37 – The Future of the Empire #5
Filion the Great, the founding emperor of the Empire, left these words to end the era of confusion after the fall of the Third Empire.
“The capital is Baesan Imsu (背山臨水) unconditionally.”
At the time, the emperor’s servants did not understand the meaning of that word, but anyway, as Filion the Great insisted, the location of the islands was determined to be the most suitable place among the best places where the Uros Mountains flowed to the north and the Tethys River flowed to the south.
South of Sangria where Tethys River flows.
Island 20 District, Port District.
In the middle of a very dark night, when not even the moonlight shines because of the cloudy clouds, among the warehouses lined up along the coast, only one old warehouse building with bleakness overflowing with paint peeling off the walls and corroded iron was shining with a dim light.
In the warehouse, which felt unsuitably crowded even at late hours, several men were drinking cheap alcohol and soothing their boredom with card games while the smell of musty sweat and rotten water vibrated.
Among them, ‘Flat Nose’ Jack, who was once a dock worker but lost his job after injuring his shoulder and is now working as a low-ranking member of the organization, also played card games and exchanged trivial jokes with his colleagues.
“Do you know what I just heard?”
“What is it?”
Jack giggled as he passed cards across the wooden table.
“Abducting a dwarf during the day earlier. He was screaming like a pig. No! Do not be like this! … I knew what kind of girl she was just by hearing her voice with her fluffy hair.”
“Ironjaw” Walter, a bald man with gnarled muscles, said as he tilted his beer mug.
“Actually, isn’t it a girl if you take it off? Grubs can’t tell the difference between a boy and a girl.”
Another man let out a sneer and laughed with contempt.
“You should be grateful for saving the filthy foreign people.”
At that, all the men gathered in the warehouse giggled and agreed.
If you listen to their conversations, it may sound like a deeply rooted racist group, but in fact, Jack had no particular ill feelings towards the heterogeneous race until he joined the organization.
I just lost my job and was living like garbage day by day, I heard someone drunk in a bar talking harshly, and I was just moved by the words that a different race took away my job.
After that, I met people with similar thoughts in this warehouse.
In general, people like to blame others for their misfortunes. It’s easier to think that it’s not my incompetence, it’s the other race’s fault.
Most of the people gathered here are for that reason.
It was a gathering of lower-class people who hated different races with plausible excuses, rather than hating them because they truly hated them.
As the night fell, a bird flew in through a slightly open window. Realizing that it was Zeggler, Jack spat on the floor and said.
“What? Has the letter already arrived?”
“I think he said he would be quiet for a while.”
Jack, who was sitting closest to the zeggler, confirmed that the zeggler had brought it to his mouth.
Usually, what Zeegler brings is a letter, but strangely, what he brings is not a letter this time.
It was an empty envelope with nothing inside.
“Huh?”
Jack felt something go down his throat when he saw the empty envelope.
But Jack’s drunk brain didn’t immediately understand what it meant, and he just stared blankly at the white envelope.
Bang-!! The walls of the warehouse exploded.
“Quaaa!!””
“f*ck! What!!”
The walls collapsed following the sudden explosion, filling the warehouse with dust and debris. Amidst the misty dust, the men in the warehouse let out a harsh cough.
Meanwhile, in the dust, a man rose slowly from inside the warehouse.
Jack doubted his eyes at the movement, as if he was slowly standing up after landing.
Could that man break through the wall with pure physical ability, without magic or gunpowder?
The man opened his mouth calmly as he looked around the warehouse with an expressionless face.
“I finally found it.”
As if he was looking for this place, Balter, who was coughing heavily, shouted with a distorted face.
“You bastard! Could it be the military police!”
“No.”
The man’s cold gaze as he looked around each member of the organization froze the air around him.
Jack also felt the back of his neck getting a lot cooler than before.
“More than that.”
“What are you blankly doing! Everyone choke!”
Walter the ‘ironjaw’ raised his forearm as thick as a log in great excitement and swung his fist. The other gang members also screamed and charged at the man, each holding a weapon.
In response, the man also raised his fist. There were no special techniques or techniques. It was just a quick and powerful blow, and the linear trajectory moved so fast that the eyes couldn’t follow it.
