Chapter 84
Mercenary Usagi.
Hoshikawa Yukina did not like being called pretty.
In a bleak city like Haze, being beautiful without any protective backing was a double-edged sword.
A naturally beautiful face might offer a chance to escape the lower class, but it also increased the odds of becoming a target for criminals exponentially.
In fact, kidnappers had been drawn to Usagi in unusually large numbers since she was little.
Thanks to having been raised as a ninja, she had escaped the worst every time, but those were certainly horrifying memories she could not recall with a smile.
Because of that past, experiences bordering on trauma had accumulated.
She had become sensitive to gazes imbued with lust and had endured excessive stress.
Some people had advised her to simply enjoy the attention, or to think of those staring at her as inanimate objects and ignore them, but it had been useless.
Her heightened senses were part of the problem, but Usagi's mind, having nearly suffered terrible treatment because of her looks since childhood, was not so pliable.
She had only gradually overcome it as she gained respectable combat ability and grew more certain that she could protect herself.
But Max's compliment was different.
No. It wasn't even a compliment. He had merely assessed the situation in a dry manner.
That was why she didn't find it unpleasant.
A dry remark with none of the stickiness or lust was what pleased her most.
She was happy simply to be seen as pretty by Max. For the first time, she felt grateful for her natural looks.
“Your outfit looks fine, doesn't it? A mask from a convenience store should do.”
“Then I'll go with this. The sleeves are long enough to conceal my prosthetic arm, so there won't be a problem.”
An oversized gray hoodie and jeans. Usagi's outfit was ready too.
They visited the place the Association had provided, lightened their luggage as much as possible, and finished preparing to leave.
“If the mercenaries who lost contact were attacked by the group teaching magic, they'll still be on high alert.”
“Hmm, then we'll have to take it slow and work our way in.”
The two shabbily dressed people set out for the districts in the 70s.
They traveled as far as the far edge of the 60s, the farthest point accessible by subway, then waited for a bus at a stop with a broken hologram.
The bus that arrived soon afterward was a smallish mid-sized model. It was a decrepit heap of scrap metal, its surface covered in vivid red rust.
Max and Usagi boarded the bus, which jolted even on level ground, and headed for the districts in the 70s.
The first place they visited was District 74.
It was where the group teaching magic had been spotted two days earlier.
Just getting there had taken until sunset. The characteristic stench of the lower districts bored into their noses as if welcoming them.
“Phew, let's go.”
They passed vagrants sleeping on the streets and people so drugged-out that their eyes had lost focus.
Max gestured to Usagi, who was keeping her distance from him.
“Stay close enough to look like we're together.”
“···Mm.”
Usagi cautiously began to close the distance.
When she got close enough for her shoulder to brush Max's, her breathing became ragged with tension.
Knowing that she mustn't act this way, Usagi clenched her teeth.
‘This is a job. I'm in the middle of a job···.’
Would Max be disappointed if she showed this unprofessional side of herself?
She imagined Max looking disappointed.
“···.”
The heat that had risen in her cheeks vanished in an instant. Feeling even the slightest fear at the mere thought, she regained her composure.
When the corners of Usagi's eyes twitched, Max noticed immediately and showed concern.
“You're not feeling sick, are you?”
“···I'm fine.”
Usagi, now composed, was making her way with Max through the alleys of District 74 toward the downtown area.
They saw two men blocking the alley. A stereotypically thuggish air, as if drawn in a picture, radiated from them.
‘One has a handgun. The other has a knife at his waist.’
Max and Usagi continued forward calmly without slowing their pace.
As they drew near, one of them, sporting a green mohawk, displayed his handgun and spoke.
“Stop right there.”
The men looked Max and Usagi up and down, then became convinced they had never seen them before.
On top of that, they were cheaply dressed and unarmed. Ideal targets for their line of work.
“Empty both your pockets. Woman, lower your mask.”
Usagi asked with her eyes how Max planned to handle it.
Max quietly moved his mana.
Using telekinesis, he seized a flowerpot sitting by a building window. The pot containing a withered plant floated into the air.
It fell straight down, landing precisely on the man's head.
Crash!
When his companion was struck by the flowerpot and crumpled to the ground, the other reflexively drew the knife hanging at his waist.
Looking at the surrounding buildings that were on the verge of collapse, he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Pepe!? Uh, which bastard was that!!!”
Only his own voice echoed back. Silence.
Before him, a man and a woman stood silently watching the scene, their expressions unchanged.
A chill ran through him.
‘This···.’
Sensing danger, the man left his unconscious companion behind and chose to flee.
Patter!
With no hesitation whatsoever, he smoothly sprinted away with his back turned—a true professional at fleeing.
