Chapter 196 : Chapter 196
Chapter 196
“Now then, good work today, everyone! The way everyone performed in the evasive maneuvers training was truly impressive! It must have been tough, but it will be even tougher tomorrow, so go home and get plenty of rest!”
With Hailey’s bright greeting, the cadets stood up and headed to their respective homes.
As Hailey had said, everyone looked tired because the very nature of a maze full of traps wears down a person’s mental strength.
“E-Elisha, are you okay? You look exhausted…”
“I’m fine, Bord. It’s just… just… yeah…”
Elisha, who had received special training from me, just seemed a little bit more so. There were results. I sneaked a peek at her status window and could confirm that her Movement Lv had risen to 6.
‘I should head back too.’
It was on my way back to the café after finishing my academy duties.
“A moment, Sir Martin.”
As soon as I entered the sewer, the person who called out to me was the ‘Crow Lady Boss of the Slums,’ who had a nickname as minor as the ‘Hound of the Sewers.’
Naturally, since Wild Instinct had informed me in advance, I was not surprised.
“Your Majesty Anette. What is it?”
“What’s with the ‘Your Majesty’ between us. ‘Sir’ is enough.”
Beside her, who was wrapped in a crow-patterned robe, Verdi and the Defardly Knights were lined up, having arrived at some point.
“I’ve found something troublesome in the slums. I’d like you to take a look.”
It was a reason I couldn’t refuse. I headed to the slums with her through the sewers.
“Is it at the headquarters?”
“I’ve kept it safe and sound.”
The headquarters of the Extra, located in the very center of the slums. That was our destination.
As soon as we came up to the surface, the members of the slum organization saw me and bowed their heads in greeting. The poor people of the slums also began to bow. It was extremely burdensome.
“Let’s hurry.”
“Good idea.”
Even before we reached the Extra headquarters, I could see people moving about busily.
It was a strange sight to see people who looked delinquent, with shaved heads, tattoos, and strange clothes, carrying files and objects.
“Before we get to the main point, Sir Anette. May I hear about the current operational status of the Extra?”
“Of course. As discussed before, the Extra will act as the administrative hub of a pseudo-autonomous district on behalf of the nobles and officials who do not meddle in the slums. When the poor of the slums engage in production activities, the Extra will exclusively handle distribution and sales. And we plan to purchase necessary goods and sell them at a low price only to the poor. The first items will be food and the like.”
The slums were necessary. It would be nice if they didn’t exist, but that was an impossible task. So the purpose was to at least help them live like human beings.
“Since there’s no brand value and a surplus of labor, it’s possible to sell goods cheaply and in large quantities. If a lot is sold, we can also bring in goods at a low price.”
Anette had only explained it roughly, but there were surely more complicated and difficult problems.
The one to shoulder them was Anette. As someone who had lived as an empress, wouldn’t she know better than me?
“Good. So, what is it? The troublesome thing you’ve kept safe and sound.”
“Ah, let’s go in. I have mixed feelings about this too.”
As we went to the front of the Extra headquarters, people parted to the left and right, clearing a path for us.
In effect, in the slums, Anette and I were rulers with power no different from a real emperor…
“Are there no other problems?”
“It’s not that there aren’t. But they can be handled at my and the Knights’ level, so do not worry.”
The slums. This was also a place where people lived.
Organizations were formed under names like clans or families, and the administrative districts were divided to the point where they played territory games.
“For matters that cannot be handled at my level, like today, I will confidently ask for help.”
“So, I’d like to hear it soon. What is it?”
“Hmm, I didn’t know either. To think I would see this person here of all places.”
“The thing you kept safe and sound isn’t an object, but a person?”
“A person.”
As she opened the door to the headquarters’ confinement room, I saw a man pacing nervously.
‘Could it be.’
My eyes widened, and records of the past flashed through my mind.
“Hah, honestly.”
A dry laugh escaped me. Anette closed her eyes and nodded.
“I thought I should leave the disposal to you, sir.”
The man, hearing Anette’s voice, turned his head in surprise.
“You’re back! I, uh, uh…?! You, M-Martin, right?! Martin!”
That guy slowly approached me. Wary of the Crow Lady Boss standing next to me.
“Hey, it’s me, me! Ben!”
“…”
Anette, with narrowed eyes, glanced at me and then closed them. It was a signal that she wouldn’t interfere. Then, the man who called himself Ben quickly approached.
“Man, how long has it been! Are you here to save me?!”
“…”
Ben. He looked to be around my age. Tattoos, piercings, a murky complexion. A drug addict at a glance.
But the clothes Ben was wearing were the Imperium Academy cadet uniform, which should be the most noble.
Of course, the cadet uniform wasn’t normal either. I could see the magic’s light had faded. All the magic embedded in the cadet uniform was emitting murky smoke instead of light, like extinguished candles.
Since I was silent, Ben soon washed his dry face with his dirty hands and pushed up his bangs. As if to tell me to look closely.
“Why aren’t you saying anything, man! It’s me, me! I told you, Ben?!”
He seemed convinced that I would naturally help him, but there were two possibilities for him to approach me like this.
Either we were really close and had no barriers between us, or we knew each other’s secret secrets. Ben was the latter.
He was someone who shared a secret with Martin.
“Ben. I remember.”
“Man, to meet an academy classmate like this!”
“Get your disgusting face away from me.”
That is, not me, Kim An-hyun.
“Ah, you’re still as prickly as ever, man.”
He was someone who shared a secret with Martin.
