Chapter 29. Second Exemption Mission (3)
Enoch briefly lowered his sword and watched him.
Surprisingly, there was no hostility in Omen’s attitude.
Having judged through his Sense of Mana that the man had no intention of fighting, Enoch soon lowered his sword.
“Elsyde, you say. A guess?”
“An inference. There’s been a lot of news lately that Elsyde is starting to take an interest in Vendetta.”
“Your information is fast.”
Omen shrugged his shoulders at those words.
“You underestimate the power of the Underworld. Information is one of our main commodities, after all. If we didn’t even know this much, we might as well go bust.”
“……”
Instead of answering, Enoch glanced at the mages who, with their wires now undone, were rolling around on the floor.
Beside them, Lien was watching the guys rolling on the floor intently, as usual.
Perhaps wary of Lien still watching them, one guy peeked his eyes open, met her gaze, freaked out, and squeezed his eyes shut tightly.
“Hieeeek!”
Watching this briefly, Enoch spoke curtly to Omen.
“Looks like you’re already completely ruined?”
Omen, seeing them beside him, sighed as if there was no hope and retorted.
“…Yeah. Honestly, things are tough overall. But we haven’t gone completely belly-up yet. After all, you must have thought so too, coming here looking for information, right?”
Enoch silently agreed.
Once, during a time when the Empire was extremely chaotic due to rapid magical prosperity.
Called the 「Shadows of the Empire」, the vast dark side of each city that nurtured its power in the shade of the magical society.
The Underworld.
Even if, as Omen said, most of the Underworlds had collapsed now, the status they held in the past Empire hadn't completely vanished.
‘Especially the mages from the old Underworld who appeared in the original work were often extremely powerful individuals.’
That fact alone was enough to gauge the strength of the Underworld before its decline.
Of course, since those real powerhouses didn't just wander around anymore, it was understandable that the Underworld's reputation was gradually diminishing.
Anyway, as if to support Enoch’s thoughts, Omen forcefully knocked on the head of one of the mages hiding behind him.
“Aish, stop faking it and get lost! I know none of you are dead yet!”
“Yessir!!”
Those rolling on the floor jumped up as if they had been waiting for it, and quickly scrambled out of the room in a rush.
After the last one slammed the door shut and left, Omen, looking annoyed, turned the topic to the main point.
“…Alright. What exactly are you looking for?”
“The location of ‘Persona’, who is based somewhere in this city, and the Vendetta she leads. And all information regarding the human experiments they are conducting.”
“The purpose?”
“Subjugation.”
Hearing this, Omen pretended to be lost in thought for a moment and started rambling.
“Hmmmm, Vendetta, huh. Heard a lot about them here and there lately. Honestly, being in this line of work, it’s not that common to suddenly have such a hot keyword pop up across the entire Empire….”
“Get to the point.”
Cutting off Omen, who was deliberately beating around the bush and feigning ignorance, Enoch spoke curtly.
His words cut off, Omen glanced this way and replied lowly.
“…I refuse.”
“Reason?”
“You ask me to hand over information about the notorious Persona and her subordinates.”
He shrugged and said.
“If the source were to be discovered by those Vendetta bastards, wouldn't the residents of this street have to hope they don't live up to their name? ‘Vendetta’ means revenge in the old language of the Arpeggio domain.”
Enoch calmly cut him off.
“Weighing Elsyde against Vendetta.”
“Of course, they aren’t comparable. But even Elsyde can’t just give information to anyone. Not unless I'm sure you can back us up.”
Omen continued speaking in a low voice amidst the darkness filling the reception room.
“Both that maid and you seem skilled at a glance, but preparing for the worst is my job.”
He slowly looked around and said.
“If you fail and there’s no backup, all that awaits us is a dog’s death. As you can see… we don’t have the luxury of failing twice.”
Even in decline, the title ‘Master of the Street’ wasn't just for show.
In the darkness draped like a veil over the reception room, Omen’s eyes shone sharply.
“If I’m going to bet my life on this, prove your identity first. Does that sound like an unreasonable demand?”
“…No, I understand. Let me ease your worries a bit.”
Saying so, Enoch slowly removed his hood.
