Chapter 33
The Mercenary Office without Max.
It hadn’t even been thirty minutes since Ellen, having finished at the Academy, came to work and turned on the sign’s lights.
Clack!
Flora arrived, wearing orange-tinted sunglasses pushed up on her head.
Ellen, who had been slouched in the computer chair, scrunched up her face mercilessly.
“What’re you doing here?”
“Where’s Oppa?”
“He went out for work. Did you just show up without even contacting him?”
“…Oppa said I could come by anytime.”
Flora entered the office and claimed the sofa.
She asked with her usual calm voice and an expressionless face.
“When is Oppa coming back?”
“Don’t ask. I don’t know when he’s coming back either. He probably won’t be back today, so I’m just gonna hold out for three hours and clock out.”
“Hmm…”
Perhaps her reason for being there evaporated since Max wasn’t around. Flora lifted her butt off the sofa and stood up.
Thinking she was about to leave, Ellen watched her quietly, but Flora came out of the restroom holding a mop.
“…What are you doing?”
“I’m going to clean up before I go.”
“Don’t make more work for me and just leave. What does a Young Lady who’s never done chores know about cleaning?”
“You’re the same.”
Flora hardened her eyes and glared at Ellen.
Ellen smirked as if she found it ridiculous.
“Hmph! Do you think a Part-time Job is a joke? Unlike you, I actually learned how to clean properly from Oppa. Want me to teach you a little?”
“…I don’t need it.”
Flora moved the mop clumsily wiping the floor.
[This Girl is hopeless at cleaning.]
Ellen quietly admired the absurd sight of Flora Crimsonhowl mopping the office floor.
After staring blankly, she asked Flora as if it were no big deal.
“Let me ask you one thing while Oppa isn’t here.”
“What is it?”
“You said your Family remarried into the Steiger side. But why does Oppa live in the office?”
From Ellen’s perspective, since Max and Flora’s relationship wasn’t bad, she was even more curious.
It was strange that he settled in District 27 in the first place. Even if it wasn’t a Lower District, it wasn’t a district where a child of a Wealthy Family would stay.
“I don’t know either.”
Ellen’s eyes twitched at the half-hearted answer.
“You idiot. If you don’t want to tell me, just say so.”
“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you, but I said I don’t know because I really don’t.”
Flora’s expression and movements as she cleaned changed subtly.
She seemed to feel down, if it weren’t an illusion. The office suddenly became quiet.
[What the. Did I step on a landmine?]
She hadn’t even asked anything major, so why was she making such a gloomy face?
As Ellen followed Flora, her thoughts also became complicated.
“Haa…”
Ellen brushed her bangs back and stood up from her chair.
She strode over to Flora, who was holding the mop.
“Do you think wiping like that will clean anything? Hand it over; I’ll show you what real cleaning is.”
* * *
District 41 relied on harbor logistics and the labor of its workers.
The majority of restaurants and entertainment venues targeted the workers employed at the harbor, while other infrastructure aimed to addict the workers' families to luxury.
It was a system where the Corporation put considerable effort into recirculating the money of the workers and their families within District 41. As a result, ordinary workers at the harbor couldn’t help but be shocked by their monthly expenses, and with credit card debt snowballing, retirement only became possible after death.
This was the place where employees who had adapted to that cycle spent most of their day.
The harbor Control Tower.
Three employees of Aqua Shell, a security firm under Neptune’s protection, reported to work in a room filled with monitors.
“Hey, hey, hey, what’s with the expression? You look like you just got an unexpected credit card bill.”
“Who snitched to this bastard? That “I found a comrade” look on your face pisses me off. Get lost.”
“Hahaha! If the wife spent it, you should just smile. Isn’t it just a lack of love?”
“You psycho bastard who goes around watching female android dismantling shows… If you have a conscience, check yourself into a mental Hospital. Do you know how many bastards want to sit here?”
The employees were giggling and killing time like any other day.
The radio attached to their vests rang.
─ Overtime starts now. What’s the status of the entrance?
An Employee glanced at the monitor.
He let out a chuckle and activated his radio.
“It’s closed tight. I can clearly see you holding up your middle finger, too.”
─ Were any outsiders caught on the security cameras?
“None, so get to work. I’ll let you know if I see any.”
─ Don’t lose your head from slacking off.
“Yeah, yeah~”
The radio cut off.
It was the moment Usagi had been waiting for.
Usagi, who had been hiding in the shadows with bated Breath, grabbed the katana slung across her back.
She kicked off the ground soundlessly.
Swish!
The heads of the three Tier 1 employees dropped with a thud.
Usagi sheathed her blade and threw an EMP Kunai onto the floor of the Control Tower.
Thwack!
A blue pattern emerged above the kunai embedded in the floor, and all the monitors went dead.
Right next to it was the server that stored the video footage. The green light on the device, which was the size of an adult man, also turned off.
“…”
She picked up the phone on the desk.
No sound could be heard.
This wasn’t a temporary disruption. It was permanent damage that destroyed the circuits and insulation layers.
