Dark Organization (5)
"First, wash up. If we go like this, no restaurant will take us in."
Nade, who had barely slipped free from Pena's cloak, said, but there was nowhere suitable to wash.
"I have a good idea."
Shirone slipped into a deserted spot and used his Material ability to create a makeshift bath.
Pena's eyes went wide.
"How did you do that?"
"It's that ability. Korkoras doesn't use points, so stuff like this is possible."
The explanation was brief, but Pena didn't care.
"I'll be quick!"
From inside the bath came the sound of her gulping water.
Shirone's face went pale and Iruki asked, "What's wrong? With your power a bath like this should be nothing."
"Yeah, that's true, but…"
The aftershocks from building the Shirone Sphere on the sun side had reached him.
Simultaneous events aren't split—no Shirone can exist at a full hundred percent.
But Armand isn't me. He's covering with willpower, but there's a limit.
Silence lengthened and Iruki realized.
'Something serious is going on.'
He couldn't dig deeper because knowing wouldn't let him help—knowledge alone wouldn't change anything.
'We experience Melkidu, but for Shirone it's only a single incident.' Even now someone must be controlling everything.
'Hang in there, Shirone.'
Iruki gave Shirone a quiet pat on the back. Shirone's chest warmed.
'Thank you.'
He probably wouldn't know.
Out of the countless simultaneous events, this place was the only one where he could still smile.
Not because his friends were strong, nor because Melkidu was easier here.
'It's okay to fail.'
To his friends he wasn't the Infinite Mage, one of the Ivory Tower's Five Great Stars, or Yahweh who carried humanity's fate…
He was just Shirone.
Just Shirone, a classmate from Alpheas School of Magic.
'Sometimes sharp, sometimes silent, but my friends don't see me differently.'
They even understood the cause.
Relaxed for the first time in a while, Shirone watched Pena shake her hair and emerge from the bath.
"Much better. Let's go. I'm starving."
Shirone smiled.
"All right." The group headed to the nearest restaurant.
"What happened to Curtis?" Pena, stuffing food into her mouth, started coughing and downed some water.
"Oh, that. It worked out. Seems he was pretty notorious. His crimes were so severe he wasn't moved elsewhere—he was locked up in the capital Parme's prison. The highest-class prison."
That didn't sound like good news.
"Still, it's one less nuisance for me. But… I was devastated at the thought of finding you guys. You could've just stayed in the capital, but there was no way to contact you. So I came here half-heartedly, having lost my motivation."
Shirone comforted her. "You didn't lose out. Either way we had to come here. It looks like there's a hint of bribery here."
"Is that so? Huh. If a dark organization exists, this place fits perfectly. I watched from the trash heap—this isn't small-time."
"What did you see?"
"Dismembered corpses. I thought they were cutting pork. They flayed them without batting an eye. But I did learn something—about the three major gangs."
Pena's report matched what they'd heard but brought fresh intel.
"The side that seized the supplies headed for Korkoras this time is the Johan Cartel. So the Desperado gang's ready to pounce. A big war's going to break out."
Shirone stood.
"Alright, then let's go to the Johan Cartel. Whoever took the supplies must have met with the dark organization."
"Ugh, the Johan Cartel…"
Pena, about to say something, shook her head.
"Yeah! Let's go! None of the big three seem sane anyway. The problem is finding their base. They won't be easy to deal with."
Nade, finished calculating, turned back.
"Damn. One Bonanza coin for a meal like this. Let's step outside and take care of one at a time."
When they left the shop, the three major gangs were blocking the entrance.
A man trained a machine gun on them.
"It's time to choose, yeah? We don't have much patience."
Nade scanned them and turned to his friends with a smile.
"Much easier now."
The others smiled, but only Pena's legs shook with nerves.
The Johan Cartel.
Their base was a monastery—an austere, reverent place that didn't suit gunfire.
"You're new?"
Under the dim light, a woman in a nun's habit lifted her cup.
She was Aria, leader of the Johan Cartel.
"Yes, sister. I'm fresh meat—haven't been through other gangs."
Among the cartel's lieutenants, a man in his mid-twenties bowed.
"Hello! I'm Boto! I'll serve with all I have!"
"How will you serve?"
"Pardon?"
"How will you serve? Don't make me ask twice."
"Oh, that…"
Boto couldn't handle Aria's sultry stare and looked away toward a shelf.
Underwear with phallic motifs, whips, and chained dog collars were visible.
When Aria clicked her fingers, Boto's gaze snapped back.
"Listen. The Johan Cartel is the oldest organization in Melkidu. We're the only ones who directly inherit the will of Melkidu's founder, Cain. Because we've controlled Melkidu since ancient times, our brothers in reality can remain strong."
"Yes."
"But at some point the Red Union, Desperado, and those without any lineage moved in and started causing trouble. I don't like that. You understand what I mean?"
