[88]
Peter’s expression darkened.
The adults who looked after the children changed frequently anyway.
So the fact that Gianni and the other children didn’t show much caution toward a stranger joining them was largely due to their environment.
No one had worried about this situation. Everyone was too busy making a living.
They thought there wouldn’t be any major problems since there was a gatekeeper, and everyone inside knew each other in some way.
That was also why the children were kept together rather than separate. When several are together, it’s harder to mess with them.
“We also played hide-and-seek… I was ‘it’ this time. I found the mister first… but even after a long time, Andy and the other kids didn’t return.”
Gianni sniffled. Clear traces of fear were visible.
“That mister said if I brought Peter oppa, he would tell me where the other kids were hiding. So…”
But once Peter was brought, the man disappeared.
Gianni was confused but tried to report the situation immediately. Then the flea market exploded, and people were screaming and wailing.
“When did Andy and the children come back?”
“They were brought by adults. They said they were by the waterway when they heard the noise and came back. They said I didn’t come looking for them.”
Gianni began to sob loudly.
Peter’s face grew troubled as he patted her head.
Probably that “mister” was the one who told the kids to hide by the waterway.
‘It’s also suspicious that Gianni can’t remember his appearance well.’
Was it really a mister?
Peter woke the children one by one, including Andy. He discovered that the “mister” each of them knew looked like a completely different person.
Andy thought it was an adult woman. One girl said a grandfather had come.
‘All the testimonies are different.’
An ability had clearly been at work. A special ability like Peter’s.
‘Brainwashing. Hypnosis. Hallucination… Whichever it is, it’s an extremely rare ability. I won’t be able to break it.’
After calming the children, Peter came out and opened a door.
He planned to go to the Barrel Society headquarters.
Once there…
‘What should I do?’
Put out a wanted notice for someone whose appearance is unknown? Track the bomb’s entry route? Interrogate Joaquin?
His mind was a mess.
Above all, thinking about how this would affect the Barrel Society made him dizzy.
The illegal immigrants who had been able to catch their breath here and meet comrades in the same situation would hide even deeper below the surface.
Peter, walking unsteadily, opened a “door.”
Stepping through it, he immediately spoke:
“The child doesn’t know anything.”
A guest was sitting across from the gatekeeper old woman. It was a woman with white hair like the “gatekeeper” sitting opposite her.
The woman who turned her head at Peter’s voice stood up.
“I’m Janet Fortuna. Please call me by my last name.”
Eyes that seemed enlightened beyond her years made her look like an elderly person.
“If you’re Ms. Fortuna…”
“I’m a mental type Esper from White Night.”
Peter’s mouth fell open in surprise.
‘A mental type Esper from White Night came here? At this timing?’
The old gatekeeper woman made a hand signal to him.
It was a warning to stop acting stupid and pull himself together.
“I came at the boss’s call. It seems you need me, is that right?”
“…Yes!”
Peter couldn’t help shouting with a face full of delight.
If this woman could unravel the ability that had scrambled Gianni and the children’s minds, the situation would improve significantly.
***
“Eat something.”
Susanna Godrin put a plate in front of January.
January stared blankly at it and smiled awkwardly.
“You were never this kind when I worked at the pub.”
“Kind?”
Susanna snorted.
“If you suddenly drop dead while staying here, it’ll be a hassle for me.”
Her eyes rolled as she muttered about Chris being quite the temperamental bastard.
“…I’ve heard rumors, but.”
“I guarantee it’s beyond the rumors.”
Susanna muttered.
“Aren’t stories that pass from mouth to mouth usually exaggerated?”
Susanna shook her head at January’s question.
“Do you think someone who has truly faced him could survive? He’s an S-class Esper. Beyond standard, too. Even in my prime, when I moved as effectively the action leader of the Godrin Family that ruled the Winter continent, I can’t forget the day I first saw Chris Danil.”
For some reason, Chris Danil briefly served as a mercenary for the Luciano Family.
In Susanna’s opinion, it was due to Yuri Sobolev’s influence. It was before White Night was established, during the period of conflict between the two families.
To prevent the Godrin Family from gaining too much power, Yuri played his best card and achieved his goal.
That day, Chris broke the bones of everyone who approached him among the organization members Susanna had led. Just enough that they could be rehabilitated with treatment.
