Chapter 37

◈ Chapter 37 – The Fake Monster

"Looks like not everyone's here. No Vice Manager either. I suppose Madam Anne's busy with other things."

"Mago..."

The Head Chef called my name.

The white-clad staff members who'd been preparing food had come to kill me.

"Guess you could say killing me is part of the cooking process."

"Mago, you concealed your identity well..."

The Head Chef extended a finger, pointing at my navy-blue military uniform.

"Well, I did it well, so it wasn't hard to hide, was it?"

They moved forward slowly, each step making the floorboards creak beneath their weight.

"How are you still alive?"

"'How'? Why would I be dead?"

"Madam Anne struck lightning twice. How did you survive that?"

"When a firecracker explodes, lightning follows. I've experienced that firsthand. Not exactly something you forget."

"What are you talking about?"

"Doesn't matter. But aren't you busy right now? I'm not the only thing you've been chasing, am I?"

"Is she... dead?"

"Alive."

I pointed my index finger at the floor.

"She's tied up beneath us."

"What do you plan to do with her locked up?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted her to experience what you've been doing, even if it's just for a moment."

"So you know about the warehouse too, Mago... Then we can't let you live..."

The Head Chef gestured.

The staff members, understanding the signal, closed in further.

A little closer.

Just a little closer now.

"Mago, do you honestly think that axe can handle us?"

The Head Chef pointed at the weapon in my hands.

"We don't die easily from ordinary blades. Even if we get wounded, we just drink blood and regenerate instantly."

I gripped the axe handle tightly with both hands.

"What can you possibly do alone? Just a lowly Imperial Army soldier."

I didn't answer.

Instead, I swung the axe downward.

When the blade struck the floor with all my strength, the ground beneath their feet shattered in a chain reaction.

The floor I'd already cracked.

It collapsed completely under the impact.

Thirty vampires.

All of them plunged into the underground.

Like pebbles thrown into a lake.

A series of splashes echoed in succession.

I immediately lit a match.

Connected it to the firecracker's fuse, and a moment later—

Light shot upward through the broken ceiling.

The firecracker soared into the sky amidst ashen smoke.

When it detonated high above, it briefly obscured even the blue moonlight.

"Mago...!"

The voice rose from underground.

As an Anaconda staff member, he knew exactly what a firecracker meant.

That voice sounded like a desperate wail.

Lightning struck through the shattered ceiling.

The blue flash reached the very bottom of the brewery in an instant.

The moment you saw it, it had already struck.

There was no way to dodge.

The electric charge slammed into the underground, now a sea of wine.

Madam Anne had killed her own kind with her own hands.

Every single one died from electrocution.

The booming thunder swallowed their screams.

They floated to the surface like dead fish.

*

Madam Anne hovered high in the air.

She'd climbed as high as possible so nothing would block her lightning.

"What kind of mess did you make that forced me to fire three shots?"

She folded her wings slightly and descended to the ground.

"Let's keep moving."

She gestured with her hand.

Twelve vampires fell in behind her.

They walked through the forest all night.

After a long march, Madam Anne stopped dead in her tracks.

"Found it."

She paused, listening carefully.

The other vampires also halted, focusing their hearing.

"That's the sound of goblins. I've located their den."

At those words, the Anaconda staff members' expressions relaxed.

"We're finishing this one job and then leaving."

"Yes, Madam."

"Mago won't be alone. If he came as an Imperial soldier, there are bound to be more troops. We'll enjoy our last feast, then go into hiding."

*

Madam Anne's warehouse.

"Boss..."

It was Right Arm's uneasy voice.

He looked at the Boss with trembling eyes.

The Boss just stayed still, watching.

"These cheap handcuffs..."

The Boss had a small iron pin clamped between his teeth.

He raised the handcuffs right up to his face.

Using the pin in his mouth, he attempted to pick the lock.

"Boss, it's been over a day..."

"I know. I'm telling you, I really need to use the bathroom. I can't hold it anymore! If I don't get these off, I'm going to piss right here..."

"Yeah... Boss, actually, I already let a little..."

"Shut up! Don't tell me. I don't want to hear it."

The Boss kept trying.

A grating, scraping sound dragged on and on.

Then, just once.

A crisp click rang out.

"Got it...!"

Once his hands were free, the rest wasn't so difficult.

The Boss spat the iron pin from his mouth into his palm.

He unlocked the leg shackles as well and stood up, fully free.

"The—the bathroom!"

"Boss! Me too..."

"Oh, come on..."

The Boss made an annoyed face.

With quick movements, he undid Right Arm's handcuffs.

"Phew..."

The Thief's right-hand man rolled his wrists, savoring the freedom.

"Here. Handle the rest yourself."

The Boss tossed the iron pin to Right Arm.

"Yes, Boss."

Right Arm started poking at the lock of the leg shackles with the pin.

The Boss looked down at the five half-breed vampires with a complicated expression.

"Take care of the others too."

"Yes..."

The half-breeds just sat there, heads hanging, utterly listless.

He couldn't just leave them like that.

"But first, the bathroom..."

The Thief Boss hurried up the stairs leading to the first floor.

If he could just get that iron door open, he'd reach the first floor.

"Oh, right. This thing... they said only vampires or that white-haired freak could open it..."

The Boss slumped down in defeat.

"Hnngh..."

But sitting down sent a signal to his bladder, so he shot back up.

He kept alternating between sitting and standing.

"B-Boss, let's all try together. I'll help."

Right Arm said this while freeing the others from their binds.

