novelraw Chapter 104
Chapter 104
Chapter 104. Casting the Bait (1)
Living in this world, Jurgen had come to notice something. Those in power all seemed to go about things in remarkably similar ways.
From the moment the Financial Supervisory Service had been set in motion to attack Y&P, Jurgen had kept in mind that Clarisse would mobilize forces from the underworld.
To draw them out, he had wandered an isolated area in a deliberately unguarded state, and as naturally as anything, a tail had attached itself to him.
The fellow had been quite skilled, but by leaving his back exposed in an unguarded manner to invite complacency, Jurgen had reversed the position and gotten behind him instead.
And yet……
"Aiden, what are you doing out here?"
He had not expected an old subordinate to come tumbling out of nowhere.
Shit shit shit shit
Nor had Aiden ever imagined that the man he had taken for an ordinary commoner businessman would turn out to be his former superior.
The Hanbin Aiden remembered had been a ferociously principled man.
During missions, anyone caught drinking or skulking around gambling dens received punishment without exception. Whatever the reason, if he were to find out that Aiden was operating under the commission of a Mafia boss……
'I'm done for.'
Aiden, desperately maintaining his expression, improvised on the spot.
"H-haha, as expected of the Captain. Your skills haven't rusted in the slightest."
Pretending to have tailed his superior as a 'surprise!' upon bumping into him by chance. Pretending to be overjoyed at meeting a dear old comrade from those cherished days of old. Pretending not to have come to intimidate a businessman under commission from a Mafia boss.
"You've gone rusty. Failing to recognize me just because of a minor disguise."
"Th-that…… I'd had a drink or two."
"Still drowning yourself in alcohol?"
"I'm a civilian now — surely a drink or two is fine?"
"Hanging around gambling dens too?"
"Juuust a little, nothing serious. Just for fun, to pass the time. By the way……. I never expected to run into you in the North. Did you quit being Minister of Internal Affairs?"
"Well, something like that."
Good. That had been natural. Had it worked?
As Hanbin dispersed the Magic Power he had gathered, Aiden exhaled a quiet sigh of relief.
"What are you doing with yourself up here in the North?"
"Me? Oh, just living the idle life."
Aiden shrugged with a wry smile. It had worked. Even by his own estimation, it had been a perfect improvisation.
Now to have a drink together and swap old stories for a bit, then leave the North first thing tomorrow.
Whatever the case, the representative of Y&P Trading Company was Jurgen, and some young lady from the Rosemore family named Penelope. And if that Jurgen was Hanbin, it might well be a secret royal-level operation to keep the northern nobles in check.
Come to think of it, the pace at which Y&P Trading Company had been growing amid all the Cola commotion had been no ordinary thing.
"You're not exactly idle, are you?"
"Pardon?"
"Running errands for the Gray Council pays decently, I'd imagine. Hardly idle."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Hmm, so that's how you'd like to play it?"
Aiden felt cold sweat running freely down his back.
"N-no. Running errands for the Gray Council — something like that, I would never……."
Hanbin's expression turned frigid as he watched Aiden bumble through his words.
"Your reaction confirms it."
"No, Captain! Leading questions are a dirty trick……!"
—Smack!
"Ow!"
The answer that came back was not words, but a stinging palm planted on the back of his head. He could have dodged it, but call it fear carved into the bone, or conditioned submission.
Smack! Smack! Smaaaack!
"Of all things, a man who, once, ate the kingdom's, pay, to be doing, errand-boy work, for criminal, scum?"
Aiden received slap after slap to the back of his head.
"Ow! Ow! Captain……! A misunderstanding! It's a misunderstanding!"
He'd been found out.
Even if Aiden tried to wriggle his way past it, the circumstantial evidence was far too clear for anyone short of a fool to miss.
On top of that, Aiden may have thought his acting was quite convincing, but to Hanbin's eyes, he had looked like a man rolling his eyes around frantically in search of an escape route — thoroughly unconvincing.
"Cain, and now you, Aiden. Do all Secret Burial Unit veterans end up under northern Mafia?"
"Cain? Cain, you say? Is that mad bastard here too?"
"The Undertaker who worked under Polar Sun. That was Cain."
"Ah……."
Aiden's face went one shade paler.
The elimination of the Undertaker that had made the Gray Council flinch for some time — attributed to the second daughter of the Rosemore family.
