The Dark Organization (3)
Iruki looked back at his friends and asked, "Then could that information possibly be—"
"No, no! I can't say anything more. If I blab this… no, I can't."
If she couldn't even reveal it out of love, it was probably something tied to her safety.
Iruki ran a hand through his hair. "Still, can't you tell us? Trust me. If you're in danger, I'll protect you."
Kara cupped her cheeks with both hands. "What can I do. He's so cool."
Nade pushed out his lower lip, while Shirone watched with hope.
"Sorry. I…."
When tears began to well in her eyes, Iruki stepped back without protest. "I guess this is it. You can't create variables outside the dice."
He'd had no feelings for Kara to begin with, so he could stay composed even with her standing there.
Eden said, "Still, it was a good start. We finished it for two million. If we'd been unlucky it could've cost over ten million."
"Curtis didn't go bankrupt for nothing. What do you want to do? Check the next shop too?" Shirone asked.
"Let's do it here," Eden said. "Like I said, getting the other side to like you eats a lot of points. This is our chance. Win or lose… we have to settle it here."
"Kara, I want the info on that bribery program. If you know anything, please tell us."
Kara's expression changed. "It's true I have information, but I absolutely can't reveal it. If you want to persuade me, the rule is: name a number. One attempt costs ten million points."
Half the price had been cut. It had to be the accomplice effect from Iruki's persuasion.
"All right. I'll persuade you."
"I'll use two dice. From 2 to 12, name one total. If the same total comes up, you win."
"One number?" The difficulty leapt to another level.
If Shirone had to put it into feeling, it meant this was a secret she desperately wanted to hide. Honestly, it gave him the creeps.
Even though the rules seemed symmetrical, the match had a blind spot. Even a draw left the administrator with nothing to lose—an extremely unlikely victory for the challenger, by ordinary standards.
"All right. I'll pick seven."
"I'll take four."
Two people threw dice in the phase space.
Quantum collapse.
Shirone's dice probabilities collapsed into the faces 3 and 4. Kara's total was 11.
I won.
Their friends clenched their fists as Kara behind the counter went slack—stunned, utterly shocked.
"Ugh." Her legs gave out and she collapsed into a chair, her mouth trembling.
"All right, fine. If you're going to pull something like that, it can't be helped. My dear, your friends are really something."
"My friend's a bit tough, yeah." They'd only thrown dice, but since they'd steered the outcome with their mind skills, it wasn't an exaggeration.
"Okay. I don't know everything in detail. Of course, if I even half-reveal this, my neck could be at risk." A blue light came into Kara's eyes. "What I know is—"
The mode changed. A real-time keyword not stored in the base database popped from her mouth.
"Korkoras."
Shirone nodded. I see.
Kara flipped back to a bright expression as if nothing had happened and smiled. "That's all. Sorry, darling. I wanted to help. Now… you're leaving?"
Even if her emotions felt mechanical, coming out like that was disorienting.
"Let's go." Iruki turned away coldly.
"Hey, shouldn't you at least say goodbye? It feels weird otherwise."
"That's why we're leaving." If it was just a dice game, only humans would get hurt by treating it like more than that.
"Let's definitely go on a date next time." Kara said it with a face that seemed to show no expression at all, so the group didn't look back.
At the entrance to Sector 7, Shirone said, "Korkoras. That's the garbage dump Curtis mentioned. Pena's waiting there."
Nade said, "Hmm, I think that's huge information. Curtis wouldn't have dared try to persuade this far. Anyway, let's not try to persuade hotheads from now on. The rules are brutal."
Iruki agreed. "Without quantum collapse, even twelve tries wouldn't guarantee a win. Even that would cost two hundred forty million points."
Eden tapped his lips. "Hmm, but that's not impossible for a points magnate, right? If you're lucky… huh?"
Lucky. Eden's surprised look made Shirone realize. "That's right. I heard there are two ways into the core: gather ten billion points and buy the key, or get lucky."
Nade said, "So there was never a third route. This is one of the official methods."
Iruki propped his chin. "Makes sense. Gathering ten billion and using points to persuade—those are the cores of the external track and the internal track. In difficulty they're comparable."
Eden added, "On the other hand, persuasion is absolutely in our favor. If luck is needed, we control that luck. Only our team would dare challenge bribery with just a couple hundred million."
Nade smiled. "Curtis did do something right. When we rescue him we should at least buy him a meal."
"Right, rescue him fast. First we need to strengthen the dice. If we use persuasion cleverly, we can buy more items. First priorities: loss of will, then entering the Royal Road. Of course, leave fifty million points in reserve."
With the plan set, Nade shouted, "Okay! Let's go!"
