EP.173 Taboo
There is a small, dirty restaurant on the outskirts of District 13.
The owner with cold eyes is constantly sharpening his knife as if ready to cook at any moment, but the dust-covered tables, grease-stained plates, and mold wallpapering the walls instead of actual wallpaper would make even Level 0 citizens who don't care about hygiene turn away. At this point, it's virtually a barrier that chases away customers.
What on earth is the owner cooking, and why is only the blade sharply honed in this filthy place?
A customer entered for the first time in a while at this suspiciously empty establishment.
They clearly seemed to be from another district. The man wore a neat shirt with a tie and slightly tipped his luxurious hat. A woman wearing a straw hat followed behind, walking in lightly.
The relatively well-dressed couple panicked the moment they entered the shop, seeing the dirty walls and dust-covered tables.
"Uh... Bee, is this the right place?"
The woman who followed stiffened her expression and replied.
"Affirmative... no, that is correct. According to... what I know, I heard this is a restaurant where people gather."
"Didn't you get it wrong? We came because there's a restaurant in District 13 where even if one dies while two are eating, no one would know. This is a restaurant where two would die from food poisoning while eating!"
"Now, that's too harsh!"
When the customers only hovered around the shop without entering, the owner slammed his knife down irritably.
The man flinched greatly. The owner glared at the man through his messy hair and spoke.
"What, gonna order something or what?"
The man, whose spirit had been broken, stuttered.
"Um, what's the best-selling thing here?"
The owner bared his teeth in a grin. Several missing teeth made his smile sparse.
"Steak. Dripping with blood."
"Eep!"
The man seemed to read the atmosphere better. With a terrified expression, the man quickly grabbed the woman's wrist and pulled her. They backed away hesitantly while watching the owner.
"E-Excuse us! W-We'll come next time!"
"Sure do."
Even though he missed a customer who came for the first time in a while, the owner didn't look regretful at all.
Because this restaurant isn't actually a restaurant.
'There are people who crawl into even a dump like this. At least they had some sense, so I avoided a nuisance.'
Restaurants are the most common establishments in the Military Nation. They're also places where strangers visiting don't raise much suspicion.
That's why organizations created meeting places disguised as restaurants. For members to contact each other, or to gather when needed.
'The execution day is near, so I can't create troublesome work today. Good thing I didn't clean up the corpses...'
The owner opened the storeroom door. There, instead of food ingredients, a pitch-black space and wooden stairs leading downward appeared.
Until the Shadow overturns the Military Nation and takes over the back alleys. Only a few days remained. He was merely a lowly member who didn't even know when the execution day was, but he was ready to overturn this country the moment the order came down.
A dangerous smile appeared on the owner's lips....
"That's right. A meeting place."
Coming out of the shop, I muttered while taking off my hat. The Captain nodded as well.
"There were suspicious circumstances. A strange flow of population was observed in an alley where foot traffic shouldn't be that high. People in groups visited this shop at regular intervals during specific times."
They must have created the meeting place in a quiet back alley to avoid suspicion in their own way. Disguised as a failing restaurant.
But they probably didn't know.
The Military Nation's signal soldiers. There existed beings who could connect to golems hidden throughout the streets and view this city as if looking down at their palm. For them, quiet alleys were easier to monitor than bustling main streets.
...Well, the reason they couldn't set up a restaurant on the main street was simply because they didn't have the funds for it.
They're not foolish. I didn't know either.
The existence of signal soldiers, or that the Military Nation was that crazy of a country.
"Captain Bee is really amazing. Precisely pinpointing a suspicious location among the countless alleys in the Military Nation."
I read thoughts. Even ugly secrets one should take to the grave expose their cheap nakedness before me. Spies who endure all the tortures in the world have their inner selves completely laid bare with just a passing touch, so human depth means nothing to me.
But when humans themselves are shallow, I become rather useless.
Yes. For example.
Especially in this Military Nation where people have grown accustomed to playing the role of parts.