The one who had been sticking with Martin from early on and had formed a violence circle with him after entering Imperium Academy was ‘Ben’ in front of me.
“…I heard you dropped out of the academy.”
“Hey, I couldn’t help it. I got kicked out of my family too. Still, I had a lot of money saved up, so I was having a blast in the lawless zone for a while. I ran out of money, so I came back to make a big score this time.”
If my memory was correct, most of the drug trafficking and human trafficking in Martin’s violence circle was done through this guy.
“Sir Anette, please explain the circumstances of the arrest.”
“He was caught while distributing drugs and slaves.”
Whether he was clueless, or just used to Martin’s dirty temper.
“Man, seriously! Back in my day, it was all fine as long as you went through the slums! I don’t know why they’re doing this!”
Ben still chattered on, thinking Martin was on his side. I was grateful that he had moved his face away, but this time, he came right up next to me and slung his arm around my shoulder.
He was clearly clueless about both information and social cues. He must have come without knowing anything about my reputation, which had become famous as the Black Knight and the Guardian of the World Tree, or the tightened human trafficking inspections due to the Demon Lords’ past infiltration.
This guy probably had no idea how much the capital and I had changed in the past year.
He said he had been playing in the lawless zone, but how debauchedly must he have played to not know how the world was turning?
The guy looked at my fancy earrings and necklace and then laughed disgustingly.
“Man, what’s this? You’ve made it big, huh? Phew, I told you the underworld suits you. But you’re a bit inflexible! Huh? Where did the Muscle King Family and the Scorpion Family go? They were really good to me!”
“…”
“Hey, say something. I’m in a hurry. You know, self-sufficiency is a good thing. That’s why I brought over a hundred seedlings to grow at my place this time! They’re going to wilt at this rate. Huh? I’ll let you have a puff when you come over. Hey, and those slave kids over there are going to starve to death. I already starved them for five days on the way here. I starved them for the exact right amount of time, calculated and all, so what am I supposed to do if I get caught here? If the slaves all die, I’ll be in the red!”
“It’s your fault for doing something dangerous.”
Ben rambled on, complaining about his circumstances. It had nothing to do with me, so I was about to just hand him over to Anette, but.
“Ah, what am I supposed to do with no money or anything? I was kicked out of my family, I don’t have a single person I can trust. Hey, you had a maid who used to cling to you, saying she liked you, right? Is she still following you around? I don’t have any family or anything here. Or you could just give me your maid. Keuk. She was pretty.”
This bastard…?
“Never mind, forget it. There’s no time for jokes. Ah, what are you doing? Tell your guys to hurry up and untie me—Aaaaargh!”
Ben screamed, his arm slung over my shoulder dangling limply. His wrist had been broken.
“Shut up.”
I grabbed Ben’s face and slammed it into the ground.
“Keub!”
A suppressed scream leaked out.
“There must be more than one or two guys trying to bring drugs and human trafficking into the capital, Sir Anette. Absolutely.”
“…I understand. I’ll have to catch them, no matter what it takes. Right, how far is it acceptable to go?”
“You can kill them. No…”
That was a poor choice of words.
“You must kill them. That scum is beyond redemption.”
“If that’s the case.”
At Anette’s gesture, two of her knights pulled Ben to his feet. They dragged Ben, who was swaying like a scarecrow as if he had fainted, off somewhere.
“Sir Martin, I will inform you of the interrogation process and results later.”
“At your convenience, please.”
Control of the slums must be strictly enforced. Of course. It was the only weakness within the impregnable capital of the Empire.
Even if the scales had tipped and the Demon Lords couldn’t crawl in, I had to prepare for when powerful enemies like the Kraken King or the Necromancer might appear.
In the slums, a place they might pass through… I would be waiting for them, with my gun aimed.
‘Tsk, only my gloves got dirty.’
Just before going home, I took off the leather gloves splattered with filthy blood and stored them in my pocket.
“I’m home.”
“Welcome back, Master!”
I liked that Lilac’s greeting was the first to welcome me. The other family members and the Star Child were also waiting for me.
We talked about the day’s achievements, but the search for the Star Maiden was still at a standstill. Instead…
“What? Principal Lukfels said that?”
“Yes.”
I relayed the principal’s proposal to raid the Humanity Preservation Agency.
“Why on earth? What did he say was his motive?”
“His motive is that he can no longer bear to see the academy cadets come to harm. I think his goal is to seize the higher-dimensional engineering technologies that the Humanity Preservation Agency might possess.”
“Hmm, this is…”
The Star Child pondered with a serious expression, then smiled brightly.
“This sounds very interesting. Martin, what do you think?”
“Interest aside, I wonder if it’s right to challenge the Director’s authority.”
He wore a mask even at summits with the Emperor and the kings of various nations, no one knew his identity, and he held the authority of a terrifying strategic bombing called the Buster Order.
Rumors abounded that he could see the future, and even Know-It-All and Wild Instinct couldn’t see through his identity.
“Not knowing our opponent, how would it be, from a strategic standpoint, to invade his main base?”
“It would certainly be a bad move. But what’s clear is that the Director’s goal is the ‘survival of humanity.’ To him, we are a card he cannot discard, and thanks to our unique nature, a serious situation won’t arise even if things go to the worst-case scenario.”
The Peacemaker was a small, elite group. A secret society that was politically and commercially independent.
With Principal Lukfels as insurance, even if things went wrong, the incident wouldn’t spread like wildfire.
“And who knows? If Principal Lukfels is right and there is magic and engineering of a higher dimension there, there might be a way to advance the search for the Star Maiden.”