The office was spacious and decorated with valuable artworks of all ages that had been obtained from various countries. Therefore, it looked more like an exhibition space rather than an office.
The middle-aged man, who was the owner of the office, was also wearing an obviously expensive tuxedo. The watch and rings that he wore were also top-notch items, and the cost of each one of them easily surpassed the annual income of ordinary citizens.
The name of this man, who had obtained the fame and wealth that anyone would be envious of, was Andreas Hoger. He was the president of the Hoger merchant company, and one of richest men, even in this imperial capital.
But Andreas, who should be enjoying the splendors of his prosperity, had turned pale and looked on the brink of fainting as he paced up and down the room. He looked just like a bear that was locked inside a cage.
In reality, Andreas’ heart felt like it had been locked inside a dark and narrow cage.
「Damn it...... Why did it turn out like this......」
He had probably repeated that line over and over again.
「Argh...... that Snake...... that Noel Stollen......」
Even he no longer knew how many times he had cursed that Snake.
The start of everything was at the party that Andreas had been invited to. He had attended, thinking that it was nothing more than a social event, but a shocking ending awaited him.
Two years ago, Andreas murdered one of his business competitors. That man had ferreted out the fact that Andreas was smuggling Beast materials to other countries, and was planning to take over the Hoger merchant company using that incriminating evidence as leverage. That was why he had to be killed.
And, Hugo Coppelius was the person that he had framed for that crime. The Justice Department determined that Hugo was the culprit, and Andreas had remained above suspicion.
Everything was supposed to be settled with that.
「Urghhhh!!!」
Enraged, Andreas punched his desk in anger. After hitting it repeatedly until his fist was all torn up, he bent over the desk, and his shoulders shook as he began to cry.
「It’s the end...... It’s already the end for me......」
At the end of that party, Noel Stollen, the clan master of Wild Tempest, had argued, of all things, that Hugo Coppelius had been falsely accused. Not only that, he also exposed the wrongdoings of the Justice Department, and even summoned Count Leicester Graham, the former Deputy Minister.
The truth, which had been laid bare at that party where the big players of various fields were gathered, was spread throughout the Empire via newspapers. Public opinion sympathized with the pitiful Hugo, and criticized the Justice Department heavily for their wrongdoings.
The name of the true culprit hadn’t been revealed, but if public opinion pushed them to conduct a re-investigation, it was very likely that they would find their way to Andreas. No, even before they conducted a re-investigation, Andreas' crime had already been uncovered.
Noel, who had argued that Hugo was falsely accused, had looked at Andreas at the end. It wasn’t a misunderstanding. Their eyes had certainly met. And that cunning young man had smiled. With the cold eyes of a snake that was sizing up its prey, he had smiled at Andreas.
「He has definitely realized that I'm the true culprit behind the case......」
The reason why he had not exposed Andreas' crimes at the party, was presumably to take advantage of that information. There had been no contact from him yet, but at present, Andreas’ life was in Noel’s hands.
What if he changes his mind and discloses my crimes to the public? What if he has already told someone? As Andreas nursed those thoughts, he felt a lot like a dead man walking.
「Dear me, a man shouldn’t be crying so easily, you know?」
He suddenly heard a voice. A mysterious voice that sounded like it could be either male or female.
When Andreas turned back in surprise, there was someone wrapped in a jet-black robe standing there. The door of the room was still locked. There should be no way for anyone to get in normally. In addition, that person’s face was hidden in the shadow of an unnaturally dark hood, and he couldn’t make out the features of the person’s face.
Andreas gasped at the unknown intruder. But after a while, a certain person came to mind.
「A, are you the『King of Flies』?」
At Andreas’ question, the faceless intruder bowed respectfully.
「That is correct, Andreas. I am the King of Flies」
「As I thought, it’s you......」
He now knew the person’s identity, but that didn’t settle his nerves. Rather, he became even more wary. Andreas was acquainted with the King of Flies, but that was the reason why he knew that this mysterious person was definitely someone that he must never trust.
The first time he had learned of the King of Flies, was at the time that he had made the decision to murder his business competitor.
Normally, it should have been entrusted to the Luciano Family, which he had an intimate relationship with, but they had refused to kill the highly-influential business competitor as it was far too risky.
Likewise, he was told that the Assassin Order would probably also turn him down for the same reason. It was one thing if it was the Assassin Order of old, but it seemed like the current Leader would never accept dangerous jobs.
