Chapter 304 - Defiled Playground
The Jeep sped through the night town while following Navi's directions. We had the Deputy Mayor's movements completely pinned down.
He had started on foot but switched to a van like vehicle partway through. He had three companions with him, likely his trusted aides or bodyguards.
Based on his direction, he wasn't heading for the harbor. It didn't seem like he was planning to escape by boat just yet. Maybe it was a quick detour. Perhaps he intended to collect valuables or cover up his crimes before fleeing.
"The target has merged with two other vehicles. There are four people in each. They must be his henchmen."
That brought the Deputy Mayor's total force to twelve people. Even so, it was far too few to maintain a solid defense against the Vigilantes.
"Chairman, what do you think he's up to? Is he planning a mass escape with all his subordinates?"
We were moving behind the scenes to corner him. If he noticed that, he would have no choice but to act.
Considering the Vigilante Captain was expanding his influence and we were backing them, he had to know he stood no chance in a direct fight. In that case, I didn't think he had any choice other than running away.
If that was the case, his current movements were definitely just a detour before his final escape.
He couldn't win by resisting, and if he waited, he would just be caught. I didn't know the specifics of his punishment, but it certainly wouldn't be light. The only way for him to save himself was to run.
"...Who knows? If you run away in a small group, it's all over if bandits attack you. I think it's reasonable for him to try and escape with a decent fighting force."
Maybe he planned to dump his henchmen once he finished whatever task he was doing.
However, the moment you stepped outside Rigaheim, you were in a danger zone. This was a collapsed nation after all. The threat of bandits and magic beasts was always present. He needed a protective force.
Things would be different if he could enter another port town directly by ship and get under someone else's protection. Still, I imagined a small time villain would feel incredibly anxious about letting go of his own private army.
As we continued following Navi, our destination came into view. It looked like he was heading toward the cemetery.
Partway through, Navi's status switched from a relay role to direct observation.
"The target has entered the cemetery. It looks like they are heading straight for the crematorium. Oh, it seems there's someone already there."
"Already there?"
"Please wait a moment... I'm sorry, they are unfamiliar faces. I don't know who they are, but seven people in two vehicles seem to be waiting. It doesn't look like an ambush, so I think they're just meeting with the Deputy Mayor. More henchmen, perhaps."
I didn't need to consider the possibility of him accidentally bumping into total strangers at a crematorium in the middle of the night. It was a meeting.
There were twelve people moving with the Deputy Mayor plus the seven waiting there. That made nineteen in total. It was quite a large group.
"Anyway, acknowledged. Please keep monitoring to see if anyone else approaches."
After asking for surveillance, I parked the vehicle some distance away from the cemetery.
It would be a pain if we approached openly and let them escape, so we had to be cautious here.
The three Combat Corps members accompanying me were wearing ink colored cloaks and pitch black berets. It was the perfect gear for blending into the night.
A cemetery and crematorium at midnight. It certainly wasn't a pleasant place.
Plus, this was a world where the undead existed. According to the church's announcements, they had already been wiped out and wouldn't appear easily, but we knew that the undead hadn't actually vanished.
Besides, I couldn't completely shake the feeling of dread toward the occult that I felt in my instincts.
As a bitter piece of actual experience, the trouble we had with the wraith in the Forest of the Underworld was an unforgettable memory.
Whether it was lucky or just expected, we moved through the cemetery without anything happening.
After slipping through the cemetery while erasing our presence, a large crematorium appeared before us. It seemed to serve as both a cremation site and a funeral hall, making it a fairly large facility.
There were vehicles parked around the building, but no signs of people anymore.
It looked like everyone had gone inside without even leaving a lookout. I wondered what they were doing.
"No point in waiting here. Let's sneak in and see what they're up to."
"Right, let's go."
"Sorry if we get spotted. I'm not very good at stealth missions."
"Well, we'll deal with it if it happens."
"It's a bit eerie, isn't it..."
Since other members were keeping watch on the perimeter, I went inside immediately with the three Combat Corps members. I just broke the lock like usual.
I followed my mana perception and moved toward the area where a large number of people were gathered.
We passed through the unlit lobby and walked past the cremation area near the entrance. I felt a bit of goosebumps, but I ignored it and hurried along.
As we moved deeper into the darkness while watching for traps or alarms, the member walking in front of me stopped.
"Wait, this is a dead end. Was there a fork in the road somewhere?"
It wasn't like we knew the hallways or rooms of the building, so this was bound to happen. I managed to suppress the urge to just smash through and keep going straight.
