The distance to the mine entrance was about 30m.
When Sitri stopped walking, the sentries' tension, which had risen to its peak, eased somewhat.
I limped forward with my cane and stopped beside Sitri.
“What?”
“Please come over here for a moment.”
I grabbed Sitri by the wrist and pulled her away.
She could've resisted if she wanted, but she followed obediently. At the same time, she seemed slightly annoyed.
I was scared.
She was an Enemy of the State and an Asymmetric Force.
A monster who could kill hundreds of people by herself without batting an eye.
But I guessed she wasn't someone who would threaten me.
If I could say something, then I had to say it.
“Were you about to kill those people?”
“I was going to make them open the gate.”
“Isn't that the same as saying you were going to kill them? They'll resist and try to keep you out. Then you would've tried to open the gate by force.”
“Wouldn't I?”
Unexpectedly, Sitri admitted it without argument.
“That's far too violent and extreme. Those people aren't even guards.”
Sitri frowned.
By now, I thought I understood.
Whenever she found something difficult, she tended to furrow the area around her left eye like that.
“Then what do I do?”
I became certain of one thing.
This woman was strong enough to be counted among the greatest on the continent, but she was missing something when it came to ordinary life.
Were extreme geniuses all like this?
Come to think of it, they said ‘Ranstai,’ the world's greatest chess master, couldn't tie his own shoelaces or cook instant noodles for himself.
Sitri seemed to be that sort of person too.
Then where did I even begin if I wanted to persuade her?
“The world operates on market logic….”
I muttered something, then stopped.
‘No difficult words.’
If I wanted to persuade Sitri, I needed to use the simplest words possible.
“Give me one gold coin.”
“Why?”
“We can solve this with money.”
“How?”
“I'll take care of it.”
But apparently Sitri didn't trust me.
“…Wouldn't it be better if you could persuade them without giving them money?”
“That's not persuasion. That's extortion. And handling things that way isn't profitable. It'll end up hurting you in the long run.”
“Why? You don't spend any money.”
“Look. Let's say you killed those people.”
“I haven't killed them yet.”
“No! Let's say you did. Then those people can't mine silver anymore. Am I right or wrong?”
Maybe it was because I'd started growling without realizing it.
Sitri nodded with a slightly subdued expression.
“If they can't mine silver, then we can't make silver-plated weapons to fight spiritual entities and undead. Right?”
“Right. But silver isn't only mined here. There are other mines.”
“Good point. Let's say there used to be 100 units of silver, but because of some insane murderous young lady, only 50 will come out from now on. You're a merchant. If you used to sell 100 units at 1 coin each, but now you can only sell 50, what price would you charge?”
“Hmm. 2 coins.”
“Exactly. Nobody likes taking a loss. So the price of silver doubles, but undead and spiritual entities appear all across the continent, including near our brothers and sisters.”
Criminals also had plenty of reasons to fight undead.
If anything, they encountered them even more often than the Guard because they prowled through the underworld.
“You'd be forcing every one of our brothers and sisters to spend twice as much money. Is that a benefit to you?”
Sitri frowned slightly.
Now, now.
“‘It's difficult’ and ‘I don't know’ are forbidden.”
“…….”
“Give me the gold coin.”
“…….”
Sitri looked at me with displeasure, then pulled a gold coin from her pocket and held it out.
When I tried to take it, she raised her wrist and moved it out of my reach.
“I've never done something like this before.”
“I have.”
With that, I went straight to the front of the mine and tried to make a deal.
I asked if they could let us borrow a cargo cart once.
They shouted angrily at the question, but their reaction changed the moment I said we'd pay 1 gold.
“Let them in.”
“C-Captain…!”
“Ah, they're giving us money just for using one damn cart.”
Success.
As we walked into the silver mine together, Sitri kept glancing at me.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Impressive….”
“Pardon?”
“I didn't think it'd actually work.”
Were you impressed?
Ahh, this is what they call ‘bribery.’
For fuck's sake….
Honestly, I was bewildered.
