Chapter 3
As I always feel, a suit is an uncomfortable outfit.
Wearing that uncomfortable suit, I rode a train for nine hours.
And that was to undertake a big request, one I had avoided until now.
Enols Airfield
A place one absolutely had to pass through to cross the 'Great Sea,' the standard for overseas assignments.
The size of the signboard alone was several times larger than any shabby office building I knew.
The moment I stepped inside that massive building, it was as if I was simultaneously stepping into a new world.
Because the Deliverer industry, where the vast majority are superhumans, and the society where the vast majority live ordinary lives have a gulf as wide as the sky and the earth.
Perhaps the moment I walk in there in this suit, most people will realize I'm a Deliverer.
But it doesn't matter.
Even if they know I'm a Deliverer, people won't pay it any mind.
Because the land they stand on is an autonomous region where a nation guarantees safety.
***
There were far too many people.
Some moved in unison, following the loudspeaker announcements broadcast periodically, while the rest were using the facilities here.
And as I cut through them, I had to endure a barrage of gazes from all directions.
As I mindlessly moved towards what was named the central plaza, I saw a man and a woman in black suits in the distance.
People from the same industry.
Deliverers uniformly wear suits as camouflage when on overseas assignments crossing the Great Sea, so I could recognize them at a glance.
In this otherworldly place, it felt strangely welcoming.
Soon, we noticed each other and exchanged brief eye contact.
Choosing an empty chair in the central plaza of the airfield, I could only endlessly wait for someone.
About ten minutes passed.
In the distance, I saw a uniquely individualistic man swaggering towards me, recognizable even from afar.
Garrick.
A Deliverer belonging to the 555 Office, my colleague, friend, and a crazy bastard.
A silver suit, a shirt with red floral patterns.
Hair that was half-shaved, violently contrasting with his attire, and a small but imposing build.
He strode towards me, saw me, and shouted loudly.
"Hey, why does it feel like it's been so long?"
Then, as I always did, I replied to him nonchalantly.
"Did you get night blindness or something? Why are you so late?"
"Jeez, why are you so prickly? Are you sandpaper? Sunglasses, not sandpaper, sunglasses."
He then put down the black leather bag he was holding and nudged my shoulder.
"Let's grab a bite before we go, my treat."
"It's late, we have to leave right away."
"What's late? There's still time."
"Let's just eat on the airship."
"Are you going through menopause?"
"Hah… just a bit…."
"Alright, alright, I get it. If you whine one more time, my skin's gonna peel off, sandpaper bastard."
***
As I sat down and unpacked my luggage, the woman sitting next to me approached.
She hesitated with a shy expression before quickly greeting me and handing me a small piece of cloth, then hurrying away.
Garrick, who had been watching this whole scene from the side—
"What the hell."
—Muttered, but as soon as he sat down, he poured out his curiosity.
"Look, what's that?"
At his words, I carefully examined the long piece of cloth the woman had given me.
"It's a landmark. If you hang it anywhere, homing pigeons sent by the other party will stop by."
At this, Garrick repeatedly expressed his admiration.
"She must be from the East. They say the romance over there is something else, and it was true!"
"It's just everyday life for people over there."
I heard that carrier pigeons from the East can cross the Great Sea in about thirty minutes. It might be slow compared to other communication methods, but its security is said to be the best.
Suddenly, Garrick poked my side.
"Hey, after we finish this job, try hanging it up. That lady was pretty."
"No thanks."
"You're like a guy whose romance has completely died out."
A dissatisfied Garrick alternately tapped my cheek and head.
"No romance, no romance, this bastard!"
"Stop it, you jerk!"
"Um… would you like to have some of this?"
"Hey, she made eye contact with me."
The whispers of the passing flight attendant and the passenger in the next seat were directed at me.
But suddenly, Garrick's pettiness exploded.
"Seriously, this world… ha…."
"What is it now."
"What is it now?"
"It's probably just a casual curiosity about Deliverers or something."
"I'm a Deliverer too, you Deliverer jerk!"
"Ah."
"Ah?"
Awkward silence.
