[655] The Air of Life (4)
'And who is this one now?'
Rian was flustered. He'd run into two heavy-hitters in the underground sewer where the stench of rotting corpses hung thick.
Lupist, however, held a dagger between his fingers and fixed his attention on the man who stood like a corpse.
"Shagal of the Swift Daggers."
What would be suffocating to an ordinary person tasted to him like a thrilling, addictive tang—like a spicy snack you couldn't get enough of.
"Sniff, sniff."
Having confirmed the habit of probing an opponent with his nose, Lupist was certain of the man's identity and finally looked to Rian.
"What's your name?"
"Rian. Ozent Rian."
A knight of Maha.
If his name had reached the ears of the head of the Magic Association, skill was a given, but it was surprising he was still breathing after an encounter with Shagal.
"And you are?"
"Me? Head of the Magic Association."
Lupist said it without fuss and, after surveying the dozens of wounds carved into Rian's body, understood.
"Strong recovery. A regeneration build?"
"No, um..."
Rian refused to admit, under any circumstances, that he couldn't use schema.
"Anyway, you were lucky. To have lasted this long against one of the world's hundred most dangerous people."
"The world's hundred most dangerous people?"
Rian had heard the phrase a few times while serving as a knight, but this was the first time he'd actually seen one. What stuck with him more was Lupist's first remark—that he'd been lucky.
"Are you saying I survived by luck?"
Lupist paused before answering and approached Shagal.
"Hm. He changed weapons? That would be the perfect way to hide his identity..."
At a certain level murder becomes an art; just by looking at a corpse you could tell the killer. Some called that the murderer's fingerprint, and Shagal had erased his.
"He changed weapons?"
"Shagal of the Swift Daggers. He handles dozens of daggers at once with grotesquely fast hand movements. A schema technique—what was it called… partial-folding?"
If 'folding' doubled efficiency by folding the body schema, partial-folding folded particular parts to reinforce them.
"Hah. All that just for changing weapons..."
"And Shagal of the Swift Daggers is a master of thrusting."
Rian remembered that every mark on his body had been a slashing wound.
"You dumped the Ain corpse in the sewer. That was you, right? Clumsy as hell. No wonder you hadn't been caught until now."
Shirone had even said they looked like marks of torture.
"Did you come to arrest me?"
Shagal finally spoke.
Of course Lupist had the authority to arrest Shagal and the duty to do so as a mage of the Association. But the reason he'd left the main gate and come into the sewer was an even more serious matter.
"It's surprising that the 'Gatekeeper of the Sewer' you reportedly hired is you, but there's no time for that. Escort him to Brooks."
At that, Shirone splashed through the water and ran up.
"Rian! Are you all right?"
"As you can see."
After confirming Rian was unharmed, Shirone narrowed his eyes and strode toward Shagal.
"Hey! What on earth are you—!"
He froze when he noticed the man standing beside Rian.
"Head of the Association?"
"Oh ho, look who we have here. Isn't this the traitor from Tormia?"
Shirone had left the Red Line when he'd been picked as a candidate for the Ivory Tower; Lupist couldn't not know that. But since it had been the kingdom that first threw the mud, the remark landed more as a tease than a jeer.
A dry voice came from behind Shirone.
"A place that stinks and the head of the Magic Association shows up, kek. This is a spine-chilling arrival."
Next to Aria, who held a torch, Brooks's smiling face hovered like a ghost.
* * *
Shagal sat on the iron gate of the dripping sewer, idly fingering a cheap kitchen knife and lost in thought.
"Ra Enemi."
He had never once doubted the pleasure of killing as he cut down countless lives.
Unlike most murders carried out from necessity, murderers killed for pleasure. When that pleasure became so intense they couldn't go a day without it, they learned something—just as predators aren't guilty for hunting to eat, murderers aren't guilty for killing for the pleasure of it.
Every country forbade murder by law, but what Shagal feared wasn't human law; it was divine judgment.
To him, Ra Enemi was the first being that taught him the terror of murder. After meeting him it was as if his tongue had been cut out, as if impotence had set in—murder no longer brought joy.
"I'll kill him. I will."
A chill lit Shagal's eyes.
Meanwhile, Shirone's group followed Brooks to the meeting room. On the way, Lupist had told them Shagal's identity, but Brooks only shrugged.
"Oh? When you deal in this line of work, all sorts of scum drift in."
That was all he said. When they reached the meeting room door, Aria hung her torch on the wall and said,
"I'll go in first. I'm tired."
"Are you sure? Want us to see you off?"
"I'm busy—go do your work. Shirone, see you next time."
Aria singled out Shirone.
"Ah, yes. Take care."
It seemed unlikely they'd meet again, but Aria turned away without asking anything, as if certain. Once she left, Lupist asked,
"That woman—she all right?"
"She's from the Teshiya family. She keeps a tighter lip than my subordinates, so don't worry."
Brooks boasted as he opened the door, but Shirone halted and said,
"Um, we'd like to leave too. If you could just sign a certificate confirming we completed the request..."
"Oh, right. Of course."
Shirone had followed them only for that.
