Chapter 18
Side Job Begins (3)
* * *
Someone’s hell was someone else’s heaven.
The same was true for the labor correctional facility where I had been.
To some, it was a hellish place, but for the prisoners who managed to secure a position of power inside, it was a heaven where a single word from them made everyone else grovel.
“They say every place people live is more or less the same.”
Someone’s hell was someone else’s heaven.
There was no heaven prepared for everyone, nor a hell that struck fear into everyone.
Bennett City, in essence, was not so different. It was just a little too spicy for ordinary people to handle.
Since my face had already been exposed, there was no longer any reason for Spring Parsley to hide her identity from me.
All she needed was for me not to go around blabbing to others about who she really was.
“Since you’ve already seen my face anyway, it wouldn’t make much difference even if my hideout were exposed.”
“There’s no need for you to share your home address.”
She wasn’t wearing anything like a ring on her finger, so she probably wasn’t married.
It was so obvious what a house looked like when a man over forty lived alone that imagining it seemed completely pointless.
“Do you think I’m showing you my hideout because I’m eager to boast about my home?”
I was a key figure in the work she had to do going forward. Not only was I highly skilled, but unlike the other capable people who drifted around the streets, I was also capable of holding a conversation.
“Anyway, the owner of the Rose Garden seems interested in you… There isn’t much time.”
Before long, the Rose Garden would very likely attempt to recruit me as one of their members. Once that happened, it would naturally become impossible for Spring Parsley to work with me.
But for now, I wasn’t part of the Rose Garden, so collaboration was entirely possible. And that wasn’t all.
Even if I did become a member of the Rose Garden, any rapport Spring Parsley had built with me until then would remain.
“You called yourself Spring Parsley, right? If the Rose Garden asked you to come in person, you must be pretty skilled.”
She wasn’t talking about combat ability. Spring Parsley’s fighting skills were at the level of an ordinary civilian. She would be dead in an instant if I so much as sneezed while swinging a sword.
“Me? I don’t know if I’m that great, but you could say I’m a rising architect who’s been gaining some fame.”
Spring Parsley spoke in a tone that sounded rather proud.
“There’s a reason they call us architects.”
Instead of working directly in the field, she drew up the plans. And when the crimes she planned succeeded, she received her share in return.
“The know-how of skilled architects is extreme efficiency. If you mobilize too many people or equipment, everyone’s share meaning the cut shrinks.”
If you mobilized too few, the chances of success became absurdly low. Crime plans squeezed to the brink of their limits this was the ultimate goal every architect pursued.
“Are there top architects among you as well?”
At my question, Spring Parsley answered.
“This line of work isn’t like yours, where you can clash swords and clearly rank who’s superior. So all the famous ones just claim they’re the best themselves.”
It was similar to how every shop in a city famous for its chocolate insisted it was the original.
“So you’re not quite at that level yet?”
As I spoke, Spring Parsley nodded while walking along the street.
“I’ve only just started to make my name known. The road ahead is still long and rough. But you know, skill and fame don’t always go hand in hand.”
Spring Parsley believed her abilities were in no way inferior to any other architect.
And thanks to the summons from the Rose Garden, that belief had turned partly into conviction.
“Having a strong sense of pride in your profession is a good thing. That’s all fine, but I’ve been away from work a bit too long.”
My original goal had been a simple food delivery. But somehow, as things unfolded, I’d ended up wasting too much time.
Until now, I could at least use the excuse that the Rose Garden had kept me detained, so Jonathan would buy the story.
But I doubted Jonathan would be so understanding about me losing time because of Spring Parsley.
“Is that so? Well, I suppose it can’t be helped.”
Spring Parsley, holding a cigarette in one hand, tapped my shoulder and spoke.
“Once you’re done with your work, come to building number 37 on 2nd Street in Durum. Slide the card I gave you earlier under the door. We’ll talk about the details then.”
We were going to hit a transport group moving tax money. The agreed reward was the entire sum of the taxes they were carrying. Of course, there was no way one person would be able to take it all for themselves.
Still, if it succeeded, it would be an amount so large that ordinary people wouldn’t even dare to imagine touching it.
“37, 2nd Street, Durum. All right. Then I’ll see you later. Hopefully we can have a slightly more steady conversation then.”
After saying goodbye, I parted ways with Spring Parsley.
It was already quite late. As soon as I arrived at the Longwave Bistro, Jonathan poked his head out from the kitchen and shouted.
“You little bastard. I thought you’d gone and gotten yourself killed!”
Jonathan wasn’t joking when he said it. When you took a food delivery to the Rose Garden and didn’t come back for hours, it was obvious what people in Bennett City would think.
‘Ah, this idiot must have made some blunder and provoked the Rose Garden.’
I immediately began explaining the situation to Jonathan. I left out the part about Spring Parsley. In the end, she wasn’t the important part anyway, and honestly, the story Jonathan cared about wasn’t gossip about her.
“So basically….”
Jonathan, who had been listening to the story, sat there with his mouth agape. The wad of chewing tobacco he’d been gnawing dropped to the floor with a soft thud.
“Boss, your chewed tobacco fell on the ground.”
At my words, Jonathan snapped back to his senses and spoke.
“You’re telling me you met the head of the Rose Garden? Then you’re basically a ghost. Should I call some damn priests, shove a wad of banknotes into their hands, and have them perform an exorcism?”
“You wound me talking like that. Burying a living man.”
At what I said, Jonathan suddenly shot up from his seat and shouted.
