EP.182 Purjin Day
The Fourth Half-Shadow was currently in a predicament.
The delinquents harboring resentment against the Military Nation. Originally, she planned to lead them and raid the largest military academy in District 12. While the delinquents, who had ruined their own lives, blamed the innocent academy, the Fourth planned to release poison.
The Military Nation's taboo, the Incident of Hameln.
Clues to the incident where 162 military academy graduates were massacred. Was there a better place than the academy to scatter them?
It was the optimal place to pour in poison, so it was a district that the Shadow organization had been paying attention to.
However, the delinquents, who had been deceived by someone, charged first, and the Fourth, having just returned from attending the Shadow's meeting, hastily followed behind them.
‘I hope those quick-tempered delinquents haven't already finished the job and returned?’
Until she arrived, the Fourth's concern was not the delinquents, but the durability of the academy.
Unlike other facilities, the military academy's security was incredibly poor. The dormitory supervisor and a few military academy students on watch duty were all there was.
Wouldn't the angry delinquents have broken everything they could and already headed somewhere else? That was what worried her.
However.
"You bastards! Drop to the ground right now!"
"The military academy is also a military facility! Do you know what you've done!"
The scene that appeared in the academy's parade ground completely baffled the Fourth.
The delinquents who had filled the streets were all thoroughly beaten and sprawled across the parade ground like dried squid. Beside them, veterans in instructor uniforms were wandering around holding clubs.
They were veterans from the shelter.
The former Director Frontaine, who was a director even before retiring and became the shelter director after retiring.
The old veteran spun his cane above his head and shouted.
"You greenhorn brats! If you couldn't become officers, you should have joined the engineering corps and learned a skill! If you have the time and courage to raid an academy, put that energy into working hard, hard!"
"Ugh...! How did the old folks know about this...!"
"Shut up!"
Frontaine rushed over like lightning and swung his cane at the backside of the muttering delinquent. The exquisitely controlled force turned the impact entirely into pain without breaking a single bone.
While the delinquent groaned in pain, Frontaine scowled with his wrinkled face and shouted.
"Be grateful you were caught by us! If you had committed a proper crime, it wouldn't have ended with just protective custody!"
For all their tough talk, the delinquents were just a gang of delinquent students led by recent graduates. The shelter's instructors, composed of veterans, were too cunning, systematic, and strong for mere delinquents to handle.
After taking down their leader in a single blow and shouting at them with a fierce demeanor, the delinquents just glanced at each other and followed meekly. Having met their match, they were completely cowed without putting up any real resistance.
The Fourth clicked her tongue.
‘...Tsk. If I had been hiding among them, I would have launched a sneak attack.’
The Shadow were, above all, assassins. They could take a life with a surprise attack, but in a head-on confrontation, they had no chance of winning.
Moreover, the opponent was someone who had once reached the rank of general. Including him, the surroundings were full of capable veterans. Going in alone would simply mean surrounding herself.
‘It's no good. To complete the mission, I have no choice but to sneak into the academy and spread the poison...’
Just as the Fourth was about to squeeze through a blind spot and move secretly.
Her acute hearing caught someone's muttering.
"Really, I can't believe the Magician's words were true. It would have been a disaster if we hadn't moved."
‘Magician?’
The Fourth pricked up her ears.
A legendary eccentric whose very existence was unclear, a rumor even the Shadow had heard well.
The Magician was a mysterious being whose identity even the Shadow could not find.
Even when they heard the rumors and tried to investigate, they only fumbled around the outskirts and couldn't reveal their identity. It felt exactly like chasing a ghost story with no substance.
That said, the traces were too clear and there were many who claimed to have witnessed them to call it a ghost story. There were plenty of children who said they had watched the Magician's performance while walking down the street. The only ones who hadn't seen the Magician were the Shadow.
Doubt, and at the same time, a feeling of slight bruised pride. That was exactly how a member of the Shadow felt whenever they thought of the Magician.
‘Does this mean the Magician interfered with us?’
Just as curiosity made the Fourth want to take a step closer.
Her sharp senses pulled at her feet. Feeling a gaze instinctively, the Fourth flinched and surveyed her surroundings.
She felt a sense of discord from the one-armed instructor standing over there. Unlike the others, the one-armed instructor was absolutely not looking in this direction.
That meant his attention was focused this way. He had clearly sensed the Fourth.
‘The story about the Magician was bait! Even as veterans, they're not to be underestimated!’
