Chapter 274 : Chapter 274
Chapter 274: Recruitment (3)
Unlike his inborn Origin, Harad was a calculating man.
In Jis's words, he clashed splendidly against his Origin.
Before doing anything, Harad drew a blueprint in his mind.
And when the plan fell into place, he smiled.
But to Ellen's mind, Harad was a spontaneous person. Made for improvisation.
He merely wore ill-fitting clothes well.
Improvisation suited him best, yet he planned well too.
'Harad is a jack-of-all-trades.'
Perhaps the latter was that woman's preference.
In the other world, Elaine had molded Harad to her taste.
That Elaine had eaten the meat herself and left the vegetables to Harad.
Ellen preferred a relationship where they ate more meat together.
Complementing each other less, resembling each other more.
"Keep it brief. No long speeches."
That meant the former was her preference.
"Our partner's got a short fuse. He is a Volcano, after all."
A Harad whose first thought at a variable was how to exploit it.
***
'Harad.'
The Liberation Tower Rebellion Faction woman, Albi, had opened with that word. She'd known the tunnel's owner was Harad.
'From where. Ah. The rumor I asked them to spread in the North.'
Continental rumor was the Intelligence Bureau's domain.
Northern rumor had been the job of the twelve asylum-seekers from the Sea Route.
They'd apparently done a thorough job.
Down to his physical description.
Fine publicity. One would rather buy from a known merchant than one of unknown provenance.
'She came expecting I owned the tunnel. Called me a robber. Meaning she wants to be the robber.'
Too late for robbery.
Eiga was grinning beside him. Basele Tuas across the table was sweating cold.
Basele Tuas would have been Albi's weapon.
And the young man standing quietly behind them like a guard.
'Albi herself.'
Not a major problem.
Albi was a mage strong only against easy marks. Harad was not an easy mark.
"Akker, you've been up to strange things on the continent too?"
"Strange, how."
"Uncommon...... no. Whatever your lot does has nothing to do with us."
Too dirty to touch.
Harad got that impression.
"Exactly."
Eiga seemed to want that impression.
So filthy that no one dared touch them.
"Fire Origin, I take it."
Basele Tuas's gaze turned to Harad.
"And a fire with a distinctive Origin or ideology. Otherwise Akker there would never put the word 'partnership' in his mouth."
"Not so distinctive."
"That's what they all say."
Basele Tuas seemed disinclined to converse long with Harad.
Birds of a feather -- lumped in with Eiga, he'd been filed as a dirty one.
"Albi."
Basele Tuas said.
"The promise ends here."
"Lord Tuas!"
Albi cried.
She looked desperate.
"No connection to fire. That was my condition. The condition is broken, so the promise is done."
Basele Tuas was imperious.
Showing the Liberation Tower-Otherworld dynamic in full. The Otherworld was the superior party.
"It's been a while, Eiga Akker."
Basele Tuas had a superior of his own.
He'd been speaking to Albi all along, but his eyes had never left Eiga.
"Indeed, Basele. Ten years?"
"By my memory, longer. I didn't know you were involved with tunnels."
"Is that so?"
"Had I known, I'd have come alone."
Basele's pupils kept drifting to the upper right.
"Because the lives here are too precious?"
"Because I don't want to fight."
Meaning the Liberation Tower had come prepared to fight.
'That must have been the deal.'
Basele Tuas had promised to serve as weapon in exchange for something.
But the condition had been broken, and the promise voided.
He was free now.
And the freed Basele Tuas had no desire to fight Eiga.
"Akker, you know. This old Downpour has always tried not to get tangled with fire."
"You were always the reasonable sort."
The Tower of the Deep Sea and the Red Tower were sworn enemies.
But not every mage within them could be. Some would harbor different feelings.
"Same this time. I've no interest in tangling with fire. Tiresome for us both."
Basele Tuas's hatred of fire leaned toward fear rather than spite.
"Agreed. So?"
"My purpose is the tunnel. I came to use it. As quickly as possible."
Basele Tuas's eyes blinked rapidly.
Now free, he was acting like a man being chased. Harad's eyes gleamed. His tongue itched.
But there was no reason to advertise how much he knew.
He had to borrow Eiga's mouth here.
"It's not me you fear, is it?"
Eiga was the kind of bastard who scratched the itch before it even formed.
"Did you see Laash?"
"......!"
Crash! The chair slid back and toppled.
Basele Tuas, on his feet, openly guarded against Eiga. The underground turned dank, as though rain were imminent.
"Don't be nervous, Basele. I don't intend to kill you. Even less so if you've seen Laash."
"...... You saw it too, Akker."
"I did. Quite dazzling."
Eiga murmured as though in a trance.
A drunk expression, though he didn't shift his gaze to Harad.
"The natural order will return soon. Much will be burned, and much will be tended. Probably."
His expression grew dreamier.
Eiga seemed to anticipate not the Sun itself, but what the Sun would do.
"...... Natural order. Yes. A destiny the likes of me cannot resist."
"Correct. If you wish to go, you may, Basele. The tunnel is open to all guests."
The existence of Harein had to be known.
Eiga was voicing exactly what Harad wanted to scratch.
No reason to fight or kill.
The Tower of the Deep Sea and the Red Tower were enemies, but in the end the great cause outweighed feelings.
The Otherworld had a long-cherished aim.
If the King of Prophecy appeared, no one would oppose the aim.
Harein was a symbol of Otherworld unity.
If she returned, the Otherworld would join hands and march south.
'The Moon?'
That reaction, Basele Tuas would reveal.
