Chapter 133
Chapter 133
Bounty Hunter (1)
Leaving the shocking welcome behind, the three of us, including Kairus, disembarked from the ship and returned to the office.
As soon as we got back, the first person Kairus called was Spring Parsley.
— You saw that mess right after getting off the ship?
"Yeah. You know anything?"
Spring Parsley immediately answered Kairus’s question.
— Of course I do! The city’s in total chaos right now!
Apparently, due to diplomatic issues, they couldn’t deport them to their home country, but they had locked up the truly insane ones who absolutely needed to be detained in the police department and Security Corps’ facilities.
"They both got wrecked?"
— Yeah, they all got released. No one seems to know who the hell did it.
Seems like both the police and Security Corps' jails got completely destroyed. Naturally, Bennett City couldn't tolerate that, and now all those legendary lunatics were loose and running wild in the city.
"So, what you're saying is—this city's crawling with criminals and maniacs now."
It made sense. That deranged display that welcomed Kairus at the harbor was exactly the kind of stunt only the lunatics from the labor correctional facility would pull.
— Thanks to that, there’s an overflow of manpower, and an overflow of requests too.
"What do you mean? Weren’t we short on contractors?"
During the skirmishes and preparation for war, organizations had sucked up every last contractor available.
— Would you wanna start fights with other groups in a situation like this? The whole neighborhood’s gone to hell.
"Sounds like this city still had room to fall apart even more."
Kairus’s comment made Spring Parsley sigh.
— The ones who used to deal in the black market are getting their heads chopped off and planted in flowerpots, the girls who sold their bodies on the streets are getting stitched up in the eyes and mouth and hauled off to hospitals. Even if you wanna pull some crazy stunt, you at least need to be able to walk the streets.
Organized crime and random murder are fundamentally different.
— Those completely insane bastards don’t give a damn about the Canal Operations Committee or the groups controlling each zone. They just go berserk with no thought for the consequences.
"That’s probably why they got locked up in the first place."
And then they got released. Irena, who’d been listening, spoke up.
"But why… didn’t they just kill them? With trash like that, shouldn’t you just cut their heads off once you catch them?"
Dead men can’t cause chaos. What Irena said was perfectly reasonable.
"Someone probably had plans to use them."
It was obvious they’d create a shitshow the moment they were unleashed. Even just from what Spring Parsley had said, that was clear.
"Use them? For what?"
"Imagine if this city got taken over by an external force. What do you think would happen if those guys got released immediately afterward?"
Whoever the occupying force might be, they'd try to stabilize the city. But if things spun out of control, gaps would open up, and the ones who ran away could come back and try to reclaim the city.
But what if, the moment someone tries to restore order, they’re immediately faced with a full-blown lunatic showcase package?
Needless to say. According to Spring Parsley, it turned out the Canal Operations Committee had already placed bounties on every last one of those bastards who’d been released. Which meant Kairus didn’t even need to bother calling the hiring office.
The reason we could only assume it was all deliberate…
"They even raided the storage and took all the battle gear that had been kept there."
— That’s right.
When you capture a dangerous person, the standard procedure is to dispose of their battle gear and keep it far away.
But Bennett City’s Police Department and Security Corps had stored the gear not far, but right next to where the criminals were being held.
They didn’t kill them. They just locked them up—and kept their battle gear within arm’s reach.
The intention couldn’t be clearer.
"What are the terms? All targets to be captured alive?"
— Yeah.
Spring Parsley’s answer confirmed it. These people had been gathered for a reason. Capture only.
After the call, Irena immediately spoke up.
"This isn’t the kind of job… someone sane would take, right?"
Bring them back alive? At that, Kairus replied.
"If you think this city looks sane, then you’re one of the crazies."
At Kairus’s words, Irena was silent for a moment before replying.
"Let’s wipe them all out. Grab the money and crush those psycho bastards too."
She was angrier than afraid. Maybe she’d always been that way, but now, her anger had grown stronger—because now she believed she could actually do it.
"You want to take one on by yourself?"
At Kairus’s words, Irena flinched for a second. It was natural. This would be her first time operating solo in this city.
"…Yeah. I’ll give it a shot. I can’t keep tagging along behind you forever, can I?"
The hesitation didn’t last long, and she soon gave her answer.
"First, let’s unpack. What a way to be welcomed home."
At Kairus’s comment, everyone started grabbing their own bags. While he was organizing his things in his room, there was a knock at the door.
When he opened it, Nora was standing there.
"You don’t like unni that much, so you’re using this chance to get her killed, is that it?"
"What’s with the harsh words? It’s not like Irena said anything wrong."
Irena couldn’t stay stuck in the role of simply supporting Kairus’s assignments in this city forever.
"I mean… she’s right, but she’s only right after some time passes. That kind of right."
"Keep yapping and you’ll get smacked."
That was Kairus’s reply to Nora before he shut his suitcase and spoke.
"Stick close to her in secret, will you?"
"Me? That’s a bit…"
Nora did like Irena. But her current objective was to complete the mission from the Aylan Republic. She needed to stay close to Kairus.
“Nora, if she keeps that up, just like you said, she’s gonna die.”
Kairus made a slashing motion across his neck as he spoke. To be the kind of lunatic worth locking up in this city, you had to be a strong lunatic.
The ones that had been released now were all strong lunatics.
“People always regret things when they're about to die.”
