Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“A gray-haired woman with two horns on her head. About your age.”

“Glad to see you listened.”

Horns. It’s not a metaphor.

In the world of Polaris, there are mutants among humans.

Hundreds of years after their first occurrence, they have grown in numbers to form societies and are now a distinct race.

The most numerous and widely recognized of the races. Some have even founded their own nations.

“Is it the white side? Or the black one?”

“White side.”

Even within them, races are once again divided by the color of their skin.

White people are “castus” and black people are “tabes”. Yellow people do not exist.

It is a common name among them. Outsiders refer to all horned races as Pekatum, regardless of skin color.

It’s a name they don’t like to hear. Few people are nice and easygoing enough to care about others who look different from them.

“From the sounds of it, you won’t be carrying much. Pekatum won’t be running around by the hundred, especially if you’re a young woman.”

“I wasn’t trying to cheap out either, I just thought it was a reasonable offer.”

“Hmmm. I must have misunderstood.”

Informed, Roscoe scratched his chin coolly. Fortunately, the mysterious client in front of him wasn’t as threatening as he’d been earlier.

“I’ll do a quick search on ……, and I’ll tell the old woman, and maybe your information will get out, that an outsider is looking for Pekatum.”

“I don’t like a lot of fuss.”

“Someone has already gotten word that you’ve come to see me, and I can’t imagine what he’ll think if I start investigating Pekatum on a whim.”

“I see what you mean, it’s not easy to create secrets in such a confined space.”

“That’s just the way it is.”

“Anything goes, as long as you can find it, and I’m telling you, I’m old.”

Kim fiddled with his gun.

“You do your job, I pay you what I promised, and that’s the end of it. After the commission is over, it’s up to you to investigate me or not, but until then, keep your curiosity at bay.”

“Of course you do. I’ve been around the block long enough to know the basics.”

Even as he spoke nonchalantly, Roscoe’s heart sank. His client’s calm warning seemed murderous to him.

Ulantz’s crooks are much more outspoken and cheap. This client, on the other hand, had a very bureaucratic and stiff feel to him.

Like a pro.

‘……Dangerous man is here.’

* * *

Two days later.

At dusk, Kim stepped outside the safe zone in Ulantz.

Last time, I used my knowledge of the game to find the informant on my own, but today was different. I decided to meet at a predetermined point.

“I don’t see anyone else.

A two-story abandoned factory.

Kim checked his surroundings from a distance and went inside. There was no sign of a crowd inside the factory.

“Did the threat work?

Kim breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently, the intelligence hadn’t called his friends.

“Maybe he’s not comfortable calling you… maybe he’s been creepy about having a backside… but he’s not comfortable calling you.

Ulantz is an ungoverned backwater. Mafia players run the place, and the few guards that remain are long since corrupted.

Getting involved with them becomes quite annoying. If I could, I’d take Ast and get out of there without incident.

“Phew, phew. You finally showed up. What took you so long? I was afraid a monster was coming.”

Roscoe’s face brightened when he spotted Kim coming up the stairs. But the relief is short-lived.

“A beast? This guy?”

Poof.

The carcass of a small worm fell at your feet. It was dark around him, so he hadn’t seen it before, but Kim had brought back the carcass of some sort of beast.

“Yikes, why did you bring this thing?”

“I was on my way.”

“Then we’ll just dump them in the street…! Are you going to play hunter?”

Hunter.

In some parts of Polaris, there is an unusual culture. They make their living by hunting monsters.

It’s a public project that began as a government subsidy. Each region rewards those who slay the beast, after embezzling an appropriate amount.

There are quite a few hunters, even if not all the inhabitants live like that.

“No. For what?”

Kim was quick to deny it. The amount of money hunters get paid is pennies on the dollar.

“I heard that in Ulantz, you have to pay a fee to hunt the beast, and it could be a nuisance if someone found the body, so I thought I’d keep it in here.”

“No matter what, ugh…….”

“Don’t bother with the bullshit. The gun in your waistband is enough to hold off the Ichthyus.”

“Don’t you think I know that, Suzie, but it’s still not right, Suzie. Wasting precious bullets on a monster, I can’t imagine.”

“Take a knife or something.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not as squeamish as you are, and there’s a reason why I’m running around doing intelligence work.”

Some people think you’re being squeamish.

