The Druid Who Devoured the Great Nature

“More importantly, let me ask you one thing.”

“What are you curious about?”

“This.” Official source ıs novelFirｅ.net

I cut off Bordon’s nonsensical, praise-filled tirade and held out the doping agent I had secured as evidence.

“Isn’t this a product you sell?”

“Hmm…”

Bordon even took out glasses from his breast pocket and examined the product. Then, after checking some unknown numbers in his ledger, he nodded.

“It seems so. Even the serial number is identical to the products I’ve sold.”

As expected.

It wasn’t a coincidence that I had thought of this place from the powerful doping effect and the distinctive shape.

“It’s a fine product that Belkfolk Inc. is pushing as its main sales line. Mana amplification, muscle relaxation, mental uplift, and a non-nauseating scent are its strengths. It has received many positive reviews, so I also recommend and sell it to many customers.”

A salesman is a salesman; the words flowed out smoothly. He didn’t even take a breath, as if speaking in tongues.

“But didn’t you just say you weren’t interested in this kind of product, customer?”

“I am interested.”

I retrieved the item from Bordon.

“As evidence for the Public Security Bureau.”

“……”

At those words, Bordon’s expression, which had been filled with ample leisure, turned cold for the first time.

“……What do you mean by that?”

“Stop playing dumb. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve experienced this.”

The idea of doing business within the realm of legality couldn’t have just popped up out of nowhere. It must have been the result of weighing losses and gains after much hardship.

“This is evidence found on a suspect secured by the Public Security Bureau. Since you say it’s a product you sold, it seems there will be much to hear.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but.”

Bordon’s eyes flashed intensely between his narrow eyelids.

“I cannot give you the ledger. It is a promise with my customers, so please understand.”

“That’s the unwritten rule of the direct market.”

Because secrecy was strictly maintained, the direct market continued to thrive and stay active despite crackdowns. The moment such a promise was broken, the business was over. And the seller who broke the unwritten rule would face the industry’s severe retaliation.

“But that’s for illegal shops caught in the Public Security Bureau’s crackdown, isn’t it?”

“……”

The loophole of operating within the bounds of legal business was good. He had easily avoided crackdowns and raked in money. But there was no choice that guaranteed only unconditional benefits. The representative difference between legal and illegal is the presence of responsibility. Bordon had an obligation to bear the responsibilities imposed by the city.

“There is a law that states shops within the city must actively cooperate when there is a request for cooperation from the Public Security Bureau.”

No warrant was required. A decision made by the Public Security Bureau took effect immediately.

At my glance, Hazel blinked her eyes. When I touched my pocket, she finally seemed to realize what I meant. As she took out her handcuffs and twirled them, the reflected light made Bordon’s crown sparkle.

“Cooperate.”

“……”

The corner of Bordon’s eye twitched. The silence was long. Long enough to notice he was plotting something. And it was for times like these that I had brought a security officer.

Flash!

It was instantaneous. Bordon probably didn’t even realize when she had made her move.

Kkigigik!

Kudangtang!

The means of self-defense prepared by an illegal merchant were obvious. Over a dozen mechanical arms were bent and broken, spewing acrid smoke.

Click!

“Is that it?”

A long sniper rifle was held in one of Hazel’s hands, aimed squarely at Bordon’s forehead. The skill with firearms, which had reached the realm of artistry, was the identity of a security officer. This was regardless of the type of gun. It meant that just because it was a sniper rifle, it wasn’t weak in close combat.

“……Ask me anything.”

Bordon laughed hollowly.

***

Cromwell’s Brokerage Office.

The cafe on the first floor, opened as a waiting room and a front, seemed to be getting more and more customers. It probably wasn’t just my imagination. Jack, who used to stretch out and nap leisurely, was getting thinner by the day. He wasn’t the type to show much service spirit, being a slacker by nature, but the absolute number of customers had increased. Even just replying with a single word to each would become dozens of words, so he was bound to be exhausted.