The ones who died on the battlefield, the ones who died in prison—every single one of them, before death, regretted what they had done.
What they did, what they didn’t do—it all flashed through their minds, and they started thinking about what might have been.
“The problem is, they regret things too late—when dying is the only option left.”
“So?”
“Go save her. Turn Irena into someone who almost died with regrets instead of someone who actually died with them. I’m asking you, seriously.”
Calculations quickly ran through Nora’s mind. She still needed to raise Kairus’s favorability toward her. The more she did, the more intel she could get from him.
There were losses involved in leaving his side and operating separately—but it would also earn her a certain amount of trust and credit.
Which was the better choice?
“What are you gonna do in the meantime?”
“I’m going bounty hunting too. My influence in this city is way lower than the rumors say.”
Except for the Pontus case, all of Kairus’s jobs had taken place outside the city. Simply put, he hadn’t done anything directly helpful for the people of this city.
So while he had a reputation and plenty of rumors floating around, his actual influence was weak. He had a loud voice, but no persuasive power.
It’s like when your next-door neighbor says they made millions of pyint—you think, Wow, good for them, but also, So what am I supposed to do with that?
But if they built a village hall with that money, then suddenly people would be bowing their heads and shouting, “Thank you!”
“If I go around taking down the lunatics who decorate places with chopped-up people, that should earn me some influence.”
No one dislikes the guy who takes out someone who might’ve killed them. Of course, that didn’t mean the people here would come over with flower baskets to thank him.
“Fine. I’ll shadow her.”
Nora had made her decision too. Right now, it was more beneficial to follow Irena and play guardian angel than to stick next to Kairus.
Of course, there was also some unconscious fondness from their time traveling together. Nora didn’t exactly want to see Irena, all smug and confident, end up hanging from some gut-rope like the corpses they’d seen at the harbor.
After deciding on their next moves, Kairus and Nora parted ways. Kairus sighed quietly as he put his clothes away in the closet.
“Now I’m a bounty hunter too. What a damn mess my life’s become.”
He had a rough idea of how those lunatics thought and acted. Of course, it wasn’t perfect—after all, only other lunatics can truly understand them.
“…First stop, Security Corps and the Police Department.”
They had to find out who exactly had been released—and what kind of traits those people had.
And the ones who held the most information about them were the very organizations that had kept them locked up until their release.
“I can’t just walk up and demand they open the door.”
Neither the Security Captain nor the Police Chief had any personal ties to Kairus. As he tried to organize his thoughts, he placed his right hand over the flicker and raised his left hand.
His hip flask provided hydration while Kairus manipulated the air and adjusted the temperature.
“…It works, but barely.”
A murky clump, about the size of a fist, repeatedly formed and vanished in his hand. It wasn’t yet practical for real combat, but he had to keep practicing.
The reason he was bothering with Cloud Seizing Art right now, even when he needed information on the bounties, was simple.
'They probably tapped the line.'
His call with Spring Parsley surely reached the ears of Rose Garden. After all, it was their phone line.
Kairus had made it clear that he intended to go bounty hunting—and what he was doing wasn’t something that would hurt Rose Garden’s interests.
So naturally—
“There it is.”
The office doorbell rang, and a manila envelope was smoothly slid under the door.
Kairus checked the contents, then slowly got up and shared the information with Nora and Irena.
“Anything catch your eye?”
At his question, Irena responded.
“Wouldn’t it be better to prioritize the cases happening in the Rose Garden sector?”
Since Rose Garden had provided the data, it was only natural to feel inclined that way. But Kairus shook his head.
“Not this time.”
He’d gotten the documents in exchange for wrecking a storage facility for illegal battle gear near Goldiba. He wasn’t obligated to take another job from Rose Garden.
Besides, the three of them already looked like subcontractors working under Rose Garden. In a situation like this, that wasn’t a good look.
“Then?”
“Let’s pick something outside the Rose Garden zone.”
While Kairus and Irena discussed, Nora spoke up.
“I’ll take this one.”
She circled one of the names on the list. In truth, she had no intention of pursuing any of the targets listed. So she just picked one at random.
“You decided real quick.”
Irena glanced at Nora and commented.
“Call it quick decisions and sharp focus.”
With that, Nora yawned and stood up from her seat.
“I’m off to bed. Night.”
She offered a casual farewell, then headed straight to her room, leaving Kairus and Irena behind.
“I’ll go with…”
Irena had been reviewing the file carefully, and she finally pointed to one name.
“This guy.”
Colby Devendish. His specialty was kidnapping children. He didn’t demand money. He just abducted them and contacted the parents.
“To hear them beg.”
After the call, he always sent a package containing a part of the child’s body. Then he would let them hear the child's voice to confirm the child was still alive.
Naturally, the parents would scream and beg, sobbing to know what they had to do to get their child back. The instructions that followed were nothing but acts meant to destroy them.
“He gets off on watching people fall apart.”
To get their child back, the parents would take drugs, swallow razors, and more…
Once they were completely ruined, what they finally received was a corpse, so mutilated it was unrecognizable.
This monster took pleasure in watching people follow his orders, exploiting the desperate love of a parent clinging to the hope that they could save their child.
Rationally speaking, any child taken by this man would die without question. The only thing that would return to the parents would be a corpse.
So the moment the phone rang, the child was as good as dead—and should be ignored.
But human emotions didn’t work that way.