Chapter 52
'Finally, a useful one has fallen into my trap. Hoho.'
The old woman thought, glancing back at Kain, who was steadily walking behind her.
'If you do this long enough, sometimes unexpected blessings just roll in.'
She had been dealing in illicit goods in the back alleys, selling anything that could make money.
In the old woman's eyes, Kain was a pretty good catch.
'I'd been coveting him since I first saw him.'
So, feigning concern, she naturally asked how he had found his way to such a place.
He could have been bait thrown by someone investigating the back alleys, after all.
If he had spouted some nonsense about getting lost by chance, she would have sent him away, but Kain, surprisingly, seemed to have a clear purpose.
'He used a gold coin without hesitation just to confirm the origin of an item.'
Considering he knew it was an item sold here, he must have anticipated it to some extent, yet there was no haggling about the price.
Kain deftly navigated the old woman's first and second questions, avoiding revealing his own information, and simply tried to buy the information he wanted with money.
'He's no ordinary person.'
The old woman quickly checked her ledger as soon as she went inside.
It wasn't because Kain had asked her to.
She had no intention of telling Kain from the start anyway.
'If he won't tell me where he got it, I'll find out for myself.'
Searching for records of Sense Tonic sales, a few candidates appeared.
'Recently, it was bought by Regwin of Silver Fang, and Edrick... Wasn't Regwin dispatched somewhere?'
Surely, he hadn't been caught on his mission, had it confiscated, and was now being tracked.
That would be the worst-case scenario.
But the old woman shook her head.
'Unless Regwin was caught accepting an assassination request from some high-ranking official, there's no way he'd go that far.'
If that were the case, they wouldn't send just one child; they'd bring a squad of knights and openly ransack the place.
'Still, just in case.'
The old woman immediately opened the door connected to the outside and received a report about Kain from her waiting subordinate.
The people who had been leaning against the wall with blank expressions, whom Kain had passed by without even a glance upon entering, were the old woman's eyes and ears.
"No one followed him."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. Just in case, I also checked for any movement approaching from the market, and it's quiet. He definitely came alone."
If there were no signs at all, even after coming this deep, it was safe to assume he was truly alone.
And it wouldn't be strange for a stranger who entered a place like this alone to vanish without a trace at any time.
'Seeing only a dagger at his waist, he's not a mercenary. Is he a mage, perhaps?'
If he was confident in his skills and came alone, capturing him might be a bit tricky.
'Even so, considering his age, he's probably only around 2nd or 3rd Circle.'
Even if they couldn't capture him alive, seeing that he pulled out gold coins, he seemed to be carrying a good amount of cash, so just robbing him wouldn't be a loss.
"Lure him into Sector 2 and capture him to sell him. Tell the kids not to let their guard down, as he might be a mage."
"Understood. But if he's a mage, couldn't he be affiliated with some clan? If there's trouble later..."
"No respectable clan would send a disciple alone to a place like this. Anyway, they wouldn't know how or where he disappeared, and even if they did, by the time they feigned ignorance, he'd already be sold off."
"That's true. Then I'll get them ready."
"Oh, and call over a few of the Silver Fang guys too. They seem to have a connection."
"Yes, ma'am."
The old woman gave her instructions, then nonchalantly lied about having no record in her ledger and offered to guide Kain to the place that did.
There was no possibility that Kain had overheard her conversation with her subordinate.
A barrier magic stone was installed inside the shop to prevent sound from leaking out.
She had observed his eyes, just in case he might take the Sense Tonic he was carrying to eavesdrop, but Kain's pupil size was perfectly normal.
As expected, Kain showed no hint of suspicion and was still slowly following the old woman.
'This is excellent. Hoho.'
The old woman's lips kept curling up at the thought of making money after a long time.
"......"
Thump, thump.
The two continued to walk along the complicated path.
As they went deeper, the surroundings grew darker, and the people who had been leaning against the walls with blank expressions, watching passersby, gradually disappeared.
As they walked, the old woman, who was ahead, suddenly turned sharply around a corner.
At the same time, a dagger flew from behind Kain.
Screeeeeee!
Kain didn't bat an eye, twisting his body to deflect the dagger.
"What the...!"
The man who had thrown the dagger from the darkness was astonished.
Mages were like ocean sunfish; if the environment was favorable, they could unleash widespread and powerful firepower, but if not, they couldn't even perform a fraction of their true skill.
Especially for mages with little practical experience, if even one thigh is cut, the pain can make them lose focus, preventing them from properly casting spells.
So, he thought he could easily capture Kain and get a bonus from the old woman if he just aimed to avoid vital spots and start by stabbing him.
However,
"Fire Arrow."
Even though the dagger came from his blind spot, Kain twisted his body at the precise moment to evade it.
Simultaneously, he cast Fire Arrow toward the man.
'What kind of casting speed...!'
Even before the incantation was finished, the flame had already taken shape and began to fly.
"Accelerate."
The moment they thought they heard the subsequent incantation from Kain's lips, the red arrow pierced the man's head.
