Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The way back to the hostel from the stadium was quite complicated. In the first place, it was harder to find an uncluttered area in Kilikia.

Most of all, people. Walking through crowds was not easy. Most of the places Asterike had traveled had been quiet.

Rural, wild. Abandoned ghost towns.

I purposely chose a place with a small population. It was hard to find a more livable city than Pekatum.

In that sense, Kilikia was certainly unusual. I could walk around with my horns bared, and they would only flick them once. Everyone is indifferent to each other.

It’s uncomfortable to walk, but it’s easy on the mind.

Asterique was surprised to find herself blending in with the people coming and going.

Puck.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

It bumped into a young boy, who ducked his head and skillfully darted down the sidewalk. How polite, I thought to myself.

“Miss Asterike. Check your pockets.”

“Huh? Pockets?”

“Make sure they didn’t get robbed.”

At Roscoe’s words, Asterique groped my body, checking my belongings. Her hands grew increasingly urgent, and her complexion paled.

I could tell by their reactions.

“You’ve been taken. What did that asshole take?”

“So… the money bag from Hyun. The jerky, the chocolate bars, the canned goods. It’s just all gone…!”

“Money is one thing, but canned food is another.”

“It’s emergency food, just in case.”

“Huh, I’m a dead ghost from lack of food. What the hell would have to happen for you to need emergency food in the middle of the city?”

Roscoe clucked his tongue. Come to think of it, I heard you were pickpocketed in Ulantz as well, how careless of you.

“Consider it a good lesson and be careful in the future. From what I hear, you can cut your nose off with your eyes open around here.”

“I thought policing was good?”

“No matter how tough they say they are on criminals, there aren’t that many of them. It’s just a matter of getting in the crowd and picking pockets.”

Asterike bowed her head deeply.

“Uh, what do I do?”

“How much was in there?”

“One million.”

“……No, why did you bring all that?”

“I’ve never had so much money before….”

“You wanted to feel rich?”

His head dropped even lower, as if he’d been pierced. Roscoe clenched his jaw and furrowed his brow.

Have you seen all these idiots?

“Erai, we’ve got to get him, what can we do? Look around the alley. That’s where they usually check wallets……!”

Roscoe ran in the direction the boy had disappeared. Asterique followed. As they pushed their way through the crowd, they heard cursing.

Luckily, the pickpocket was quickly spotted. As he turned into a nearby side street, he saw the back of a small boy.

“My money…!”

Asterike gritted her teeth. Money she’d never had. Despite the amount of money, she didn’t want to take away what Kim had given her.

The force with which you spur the ground has increased. The distance shrank in an instant. Running faster than he had in the race, he caught the boy by the hindquarters.

“Ewww, what!”

Tududuk.

Asterike’s belongings fell to the floor in the boy’s hands, and Roscoe, who arrived later, gasped and gathered them up.

“Phew. At least you got it back.”

“You guys, what are you doing, get off me!”

The pickpocket flailed his arms and legs. But he was too small to escape Asterique’s grasp.

“Roscoe. What do we do with this kid?”

“Hmm. Well, that’s another problem. We don’t have enough evidence to turn him over to the authorities…….”

If they checked all the CCTVs on the street, they might be able to prove the crime. However, it’s unlikely that they’ll go to that much trouble for a minor offense.

I was trying to figure out how to handle it.

“Help! I’m being kidnapped!”

“Me, kidnapped? What do you mean-”

“Aaaaahhhhh! These people are trying to get me, please help!”

The boy began to cackle, his high-pitched voice crackling.

“This asshole is…….”

Roscoe felt lost. Outside the alley was a busy street. At this rate, people who heard the screams would come running.

To those who didn’t know the situation, it would have looked like a criminal terrorizing a child. Asterique realized the situation and let go of his hand.

But that didn’t solve the problem.

“Money! I want my money back. I worked so hard to save it for my mother’s illness…!”

The boy was pleading, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. Asterike was dumbfounded.

“What the hell is this?

And then I realized, in hindsight.

Camera.

There are cameras here, too. She didn’t know if they recorded sound… but it was likely to be used against her.

“Uh, what should I do?

Asterique was confused, her eyes wide open and her nose cut.