All I'd done was offer money in exchange for riding a cart.
But Sitri was so completely ignorant of this kind of social interaction(?) that apparently watching me solve the problem with money seemed amazing to her.
‘How does someone like this even exist?’
I was genuinely baffled.
“Hey! You two! Get over here.”
But…… that didn't mean I underestimated Sitri.
We paid 1 gold just to ride a cart once.
That was equal to two weeks' wages for a low-ranking guard.
We had practically shouted to everyone in the area that we had plenty of money, then walked straight into someone else's den.
And this was while law and order had collapsed.
There was only one reason I could make such a bold decision.
“Wait here. I'll be right back.”
A miner who seemed to be the captain pushed us into a building.
The moment he did, I spoke to Sitri.
“We made a deal.”
“Yeah.”
“But it looks like the other side is trying to scam us.”
I'd been on edge from the moment we entered, so I'd noticed.
The glances the miners exchanged.
Several of them moved toward the armory.
And lastly—
The door they'd locked from outside the instant they put us inside.
Sitri also stared thoughtfully at something beyond the door, then nodded.
“Looks like it.”
What had she seen?
I didn't know.
But Sitri rose to her feet.
Right.
From this point on, it couldn't be helped.
I'd done everything I could to save the miners, but if they were going to treat us like this anyway, there was nothing more I could do.
But then Sitri just stared at me.
“What's wrong?”
“What do we do next?”
“Pardon?”
“Next…. You're the one who arranged the deal.”
Ah.
Only then did I realize it.
Sitri had handed control of the situation over to me.
Even better.
If Sitri took the initiative and killed everyone, I wouldn't have any excuse to stop her.
But like this, I could at least minimize the damage.
I also stood with the help of my cane.
I'd already used the 「All-Seeing Eye」 to understand the internal layout while we were coming in.
“Please open the door.”
Sitri grabbed the handle.
The locked handle, which shouldn't have moved at all, turned with a CRUNCH.
“Huh? Wh-What the hell!”
“Die!!”
The moment the door opened, a blade came out to greet us.
Sitri had already turned her body aside and dodged it.
My heart dropped.
I'd expected trouble, but I hadn't expected them to attack immediately.
“What should I do?”
“Pardon? J-Just don't overdo it!”
Again, she gave no answer.
Sitri immediately stepped outside.
“They're just a pair of brats! Kill them if they resist!”
“Yes!!”
A young woman and man who looked like they had money.
And one of them was a cripple.
That was probably what they saw.
The reality was different.
The moment Sitri shut the door behind her, thunderous noises and screams erupted from the corridor.
“Guh!”
“Aaagh!”
When I stepped outside, people were dropping one after another.
I hurried out as well.
Then I ran along the route I'd checked beforehand.
Everywhere blood burst, someone collapsed.
But maybe my request not to overdo it had gotten through.
At least there weren't any severed heads lying around.
“This way!”
“Go ahead.”
Sitri headed somewhere farther away and attacked the miner they'd called Captain, along with several others carrying weapons.
“Close the gate!”
Apparently, the room had originally been built like some sort of prison cell.
At the Captain's order, an iron barrier slammed down between Sitri and me.
An absurd metal partition that looked easily 5cm thick descended and sealed shut.
What the hell?
Why was something like that here?
At that thickness, it looked like it could withstand most artillery shells.
THOOOOOM!
The door closed.
Sitri and I were now completely separated.
“What's all this noise?!”
“Who the hell is that guy…!”
At that moment, more miners carrying weapons began rushing toward me from the opposite end of the corridor.
‘Damn it….’
Even as I reversed my grip on my cane and prepared to fight, I despaired inwardly.
This was bad.
There was no way I could actually fight them.
Then, in the next moment—
I understood why Sitri was an ‘Enemy of the State.’
And why an Enemy of the State like her was called an ‘Asymmetric Force.’
I couldn't see her on the other side of the barrier, but I could feel Mana rippling.
Sitri of Diablo.
