Chapter 14
There was a Person who had spent rough years in the District 50 Scrapyard Forest before joining Gaia Food and rising to the position of an Executive.
Misumi Renya naturally drew a dagger. He spun the blade fluidly in his hand.
He stared piercingly at Max, who didn’t avoid his gaze, and suddenly opened negotiations.
“First, I’ll let you know that I’m the only one who noticed an intruder.”
“So?”
“Are you willing to resolve this quietly and peacefully? I’ll compensate you generously.”
“Suddenly? You looked ready to hack me to pieces just a moment ago… Didn’t you say it was a shame you couldn’t let me go quietly?”
Max’s expression crumpled.
An abrupt and hard-to-understand proposal. It didn’t feel like a way out had just opened up.
“Just having an outsider infiltrate the Product Development Team office makes things annoying for me. I’d face heavy disciplinary action. In the worst case, my head might roll.”
Max’s mind was boundlessly cold.
Even facing a strong opponent of a higher tier, there was no such thing as panic.
Therefore, the more he chewed on Renya’s proposal, the fouler it tasted.
[What a load of bullshit.]
Because killing him quickly and cleaning up neatly was also a method.
“How much are you offering?”
“300 million credits. You’ll face a rough time if you return empty-handed, so I’ll prepare some suitable data for you to take back as well.”
“…”
“You just walk out, sell the data or collect your commission, and it’s over. No need for us to shed blood. Whatever field you’re in, your reputation will go up too.”
Max’s mind spun rapidly, connecting the information.
A reasonable deduction began to form regarding a situation where not only a huge sum but also alternative data were kindly offered.
He was a Regressor.
[The external eyes fixed on Gaia Food must be quite burdensome.]
If Max accepted the fake data here and submitted it to the Mercenary Association, Gaia Food would be at ease for a while.
Perhaps continuously, right up until the day they launched the product and found a backer.
With that hope, the plan was to send Max away with hush money and data in hand.
Even if he refused this and continued the fight, there was a high chance Renya would attempt negotiations again if he seized the upper hand.
But Max was also a Person who had been around enough in Haze.
He could read such tactics on the spot. Rather, he was thankful for the information.
[This might be the procedure that happened Before Regression.]
Max held out his hand with a relieved heart.
“300 million credthems. Bring it out in cash.”
“That’s impossible right now. I’ll prepare it in clean, untraceable money within a week.”
“Your business manners are a mess. If you Conduct an off-the-books deal like that, would a Customer be satisfied?”
“You… You do realize I’m showing you mercy, right?”
When Max clicked his tongue, making a tsk-tsk sound, Renya’s expression crumpled.
“Think about it. If I sell or submit the data you prepare for me, how could I ever sleep soundly, constantly anxious about getting caught with a fake?”
“I guarantee it. No such problem will arise. Even if they’re suspicious, verification will be impossible.”
“Even that fact is hard for me to believe. Like you said, verification is impossible.”
“…That is a reasonable point. Then I’ll try to prepare the money within two days.”
“Wow, it’s nice to see you so desperate to appease me.”
As Max let out a giggle, Renya realized.
This bastard never had any intention of accepting the offer in the first place.
“You’re a guy with a knack for pissing people off.”
“I hear that sometimes the things I do can be detestable.”
The conversation cut off, leaving silence.
Renya tapped a rhythm with his fingers. The dagger he held bobbed.
Both of them, each in their own way.
They focused their consciousness on the other’s movements.
RUMBLE - !
The start was Max’s Psychokinesis.
The computer and desk flipped over all at once and flew at Renya.
Swish!
He broke through the obstacles with a clean knife strike.
Experience could be felt in the movement itself.
[Not a single scratch. A 3rd-tier is a 3rd-tier after all.]
[Shear]
1st-tier Severing Magic.
He aimed for the low-durability pupils, but Renya read the flow of magic power and dodged it.
“!”
Max immediately threw himself and kicked a chair away.
The dagger drew a trajectory right through the spot where his head had just been.
As he stood up riding the momentum of his roll, Renya’s dress shoe flew at him.
[Shock]
He wrapped the 1st-tier Impact Magic around his elbow.
A textbook counterattack just like this.
BANG!
He pushed the kick away, but Max’s elbow, which was concentrated with magic power, felt like it was going to shatter.
In contrast, Renya showed an intrigued face, as if there was no particular problem with his leg.
“A Mage dabbling in melee combat? Interesting.”
“It’s tough to make a living if you can’t move on your own.”
“Not a bad choice. Someone with diverse talents is exactly the kind of talent a Corporation wants.”
Renya manipulated the knife Handle. - Click! Along with the sound of a lock releasing, liquid flowed moistly over the blade.
The liquid flowing on Renya’s blade was poison.
Not an incredible poison that killed humans reinforced with magic power, but a poison manufactured with the goal of stimulating the nervous system.
That was why it was said to be difficult to hire cyborg mercenaries who combined nerves and machines.
Models without detoxification, research, or nerve replacement functions would be incapacitated just by a graze.
Of course, it would still have some effect on Max, who had no machines in his body.
[Even if he just gets sluggish, it’ll be easier to break him.]