“There are a few people in Bennett City you’re better off never meeting, and among them, the most dangerous is precisely the head of the Rose Garden, the one you’re claiming you just met!”
“I’m not claiming it I really did meet her.”
Still, even I had to agree with that part. Cecilia Longhorn, the head of the Rose Garden, was an extremely dangerous person.
Jonathan simply couldn’t believe any of it.
“Kid, I’d rather you killed somebody. If you spout lies or nonsense about the Rose Garden, you’ll end up dying in a way so horrific it defies imagination.”
“No, I’m telling you, it’s not some made-up story. Why would I lie about meeting the head of the Rose Garden? Here, this is a gift I brought back.”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly a gift it was something I’d received as proof of my worth but in any case, it was true I’d brought it back.
When I held out the piece of stained glass, Jonathan fell silent. He could see at a glance it wasn’t just some common battle gear you’d find lying around.
“You really met her and lived to tell about it. You’re not even part of the Rose Garden, and you not only met their boss but came back alive with a present. You were born under a lucky star.”
“Oh, and it looks like I’ll be taking on a job soon. I’ll be working with someone I was introduced to by the Rose Garden.”
The moment he heard that, Jonathan immediately replied.
“I don’t care if it takes you years, but if you start that job, make damn sure you finish it. And if you fail, die right then and there. That’ll hurt less. I’m telling you this out of all the years we’ve known each other.”
“…Every time I hear it, I’m amazed by how people talk about the Rose Garden.”
“It’s not just the Rose Garden, you idiot.”
This was the general sentiment people had about any of the organizations belonging to the Grand Canal Operations Committee. For those trying to eke out a living in Bennett City, the groups that made up the Committee were like natural disasters.
Overwhelmingly powerful, impossible to resist, and completely indifferent to the circumstances of whoever they struck.
I paused a moment in thought, then looked at Jonathan.
“But boss, don’t you also have some kind of ties with the Rose Garden, or what was it… Lukas’s Children? Anyway, those organizations?”
“Ties? What damn ties.”
Members of Lukas’s Children sometimes came to eat at the restaurant. Of course, whenever they showed up, every other customer in the place would scurry to pay their bill and flee as if escaping a fire.
And from the Rose Garden, Cecilia would regularly have Jonathan’s cooking delivered to her.
“They’re both regular customers. At that point, you have to call it familiarity.”
“Shut up. That’s the most ridiculous bullshit I’ve heard.”
If there’d really been any such familiarity, then those idiots with the claws on both hands wouldn’t have been sniffing around the other day, saying they’d slit Jonathan’s throat.
“If no proper members or Blue Tickets are involved, the organizations that make up the Committee don’t care about outsiders. That’s the unspoken rule.”
If they started minding outsiders and made a mistake, it could escalate into a clash between organizations.
And if groups as large as the Rose Garden or Lukas’s Children collided, the delicate balance of power Bennett City barely maintained would be shattered completely.
“If that ever happened, everyone in Bennett City, without exception, would have to pick a side. Even the Imperial Security Corps and the Republic Police Department. No one would be spared.”
That was why everyone did their best to avoid friction. Even Lukas’s Children, infamous for their viciousness and madness, still abided by that one rule.
“Lukas’s Children… I guess they’re not truly insane after all.”
I muttered, recalling the real lunatics back in the labor correctional facility those who’d rampaged until they were thrown into solitary confinement and never returned.
“If they were insane, how could they run such a big organization? The ones with a few brain cells know Lukas’s Children are just putting on an act.”
They simply didn’t have the courage or the reason to point it out in front of them.
“In any case, I’m grateful you’re giving me permission to take this little business trip.”
When I said that, Jonathan made a dismissive grunt.
“Better than the alternative having my restaurant go up in flames while I guzzle acid and die in front of Rose Garden members.”
“…Didn’t you say the Rose Garden handled their work cleanly?”
Since when had making someone drink acid alive counted as clean? My puzzled question earned an answer from Jonathan.
“If it were Lukas’s Children, they’d have chopped off my limbs, stitched them to my head, and kept me alive like that. Then they’d sell me to a circus as an exhibit.”
“Wow. Then the Rose Garden really does handle things cleanly by comparison.”
It seemed Lukas’s Children had gotten so carried away with their lunatic act they’d actually lost their minds for real.
“So when should I start?”
“Right now. Until the construction job that Rose Garden arranged for you is over, don’t even think about lifting a finger to help out around here. Just think of it as paid leave.”
At Jonathan’s declaration, I let out a short sigh and dipped my head slightly.
“Thank you. From this moment on, I’ll be away from the restaurant for a while.”
Once I’d said my piece, I immediately stepped out and headed for the place Spring Parsley had told me about.
“Feels like I got my hopes up for nothing.”
Cecilia’s mansion had been so grand I’d ended up expecting a little too much of Spring Parsley’s hideout as well.
But clearly, not everyone could live a life as splendid as Cecilia’s.
The neighborhood around the building housing Spring Parsley’s hideout was obviously the opposite of splendid.
Just looking at the filthy street, the walls of the buildings stained with dried piss no one had bothered to clean, was enough to kill my appetite.
“You there, young man buy a bottle of liquor? If you take it now, I’ll give you two for one pint or fifty drem. Strong enough that you’ll wake up in broad daylight two days from now.”
Drem was the currency of the Aylan Republic.
An old woman who had set up a stall on the roadside uncorked a bottle and held it out to me.
At the foul, sour stench, I reflexively shuddered and scrunched up my face. This smell—
“Good grief, it smells exactly like pruno.”