Han returned to the delivery truck.
He handed Fabian the file on Brock Renner and spoke.
“Fabian, I am sorry, but I will need you to stay here and keep watch for a while.”
Fabian was a former Staff Sergeant of the Covert Mobile Unit.
Watching a target and secretly following them was his specialty.
“That will not be difficult, but....... This vehicle stands out too much. I think I will need another one.”
“I will contact headquarters. A black sedan should do, correct?”
“That'll be more than enough.”
“Good. Then Lara will return to headquarters with me for now. We need to review the sightings of the other organization members.”
“Wait a second. We're just leaving like this?”
Lara blinked, apparently unable to understand.
“You confirmed that Brock Renner is in there, right? Then can't we just break down the door, charge in, and arrest him?”
It was a rather violent statement for someone with such a youthful face.
Judging from her expression, if left alone, she looked as though she might genuinely storm in by herself.
“As I said earlier, our mission is to apprehend Brock Renner and secure information on the organization he belongs to.”
“Exactly. We have to catch him first before we can make him talk, whether by water torture or ripping out his fingernails.”
“Torture can be an effective means of getting criminals to talk, but under the current circumstances, it would be better to avoid it.”
“Why? It sounds like the fastest and most reliable way.”
Lara tilted her head, then added, “Ah, I'm not arguing with you, Team Leader. I'm genuinely curious.”
Han explained for the sake of the genius mage who had only just joined the Special Unit.
“At the moment, we do not know whether the target has made contact with the other organization members. If we rush to arrest Brock Renner, the others may disappear completely.”
“Ah....... That's true.”
“We also cannot forget that the organization we are pursuing is relatively small, which makes it easier for them to hide.”
“True. It'd be different if they were as large as the ‘Big Three.’ Once they crawl into their rat holes, there's no finding them.”
Everist's presence was so overwhelming that it tended to overshadow the fact that Pest was not, strictly speaking, a single ‘organization.’
Pest was closer to a collective name for numerous organizations.
Including even the weaker organizations, more than two hundred had been identified so far.
The three organizations that held the greatest influence over Pest were collectively known as the ‘Big Three.’
The organization their current target, Brock Renner, belonged to was not part of the Big Three.
However, the fact that its boss was Fifth Tier required caution.
‘Lara may be Fifth Tier as well, but there's an enormous difference between her and bastards who specialize in killing people.’
It was possible that while pursuing Brock Renner, they might encounter his boss.
If Lara or Fabian ended up fighting him, the two of them could be taken down in an instant.
Han had to consider the safety of his team members, and he engraved that responsibility into his heart once more.
“Why did you suddenly go quiet?”
“...Nothing. I was thinking about our next move for a moment. I am finished now. Let us get moving.”
Before leaving, Han turned toward Fabian out of concern.
“I am counting on you, Fabian.”
“Don't worry. This is my specialty, isn't it?”
Leaving the scene in Fabian's hands, Han and Lara returned to headquarters.
***
Fabian was a shadow with a knife.
Even before joining the Covert Mobile Unit, back when he was still at the training institution.
He had always walked while suppressing his presence and followed behind others.
Whenever his target moved somewhere secluded, he would draw the dagger he had kept hidden and silently cut off the enemy's breath.
He repeated that process over and over.
‘Don't kill them. Just bring back information. How long has it been since I had a mission like this?’
It was the fourth night since he had received the mission.
Sitting inside his parked car and watching the house, Fabian suddenly gave a self-deprecating smile.
After the Alkant Tragedy, the world had become nothing but chaos.
Yet Fabian's world had grown quiet after becoming a Special Unit operative.
Of course, he knew that this peace rested upon ice so thin it could crack at any moment.
Still, for a little while, it felt as though he could finally breathe.
‘Still, he really does stay holed up in that house. Is he that wary?’
Fabian lifted his binoculars again.
During the four days Fabian had kept watch, Brock Renner had gone outside only once.
And even then, it had merely been to visit a grocery store and replenish his food supplies.
‘I also watched to see whether anyone might secretly make contact with him, but there hasn't been any sign of that whatsoever.’
Perhaps Brock Renner had not managed to meet the other members of his organization either.
It was not impossible.
Only around two weeks had passed since the Alkant Tragedy, when criminals had been transferred on a massive scale.
And apparently, those transfers had been completely random, without any rules governing them.
‘...No. That's not right. This organization was already active in District 28 before all of this. There's no way he hasn't made contact with them.’
In that sense, Brock Renner had been lucky.
He had been transferred directly into the district where he had originally operated.
Moreover, none of the other organization members besides Brock Renner had been imprisoned in Alkant.
He must have made contact with them.
“Haa…….”
Fabian let out a long breath as though exhaling cigarette smoke.
It was already his fourth day stuck inside the car.
He had enjoyed the rare peace and quiet, but there was one problem.
“Without a woman in my arms, there is no life in me.”
Namely, his weakness for women.
“Or at the very least, some gambling.”
And the fact that he was a fairly serious gambling addict as well.
There were even rumors that Fabian had never actually wanted to work for the Covert Mobile Unit at all, and only kept doing the job because he could not give up women or gambling.
