Chapter 170
Plaza Hotel, Host room.
A Ghost Whale was swimming beyond the transparent circular room.
With an ocean crafted to resemble the void behind him, a man with an impression as sharp as if measured by a ruler was stroking a jet-black blade.
Black obsidian blade, Otto.
The culmination of cutting-edge Pre-submergence Tokyo engineering technology, a beautiful treasured sword that seemed to suck in and absorb light.
One recognized by the sword shall obtain the Family.
Who would have known that the third user would be a complete stranger?
It was undoubtedly some sort of trick… but it was clear that it could not be overlooked.
[He has arrived. Shall I let him in?]
“Do so.”
He certainly has plenty of guts.
Eugene Schneider pulled a cigar from his pocket.
It was a room where he had clearly been alone just a moment ago, but an Iron attendant shimmered into existence to cut the sealed cap and light it.
“That is enough. Everyone fall back.”
With a single wave of his hand, the shadows in the darkness faded. The Iron-faced Family Head exhaled cold acting and muttered.
The preparations to welcome the Customer are complete.
* * *
Finding Eugene Schneider was not difficult. A facility called the Host room, which only the owner of the hotel could use, existed right out in the open.
Just as there is a sky above the sky, it was obviously a space where only people of the right 'class', magnates like Eugene Schneider or Karin Isiho, would be able to enter even within The Consortium Club.
Feeling intimidated, I wondered if they would even let me in if I went… But since I had already made up my mind, I just went and visited blindly.
And surprisingly, they let me in without a fuss. They just opened the way without any thorough physical searches or checks of my belongings.
Things were going so much better than expected that I even suspected it might be a trap.
Though there was no reason for someone on the level of the Schneider Family Head to go through such roundabout ways just to trap me…
At this point, the doped courage and confidence I got through the Shaolin Monk rapidly shrank. I just wasn’t stepping back because of the sunk cost; I couldn’t run away after coming this far.
Jo Aron has grown up a lot.
It feels like just yesterday that I was agonizing over entering the bar on my first day of work at Dragon’s Lair, but now I’m agonizing over meeting the head of a noble family.
After spinning in circles in place and running every kind of simulation in my head, I barely managed to brace myself and reached out toward the massive alloy door with metaphysical patterns―
Uh, this is awkward.
The main gate opened on its own just by me getting close, without any need to touch it.
Smoothly, without even a creaking sound, and therefore even more terrifyingly, a dim space and thick acting entered my view.
Anyway, what is this smell? It’s similar to the stale cigarette stench I always smelled in the condo I used to live in, but something is different… musty and acrid?
It feels like it would smell exactly like this if you roasted cigarettes over a charcoal fire.
I don’t know. Rich people must do weird things too.
As I hesitated and stepped into the grimly decorated interior, he was standing on a tiered platform about three steps higher, beyond a silver metal frame with a large chessboard placed on it.
Eugene Elijah Schneider.
Holding a cigar in his left hand and a sword in his right, he looked down at me.
That mismatched combination, the eerie tip of the black obsidian blade raised as if to show off, seemed to be warning me.
Saying, “I know.”
Cold sweat flowed.
What was his intention in bringing that sword, the Schneider Family heirloom, all the way here to show me?
Alexandra Amadeus Schneider said she hadn’t revealed what happened that day, but would he really not know despite that?
“Aaron Nakamura?”
A heavy bass voice that you would expect to hear in a noir film like The godfather lodged into my ears.
I tried to straighten my back and shoulders and spoke timidly.
“Yes. That is me, Mr. Schneider.”
And then silence descended.
With the person who invited me just staring at me without saying a word, I really felt like I was going to lose my mind.
Unlike me, whose blood was running cold, he leisurely took a drag from his cigar. At that moment, I was just fidgeting in frustration.
“Do you know why I invited you?”
Words were spoken as he set the cigar down on the ashtray on the table.
If I knew that, would I be standing here like this, Yangban.
“I do not know.”
When I spoke honestly, Eugene Schneider spoke calmly without any change in tone.
“I called you because I was curious about how you used Otto.”
“…!”
Even as I heard it, I couldn’t believe my ears.
He knows? But how can he have such a nonchalant tone, as if he’s asking if I’ve eaten?
A man for whom it wouldn’t be strange to grab me, lock me up, and torture me right now?
He said 'used'. Doesn’t just swinging a sword count as using it? Isn’t he just testing the waters?
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
A cold gaze was piercing through me as I stuttered, unable to answer anything. Eugene Schneider swung the black obsidian blade in his hand once in the air, then gripped it straight and aimed it at me.
“I will reduce your worries.”
Uh… what is he trying to do?
An ominous premonition pierced my spine.
Eugene Schneider kindly delivered the answer to my question directly through action instead of wasting his breath explaining.
