"Paymax..."
Since the girl couldn't hear him, he spoke to his advanced intelligence.
"Yes, Mr. Nobody?"
"What are those creatures called, one of whom is supposedly this girl's parent? The so-called brothers of the Dirty Baals."
"Most often, those who dare to mention them aloud... call them the Fool Baals."
"Fool..." he whispered.
An absurd name, as in the case of the Dirty Baals. But what feeling did this silly name evoke?
His whole body was covered with goosebumps.
A premonition of inhuman horror.
Apparently, because of her mixed blood, only a fraction of that species' fear emanated from the girl.
"What are the chances that they could become my next nightmare?"
"Considering that their village must be located somewhere in the vicinity of Concord... Small, but not zero."
"I see... In any case, be prepared and develop another plan."
"..." At that moment, the black cat lay lazily on the sun-warmed sand and calmly watched their conversation.
Seeing this, Mr. Nobody stopped talking to Paymax and crouched down right in front of the cat.
"Unbelievable..."
He himself did not understand why it was so surprising. However, the sight of a beautiful cat basking calmly in the sun seemed incredible in this cruel world.
"Who are you..."
"..." The cat didn't seem interested in his question and wasn't even startled by his sudden approach.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to resist the urge to pet her...
"Kuronuma, given your origin, you should belong to the Path of Havoc, right?"
To distract himself from his strange desires, he decided to ask this sudden question.
"W-what?! H-how did you know?"
"The cat told me."
"That's not true, it... doesn't talk. It's j-just a cat."
The girl had already wiped away her tears and regained her composure, but this question caught her off guard.
"You never know for sure..." Mr. Nobody whispered with a smile. "In any case, is it true? Are you really someone like the First Step of Havoc?"
The incident in the Pit, when he met representatives of three different paths at once, remained the only one in his memory.
The First Step of Fortitude — that crazy old man.
The First Step of Bond — the man who treated him after torture.
The First Step of Havoc — that woman, Salvadora, whom the Ryskar tore to pieces.
Of course, there could be people of different paths among the Concord elite, belonging to Steps even higher than the first, and the "cleansing squad" he encountered in the Pit was a vivid example of this. However, it was practically impossible for a simple mercenary to meet them.
Perhaps people who had already stepped onto other paths were hiding somewhere in the shadows... But it wasn't even something people were allowed to talk about.
Officially, there was only one path in Concord that was officially recognized and sanctioned by Big Brother himself... and it was not the Path of Knowledge.
The seventh path, created personally by Big Brother... But now was not the time for that conversation.
"I..." The girl hesitated a little. "I-I never wanted this... But most likely, it was meant to be. Because of what I was born as." The girl forced a smile.
"..."
"Y-you probably think I was hated by everyone… or, on the contrary, that everyone respected me..."
"..." The girl's disturbing monologue made him frown.
"B-but, to tell you the truth, I was... nobody. The Dirty Baals are a people who value family ties incredibly highly... And among them, I was an outcast. They hardly spoke to me and kept their distance. As if I were nothing more than a… ghost to them. Can you imagine what that's like?"
"…" The cat kept silent.
"Haa... I think I can imagine."
It seemed like the girl was about to cry again.
If he were a different person, could he have hugged her or at least comforted her a little? It's so easy to calm a child down.
But, unfortunately, he is who he is. He is Mr. Nobody.
"And you know, until today, I didn't even know why they behaved that way... But now I know. All this time, they were... scared. Scared of me and the creature I was born from."
The girl started crying, but not like last time. Her eyes were not only red from tears, but also red with cold anger.
Her horn, in turn, also began to emit a faint crimson glow.
The feeling of horror emanating from the girl intensified.
So much so that goosebumps crawled along his neck.
It was so palpable that even the cat seemed to show some emotion.
"...And, taking advantage of the opportunity, they decided to get rid of what they feared, right?" he asked, without showing any emotion.
"Yes," Kuronuma replied coldly. "That thing you took, and me... They said we would be a gift. Some people in suits came and offered them this deal. The people I grew up with for the last twelve years... They agreed without hesitation. My own family were the ones who put me in a cage."
"..." And after that, the question of whether you would follow the Path of Havoc or not hardly concerned you or them, Mr. Nobody quietly concluded.
This conclusion was not as clear-cut as it seemed at first glance.
Mr. Nobody assumed that Kuronuma and the target of his contract were to be transported to the lands where Fortitude thrived.
What would have happened next, no one knew. But given her origins, it is likely that Kuronama would have been sent down the Path of Fortitude rather than the Path of Havoc.
Although the option where this girl became a weak-willed concubine was also likely.
"..." The cold anger in the girl's eyes subsided a little. She knelt and began to cry quietly.
Watching this and just standing there was incredibly painful...
"..." At that moment, the cat got up and slowly walked over to the girl.
She did not try to cuddle, but calmly sat down next to her.
"Thank you..." Kuronuma whispered, sobbing quietly, and hugged the cat tightly.
"Haah..." Mr. Nobody exhaled heavily.
He couldn't have imagined that his single question would cause such an outpouring of emotion. Apparently, the girl had had to endure and restrain herself for quite a long time.
However, thanks to this tactless question, he now had an almost complete picture of what was going on.
'Most likely, those people in suits belong to the upper echelons of Concord. They stole the target of my gig, brought her to the Dirty Baals, and, on top of that, allowed them to get rid of a long-standing thorn in their side — Kuronuma. My target and the girl were supposed to be a perfect gift or present for some powerful person...'
"...Most likely from the lands where the Fortitude thrives, perhaps from the Empire of Saladin." He whispered aloud. "The Dirty Baals were given modern equipment and entrusted with transporting the gift... But why was I involved in all this?"
"You just took on the riskiest contract once again, Mr. Nobody. Something like this was bound to happen," his constant assistant interjected.
"You're undoubtedly right, Paymax... But don't forget that my job was 'exclusive'. The customer specifically chose me to do it... and at the same time, the customer made sure to remain anonymous."
"Do you think the customer could have known the true nature of this job? And do you think that he chose you specifically to carry it out, not because of your reputation but for... some other reason?"
"Some other reason... Haah." He looked up at the sky wearily. "Only a fool would chalk everything up to my reputation... and deny all the coincidences."
It was daytime, but even the bright sun and light blue sky couldn't hide the glimmer of the stars.
The sight was truly something…
"Unthinkable..." he said, looking at the stars not with admiration, but with irritation.
If you drew lines between them, the stars could form clear constellations.
It vaguely resembled a web into which a spider slowly but surely drove its prey...
And all this evoked a rather unpleasant feeling.
"I really hate coincidences..." he voiced the resentment that had accumulated in his soul.
He felt like a helpless fly… inevitably drifting into an invisible spider's web.