This was clearly not his first or second time running away.
“As for public safety, this is about what I expected.”
Max took the fallen man's handgun and pocketed it.
Simply carrying it would keep at least vagrants from approaching.
“That was a better way to handle it than making a corpse. If they were affiliated with an organization they paid tribute to, this could have become troublesome.”
“Well, guys like that have plenty of pride. I doubt they'll go around saying they ran away.”
In truth, Max had let him go because it wouldn't matter even if he called the organization.
Even that would provide an opportunity to squeeze out information.
Max and Usagi left the alley and reached the commercial district of District 74.
The central districts in the 70s were an utter mess, practically without a notion of hygiene.
Hungry children begged or rummaged through sewers and every kind of gap with sticks, searching for something to eat.
There were even groups roaming around with boxes, trying to catch birds like pigeons and sparrows.
“Let's fill our stomachs first.”
Max led Usagi toward a street stall.
There was plenty to choose from, but they had to choose carefully.
Food in the districts in the 70s was in worse condition than food in the wasteland, so eating it without having adapted could easily result in an upset stomach.
‘Let's see.’
Anything made using rice was out. It was probably made by mixing potatoes with synthetic resin.
Fermented food was out too; they spared no dirty tricks, such as using sewer water to shorten the fermentation time.
The shark fin being sold for no apparent reason was also off-limits. It was simply made of gelatin and chemicals used in industry.
Even the food brazenly labeled bamboo shoots was made by cutting wooden chopsticks, soaking them in chemicals for a long time, and drying them until they became soft.
‘Even ice cream was basically sold with plenty of thickeners added so it wouldn't melt.’
Max headed for the boxes piled with corporate energy jellies, the only officially certified food at the stall.
He reached in and pulled out two jellies from around the middle.
‘It's lukewarm.’
It was a shame. Energy jelly was easier to eat when chilled in a refrigerator.
When it was lukewarm or warm, its fishy flavor became much more pronounced.
‘Still, I should be grateful for even this right now.’
As Max paid, he casually tossed out a question.
It was his first inquiry.
“Mister. I heard you can learn magic if you come here?”
The proprietor, accepting the money with a yawn, looked dumbfounded at Max's question.
“Huh, so that's why I didn't recognize you. Now even people like you are showing up··· Just go back.”
“Why? It's a chance to turn my life around. If I became a mage, I could get into a good corporation.”
“Tsk, tsk. Try to coast through life like that and you'll get burned.”
The man clicked his tongue, and Max pointed to Usagi, who was quietly standing behind him.
“I have a family to support, so I need to grab onto any opportunity I can.”
“A penniless fellow like you has even brought a wife along? Hey, miss! If you choose a man based on his looks, you'll ruin your life.”
Max almost corrected him by saying Usagi was his younger sister, but the pretense of her being his wife seemed to make a stronger impression on the proprietor, so he continued the conversation as it was.
Usagi clenched her fists and curled her toes, putting strength into them to keep from letting the joy welling up inside her show.
“Anyway, those evangelists won't be coming anytime soon.”
“Evangelists? I guess that's what people call those who teach magic?”
In response to Max's question, the proprietor nodded, then lifted his ladle and gave the food for sale a stir.
“I don't know who they work for, but since they go around teaching magic, everyone started calling them that.”
“What do you mean, they won't come right away?”
“Once they leave, they apparently wander through other districts too. They were here recently.”
“And you don't know where they went?”
As Max continued asking questions, the proprietor frowned.
“Quit bothering me and go. I have a business to run.”
“I told you, I'm desperate. If I become a mage and get into a corporation, I'll live comfortably.”
Max deliberately rambled on with the kind of ignorant talk no worldly person would say and took another energy jelly.
Holding out crumpled credits, he pressed his questions.
“Anyway, you mean you don't know where they went?”
“That's right.”
“Hah, what a pain. I want to learn magic.”
As Max scratched his head, the proprietor advised him while holding the ladle.
“It's good to have the ambition to move up. Still, don't go poking around those evangelists too much.”
“Why?”
“Because there are people who are furious over those evangelists.”
No need to ask who he meant.
Since they took away anyone who showed an aptitude for magic, regardless of age or gender, a reduction in the district's headcount would hardly be welcome to the criminal organization ruling it.
‘Is the organization being careful about making a move against them, just in case? Teaching magic ultimately means they're mages, after all.’
The organization was likely trying to determine the evangelists' identities.
They must be wondering whether an opening to strike would present itself.
‘I'm starting to see the shape of things.’
After securing the energy jellies, Max gestured to Usagi that they should move, then walked on.
Usagi followed behind with a stiff, creaky gait.