Chapter. 19. Playing tag (3)
****
What comes to mind when you think of ‘back alley’?
Of course, it’s a dark, shady road and a bunch of criminals.
So, what about the back alleys of Wigen, a large city so twisted that the busiest thing in this complex and shady city is comparable to the ‘Great Labyrinth’, the dungeon of the infamous Mute Lord Hariharea in the former Western Empire?
Paang! Paaang!
“Damn it! Attack! “There is only one opponent!”
“Stop talking bullshit and stay where you are! This means don’t stick together and form a fire net! “It makes sense that no matter how knightly he is, he wouldn’t get hit even once in such a narrow alley!”
The answer is a huge group of criminals who grew up safely in the crowded back alleys and eventually became an armed group.
‘Is this enough to compare with the city’s regular army?’
Hyde was left speechless at the sight of the guys dressed like neighborhood gangsters completely surrounding the intersection and firing suppressing fire.
A two-member band of robbers that Pablo and I encountered as soon as we left the ‘yellow road’ for visitors.
This time, the five-member group came well-armed.
Let’s get rid of them too. This time, there were about 15 trained combat experts who prepared traps, snipers, and cover to greet us.
‘Is that guy the commander?’
Hyde slowly extended the blade out of the alley and examined the situation.
The sight of the shooters reflected in the rain of magic light. The three criminals who rushed in first and died cleanly at the hands of Hyde, and a skinny commander who maintained the fire net by comforting the gunners who were shaken by the sight.
‘The seats of those who died first are empty. There is a hole in the fire net.’
‘There is a magic trap right in front of the gunner on the right wall of the ceiling. Look at these guys. ‘A few of the roads are traps left open on purpose, right?’
‘Is that thing coming behind the commander… a train flamethrower? ‘If you use it in a narrow alley, there will be no place to avoid it.’
Hyde, who was scratching his head at the rather difficult situation, spoke to Pablo, who was lying down behind him.
“hmm. Pablo? “Can you run further back now?”
“Say something like mama mama! How do I get out of here when magical bullets are raining down like that? So, I said I didn’t want to work as a guide! You’re caught up! So, when I first came into the alley, I asked you to please me! “If you bastards want toll money, just give it to them!”
“Those bastards told me to hand over my knife and gun. Do you know how many days it would take to dig in a mushroom hole to save up enough money to buy this with your bare hands? “You can pick new mushrooms growing on your nose and ears in about a week.”
“But it’s still better than giving up your life!”
“Tsk.”
Block the enemy’s movement with suppressive fire and finish with an unavoidable flamethrower in a narrow alley. It is a simple and effective operation.
Of course, if I was going to die from this level of fire, my bones would have been buried somewhere in soft ground a long time ago. Hyde, no matter how he could survive, Pablo, a civilian, was sure to turn to pitch-black charcoal along with his stylish clothes.
Now it’s only a few steps before you’re within range of the flamethrower.
Write it – haaaa.
“…There’s nothing we can do.”
Hyde sighed and put his hands in his arms.
Dozens of pockets were sewn and attached directly to the clothes and even to the inside of the cloak. Hyde was rummaging through them, and after much deliberation, what he took out was a metal bead the size of a fingernail, which was the cheapest of the contents inside.
Of course, it is only relatively cheap. The original goblin magic engineering weapon, ‘Silver Tickle’, a specialty of the mining city of Paudrak, located about five cities away from here, was not something you could get even if you wanted to.
It still makes me shiver when I think of exploring the ruins of Soft Land with the extremely eccentric goblin craftsman in exchange for these twenty small silver beads.
Tick!
When I pressed the designated location with the tip of my fingernail, a response came. A magic gemstone that is revealed when the silver thread that was tightly packed in the form of a bead is slightly unraveled. The work of Kerujaru, a craftsman who says he will not sell a product to anyone who does not like it.
