The way back to the lodging from the stadium was quite complicated. To begin with, in Cilicia, it was harder to find an area that was not complicated.
Most of all, there were many people. Walking through the bustling crowd was not easy. Most of the places Asterike had traveled through had been quiet.
Countryside, wilderness. Abandoned ghost cities.
She had even deliberately chosen places with few people. After all, it was hard to find a city where a Pecatum could live comfortably.
In that sense, Cilicia was certainly unusual. Even if she walked around with her horns exposed, people only glanced once and moved on. Everyone was indifferent to one another.
Walking was uncomfortable, but her heart was at ease.
Asterike found it strange that she had naturally blended into the people coming and going.
Thump.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
She bumped into a young boy. The boy bowed his head politely, then slipped skillfully through the roadside crowd. Just as she thought he was well-mannered,
“Lady Asterike. Check your pockets.”
“Hm? My pockets?”
“See if you’ve been robbed.”
At Rosco’s words, Asterike patted herself down and checked her belongings. Her hands gradually moved faster, and her complexion turned blue.
One could tell what had happened just from her reaction.
“You got hit. What did that little bastard take?”
“Um... the coin purse Hyeon gave me. Jerky, chocolate bars, canned food. Just everything is gone...!”
“I can understand the money, but what is with the canned food?”
“Emergency food. You never know.”
“Ha, are you haunted by the ghost of someone who starved to death? What would have to happen for you to need emergency food in the middle of a city?”
Rosco clicked his tongue. Come to think of it, he had heard she had been pickpocketed in Ulanz too. How could she be this careless?
“Think of it as a good lesson and be careful from now on. From what I hear, here they’ll cut your nose off even while your eyes are open.”
“I thought public order was good?”
“No matter how harshly they punish criminals, there are this many people, aren’t there? Lifting a coin purse while mixed into a crowd is nothing.”
Asterike hung her head deeply.
“Wh-what do I do?”
“How much was in it, for you to act like that?”
“One million.”
“......No, why did you bring all of that?”
“I’ve never had this much money before....”
“You wanted to feel rich, is that it?”
As if he had hit the mark, her head lowered even farther. Rosco slapped a hand to his forehead.
What kind of idiot was this?
“Damn it, what else can we do? We have to go catch him! Search the alleys. Usually, they check wallets in places like that......!”
Rosco ran in the direction where the boy had disappeared. Asterike followed behind him. As they forced their way through the crowd, curses could be heard here and there.
Fortunately, they were able to find the pickpocket quickly. When they entered a nearby side path, they saw the small boy’s back.
“My money...!”
Asterike gritted her teeth. A large sum she had never had before. The amount was one thing, but she did not want to have something Kim Yi-hyeon had given her stolen.
The strength with which she kicked off the ground grew stronger. The distance shrank in an instant. She ran faster than she had during the match and grabbed the boy by the back of the neck.
“Ugh, what the hell!”
Clatter.
Asterike’s belongings fell from the boy’s hands to the ground. Rosco, who arrived right after, panted as he picked them up.
“Whew. We recovered them, at least.”
“What are you people doing? Let go!”
The pickpocket thrashed his arms and legs. But because he was so small, he could not escape Asterike’s grip.
“Rosco. What do we do with this child?”
“Mm. That is another problem. It’s not as if we have proper evidence to hand him over as someone caught in the act......”
If they checked all the street CCTVs, they would probably be able to prove the crime. However, it did not seem like anyone would go through that much trouble for a minor offense.
They were considering how to deal with him when it happened.
“Help me! They’re kidnappers!”
“Ki-kidnappers? What are you talking about—”
“Aaaaagh! These people are trying to drag me away. Please help me!”
The boy began screaming desperately. His high voice rang loudly.
“This little bastard......”
Rosco felt flustered. Outside the alley was a roadside with many passersby. At this rate, people who heard the screams would gather.
To people who did not know the situation, they would look like criminals threatening a child. Asterike also realized the situation and let go.
But that did not solve anything.
“Money! Give me back my money. I worked hard to save it for my mother’s treatment...!”
The boy appealed with tears gathered in his eyes. Asterike was dumbfounded.
‘What kind of bullshit is this?’
Then she noticed it belatedly.
A camera.
There was also a camera installed here. Whether it recorded sound or not... there was a high chance it would work against her.
‘Wh-what do I do?’
Asterike was confused. She had personally realized what it meant to have your nose cut off while your eyes were open.
Cilicia was a difficult city for naïve people to live in.
“What’s all this noise?”
At that moment, a man walked in from the opposite side. At the appearance of a third party, the boy’s face brightened. The boy pointed at the two pushovers and shouted.
