The Final Five Hours (4)
The crooked merchant asked, "What are you? You gonna try it?"
"Of course. I'd rather go to prison than hand points to scum like you."
They stared, bewildered.
"Kid, you don't know what you're getting into. Do you even understand what happens in prison?"
Nade hadn't heard every word, but from Curtis's condition he could easily guess the answer. He smiled.
"Good. I've been curious what it's like. Not confident? Then stop whining and get lost."
"Hah."
The merchants' expressions hardened.
"You think we're soft because we're being nice? Want me to give you one more tip? Even if you end up as dog meat, we can still attack you. The higher your points, the crueller crimes we can commit. Use your imagination."
"Try it. If you're so sure."
Nade raised his right hand and sparked an arc of lightning. The crooked merchants flinched back.
"Ma—mage?"
"Yeah. In real life you're not even within a fist's reach. See how things are now?"
Those who had been frozen a moment before burst into laughter.
"Kwahahaha! You're a total rookie, aren't you? Do you even know where you are? This is Melkidu, man."
"So?"
"Player-versus-player attacks are impossible."
"No, forget it."
The leader raised his hand and stepped forward. "Alright, fine. We'll admit it. We treat customers well. Here's the deal—ten million points. That settles it."
Of course, their minds were elsewhere.
'A mage?'
The same kind of person who'd sent him to prison day and night in the real world.
'No wonder—thought he'd teleport away. But today he met someone he can't handle.'
They closed the distance a little more.
"Fine, I lost. Knock a million off and—"
As he let them relax, the leader suddenly twisted and swung a longsword wide. Nade leaned back; a few strands of his fringe were sliced off by the keen blade and fluttered away.
"Kwahaha! Got it! You're broke now—"
-Warning. System hostile activity detected. Guard squad is tracking the Brica team.
Even after the accomplices all received the message, they couldn't make sense of it.
"What? What is that?"
At the next moment, armored guards began converging from all directions in the capital.
"Huh? Huh?"
Amid the confusion, an instinct told them they shouldn't stay.
"Hey! Run!"
But the exits were already blocked, and the guards roughly seized them.
"Let go! Uwaaah! Let me go, you bastards!"
Within a minute, the Brica team lay face-down on the floor with handcuffs behind their backs.
"Damn it! Are you insane? We never opposed the system! You're the ones who attacked the user!"
Instead of answering, the guards saluted Nade.
"Loyalty! All seven criminals apprehended."
"Hmm. Very good."
Nade folded his hands behind his back and nodded. The Brica team's faces went white.
"...What?"
Brica shouted, "What the hell did you pull? How are you a guard? You're a user!"
"I told you—if you weren't confident, you should've gotten lost."
"You bastard!"
Brica's veins throbbed, but the cold bite of the cuffs made his chest drop.
'No. If this keeps up, we'll really go to prison.'
They had neither the strength to slip the cuffs nor the force to topple the guard squad.
"Please," Brica begged. "We were wrong. Just let us go this once, okay? We'll do anything you ask."
"This is Melkidu."
Nade smiled. "Do whatever you want with their points. That's the whole deal here, right?"
Turning back to his friends, the captain of the guards approached and asked, "What shall we do with them?"
Nade's expression sharpened as he flicked his sword. "Detain them immediately."
"Yes!"
The crooked merchants being dragged away shouted, "Let go! You bastard! What crime did I commit? You're making a huge mistake!"
Only Curtis, who had already experienced prison, looked at them with a sympathetic gaze.
"How's my skill?"
Nade made a V sign with his fingers. Eden said, "You... kind of enjoy this, don't you?"
"So what? It's over today anyway. People who act cocky because of their points need to be put in their place."
Curtis asked, "Is that the item you mentioned earlier? That with a registration pass a user can become a guard?"
"Yes. First, let's get out of here. I'll explain."
Shirone's group ordered a late lunch at a high-end restaurant where their discount coupon applied.
"This place is packed."
The dining hall was thriving enough to nearly fill. Curtis was probably the hungriest, but he was more interested in the item.
"Hmm, so if I wear this necklace, it pierces physical barriers? Then I might be able to access the internal tracks."
"True, but it's over anyway, right? Staying in Melkidu any longer would be fun, though," Iruki said.
"...That's true," Pena agreed. "But even if we convince the king, Curtis and I aren't accomplices. How do we get into the core?"
Indeed.
"Parme deals in point trades—if we convince them first and then redistribute—"
As their discussion continued, a group leaving the restaurant halted.
"Curtis?"
At the man's voice, everyone turned.
"Where is he?"
"That's Curtis, right? Why does he look like that? He doesn't look like someone who gets beaten up."
"That's not the point. Block the entrance. Move around the tables and take him from behind."
As the group moved with trained precision, Curtis picked up a fork and said, "How about this: use this item to get into the castle. We might not have to wait until tomorrow, and maybe we can find a solution there. If we can steal a registration pass, we could get into the core."