But if he couldn’t kill that business competitor, Andreas would have no future. When he was at a loss and about to give up, the Head of the Luciano Family said that he knew of a person who might be able to solve his problem. --That person was the King of Flies.
The King of Flies was a fixer for the underbelly of society, and as long as money was paid, was said to be able to solve any problem. In the fixer trade, those who specialized in dangerous cases that no decent person would accept were called Scavengers. And among the Scavengers, the one who was the most famous was the King of Flies.
In other words, the King of Flies was also the King of Scavengers.
While the Head of the Luciano Family was the person who had introduced the King of Flies to him, he had told Andreas to never trust that person. At that time, he hadn’t understood the meaning of those words. Above all, the Andreas of that time couldn’t afford to think too much about it, as he was so cornered that he was even clutching at straws.
He only understood the meaning of those words when he learned of how that business competitor had been killed a few days after he had hired the King of Flies through the Luciano Family.
True, Andreas had certainly wished for the death of that business competitor. But he hadn’t wished for him to die in such an inhuman way. It would still have been fine if that was all, but even the young children had been killed. From the bottom of his heart, Andreas regretted hiring the King of Flies.
After everything had been settled, Andreas had met the King of Flies only once. To be accurate, he hadn’t met that person intentionally. While visiting the museum with his family, someone had suddenly brushed by him and whispered into his ear.
――Looking forward to your next request, that person had said.
At that time, he hadn’t been able to catch a glimpse of that person’s face as well, but just like the voice from earlier, it had been a mysterious voice that sounded like it could be either male or female.
「......What are you doing here, King of Flies?」
「What? Aren’t you being cold, Andreas? Why didn’t you call me even though you seem to be in trouble?」
「Shut up! I didn’t ask for help from the likes of you!」
Andreas shouted loudly.
「When you get right down to it, isn’t the current situation your fault!? The case was examined closely and overturned because you framed Hugo Coppelius for the crime!」
The King of Flies’ head shook at Andreas’ criticism.
「It’s easy to say that with the benefit of hindsight. If I hadn’t framed someone, the Justice Department would have found out that you were the culprit behind everything. No, even if they hadn’t found that out, a background check would likely expose the fact that you’re smuggling Beast materials to other countries」
「Wh, why do you know about the smuggling?」
The only ones who knew about the smuggling were the Luciano Family. Ignoring the frightened Andreas, the King of Flies continued dispassionately.
「At that time, the Justice Department concluded that Hugo was the culprit without investigating properly because they wanted to improve the image of the Justice Department by resolving the case quickly. For that, making the case more sensational was also more convenient for us」
「Is that why you killed them in that manner?」
「That's right. I staged a bizarre murder, and chose Hugo Coppelius, the up-and-coming doll maker who was the talk of the town, as the person to frame. You should know quite well that the plan went like clockwork」
Certainly, everything had been fine before Snake had appeared. Criticizing the King of Flies here was nothing more than being a hindsight-critic.
「......I understand. That's enough of that. But what can you do now that things have gone this far?」
「It's simple. I just have to kill Hugo Coppelius in prison」
「Kill Hugo? How will that solve anything?」
「If Hugo dies in prison, criticisms will be directed at the Justice Department--and by extension, the government. Public sentiment will erupt, and result in large-scale demonstrations that the government won’t be able to stop. No, I should arrange for demonstrations to be staged. If I do that, they won’t have the time to call you to account for the crime」
「Certainly, I might not get called to account for the crime in the midst of the demonstrations, but what happens when they're over」
「Won’t it be fine if we come up with countermeasures before they end? Once the people have turned into a mob, their anger won’t be quelled so easily」
The King of Flies said laughingly.
「Snake seems to have realized that you’re the true culprit behind everything, but he shouldn't have anything concrete in terms of physical evidence. In other words, if Hugo, the person at the center of this entire case, disappears, it will be difficult to pursue this case any further. Even Snake will give up by himself. He is no match for us」
「I, I see...... But will it really go so smoothly?」
「Of course」
The King of Flies affirmed with a confident voice. Then he added:
「Anything is possible if you do whatever it takes」
Andreas looked down as he mulled it over. Relying on this mysterious person might solve the problem again. However, he had a premonition that a huge disaster would befall him if he continued to rely on this person.
Suddenly, Andreas looked up, and found the King of Flies standing right in front of him. Even when standing at such a close distance, he couldn’t make out the features of this person’s face.
No, that was wrong.