"You're coming in too."
Lupist's curt remark made Rian's face tighten.
Whatever Lupist was—the head of the Association or whatever—he wasn't in a position to give Shirone orders anymore. Rian had wanted to snap back at Lupist for saying he'd survived by luck, but Shirone beat him to it.
"Sorry, I'm busy. Besides, I'm no longer a mage affiliated with the Red Line."
Lupist snorted.
"Heard you left quietly, but you sure hold a grudge."
"I'm human too. I can't just not be hurt."
"Fine. I'll apologize for the kingdom's judgment. Anyway, you should have somewhere to lean on. You're not strangers with Association staff."
"That may be, but..."
He wanted to finish the Guild's business before rumors of annihilating the bandits spread.
"And perhaps what I'm about to tell you will have something to do with your Ivory Tower test."
"What do you mean?"
Lupist wiped the smile from his face.
"They didn't search for Ra Enemi at the Ivory Tower for nothing. Every organization in every country is looking for Ra Enemi. Tormia's Magic Association is no different."
Shirone stared blankly; Lupist pointed his thumb toward the meeting room.
"Well? Ready to hear it now?"
There was no need to repeat, and the four of them slipped into the soundproof room. Brooks passed around a bottle and four cups before sitting.
"Why did the head of the Association want to see me privately?"
"No need for secrecy. Why else would we be looking for a mercenary broker? We want to hire mercenaries."
"Mercenaries. I don't think any mercenary could satisfy someone who commands the kingdom's best mages. Maybe except Shagal."
"Include him if you must. It's not about skill. It's that the Association can't operate under its own name on this matter."
Brooks snapped the bottle cap off with a click.
"Kek, the great Association is playing it safe? I'm curious—what are you plotting?"
"We're shutting down Radom, Bashka's underworld."
Brooks froze with the bottle poised to pour and quickly withdrew it so his trembling fingertips wouldn't show. Lupist, as if already knowing everything, glared at Brooks and let a smile curl.
"My network tells me the leader of Radom's largest Ain coalition, Spectrum, is being held here."
"What does that mean...?"
"You saw fourteen Ain corpses on the way here, didn't you? I checked the carved bone tattoos on the right upper arm too. Those who should be holed up in Radom keep drifting this way. Don't you find that odd?"
Realizing a deal was inevitable, Brooks sat.
"What do you want?"
"Turn Spectrum's leader, Venetia, over to us."
"Wasn't she supposed to be untouchable inside the kingdom? You know what would happen if Spectrum found out the Association was involved, right?"
All of Radom's terror groups would tear Bashka apart.
"That's why we need mercenaries. Officially the Association won't move. We'll assemble a private force and annihilate them."
"Why? Things had been going fine up to now."
"They had. But this time it's not just the kingdom's business."
When Brooks looked puzzled, Lupist pointed a finger.
"Venetia—she didn't get taken by you. She came herself. I'd stake my life on it."
It was true.
"Let me be clear: she's not someone you can keep. If you hold her, you'll eventually be destroyed too."
"Destroyed by who? Radom's forces?"
"No. Ra Enemi."
Shirone flinched and turned his head.
"Ra Enemi? You mean that Venetia woman is connected to Ra?"
Lupist poured himself a drink and drew a breath.
"You know how Anke Ra erased herself and opened the Great Purification."
"Of course I know."
"The Empire was fastest, but from Cage B Team's intel Tormia began hunting Ra quickly too. They wanted to eliminate them before they could show themselves. But they couldn't."
"You couldn't find Ra's location?"
"No. It was the opposite. There were too many Ras."
Shirone frowned and Lupist added,
"To be exact, Ra existed yet was as if nonexistent. Many people claimed to have seen Ra, talked with Ra, even graduated from the Magic Academy. But we couldn't find them. The trail circled and circled endlessly. Do you know what that means?"
Lupist swallowed some strong liquor and said,
"It seems Ra Enemi only exists as 'events.'"
"Exists only as events?"
"It makes sense if you think about it. On humanity's side there are more than enough capable people searching for Ra. Knowing that, Ra wouldn't just happily reincarnate into a single embodiment unless..."
"What exactly is Ra thinking?"
"The answer is with Venetia. She is the only tri-brained person—three brains that perceive past, present, and future separately. She knew Ra's events would change her, so she bound herself. She may even have read the future in which we come here."
"By 'we,' do you mean myself included?"
Lupist's expression grew cautious.
"Shirone. You know the whole world is watching you. But we don't know you as well as you know yourself. That's why I'm asking. Don't you have some inkling?"
"If an inkling exists..."
Shirone's eyes snapped open.
"Shagal said I met Ra Enemi."
"Hm—the 'scent of an event.' A troublesome ability, but if he said that, there's a good chance it's true."
Rian had heard Shagal's words too, but there were still parts he couldn't understand.
"But you don't remember. If Ra exists only as events, even if unseen, shouldn't some memory remain?"
"No. This is precisely what should happen. Ra can't imprint any event on me."
Recalling Geffin's words, Shirone spoke with certainty.
"Because I have no cause."