If the Otherworld learned of Harein, of the King of Prophecy, how would the Moon react?
"How should I pay?"
"Free of charge. We're compatriots."
Eiga beamed.
A plainly suspicious smile.
"If that's hard to believe, let's call it a joint celebration of the great cause."
"The great cause!"
Basele exclaimed reflexively, his body shuddering. A violent motion, as though struck by lightning.
"Indeed. Our relations will be mended before long. In some form, but more gently than now."
Basele was kind yet unkind, a Downpour.
He disliked quarrels between Towers, yet welcomed war with the continent.
"Where do I go?"
"I'll guide you. You're my guest."
"Thank you, Akker. I won't forget this."
"You must return safely, Basele."
Eiga and Basele crawled into the tunnel in an amicable mood.
Basele led; Eiga followed.
"If you keep crawling straight, you'll reach the Boundary. I hear the Path of Water is nearby."
"Oh!"
Basele's glad cry echoed.
Eiga and guest Basele departed.
"Are you a guest?"
Harad propped his chin and looked at Albi, who stood gaping.
"...... I have a proposal."
As if she hadn't.
Harad grinned.
Albi was swallowing hard.
***
She'd said she'd keep it brief.
"The proposal sounds like a long speech."
Albi looked sick of it.
She glared at Harad as though he were a petty man, then sighed and let the words pour out.
"I'll be honest. I meant to rough you up. Not kill you."
Originally not a proposal but an extortion.
But the weapon, Basele, had voided the promise.
Extortion became proposal.
"You'd have gotten close to dying."
"......"
Not killing him was probably true.
Had she truly meant to kill, Albi wouldn't have come herself.
That mage was built for intimidation.
Not combat.
"You came knowing I owned the tunnel, yet didn't plan to kill."
She must have thought plenty.
Was the rumor, the tunnel, real? If real, was it safe? How was it maintained? How to seize it?
All those thoughts distilled into "didn't plan to kill."
"Of course. Your side already failed once. That's why you didn't plan to kill. You figured I had my own method of maintaining the tunnel."
Albi answered with her eyes, not her mouth.
Her gaze rested on Ellen for a moment.
Ellen was that method, Albi was already certain.
"Right. I seduced Serzila. This woman, precisely."
Harad smiled, grabbed Ellen's shoulder, and pulled her into his arms. Ellen fell in neatly.
"Beautiful, isn't she?"
Harad stroked Ellen's cheek with his other hand.
Ellen's face reddened on cue.
"I heard she was a collateral."
"A station more than ample for modest amusement."
"Modest?"
"What can mages do. With a mere two tunnels."
Harad added with maximum arrogance.
"This is closer to play or hobby. A business, for me."
"......"
"I earn money, and this woman gets her fun. Watching me clutch the coins and smile."
"That's fun?"
"Watching the one you love eat meat fills you up."
Scratching the back of Ellen's neck made her twitch.
Albi's gaze, for some reason, looked pitying.
"You actually like that sort of man?"
Albi was a seasoned woman.
As proof, the mood had thawed considerably.
"None of your business."
Ellen spoke coldly, as though she'd never been shy.
Albi let out a disbelieving scoff.
"Right. Point is, I got Serzila's permission for the tunnel. Under the pretense of a collateral's amusement, just two."
"Without you, no tunnel."
Harad smiled.
Albi bit her lip. She plainly believed every word.
She had no choice.
The reality before her said so. Basele Tuas had crossed through the tunnel. A tunnel Serzila had sealed was running smoothly, with Harad at its entrance.
"Revenge comes second to the tunnel. That's the main point."
From Masker Isotta to Bone Awl Kunlutsban to the pursuers Jis had killed.
Albi shed the old grudges as though tossing them.
"I want a stake in the tunnel. The Liberation Tower's will."
"Brief enough."
The lost mages mattered less than the tunnel.
Not for asylum's sake.
The Liberation Tower Rebellion Faction harbored no such grand ideals.
'The Otherworld wants a new route?'
Because the Sea Route was blocked.
The Liberation Tower meant to open the blocked route via the tunnel instead. To curry favor.
The same favor they'd earned in the past life. Back then, far more tunnels had been in operation.
Under the Liberation Tower's and the Otherworld's hands.
Tunnel operating rights that had belonged to the Liberation Tower and the Otherworld had, through Harad's regression, passed to Harad.
The reason the Liberation Tower had shelved revenge and sent Albi.
'The tunnel and the King of Prophecy. Basele Tuas decided the latter took priority.'
Harad recalled Ios.
In the past life, Ios had been the chief architect of the tunnel network. He was dead now, yet the Otherworld and the tunnel were trying to reconnect. Fate, if one called it fate.
"What is this village tunnel?"
"That's not a conversation for now."
Harad smiled like a merchant and extended his palm.
"What have you prepared? As payment for me ceding the tunnel."
"First, a promise. What I'm about to say is a secret. Between the four of us only. A secret more important than life."
"Promised."
Break it and die.
Such a promise was carved into his heart. Harad smiled as though oblivious and waved his palm.
"Now I'm even more curious. What grand thing have you prepared?"
"Mage Harad, what do you want?"
"Money."
"No interest in power?"
Albi asked meaningfully.
"Power. I don't much care for such illusions."
"What if it's no illusion?"
Albi dropped something onto Harad's palm.
Elongated and blunt, a pillar shape, the size of a middle-finger nail. Half was red, the other half white. It looked as though twisting the halves opposite ways would open the middle.
"It's called a Capsule."
Albi named it so.
"Sslurp."
...... He was salivating.