It was simple to use. Press down on the slim chunk of metal thread to break the suppressor and throw the activated Silver Tickle in the direction of the enemy –
whiff –
.
.
.
.
.
Clap la la la rock!
“Ugh!”
“My arm! My faaaaal!”
The tightly packed metal threads are released explosively, sharply cutting everything nearby.
The purpose itself is similar to a thrown magic explosive, but it has the advantage of being able to be used in narrow spaces where it could collapse under a large impact. There is almost no noise regarding the range of lethal weapons. It also has the advantage of not being neutralized by the magic tool suppression device based on the magic stone.
Although it has the disadvantage of not having as much lethal force as explosives –
“This is enough for now.”
It was powerful enough to disentangle the gunners’ hardened fire nets.
Hyde pulled the gun from his back and held it out in the alley where the shooting stopped.
Several people were holding on to their sharply cut arms and faces and complaining of pain, and flamethrowers were fighting their way through them and moving forward.
Good seat and good angle.
Paang!
Just one foot. After shooting the flamethrower’s fuel tank, Hyde immediately jumped backwards with Pablo at his side.
Cheeeeeeeek-!
“Uh oh, that, that, that!”
“Free me! “Someone do this!”
“Don’t come any closer, you stupid bastard-”
Quaaaaaaa!
Green flames made of combustible fuel and magicite powder alchemy catalyst began to spread explosively, filling the narrow back alley.
“Oh, what a waste. “Even if I had only dug up and rescued the buried magic trap, which was as big as that fuel tank, I would have earned my daily wage today.”
“Are you thinking like that now? If I had been even half a step late, I would have been swallowed up by that flame! The fuel mixed with magic stones will not be extinguished unless it is a magic stone! “We almost died!”
“I could afford to take half a step.”
“That was half a step from the border of life and death!!!”
Pablo’s heart was still pounding and he looked at the man who was grumbling about not being able to root a person who had come back from the dead.
“what.”
“….”
“I left no witnesses. “You and I won’t have to suffer from having our faces sold, right?”
“….”
“okay okay. I will definitely take care of it. I’ll take you out for drinks with the ‘Dynamite Lady’ drivers, and I’ll also arrange interviews with people from other trains you get to know while traveling around. how is it? This is the reward for all your hard work-”
“Mr. Hyde. “What is it?”
Pablo knew Wigen well and knew who the men the man had just swept away were.
‘Those who distribute drugs mixed with magicite alchemy catalysts.’
They were not making cheap drugs like hallucinogenic mushrooms, but real drugs that were also used as combat stimulants. As they were making a huge amount of money, the level of the members of the organization was also amazing.
This means that they are proper soldiers that were originally created to deal with knight-level punitive forces from the city.
‘These are people who have stolen proper firearms and heavy weapons for trains that are strictly controlled by the city! Besides, if I’m not mistaken, that skinny guy was an earth mage!’
Since Wigen is also called the home of the Earth Wizards, there were many opportunities to see their magic.
It definitely felt like the magic of the earth wizards felt at construction sites all over the city. The pressure was so strong that even Pablo, who was out of sight of the wizard, could not breathe, but Hyde, who was the direct target of the pressure, held him as if nothing had happened and ran at incredible speed!
‘I thought he was someone on the fringes of chivalry who was abandoned because he wasn’t worth recruiting from a noble family who paid for the train with his own money!’
“It’s really nothing to me.”
“Don’t lie! That’s how they killed the drug dealers in Wigen, who even the city’s regular army was sick of!”
Hyde scratched his head as he saw the newsboy looking up at him with eyes that were completely different from the morning.
“Really. “I know what an auror is, I know it through my senses, and I have even embodied it in my body, but since I don’t know how to manifest it externally, I am just a half-aura knight who makes up for my lack of firepower with all kinds of tricks.”
Hyde sighed as he took a peek inside his cloak, which had many pockets.