Andreas had finally noticed. The King of Flies had no face from the very beginning. Countless flies were swarming around the part where he had thought was this person face. This mysterious person was a large swarm of flies forming a humanoid shape.
「King of Flies, just what on earth are you......」
The King of Flies spoke slowly to Andreas, who had chills running down his spine.
「Now, make your decision」
Andreas’ body was frozen from fear. He realized instinctively that he would be killed if he refused. From the start, he had only one choice.
「......I, I understand. Just name your price. I’ll leave it all to you......」
†
†
That day, a present for Hugo arrived.
The sender was Noel. The present that had been delivered was a leather-covered trunk with clothes inside. At first glance, it was just a tailcoat, but Hugo quickly realized that it was a combat outfit made from Beast materials.
That was because it was completely the same as the combat outfit that he had worn during the time he was a Seeker.
This combat outfit, which was woven using the threads of Atlanato(Hellflame Spider), a Beast of depth 10, not only had various attack resistances, but also had the effect of enhancing the recovery speed of magic power. For Puppeteers, who consumed a lot of magic power, it was an extremely compatible piece of equipment.
Apart from the clothes, glasses that were meant to support him in battle were also inside the trunk. The material for these was the cornea of Dantalion, a Beast of depth eight. He couldn’t read the minds of others, like Dantalion could, but they had the ability to expand his field of vision.
After confirming the contents, Hugo smiled wryly, and looked at the guard who had delivered it.
「I don’t think that these are things that you should be handing to a convict though?」
The guard made a troubled expression, but shook his head.
「You’re a convict, but also not a convict」
「So, you’re saying that it’s okay for me to have these?」
When the guard nodded, Hugo smiled wryly again.
Like the guard had said, the Hugo of today was a convict, but also not a convict. Not only had his treatment been improved, but the collar that prevented him from activating Skills had also been removed.
On paper, he was kept in custody while he waited for a retrial, but at this juncture, there was no longer anyone who thought that Hugo was the culprit. It was certain that Hugo would be released in the near future, so the guards knew that he had no reason to do things like planning an escape.
After the guard had left, Hugo tried on the combat outfit. It was baggy because his body was still thin and drawn, but if he returned to his original physique, it would probably be a perfect fit. But it was hard to move in after all, so he took off the jacket. If he wore only the shirt and vest, then it wasn’t bad, even with his current physique.
「……Hmmm」
Hugo clenched and unclenched his fists, which had white gloves on. Even though quite a long time had passed since his retirement, once he put on this combat outfit, he naturally felt energized, and realized that his fighting spirit was welling up.
「There’s a blank period, but my body remembers......」
Noel wanted Hugo to become his ally. Hugo had also begun to take an interest in Wild Tempest, the clan led by Noel.
But his answer was still undecided. Making a quick decision and coming to regret it later was the one thing he wanted to avoid. That was probably something that even Noel, who wanted Hugo, didn’t desire.
「Hmmm?」
While checking his combat outfit, Hugo found a piece of paper in the chest pocket of his vest. It appeared to be something that Noel had concealed.
When he held it up and took a look, the words on the piece of paper read:
『Do it in a flashy manner』
「......Hmmm?」
Not understanding what it meant, Hugo tilted his head.
It was at that time--
「What!?」
His body staggered unexpectedly. His consciousness started growing hazy. A mysterious sweet scent tickled his nose. He had experienced this strange phenomenon two years ago.
「......Impossible, is that guy coming?」
It was the heinous true culprit who had put Hugo to sleep and set him up to take the fall for the crime. Sweat poured out of every pore of Hugo's body when faced with the exact same situation as that time.
「Da, damn......」
Hugo tried to bite his tongue to keep himself from losing consciousness, but he couldn’t gather even the strength to do that. Unable to move even one finger, he fell flat on the floor.
Before he knew it, someone in a black robe was standing beside Hugo.
With the last of his strength, Hugo tried to activate his Skills, but as he feared, that wasn’t possible either. With a clouded consciousness, he couldn’t control his magic power.
This is it for me--when he had resolved himself for death, something unbelievable happened.
A deafening explosion rocked the entire prison.
It was obvious that something had exploded. And all of a sudden, the tremendous blast generated by the explosion blew off the door to Hugo’s room, and slammed the defenseless assailant against the wall.
But Hugo, who was wearing the Atlanato combat outfit, got away with not taking any damage from the blast. Moreover, his consciousness, which had felt like it was being sucked into a bottomless pit, became clear. It appeared that the blast had somehow diffused the air that was causing him to sleep.