"Those guys called the Military Nation's Shadow, they're a cell organization where members don't even know each other's faces, so I was having trouble finding them. No matter how much I shake them down, they don't know a single thing, so it's not satisfying to interrogate. If it weren't for Bee, I wouldn't have found this place."
"Negative. Excessive flattery. This unit merely did what had to be done."
"You did well what had to be done, so I'm praising you. Finding the meeting place on the first attempt is an achievement."
Truly, while she can't dig as deeply as I can, such a wide-ranging sensing ability is definitely a power I don't have. The Captain who can accomplish that is impressive too.
At my praise, the Captain grabbed the brim of her straw hat and pulled it down, muttering.
"...Negative."
'...The praise is, excessive. This is the first time this unit has received praise related to duty.... This unit merely fulfilled its obligation.'
Though she didn't show it outwardly, the Captain was deeply moved inwardly. Elated, the Captain strode ahead with eager steps.
"Heading to the next suspicious location. Follow me."
However, the next suspicious location the Captain found was a restaurant famous for being delicious even among the back alleys of District 13.
What comforted the disappointed Captain was the special menu suggested by the genial owner. The Captain's eyes sparkled at another flavor and emptied two plates.
The Military Nation's Shadow is less of a cell organization... and more like an octopus dangling multiple lizard tails as bait.
When some of the main body 'Kingdom's Shadow' show off their power, street thugs fascinated by them swarm in. Then the Shadows coax the thugs with sweet words.
Let's join forces together.
Let's overturn this terrible country.
Once we dominate the back alleys, we'll entrust this district to you.
The thugs who know nothing believe these words like iron. Thugs who don't believe and resist are killed by the 'Shadow,' so they couldn't help but believe.
Thugs, or delinquents, loafers or bottom-rung lives believe and follow the Shadow without even knowing who they are or where to go to meet them.
Proud of the fact that they belong to such a dangerous organization.
"Tsk. No different clues visible here either. It's a meeting place alright, but only the real places exist."
I dug for information with telepathy at every visible meeting place, but no useful information came out.
Because everyone here was disposable fodder to be used once and thrown away, and simultaneously nothing more than bait that could be cut off at any time like lizard tails.
The Captain organized the obtained information and muttered.
"Over twenty meeting places alone. Expected mobilized personnel approximately four hundred.... If we include the meeting places this unit failed to discover and their main body 'Shadow,' it's expected to exceed a thousand at minimum."
A disturbance raised simultaneously by a thousand organized gangsters would be at the level of a rebellion, or at least a riot. I made a fuss at that enormous scale.
"A disturbance raised simultaneously by a thousand people? If guys with other grievances join in, it'd be more than a decent riot, right? Isn't this really serious?"
"Negative. The likelihood of this incident growing beyond a certain point seems slim."
However, the Captain denied it in a single stroke. Even the fact that a thousand outlaws would start riots throughout the capital couldn't instill a sense of crisis in the signal soldier.
I asked.
"Why? Because if the Military Police uses their power, they can slaughter a thousand in an instant?"
"While affirming your statement itself, that is not the reason. As you said, if a thousand raise a disturbance simultaneously, perhaps... but because they lack such capability."
"By capability, you mean organizational power?"
"Affirmative."
After pondering briefly, the Captain explained to me while organizing her thoughts.
"As a result of this unit and your investigation, the group calling itself the Military Nation's Shadow was clustered in small groups in Amitengrad's 10-series Districts. Being too small-scale makes it difficult for headquarters to detect them, but simultaneously, it also creates obstacles for the subversives calling themselves Shadow to issue orders. Their means of contacting each other must be extremely limited."
"That's true."
If they could issue orders so easily to street thugs scattered throughout the capital, why would the Military Nation pour enormous resources into training signal soldiers and creating demon golems?
"Also, as a result of this unit's direct observation while coming and going... their meeting places were mostly poor, and properly managed. Systematic operational capability cannot be expected from untrained individuals."
"Well, they did seem like a disorganized mob."