“These little guys are good at catching targets, but they are really bad at dealing with mutes, where even heavy weapon bullets don’t work.”
Although he can be quite aggressive in battle with people, his combat power is vague and is no different from that of an engineer compared to a mid-level or higher mute with high defense.
Those who ridiculed Hyde also said this.
‘A half Oranite specialized in hunting people.’
“….let’s go. They say the light won’t go out. “You have to hurry to get back to the other alley.”
“Oh old!”
Hyde sighed, feeling depressed.
I lost the expensive item,
couldn’t get anything from the enemy I had worked so hard to catch, and
only felt the half-aura that was his weak point.
‘….if you find it. If I find that, will I become a proper Auror Knight?’
It was said that Aurors are a manifestation of the self.
If so, the fact that his auror is abnormal means that there is a deeply broken part of his ego somewhere.
[….Find it.]
[Find —….]
Hyde shook his head as the voice became clearer the more he thought about it.
First of all, let’s start with the tasks we face immediately.
The more complex it is, the more one by one. Surely.
His spirit, trained by traveling through soft lands, cleared away the cloud that had crept into his mind without a trace.
As Hyde followed the excited Pablo into another alley, his mind was filled with only thoughts about how to make up for today’s losses.
****
“Hyde. If you don’t have a last name, you’re a commoner, right? Where are you from?”
“It’s a rural outpost that takes more than a month to get there by train.”
“What about family? Are you an only child? You are good at using a sword and a gun. Did you learn those skills from your father? Or even a great teacher?”
“I come from the Gwangmyeong Church temple, so I have no family, and I learned how to cut with a knife from an old holy knight who was at the temple. The gun was originally used well. “As I used it, it increased.”
“If you’re from a temple… Hyde isn’t your real name, right? There must be a baptismal name! If you come to Gwangmyeong, which of the 3 Gwangmyeong Bridges? sun? lamplight? Ah, the Order of Saints! “They may be a little crazy, but there are a lot of combat priests there!”
“I believe in all three. By the way, are we on the right track? “I think I’ve already walked for 30 minutes?”
“All three… I believe in all three of the three divided schools of light… Oh, don’t worry about Gil! “I couldn’t go to that alley earlier, so I just took a little detour, but I’m almost there now!”
Pablo was pacing excitedly and writing down everything Hyde said.
‘It’s strange too! ‘He’s definitely something different and special!’
After the battle in the alley, Pablo was convinced that Hyde was more special than he first expected.
It’s true that he was an eccentric person, even if he wasn’t great.
=========
‘I’m bored on the way, so let’s do an interview?’
‘Yes, that… Mr. Hyde is also an Orunite, so there must be someone who is interested, right?’
‘Hmm…’
‘I’ll give you money too! As much as the station drivers interview and receive! The boss said he would treat you like a reporter while serving Mr. Hyde-‘
‘The name is Hyde. There are many nicknames, but the common name is Pathfinder. It is a name given to a person with no ability who somehow finds a side path by saying that he is good at his job. He is a person who is good at shooting guns, using swords, and using magic tools~’
‘Oh, yes…’
=========
First of all, he revealed a lot of money. Considering his abilities, his income must have been quite small, but he spent the money like a beggar dying because he had no money for water.
=========
‘Mr. Hyde. But… don’t you have any objection to this?’
‘like this? What interview?’
‘yes. The engine drivers are expensive steel plates, and because of the magic train that consumes magic firearm fuel like water, Shard Knights have to go to auctions to buy extremely expensive shards. They say they need money, so they agree to interviews and become idols for the citizens, but Oranites are nobles. Because they are given too much money, they rarely respond to interviews. To be honest, there are some losses if personal information is revealed.’
‘Well… that’s true, but. I actually thought it would be nice to get an interview.’
‘yes? why?’
‘just. ‘I feel good that so many people I don’t even know know about me.’
‘….Sickness of interest?’
Taaaaah!