After all, despite being government employees, the Covert Mobile Unit and Special Unit both paid rather generous hazard allowances.
“Hmm?”
Fabian had been thinking about the soft skin of the last woman he had been intimate with.
As though to prove that he had not been neglecting his work, he immediately noticed the change.
The tightly shut door opened, and Brock Renner quietly stepped outside.
He was still wearing a Skin Suit.
He looked around for a moment before starting off somewhere.
‘He should still have plenty of food left.’
‘And he deliberately chose to go out late at night.’
The circumstances naturally invited suspicion.
Fabian smiled faintly and started the car.
VROOM—.
Fabian maintained enough distance not to alarm the target while never allowing him to slip out of sight.
He smoothly worked the steering wheel until he finally came to a stop.
“……Oh?”
Brock Renner had arrived at a commercial building and promptly entered.
The four-story building blazed with brilliant light despite the darkness of night.
Burly men stood at the entrance, receiving customers.
It was a place filled with money, desire, and people.
“A gambling hall.”
Perhaps because of the building's brilliant lights, Fabian's eyes seemed especially full of life.
***
“So, you squandered every last bit of money you had. Is that what you are saying?”
The following morning.
Han and Lara, gathered at the Second Headquarters, stared at Fabian with expressions of utter disbelief.
“Isn't money supposed to circulate? That is how the economy survives, and the country survives, and....... well, something along those lines. Haha.”
Fabian attempted to smooth things over with a sly smile.
Han, however, could not bring himself to laugh.
Gambling for personal reasons in the middle of a mission.
Had he overestimated Fabian simply because the man came from the Covert Mobile Unit?
What in the world was he supposed to write in the report?
As various thoughts accumulated, the atmosphere grew increasingly grave.
Fabian noticed it as well.
He sniffed awkwardly, then changed his tone and adopted a serious expression.
“Well....... The truth is, this was all part of the plan. Thanks to that, I was able to disguise myself perfectly as an ordinary customer who came there to gamble.”
“…….”
“Team Leader. Team Leader. You said I can't move to another team, but could we transfer another team member out instead?”
Half joking, half serious.
No, Lara was asking Han in complete seriousness.
At that particular moment, even Han felt like nodding.
Reading the atmosphere, Fabian pointed accusingly at Lara and fought back.
“How dare you! Do you take Team Leader Han for some petty man who would take back his own words?! Team assignments are decided after considering every team member from multiple angles. They cannot simply be changed on a whim!”
Even while speaking, Fabian kept glancing at Han.
When Han gave no reaction whatsoever, he hurriedly added,
“There appears to be a slight misunderstanding. It truly was all part of the plan.”
‘I even squandered my own money to carry out the mission perfectly! I sincerely hope you will recognize my dedication.’
Even after adding that, the looks directed at him did not change.
Fabian then confidently pulled several photographs from inside his clothes and placed them on the table.
“What are those?”
“Photographs I secretly took inside the gambling hall. The interior was not very bright, so the images are not perfectly clear, but there should be no trouble recognizing them.”
Han examined the photographs, and Lara leaned her head over to look as well.
Soon, when Han showed interest, Fabian's sly smile returned.
“Did I not tell you twice already? It was part of the plan.”
Brock Renner was in the photographs.
Along with three people gambling with him.
The subjects were extremely close to the camera, and the angles were perfect.
They were photographs that would have been nearly impossible to take without gambling alongside them.
Han identified who the people other than Brock Renner were.
“Are these the other organization members?”
“Yes. I also confirmed that they were discussing their ‘boss,’ so there is no doubt. It took quite some effort to overhear them while they whispered among themselves from a distance, but my hearing happens to be exceptionally sharp.”
Other than Brock Renner, who had been imprisoned in Alkant, and the organization's boss, there had been no known identifying information on the other members.
Yet Fabian had managed to photograph them.
And without Skin Suits, at that.
“There wouldn't have been any misunderstanding if you'd shown us these from the beginning.”
“The world is already bleak enough. Life needs little twists like this to remain entertaining, does it not?”
Han smiled faintly.
Fabian had pulled off something worthwhile.
Brock Renner had barely left his house because he was so wary of those around him, yet Fabian had not only managed to make contact with him but had even gambled alongside him.
He was a remarkably resourceful man.
Han felt that he now understood Fabian a little better.
“And there is more…….”
Fabian then shared several pieces of information he had learned about Brock Renner and the organization.
Most of it was of little substance, such as the fact that Brock Renner and the other organization members were severe gambling addicts.
However, there were also several noteworthy details.
Their ‘boss’ had currently disappeared for reasons unknown.
Recently, they had begun accepting ordinary non-mage thugs into the organization.
And three days from now, they were planning to gather at the same gambling hall.
“We will need to prepare.”
Han spoke.
And that meant an arrest.
Their original mission would now expand to include capturing Brock Renner and the other organization members all at once.
Brock Renner had served as their guide and led them to the other members.
Now it was time to bite.
The hounds of the Mobile Special Unit—the branch of the Special Unit to which Han and his team belonged—specialized in biting.
“Ah, one more thing. I was thinking of billing headquarters for the money I invested in this mission. Do you think that might be possible……?”
“…….”
“...Team Leader Han?”
Han remained silent.