“Help me! Those people stole my money. It was for my mother’s hospital bill...?”
The boy’s eyes widened. It was because the man suddenly grabbed him by the collar. With his other hand, the man brushed aside the boy’s side hair and exposed his ear.
A distinctive inverted-triangle ear. After confirming it, the man, Kim Yi-hyeon, snorted.
“You’re smallfolk.”
“P-pardon?”
“If you want to run a trick properly, cut off your ears first.”
He threw the boy, no, the middle-aged smallfolk man away. The smallfolk man crashed into a pile of trash.
“And you didn’t shave properly. I hear smallfolk don’t grow body hair easily except on their heads. Looks like you’re getting on in years. Aren’t you ashamed?”
“Ugh, ugh.”
“Just get lost. Before I call the security force.”
The smallfolk man staggered to his feet. After glaring at Kim Yi-hyeon for a moment, he fled the alley.
The disturbance was settled like that. Rosco, who had been watching blankly, belatedly opened his mouth.
“B-brother, why are you here?”
“My work ended, so I was going to the stadium. You said there was a match today. I think I’m a little late, but... More importantly, what are you doing freezing up? Get a grip.”
“W-well. I have no excuse.”
Rosco awkwardly rubbed his neck. Meanwhile, Asterike stared down the path where the smallfolk man had vanished, then turned her eyes to Kim Yi-hyeon.
“Um, Hyeon. Was it okay to just let him go?”
“Hm?”
“What if later someone comes to arrest us...?”
“Arrest?”
Kim Yi-hyeon waved his hand as if it made no sense.
“Guys who run scams like that hate making things big. They have skeletons in their own closets, so if an investigation starts, they’ll be in trouble.”
If one acted confidently, they tended to get scared and run away on their own. Especially in Cilicia, where punishment for criminals was harsh.
“......So that’s how it works.”
“It’s hard to catch him and hand him over. But it’s not like we can bury him completely either. It’s best to be careful and not get tangled up in the first place......”
He stopped talking and let out a small yawn. It was far too early to sleep. It seemed spending time underground occasionally flipped his days and nights.
“Anyway. Did you win the match?”
“Yes. I’m 5 wins and 0 losses so far.”
“Oh, you’re doing well.”
Kim Yi-hyeon roughly fixed Asterike’s parted side hair. During that time, Asterike showed no resistance.
This, too, was like a dog. As he was thinking that, she suddenly spoke.
“Did you eat?”
“No, not yet.”
“Let’s go eat. I have a lot of money.”
“Isn’t that money I gave you?”
“Then it’s my money. Instead, I’ll give it all to you once I get prize money.”
“How much is the prize money?”
“How much is it?”
“...Hm?”
“Hm?”
At the conversation going back and forth, Rosco let out a hollow laugh. How much prize money could be attached to something like the Fourth Division? Still, he did not bother ruining the mood.
It was a nice relationship to watch.
***
THOOM!
The iron plate of [FE―7 Riot Shield] slammed into the Mine Rat’s body. As soon as the Mine Rat sprawled across the floor, a blade dug into its neck.
As the name suggested, it was a giant rat that mainly lived in mines. It was a monster commonly seen in Cilicia’s underground as well, and it hunted in packs.
‘When I was a newbie, I hated these things the most.’
In the game, they were enemies that rushed in during the early stages. If one had not raised an operative specialized for wave battles, it was difficult to handle the flood of Mine Rats.
In reality, they were even more threatening.
If one showed an opening, their flesh would be torn off, and they would often be pounced on by many of them and rendered helpless. Corpses with only bones remaining were scattered throughout the underground.
They were also the natural enemy of bounty hunters. Unlike outlaws, no matter how many hundred Mine Rats one killed, not a single coin came in.
‘More than anything, they stink.’
Kim Yi-hyeon knocked down the Mine Rats by blocking their charges with his shield each time. After suppressing them, he finished them off with the machete [Caries].
He could not bring himself to swing only a blade without a shield. Safety was safety, but he also did not want to be drenched in the rats’ blood.
Thwack, thwack!
Two metal arrows each lodged into the two Mine Rats that had been about to pounce on Kim Yi-hyeon. This time as well, Kim Yi-hyeon handled confirming the kills.
“Is that the end?”
“Looks like it. Good work, Mr. Hyeon.”
White Fang member Pep approached while lowering the crossbow. The battle was over. Kim Yi-hyeon dismissed the equipment from his hands and steadied his breathing.
“Wow, I heard work gets easier when Mr. Hyeon joins in, and it really is true. Other people have no consideration. They only think about shooting bows and guns from behind, you know? If everyone does that, who’s supposed to step forward?”