Omen, sitting opposite him, was momentarily speechless, staring at the jet-black eyes revealed beneath the hood.
“Hahaha….”
After a period of silence.
Omen laughed sharply for the first time.
Naturally, everyone in this underworld knew about Elsyde’s incompetent child (無能兒).
But he also knew about the other news currently trending among the Empire's citizens.
For example, how that incompetent child, for some reason, had survived an unofficial engagement with a Vendetta executive in Leopold, emerging unscathed.
Omen covered his face with one hand and laughed for a while, then, his eyes gleaming between his fingers, he replied in a low voice.
“This, I didn’t expect.”
But whether Omen was surprised or not, Enoch’s demand remained unchanged.
He slowly pulled his hood back on and said.
“Let’s stop wasting time.”
Enoch extended the hand not holding the sword towards him and said.
“Hand over the information.”
***
“Are those monsters gone, Boss?”
Opening the door to the empty reception room, the 17th Alley Keeper peeked inside.
Seeing the familiar face, Omen spat out bluntly.
“You’ve got some thick skin, you traitorous bastard. I told you to get lost earlier, but you stayed behind peeping inside.”
“Haha… A sewer rat’s habit, I suppose. The conversation was interesting.”
Smiling awkwardly, the Alley Keeper asked Omen.
“Anyway, is it okay to just give those two the information and let them go? If we stalled a bit longer, reinforcements would have arrived.”
“Idiot. If I had refused, we’d all be dead.”
“Eh?”
“Honestly, I don't know about the black-haired one, but that silver-haired maid earlier is definitely Rank 10 or higher. Even if we scraped together all the riffraff stationed in this street, we couldn't win.”
The Alley Keeper tilted his head, looking puzzled.
“Then, what about you, Boss?”
“I don’t like low-probability gambles. Stop talking nonsense and clean up. I’m going to sleep.”
The Alley Keeper shrugged at his rebuke, then looked through the documents in the reception room filing cabinet and said.
“Besides, the information you gave them isn’t very detailed.”
He stated, as if confirming.
“At most, it only contains their location and information about the experiments. We haven't even figured out Persona's unique magic in detail yet. At this rate….”
Even accompanied by a direct descendant with the ability to block magic and an unidentified Rank 10 mage maid. In the end, that was all.
With just this level of information and strength, it would be difficult to win against Persona, the right hand of a Vendetta executive, and her subordinate mages.
That was what the Alley Keeper meant.
To this, Omen nodded.
“It’s a form of insurance.”
Saying so, Omen slightly tilted his head towards the Alley Keeper.
“Later, even if things go wrong, it’ll be easier to make excuses to Vendetta if we didn't provide sufficient information. There's also no justification for outright refusing the words of a direct descendant from a Main House.”
“You think those two will lose.”
“Yes. Forget 'if', it's absolutely impossible.”
Omen leaned his head back on the reception room sofa, stared at the ceiling, and muttered.
“Ultimately, whether it’s Rank 10 or whatever, as long as they ‘use mana’. They absolutely cannot beat Persona.”
He spoke as if certain.
“To ensure subjugation, real monsters around Rank 5 need to come. Above all, Persona’s unique magic must be that kind of magic.”
“That makes sense. We don’t know for sure, but seeing how the others were dealt with in ‘that way’……”
At the Alley Keeper's complete agreement, Omen flopped down onto the reception room sofa and said.
“And I don't know why, but the atmosphere in the Empire lately feels ominous.”
He continued.
“It's not just Vendetta. Not only are anti-Empire factions, who are gathering strength to bare their fangs at the Main Houses and the Empire, stirring, but even rumors of a kind that shouldn’t exist are circulating.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Those Elsyde folks probably don't have a clue yet.”
The Warehouse Keeper asked again, puzzled.
“Isn't Elsyde's information network overwhelmingly superior to ours? They have subsidiary organizations solely for reconnaissance, and above all, they receive large amounts of high-quality information from mages dispatched throughout the Empire.”
“Even if a high-flying hawk surveys the ground at a glance, it can't know everything down to the gutters. Besides, do the great Main Houses only have one or two things to worry about?”
“Are you saying they lack the capacity to focus solely on finding Vendetta?”