Max extended his Psychokinesis toward the dagger.
Renya withstood it and raised the corners of his mouth. It seemed he had no intention of entertaining such a flimsy trick.
[Directly grabbing him with Psychokinesis isn’t the way either.]
Right now, with a difference in tier, magic power capacity, and physical ability, directly intervening with Psychokinesis is a waste of magic power.
Using Psychokinesis on an opponent who held the upper hand would result in the sensation of applying a joint lock but failing to bend it.
It was similar to a scenario where the opponent resisted with strength and couldn’t be thrown.
[Then.]
He recalled the blueprints he had seen in the vehicle.
CRASH!!!
Max used Psychokinesis to rip up the office floor and ceiling, hurling them at Renya.
The structural framework became visible, along with the laid-out electrical wires.
Renya, who swatted away the flying debris with a mere hand gesture, lunged forward.
He concentrated on the blade and compressed his magic power.
[Shield] - CLANG! It cracked in a single hit. It looked like it would break with just a tap.
Renya’s spinning back kick, which followed his dagger swing, shattered the Shield and struck Max.
Accompanied by the agonizing pain of his abdomen twisting, he was slammed into the corner.
But it was enough.
The magic was constructed.
[Wire]
Threads imbued with sharpness filled the interior of the Product Development Team office.
Renya, who had been about to continue his attack, tapped the threads that appeared in front of his face with his blade, showing curiosity.
“I might be overreacting since I’m a layman when it comes to magic, but you’ve been showing unpredictable magic since some time earlier.”
“…”
“Keeping someone like you alive for long will become the root of a disaster.”
Max moved his body with heavy legs, blindly pulling out the wires laid in the ceiling and floor.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Reading Max’s movement in a brief instant, Renya swung his dagger.
The back of his hand was cut.
Ding!
The lights Renya had turned on when he entered the office went out.
Darkness filled the sealed office.
“…”
It became quiet.
Max and Renya made no sound.
[I have to endure it.]
Max suppressed his Breath. Having taken a kick to the stomach, Max felt a cough accompanied by blood threatening to rise.
On top of that, the cut on the back of his hand was a problem.
He lowered his hand below his heart and strongly compressed his forearm with Psychokinesis.
He focused on preventing the poison from spreading.
He had to settle this before an irresistible moment arrived.
Max moved the cables and wires he was gripping with Psychokinesis.
Swish - .
The wires brushed against Renya’s suit.
At the same time, he aimed with his palm.
[Impact Shell]
“…!”
Renya’s body was slammed into the wall by the Impact Magic.
Lacerations were left on his back, shoulders, forearms, and thighs as he touched the Wire Max had set up.
“Rat-like tactics. You’ll survive a long time in Haze.”
Regaining his posture, Renya made a decision.
He had to kill this one.
The higher-ups had told him to coax the intruder and send him away with money and alternative data, but it was difficult to subdue a guy like this without killing him.
If he kept holding back his strength, Renya himself might end up bleeding.
Renya closed his eyes to find his opponent.
Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness could get him killed.
[He’s creating noise everywhere with Psychokinesis. He’s no ordinary guy.]
Even when he focused his hearing, the distracting sounds didn’t cease.
[Severing the installed Wire requires a larger movement than usual. If he cuts it, I should be able to predict the direction and position he turns his body.]
While Renya was sharpening his senses.
He felt a minuscule amount of liquid flowing over the wounds torn by the Wire.
[…Liquid?]
Was it sweat dripping from above? Was the guy hiding on the ceiling? Was it the possibility of a trick? Was it safe to open his stance?
But it was none of those.
The sensation in Renya’s right forearm went completely numb.
[Poison?!]
This was the poison he had made. He was certain.
Whether he had caught the toxic substance flowing from the blade with Psychokinesis, or he had extracted the blood from where he was cut.
The poison had invaded through the lacerations caused by the Wire.
[Impact Shell] - BOOM! An Impact occurred.
Unlike before, he was too late to protect his internal organs with his arms.
[Impact Shell]
Impacts are flying in succession.
Renya’s entire body shook. He rolled over the Wire.
“Keugh!”
Blood regurgitated.
He tried to find the door to get out, but his sense of direction was warped.
“You wet-behind-the-ears brat…!”
Feeling the crisis, Renya released a massive amount of magic power.
With the intention of completely Severing even the office walls made of Special Material.
The dagger swung in a wide arc.
* * *
While Max was continuing his battle with Renya,
Enri Crimsonhowl was watching a cooking show rerun in the living room.
It was then that she called out to her daughter, Flora, who was about to go to sleep.
“Flora.”
“Yes?”
“The dish on TV right now is a bit tricky to make, but doesn’t it look delicious?”
“Uh… it looks delicious.”
“Then should I make some for my daughter and bring some over to Max’s side too~? Could you do me a favor tomorrow, sweetie?”
She was asking her to deliver side dishes to Max Steiger.
Flora didn’t have any particular aversion to it either, so she nodded.
“I’ll ask him if I can go over when I wake up tomorrow.”
“Mom will make it and leave it before going out tomorrow~ Make sure you eat some too, sweetie.”
Flora, satisfied with her mother’s joyful appearance, went into her room.