If the Captain knew the Undertaker's identity…… That was as good as saying it had been the Captain's doing all along.
No wonder. He had thought it strange that a Hothouse Flower had abruptly gone and killed a Named Killer.
So that was how it had all unfolded……
"Y-you're not going to kill me too, are you, Captain? Even so, I'm nothing like that lunatic Cain."
Hanbin, who had been looking down at Aiden with an expression that said 'you pathetic wretch,' drove another slap into the back of his head.
.
.
.
This was Jurgen, who had once led the Secret Burial Unit. The fact that not only disgraced deserter Cain, but even honorably discharged Aiden had joined a semi-criminal organization, was a deeply regrettable state of affairs.
"Hmm……. Is the Kingdom's veterans' welfare system really that poor?"
Aiden, face planted in the ground in a prone position, let out a pained groan.
"C-Captain, what if I told you I had gone undercover to root out the northern Mafia — would you believe me?"
"No."
"Right, of course not."
"That's the best excuse you could come up with? Is that how I raised you?"
A nudge to the ribs, and Aiden straightened his posture. As there were sharp little rocks embedded in the ground at forehead level, Aiden looked to be having quite a miserable time.
"Ca-Captain…… I have truly done wrong. I absolutely, truly, categorically had no intention of killing anyone! I have at least that much sense!"
"So then, it's fine that you were going to harass an innocent citizen over a bit of gambling money?"
"Urrrgh, I'm sorry……."
"Get up."
"Sir!"
Aiden, who had his face pressed into the ground, scrambled to his feet.
"You're embarrassed, aren't you? At your age, what has your life come to?"
"Yes, it has been an excellent opportunity to reflect on the path I have taken."
Aiden spoke in a voice choked with what appeared to be genuine sincerity, but…… Jurgen did not particularly believe him.
They say gambling is an addiction you only break when you die — this was the sort of fellow who would be fiddling with a hand of cards right up until his last breath.
"I cannot reveal my current identity. So from this point on, consider what follows to be a conversation not with Hanbin, but with Jurgen of Y&P Trading Company."
"Sir! Understood!"
"Who are you working for?"
"Marcus, the chairman of the Gray Council."
"You've found yourself quite the notable employer."
"Right. I do have a certain calibre, you see…… Ow!"
Aiden, having said something he needn't have and paid for it.
"Does this Marcus fellow have any connection to Clarisse?"
"Clarisse? Ah, you mean the eldest daughter of the Rosemore Count Family."
"That's right."
"There likely isn't a direct link between them. Instead, he takes orders from her confidante — a woman called Bell."
Bell…… The woman called Bell had also been the one who had seized the hotel and driven Penelope out.
"What do you know about Bell?"
"I myself don't know the full details either……. In all likelihood, even old man Marcus doesn't know much. There's simply very little known information about her."
Aiden asked, reading the mood.
"How about…… shall I look into it for you?"
By the look of him, he was clearly eager to make up for this mess somehow.
Aiden was a hopeless wretch with a track record of going missing in action to sit in a casino during missions — and that track record was quite extensive at that — but…… He was not rotten to the core like Cain.
That this reunion had come about might actually be a fortunate thing.
Aiden was already an insider with connections to the underworld. He was the ideal person to take on this task.
"I have a favour to ask."
"Leave it to me!"
Aiden answered with gusto.
***
Bell received word from Marcus.
[The target has been eliminated.]
"Eliminated? I never said to eliminate them."
[Ah, I meant in the sense of having driven them away.]
"You should have taken the stake while you were at it."
[That part…… it seems those below didn't think of it.]
Bell's expression soured.
Why was everyone so lacking in common sense?
That commoner held half of Y&P's stake. If his absence were confirmed, there was no telling where the stake might fly off to.
It might even end up with Baron Keystone, who held some affection for the man.
In that case, wouldn't it have been a tidier picture to threaten him into handing the stake over?
"You made sure to clean up after yourselves properly, yes?"
[Of course. No evidence was left behind, and he's been thoroughly frightened — he won't dare show his face in Nortaris.]
"I see. Good work."
Bell hung up the telephone.
There had been some minor variables, but the objective was complete. In any case, Bell's goal was not to swallow Y&P whole, but to cause Penelope to run aground once more.
The little lady seemed to rely on that commoner quite heavily — merely having her business partner disappear would place an enormous burden on her.