"Hmm, that's probably the only way—"
A shadow fell over the table and Curtis instinctively turned his head.
"Curtis!"
At the sight of the man, his pupils stuttered, and a fist struck his jaw squarely.
"Ugh!"
-Warning. System hostile activity detected. Guard squad is tracking the Raiver team.
"What? What is—"
Curtis rolled across the floor, flipped a table, and dashed for the exit.
The man guarding the door shouted, "Calm down! It's over! Ugh!"
When the guards burst through the doors, the man collapsed and the restaurant went to hell.
"Don't let him get away! Catch him!"
Those who hadn't been detained by the guards were driving Curtis toward one side.
"Hey, Curtis. It's me, Raiver. Let's talk."
Curtis scanned the tightening ring left and right, then turned toward the wall. He sprinted at full force, curled his arms around his face, and launched himself—passing clean through the wall.
"Huh?"
The stunned men were then crushed from behind by approaching guards.
"Loyalty! Eight criminals apprehended," Nade reported as he accepted the salute and approached Raiver.
"Who are you people?"
"Shut up! Do you know what you've done? You let a captured suspect get away."
"That's nonsense. Curtis is a detective."
"We're detectives too."
Nade was left speechless. Shirone asked, "If you're on the same side, why were you chasing him? Curtis is investigating an unsolved case."
"Edrina, is it?" Raiver frowned. "Curtis is the prime suspect in that case. He's suspected of murdering four women, all twenty-seven years old."
Pena said, "I don't trust people. But I've got an eye. Curtis is unlucky, but he's not a psycho."
"I know what kind of person he is—he's my colleague and friend. But... there's evidence."
Shirone asked, "Is it true one of the four was Curtis's daughter?"
"Yes."
"How did she die?"
"She was strangled."
"Then that's suicide—"
"That's why it's unsolved. Curtis and I found Edrina in the villa's basement storeroom. The rope tied to a ceiling pipeline had snapped and she was lying on the floor."
Nade asked, "That's suicide, right?"
"The problem is she couldn't have done it alone. The ceiling's four meters high. There were no objects in the storeroom to step on, and the room's layout didn't allow climbing. The iron door had a manual lock and it was locked from the inside. Did she fly? No—Edrina was an ordinary person, not a mage."
It was truly strange.
"The only conclusion is someone hanged her. The snapped rope looked like a clue, but we couldn't find anything unusual. Actually, it's not unheard of—bodies thrash violently at the end, and if tension's low the rope can snap."
Raiver continued, "More than that, there were three other deaths. We treated it as homicide and chased the killer. Then one day a letter arrived—for us. A letter from the dead Edrina."
"They delayed the postmark."
"Yes. She'd sent it before she died. It passed through the international post and wandered the world before it reached us."
"What did it say?"
"One sentence: 'It wasn't my father's fault.'"
"See? This isn't an unresolved case. Curtis must know something. But before we could piece it together he vanished. And... he came to Melkidu."
Iruki, now catching on, asked, "What will you do, Shirone?"
"Find Curtis first. He'll tell us. If we need to get into the core—"
Nade gave an order. "Detain them for now. Don't send them to prison."
"Yes!"
As the guards led Raiver's team away, Shirone's group left the restaurant too.
Pena looked around. "Where did they go? If they used a Rapid Recovery Pass necklace, you can't track them."
"It's fine. There's only one place they'd go."
Eden turned his head. "The palace."
Shirone said, "Curtis will probably guess that we'd learn the truth from the detectives. Unable to team up, he'll try to enter the core alone."
"Do you really think he's the killer?"
Shirone wouldn't decide yet. "Let's go to the palace first. The event opens tomorrow—entering now could be considered system sabotage. Even with a guard registration pass, we can't afford to be careless."
They infiltrated the palace and used Rapid Recovery Pass necklaces and flight magic to reach the Grand Hall. Knights had Curtis on his knees.
"Curtis!"
The king turned his head. "Ha—so the kingdom's order is crumbling. Are you also scoundrels threatening the crown?"
'Nothing to lose.'
Shirone stepped forward. "I'm Shirone. I came because I want to enter Melkidu's core and sought an audience."
Since the event hadn't started yet, the king wouldn't have read any recommendation.
"Hmm—Shirone, is it?"
Perhaps because of that, the king's interest shifted and the corners of his mouth lifted.
"The era's great patron of universal love—what brings you to a refuge for murderers?"
"Eh?"
"To meet Yahweh here. Well, if fate brought you, then fate it is."
Shirone's expression went cold. "Who are you?"
He wasn't an NPC.
"Better to see than to explain."
A strange noise overlaid the king's face as his appearance began to change. A man with black hair, around forty, mischievously handsome.
"Nice to meet you, Shirone."
Through Omega, Shirone's eyes widened in recognition.
"Cain."
The first murderer of humanity.