Chapter 560 - Target (2)
A bright sunny day.
From the highest fourth floor of a building, an old man gazed down at the market bustling with touting, bargaining, and quarrels.
"...So, the implanted ones near the frontlines have been disappearing one by one."
His thoughts deepened.
Tapping the window frame lightly with his fingertips, he furrowed his brow.
"Strange, isn't it. The Ark, which shuns revealing itself to the world, must still be forced to act passively because of the magic tower alliance in the West Continent."
"Maaaybeee, it cooould beee, relateeed toooo, a reeecentlyyy lost, meeeember of the Ark, perhaaaps."
From the corner of the room, where no presence could be felt, came a voice stretched long. If one observed very closely, one could faintly sense something.
Decades ago, during the war between the Kingdom of Estiria and the Republic of Beldirn, they laid the foundation through massive human experiments, and with the corpse of a high-ranking mage secured at the frontlines, they completed their creation.
An implanted one, granted with an artificial anomalous trait.
Truly, one of the products born from Gluttony's technique, a rare success of an experiment with extremely low success rates, wielding multi-capable power.
Behind the old man, in the center of the room, a man with a young face stood with hands clasped behind his back, dressed in immaculate clothing, his gaze lowered.
"You mean the hound, Locke. It makes sense. Though weak, he has tremendous growth potential, and is troublesome in many ways. Last time too, we drove him to a corner, yet he still escaped. Hardly surprising, considering he is none other than the disciple of Ark Elder, Ren Balhagne."
To this, the old man spoke.
"But until now, no meaningful information about the Ark has ever been discovered. Certainly not. At the very least, it has nothing to do with our mistakes."
"In other words, you mean that some change has occurred within the Ark."
"Indeed, without doubt."
Once again, the bizarre voice whispered.
"Aaand, theeee implannted oneees, whooo weeeere mooonitoring Boohemiirn tooower, haaave disaaappeared toooo."
"Ah, Bohemirn magic tower."
The old man stroked his chin.
"I had expected that, given the chance, they might turn hostile, but... I did not think it would happen now. Especially when rumors are circulating that the Black Hour has begun moving again, I cannot fathom why they would act so."
He clicked his tongue briefly.
"After obtaining what we wanted, we should have broken the deal first and launched a raid. But we were properly outmaneuvered. The original plan has gone down the drain. Still, the real problem is the Ark."
The old man pulled away from the sun-warmed window ledge and turned back.
"They are somehow finding implanted ones, by some means or other. The question is whether their blade will reach this far. What do you think?"
"Humans are independent. We, and you as well, even more so. To target and track him specifically is, logically, impossible."
"Nooo, theeerre is something, beeyooond indeependence."
The old man and the man listened to the objection raised.
"Ouuur commooon point, is theee fragments, of Gloooottony. Too ignooore that..."
"The fragments of Gluttony? Claiming that's the cause, that seems far-fetched..."
"Hmm, so you mean Gluttony's uniqueness is instead strangling us. Hard to believe, but still possible. If that is the case, then I could use my power to alter the fragments of Gluttony... but the cost is far too high to gamble on mere speculation."
Inside the old man's body were implanted no fewer than twenty crimson fragments. Feeling the life force flowing from them, he soon made a decision.
"Spread decoy implanted ones widely outside Daunt. Place them within the range where life responses can be detected. If even one of them dies, it will prove that the fragments of Gluttony are being trailed like a tail."
"Undeerstooood."
"And since our dealings with the Bohemirn magic tower have been cut, there is no reason to remain here. Prepare to withdraw."
"Yes."
Creak.
From outside came the distinct sound of wooden boards along the corridor being stepped on. The sound drew nearer until a faint presence halted in front of the door.
Knock knock knock.
A polite knocking sound.
───We have come to escort you on behalf of the Daunt Merchant Association. Are you inside?
The implanted one in the corner of the room rolled its eyes toward the door, while the man merely adjusted his attire.