Kilikia was an uninhabitable city.

“What’s all the fuss about?”

Just then, a man walked up from the other side. Chapter’s face lit up at the appearance of a third party. The boy pointed to the two hogs and shouted, “What are you doing?

“Help! They took my money, it was for my mother’s medical bills…?”

The boy’s eyes widened. The man had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. With his other hand, he brushed the boy’s side hair back to reveal his ear.

The characteristic inverted triangular ears. The man who checked it out, Kim Yi Hyun, snorted.

“Small people.”

“Yes, sir?”

“If you’re going to play dirty, cut off your ear.”

The boy, no, the middle-aged dwarf, was abandoned. The halfling fell among the rubbish.

“And I shaved my beard less. I’ve heard that the Small People don’t grow body hair as easily as hair. You look a little older, don’t you think that’s embarrassing?”

“Ugh, ugh.”

“Just get the hell out. Before I call the marshals.”

He staggered to his feet, glared at Kim for a moment, and then bolted out of the alley.

That was the end of the commotion. Roscoe, who had been staring blankly, spoke up afterward.

“Tongue, why are you here?”

“I was on my way to the stadium after work. You said you had a game today. I guess I’m a little late… but more than that, what if you get on the ice. Get a grip, man.”

“That, um. Disgraceful.”

Roscoe nuzzled my neck coolly. Asterique, meanwhile, stared in the direction of the path where the Minorites had disappeared, then turned to Kim.

“Hey, Hyun, was it okay to let it go?”

“Huh?”

“Later, when someone comes to arrest us, we’ll just say….”

“Arrested.”

Kim waved his hand in disbelief.

“They don’t want to make a big deal out of it, because they’ve got their own shit going on, and they don’t want to be investigated.”

If you’re bold, they’ll run scared, especially in Kilikia, where the punishment for criminals is severe.

“……I see.”

“It’s hard to catch them, but you can’t bury them either, so it’s best to be careful and not get involved…….”

He yawned softly instead of speaking. It was far too early for sleep. Apparently, living underground, night and day often changed.

“Anyway. Did you win the game?”

“Yep. I’m 5-0 so far.”

“Oh, you’re doing great.”

Kim roughly tidied up Asterique’s split ends, which she didn’t resist at all.

Even he was like a puppy. As I was thinking about it, she spoke up.

“Have you eaten?”

“No, not yet.”

“Let’s go eat. I have money.”

“Isn’t that the money I gave you?”

“That’s my money. I’ll give it all to you if you win the prize.”

“How much is the prize?”

“How much?”

“…Huh?”

“Huh?”

Roscoe chuckled at the back-and-forth conversation. As for how much prize money is on the line in the fourth division, he doesn’t really hold a candle to it.

It was a nice relationship to watch.

* * *

Bam!

The steel plates of the [FE-7 Suppressive Shield] slammed into the minrat’s torso. The blade dug into its throat, sending it sprawling to the ground.

As its name suggests, this giant rat lives in mines. They are also common underground in Kilikia, where they hunt in packs.

“When I was a newbie, I hated these guys the most.

These are the enemies that rush you in the early game. If you don’t have an agent who specializes in tanking, you’ll have a hard time dealing with the barrage of minions.

In the real world, it was even more threatening.

They will tear your flesh off at the first sign of weakness, and you’ll be overrun and overwhelmed. Their bony corpses litter the underground.

They were also the Bounty Hunter’s nemesis. Unlike the Outlaws, you don’t get paid for killing a hundred Minrats.

“It smells worse than anything.

Kim blocked every single charge with his shield and took down Meinrat. Once subdued, he finished him off with a machete [Caries].

I didn’t dare wield my sword without a shield. Safety is safety, but I didn’t want to be covered in rat blood.

Bam, bam, bam!

Two metal arrows pierced each of the two Minrats that were about to pounce on Kim. Once again, Kim was the one to make the confirmation kill.

“Is this it?”

“I think so. Thank you, Mr. Hyun.”

Pep the Whitefang approached, crossbow lowered. The battle was over. Kim removed his equipment from his hands and caught his breath.

“Man, they said it’s easier to work when Mr. Hyun’s around, and they were right. The others have no consideration, they’re just thinking about shooting from behind. When they’re done, who’s going to step up?”