“……You again, mister?”

The guy, with his shoulders slumped, glared at me with resentful eyes. It was puzzling for me, who had never really talked to Jack outside of work.

“What did I do to make you look at me like that?”

“This is why they say the one who gets hit remembers, but the one who hits doesn’t.”

“……?”

With a deep sigh, Jack secretly gestured with his chin towards the crowd of people spending time there.

“Who do you think all these people came to see? It’s you, mister.”

“Me?”

Even while whispering with Jack, I could feel the gazes focused on me. It was a familiar sensation. Since I got this face, it was rarer for me not to be the center of attention. Just walking down the main street of District 3 would draw countless gazes. It might have been burdensome at first, but now I was used to it and it felt natural. So now that I recognized the gazes inside this cafe, I could perceive a certain difference.

‘Admiration, envy, jealousy… it’s complicated.’

It was a reaction that could only come from knowing my identity. Most ordinary people would just be in awe.

“Thanks to you, mister, the reputation of our office is going up too. You’re amazing, that’s true, but they’re coming here with the hope that maybe we have something too.”

Was it the concept of a lucky lottery spot? Since Cromwell was a resourceful broker recognized even by the upper echelons of the future city, it was a lottery ticket with substance, not just a vague expectation.

“Isn’t it a good thing if the office does well? I heard you’re more of a partner than Cromwell’s subordinate.”

“I signed the contract just hoping to make ends meet. Working this busily, where 24 hours a day isn’t enough, wasn’t in my plans.”

He was complaining about his good fortune. If the laborers who were treated like livestock and then thrown away like trash had heard him, they would have coughed up blood.

“Anyway, take it easy. I have a gift I’m preparing with great care, and if I get annoyed and drop it, you’ll be the only one at a loss, mister.”

“A gift?”

“Hear the details from old man Cromwell. He’s the one leading it, I’m just helping out.”

Jack shut his mouth, seemingly unwilling to elaborate further.

‘I didn’t get that kind of vibe from Cromwell.’

Considering the term ‘with great care,’ it wasn’t a surprise prepared suddenly. But was the relationship between Cromwell and me one where we would exchange such things on a daily basis? That wasn’t it either.

‘Is he trying to figure out what I want in advance and solve it to implicitly put me in his debt?’

My name value had risen a lot now. Preparing just anything wouldn’t be considered a debt of gratitude. He himself would be aware of this. Yet, if he was steadily proceeding with the work, it meant he was that confident.

‘There’s no need to make it obvious that I got a hint and spoil it.’

It was a time to wait with anticipation to see what he had prepared.

‘But it doesn’t make sense to just sit around and rest, watching Jack’s mood.’

In the meantime, I delivered the desperate news to the guy who was scowling heavily as an order came in.

“I won’t be able to take it easy in the future. No, even if I just breathe, more crowds will pour in.”

“……What?”

“That’s the nature of the request I’ve taken on this time. The job I asked Cromwell for this time, you must have been the one who actually looked into it, right?”

Cromwell’s informant was Jack. The unusually dark circles under his eyes today must have included the hardship of trying to meet my demands.

Jack, who had closed his eyes and been lost in thought, shot his eyes open and shouted.

“Don’t tell me, the one who set the ridiculous condition of scraping up as much information as possible without a set target, on a tight deadline, was…!”

“You’ve worked hard, so I’ll make sure to mention that you get paid more than originally promised. Please continue to work hard in the future.”

I patted Jack’s shoulder and headed upstairs without any lingering attachment. Among the gazes pouring onto the back of my head, the one with the most intense emotion was, without a doubt, Jack’s.

***

From the upper floor of the office, voices could be heard, which was rare.

“You’re here.”

In front of Cromwell sat Reina, comfortably seated as if it were her own living room, and next to her was Hazel, munching on beef jerky sold as a snack. I lightly ignored the gazes directed at me and sat at the table.