“Yes. Elsyde probably only found out about the news here because the ‘Deputy Commander of Nemesis,’ their affiliated knight order, is interested. It’s just the tip of the iceberg anyway.”
“I suppose that’s true. It makes sense that a direct descendant would come all the way here on a mission.”
Omen nodded and said slowly.
“In the end, the Main Houses can’t stop Vendetta, thoroughly hidden in the shadows, from steadily building up their strength. Not going against that tide is the way to survive in this collapsing street.”
“Of course, your words are entirely reasonable, but…”
The Warehouse Keeper tilted his head slightly and asked.
“What if. Just what if, that direct descendant defeats Persona?”
Hearing the Alley Keeper's words, Omen chuckled.
“Of course, it’s still a profitable business for us. We'd regain control of this city, and also, getting caught in the crossfire next to Vendetta and marked by Elsyde would mean getting completely cleaned out. That risk factor would be eliminated.”
“As expected of you, Boss. You never make a losing deal!”
“That’s obvious.”
Omen grinned at the Alley Keeper’s blatant flattery and replied.
“But putting aside all those gains and losses, if that guy really wins……”
Just before Enoch left the reception room.
Recalling the brief ‘words’ Enoch had said as he passed him, Omen unknowingly twitched the corner of his mouth.
Honestly, the possibility was unbelievably low.
But if it really happened….
“…Perhaps he might be the ‘sign’ I've been searching for.”
By the time the Alley Keeper was leaving the room.
Omen, lying on the sofa as usual, covering his eyes with his forearm to try and nap, muttered to himself in a slightly excited tone.
“They say even a broken clock is right twice a day.”
He shifted his covered eyes sideways.
On one side of the reception room, bound by numerous chain-like artifacts, was stored a single, ‘torn page’.
Glancing at it, Omen smiled faintly.
“Maybe past ‘prophecies’ are sometimes right too.”
***
Deep in the dead of night, shrouded in darkness.
Amidst the regular maze created by the tall skyscrapers of the northeastern city in the Elsyde domain.
Enoch slowly pulled the hood of his robe down.
The distinct cool air of the night brushed the tip of his nose.
It was time to move.
His daytime conversation with Omen flashed through his mind.
[There's a high-rise building that once symbolized the prosperity of this city. It's large enough to be recognized from afar, but currently, it's officially closed due to lack of maintenance capacity.]
[The Vendetta forces led by Persona are using that place as their temporary base.]
Enoch looked up.
A giant skyscraper rose as if reigning over the center of the maze of buildings spread across the city.
He recalled being told it was a structure built with the backing of the Underworld when this city was at its peak prosperity.
─Casino.
Once, a symbol of this city's wealth and vanity.
Around the closed casino, instead of people, only a giant signboard, faded and with letters missing, was visible.
And surrounding the casino like vassals were countless city buildings.
Passing through the paths between these regular mazes, Enoch once again reminded himself of the mission objective.
[Geographically, it seems they post guards at points in the surrounding alleys. Eliminating them is the priority.]
Enoch, hood pulled down, slung a black cloth bag over his back and crossed the alleyway.
‘It was a good idea to find Omen, who served as an informant even in the original Underworld.’
Thanks to him, he knew Persona was in the casino.
However, the place Enoch was heading towards now was not the final target, the casino.
Before eliminating Persona, he had to reduce the number of her subordinates.
[If you really intend to face Persona, you need to eliminate as many potential variables beforehand.]
He had memorized the city map Omen gave him during the day.
Moving through the blind spots of the surveillance network, Enoch identified nearby enemies using his Sense of Mana.
Not long after.
Small voices were heard from the rooftop of the building ahead.
“Something’s weird? The communication magic isn't responding.”
The grumbling voices of two mages.
They were Vendetta mages.
“We suddenly lost contact with the guys at the opposite point just now. No response from anyone near us either.”
“There’s no way everyone who knows communication magic is asleep. Let’s at least check…”
Enoch naturally approached from behind the two guys chatting on the low building's rooftop.
Then, he lightly tapped the shoulder of one of them.
“Huh? Wha—”
As the startled guy turned around, Enoch slammed his fist straight into his face.
Poooow!
The solid impact traveled up his arm.
