbarian city. That must be why I felt they were similar.
“Thanks to you, I was able to completely absorb Malay Krekter’s line. I expanded the scale of the branch and continued to expand it. Now I have the strength not to bow my head anywhere.”
Was it because he was a guy who would beco a big shot? It seed he had greatly expanded his power in a short ti.
‘The plan to kill a fellow Brotherhood branch manager and absorb his power is not sothing anyone can execute.’
Morality aside, it was possible because he had boldness and resourcefulness.
“Then have you moved up to a branch with a number in the tens now?”
“Unfortunately, it’s still Branch 102. It’s because the narrow-minded higher-ups are not acknowledging my performance.”
Honestly, if I were a Brotherhood executive, I would have given him the sa treatnt. No matter how he excused himself and distorted the circumstances, he was a guy who already had a record of killing a fellow branch manager. As I had warned at the ti, not slitting his throat was a lenient punishnt.
“That’s enough of catching up.”
I lightly loosened my hands and continued.
“Why did you contact soone close to ? If you wanted to contact , you could have gone through a broker.”
We had carried out a request together unofficially once. Hatig knew my personal details. It was natural for to doubt his true intentions, since he had tried to handle things this way when he could have just gone through a broker.
“Going through a broker is not an option. It leaves a record. This eting must be a secret.”
But if, like last ti, there was a secret sche that required him to hire directly this ti as well. I could understand Hatig’s ignorant invitation thod. Though I couldn’t accept it.
“I had no intention of threatening your associate. I was thinking of treating him well and finding a way to contact you.”
Well, just looking at how he had been escorted to a VIP room in a club and served all sorts of high-end liquor, I didn’t feel any malice. It was also polite for a Brotherhood mber to have guided him with magic instead of threats or kidnapping.
‘Though he himself didn’t feel that way and sent a distress signal.’
Hatig seed to have mistaken Bell for my associate. Since he lived with and I gave him work, it was understandable that he would misunderstand. He must have naturally thought that he was also well-versed in the affairs of the underworld.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. Bell was just an engineer and a researcher. Hatig’s lavish treatnt would have co across as a threat to him.
“Anyway, I understand the situation. It’s actually a good thing.”
It might have been a disaster for Bell, but it was good news for .
“I had so business with you too.”
I had ruined the deal planned by the Brotherhood’s executive, the underboss, and had annihilated Branch 52. It was the sa as being on bad terms with them.
“I thought so.”
The Brotherhood is a unique organization. Each branch operates independently and is intertwined with different interests. It ant that the collapse of the smuggling market, the Brotherhood’s main source of inco, could be a gain for other branch managers. And Hatig was a guy who was far from loyal to the organization, to the point of having requested the assassination of a fellow branch manager from before.
Considering the internal strife of the Brotherhood, which I suspected was an incident he had caused later…
“I knew you would be a guy who is easy to talk to.”
Hatig picked up a bottle of liquor from the table and chugged it. It was a hearty swig, without caring about the alcohol content or the volu. Was he about to say sothing that required the help of alcohol? For so reason, I felt like I knew what he was about to say.
“This case is not much different from the last deal.”
Hatig’s hand gesture as he wiped the liquor flowing down his chin was rough.
“You take down the underboss, and I absorb his power. That’s all.”
As he said, it was the sa deal, just on a larger scale.
***
Knock, knock!
A polite knock with a certain rhythm. The sound of the first knock and the second knock was the sa. Giselle liked this quiet ringing, which felt like it had so kind of obsession. Those who stand above others must not lose their nobility and dignity. This was a principle that also applied to the subordinates who served him.
It seed his aide had finally realized what dignity was. Giselle said in a slightly pleased voice.
“Co in.”
“Yes, Councilor.”
The footsteps that followed the knock also had dignity. When Giselle nodded, the aide released the strength from his hands, which were clasped behind his back.
…What a damn boss. How did I get my nose stuck in a place like this? The aide swallowed a sigh and said.
“As you commanded, the smuggled goods have all been recovered by the Public Security Bureau and have been returned to the national treasury.”
“That’s as it should be.”
“And so, a problem has arisen.”
He had carried out a proper task, but ‘and so, a problem has arisen’. It was a sentence that didn’t connect, but it was a sentence that the two of them understood.
“I believe it would be best to stop the crackdown at this point.”
“……Vermin.”
Giselle gritted his teeth. After the Brotherhood’s deal, which had been entangled with all sorts of interests and rights, had been smashed. Giselle had succeeded in getting what he wanted without getting his hands dirty, just as he had planned with Allen. He had refuted the councilors who had thought he had acted indirectly, and had established his justification by not bowing to political pressure.
Was there anything more important than justification in politics? However, the greed of the other councilors was beyond Giselle’s imagination.
“Is it because of the bribes?”
“Yes.”
Money was spread. A bribe so sweet it could erase the illusion of justification.
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