“With this, it seems everyone I called has arrived.”

“Am I a little late?”

“No, you’re right on time. The others just came early and were waiting since they had nothing better to do.”

“Who are you calling a bum? Since I had the chance, I came early to see you in person and ask how you’re doing after a long time.”

“……”

Reina grumbled, and Hazel just busied her mouth and hands.

“Anyway, since we’re all here, get to the point. Explain why you called me and a security officer all the way here.”

“That’s what I was about to do.”

It wasn’t as if we were going to chat boisterously, and Cromwell’s complexion was as bad as the exhausted Jack’s. Had he been drinking? The space, which had the structure of a tavern but didn’t smell of alcohol, was now thick with an unpleasant boozy scent.

Noticing that I had wrinkled my nose without realizing it, Cromwell made an excuse.

“Sorry. With all the manpower pouring in, I was so busy that I felt I wouldn’t make it in time to fulfill your request without downing some alcohol.”

“It’s fine, I knew it could be a tight schedule. If you met the deadline by doing that, then I have nothing to say.”

I had requested him to dig into a corporation. It was a job that required digging up intimate secrets that only insiders would know within a short period. The deadline was also short. The reason it could be accomplished was solely due to the competence of Cromwell and Jack.

“If you want to pat each other on the back, make a separate occasion for it.”

Reina frowned as if it was an eyesore. She was so damn efficient, as if trying to show off her former soldier background. But her skills were real, as even in the midst of that, her gaze was sharp and pierced through to the core.

“Seeing as you, Cromwell, have stepped up, it seems you’ve dug into the background of a certain corporation, right?”

“That’s right. This friend requested it.”

Cromwell took out a file and distributed it.

“It was indeed a corporation with many shady corners, just as you suspected. Here’s the summarized file, take one each.”

The number of pages was small, but the text was dense and tiny. Thinking it would take quite some time just to look through it, I sank deep into my chair and made myself comfortable.

Boulderveer Industries was a manufacturing company that applied steel and synthetic metals. It was once mentioned as one of the next-generation promising companies by the media after announcing a patent for an expansion technology that applied synthetic metals, alchemy, and magic formulas.

‘Magic is really something.’

Was it because mana was a transcendent energy that science couldn’t explain? The moment the word ‘magic’ was thrown in, it became a miracle that transcended even the laws of physics. The patent they had registered was not an expansion under the law of physics where the volume increases while the density decreases. The density remained the same, and only the size of the substance expanded. It was a technology no different from a revolution, one that would have them sitting on a pile of money if commercialized.

But amidst the great public interest, the company suddenly chose to go into hiding. Behind their decision was…

“Pressure from the military?”

“To be precise, it was their entry as a subordinate partner organization. Only the top brass of the military at the time would know what possibilities they saw in making that decision, but they probably focused on its application as a military technology.”

Just as corporations carried out various schemes to aim for the city government’s authority, the reverse was also true. The monopoly of technology, the control of technological power. The city government often put a leash on corporations. However, it was a restriction established in the unseen background. On the surface, Gellerg City’s identity was to profess itself as a paradise for corporations and capital.

‘The problem is that this corporation is a front for Al-Raid.’

A terrorist organization’s front company was a partner of the military. The lamp was indeed dark at its base.

“Ah, now I remember. There was a company like this.”

Just then, Reina chimed in. It seemed she had been tracing her memory while quietly stroking her lips.

“The expansion of matter, the increase in volume, the increase in mass. An executive obsessed with increasing the firepower of explosives brought it up as an agenda item.”

Firepower, it was a word that the military of the country I lived in was also crazy about. It was a goal traditionally pursued from the past to the present, as if it were an attraction passed down in the nation’s blood. Was the tendency similar in other worlds? I felt it was inevitable that Boulderveer Industries had caught the military’s eye.

(End of Chapter)