The guy's face, hit by the fist, snapped in the opposite direction he had just started turning.
Struck squarely in the face by the surprise attack, the guy collapsed onto the rooftop railing and slumped over.
His companion mage beside him, seemingly panicked, hurriedly aimed his staff this way and shouted.
“You crazy bastard…!”
But Enoch had already snatched the wand that the first guy dropped as he fell, catching it in mid-air.
He immediately used it to strike the second guy’s head with the corner of the metal wand.
Whack!
The guy didn't even manage to scream before losing consciousness, kneeling and slumping to the ground.
“Damn it!”
Checking that the first guy hit was somehow trying to cast magic towards him.
Enoch immediately turned, grabbed the dazed guy’s head, and smashed it against the wall.
The Vendetta combatant collapsed to the ground unconscious, along with fragments of the shattered wall from the impact.
‘That should be roughly taken care of.’
Enoch looked down at them and lowered his head.
Judging by the guys' chatter just now, Lien had probably cleared the opposite street.
There was something else he needed to do now.
[You need a master key to enter the building they're using as a temporary base, and it's highly likely the guards are using it. For now, there's no choice but to knock them out one by one and search them….]
Rustle.
Enoch searched the pockets of the guy whose head he had struck with the wand, looking for the building key.
However, there was no key among the guy's belongings.
Omen's words echoed in his mind.
[…If they haven't given any copies of the master key to the regular rank-and-file members, then perhaps the leader of the guards has it. Clichéd, but it's standard practice.]
Tap.
In front of Enoch, who had skillfully descended from the rooftop via the building's external pipes.
A large road leading to Vendetta's temporary base stretched out.
But under the flickering streetlights of the deserted road, someone stood who hadn't been there moments before.
A man in black shadow.
He was silently watching this way.
There was no need to question the man's identity.
‘That must be the leader.’
Enoch, carrying the cloth bag, unhesitatingly walked towards him.
The man, who had been watching silently, remained standing nonchalantly under the streetlight glow.
“…Came to check since contact with my subordinates was cut off.”
And finally, when they reached a distance where conversation was possible, the man spoke for the first time.
[But be careful.]
And momentarily, Enoch recalled Omen’s warning.
[The ‘Guard Captain’ figure of the Vendetta branch led by Persona is someone approaching the threshold of Rank 12.]
Even at a glance, the man was quite large. He was a head taller than Enoch, who was fairly tall himself.
[According to information, Persona’s Guard Captain is a combat mage specializing in close-quarters magic combat. He has considerable practical experience. He’s by no means an easy opponent.]
The man watched Enoch approach for a while, standing motionless under the flickering streetlight.
Tap.
Enoch stopped walking just outside the streetlight's glow.
Meanwhile, the man, who had been looking him up and down, nodded and asked.
“Judging by the looks of it, you killed all my subordinates?”
“Perhaps.”
In the darkness, Enoch slowly lowered the black cloth bag slung over his shoulder.
Simultaneously. The Vendetta Guard Captain standing under the hazy streetlight glow slowly raised his own magic gear.
A grimoire tightly bound with leather straps.
Fwip!
He opened it and instantly deployed his mana. The fluttering pages of the grimoire emitted light.
Immediately, a magic circle behind the Guard Captain’s back rapidly spun and activated.
The next moment, dozens of bizarre tentacles, looking almost alive, were summoned from behind the man's body.
Wriggle.
Watching the tentacled man, Enoch calmly placed his hand on the knot of the cloth bag.
‘A derivative magic of creature mimicry?’
As expected, magic becomes diverse around Rank 12.
He remembered seeing something similar in the original work, but this type was new.
Thwip.
At the man’s will, the unidentified tentacles all aimed their tips towards Enoch.
The Vendetta Guard Captain, under the flickering magic stone lamp, lifted his head, grinned, and said.
“I’ll at least listen to any last words you might have.”
“Cut the crap.”
Enoch slowly drew his sword.
The cold handle of the one-handed sword sharpened all the senses throughout his body, starting from his fingertips.
Woong─
Beyond the streak of dark blue light blooming over the long blade, dispelling the darkness.
Enoch added simply.
“Hand over the key.”
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