Just as I was thinking we should turn back for now, a communication came in from the lookout outside.
"A small truck is approaching the cemetery. I heard this from a lookout at another location, but what do you think is in the back?"
"What is it?"
"Well, apparently they're body bags. Multiple bags. They were supposedly loaded up at a playground in the entertainment district."
Tch. Whether it was because of where we were or not, that felt incredibly chilling.
This was a crematorium deep in a graveyard. It was a place where bodies were naturally brought. However, it was obvious that a midnight transport like this wasn't a legitimate move.
On top of that, multiple bodies coming from the entertainment district. They probably didn't die from illness or accidents. They must have met some terrible end.
But really, would you honestly bother disposing of bodies right before running away?
Even if you have important business to settle, the smart move in this situation is to get out as fast as possible. Maybe they don't realize how much trouble they're in?
I just didn't get it.
"Chairman, what should we do?"
"Let's hide and watch for now. I want to confirm what they intend to do."
"If they're just disposing of bodies, they'll head for the furnace. Should we hide in a nearby room?"
The dull sound of a car horn echoed through the quiet crematorium. The truck carrying the bodies probably honked it. I could tell that the Deputy Mayor and his group started moving in response.
"We're hiding."
We entered a suitable room near the furnace. Since there was a folding screen, we spread it out and used it to hide ourselves.
If we monitored their movements, we would find the route to the back rooms. It was convenient because it meant we wouldn't have to wander around a building we weren't familiar with.
Shortly after we hid, I felt two people approaching from the entrance. Based on the rolling sound, they were pushing a large cart.
From the opposite direction, where we had just come back from, several people were also approaching. That was strange. It felt like they had come through the place we thought was a dead end.
Was it a secret passage or a hidden door? How classic. However, it was difficult for me to see through a hidden door that didn't use magic.
"You're late. Hurry it up."
"We can't help it. We have to worry about prying eyes over here."
"Just hurry. He's going to yell at us."
The men who met up exchanged light banter before heading deeper into the hallway. Since they moved with the cart and bypassed the furnace, it didn't seem like they were going to cremate the bodies.
I focused my awareness on the receding sounds and mana.
The henchmen stopped for a moment in the back hallway, but then they continued straight ahead. It really was a secret passage.
"What are they planning to do with those bodies?"
"Who knows? It's not some suspicious ritual, is it?"
"There are people with twisted hobbies everywhere..."
"Ugh, I'm not looking forward to this, but should we go see?"
I was curious about what they were doing, and since we had come this far, we might as well check.
When we reached the dead end of the hallway again, we searched the wall in the darkness.
"I really can't tell just by touching it. Should I use light magic?"
"If it's on this side of the hallway, it probably won't be noticed. Just keep the light low."
"Okay... as dim as possible."
My eyes had finally gotten used to the dark, and now that was going to be reset by the light. It couldn't be helped, though.
Even looking at the wall again in the dim light, I couldn't see anything that looked like a mechanism.
No matter where you looked, the wall at the dead end was basically just a plain stone wall. There were wooden crossbars attached at waist and chest height, and the space between them was decorated with some kind of wooden pattern.
It was a needlessly fancy wall, but I imagined they couldn't make the construction too cheap for a facility that handled the dead.
Anyway, while there was no doubt a mechanism existed, it didn't look like we would figure it out in a short amount of time.
"Hmm, does anyone recognize this?"
"Front, side, top, bottom... there are places that look suspicious, but nothing that screams 'this is it.' Yeah, I can't tell by looking or touching."
"I don't even know if it pulls, pushes, or slides sideways."
"There aren't even any protrusions to use as a handle."
They say three heads are better than one, but it seemed like having four muscle brains together wasn't going to help at all.
"Should we just break it?"
"If we break it loudly, they'll obviously notice. I'll try something. Since it's a door, it has to move in some direction."
I could easily destroy it by punching it or using a weapon. I could even make the stone parts vanish if I permeated it with mana and took complete control. However, the wooden parts would get in the way.
If the wood fell, the sound would echo, so let's try something subtle.
While the three watched, I avoided the wooden patterns and placed my hands on the stone wall. I then poured strength into my five fingers.
My insane grip strength caused my fingers to sink into the flat wall, giving me a firm hold. Crumbling fragments of the broken wall fell to the floor.
While holding it, I applied force in every direction. I felt it move slightly inward. I figured that even if I was being a bit forceful, I could move it if it was a door and not a wall.