“I think you were only shooting arrows from behind just now too....”
“Haha. I’m confident in my shooting, you see. How about it? Come down with me next time too, Mr. Hyeon.”
“Hyeon, just ignore him. Until recently, he was talking behind your back, calling you a parachute hire.”
Jenna, who had also been comfortably shooting arrows, joined the conversation. This was the first time he had worked with Pep, while with Jenna, it was already the third.
Kim Yi-hyeon had been moving from squad to squad, helping with operations.
Regardless of his position as a guest member, White Fang’s method of selecting personnel itself was unusual.
‘No matter how I look at it, it feels like a college group project.’
White Fang had a total of 15 members. Among them, three were squad leaders.
The squad members were not fixed, and the squad leaders selected and brought the personnel needed for each operation as it came up.
Put nicely, it was a free and flexible system. Put badly, it was a complete circus of an army.
‘Well, I like that it’s comfortable.’
It had already been a month since he began working with White Fang. That was enough time to get used to it.
During that time, many things had happened to Kim Yi-hyeon. He bought a terminal, an essential item for Cilician citizens, and found a monthly rental near Metrocity.
Asterike had risen to the Third Division two weeks ago. Thanks to earning bonus points through her winning streak, she already had promotion to the Second Division in sight.
Both of their lives had improved. Compared to the days they had suffered in Ulanz, this was practically heaven.
But that was only when it came to individual daily life. White Fang’s investigation itself was still sluggish.
“Damn it. Another dead end.”
Bryce, who had formed this team, kicked a wooden plank rolling through the underground passage.
After the battle with the Mine Rats ended, they had followed the path according to information obtained in advance, but they did not find any people.
It was not false information.
There were traces of people. However, the outlaws had already fled, and the base was extremely filthy.
“Pep. Did you find anything?”
“Looks like the Mine Rats we ran into earlier turned this place upside down. Here, this is a pig bone. Seems they cut open the belly of the one they were raising and ran away.”
“The rats sure ate every scrap. They must be short on food for themselves, so why did they bother feeding monsters?”
At Jenna’s question, Kim Yi-hyeon opened his mouth.
“They probably didn’t want to fill our bellies. We’ve encountered two outlaws in the past week. Even those were corpses. We’ve seen three completely empty bases, so it’s hard to call it a coincidence.”
They were wary of the “outlaw hunt.” The situation could only be explained that way.
“...Yes. It is about time they noticed our activity. There is also a community among the outlaws, after all.”
Bryce agreed. Then Pep cautiously began speaking.
“I wonder if we stirred up something we shouldn’t have.”
“Stirred up something we shouldn’t have?”
“Because we went around poking at them, they may have ended up banding together instead. Out of fear that the surface is finally trying to sweep the underground clean.”
“So are you saying we should have left them alone? That we should ignore whether the outlaws are holding guns and stockpiling boxes full of ammunition?”
At Jenna’s sharp reaction, Pep waved both hands and corrected himself.
“That’s not what I mean... I’m saying we should have thought more about our methods. Until now, well, it was enough to smash things according to orders from above. But this matter isn’t that simple.”
In truth, it was not a wrong opinion. The hunt White Fang had carried out had not produced any particular results. They had only dealt with small fry.
They had not even caught Legion’s tail yet. If the outlaws decided to hide in earnest like this, White Fang would have no way to act.
‘That’s how it was in the game.’
A unified outlaw group, with Legion behind them, attacked Metrocity one day. They went all the way up to the surface, and fierce fighting broke out.
After the outlaws and Cilicia’s armed forces clashed back and forth, both sides’ fighting strength dropped drastically.
Only then did Legion act in earnest and swallow Cilicia.
If things continued like this, the same tragedy as in the game would happen.
Even though he knew White Fang’s actions were backfiring, Kim Yi-hyeon had followed along silently for a month.
It was to identify the “timing.”
“Um, you two. Please don’t fight......”
There were five people here.
A woman who had quietly followed without saying much. Her youthful face and the protective suit she wore did not match well.
5-star operative Mary.
White Fang’s sole survivor.
“Cilicia’s Collapse” was Mary’s side story. From beginning to end, everything unfolded from her point of view.
And now.
The battle with the Mine Rats and the emptied outlaw base. Pep and Jenna’s argument. All of this was part of LW-02 Stage.
Scenes from the game were being perfectly reproduced in reality. In other words, from now on, he could predict what would happen next.
‘It’s about time I move.’
If he had succeeded in getting onto the story.
From now on, it was time to change the development.