Chapter 0
A small bar tucked away in one of the Empire's alleyways.
Music from a small gramophone quietly fills the bar, soothing the hearts and minds of those within.
[Glenn Luna]
"Ahem."
As always, I had a cocktail recommended by the bar's master and a cigar in hand.
"Phoo..."
This moment, when the complex flavors and aromas of liquor and cigar lingered in my mouth, was the most enjoyable time of all.
It was while I was smoking that cigar and savoring the cocktail's aroma.
—-
Suddenly, the music coming from the gramophone changed.
"Hm? Jazz? Master, what is this all of a sudden?"
Scritch, scritch.
The master, sporting a magnificent old man's mustache like a character from a story, quietly wiped a glass and spoke.
"A customer has arrived, so I had to change the music."
"Hm? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter."
With my eyes taking in the neat, peaceful bar, my nose and mouth enjoying the cocktail and cigar's combined flavors, and my ears basking in rich jazz melodies...
Clatter!
And then, as if cold water had been thrown over that perfect harmony, a noise began to ring out.
The door to Glenn Luna was suddenly thrown open with a rough bang.
At the same time, the gramophone's jazz music stopped, entering a brief moment of suspension.
Thud.
A man sat roughly beside me without even shaking the dirt off his shoes.
The sound of ice melting slightly in my glass, the jazz music, and this man's discordant noises jarred my ears.
"Are you Abel?"
"Fwooo."
After staring at my cocktail for a moment, I lifted my cigar and held the smoke in my mouth.
Then I felt the rich aroma within the smoke.
A truly high-end cigar made with Angus Fleur.
A cigar saturated with mana was indeed something else.
Click.
Just as I was enjoying the cigar, I felt a chilly, metallic sensation at my temple, accompanied by an unpleasant sound.
A revolver.
Having confirmed that, I spoke in a composed voice.
"Well now, weren't you looking for someone named Abel? Pulling a gun on me without even confirming my identity..."
"Ha! What a ridiculous farce."
The man pressed the gun even harder against my temple.
I rolled my eyes to look at him; he was not wearing a pleasant expression.
The blood vessels in his eyes had burst, and traces of foam remained around his mouth—in short, he looked like a drug-addled vagrant.
I couldn't suppress the sigh that escaped me at the sight.
"Haaah, seriously. Now even a guy like you is after me."
"Huh?"
"All right, all right, killer."
I calmly raised both hands above my head, exhaling cigar smoke as I turned my head.
He didn't even stop me from moving my head; instead, he let his guard down because he thought I'd surrendered. What a pathetic sight.
It was obvious at a glance that he was a rookie.
"Before you die, there's one thing I want to tell you."
"What?"
Click.
The man pressed the muzzle against my forehead, as if to say he'd shoot me immediately if I spouted any nonsense.
Ridiculous. If it were me, I would've just shot him before he could say something like that.
Bemused by this absurd farce, I pointed a finger downward.
"Why isn't the smoke disappearing?"
By then, smoke had filled the floor of the bar like a cloud.
I looked at the man as I exhaled cigar smoke.
The man looked flustered.
"Smoke normally disappears in no time. You know that well, don't you?"
[Warning]
[You are revealing your ability.]
[The opponent has noticed something abnormal. Slight increase in ability manifestation power and destructive power]
A blue window that disturbed my vision.
Ignoring the window, I looked at the man, who was aghast to find that his hand had stopped moving.
"What is this?!"
He couldn't see it, of course. An ordinary person who hadn't awakened mana had no chance of seeing this.
By then, smoke was tightly constricting the man's arm.
It held him so tightly that no blood could circulate, like a rope—or perhaps a chain.
To the man, it probably felt as though a ghost had possessed him, leaving his arm immobile no matter how hard he struggled.
-----!
The jazz music echoing through the bar was racing toward its climax.
Humming lightly, I took a sip of the cocktail, the ice having melted just enough to make it easy to drink.
The cocktail's flavor spread through my mouth, while a light oak-barrel aroma, along with scents of apple and rich smoke, tickled my nose.
"Master, you've still got it."
Scritch, scritch.
"Honestly, you won't even make small talk? That's harsh."
Passing the ever-impassive master, I lightly savored the cigar smoke.
The small amount of cocktail aroma and flavor left in my mouth synergized with the cigar, giving off a deeper fragrance.
You probably prepared this after seeing my cigar.
"Please..."
As I calmly enjoyed my cocktail and cigar, a voice reached my ears.
"Please spare me... Please, I failed to recognize a great man for what he was..."
The voice of the man who had pointed a gun at me and tried to kill me.
His voice, which until just moments ago had been full of certainty, madness, and elation, was now filled only with the desperate emotion of not wanting to die.
"Hm. You want to live?"
"Yes! Yes! Please, I'll tell you everything about who hired me. Please... spare me!"
The man was already bound from head to toe by the cigar smoke I'd exhaled.
He looked so desperate that, if not for the smoke restraining his body, he might have prostrated himself in dogeza.
"I am interested in hearing who commissioned you, to be sure."
Hope began to return to the man's face at my words.
I assumed it was because he could see a way to survive.
"But I don't want to hear it badly enough to keep alive the man who came after me, you know?"
"Pardon...?"
Fwoooosh.
A deeper plume of cigar smoke.
The man looked at the young man before him, who appeared to have only just reached adulthood, with trembling eyes.
Why had I accepted this job?
A mistake born of being blinded by drugs and money.
Among the countless powerhouses in these back alleys, a man who was unmistakably different.
Why had he made Abel, the Demon of Smoke, his enemy?
Abel's face could no longer be seen through the smoke he was exhaling; his form was only barely visible through the wisps that swayed here and there.
"Then, farewell."
Leaving Abel behind as he casually waved his hand, the man's consciousness and life came to an end there.