When I pushed the heavy stone wall with force, it stopped after moving only about a centimeter. When I tried moving it sideways from there, I felt it move to the right. Apparently, it was a slide type door that opened after being pushed in.
I moved the heavy stone wall with pure strength. Aside from the weight, the wall moved surprisingly smoothly.
"Whew, I managed to get it open."
I was about to start walking while ignoring the complicated looks the three were giving me, but another communication came in. It seemed the Vigilantes were finally about to arrive.
"They should arrive at the cemetery in about fifteen minutes. However, the number of people is a bit low."
"The Deputy Mayor has a group of about twenty, right? How low is 'low'?"
"Unless they get reinforcements, it's just under twenty people. They've sent people to the harbor, and there's also a commotion in the entertainment district, so that might be the limit of how many they can spare for this side."
The commotion in the entertainment district might have been a setup by the Deputy Mayor. He was pretty good.
If it came down to a fight, the Deputy Mayor would have the advantage since he was waiting in his hideout with equal numbers. In fact, I felt like they might flee before the Vigilantes even arrived. Arriving at the cemetery in fifteen minutes was just too slow.
After the communication ended, the three seemed to have figured out how things would unfold from here as well.
"In that case, it seems like it would be better if we slowed them down and trimmed their numbers a bit."
"Should we lend a hand?"
"This kind of thing is more our style."
Attacking was fine, but before that...
"First, we're going to expose their crimes."
They had brought in bodies, and I wanted to see what they were doing.
Well, I might regret seeing it, though...
I turned off the dim light and we moved slowly through the darkness again.
On the way, I picked up a reaction from what seemed like a magic tool. I destroyed the object, which I assumed was an alarm system, and easily neutralized it.
Based on their mana reactions, the destination was close in a straight line, but the hallway was winding, so the walking distance was a bit long.
After turning a corner in the hallway, we found a room with light leaking from along the wall. The door appeared to be wide open. We approached cautiously and peeked inside.
Beyond the door, it looked like a large garage.
There were three medium sized cars and two medium trucks. Inside the room, several men were busily loading luggage into the vehicles.
If the moving work was for their escape, the strange part was that I couldn't see any doors or shutters for the vehicles to get outside. Our previous information hadn't mentioned a back entrance large enough for vehicles to pass through.
How were they planning to get out? It was probably another hidden door.
"Wait, is that guy the Boss?"
"Oh, you're right."
No way, the Boss was at the crematorium?
Prompted by the whisper, I looked for him and indeed found the face I had seen in photos.
Since he was acting important alongside the Deputy Mayor while his underlings worked hard, it was almost certainly him.
We were supposed to be watching the Boss at the harbor, but it seemed he had slipped past us perfectly. I guess that was the difference between a local and an outsider. The Deputy Mayor had also said he appeared from some remote place.
His blatant attempt to move ships might have been a complete front. Or perhaps the Boss's subordinates were actually escaping by boat as a separate group.
"Look over there too. They're taking something out of the body bags."
"Oh, so there weren't actually bodies inside?"
"I'm glad it wasn't some weird ritual..."
What was being transferred into the wooden crates were handy sized paper bundles. There was no way it was just flour. It was drugs.
They had moved them from their hiding spot in the entertainment district to this place while disguised as corpses.
Even if the Vigilantes stopped them, they wouldn't try to examine the inside of body bags. That seemed to be the plan.
It meant their escape methods and supplies for an emergency were kept here. Including their methods for creating confusion, they were a very prepared group.
"Hurry up and load it! Those idiots in the Vigilantes will notice soon!"
"Calm down, Boss. If they had read our movements, those women wouldn't be staying quiet. Once we load these goods, we have no business in Rigaheim. We'll be able to get away."
"Damn it! Why do I have to run away because of those damn bitches!"
It looked like the relationship was an irritated Boss and a soothing Deputy Mayor.
I was curious about how they would escape from a garage with no exit, but it was about time. The Vigilantes were supposed to arrive at the cemetery very soon.
Well, here is a free service. I'll buy some time and thin their numbers a little.
"Cover your eyes and ears."
Realizing what I was about to do, the three turned their backs and did as they were told.
To start with, I created two small iron balls and threw them toward the ceiling in rapid succession through the gap in the door.
Without missing my target, I destroyed the lighting fixtures and plunged the room into darkness.
The sudden darkness and the sound of destruction caused confusion and panic to spread, followed by a flurry of shouting. I watched them for about thirty seconds before launching my magic.
This wasn't exactly something I learned directly from Verone, but it was a burst of an enhanced stun grenade magic. I had adapted her magic using my own magical aptitude.