On top of that, Jurgen was Y&P Trading Company's most critical talent. A bird that loses one wing falls quickly.
.
.
.
"That should do it."
Having hung up the telephone, Marcus did his best to compose himself.
"I was going to deal with you right away if you tried anything foolish. Smart of you."
Aiden, perched on the edge of the desk having coerced the false report, gave a satisfied nod.
In Aiden's hand was a dagger, lacquered black so as not to catch the light.
Its tip was aimed directly at the hollow just beneath Marcus's throat. The moment a hole was opened there, he would die without so much as a squeak — just like the bodyguards laid out around the room in the same comfortable-looking positions.
"A man without loyalty. Do you know how much money I've put into you……."
"Can't argue with that. I didn't expect things to turn out this way either."
"Why did you betray me? I'll give you as much money as you want. We can forget this whole business ever happened."
"If it were just money, it wouldn't be a problem……."
Aiden shook his head without quite meaning to.
If Captain Hanbin were in his old form, he'd have had his arms and legs snapped by now and be half-broken. Or perhaps he was on his way over right now thinking 'wait, actually, I'm angry all over again' to do exactly that.
To avoid that misfortune, he had to carry out this mission properly.
"Let's get back to the conversation. So, where were we?"
"You're making a fool of yourself. Do you think you can live having turned your back on the Rosemore Count Family?"
Aiden thought about it for a moment.
Making an enemy of the Rosemore Count Family VS making an enemy of Captain Hanbin.
The former did send a chill down his spine…… But the latter was undeniably more frightening.
"Stop trying to set the mood and talk quickly. I'm busy. I have things to do."
"Bell is Clarisse's most trusted confidante."
"You said that already. Anything more useful?"
Marcus, suppressing his fury, spoke.
"……Nothing."
"Really? Nothing? I'll kill you if there's nothing."
The blade tip pushed into skin, and a trickle of blood ran down. Marcus's chin trembled as he cried out in desperation.
"Sh-she likes black tea."
"What use is that to me? Should I uphold my integrity and die?"
"Ow! Oww! I genuinely don't know anything more! Ah, I believe she…… gets around by carriage normally……! An-and her shoe size is approximately 240! And……."
Every time Marcus screamed and added another detail, only useless knowledge accumulated. Having been pushed this hard and still not saying a word that mattered — it was beginning to seem like he genuinely didn't know any more.
"Right! A Dark Mage! There was a rumour going around for a time that she had some connection to a Dark Mage!"
"A Dark Mage?"
Aiden's hand paused.
"Evidence?"
Panic flooded Marcus's face. The expression of a man who had blurted something out in a desperate bid to survive, then instantly regretted handing over information so dangerous.
If that was acting, Marcus had chosen the wrong career path. He had the makings of a film actor, not a Mafia boss.
Marcus squeezed his eyes shut and continued.
"I-it's not precise information! But rumours circulated from time to time that there was some degree of overlap……!"
"More detail."
"Beyond that, I truly don't know……."
Truthfully, whether or not the lady called Bell had connections to a Dark Mage made little difference to Aiden, now long discharged. Still — he'd managed to dig up information that the Captain would find worth his attention, so perhaps that was something.
Right then, first mission complete.
Seeing Aiden fall silent, Marcus spoke urgently.
"I've told you everything — isn't that enough? If I die, you die too, Aiden. There's money in the safe. I'll give you all of it if you let me live. It's a special safe that can't be opened without me. The casino you love — you could visit every day!"
Thunk
Aiden's dagger sank cleanly into Marcus's throat.
"Live a good life in your next one."
Gray Council Chairman Marcus, who had once held dominion over the council, let out not a single scream — only a froth of blood — and perished. A wretched end.
"Right then, let's finish up the rest of the business quickly too."
Aiden pocketed the dagger and strolled out of the room without hurry. He had plenty to do today.
If he was going to make up for falling out of the Captain's good graces, he would need to get to work without delay.
"Rotten luck for us both, really. Of all people to get caught by, it had to be the Captain……."
Clicking his tongue at Marcus, slumped face-down on the floor, Aiden's figure scattered and vanished like smoke.
And the following morning.
Seats 2, 3, 6, 7, and 10.
The unprecedented event of six Gray Council board members having been assassinated — including Chairman Marcus himself — made the front page of the newspapers.