The Fourth Half-Shadow cleanly discarded any lingering attachment and immediately retreated. A shadow slipped into a shaded gap of the building....
Feeling the presence disappear, the one-armed instructor bowed his head with a troubled expression.
"I apologize, Director. I revealed my wariness."
"Tsk, tsk. It seems your instincts have dulled a lot since you haven't been in actual combat..."
It wasn't necessarily a remark limited to the one-armed instructor. They were soldiers, but only ones who knew how to fight. They could beat down delinquents charging head-on, but they lacked the ability to find a shadow hiding in the dark.
Moreover, they were veterans who had been away from actual combat for years. It was difficult to track the presence of a skilled assassin in the dark academy.
"My night vision is blurry these days... meaning I can't see hazy things well. The note the Magician sent, too..."
Frontaine tapped the ground with his cane and let out a tired sigh.
The Magician sent a note along with a single card to the shelter.
It was information that the Shadow was leading delinquents to raid the academy, and that the group included children who were still students.
Startled as if burned, Frontaine immediately gathered all the veterans he could contact. The veterans he could reach in the dead of night were barely over ten, but each one was a seasoned soldier who had trained in Qigong. It was enough to beat down the ragtag delinquents.
"Tsk, tsk. If it were in the past, I would have chased them to the ends of the earth and caught them. These days, I don't even have the stamina for that... I really don't want to, but should I leave it to the Magician?"
For them, catching the shadow hiding in the dark was impossible, but that wasn't their role to begin with.
The shelter's role was to protect the children. Defeating the Military Nation's enemies was the Military Nation's job.
If only they could just defeat the enemy, it would be good, but.
Frontaine looked into the pitch-dark darkness in the distance.
"Magician... I don't really like being swayed by your intentions. But for the sake of the children, I will become a puppet."
Hameln.
At first, the Military Nation suspected it was the work of black magicians, but... at some point, they incinerated all the information and classified it as top secret.
Classified information that even generals dared not access.
The Magician's note subtly mentioned that story. That was the reason Frontaine moved so hastily despite his old body.
If the story of Hameln were to leak out, this disturbance would not end as a simple commotion.
"A purge might occur..."
With a heavy heart, Frontaine turned around.
"None of our kids are here, right? Yes, our kids are all well-behaved..."
"Director, our kids are gathered over there."
"Hey! You bastards, we fed you well, clothed you well, educated you well, and sent you out, so what more do you want that you had to get involved in this kind of crap! You're getting a week in solitary confinement!"
By the time the Third Half-Shadow arrived at the Market, the Market's members had already subdued the Transport Guild. The Transport Guild members who had cheerfully invaded the warehouse for plunder were thoroughly beaten by the ambushing Market and neutralized.
The warehouse was the Market's castle.
The space and the tools were all made for the market merchants. The Transport Guild members were no match for the Market, who used their resources without restraint.
It would be easy to let their guard down, but even after tying up the Transport Guild members and cramming them into a corner of the warehouse, the Market didn't relax their tension. The merchants turned on all the lights and searchlights in the warehouse without hesitation to guard every direction.
Store Manager Krin shouted.
"Make it brighter! Don't create any shadows!"
This put the Third in an awkward position.
He had to cause chaos and spread poison. However, simply scattering poison was not enough.
Even a venomous snake has fangs that tear flesh, and poisonous herbs only take effect when ingested. Poison that doesn't enter the body is no different from a harmless, docile beast.
Naturally, it would be more effective to sneak into the warehouse and hide the traces inside. However.
"Let no one in! It's an all-nighter today! We'll sleep while doing business tomorrow!"
‘The security is strict. It would have been best to sneak in during the commotion...’
No matter how great the Shadow's stealth techniques were, they couldn't hide their figure in bright light. Even if they used the Black Shadow Qigong to hide their form, a pitch-black lump floating around would be suspicious.
The Third habitually grabbed the hilt of his dagger and rubbed it against his chin. In his field of vision was the interior of the massive warehouse, cluttered with all sorts of goods.
‘Hmm. Well. If I could just infiltrate that way, it seems I could hunt them down one by one.’
Perhaps because they had taken out all the lights. The inside of the warehouse wasn't that bright, and shadows were cast disorderly due to all the objects. There was no better place to hide.
‘Even if it's the Market, it's at best a gathering of merchants and warehouse keepers. Hmm. Should I force my way through?’