"Don't worry. I used to be known outside. My hands are itchy."
Then there was a knock.
"Boss, I brought them in."
"Come in."
Aria glanced over Shirone's group and muttered with a sour expression.
"Looks like shit."
They were a different caliber than common gangs.
"So you've been poking around? Police? Looking for someone?"
Shirone said, "Tell us about the dark organization. We want to enter the core through the back door."
"Ah…"
Aria's eyes went dreamy.
"Back door. Good."
"Kukuk!"
Realizing the implication, Boto couldn't hold back a laugh and the lieutenants turned their heads.
"Uh, sorry." Aria, expressionless, set down her cup and rose from her chair.
"Come here."
Boto approached awkwardly. Aria pressed herself close and grabbed his wrist.
"Big sis—big sister."
"What? You like this sort of thing, don't you."
Lifting the hem of her habit, she guided Boto's hand to the inside of her thigh.
"Touch this. Like that. Hold it tight."
Looking down, Boto found a dagger inverted in his hand.
"Uh, why is there—?"
Before he could finish, Aria moved his hand and drove the dagger into his abdomen.
"Ugh!"
He reflexively pushed, but two-thirds of the blade was already in.
"Ah! Knife! A knife!"
As he staggered back, Aria grabbed a bottle and swung with full force.
The bottle shattered with a bang and Boto collapsed.
"Aaah! Aaah!"
Blood gushed from his head, and the blade tearing his belly burned like fire.
"My—my belly! There's a knife in my belly!"
"Kukuk. Then pull it out, you bastard."
The lieutenants kicked his abdomen as if to play with him; Boto flailed.
"No! Ah! I'm dying! Ah! Save me!"
Aria waved her hand. "Shut up. Take him out."
They dragged the leg-wracked Boto away and the wooden door thudded shut.
"Phew. There."
Aria sat back down and said, "The back door is my specialty. Among the three major gangs there's no one better at breaching than me."
The one who made Melkidu's system was presumed to be Cain, humanity's first murderer.
The truth was probably in the core, but the Johan Cartel had long upheld his will.
In reality and in Melkidu.
"In short, you came to the right place. But what can you do for me?"
"Nothing."
"Huh?"
Shirone said, "We will do nothing. That should be a sufficient bargaining position."
Aria's features drained of emotion again.
"You—do you know what a gang is?"
"I don't want to know."
Even if they were villains, seeing a comrade brutally tormented made him furious.
"No one here is scared of guns. Why? Because the moment you flinch you're buried. You just pull. The one who shoots first survives."
He understood the mindset of the ronin on the white sands.
"It's like a game of hold'em. Even with AA in hand, if the opponent goes all-in you get scared. Cowards die; only the bold shout 'call'."
"What are you getting at?"
Shirone's tone sharpened and Aria's eyes flashed with madness.
"All-in, you idiot."
A machine gun suddenly appeared in Aria's hands and every gang member opened fire on Shirone.
Shots rattled, and in the dim light sparks flared.
Pena clapped her hands to her ears and crouched.
"Ugh, aaah!"
She should have been dead, but no pain came even after time passed.
She slowly opened one eye and sat up, staring at an unbelievable sight.
"What… what is that!"
As the gangsters gradually stopped shooting, all that remained was ringing in their ears.
"Who are you?"
A cloud of luminous smoke centered on Shirone had caught all seven hundred bullets.
"Call."
At that word, the bullets returned to the shooters in the same direction and speed at which they'd been fired.
"Huh!"
The bullets stopped inches from their faces and began spinning at incredible speed; the gang members trembled.
Shirone said, "Nobody's scared of guns? No, they just can't see what's right in front of them. How's that? Scared now?"
"It's the last chance. The last chance where I can choose to do nothing. Decide."
Aria bit her lip.
"We're screwed."
At the same moment the spinning bullets fell silent and clattered heavily to the floor.
"Hah. Hah."
As her subordinates slumped, Aria was glad she was sitting.
'Cain.'
Could it really be true?
- It's said that Cain, who realized the efficiency of evil through the first murder, created the Melkidu system. He gave mankind hope: the hope that any sin could be forgiven by mistake.
As pure-blood Johan Cartel members, they had heard much from the nuns before them.
- We kill people and steal their wealth. The world calls that crime, but we call it a sacred act. Evil is far stronger and purer than good, and it dwells in the deepest parts of humanity.
A Johan Cartel nun must enter Melkidu and manage Korkoras.
- But Aria, evil is strong yet has clear limits. It must always hide in the dark and must not yearn for the light.
- Why?
At the time she could not understand.
- Why can't we shine? Cain bestowed hope on all sinners, didn't he?
- The final instruction.
The nun before them continued without persuasion.
- It is a secret the Johan Cartel must protect to the end; you must never forget it.
When Cain left Melkidu, he is said to have left these words.
- There is no sanctuary for demons.