"Ahem."
The old man cleared his throat to reveal his presence. At the same time, he wore a false smile befitting his disguised identity.
Then he addressed the ordinary person waiting outside.
"Ah, my apologies. I did not realize the time had flown. I shall be right out."
***
Though Daunt lay eastward, as indicated by the artifact, they refrained from using
On the way there, they encountered implanted ones several times, and slaughtered them. There was no need for drawn-out chases, the process was simple.
All it took was Isabella's left eye flashing with the power of her Brilliant Gaze.
Each one of them had received only bodily implants, and neither their strength nor abilities were noteworthy. The mages among them were mere lower-tier 2nd circle.
The problem arose then.
"...Huh?"
Isabella, who had been watching the compass, tilted her head.
The needle, which had been pointing slightly above east, suddenly spun and then drooped downward, succumbing to gravity.
No matter how she fiddled with it, there was no response. The compass needle, completely devoid of power, now simply swung with its center of gravity.
"Patriarch, this thing suddenly went bad."
"I as well, master."
"The same here."
Whether completed or incomplete, every [Black Hour's Compass] they possessed had gone dead. It was impossible for all three to break at once.
Testing with another mana stone, as expected, confirmed that the artifact itself was not defective.
The common denominator, then───was the mana stone imbued with a fragment of Gluttony.
[...Scan complete. A subtle change detected inside the black mana stone. However, unable to specify what has changed. Knowledge insufficient.]
Alpha's affirmation reinforced this.
The cause of the compass's malfunction lay external.
"Looks like the implanted one we just dealt with was a decoy."
"A decoy, you say?"
Yes.
Realizing that implanted ones of Gluttony were continually being discovered and assassinated, they must have thought the tracking method could be the fragments of Gluttony, and thus prepared a snare.
As Verden explained, Isabella brushed her lips.
"So, they could have interfered with the fragments of Gluttony earlier, to block tracking, but only now they acted..."
"Which means the cost was so great that they hesitated to act until now, while still in mere suspicion."
"They're cautious. And yet, seeing how they made an immediate decision the moment their hypothesis was proven, they're also bold. Quite the thinkers, huh?"
Alpha sluggishly joined in the conversation.
[Gluttony, strong rookie?]
The fellow sometimes compared others to rookies, a word it had picked up on the streets and taken a liking to.
"They've endured on the continent for a long time, hardly rookies. Anyway, now it's certain."
Verden gazed toward the distant city on the horizon.
"Gluttony has fangs in Daunt."
Judging by the situation, they seemed capable of detecting the life responses of decoy implanted ones, yet Verden sensed nothing at all.
Surely, it must be an ability unrelated to qi or magic power.
'But there must be a distance limit.'
Unless buried deep underground, they must be blending into the crowd. After all, to hide a tree, one must place it within the forest.
And just as Gluttony's fifth fang, Rupel, had done, this one too would surely hold a position of influence within society.
That meant, it would not be easy to simply abandon everything and run.
If by chance the Ark discovered them and marked them as a target, it would be the end.
'No, since I too belong to the Ark, perhaps I should say I've already been discovered?'
Well, it wasn't important.
"It's a shame we can't use the compass, but the plan remains unchanged. In a limited district, we can still find them. As planned, each of us will take a district and root Gluttony out."
Isabella would search the plaza market, Adrian the underground arcade, Verden and Alpha the alley market.
Not at random, but assigned according to each one's abilities.
"I'll be back soon. Adrian, you haven't forgotten our bet, right?"
"As I said. Bring it on."
Adrian and Isabella smiled lightly, steeling themselves. Yet inside, their resolve was utterly serious.
Their murderous intent toward Gluttony.
They despised human experimentation as much as Verden did.
"Judgment on site is up to each of you. Scatter."
***
Daunt, a city-state under the Empire of Arnak and a hub for massive logistics, was broadly divided into three districts.
First, the plaza market.
