Chapter : 41

  The trio stepped out of the bright, clean streets of the Inner City and walked straight into a completely different world. The deep slums of the Imperial Capital did not look like they belonged in the same Empire. The alleys were incredibly narrow, the sky was blocked out by crooked, leaning wooden buildings, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of sticky mud and garbage.

  The smell was the first thing that hit them. It smelled like rotten vegetables, stale water, and despair.

  Naomi immediately covered her nose with the back of her hand. Her face twisted into a look of absolute disgust. She carefully stepped over a broken glass bottle, trying her hardest not to ruin her expensive combat boots.

  "This is disgusting," Naomi complained, her voice muffled behind her hand. "I cannot believe we actually listened to the farm boy. Look around, Sayma. There is no way a former Imperial Army Captain is hiding in this dump. It is completely beneath him."

  Sayma did not complain about the smell. She kept her eyes moving, scanning the dark corners and the shadows between the buildings. She pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose. "A good tactician uses the environment to his advantage, Naomi. Do not let the dirt distract you. Keep your guard up."

  Ken Eliot was walking a few steps behind the two elite girls. He had his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his messy dark blue uniform. His shirt was still wildly untucked. Unlike Naomi, Ken didn’t care about the smell or the mud. Back on his old planet, he had seen plenty of places like this in his favorite anime shows. This was the classic "shady underground" setting.

  As they walked deeper into the narrow alleyway, they started to see people.

  There were figures huddled in the dark corners, sitting on old cardboard boxes or leaning heavily against the damp brick walls. They looked terrible. They were shivering, even though the morning air was not that cold. Some of them were scratching at their own arms, muttering nonsense words to themselves. Their eyes were wide, bloodshot, and completely out of focus.

  Naomi stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a heavy sigh of annoyance.

  "Look at this," Naomi said, gesturing aggressively toward a group of shivering people nearby. "These are just petty drug addicts. They are totally out of their minds. This has absolutely nothing to do with a high-level B-rank mission. Vane is a master of Curse magic. He is not some low-level street thug selling cheap drugs in an alley. We are completely wasting our time here."

  Ken stopped dragging his feet. He looked at the shivering people in the shadows. He looked at Naomi’s angry, frustrated face.

  Suddenly, a massive, goofy smile spread across Ken’s face. He realized this was the absolute perfect moment to embrace a brand new, highly annoying persona. The slacker farm boy was taking a break. It was time for a classic anime trope.

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  Ken reached up with both hands and grabbed the brim of a hat that did not exist. He pulled the invisible hat down low over his eyes. He popped the collar of his cheap servant jacket so it stood up around his neck. Then, he cleared his throat and completely changed his voice.

  Instead of his usual lazy, high-pitched tone, Ken spoke in a deep, gravelly, overly dramatic whisper. He sounded like a gritty detective from an old black-and-white movie.

  "The city is weeping, Naomi," Ken growled, narrowing his sleepy eyes and staring off into the distance. "And I am the only one who can hear its tears. The streets are full of dirty secrets, and right now, we are standing in the mud of a very big mystery."

  Naomi blinked. She stared at him for three full seconds, completely confused. "What... what is wrong with your voice? Do you have a sore throat?"

  Ken ignored her question. He put two fingers up to his mouth and pretended to take a long puff from an invisible cigar. He blew out imaginary smoke.

  "You see a bunch of random drug addicts," Ken continued in his gritty detective voice, slowly pacing back and forth in the muddy alley. "But Inspector Ken sees the truth. You have to look at the bigger picture, kid. Rule number one of the detective business: follow the weird stuff."

  "Stop calling me 'kid'!" Naomi shouted, her face turning bright red with instant fury. "And stop talking like that! You sound completely ridiculous! You are not a detective, you are a guy who couldn't even tie his own necktie properly this morning!"

  Ken just shook his head sadly, acting like she was a rookie cop who didn't understand how the real world worked.

  "Think about it, rookie," Ken said, pointing a finger at the shadows. "There are dozens of these guys huddled in just this one street alone. If you have this many heavy consumers in one tiny, specific area, it means there is a massive supply coming from somewhere very close by. And a massive supply means an organized group is running things. Who is the only highly organized criminal group we know of hiding in the outer districts?"

  Naomi opened her mouth to yell at him again, ready to call his logic completely stupid.

  But before she could say a word, Sayma raised her hand.

  "Wait," Sayma said. Her voice was quiet, but it carried a sharp edge of sudden realization.

  Sayma stepped closer to one of the shivering addicts huddled in the corner. She did not touch the man, but she raised her hand and let a faint, golden light glow around her fingertips. She closed her eyes and focused on the magical energy in the air.

  As the Vice-Captain of the 13th Unit, Sayma was a master of barrier magic, which meant she was highly sensitive to how mana flowed in the environment.

  Sayma opened her eyes, pushing her glasses up. She looked back at Naomi, her expression entirely serious.

  "Ken is actually right," Sayma announced.

  Ken pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! Inspector Ken solves the case! Put it in the newspaper!"

  Naomi let out a loud groan of pure frustration, grabbing her own red hair. "Sayma, please do not encourage him! His ego is already too big! How can he possibly be right? These are just normal drug users!"

  "They are not normal," Sayma explained, pointing at the shivering man in the corner. "Look closely at him, Naomi. Normal narcotics affect the brain and the blood. But the mana signatures coming off these people... they feel fundamentally wrong. It is sick. It is twisted. There is a trace of very dark magic lingering in their bodies. I can feel it."

  Naomi stopped arguing. Her knightly pride was strong, but she trusted Sayma’s magical analysis completely. She looked back at the shivering addicts, finally seeing them not as a nuisance, but as a clue.

  "So," Naomi said slowly, putting her hand on the hilt of her dagger. "You think Vane and his Curse Organization are the ones supplying this weird drug to the slums?"