‘I had to take care of all those trained personnel I couldn’t afford to lose.’
Since he didn’t kill them outright, she had no choice but to take care of them. Because if she abandoned subordinates who were alive and treatable, it could shake the family’s unity.
The struggle had been dragging on. Susanna’s judgment was that incidents that could shake organizational control should be minimized.
But the more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t shake the feeling she had been manipulated.
‘Running away with my subordinates, entering a semi-forced peace period with the Lucianos… During that time, that weasel took everything he wanted.’
Wasn’t he gaining too much for just deploying a single card like Chris Danil?
That wasn’t all.
Susanna felt a chill while examining her injured subordinates.
Is it possible to injure all opponents, who aren’t ordinary people but Espers, in the same way and to the same extent?
Some shoot flames, some freeze their opponents. Someone makes the ground slippery, and another becomes hard as steel.
Yet they were all injured in the same place and in the same way, without exception.
Susanna felt a chill. It was one of the reasons her sister had desperately tried to keep vermin like Sobolev in check, even when it wasn’t necessary.
As a result, she knew more about Chris Danil’s true nature than others… but now, she wasn’t sure if that knowledge was useful.
Hadn’t she become a servant bound without even a leash?
‘…I still haven’t paid the price for helping Miya escape.’
Thinking this way to control her crumbling pride, Susanna spoke:
“The rumors tend to be understated, if anything.”
“I see. He was indeed an impressive person.”
January muttered.
“Why? Did you take a liking to him?”
“No. He’s so impressive that it’s rather… scary.”
He looked down at the bowl of soup.
“I’ve had Espers who bothered me before. Because I made them mistake me for a Guide. But… I once got hit by a B-class Esper’s unconsciously extended hand and rolled onto the floor.”
“Hmm.”
Susanna pressed her lips together. She had also failed to control her strength with Miya.
“I definitely hit my head hard on the marble… but my arm that got hit by that hand hurt more than my head. When I went to the hospital later, they said it was dislocated.”
January shook his head.
“Then, what would happen if that person accidentally forgot about my existence, or thoughtlessly reached out his hand?”
It was chilling just to imagine.
His life had been endlessly shaken by those with unremarkable powers. What would happen if he got involved with someone like Chris?
He knew from experience that Chris was quite courteous and good at maintaining boundaries. But people change.
Even if he never changed.
Just as an ant dies under a human’s thoughtlessly extended foot, one’s life could be endangered by an S-class Esper’s thoughtlessly extended hand.
This was the conclusion reached by January, who had unwittingly experienced many Espers over the past few years.
“You’d die, I guess.”
Susanna shrugged.
“It’s a bit detestable for an Esper to say this, but they don’t necessarily kill because they want to. Even in my case… because I awakened at such a young age, my mother died, and so did three nannies. I heard they all froze to death because I couldn’t control my power.”
Susanna scratched the back of her head, saying it was from so long ago that her memory was hazy, then added after seeing January’s pale face:
“It’s not like that now. Anyway. When I told Miya this story, she said something.”
Joy, as if dreaming, filled her voice.
“She said it was as if winter had been born as a human.”
January was about to say that Miya must not have been in her right mind either, but swallowed his words.
It seemed one had to be that crazy to be the Guide of such an Esper.
“If I’m winter… then Chris would be… hmm. I don’t know. Anyway, something like a calamity.”
January suddenly felt curious.
“If Chris is that dangerous, how does his Guide endure it?”
“I’m the one surprised that ‘that’ Yuri Sobolev of all people has an Esper.”
Susanna shook her head.
An obsessive control freak, a sadist, and a tyrant. With a cleanliness obsession on top.
No one but Chris Danil could have endured it.
After grumbling a few times about how her Miya was an angel, Susanna asked:
“How did a coward who fears even Espers who are kind to you end up like this?”
“I did it to make a living.”
January smiled awkwardly. Susanna sighed and handed him a spoon.
“Then at least eat well.”
She rose from her seat and walked outside.
Embarrassed, January moved his spoon and emptied the soup bowl. Though he thought he had eaten quite diligently, when he put down his spoon because he was full, half the food remained.
Just then, there was a knock, knock sound.
“Who is it?”
The owner of this place wouldn’t knock.
From outside came the answer.
“Yuri Sobolev.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
