[94]
Chris tensed his shoulders stiffly.
An illegal Esper fighting arena?
“Is such a… place necessary?” he asked with an astonished face.
Yuri nodded slightly.
“I haven’t uncovered the exact details yet. But… it seems they treat it as a kind of sport. And naturally, you can gamble on it too.”
“Ah.”
Chris lowered his eyes.
Even on the Winter Continent, places like dogfighting rings existed.
Humans who would excite two starving dogs, put them in a ring, and watch with enthusiasm to see which would kill or be killed first.
“First drugs, now gambling. Looks like they’ve been busy figuring out how to make money.”
“I’d bet my wrist that they sell drugs there too.”
Chris’s face hardened at Yuri’s casual remark, though no one was actually going to cut off his wrist.
“If this is the ‘Leader’s’ idea, it’s quite interesting.”
Yuri murmured.
“Why is that?”
“Where should I begin?” Yuri muttered in a slow tone in response to Chris’s question.
“There are too many Espers.”
“Pardon?”
“Compared to the number of Guides, there are far too many Espers.”
This had been a chronic problem since ability users first appeared.
Unlike Espers who could breathe fire and fly through the sky, a Guide’s abilities weren’t externally visible.
Often, even the individuals themselves didn’t know they were Guides.
Considering that Espers are an extremely small minority compared to the actual population, some people might go their entire lives without meeting an ability user.
And if this “some person” is a Guide?
They would live an ordinary life without ever discovering they were a Guide.
“Espers might be a handful, but Guides are perhaps just a finger’s worth.”
Yuri spoke in an almost sing-song manner.
“And about seventy to eighty percent of identified Guides belong to Northern Light.”
The remaining twenty percent would be those who conceal their identity and those who get kidnapped after their nature is accidentally revealed.
And this was a generous estimate.
“I wonder how many Guides the Thorns Order has secured?”
Chris immediately answered that question.
“…I don’t think they have many.”
“What led you to that conclusion?”
Yuri asked.
It seemed less out of genuine curiosity and more like he wanted to cross-check whether Chris was thinking along the same lines as him.
“Because of the guiding drug.”
Yuri nodded, as if encouraging him to continue.
“The Winter Continent wasn’t where the guiding drug was first distributed. It was probably the Summer Continent. Considering the factory we recently discovered, the original production site was likely the abandoned factory district in the Spring Continent.”
Chris began to explain slowly.
“The guiding drug was an attempt to ‘replace’ guiding. Rosenhauser operated with a desire to suppress Guides and free Espers. But the result…”
“Was a failure.”
“Yes. So I think they used the guiding drug in the Winter Continent as a means to undermine your foothold.”
Yuri’s mouth twisted.
He doesn’t particularly like drugs. His past experience of nearly being sold while under their influence played a part in that.
The guiding drug was even more horrifying among them.
Because he could sense Rosenhauser’s intentions behind it.
‘Liberator of Espers. Something like that is what he wanted to be.’
If this had truly succeeded, if it had become a perfect substitute for guiding?
“January, whom we met at the guiding establishment Dahlia told us about, was utilizing the guiding drug in ways we hadn’t encountered before. According to him, his colleagues also earned money by pretending to be Guides through the guiding drug.”
“Hmm.”
“Dahlia, who was truly ‘Thorns Order,’ despite being assigned the important task of monitoring the abandoned factory district, couldn’t get matched with a real Guide.”
It wouldn’t have been ‘always.’ If they fell to a level where they couldn’t use their abilities, they would go berserk.
However, it’s clear they were in a situation where they had to use ‘fakes’ to minimize reliance on real Guides.
“Yes. My speculation is similar.”
Yuri’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“That’s why I say the Leader is clever… they’ve devised a way to effectively reduce the number of Espers while also making money.”
“…Pardon?”
Chris’s eyes widened.
“If they just wanted to create a gambling arena, they wouldn’t necessarily have used Espers. They could have used dogs, or thrown in indebted ordinary people and promised to forgive the debt of the winner.”
Yuri muttered.
“But they specifically chose Espers. This precious resource.”
An even more precious resource.
That is, to save ‘Guides.’
“By making them kill each other, they reduce resentment directed toward themselves. And they make money too.”
“That’s…”
Chris swallowed his words, unable to complete the sentence.
After carefully choosing his words, Chris asked, “If the number of Espers affiliated with the Thorns Order decreases, wouldn’t their influence also decrease?”
It’s only natural that those with power rule the underworld.