They said that when she unleashed her unique ability, she lowered her stance.
She assumed a posture like she was about to draw a blade and ran a hand along the spine of her knife.
Then she filled her weapon to the brim with magical power and closed her eyes as though performing a ritual.
When she did—
a certain event occurred.
The mysterious event that had earned her the name ‘Serial Killer.’
― !
By the time the air, turned inside out, returned to its proper place, the iron door had already exploded.
It was an incomprehensible phenomenon.
The iron door had literally burst apart into fragments.
As though someone had shoved a sheet of paper into a blender.
“……!”
I froze, utterly dumbfounded.
Then Sitri spoke from farther down the corridor behind me.
“Run!”
When the hell had she gotten there?
She was already ahead of me.
As an added bonus, every miner along her route was lying on the floor wounded.
‘Good. We're safe now!’
I finally breathed out.
I glanced at Sitri, who was deliberately running slowly for my sake.
She was young.
Younger than I'd thought.
Maybe even around my age.
How had a girl like that ended up becoming a criminal who'd killed hundreds of people?
And how had she become an Enemy of the State?
‘Enemies of the State…. There were about 30 in the whole world, right?’
There were two ways to become an Enemy of the State.
The first was to be a villain whose atrocities reached all the way to the heavens.
Someone like the ‘Plague Doctor,’ who created a plague and drove hundreds of thousands of civilians to ruin.
The second was to possess the power of an Asymmetric Force.
In other words, if someone became strong enough to annihilate an army alone, they became an Enemy of the State.
‘Sitri falls into the second category….’
She was still terrifying.
And because she was a criminal, part of me hated her too.
But still—she was an ‘Enemy of the State.’
And right now, I was on the same side as someone like that, running alongside her with no one else around.
BRRRRRRING―!
That was when it happened.
An emergency buzzer sounded.
Oh, shit.
It was still too early to relax.
“We'll be late like this! I'll go ahead and start it!”
“Do you know how to start it?! Cargo carts follow standard automobile specifications! You said you couldn't drive!”
“I learned how to start one! And how to fasten the seat belt! And how to adjust the seat! And! And……!”
“Fine! Go!”
I ran diligently after her and followed the route I'd already checked until I reached the tracks.
There was a cargo cart there.
“There they are!”
“Get them!”
The miners came rushing toward us in a mob, but we were a little faster.
Sitri had already started the cart.
And one step behind her was me—
Me….
Me…!
‘Fuck.’
I can't reach it!
The cargo cart was rapidly moving away!
“Aaaaaah!”
In desperation, I swung my cane and hooked the end of its handle onto the cargo cart.
Fortunately, it caught on.
But the cargo cart running along the mountainside tracks had a powerful magical engine, and an endless downhill slope waited for us below the ridge.
The sudden acceleration lifted my body into the air.
‘Someone save me!’
My hands trembled violently as I saw Sitri's black hair.
Look over here!
Please!
But the wooden gate at the mine exit was closing, and Sitri seemed focused on breaking through it.
CRAAASH—!
The wooden gate shattered.
By then, my joints were on the verge of shattering too.
“We did it. Success. Hmm…?”
From Sitri's perspective, it probably looked like this.
She broke the gate and turned around.
I wasn't there.
Then she would've noticed something flying behind the runaway rail cart, hanging from it.
And if she looked closely, she would've seen some poor, miserable crippled young man, nearly in tears, desperately clinging to his cane.
“What are you doing?”
“S-Save meee!”
Apparently even a blank expression could convey disbelief.
Her face looked almost the same as always.
But just slightly different.
“…….”
She silently watched me for a moment.
Then the corner of her mouth slowly lifted.
Her golden eyes.
Even the red around them curved gently.
“Are you stupid?”
Sitri was laughing.
EP2
「 Serial Killer, Sitri 」
When we finally emerged from the long tunnel near the border and reached the end of the tracks,
I was deeply disappointed.
Because Gesenna Seventh Train Station, which had once transported thousands of people every day, greeted me.
In ruins.
END