Second, the alley market.
Third, the underground arcade.
The plaza market and the alley market occupied most of the surface, and were places where trade thrived during the daytime.
The former took place in plazas and boulevards, the latter nestled between buildings, each suiting the peculiarities of the goods bought and sold.
By their very nature, streets without merchants were rare, so one could not leave the city without passing through markets. That was their design.
Even if one had no intention of buying, one's gaze might suddenly be caught and the purse opened. There was nothing as fickle as the human heart.
And the underground arcade was a kind of anthill structure built beneath the three cities that formed Daunt.
Its scale overall was considerable, and shops operated there without distinction of day or night.
Those who visited sought things hard to find on the surface, or something more special.
Or, to sell.
Not only books that clashed with the noisy markets above, nor solely alchemical and magical materials that shunned sunlight.
In even more secret places, trophies difficult to dispose of, or items impossible to obtain legal permits for, were also traded.
In the past, Daunt had been merely a small city, no more than a slightly larger village, a so-called city-state in name only, its geographical position unfavorable.
Too few demi-humans or aberrant species for adventurers to thrive, and soil too poor for proper farming.
No rivers nearby.
Whether one called it ordinary or barren, one thing was certain: it was environmentally unsuited for a city to sustain itself.
Its main income had been the purses of travelers passing through to other regions.
But as surrounding villages, towns, and cities prospered and grew in population, Daunt, naturally positioned at their center, came to serve as a conduit.
As a midpoint, it became a convenient city for merchants to trade.
Where people gathered, more people gathered.
Above all, as the large proportion of its population was transient, enormous amounts of money flowed in and out.
Thus, Daunt, with money at its heart, had long been run by the Merchant Association.
"So this is the plaza market. Far more crowded than I'd heard."
Isabella walked the streets with her robe pulled deep, like a traveler.
The crowd was so dense one could bump into others with just a few missteps. The noise was overwhelming. Searching for someone here was no different from looking for a needle in the desert.
Of course, there was an exception.
Whoosh.
Beneath her hood gleamed golden light, her deformed Defying the Heavens magic circle piercing through the essence of countless humans.
"Wow."
She let out an exclamation.
"Just how many are there?"
On a café terrace, a man with a bizarre skeleton sipped a drink. A merchant with twisted organs smiled as he greeted a customer.
Monsters wearing human skins mingled everywhere.
The hidden face of Daunt.
Isabella, wielder of Brilliant Eyes, was their natural enemy.
***
The yellow glow of mana stone lamps illuminated the passages of Daunt's underground arcade.
Though some spots were dim, except for the ceiling overhead, it was bright enough not to seem underground at all.
His senses raised to the extreme, Adrian walked leisurely, observing the interior.
To others, he looked like a first-time visitor to the underground arcade, but no one dared to provoke him.
His build beneath the dark-blue robe alone showed he was no target for robbery or intimidation.
"..."
Then, along a corridor that was a little less crowded than others, Adrian spotted two men conversing.
He slowed his steps, calmly watching.
"Then I'll expect it to be ready within two days."
"Of course, sir! Then take care!"
The merchant bowed low.
The man, appearing to be in his late forties, stroked his beard as he passed Adrian and turned the corner.
"..."
When the presence had receded, Adrian approached the merchant.
"Heh, just one big customer and..."
"Hey."
"Yes?"
The merchant turned.
Finding a strange man right before him, he flinched back two steps. Before he could even ask, Adrian calmly posed his question.
"What were you talking about with that middle-aged man just now?"
"C, conversation? Why, that's... no, more importantly, for the sake of customer trust, that's confidential..."
Clench.
Adrian balled his fist.
Even an ordinary person could tell what would happen if that fist struck.
"A bastard like you, peddling the loot of the dead, what business have you talking about confidentiality? Am I wrong? Let's sit down for a cup of tea and talk this over. Please, just unclench that fist first..."
The merchant quickly employed his survival skills.