Amidst the thick cloud of smoke enveloping the room, Hugo stood up immediately. He tried to figure out what was going on while the smell of gunpowder assailed his nose. Once it dawned on him, he couldn’t help but be astonished.
「A bomb?......」
In other words, a bomb had been planted in this prison. Then, it had exploded with perfect timing, letting Hugo narrowly escape death.
The assailant who had been slammed against the wall appeared to have suffered a great deal of damage, and while he had not fallen, he was unsteady on his feet. He looked weak as he drew his sword and assumed a stance.
Given the situation, the assailant wasn’t the one who had planted the bomb. Setting up something that would be disadvantageous to himself was simply pointless. In that case, the culprit could only be one person--
「Noel Stollen...... How far did you predict...... How far are you willing to go......」
Hugo had thought that he had understood how disparate Noel was. But Hugo had underestimated him. Although it was to save Hugo, blowing up a prison was too far outside the realm of common sense.
Like how disasters took no heed of people, that Snake was truly the incarnation of a tempest.
「......Kukuku, ahahahahahahahaha!!!」
Hugo laughed. Disregarding everything around him, he laughed loudly.
「......I get it now, Noel. You’re definitely the strongest and the most evil」
He muttered the words from his heart delightedly, and then activated the Puppeteer’s Skill.
Puppet Skill: Servant Lancer
The surrounding materials disassembled and reconstructed themselves, and what emerged was an armored puppet soldier that was holding a spear.
The puppet soldier stayed by Hugo’s side as he stared down his nose at the assailant.
「I hate violence. Because it’s not beautiful. But--」
A thread woven using magic power extended from Hugo’s fingers and connected with the puppet soldier.
Puppet Skill: Ether Link
A Skill that increases the performance of the puppet soldier by 10 times by connecting with it using a thread of magic power.
「It might not be bad to surrender myself to the desire for revenge at least once in my life」
†
†
Andreas' attempt to assassinate Hugo had been read from the very beginning.
If Hugo died in prison, public sentiment would erupt, which would only lead to demonstrations so large in scale that they would be impossible for anyone to control. If that happened, it would hardly be the time or place to question Andreas’ guilt.
In the first place, as there was no physical evidence that could prove that Andreas was the true culprit behind everything, if demonstrations occurred and the situation ended up getting smothered, it would be extremely difficult to bring up this matter again.
In the meantime, Andreas would probably have come up with countermeasures, and even if Leicester, whom I was backing, became the Minister, it probably wouldn’t change the fact that it would still be very difficult.
I could make him confess if I used Talk Skill: Confess, but it was virtually impossible to use mind control type Skills to get a confession from someone with high social standing because of the substantial risks involved. If things went badly, I would become a criminal and get myself hanged.
Flipping over an unfavorable chessboard was violent but it was the most effective measure. If our positions had been reversed, I would probably have aimed for that too.
But that was why, having predicted that things would turn out this way, I thought of turning his plan to my advantage. I had purposely let Andreas go free for that reason.
The outline of the other party’s scenario was unmistakably to assassinate Hugo, make it out to be the work of the government, and then cause demonstrations to occur by inciting public sentiment.
Conversely, if Hugo’s assassination didn’t succeed, it would be a setback to the other party’s scenario. And if I could catch the perpetrator, that would become decisive evidence against him.
For that reason, there was no point in preventing it from happening. That was because it wouldn’t be proof that the other party was the true culprit unless he was suppressed at the scene of the crime.
Over the past few days, we rented a house near the prison and stayed there so that we would be able to respond no matter when the assailant showed up.
The full moon was shining in the night sky, and the prison, which was surrounded by a water-filled moat, was clearly visible from the rooftop of the house.
「Noel, they’re here」
Alma, who was keeping watch, had caught sight of the assailants. Kouga, Leon and I, who were taking a nap, got up at that report.
「How many of them are there?」
「Hmm～, about five people? There’s a pretty strong guy among them」
「I see. As I thought, I was right to have prepared this」
I took a palm-sized box out of my pocket. There was a red button on the box, and if it was pushed, a bomb that had been planted inside the prison would explode.
In other words, it was a remote detonator.
「As we are now, our chances of winning in a frontal confrontation against the enemies that are attempting to kill the A Rank Hugo are low. That’s why we will use the bomb that has been planted to throw them into confusion, and wipe them out using that opening」
That was the ambush that I had planned.