Garrick sighed deeply and took out a piece of paper from his pocket.
"I guess I'm just destined to work my bones to death, huh."
It was the information about the request the boss had given him.
Senghus Tail (29)
Eldest son of Magelli Tail, the Deputy Chairman of the Middle Road Metropolitan Transportation Authority, directly participated in an illegally held race.
Hit and ran two ordinary citizens due to speeding.
Both victims died instantly at the scene.
Initial investigation revealed evidence of drunk driving and drug use by the driver, but the press controlled this information.
Subsequently, the Middle Road Police placed Senghus Tail in isolation for two weeks under the pretext of personal and mental protection.
Investigation results confirmed that the isolation area was a luxury pension at a resort.
As the lack of will for national-level judgment was confirmed, the Middle Road Citizens' Alliance 'Olleed' requests the Deliverers to deliver justice befitting Senghus Tail.
Garrick, who had been scanning the request form for quite some time, opened his mouth.
"Yohan, do you know how our office manages to snag such massive requests?"
It was a question I had been wondering about too. In the Deliverer industry, the A-rank designation signifies the top 30%.
One could say that since Garrick is an A-rank superhuman, requests befitting that level are connected, but it's unlikely that so many other offices would miss out on such requests.
"How do we get them?"
"You're still a two-year rookie, so you probably don't know, but our office is actually directly under the Central Association."
"Directly under?"
"Yeah, I don't know the details either, but I heard the boss used to be someone deep within the Central Association's headquarters. Though it seems he got kicked out for some incident."
"Kicked out, but he managed to set up an office directly under the Central Association's line?"
"Maybe it's like exile? Otherwise, there's no way an office directly under the Central Association would be a dilapidated house stuck in a corner of Jeblin."
That makes sense. It's the most convincing thing Garrick has said so far.
"But as you've probably noticed, beyond just getting good requests, we've been cherry-picking only the easy ones, right?"
Yeah, even though they were B-rank requests, most of the jobs I've taken on so far have been clean ones without any worries about repercussions.
So much so that I even let my guard down during the recent request, something I hadn't done before. All the work I've done has been thoroughly below my standards.
"So?"
Garrick, whose mood seemed to improve along with my sparkling eyes, shrugged.
"Doesn't that mean he still has connections within the Central Association? That's why he can hire even an A-rank superhuman like me, who's practically an S-rank. And it's the same reason he hired you, a B-rank who's practically an A-rank."
The most important question remained.
"Why?"
At my following question, Garrick's eyebrows, which had been twitching just moments before, stopped abruptly.
"Why what?"
"Why is the boss doing all this?"
"Obviously, to go back to his original position."
No, that doesn't make sense.
"If he wanted to be reinstated, wouldn't it be normal to try and achieve results that he could use to appeal to the Central Association?"
Garrick tilted his head at my words.
"Isn't that why we're gradually taking on big requests like this?"
After hearing Garrick's words, only one conclusion came to mind.
"Rather than that, it seems like the boss has other motives."
Garrick, his previous objections now forgotten, nodded silently at my conclusion.
"Well, maybe. Our boss is someone you can never really figure out."
Nevertheless, a moment later, Garrick and I naturally fell silent, dropping our suspicions about the boss.
Whatever the boss's ulterior motives might be, the fact remains that the boss, Beru, was the one who saved me two years ago when I was nothing more than an empty shell.
Our Monolith general airship will now take off.
We will ascend into a cloud-like vessel and trace a leisurely path like them,
We sincerely hope you have a pleasant flight.
A comforting voice echoed throughout the airship as I was lost in thought for a moment.
Soon, the scenery outside the window lifted as if it were being pulled up.
After the feeling of my heart rising and falling subsided, Garrick asked in a lower voice than before.
"Hey, why are you doing something you never used to do? Weren't you against taking on big missions? Did the boss threaten you?"
"No, we just made a deal."
"That's called coercion, you idiot."
My gaze fixed on the scenery beyond the window, I spoke my true feelings for the first time.
"Actually, I was getting sick of it, crawling through the present to find the past. So I thought I'd try taking a shortcut once. To see how fast it is, how much time I can save."
