Chapter 30

I leaned against the wall, a round tray tucked under one arm, the other hand buried in my apron pocket.

No one would have pegged me for an Imperial Army officer—let alone a Special Task Force agent. I had melted into the Anakonda Tavern so completely that even I almost believed it.

Only the way I spoke still needed a road-crew’s touch; I’d fix that before I shipped back to the unit.

“Mago, order up!”

My senior’s voice cracked across the floor—the same woman who’d shown me the ropes on day one.

Yesterday she’d finally let me call her “Senior,” and I’d been happy to oblige.

I took the chit from her and climbed to the second-floor kitchen.

Same stairs, same plates, same rhythm.

While I worked, I kept an eye on the staircase that crawled from the second floor to the third.

“Didn’t think they’d bar me from the third, let alone the fourth...”

A flight I wasn’t allowed to climb.

Half the building—locked away like a castle keep.

I could smash through if I had to, but...

“Senior, the manager never shows her face.”

“Madam Anne? She’s on a business trip.”

“A trip?”

“One of the staff ran off with the till. She’s chasing him to the ends of hell.”

“That counts as business?”

“Still tavern business, isn’t it?”

She lifted one shoulder in a shrug.

“Yeah, he looked exactly like that...”

She pointed to a customer—a man with freshly cropped hair and a beard that curled up at the ends.

“Huh? Really, just like that?”

“Why?”

“They’re dead ringers.”

“Wait, that’s not actually him?”

“Could be... Oh, crap!”

She flipped her mop around and charged.

“Who said you could set foot in here?”

“H-hey! I only came to give the money back! I don’t want to be struck by lightning, I swear!”

The man yanked off the fake beard and waved both hands.

Every head on the first floor swiveled, eyes wide.

“Here! Every last coin! Tell Madam Anne, okay?”

He upended a leather bag; bundles of cash thudded onto the boards.

“We’re square, right? Tell her I paid it all back!”

“Get lost.”

Senior stood panting, mop still raised.

“F-fine! You won’t see me again! Deal?”

He bolted out the door.

The other patrons turned back to their drinks; within seconds the hum of conversation resumed.

“You’re not going after him?”

“It’s fine...”

She set the mop upright.

“He gave the money back, so that’s it? Just like that?”

“Madam Anne will handle the rest.”

“Still...”

I pushed open the tavern door and scanned the street.

The thief was already shrinking in the distance—too far to chase.

I was thinking exactly that when thunder slammed against my eardrums.

Memory from a past life flashed unbidden.

— I don’t want to be struck by lightning!

The thief’s words hadn’t been a metaphor.

A bolt as thick as a ship’s mast—branching, whip-crack bright—ripped across clear sky.

Not top-to-bottom, but side-to-side, left to right.

A blue lance that flew faster than thought.

I flinched; the glare printed itself on the inside of my eyelids—pale turquoise fading to after-image blur.

The running man’s back opened like a door.

He crumpled without a sound.

“...Madam Anne.”

So much for the question I’d been turning over a minute ago.

I could probably punch my way up to Anakonda’s fourth floor—

but I’d never survive what came after.

Marcello Arnes’s blade saves lives; Madam Anne’s spear takes them.

A Vampire Lord, she even carried a magical tool.

One careless step and I’d be the one left with a lightning-bored hole in my chest.

Her bolts had near-unlimited range; nowhere was out of reach.

They simply lanced forward—bold, straight—until something got in the way.

Dodging was impossible.

Nobody imagines they can duck after they’ve already seen the flash.

The man who’d robbed the tavern’s till had learned that.

Once Anakonda marked you as meat, you never wriggled free.

If she even suspected you, that huge body would coil around you and squeeze until your lungs quit.

The red sword I’d gotten from El—

a cross-shaped blade—

was the only thing that might stand against her.

Until I was ready to use it, I had to keep playing clerk and keep digging.

“Ah, my knees...”

Madam Anne brushed past me.

To look at her—silver hair, mid-sixties—

you’d swear she was just some elder in a high-necked dress.

The outfit didn’t suit her at all.

She walked to the man who’d dropped dead.

“How dare you run off with my money?”

“Madam Anne.”

When I called, she turned.

“He gave the money back before he left.”

“Gave it back? Now?”

“Maybe he decided his life was worth more than the cash,

but it looks like that coin’s already flown.”

“Hm. And who are you?”

“Name’s Mago. New hire here—third day.”

I bowed to the Vampire Lord’s crimson eyes.

* * *

“So you did come back to Anakonda after all.”

Madam Anne left without another word.

Yeah—work hard, Majo.

That was it.

She even got my name wrong—

and of all nicknames, she used the one I hated.

The other half of Anakonda—

the third and fourth floors—

wouldn’t open without her say-so.

First goal: make her care.

Second: make her trust me.

“Madam Anne’s busy setting up another place,”

my senior said.

“Another place?”

“She bought the building across the alley.

Still just a warehouse, but she’s fitting it out.”

“Must be nice—landlord.”

“Don’t envy her.

She owns most of the red-light district.

That’s why nobody touches her.”