Loki was the one who had planted the bomb inside the prison. To Loki, who could change his appearance into anyone, it had probably been a yawn-inducingly easy job.
Of course, the blame for the bombing would be laid at the assailants’ door. They were atrocious scoundrels that not only tried to assassinate Hugo, but also blew up a government facility. And they would be defeated by us, Wild Tempest, who『just happened』to be nearby. That was the scenario that I had written.
If this succeeded, we would become the heroes of the imperial capital. Even if people who suspected that it was a match-pump* surfaced, the assailants were actually there, so I would be able to talk my way out of anything. I couldn’t thank Andreas enough for being such a great help to us.
A listening device had been set up in Hugo's room. It was connected to an earring-type portable device that I wore on my left ear, and the transmitted sounds kept me informed of the situation inside.
「Well, it's time. --let's start」
「Wa, wait!」
When I was about to press the detonator button, Leon put the brakes on.
「Ar, are you really going to blow up that prison?」
「Yes, I’m blowing it up」
「It’s still not too late now, so why not call it off? As expected, blowing it up is going too far」
I heaved a sigh at Leon, who had completely lost his nerve.
「Didn’t I explain it many times already? It’ll certainly blow up the prison, but the bomb isn’t very powerful. The level of the explosion is so low that even C Ranks with close combat type Jobs can withstand it. So that they can subdue the convicts, all the staff in the prison have close combat type Jobs, so there’s no problem there. Even if anyone was unlucky and got injured, they’ll be fine if they're treated promptly. And Hugo, the person in question, has been given a combat outfit with excellent defensive capabilities」
I explained the plan again, but Leon looked unconvinced.
「B, but, won’t the other convicts who don’t have close combat type Jobs die?」
「They’ll die. But so what? Other than Hugo, the convicts inside that prison are all villains. Is there anything inconvenient about them dying? Haven’t you ever killed a bandit in the course of your work?」
「Th, that's true, but from an ethical standpoint, willfully killing those who have become convicts......」
Leon hesitated, and lowered his gaze.
Well, I also understood Leon's feelings of being against it. Although it would surely wipe out the assailants, the use of bombs was very dangerous. Even I felt that it would be ideal if I could get by without using bombs.
「......I understand, Leon. I’ll call off the plan to blow it up」
「Huh, really!?」
「Yes, really. But if I hold on to it, I might push it accidentally, so I’ll leave it in your care. --Here, the detonator!」
「Wait, so suddenly!?」
When I tossed him the detonator without waiting for his reply, Leon panicked and tried to catch it. He somehow managed to catch it, but he had used too much force, and had pushed the button.
「Ah」
It was the moment when Leon let out a goofy sound.
A deafening roar that made it feel like the ground was shaking resounded from the prison, and flames from the explosion soared.
It was precisely the timing when the assailant was about to kill Hugo.
「AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!」
Leon screamed at the top of his lungs, but it was already too late. It was all according to my calculations.
「N, nasty......」「Noel is inhuman......」
Kouga and Alma were in shock, but I ignored them and shouted.
「With this, battle, start!」
Tactical Skill: Battle Voice, activated.
Following my order, Kouga and Alma’s fighting spirit swelled. Even Leon, who had been shedding tears while on his knees, stood up with an expression that said that he had steeled his resolve.
「Order! Wipe out everyone who stands in your way!」
Tactical Skill: Deploy Tactics, activated.
「So long as we’re subjugating evil, justice is on our side! Swing your sword to your heart’s content!!!」
So, weird title this time. Most likely it’s a play on “Wilder than Heaven” a song by Nakatani Miki in 1997. Either that, or it’s a reference to a BL novel with the same title(as the song) by Kawai Yumiko. I’m not going to speculate, though I suspect I know which one some of you guys think it is. Frankly, if I didn’t have to try to keep the reference alive, I might have translated it as “More Savage Than Hell”, because that’s what Noel shows this chapter: pure savagery. Poor Leon, Noel keeps making him cry...... ( T_T)＼(^-^ )
A match-pump is when someone creates a problem, solves it himself, then takes the credit for it without revealing that he had caused it in the first place. I apologize, but it’s a bit too long to fit it in the text so I had to explain it here.
KoF, who framed Hugo, is trying to kill Hugo and frame the government, but Noel, who is trying to save Hugo, is trying to frame him for blowing up the prison. Lmao.
So, did you guys think that the climax of the arc was the war of words and there would be no action? Well, here we go! Time to see Hugo in action! 2 more chapters until Part 2 ends!!!
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login