CH 172

I was almost killed after being framed by some punks, but managed to fight back and meet John. We went home and drank heavily until morning. After such a tumultuous day, what awaited us was… an ordinary everyday life.

There was no retaliation from the punks we had worried about, nor any investigation from the police or any other governing authorities. We were cautious and limited our activities for the first few days, but eventually decided there was no point in staying cooped up any longer and started taking on jobs again – and two weeks passed.

“I’m home!”

“Ah, welcome back Ed. You must be tired.”

“Yeah, thanks, Tia.”

I had just finished a job cleaning up trash – not metaphorically, but actual, regular trash – and Tia greeted me warmly as I returned home. I plopped down on the couch, and a steaming cup of coffee was placed on the table in front of me.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

(T/N: If this ain’t a married couple idk what is)

This coffee, a beverage that was rare outside of this world, had become something I drank every day after work. The bitter, black liquid slid down my throat, and the burning sensation it created in my stomach awakened my soul.

“Phew… Where’s Canal?”

“She hasn’t returned yet.”

“I see. What was her job today…?”

“Looking for a cat.”

“…Looking for a cat, huh?”

Just how many cats go missing in this town every day? The mysterious occurrences Canal had told me about seemed far less strange than the fact that so many cats disappeared so frequently.

It was strange, but a job is a job. There must be a proportionate number of cats in a town with millions of people living in it. Each client was different, too.

“Well, if it’s just looking for a cat, she’ll be back eventually. When Canal returns, wake me up. I’ll check on the night’s request then. Until then, I’ll take a break.”

“Understood. Rest well.”

I called out to Tia and then closed my eyes, lying on the couch. As quiet moments passed…

“Wake up. Hey, wake up, Ed.”

“Hmm?”

Tia’s voice and the shaking of my body brought me back to consciousness, my eyes still heavy with sleep. Tia’s face was close to mine, her expression far from pleasant.

“What’s wrong, Tia? Did Canal come back?”

“No, Ed, it’s the opposite. She hasn’t returned.”

“She hasn’t?”

I sat up and looked out the window, only to see that night had completely fallen. I had lain down just after noon, which meant that about six hours had passed.

“Any contact?”

“None. That’s why I’m worried.”

“Hmm…”

In this world, there were magical tools that allowed people to communicate easily, even from a distance. The fact that there had been no contact despite being well past the scheduled time…

“It seems she’s gotten caught up in some sort of trouble. Manifest, ‘Akashic Compass’'”

I summoned the “Akashic Compass” into my hand and asked for Canal’s location. The image that appeared within its metallic frame was Canal, bound to a chair and gagged.

“What the hell?! How did this happen just from looking for a cat?!”

“Is this payback for what happened before?”

“It feels like quite some time has passed since then, but either way, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to help Canal, so I’ll leave this place to you, Tia.”

“Leave it to me!”

Compared to the bustling campsite filled with magical beasts attacking under the cover of darkness, it’s a piece of cake to wait for some thugs in a brightly lit, fortified base. With no worries, I leave the office and head towards Canal using the “Akashic Compass” once again.

Although I say night, it’s still early evening. I blend into the crowds on the magic-lit streets, trying not to stand out. Occasionally, I slip into dim alleys and quickly dash through the darkness like a cat. The unusually tall buildings around me make it frustratingly difficult to travel in a straight line towards my destination.

“Damn it, this is a dead-end. Maybe I should go back to that corner… or maybe all the way back to the main street?”

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

A man in dirty clothes approached me, blocked by a gray wall and a metal pipe.

“This is my turf. If you’re looking for trash, go somewhere else.”

“Turf? Then do you know how to get to the other side of this dead-end?”

“The other side? The redevelopment district? Forget it. Sure, there might be better trash and treasures over there, but it’s crawling with bad people. You’ll end up dead.”

“That’s good information. It’d be helpful if you could tell me how to get there, too.”

I flick a gold coin from my waist bag towards the man. However, he just glances at it and throws it back at me.

“Come on, it’s a gold coin! You could exchange it for about 400,000 Obra, right?”

""

“Hah! That’s if I can exchange it. Bringing something like that would just get me killed and robbed. If you want to give me something, give me this.”

The man taps on the crystal on his left wrist.

“You’re not saying that thing can’t be stolen either, right?”

“Do you have any idea how much it costs to extract information from a fragment? It’s a confirmed loss to steal from someone like us, so we can trust it. Here, the price for the information! I’ll give you a discount, 500 Obra.”

“Ugh…”

At the man’s words, I can’t help but grimace. I also have a similar crystal on my left wrist, but it’s a fake made by the [Copy and Fake]. Naturally, it doesn’t contain any information, so I can’t make transactions with it.

Is there anything, anything at all? Something that can be easily exchanged for a decent amount of money… Oh, I know.

“I don’t want to leave a record of this transaction. How about this?”

What I pulled out from my bag was a transmitter that was attached to a cat’s collar. I got it because it was broken, but it’s still a magical tool. I thought it might be worth some money in a place like this… The man happily narrows his eyes as he receives it.

“Wow, this is from the Loizaani company! It’s not in bad condition either. Where did you find it?”

“Well, I just got it through my regular work…”

“I see. I would have loved to go to a place where something of this level is lying around, but I guess it’s not that easy. Fine, I’ll tell you.”

""

The man who tucked the broken transmitter into his pocket grinned slyly and gave me a few back alley directions. Using that information, I finally managed to reach the building where Canal was presumably held captive.

“Is she in here?”

The man mentioned it was a redevelopment district, and true to his word, the buildings around here didn’t have any lights. However, there was a faint light leaking from a part of the building… a skyscraper? There was also the presence of numerous people beyond it.

Now, the question was how to get to that place…

“Why are you here?” John asked,

“That’s my line, actually.” I asked back,

Next to me, a slender man about 180 centimeters tall, dressed in black, crouched down. The gaze mixed with disbelief and caution was unmistakably John’s.

“Canal is captured over there. What about you?”

“There was supposed to be an S.E.E.D. transaction happening there. Let me ask again, why is Canal there?”

“…She was supposed to be looking for a cat.”

“…A cat?”

“A cat. Not a metaphor or anything, she was really just looking for a cat… and since the daytime too.”

“How did that lead to this…? I really don’t understand her actions.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with you on that.”

I nodded deeply at the frustrated John. I couldn’t understand for the life of me why things had turned out this way.

“Well, no matter the situation, my job doesn’t change. Yours too, right?” John said,

“Yeah. Let’s just do our best together.”

“Heh, if you’re going to slow me down, at least be a decoy.”

“You just watch.”

Although our goals were different, our course of action was nearly the same. We held our breath and attempted to infiltrate the building.

(T/N: Had an exam on sunday, hence the delay)