But even so, he couldn't kill them all with a sword. Poison only spreads through the whole body if they are alive. If he killed them all here, it would be like merely cutting out the diseased part.
Sneaking in was the best option.
What should he do? He was pondering for a moment.
A luxurious carriage approached the Market. It was hard to see well because it was dark, but the fact that a horse was pulling the carriage was already unusual.
‘A horse-drawn carriage? It's a luxury item. Is it from the Transport Guild?’
In the Military Nation, there are only two types of people who can afford to raise their own horse. Either they are that rich, or it's their livelihood.
A good idea came to mind. Unlike automatic carriages, a horse will run wild if you slap its hindquarters. The Market would show an opening to stop the wild horse and carriage.
‘Shall I borrow that?’
The Third leaped.
Perhaps it was on its way to the Market, the carriage headed into the alley leading to the Market.
The horse sensed something before the person did and quickly planted its front hooves. Screech, the large carriage came to a near-screeching halt.
"A horse with good instincts."
Swoosh.
A diagonally cut streetlamp fell onto the road. The glowing streetlamp fell to the ground, scattering light-emitting fragments in all directions. Not long after, the fragments that had exhausted their mana lost their light.
The Third, who had been hiding in that shadow, walked out slowly.
"Leave the carriage and get lost. Then I'll at least spare your lives."
The coachman looked back with a bewildered face. Then, a young woman's voice came from inside.
"Feto. We could have just passed by. This carriage isn't one to crumple over a mere streetlamp."
The coachman answered towards the inside.
"Oh, miss. Then the horse will be startled."
"That's not my concern. It's your job, isn't it?"
"Being a coachman wasn't in the plan..."
"Really? You want to quit?"
"No, no. To repay the grace of the miss who took me in when I was unemployed, I must do whatever it takes."
Feto shook his head and untied the rope tying the carriage. The lion-horse snorted happily as the rope binding its neck was released.
"Right. Being the president's secretary is better than a knight's squire, what could be worse than that?"
Saying that, Feto mounted the horse. Even without stirrups or anything, Feto skillfully rode the horse and stood before the Third.
The Third muttered.
"A squire, huh. Seeing how adeptly you ride the horse, it doesn't seem like an empty claim."
"Ugh, don't even bring that up. It brings back bad memories."
Among knights who cherished their squires, there were often those who taught them how to use weapons or ride horses. Feto, who was favored by the knight, received lessons directly from the knight since he was young.
Though Feto probably didn't want it.
‘He's just a squire at best. He's not even a knight, so there's no need to worry. I don't see any armor or weapons.’
The Third Half-Shadow, having finished his calculation, warned Feto.
"I'll warn you even now, squire. Put the miss on that horse and flee. Then you will be safe."
‘A luxurious horse and carriage hard to find in the Military Nation. Whoever they are, they're clearly a remarkable upper-class. If I let them go, the upper echelons of the Military Nation will also pay attention to this incident.’
He had set up his own calculation and emitted killing intent, but Feto, whether he felt it or not, casually scratched his head.
"A head of the household bears the weight of his household. If I fall out of favor with the president, my family will be out on the streets. Even if you beat me to death, I have to fight you."
"Drinking poison..."
‘It can't be helped. I'll finish everything here.’
The Third slid into the darkness. On the street where the streetlamps were broken, he covered his body with the Black Shadow Qigong and moved like a ghost.
He had broken the streetlamps in advance in case they had to fight. In this darkness, unless one had senses as acute as a beast, they wouldn't even be able to catch his traces.
"Ah, and be careful. This horse is called a Lion-Horse."
Right. If not a beast.
The Lion-Horse's mane stood up stiffly. The mane, which had been blowing in the wind, stopped and was pointing exactly in the direction of the Third.
Immediately after, the heavily enraged horse snorted and charged at the Third.
‘What?’
The Black Shadow Qigong is a qigong that hides not only one's appearance but also sound and temperature within the shadows. When he forms the Qiankun with this Qigong, his figure blurs as if submerged in the darkness.
Moreover, horses are famous for having poor eyesight. So how could it recognize him right away?
To begin with, why would a timid horse charge at him like a mad cow?
"Its appearance and personality are both like a lion, you see. Taming it was a hassle too."
*Neigh!*
As if responding to Feto's muttering, the Lion-Horse roared fiercely and charged. Closing the distance in just two steps, the horse raised its front hooves.