Whoosh.
He hurled the black obsidian blade aimed straight at me!
Without the preparatory movement of pulling his hand back and then shooting it forward that is usually seen when throwing something, he just let go with a thud from a standstill, and the sword shot out like a bullet.
The most dangerous sword in the world was flying at me with the momentum to accurately bisect my body.
'Fuck… isn’t that guy a crazy bastard!'
I couldn’t even think of protesting the lethal attack I suffered unexpectedly. I didn’t have the time for that if I wanted to survive.
I reflexively threw my body. I lowered my stance completely to the ground and rolled a full circle.
With this, I shouldn’t be hit by the thrown sword.
―――!
But my spine still tingled. Something was buzzing in my head, warning me of danger.
Something was flying at me, bending its trajectory unnaturally according to a signal in the air, curving to accurately target my head―
Thud.
I reached out my hand.
The handle of Otto was held in the grip I had taken in the Territory of the unconscious.
Even I don’t really know how I caught it.
A chilling sharpness could be felt from the blade that was just barely about to touch the crown of my head.
“What in the world is this…”
Did I just almost die?
I was so flustered and bewildered that it didn’t even feel like reality. It was when I was belatedly trying to stand up, on guard with the thought that there might be a next attack.
A voice I had heard before popped out from the state-of-the-art sword held in my sweat-soaked hand.
[Bio-ID recognition complete. Welcome, Aaron Jo Nakamura Schneider.]
I ended up dropping Otto right out of my hand.
“…”
Clang!
Only a cold silence flowed.
…No, wasn’t it supposed to activate only when you touch the sensor under the handle? Why is it recognizing my Bio Code on its own and making a fuss?
For me, it was a continuous mental turmoil from earlier due to the unexpected situation.
Out of the hundreds of simulations I ran in my head before coming in, there wasn’t a single case like this.
Making an excuse that I don’t know how this happened would be no different from asking him to just kill me, right?
No, no matter what I say, I’ll die anyway. Shouldn’t I at least try to struggle?
Since I have the sword anyway, it seems like a truly crazy thing to do, but should I at least try to threaten him while swinging the black obsidian blade? Should I say it would be beneficial for his well-being to let me go safely?
As I came up with that crazy idea and absentmindedly looked at the black obsidian blade I had dropped on the floor, Eugene Schneider reached out his hand.
Then the jet-black blade Body rattled and shook, then flew straight up and was sucked into Eugene Schneider’s grasp.
Is this real life?
“You shouldn’t try to put a scratch on someone else’s property carelessly.”
…Okay. The threat option failed before I could even start.
I wondered how on earth a sword shot in a straight line changed its trajectory midway, but it seems there was a means to control it remotely.
A flying sword, it’s not like it’s the sword control technique from some wuxia novel.
“Right, Aaron Jo Nakamura Schneider, was it? Interesting.”
Eugene Schneider said that and sat in front of the silver table with an expression that didn’t look amused at all.
There definitely wasn’t a chair there until just now, but at some point, a sleek S-shaped lounge chair had popped out. Did I blink and miss it?
“You should sit down too.”
The words “There is no chair on my side?” came up to my throat and then went right back down.
Seeing a liquid compound rise from the floor and instantly take the shape of a chair, I just had nothing to say.
Right. This is what a Cyberpunk World is like.
Resigning myself and sitting on the chair, Eugene Schneider picked up the cigar he had set down again. After gently tapping off the ash, he put it in his mouth and puffed out once.
He carefully stroked and adjusted the chess pieces slightly on the chessboard.
And then he asked casually.
“Do you know how to play chess?”
Likewise, I didn’t expect this at all either. At this point, I was starting to wonder if he was doing this on purpose.
Why chess all of a sudden?
When the chessboard placed in the center of the table lit up brightly, it definitely wasn’t a joke.
The strange thing was that the color of the chess pieces on both sides was all black.
When I nodded suspiciously, Eugene Schneider gestured.
“You play as white.”
As soon as he said that, the color of the board changed, coordinates were written, and like magic, only the color of the pieces placed on my side was dyed white.
I’m not even surprised anymore.
Even if the pieces suddenly picked up swords and fought each other like the Wizard Chess in Harry Potter, I am confident I wouldn’t bat an eye.
“…”
When I hesitated, Eugene Schneider stroked his beard and said.
“If you win, I will bury what just happened and just let you go.”
I laid hands on the family treasure, but he’ll just let me go if I win a game of chess?
“What if I lose?”
When I asked suspiciously, Eugene Schneider smiled and said.
“We will talk about that when the time comes.”
It was the first eerie smile he had shown since we faced each other.
Do I have a choice?
It didn’t seem like it.
After pondering for a moment, I picked up the pawn in front of the king.
I don’t know what this is about… but isn’t it fine as long as I win?