‘Rather than enjoying the attention… just. That’s what it means for people to become friends. As we get to know each other better, we gradually lower our guard towards each other. If you know it so intimately, you will feel free to burp and fart next to it, and so on.’
‘Hey. Mr. Hyde has his own philosophy.’
‘I just found out about it naturally as I wandered around and met many people. How wary people are of others. Even if we meet each other on the street and say hello to each other, we are building up a high and thick wall somewhere in our hearts that we don’t even know about. ‘I’m wary because I don’t know, but if I know, I can get closer.’
‘Hmm. It’s a wanderer’s philosophy….’
‘I just thought that if I lived like this, someday I would be able to meet someone with whom I could share my true feelings without any pretense. A person who can share thoughts without any boundaries, as if reading thoughts. Of course, it’s something that can’t be done even among blood-related families.’
‘Hmm. He’s an interested person and a dreamer…. Quite unusual for Oranite, who is famous for his hard-hearted nature-‘
Taaaak! Sigh!
‘Ahh! ‘Aaaah!’
=========
He really liked revealing himself and making himself known, so he also liked talking about his personal history.
I wish there was someone in the world who could read and accept my inner thoughts. I thought he might be a person who surprisingly suffers from loneliness a lot.
“You said you believe in all three Gwangmyeong Churches, which are divided into the Sun Church, Lighthouse Church, and Saint Church… Is there a separate reason?”
“Uh… just? They are originally from the Gwangmyeong Church. Use the same thing for engagement. “I feel a bit familiar with it because I came from the Gwangmyeong Church Temple Orphanage, but it’s not like I was specifically following orders from the Church.”
“What is your baptismal name?”
“Uh… I actually don’t remember that.”
“yes?”
“Isn’t it strange? I was a prodigy known for being smart ever since I was young. “But I don’t remember any of my names when I was young.”
“That’s… strange.”
“Actually, the name was awkward. Even if someone calls me, it doesn’t feel like they’re calling me. On the other hand, ‘Hyde’ is more familiar than the name, perhaps because I heard it so hard in my dreams. So I decided to just live as a hydro.”
They say that there are Gwangmyeong Church believers everywhere, but this was the first time I saw someone who believed in all three.
Isn’t this a denomination that split over ideological differences more than 100 years ago even though they speak the same language? It is said that Gwangmyeong Bridge, which was already shaken due to the concealment of the saint’s death and the lack of high-ranking officials despite its large size, split into three branches after experiencing distrust in the ‘God who does not help us’ as a result of the East-West War and the Dragon Vein Explosion.
They both worship the same god and believe in the three religions of Gwangmyeong, whose relationship is so bad that bloodshed is frequent. Anyway, he was a person with nothing unusual about him.
Square Square –
The more tiny letters on the woodblock, the more difficult it becomes for people to understand.
Newsboy Pablo wanted to spread the story of this strange Oranite that he came across by chance and to the world as he wished.
It’s strange, but it’s clear that he’s an interesting person just from that story alone.
‘If I were to write an article about this person, how should I write it?’
‘How should I express it? Is there anything that can be clearly explained in one sentence? Hmm… a dreamy wandering knight? No, it’s so boring. Something special….’
“Hey, hey. “Pablo.”
“Special…. Something special introduction….”
“…Wow!”
“Ugh! What is it! attack? robbery? “Conscription?”
“Why are you so dazed by yourself? Look in front. “I think we arrived somewhere.”
Pablo, who had been imagining writing his own article, jumped at the sudden shout.
The way back was quite a long way, but I can’t believe we’re already there.
“Oh well. It’s right here. “It arrived safely.”
“Oh my god, you could have built a house like that. Is there a passage? Are you crawling on the roof?”
“I don’t know. I only heard about it from a newsboy from here, but I’ve never been there. According to him, it is still a bit better than Seonro Village. Anyway, it’s inside the castle walls.”
