Chapter 184 - The Regressor Who Stamped Out the Embers of Destruction Wants a Quiet Life

At the magician’s warning, the Family gathered its forces and prepared for a decisive battle.

This was an opportunity the Family had dearly wished for. JJJ, the enemies of beastkin who put on bizarre masks and went out hunting them, were coming to fight of their own accord. There was no reason to turn them away.

Unlike their enemies, for whom this was merely a night’s entertainment, the Family’s survival was at stake. They scraped together everyone capable of fighting to resist the coming attack.

Every corner of the Black Cat magazine office was packed with armed beastkin, claws extended.

Beastkin generally had sharper senses than ordinary humans. With this much strength assembled, they should have been able to hold their own even against the Shadow...

“We shouldn’t have done that...”

Neru, the beastkin reporter who served as both editor-in-chief and public face of Black Cat, was hiding inside a cabinet, trembling.

Never in the Family’s history had so much fighting strength gathered in one place. Perhaps that was why. Buoyed by false confidence, they had picked a fight with someone they should never have challenged.

And the result was...

CRAAASH!

“Tell me everything you know.”

“I-I don’t know!”

“Is that so?”

“Wait! I don’t mean I can’t tell you. I mean I don’t know...! They just called me here today!”

“Then someone must know. Surely even you know which of you is best informed.”

“Neru! A black cat beastkin named Neru!”

“Fetch her.”

THUD.

The sound of feet hitting the floor as their owner was released.

At that sound, a once-devoted member of the Family turned informer and immediately began racing around in a frantic search for Neru.

“Neruuuuu! Get out here, nowwww! Are you trying to get us all killed?!”

“Spill everything you know about the magician!”

“We’ll all die at this rate! The Family comes first!”

‘Idiots! How can you let yourselves be led around exactly as our opponent wants!’

Hidden inside the cabinet, Neru screamed inwardly at her comrades’ pitiful calls.

‘Isn’t it obvious? The magician sent that thing! The questions themselves could be a test!’

She had given the magician a little prod, both to keep him in check and to save the Family from danger. No one could blame her. After all, it was her proactive negotiations that had revealed the Shadow was inciting beastkin haters to attack them.

‘But...! I never imagined he’d planted poison among us, too...!’

She had gotten a little carried away. Instead of keeping the story about the woman the magician was so protective of safely in her head, she had made the mistake of putting it into print, however briefly.

She had only meant it as half a joke.

Who could have imagined a strange visitor would recognize the information about the magician and react?

‘This is why I should never have gotten involved with the magician...! He’s doctored this information!’

Hiding in the cramped, pitch-dark cabinet, Neru recalled what had happened a little earlier.

The magazine office was closed that day as they prepared for the showdown. Only the secret counter at the back had been left open, in case an urgent message arrived.

It was a contact point for secret members. Anyone with urgent, confidential business—especially the magician—would contact them there.

But today, unfamiliar visitors had arrived. Without preamble, they had asked whether the Family could find someone in the vast city of Amitengrad.

It was simple work, but labor-intensive. Ordinarily, Neru would have drawn out the conversation and negotiated while pretending it would be difficult, but today was different.

With the Family’s honor and future riding on a decisive battle, they could hardly accept a missing-person commission. Neru politely but firmly refused.

The visitors were reasonable enough to understand her position and even offered to help the Family. But she could not trust outsiders who were not even beastkin, so she accepted only the sentiment.

Just when it seemed their meeting would end on that cordial note...

“... Marriage?”

The moment the silver-haired girl who had been sitting silently murmured that word, the Family’s fate changed.

The girl possessed an indescribable grace, like a noble of the old Kingdom. She strode inside the counter. No one could stop her, for the simple reason that nothing they could offer would present more resistance than the partition of thick concrete and steel bars.

Having smashed the concrete and torn aside the bars, the girl leisurely perused the information as though she owned the place.

“Huey, the brilliant student who ranked first in his entire secondary school... Is his name truly Huey?”

When the girl said that, Neru was so startled her tail nearly fell off.

Nothing on the display said he was the magician, yet she had pinpointed him.

Was she an acquaintance, or someone pursuing him?

Either way, Neru could not readily reveal the magician’s identity. It was confidential, and betraying the magician after he had given the Family vital information would violate professional good faith.

She kept her mouth shut. The information on display was only a sample meant to whet customers’ appetites. Unless she spoke, they could not learn the details.

The problem was that this customer was not someone who endured thirst.

“Hand it over. Now that I know you have information about him, there is no reason to delay. I shall pay, so sell me the information.”