Kim grumbled inwardly. There were two more reasons to bring the worm corpses.

One was mental discipline. The other was to drill it into Roscoe’s head that this guy was dangerous.

It seemed to have served its purpose. Kim clicked his tongue, feigning a nonchalant demeanor.

“What do you want me to do, or rather, what do you want me to do?”

“Oh, right.”

After a gasp, the reporting began.

“Bottom line, I found it.”

Kim clenched her fists involuntarily.

Ast is in Ulantz. I thought the timing might not be right, but it was.

However, we soon hit a snag.

“Did you find it? Is there a problem?”

“It’s not a problem. I think we’re in trouble with the Paboni family.”

……Trouble?

“Let’s move your seats, it’ll be easier to understand if you see it in person.”

* * *

The fourth floor of an abandoned building.

Despite being away from the safety zone, there were nine people gathered around, seven of them with guns in their hands.

The two without guns were a man and a woman. The Pekatum woman’s head was bowed deeply, her majestic two horns seeming to do her no favors.

“So, you’ve been doing all these crazy things?”

Cringe!

The woman’s body shook violently at the sound of his languid voice. Seeing her frightened expression, the man let out a low chuckle.

“You don’t think we don’t know that you caught the beast in someone else’s territory, do you? You think we don’t know that everyone else is an asshole and pays their dues?”

“Okay, place value, I didn’t know there was such a thing.”

“Aha, you didn’t know, it was you who was the dumbass?”

He shrugs and continues.

“Okay. Assuming you’re being generous, what’s the deal with the radio silence?”

“……I didn’t mean to, I’m sure I had money in there, but when I went to get it, it was nowhere to be found… Oh, bird, now that I think about it, I bumped into some guy, and that’s when I got pickpocketed!”

“Well, well, well. That’s pretty bad.”

The man kicked Tsutsu’s tongue.

“It’s none of your business, but okay, let’s just say I’ll let that slide!”

The Pekatum woman’s face stretches.

“And how are you going to pay for this?”

Your complexion has turned pale in an instant. The man’s sword. It was the ‘magic sword’ that was split in two.

“This sword…. It’s a luxury item from the faraway Xuran Empire. You, how many beasts have you killed in our territory?”

“Six…?”

“So how much did you make?”

“Twelve thousand credits…….”

“Heh, heh. Did you hear? It’s ten thousand, ten thousand!”

The mobsters surrounding them snickered. As the jeers grew louder, so did Asterike’s trembling.

“Do you know how much this thing costs? It’s worth five million if we sell it right, and we were even planning on using it to get into the city. But then…….”

Bang! The man threw his magic sword to the ground.

“Holy shit! What kind of a bitch broke it?”

“Oh, Osha, listen to me!”

Asterike’s head snapped up, and she pointed a white finger at a young man.

“That guy! He was surrounded by monsters, I was just trying to help. He offered to lend me his sword, I took one swing and it stopped….”

The man, Pavoni, looked at the young man.

“What do you think?”

“You’re right, I was only lending it to you, but I didn’t think you’d break it.”

“So?”

Asterike’s lips quivered.

“…Five million, I don’t have that kind of money.”

“Who have the nerve to say no?”

He sighs in a theatrical, exaggerated fashion. Pavoni then gestured to Asterique’s waist. Exactly where the scabbard hung.

“First that. Get that knife first.”

“Hey, not as much as this!”

“Is it something with a story? Don’t worry, we’re not demons. Think of it as collateral, and we’ll give it back to you when you reimburse us for half.”

Half.

Asterike muttered to herself. Two and a half million credits for a half. How many monsters do we have to kill?

“But we’re in a hurry, too. We’re not going to be able to give you a lot of time.”

“So how much is…?”

“One month.”

All hope vanished from Asterike’s face. Pavoni shook his head in despair at the sight.

“She’s not confident. You can’t afford to pay, but you don’t want to give up your stuff. I’m not an asshole, I’m not a child.”

He paced the room a few steps, as if in thought.

“Well, it’s not like there’s no other way.”

“……How?”

I took the bait. Pavoni smirked and pulled a photo out of his arms.

“This is a guy named Wang Lin. He’s a scumbag who does everything from stealing to assault to murder. Now, what’s your impression from what you’ve heard so far?”

“That’s… like a bad person.”