It was a much cleaner disposal method than slashing the machines with a sword or smashing them with a fist.
[It’s still high output for its size.]
Usagi clenched and unclenched her prosthetic arm, its sensation dulled by the EMP’s aftermath, and slipped out of the Control Tower.
With her unique leg strength, she bounded across the tops of the containers.
The sensation in her left arm returned.
Moving quietly, she pulled out another EMP Kunai. If she used this one, she’d have one spare EMP left.
A Control Tower without even stairs or a ladder came into view.
She confirmed that there were no monitors or people inside, suggesting it was a space opened only when necessary. It was a place where only the cooling system ran continuously.
Inside was a small server managed not by Aqua Shell, but by Neptune.
It housed not only the secondary storage for security footage but also a repeater that extended the communication range of the radios used by the harbor employees.
She threw it without hesitation.
The pitch-black kunai flew, slicing through the night sky.
Thwack!
The kunai embedded in the wall activated, emitting a faint blue light.
Max, who had taken his position and was waiting, confirmed the small, flashing blue light on the Control Tower.
It was the signal light Usagi had created.
[It’s here.]
Max pulled a Lollipop from his pocket.
He cut off the stick and popped the candy part under his mask.
[Coffee flavor.]
He liked it.
The cool breeze atop the Tower Crane felt nice. The night sea coming into view also had its own unique vibe.
[Let’s see.]
Below, he could see a forklift moving a cargo Container.
All the forklifts were using this path, and mercenaries were sticking close and moving alongside them, perhaps because something important was inside. Whenever the Driver tried to speed up, the mercenaries would scream at him.
[Psychokinesis would be perfect for fine-tuning.]
Max’s finger pointed toward the pulley of the Tower Crane.
An unexpected accident was about to happen.
[Shear]
Ping!
The Tower Crane’s rope and pulley were severed in an instant.
A Tier 1 Severing Magic cast by a Tier 4 mage was on a completely different level of power.
Rumble - !
The Container hanging from the Tower Crane plummeted downward, hook and all.
With Max’s Psychokinesis lending a hand, the falling object dropped cleanly onto the forklift.
CRASH!
It was a deafening roar that anyone in the harbor would hear.
Max, having withdrawn from the Tower Crane, crouched atop a stack of containers and listened closely.
─ A-an accident! There’s been an accident here!
─ Check the goods first!
─ …The Driver is dead!
─ You sons of bitches! Forget the Driver and check the goods!
The mercenaries swarmed in, murmuring loudly.
One Mercenary, who had been shouting orders, grabbed his radio to report something, but it seemed the communication wasn’t going through properly.
Max marveled and cast his gaze back toward the Control Tower.
[The EMP Kunai’s performance is pretty good, huh?]
To think such a small thing could create such magnificent chaos.
Was this what The Real Deal Ninja was like?
[Very few mercenaries or employees will come this way to check just because the radios are jammed.]
He was certain. This was an ironclad rule of Haze.
Low-ranking mercenaries in a group wouldn’t move without orders. Even if they heard a loud, inexplicable noise like just now, holding their position was common sense for an average Mercenary.
Autonomous action was akin to power.
[Will the Aqua Shell employees come first?]
Usagi and Bivol would start from their respective positions, using the noise Max created as their cue.
They would quickly begin clearing out the small groups of mercenaries who lacked skilled fighters, as the strong ones would have left to assess the situation.
─ Everyone, standby!
A figure who appeared to be the head of the mercenaries threw his radio down in annoyance and pulled out a Smartphone.
It looked like he intended to contact someone.
[That’s cheating.]
Max stood atop the Container and wove his magic power.
He increased the clarity, envisioning the celestial sphere dropped by the Titan who couldn’t endure the punishment of bearing the sky.
[Atlas Fall]
The Virtual Mass plummeted, delivering a powerful Impact to the area.
CRACK - !
The mercenaries around the forklift were turned into a handful of meat chunks.
The Mercenary holding the Smartphone retained a bit of his shape, but his life was definitively snuffed out.
“Ptoo!”
Max spat out the end of the Lollipop and looked around.
[Are those two just doing their jobs well? This is a bit unexpected.]
Despite causing such a loud noise, he didn’t see anyone approaching.
Should he go down and check the goods?
“…”
An unsettling silence followed during his judgment.
Sensing the hostility, Max condensed his magic power instantaneously.
[Shield]
CLAAAANG! A bullet spun and dug into the Shield he had reflexively created.
Max’s eyes widened as he narrowly dodged the bullet that shattered his Shield.
[This magic…?]
Max raised his head to identify his opponent.
A mage was aiming a rifle in his direction.
The figure was protecting their body with a tactical suit and hiding their face with a device similar to Bivol’s while showing off a red laser sight.
Max knew the magic he had just blocked with his Shield.
He couldn’t learn magic because he lacked the talent, no matter how hard he tried.
The magic that could well be called a nightmare for Max.
The magic that bastard was using.
[…Steiger?]
It was the Family’s Shooting Magic.