Neru knew how powerful the girl was. She had just seen it. But she was unsure whether this was information the girl should be allowed to learn.

The magician himself had openly provided it. If she sold it at a high price, she had no idea what sort of poison it might become when it came back to her. As she hesitated, other Family members rushed in, drawn by the noise.

“What is it?! An attack?”

“How many enemies?”

“To think they’d attack from this side...!”

“You’ve walked straight into your own grave!”

‘Wait! No! You don’t know who...!’

Full of themselves, they surrounded the girl with the snow-white aura and tried to threaten her. At that moment, pitch-black knights formed of darkness crawled out in swarms from every direction.

That was the end of it.

“Neruuuuu!”

“Come out!”

“I knew this would happen when you started strutting around, talking about running a magazine!”

The voices beyond the cabinet sounded like distant echoes. Neru closed her eyes and leaned against the wall.

The cabinet was comfortable. Its cramped darkness soothed her.

Darkness, enclosed on every side. As long as she stayed here, she was safe. No one could find her, hurt her, or torment her.

It did not matter that she could not see out of one eye. In this darkness, everyone was equal.

She thought she understood why cats sought out confined spaces. They were so cozy, so comforting...

But an egg is a world, and exists to be broken.

“Here she is!”

CRRRUNCH.

The cabinet was torn apart, and light flooded in. Neru groaned beneath the ear-splitting noise and the light that tormented her eyes.

Then came the furious members of the Family.

And behind them, the girl sat like a king.

“Neru, you little bastard! Start talking!”

“We’re trying to prepare for a battle!”

“Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve caused?!”

Dragged out by her collar, Neru found herself surrounded by the Family in an instant. She faced their hostility.

The Family members she loved, who had loved her in return, were blaming her, their faces hideously contorted.

“Hurry up and spill everything you know!”

“We put you in charge of this, and you just did whatever you pleased!”

“If you weren’t up to it, you shouldn’t have started anything in the first place!”

It had taken less than an hour for her to go from a spirited reporter to a traitor. Yet all she had done was try her best.

Tears welled in Neru’s eyes as misery overwhelmed her.

Sobbing, she spoke.

“Hh... Hic...! You idiots, this is the magician...!”

“What?”

“The magician...! You vermin! This whole situation...! Hic! The magician made it happen!”

At the word “magician,” the Family members all glanced around at one another.

The silver-haired girl, presumably a vampire, was powerful, but had not used excessive force. The fact that she could easily tear steel bars apart, yet had not done the same to anyone here, proved that.

Still, she was a heartless, merciless vampire. She was sparing the Family not out of compassion, but because she did not consider killing them worth the trouble. Thus, the beastkin had been obliged to act as her hands and feet, searching diligently for Neru.

A calamity that did not quite threaten their lives, yet seemed to turn their world upside down.

“Come to think of it, this is exactly the sort of thing the magician would do.”

“Acting like you knew it all along won’t help now...!”

“Sorry. But why did you mess with the magician?”

Neru sniffled and wiped her tears.

“Hic...! I’m sorry...!”

“Well, now I’ve seen everything. An apology from Neru. Is this magic?”

An apology was something a paparazzi reporter neither offered nor ought to offer, but in this particular case, Neru had nothing to say in her defense.

In any event, the tension eased somewhat. The other Family members cautiously edged away. The accusations had largely subsided, but Neru was now left alone with her.

The girl in slightly old-fashioned clothes, reigning like a queen with her red eyes gleaming.

“The magician. It must be him. He called himself a magician as well. He would play mischievous tricks with cards.”

The girl murmured as though reminiscing. There was little that felt negative in her wistful longing.

Well, that must have been why she had not been too heavy-handed...

“I never imagined I would hear such happy news so soon after his return...”

She certainly did not seem to have come to congratulate him on his marriage. Neru shuddered.

‘What on earth have you been doing...? This goes far beyond a casual acquaintance.’

Even a passing storm would be gentler than this girl. Her power matched a general of the Military State... No, it made even a general seem insignificant.

If the magician had someone like her backing him, not just the backstreets but all of Amitengrad would have fallen into his hands.

Whatever the case, Neru had brought this disaster upon them. More than half the weapons and traps they had prepared were now unusable.

She had to step up and take responsibility.

“... I can tell you. But if we’re to have a quiet conversation, we’ll need to stop the people attacking from outside.”

“Outside, you say.”

She had to protect the Family, even if it meant using this girl. Tense with nerves, Neru spoke.

“Yes. We’re beastkin, so as you can see, we have a lot of enemies. We couldn’t allow a disturbance while talking with someone as distinguished as you, could we? So...”