“Yeah, he’s an asshole, that’s why.”

Jumbuck.

Pavoni took a step in front of Asterike. He held the photograph out to her and spoke cheerfully, as if to say good morning.

“Kill this asshole, and I’ll give you a million.”

* * *

After 10 minutes.

As the Paboni family and a distraught Asterique exit the building, Kim lets out a “huh” sound as she walks away.

“Don’t they even check who’s coming in?”

“There’s no point in checking if no one’s coming. I’d rather have one or two people on guard, in case they attract the attention of a flying beast.”

Roscoe rolled the flint of his lighter.

“No one’s going to talk to the Pavoni family in the first place, so they’re not going to think anyone’s eavesdropping. Do you know the factions around here?”

“I know enough to know, Pavoni family, redcoats. You belong in Svedeniye.”

Three factions operating in Ulantz.

They are all immigrants. They extort money from residents under various pretenses and use the money to bring in guns from outside the country.

“You know ……. I’m not affiliated with them, more of a cash cow, but I’ve only ever had one good thing come out of selling Svedenije’s name.”

It’s all from the game.

It’s a power trio, so to speak. The Pavoni family is the one that holds the reins in Ulanz.

“They used to all be pretty much the same, but now they’re just whatever they see, whatever they want. And they’re so ridiculously pushy.”

Spit up phlegm on the floor.

“Magic swords be damned. Is Lady Pecatum a friend of yours? She seems a little too naive in the head.”

“That’s right.”

Ast. Asteriske.

Grayish-white hair that falls to her back. Eyes like they were forged from gold. Horns that identify him as Pekatum.

They looked the same, but the differences were numerous.

His voice was a little high-pitched. His face was ragged from years of wandering. The grass was dead, and his backside was shabby as he left the building.

And best of all.

Ast is… that stupid.

“No, was there a story behind this?

Here’s the rough outline of a side story.

Ast travels to Ulantz with the Professor in search of the lost family sword. After much struggle, they succeed in retrieving the sword.

That’s when Ast tells the professor

– Thank you, Professor. My past was nothing but ashes. Ever since the day my house and family burned to the ground, I’ve been haunted by the fear that one day I, too, would be reduced to a handful of ashes. And every day, with blood on my hands… I curse myself that I’d rather not.

– But you found me. Even this sword, imprinted in my memory with my father.

– Let me say that again.

– Thank you for everything, Professor.

The famous scene where Ast, always chilly, smiles like he’s crying with red eyes.

The overall quality of the illustrations is one of the best in Polaris.

That’s how the polarizing Astdan came to be. Even Kim Yi Hyun remembered commenting ‘I love Ast’.

I can still hear Ast’s gruff voice in my head as he tells me that the construction was actually done by the local mafia.

“You’ve grown from this experience.

Sure. It’s an environment that forces you to adapt to reality. In the present, Ast has just left his hometown.

It’s still a mess. I don’t know more about the world than Kim Yi Hyun.

“Here’s some presumptuous advice: don’t be mean to them. Unless you’re going to bring your coworkers with you.”

“Do you know who my coworkers are?”

“You know it when you see it.”

Roscoe huffed and smiled meaningfully.

“Aren’t you the mafia from the city?”

“…….”

Kim didn’t say anything back. What kind of nonsense is this guy talking about?

But Rothko took the silence as an affirmation. The hand that held his cigarette trembled with nervousness.

“Wow. I thought it was cheap.”

I wiped the sweat from my brow with my sleeve. Anything less would have gotten me in trouble.

“You wouldn’t think of that, would you? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone who you are, and I know I’m worth my own life.”

Kim still didn’t answer. I figured I could leave her to her own devices.

“But… Pavoni won’t give a shit who you are, he may look like a day puppy to you, but an asshole isn’t going to scare off a killer he’s never seen.”

“Bumla.”

As Kim reflected on Rothko’s words, she was struck by a strange feeling.

While Ast was being treated like shit, he was being overrated as a two-star agent.

“It’s all about attitude.

If there’s a culprit here, it’s not you, it’s Ast.

Kim Yi Hyun came up with various schemes. Stirring up the other factions to revolt. Entering the Pavoni family and causing infighting…….

Cumbersome means.

“Why?

Your opponent is just a small-time mafioso. There are easier ways to deal with them.

A little, maybe a lot, violent.