"Alright, we're all free now."

"Hurry, hurry up!"

The Boss urged.

"I'll do it."

Just then, one of the half-breeds who had been sitting dazed got to his feet.

A determined look had replaced the emptiness in his eyes as he pushed against the iron door.

"Ghhh...!"

But one person wasn't enough.

"I'll help too."

"Count me in."

One by one, the half-breeds stood up.

Five half-breed vampires and two humans.

"One, two...!"

They all pushed against the iron door together.

The door groaned and screeched as it slowly swung open.

"Got it!"

The Thief Boss bolted out first.

He made a beeline for the first-floor restroom.

He'd shot inside so fast that he came out just as quickly.

"White Hair... this is all that white-haired bastard's fault..."

The Boss forced the words out through gritted teeth.

"Why'd he have to drag us into this..."

He walked over to the window and checked the situation outside.

"Boss, if we step out there, Madam Anne might rain lightning on us."

"Maybe."

"I think I heard thunder a few times yesterday too..."

"Did you now?"

"Boss?"

"Nothing out there."

"Excuse me?"

Right Arm rushed to the window.

He looked outside as well.

"He's right... it's way too quiet..."

"I thought for sure they'd be guarding the perimeter to keep us trapped. Can they really be this careless?"

"I don't think they ever expected us to pick the handcuffs."

"That's because Madam Anne underestimated a former thief. She probably didn't know I always carry an iron pin on me."

"You think she went after Mago?"

"Hmm... could be."

"Should we go out?"

"And if she's sniping from another building?"

"Then... we die."

"We finally get out of that cellar, and now we can't even step outside..."

"Hey, over there...!"

"What?"

"It's Mago!"

*

"Whoa, Boss! That's a military uniform, isn't it? So you really were with the Imperial Army...!"

Right Arm noticed the change immediately.

"Oh, right. Of course. There's no way I would've just quit. I was top of my class at the training camp. That'd be a waste."

"I knew it..."

The Boss sighed as he spoke.

"So the Imperial Army is finally moving to take down Madam Anne?"

He asked directly.

"Not the Imperial Army. The Special Forces. If I'd kept my head down, maybe none of this would've happened."

"You're really stirring things up, White Hair. Pretty bold for a recruit."

"Because it would've only gotten worse if I didn't."

"Mago. What the hell is going on outside? Wasn't Madam Anne hiding somewhere, waiting to strike?"

"Madam Anne isn't here. She's left the entertainment district. Took the remaining vampires with her."

"What...?"

"I don't know why either. But she must've had something more important to deal with than catching me. I have my suspicions."

"White Hair, if you don't know, then that's the end of it—"

"That's why I'm trying to find out now."

He stared directly at the Boss.

"Madam Anne asked you about me, didn't she? How much did you tell her?"

"Hey, if I hadn't talked, we'd all be dead."

"I'm not blaming you. I'm looking for clues."

"She told me to spill everything. So I did."

"Everything?"

"Yes, Boss..."

"My, that's quite a broad exam scope. Give me a bit more detail."

"Literally everything, White Hair. About how you and Kinzo from the capital took us down. About the encrypted letter, and how I brought that Orc Model with the sword inside to the training camp."

"Boss...!"

Right Arm suddenly clapped his hands together.

"When you said that part! I think Madam Anne laughed."

"She laughed?"

"Yes, Boss. When you mentioned the Orc Model."

"So she reacted to that... What kind of laugh was it?"

"What do you mean, what kind?"

"Was it a sneer? A hollow laugh? A belly laugh?"

"White Hair, do you really need to know the exact type of laugh?"

"Yes, I do."

"Hmm... If I had to describe it, it was more of a slight smirk."

"So she picked up on something from the Orc Model story..."

Which part made Madam Anne laugh?

The encrypted letter.

The Orc Model.

The sword hidden inside it.

"She said, 'An Orc Model... a fake monster...' and then she smirked."

Right Arm added.

Just hearing it, Mago could picture Madam Anne's nasty grin.

It wasn't a sneer, nor a hollow laugh.

And definitely not a belly laugh.

"You should've led with that from the start."

"Huh? An Orc Model is literally a model, so of course it's fake. Was that really such an important detail...?"

"I've got a rough idea. I almost wish I was wrong..."

"You're just going to keep it to yourself? Explain it to us. Look around—these people... people? Anyway, we weren't the only ones locked up in there."

The Boss pointed at the five half-breeds.

"An Orc Model looks just like an orc. Obviously. One of my fellow recruits even tore one apart by mistake because he couldn't tell the difference."

"That's just stupid. Anyway, so what?"

"They're probably planning to exploit that. The fact that it looks like a real monster."

"What are you talking about? Is Madam Anne planning to make vampire models or something?"

"No. They're planning to become the models themselves. During the Second Invasion, winged monsters flew across the sky."

"Yes, Boss. I've heard about—"

"Hearing about it isn't the same as seeing it. I've seen those things, so I know exactly what they look like. But someone who's only heard about them? All they know is 'black, winged monsters.' That's it."

I pointed at one of the half-breed vampires.

"You can't truly know just from hearing about it."

Especially about vampire wings—which were shaped remarkably like bat wings.

"Even if someone says 'their wings are like a bat's,' people who've only heard of it will take that description literally. That's what they're planning to exploit."

"So, White Hair... you're saying Madam Anne is going to pretend to be one of those winged monsters from the Second Invasion..."

"That's my guess."

"Why would she bother imitating them?"

"To screw with me. To screw with the Special Forces."