“And that makes it okay?”

“Okay?”

“She fried a man in the street.”

“Word already spread: the tavern fund got robbed,

and how furious she was.

In this quarter, no one crosses Madam Anne.

She is the quarter.”

“Mm...”

After that, work blurred.

When I came up for air, it was dawn.

My senior killed the last first-floor light.

“Mago, you head out too.”

“Funny.

I’ve worked three nights, yet I’ve never closed with the rest of you.”

“Hm?”

“Why do you always chase me off first?

I’m the junior.”

“That’s exactly why.

You still don’t know the ropes—go home early.

Hey, where do you live, anyway?”

“Extra shift?

Trying to drag me to a second bar?”

“What?

We want to go home too!”

“Fair enough.

Anyone would want to clock out early.

Anyone... human, I mean.”

* * *

“Huh?”

“Yeah?”

“Big bro?”

Three question marks—

three people.

The moment I stepped out of Anakonda, two guys popped from the tavern across the way.

“Big bro!”

The square-jawed one windmilled his arm.

“Mago hyung!”

Training Center, Fourth Exam.

Second Invasion, same hour.

The thieves who delivered the cartload of orc models to the Training Center were none other than Thief Boss and his right-hand man.

The Boss heaved a long sigh.

His right-hand man had apparently given up on calling him “hyung” anymore.

“White Hair, what brings you here?”

“Work.”

“Huh? Aren’t you supposed to stay away from this place?”

“Why shouldn’t I be here?”

“You don’t belong here. Or is this part of some mission?”

“I’m here as a freeman, not a soldier. Want to see the mark?”

“Forget it. The ‘Ma’ in Majo is right here—so where’s the ‘Jo’ gone?”

I’d heard that nickname twice today.

“No idea.”

“Why’d the Imperial Army quit, anyway?”

“Bro, is that really true?” The right-hand man’s eyes bulged as he stepped closer.

“If you’ve got something to say, let’s find somewhere quiet.”

“What’s wrong with the red-light district? Enjoy it while you can, White Hair. You never know when you’ll die.”

“Guess fleeing the capital finally made it real for you.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

The Boss’s face hardened.

“Now I get it.”

He crossed the narrow alley until he stood right in front of me; the right-hand man shuffled after him.

“If you hadn’t warned us, we’d have been wiped out in the capital. I heard—while we were gone, civilians hid in the tunnels we dug. That’s why you told us to grab the kids and run, right? To clear the tunnels. All that talk about ‘leaks’—in the end you were the one feeding the Imperial Army info...”

“Sharp eyes. Must be the thief in you.”

“You saved a lot of lives. Not that I’ll thank you. Frankly, it pisses me off. Feels like you played with our lives, White Hair. Got it?”

“Small-minded.”

“Why, you—!”

“Hey!”

Madam Anne’s voice.

She barked from a second-floor window of the nearest building, a fat cigar in one hand, a glass of liquor in the other.

They say every building around here belongs to her; she really can pop out of anywhere.

“Take your fight somewhere else. Don’t start ugly rumors—especially you two thugs.”

“Madam Anne! Sorry, ma’am! Gentlemen, let’s go somewhere quieter.”

Whether you were Thief Boss or Special Task Force, right now you were just a customer being shooed from a tavern.

We left the red-light district for a nearby park and crammed onto a single bench.

Somehow I ended up in the middle.

All three of us stared blankly at the ornamental waterwheel turning round and round.

“Why are you two here?” I opened first.

“Capital got smashed.”

“Everyone knows that. I meant, why were you hanging around the red-light district?”

“Drop it. A red-light district’s a red-light district—no point asking why...”

The Boss was busy nit-picking, so I turned to his lieutenant.

“Earlier—you called her Madam Anne, right?”

“Y-yes, bro.”

“The reason you came out of the shop across from Anakonda—are you working there?”

“White Hair, I’ve got pride. You think I’d slave away in someone else’s joint?”

The Boss kept grumbling.

I glanced over my shoulder and said, “Madam Anne... why are you here in person...”

“M-Madam!”

The Boss’s head snapped around.

Nothing there—he’d bitten the bait I’d tossed.

“Oh, so your pride’s back there?”

“Son of a—”

He rubbed his forehead.

“You’re broke.”

“Hey, White Hair...”

“You heard me and took a chance—left the capital with no plan. No gear, just light hearts, and the invasion hit for real. Demon Beasts raining from the sky.”

“Yes, bro...”

“You abandoned everything and came south. The capital’s ruins now; you can’t go back. So you’re scraping by day to day—right?”

“...Right.”

His right-hand man hung his head.

“Must hate the Imperial Army.”

“Exactly. You need the capital back, fast—damn it...”

“You never paid taxes anyway. You earned your cash thieving. No right to whine. And like I said, I’m not here as a soldier. Blame me all you want, it won’t change a thing.”

“Really not with them?”

“I told you—I work at Anakonda.”

I pointed toward the tavern, its four-story bulk visible even from here.

Never expected to run into these guys, but tonight my luck was good.

I might be able to use him again.