“I think you just shot yourself in the foot too….”

“Haha. I’m a pretty good shot, so why don’t you come down with me next time?”

“Hyun, just ignore him, it wasn’t that long ago he was talking about you as a parachute.”

Jenna, who was equally comfortable with her bow, joined the conversation. This is Pep’s first day, and Jenna’s third time hanging out with him.

Kim was moving from squad to squad, dabbling in operations here and there.

Regardless of the position, Whitefin’s method of selecting people was unusual.

“This looks like a college group project to me.

The total number of members of the White Fang is fifteen. There are three squad leaders.

Squads don’t have a fixed number of members, and the squad leader picks and chooses who he needs for the operation.

At its best, a free and flexible system. At its worst, it was as bad as the Tang army.

“Well, it’s nice to have peace of mind.

I’ve been working with Whitepins for a month now. That was enough time to get used to it.

In the meantime, Kim has a lot going on. He bought a device, a staple of Kilikia citizenship, and set up shop near MetroCity.

Asterique moved up to the third division two weeks ago. After picking up extra points on the winning streak, they’re already eyeing promotion to the second division.

We were at each other’s throats. It was heaven compared to the hardships of Ulanz.

But only in their personal lives. In reality, Whitefin’s investigation was stalled.

“Damn, I’m wasting my time again.”

Bryce, who organized this team, kicks a plank through an underground passage.

After the battle with Minrat, you follow the path as per your previous information and find no humans.

The information was not false.

Any sign of life was still there. However, the Outlaws had already been evicted, and the base was a mess.

“Pep. Anything?”

“Looks like the minrats we ran into earlier had a bit of a flip. Here, these are pig bones. Looks like they cut it open and ran off.”

“The rats ate frugally. They must not have enough food for themselves, so why did they feed the beast?”

Jenna asked, and Kim spoke up.

“Maybe they don’t want to fill our ships. We’ve only encountered two Outlaws in a week, and they were dead. I’ve seen three empty strongholds, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

Wary of “outlaw hunting. That’s the only way I can describe it.

“…Aye. It’s about time they realized what we’re doing. There is a community among the Outlaws.”

Bryce chimed in. Then Pep began to speak up, cautiously.

“I wonder if I touched the wrong thing, Jeon.”

“Did I touch the wrong thing?”

“Maybe because we’ve been poking around, they’ve banded together, feeling threatened that we’re finally going to wipe out the underground from above.”

“So you’re saying we should have left them alone, never mind if the Outlaws had guns in their hands and crates full of ammo?”

At Jenna’s outraged reaction, Pep threw up his hands and corrected her.

“I’m not saying that… I’m saying that we should have thought of a means to an end. Up until now, we’ve always been able to just bludgeon them into submission, but this isn’t that simple.”

He wasn’t wrong, in fact, the hunting that Whitefang had been doing hadn’t been very fruitful. He’s only dealt with the leftovers.

They haven’t even gotten a hold of the Legion’s tail yet. If the Outlaws continue to hide at this rate, Whitefang will be helpless.

“That’s how it was in the game.

A unified group of Outlaws, with the Legion at their backs, attack Metropolis one day, taking the fight to the ground.

Outlaw and Kilikian militants clashed with each other, and both sides were reduced in strength.

It’s only then that the Legion steps in and devours Kilikia.

At this rate, it would be a disaster like in the game.

Despite knowing that Whitefang’s behavior was counterproductive, Kim went along with it for a month.

This was to specify the ‘when’.

“Hey, you two. Don’t fight…….”

There were five people in the room.

The woman followed in silence. Her pale face and uniform didn’t go well together.

Mary, a 5-star agent.

Whitefang’s sole survivor.

“The Kilikia Collapse” is Mary’s side story. It’s told from her point of view, from the beginning to the end.

And now.

The battle with the Minrat and the vacated Outlaw stronghold. Pep and Jenna’s argument. These are all scenes from the LW-02 stage.

The scene in the game is being perfectly recreated in real life, which means we can now predict what’s going to happen next.

“I think we can move on.

Now that you’ve gotten your story off the ground, it’s time to change things up.