“…Isn’t that a legal citizen?”
“yes. Thanks to the dwarven earth wizards who turned Wigen into a ‘rock that grew in the shape of a city’ to create a place for them to live, Wigen became a city that resembled a true labyrinth. How can we keep track of all the nooks and crannies of the city when even the drivers are found lost and exhausted? Those who had nowhere to go, such as the criminal refugees who arrived in Wiggen, dug into Wiggen’s blind spots and settled down. “This is one of those small settlements created by refugees.”
The village in front of me… it felt exactly like that.
It felt like something with a window and a door had been crammed into a small gap between rocks.
If that could be called a house, it was a small village hidden within the city consisting of about 10 houses.
“A person from the old Rodrik area who moved to Uygen between 1 and 2 years ago. It’s good to be involved in a big incident. “I don’t know of anyone else who fits what you want except here.”
“Where am I?”
“Refugee camp. To be exact, it is a place where refugees who escaped from the almost completely destroyed city of the former Roderick territory are secretly living in Wigen. “It’s been a long time since it was created, so if that ‘Warlord’ was active in Roderick Territory, there must be at least one person who knows about it, right?”
“It seems plausible. “It seems plausible.”
“…I’m telling you in advance, if you go into the visible distance from there, you have to be prepared to be shot. They are all people who live in hiding, so being cautious is not a problem. “If you plan on interrogating him, the hardest thing would be to approach him without being seen.”
Pablo warned me out of courtesy, but honestly, he wasn’t too worried. No matter how careful the refugees are, they won’t be able to handle Mr. Hyde, who can’t even defeat the drug dealers of Wigen with old arcane shooters and blades.
‘They’re not particularly good people.’
Since they are not normal citizens, most of them commit crimes or do dirty things. Considering the cold hands of Mr. Hyde that I saw a little while ago, I thought that it wouldn’t be that difficult.
“Well, it was good.”
“yes? No, Mr. Hyde! What are you doing now-”
Jump up!
Until Hyde, who had taken the trouble to guide me down a path that was difficult to see, raised his arm.
While the scared Pablo tried to pull him inside, Hyde took a deep breath
and
said
,
“
Hello
!
”
.
.
.
『It’s Hyde who came to ask a question!』 It
‘s ah-
it’s
ah-
ah-
.
.
.
.
The announcement was made so that the narrow passage and the refugee camp rang loudly.
While the voices that enveloped the cramped refugee camp echoed through the narrow passage and disappeared.
Jump up!
Clap, clap, clap! Good!
Sreung!
Rumble!
As if in response to Hyde’s greeting, the windows of the refugee camp opened all at once.
With old guns draped over it.
“Those people, those people, are people who will be put to death if they are caught living here! What were you thinking when you did such a crazy thing…! “At any rate, they will only want to keep our secret by killing us!”
“Wait a minute, dude. “Because everyone has their own thoughts.”
“If that thought is wrong! “If you make a mistake and just shoot!!!”
“If people have that much no hesitation about killing, I can sleep peacefully even if I kill them without hesitation. Otherwise, the conversation will take place. “Either way is beneficial?”
Refugee camp. Those who live in hiding. They live in a harsh environment where they are only provided with walls and a safe place, but have to spend money to even get a ray of light….
“There is something that such people can never refuse.”
“No matter what I give you, it won’t work!” Lives are at stake over there! “It’s common knowledge that anyone living on a fragmented continent knows that a place to live is more important than money or goods!”
“Uh huh – just wait and see. Everything will be fine.”
Giving gifts to someone you’ve never met before to win the favor of someone who is hostile to you is something only beginners do.
If you are used to delving into the other person’s mind, you need to approach something more fundamental.
Hyde picked up a rather heavy pocket from inside his pocket-filled cloak.
‘The item itself is nothing special.’
Hyde was sure that if those people were refugees from Roderick, they wouldn’t be able to turn a blind eye to this.
****