Both the Market and the Family. It's not for nothing that people with the same concerns gathered. For an organization to gather, a central focal point and a sense of homogeneity that tightly binds them together are needed.
But the Military Nation's Shadow, the gathering of thugs, showed no such thing.
I also nodded to express my agreement.
"It is strange. This kind of riot grows bigger as more people gather. Those whose blood would boil to participate in a riot of a thousand would likely hesitate if told to do it in groups of ten. The more people there are, the less fear there is."
The Military Nation's Shadow is a disorganized mob of gathered thugs. Even if orders are simply given, the likelihood of them following is extremely small. Especially if those orders are no different from a suicide attack.
"Even if spreading chaos is the goal, would they employ such a complex operation with a disorganized mob? It is questionable."
Ah, won't even one 'Shadow' come out? I could easily find out just by reading their thoughts.
This is why telepathy is useless. If guys hiding around whether Shadow or whatever don't appear, I can't read their thoughts. So frustrating, really.
If only I could at least read the opponent's intent...
Ah.
"Bee. Do you perhaps know about the Taboo?"
The Captain, who had grown accustomed to being called Bee, answered without feeling any awkwardness at the title.
"Taboo? Insufficient sentence components. Please speak further."
"My informant wasn't reliable so I kept forgetting about it, but just in case."
It was against professional ethics to hide it, but since it's come to this, it can't be helped.
Neru, sorry. I'm passing your information to the Captain.
"Neru said that Original Shadow Ulpen knows about the Military Nation's Taboo."
"...The Military Nation's, Taboo?"
"Yes. He subtly hinted as if it were some great information, but I didn't know what he was talking about so I forgot. It just came to mind."
I said quietly and read her thoughts slightly. As expected, how much does a Military Nation signal soldier know about the Taboo...
'Incomprehensible. Too many suspicious items to settle on one.'
I knew it. This crazy country.
You have no right to arrest me. At least I know exactly what my charges are when I get caught.
Instead of trying to recall what the Taboo was, the Captain became wary of Neru.
"Neru, you mean the cat beastkin who runs the magazine... Investigation will be necessary."
Hahaha. I knew this would happen. Sorry, Neru.
Feel wronged? But it can't be helped. They say husband and wife are one body, right? You should have thought it would be passed on the moment you told me.
Anyway.
"Really nothing comes to mind?"
"Affirmative. Original Shadow Ulpen was imprisoned in Tantalos for 20 years. He was continuously isolated even before this unit was dispatched, and couldn't come out even once until his escape. The chance of someone like him accessing high-level security information like the Military Nation's Taboo is nonexistent."
They said he was imprisoned since the early days of the Military Nation. Then there's nothing Ulpen, trapped in that Abyss, could have found out.
No, wait. There's a blind spot in that statement.
It's not necessarily Ulpen who found out about the Taboo, right?
"What if Ulpen heard about the Taboo from someone who was imprisoned in Tantalos with him? That's possible too, right?"
"The possibility of information exchange..."
At my words, the Captain stiffened her expression.
"...Please wait a moment. There are suspicious circumstances."
Rustle. A book unfolded in the Captain's mind. A list of those who had passed through the Abyss fluttered and disappeared.
Like that, the Captain recalled each trainee's personal details one by one and found a single person.
'...Escape ringleader, former Colonel Rankart. Youngest Demon Division Commander, and traitor who traded with the Federation and sold mysteries.'
One person's details unfolded in a cascade. Since it was information only accessed through documents, it was hard to recall until mentioned, but once the thought reached it, related information connected in a chain.
'The Military Nation's genius mage, youngest to be promoted. And, survivor of Hameln.'
Hameln.
The moment she recalled that word, the Captain's expression became more serious than ever before.
'Level 5 security information, that incident of Hameln. If Rankart, who was one of the parties involved, revealed the hidden truth of that incident.'
"...I retract. This unit's thoughts were wrong."
The Captain spoke. Her body was trembling with chills.
"The Military Nation's Shadow is not their underlings. They were a deadly poison to make the Military Nation kill everyone in the back alleys...!"