Thinking about it now, that must be it.
That's why I readily agreed to the boss's obvious coercion, me.
After a moment of silence following my words, Garrick said—
"Yeah, you thought it through well."
He replied briefly in a low voice.
"What, is that it?"
Garrick chuckled at my words.
"You're the strictest one on yourself, why would I need to be strict too? I should just support the decision you made."
After that, as we always did, we continued our pointless conversation to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
"Anyway, I need to find my real age quickly too. It's not like I can keep living as Garrick's age forever."
"What the hell are you talking about now?"
"Anyone can see I look much younger than you, right?"
"Anyone can see that you and I are the same age, you jerk."
"Are you being serious?"
By the time our bickering roughly ended, the train window was dyed a muggy gold.
***
Middle Road – Center Wall Airfield
Is this how an ant feels when it sees a human's house for the first time?
Coming here makes the previous airfield seem shabby now.
"Stop acting like a hick and let's go get our luggage."
Garrick, who had been looking at my dazed expression with amusement, adjusted his sunglasses and pushed my back.
Just as we retrieved our luggage and were about to head straight outside.
"Garrick, five at seven o'clock."
As I instinctively opened my mouth according to the feeling of my five senses tickling my left temple, Garrick, without a change in expression, muttered nonchalantly and took the lead.
"Let's get out of here first."
Following behind Garrick, I sharpened my five senses even further, and the voices of the hundreds of tangled people began to quiet down, as if sinking below the surface of the water.
At the same time, as I focused all my nerves on the five caught by my five senses, without looking, their every move naturally played out in my mind.
Uniformed in black jackets, not Deliverers.
About two of them seem to be superhumans….
"Doesn't look like they're armed."
"They wouldn't be crazy enough to cause trouble in a place like this."
Garrick slung his bag over one shoulder and headed towards the exit without looking back.
"So, Yohan. Do you think those guys noticed us?"
"They probably don't even know the extent of my five senses' range."
Garrick snorted as if it were obvious from my words.
"Of course not, not even most A-rank superhumans can keep up with your five senses' detection ability."
This extensive five-sense detection ability is my unique specialty, not belonging to the 4 Systems that define a superhuman.
At the same time, like swordsmanship, it's also the only trace of my past.
As Garrick said earlier, the capability of this specialty might indeed reach the level of an A-rank superhuman.
But that doesn't mean I think this specialty will give me a physical advantage in a fight against an A-rank superhuman.
That would just be recklessness.
Garrick then gave a short and firm conclusion.
"Looks like they're scouts sent by the recipient's old man."
"Are they planning to tail every suit-wearing person going in and out of the airfield?"
As we stepped outside the building, a vast cityscape unfolded.
Tall buildings lined up one after another, so high they could have been the only skyscraper if built elsewhere, with black roads tangled like blood vessels running between them.
Hundreds of vehicles with mechanical hearts throbbing as they rolled on those black roads.
───── !
The complex and subtle pulse of the city, tangled with all sorts of noise.
Is this the reality of Middle Road, one of the four major capitals, made by mixing light on iron and stone?
It's utterly overwhelming.
"Yohan, over there."
Garrick, grabbing my arm as I was dazed again, pointed towards a certain spot.
Following his finger, I turned my head and saw a man waving and approaching us.
"My introduction is late, I am Eren from Olleed, a Middle Road citizens' group."
Olleed was the organization that requested this mission.
The man named Eren, who seemed to be a member of that organization, was a young man with blue hair.
He then politely offered us a handshake.
"You don't have to worry, I received separate contact from the president of 555 Office and was informed about you beforehand."
At his words, Garrick and I exchanged glances and lowered our guard.
"Please get in. I'll give you a detailed explanation while we move."
Eren immediately opened the door of the black car waiting behind him himself.
At this, I looked at Eren and spoke with a nod.
"We're being followed. Can we shake them off?"
Then, Eren smiled and replied—
"I'm not a superhuman, but I'm confident in my driving."
No sooner had Garrick and I settled in the back seats of the car than Eren sat in the driver's seat and immediately started the engine.