For Neru, this was the negotiation of a lifetime. Yet the girl answered as though she had expected it from the start.

“Do not concern yourself with that. A dependable child is blocking the way here.”

Shei was pacing around the Black Cat magazine office. When the noise inside ceased, she glanced toward it.

It seemed Tyrkanzyaka had finished dealing with everyone inside.

“She won’t smash the whole place, will she? Hmm. I feel a little bad. This wasn’t what I had in mind.”

She had intended to negotiate normally, but Tyrkanzyaka had acted before she could. Since the results were all that mattered, Shei had left her to it and come outside.

To keep this unsavory mob from interfering while Tyrkanzyaka gathered information.

Even before the masked assailant, Shei spoke nonchalantly.

“We’re using this place for a bit. If you need something, come back later...”

“Shut up...! A beastkin just attacked our comrades! Look at this arm!”

“That’s your problem... Wait.”

Realizing Nabi was nowhere to be seen, Shei glanced at the wound. Sure enough, the flesh torn open in a single stroke resembled Nabi’s handiwork.

Feeling a little responsible, Shei muttered.

“With a wound like that, why did you come here instead of going to a hospital?”

“Because we need revenge! Move, right now. Stay there, and we’ll consider you a beastkin too!”

They were so worked up that Shei doubted she could stop them without a show of force.

So she decided to give them one.

“Hmm. Hold on.”

Replying offhandedly, Shei drew Earth’s Ripple and struck the ground.

A localized earthquake shook Amitengrad. The concrete ground supporting people, motor carriages, and even buildings split open like a thin sheet of ice.

That was not the end of it. Shei flicked a chunk of concrete into the air with the tip of Earth’s Ripple, then struck it from the side.

Shattered concrete rained down like a meteor shower. The pieces were small, but each flew with as much force as an arrow.

Everyone struck by the fragments and dust toppled backward.

“Gah...”

“Uhhh...”

It was a rule of this world they had briefly forgotten in the safety of the mob.

A handful of powerful individuals could overturn the earth and shatter boulders single-handedly. No matter how many small fry gathered together, they could not win.

“This... isn’t what I came here for...”

Pain as though their entire bodies had been battered cooled their heads. Once their fervor subsided, only self-loathing and regret remained.

“I... want to go home...”

“Mommy...”

Their fear seeped out even from beneath their masks. That should be enough. Shei rested Earth’s Ripple on her shoulder.

“Now. We’re using this place. If you need something, come back later.”

“Yes.”

Today, the anti-beastkin organization learned how precious life was.

The ordinary people retreated. Shei watched them without much feeling, then suddenly made her eyes glow red. Her gaze turned toward a corner.

“Now, you there, spying on us. If you need something, come out.”

The Fifth Penumbra, who had been watching from hiding around the corner, quickly finished his calculations.

If he fought? He would lose. Injured as he was, he could not even buy time.

Clutching the wound Nabi had given him, the Fifth immediately fled into the darkness. Watching the assailant recede into the distance, Shei sighed with Earth’s Ripple still resting on her shoulder.

“Guess he doesn’t need anything. Anyway, were the Military State’s backstreets always like this? They’re awfully noisy today...”

Of course, Shei was hardly one to talk. It had been only a full day since she had run riot in District 1, the very heart of the Military State.

“Still, I don’t think this happened because of us... Oh, is this that incident? The Military State’s fifty-first round of stop-and-searches?”

Shei tried to remember more, then gave up. As war approached, the Military State had repeatedly subjected its citizens to frequent stop-and-searches and press crackdowns, gradually exposing its weaknesses.

“Whatever. What’s the point of keeping count? It’s all pointless bullshit anyway.”

Like water soaking into cloth, it had been a continuous process, without any single event she could clearly identify as the turning point.

If things continued into the war with the League of Nations over the Bottomless Pit Plain, the Military State would endure longer. If she prodded its weaknesses and stirred up trouble everywhere, it might collapse.

“It’s about time I decided what to do... All right. I’ve decided. This time, I’ll just gather the power I need and quietly watch how things unfold.”

Seeing how the world changed when the bottomless pit disappeared without incident would help her plan for the future.

Shei was calculating what she would need for a quiet life when a shadow with a barely perceptible presence passed beside her. It was something she knew well.

“...? A black knight?”

Tyrkanzyaka’s familiars. Echoes of ancient knights, without consciousness but faithful to their orders.

There was more than one. Black knights as numerous as the shadows that had descended upon the world were spreading throughout Amitengrad.

Their purpose was probably...

“So much for a quiet life.”

Almost able to hear all her plans falling apart, Shei sighed.