"C-crazy!"
"Just now..."
"Kelton's down! Attack together!"
As the man died without even a scream, the men who had been surrounding him revealed themselves.
But Kain calmly turned the corner where the old woman had disappeared first.
"H-heeek!"
The old woman, who naturally expected Kain to be subdued in one blow, tried to flee in a hurry when he appeared.
However.
"Aargh!!"
With fire needles instantly impaling both her ankles, the old woman screamed and fell.
"You bastard!"
"Die!"
The nearby men rushed at Kain all at once to protect the old woman.
Along with that, daggers flew from the blind spot next to the corner and from atop the wall.
Three swords in front.
Two daggers flying from the side.
Kain immediately calculated the trajectory of the daggers, which was set the moment they were thrown.
He then moved into a space where he could avoid the swords without overlapping with the dagger trajectories.
Since one of them couldn't be completely avoided, he impaled the wrist of the opponent holding the sword with a Fire Needle, snatched the sword the foe dropped, and used the stolen sword to cut them down.
Slash!
The sword, enhanced with mana enchantment, sliced through flesh and bone.
With three clean, swift steps and three sword strikes, the bodies of the three men collapsed.
"He's skilled! Finish him no matter what!"
"Forget about capturing him alive!"
"Use any means necessary!"
Now, enemies began to swarm indiscriminately from three directions.
"Fire Wall."
"Aargh!"
"Damn it!"
He completely blocked one path with a Fire Wall, buying time.
"Fire Needle. Split, disperse."
"Cough!"
"Gah!"
He individually targeted enemies on one side with Fire Needles.
The small, thin Fire Needles pierced the enemies' vital spots in the blink of an eye, burning them from the inside.
And finally, for the front.
"What kind of mage uses a sword...?"
"Aaaargh!"
He strengthened his body and sword, cutting down the enemies.
The noisy alley, along with the fading screams, once again fell into silence.
"Ugh..."
The old woman's subordinates, who had rushed at Kain, were now all lifeless bodies strewn about.
"Pant, gasp..."
Only the old woman, her ankles burned and melted, desperately clung to life, crawling on the ground to escape before collapsing from exhaustion.
As Kain approached, the old woman gasped and asked,
"H-how... You knew, from the beginning..."
Kain replied,
"I didn't know it was exactly this shop. Let's just say I was a little lucky."
One of the reasons Kain was able to find the old woman's shop among the many buildings in this back alley was, ironically, due to the very observers the old woman had stationed to watch him.
'The arrangement of the observers seemed to be centered around that shop.'
So Kain pretended to be lost and wandered around, observing the shop building.
As a result, he discerned that the shop had a front door, a back door, and even a hidden third door.
He had therefore inferred that this shop was run by someone with a certain standing or a veteran, and so he had visited it.
However, the fact that it was precisely where Regwin had purchased the Sense Tonic was, as Kain stated, a mere coincidence.
"Initially, I had no intention of bothering you. If you had simply given me the information I wanted, I would have moved on. You're the ones who made things troublesome."
In his previous life, Kain had quite a lot of experience completing requests that involved apprehending organizations that established themselves in the back alleys or underworld of a region and engaged in shady dealings.
"Sein! Did you go to the underworld alone again?"
"Yes, Master."
"Why are you already taking on such dangerous tasks? I told you to be careful..."
"Dangerous tasks come with great rewards."
"It's not the reward that matters, it's your safety I'm worried about!"
"Don't worry. I won't die. Shouldn't I contribute to the clan's finances at a time like this?"
One of the things Kain learned from taking on these kinds of requests was that no matter how many underworld organizations you wiped out, illicit dealings would always resurface elsewhere, and those who engaged in dirty work would continuously appear.
He also learned that sometimes, destroying the existing underworld ecosystem could lead to new power struggles, and in that process, the overall volume of dirty work could even increase.
So, at a certain point, when taking on underworld-related requests, Kain chose to focus on more specific objectives and resolve only those particular issues cleanly.
'That approach was much more efficient.'
The same applied to the current situation.
Kain's sole interest was whether the organization Regwin belonged to was connected to the Chaos Core.
If the old woman had properly handed over the information about Silver Fang, Kain would have already gone to their base to threaten their leadership.
"But then I heard you calling for some of those Silver Fang guys inside, so I came along to wait for them."
"....! You heard...!"
The old woman's eyes filled with horror.
"T-that's right. My greed..."
The old woman regretted her actions.
The most basic yet crucial virtue for surviving in this underworld was discernment.
The ability to quickly gauge how strong an opponent was, how much they knew, and therefore how much you could swindle them out of.
Or, whether you could completely betray and dispose of them.
The old woman, who had thrived on that discernment her entire life, had failed to die peacefully due to one major mistake.
"......"
Confirming that the old woman had drawn her last breath, Kain retrieved the two gold coins he had given her from her pocket.
Then, he spoke to the silent alley.
"Come out. Don't hide."
"Yes, sir! I'll guide you right away!"