Jack opened his mouth in amazement at the sight of the bear-like Balter flying away with a single blow.
***
From noble mtl dot com
Amidst the commotion, a wagon quickly stopped in the port district.
After getting off the carriage, Captain Hermann stuck out his tongue as if he was dumbfounded by the loud commotion in the warehouse.
“Oops, it’s already started.”
A skilled wizard was needed to trace back the Zeggler Scroll received from Leonard.
However, Ion, who was in a hurry and had trouble finding the wizard, chose a simple solution instead of a complicated method. It was to summon Zeegler and chase after it.
Captain Herman doubted his eyes as he saw Ion jumping from roof to roof and crossing the road faster than he could.
Anyway, thanks to Ion’s tracking magic, Captain Hermann took some of his trusted subordinates, but he couldn’t keep up with Ion’s speed even though he even saved a wagon.
Unfortunately or fortunately, due to the nature of the ‘Future of the Empire’ as a point organization, the Zeggler Scroll did not fly to its base at once. As he slashed one, slashed another, and slashed another, he obtained a new Zeegler Scroll, and this time he finally found a place that could be called his home base.
Thanks to that, Captain Hermann was able to arrive at the port district on time.
“You bastards! Do it right! If I don’t do it right, I’m going to blow off my head right now!”
“Yup! Captain!”
In the systemic Sangria, the systemic gendarmerie manages public order, and other enlisted organizations are strictly prohibited from interfering with the public order.
There is only one justification for the guards to move. He could exercise official authority only in cases related to the safety of students.
However, it was not going through formal meetings and discussions at the academy level, but it was moving randomly according to the instructions of one instructor and the captain of the guard, so it was very likely to become a problem later.
But Captain Hermann’s guards were in no position to give up now. If he didn’t do anything like this, he was in a situation where he would immediately overwrite the treason of his subordinates.
“Ahhh!!”
At that time, a shabby-clad man ran out from inside the warehouse screaming in terror. He looked as if he was desperately running away from something inside.
“Monster, monster! Save me! Save me!”
“Huh? Who is this guy? Go in! Get back in! Won’t you come in?!”
Captain Hermann hit the man hard on the head with the scabbard. Still, he was the captain of the guard and had his own skills, so he could easily subdue one or two thugs.
However, the man who was hit in the head collapsed in relief with an expression as if he was glad he was caught by the guards rather than the monster in the warehouse.
Captain Hermann was very curious about what was happening inside the warehouse.
However, in order to keep his own lifeline, he firmly held his position, thinking that he must not let go of any of these guys.
“Quaaah-!!”
“Ah! Help me!”
By no means did I dare to go in because of the terrible screams coming from inside the warehouse.
***
“Hmm….”
I knocked out all the gang members in the warehouse and looked around.
Until now, Zeggler only guided me to a place where one or two members were at most, and since I didn’t even know that, I had to move to a new location several times.
A warehouse building that I finally found after repeating it. At first glance, it seemed like something was hidden, but in reality, it was not much different from an ordinary warehouse except for the large number of people and the large space.
Was it just a place where a few gang members gathered? It can’t be.
I lightly lifted my foot and kicked the ground.
I adjusted the force so that the sound and vibration spread as wide and wide as possible without damaging the floor, and then I felt that there was something empty under the building.
There was a basement. But I don’t see anything like an entrance.
I grabbed the collar of a guy with a particularly flat nose among the scattered gang members. It let out a moan of pain, but his consciousness remained.
“Where is the underground entrance?”
“Um, over there… jeugi….”
The guy rolled on the floor and pointed at the ground with his trembling fingers as he groaned as if he had broken a few teeth.
I removed the floor carpet at the place he pointed to, and there was indeed an iron door leading downstairs. But, of course, the door was locked.
Compared to the old warehouse building, this iron gate was uniquely clean and new. As if the warehouse is just decoration and this interior is real. Of course, it won’t open in the usual way.
“How do you open it?”
“Mo, I don’t know… Brother only… Only my brother knows….”
That’s right….
I put my flat nose down moderately and stood in front of the underground entrance.
I don’t know if this door is magically locked or if it requires a key, but it doesn’t matter.
I slammed my fist into the ground with all my might.
Quaaang-!!
It was enough to break the door.