Korcoras.
The place called the garbage dump was an island where all of Melkidu's trash was dumped.
Of course users called it a garbage dump for a reason—this was where the worst criminals in Melkidu gathered, the human scum.
"...Hooooo!"
A golden flash arced and landed on the white beach of the island floating on the vast sea.
Nade's voice faded, and Shirone's group looked around the shore.
"Ugh, the smell." Trash was strewn everywhere.
"Judging from the coastline, it's a pretty big island. Finding Pena might take a while."
"You'll probably have to stay at least a day. Depending on the intel, we might stay longer."
The path into the island's interior had every kind of junk piled like a mountain.
"Do you think there are shops? We need to get food from the sea, but I don't see any fishermen."
Iruki said, "Pena said if you show up too late you'll end up on the table. They sell human meat."
"Ugh…" As Eden shuddered, a group rose from a trash heap.
"Heh heh. You're here, huh." They were men with tattoos all over their bodies, wearing hole-ridden short sleeves.
"You guys know where you are?" one of them demanded.
"The garbage dump," someone answered.
"No, no. This is Korcoras. To put it simply, it's a place where everything you have gets stripped away."
They didn't look particularly strong, but Shirone's group had already spent a lot of points.
The leader said, "One minute. Drop all your items and kneel. If you've got anything expensive I won't spare your life."
Eden studied the different emblems on the man's forearms. What are those?
The thugs barked, "What are you doing? Hurry and hand it over. You want to die?" They brandished knives and looked ready to rush, but Shirone's group stayed calm.
"Heh heh! Heh heh heh! Gack! Gack!" The leader, who barely ever smiled, rasped and coughed as he scratched his throat. "If you're not just gutsy, you're green. Looks like you don't know Korcoras' reputation."
The thugs closed in. "If you think you can rely on points, that's a shame. Special regions each have quirks. In Korcoras you can't use points. Instead, you can kill anyone you want. In short, it's a player-kill free zone."
"You mean points don't get deducted?"
"Haha! Yeah. Even if I butcher you there's no problem. So… shall we—?"
Nade rubbed his fist. "Damn! That's what it was? No wonder I tensed up."
When the avatar of the Brain God wrapped itself around him, the bandit pointed at him in a daze. "Hey, you… there's electricity around your body."
"I know."
The western white sands flashed. One minute later—
"P-please spare us. We were wrong."
Five of them lay on the sand, limbs twisted, convulsing and murmuring.
"You lot." When Nade approached, they writhed like fresh fish. "Eek! S-sorry!"
"Let me ask something. Has a woman named Pena come here? Slightly shorter than me, skinny. She arrived here three days ago, Korcoras time."
"N-no. I haven't seen her." Even as he answered, the leader nervously lifted his head. "We really haven't seen a woman. There's another arrival point besides here; she must have gone there."
"Another one?"
"Yes, yes. The east beach."
Shirone asked, "Who controls that place?"
"N-no one. We control both the east and west. There aren't any other guys."
Eden asked, "Control what?"
"Uh, well… trash." Shirone looked back at his friends. "It's probably bandits who prey on beginners. There were types like this on High Gear too—the Tenmen."
Nade frowned. "They're everywhere—people who crush anyone trying to do something from the start. Pathetic."
The bandit's pride had been hurt, but he couldn't show his crumpled face to Nade.
Shirone asked, "Why live where there's nothing but trash? There must be living spaces inside the island, right?"
"That's a lawless zone. The three big gangs control it, so if you cross them you won't even get your bones back together."
Eden said, "Red Union. Desperado. Johan Cartel."
Nade turned his head. "You know them?"
"The emblems on that man's arms. They're fairly well-known crime groups even in the real world."
"I've never heard of them."
"You, who operate worldwide, naturally wouldn't. Calling them crime organizations is a bit much—they're more like corporate thugs. They hold a small city as a base and harass people. Shirone might know, though."
"Yeah. I haven't met them in person." He'd seen them on Omega. "Because Yora missions support police work, we know this scene a bit. Don't imagine world-class guilds like the Parrot Mercenary Corps. They're not strong—there aren't many powerful people, and an uncertified level-10 mage could do some damage."
"Strays," Eden said, looking at the leader. "But their cruelty is second to none. The three emblems mean they betrayed organizations and moved around. In other words, they ran here."
Iruki said, "That's actually good. If we just take out the gangs, we can get the information we want."
"Oh? Now that you mention it…" Nade approached the leader kneeling on the sand and pressed his palm to the top of his head. "You know everything, right? The three big gangs."
"Y-yes? Y-yes." He already felt the electricity coursing through him, and the leader squeezed his eyes shut as he answered.