Though not as much as Guides, Espers are a valuable resource. Especially if Rosenhauser had selected them and placed them in his private military organization, the Thorns Order, they wouldn’t be just any riffraff.
‘Isn’t it wasteful?’
But Yuri seemed to have already completed his speculation on this matter as well.
“The Leader has joined hands with the mayor of Babel City and extended their reach to the Barrel Society. They must be involved in various other places too.”
What they had uncovered so far was already quite substantial.
If the Leader wasn’t a fool, they would have spread their influence widely.
“They’re transforming from an Esper military organization into a criminal organization that affects the entire Spring Continent.”
After Rosenhauser’s downfall, when they could no longer receive a stable supply of Guides, they decided to cut away unnecessary parts.
“With an illegal fighting arena, they could throw in subordinates who don’t listen… it could also be used as a means of ruling through fear.”
Yuri added, almost as if talking to himself.
As terrible as it is, it’s efficient.
“Then why did they commit terrorist acts against Northern Light and Baekyah?”
Chris asked.
“Shouldn’t they be changing quietly, without attracting attention, especially during such times?”
“No.”
Yuri scoffed.
“The Leader has already spent a year lying low. Now they’ve completed their preparations.”
After Rosenhauser’s death, Yuri had somewhat obsessively investigated what followed.
Chris had been worried about Yuri. But now he realized that Yuri had been seeing things Chris hadn’t.
‘…I thought he was just consumed by revenge and it had become a habit.’
It made him feel sick.
He felt ashamed that despite being so close to Yuri, he couldn’t even guess what was in Yuri’s mind.
“If they’ve prepared to emerge into the world, now they need to be noticed.”
“Why is that?”
Yuri answered as he observed Chris becoming more actively engaged in the conversation.
“Whether positive or negative, fame works in strange ways.”
The same goes for notoriety.
“Regardless of actual size, how heavy something appears depends on what’s on the other side of the scale.”
“I suppose just being mentioned alongside Northern Light and Baekyah could make them seem quite formidable.”
“Right. Before the terrorist attacks, how many people even knew the name Thorns Order?”
Rosenhauser had kept his knife well hidden.
The Thorns Order was his dagger in reserve.
A means prepared for when threats emerged to the garden he had cultivated.
When Yuri first learned of the Thorns Order’s existence, he thought it was so like Rosenhauser.
So the Thorns Order remained in darkness. If their master had still been alive, they would have continued to exist that way.
But the ‘Leader’ clearly had different plans from Rosenhauser.
Having lost their patron Rosenhauser, it would be nearly impossible to survive by following the old ways.
“They’re becoming a focal point for those who dislike both Northern Light and Baekyah.”
Seeing how they’ve brought in ordinary people, their thinking might be more flexible than Rosenhauser, who was an Esper supremacist.
At the same time, they resemble that man terribly—who would selectively sacrifice even fellow Espers for his ideals.
‘There was someone he wanted to adopt as his successor.’
Recalling Chris’s report, Yuri added, “They could also use it to appear more plausible at the negotiation table.”
“No one will sit at that table.”
Chris muttered in a low voice.
His tone was calm, but somehow clouded with something like a beast’s growl.
Yuri reached out and slightly lifted his chin.
“Are you going to run off again?”
“…No.”
Chris answered seriously.
“This time, I’ll get your permission.”
“There won’t be a ‘this time.’ I won’t permit you to leave my sight alone.”
Chris’s blue eyes widened. His slightly drooping eyes filled with emotion difficult to describe—something like resentment mixed with desolation.
Yuri immediately added, as if to comfort Chris, “We need to cut off their money first.”
The first thing Chris thought of was the guiding drug.
The abandoned factory district had recently stopped operations.
They’d probably be making the drug in other areas too. But using a ‘factory’ would be difficult.
Northern Light had dispatched an Esper team to investigate similar sites, even if they weren’t as large as the one in Ishtar City.
Since production has become difficult, the spread of the drug would also slow down.
Since the raw materials haven’t been identified yet, the enemy will eventually produce the guiding drug again. But it will be difficult for now.
Thanks to all their running around, they’ve bought some time.
‘I hope Hannah finishes her analysis soon.’
Finding guiding establishments becomes somewhat lower priority.
Once the remaining stock of guiding drugs is depleted, those pretending to be ‘fake’ Guides will no longer be able to do so.
Then what Yuri meant was…
“You’re thinking of targeting the illegal fighting arena.”
“Yes.”
Yuri smiled, showing his teeth.
“Chris, you’ll need to become the new champion of the Colosseum.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
