Two shadows darted past the alley entrance, quickly glancing inside. After confirming the alley was empty, they hurried away again.
Just a few seconds later, two figures silently emerged from a dim, inconspicuous corner within the alley.
"Senpai… were those…?""Tails. They've been on us since we entered the city."
Revy casually wrapped an arm around Eyjafjalla's shoulders, shielding her slightly behind him as he spoke with calm indifference:
"Probably figured we looked wealthy and were waiting for the right time to make a move."
"Is… is that so? Then… we should be more careful."
Eyjafjalla hesitated briefly but chose to trust Revy. After all, he was a seasoned Catastrophe Messenger who had traveled to nearly every corner of Terra.
But was Revy really telling the truth?
—Of course not.
Even a common bandit gang wouldn't dare tail someone so brazenly inside a mobile city. Even if Vic was a remote, small-scale mobile city, its strength wasn't something petty criminals could afford to provoke.
So, considering these stalkers — and combining that with the warning Kelsey gave before their departure — the truth behind their intentions wasn't hard to guess.
Still, Revy chose to say nothing. He did nothing, either.
"Leithanien… how did it end up like this?"
On their way to the inn, Eyjafjalla seemed somewhat disheartened.
Glancing subtly behind them, Revy spotted the shadowy figures blending back into the crowd, still tailing them. He smiled as he asked:
"What's wrong? Are things very different from how you remember Leithanien as a child?"
Eyjafjalla shook her head gently.
"I've never been to Vic before… But when I was little, Leithanien had excellent public safety. Even Infected citizens could hold legal status. Crime rates were low both in cities and in rural areas. You almost never heard of theft or robbery… not even once a year."
"Sounds like Leithanien left quite a good impression on you."
"Before my parents passed away, this was my homeland," Eyjafjalla said, nostalgia in her voice. "It's been so many years since I last returned… I really missed this place."
"Leithanien's not bad at all — at least, compared to Lungmen or Ursus, it's much better for the Infected."
Revy nodded in agreement:
"The magical climate here is pretty strong, which makes their policies on the Infected more ambiguous… tolerable, at least."
"But… I heard recently their policies are starting to change, too…"
Eyjafjalla's gaze dimmed.
"That's how the world goes, unfortunately," Revy sighed along with her. "Which is why we Infected have to value our lives even more — because no one else will."
As they spoke, the two had arrived at the largest inn in the town.
"...This is the place. We booked the room in advance. Hopefully, all the observation equipment has been delivered too."
Revy's eyes twinkled with amusement, as though he hadn't noticed the two stalkers whispering to each other behind them.
(So unprofessional… are they trying to bait us?)
[Scene Change – Outside the Inn]
"Boss… why would anyone pay so much just to have some dainty little girl killed?"
A black-haired Feline man crouched near the inn, whispering to the tall Perro man beside him.
They were members of a small bandit group based in the wilderness outside the city — mostly Infected who had once scraped by in the wilds, but turned to banditry after discovering how quickly it brought in money. Now, they were wanted criminals.
But these two were exceptions. The Perro man was named Roda. Just a few days ago, he killed the former leader of the gang with brutal efficiency and claimed leadership for himself. The Feline, Kava, was his right-hand man.
Since they rarely showed their faces during jobs, neither had been listed in wanted notices, and they had slipped into the city undetected.
Their current operation stemmed from what Kava had just asked.
"Kava, don't ask too many questions. Sometimes, just knowing a little too much can get you killed."
Roda's voice was low, but his tone carried a chilling weight.
"We're nothing but puppets dancing on strings held by those in power. All we can do is carry out orders."
"Whether we succeed or fail, we acted — and that'll be enough to convince them their money wasn't wasted. That means our little gang gets to keep existing."
"Yes, boss, you're right…" Kava muttered, glancing again at the inn's entrance."But how do we make it look like an 'accident'?"
"Slashing and stabbing are kind of our thing, but they're too obvious… I thought we could kidnap her and have her 'accidentally' die somewhere outside the city, but the guy she's with seems really alert."
Roda gave a slow, twisted smile. The scar on his face stretched hideously as he stared at the inn with a savage gleam in his eye.
"...But no matter. Poison in her food, or a fire in the inn during the night — plenty of ways to kill her and make it look like an accident."
"Right, Kava?"
Silence.
"...Kava?"
Still no reply.
"—Kava! You spacing out, you idiot?!"
Annoyed, Roda yanked the binoculars down and turned to his side.
Kava was staring back at him — but his eyes were dull, empty.
And his neck… was twisted like a corkscrew, completely spun around. He was long dead.
"—KAVA!!"
Roda screamed, flinging the binoculars away in panic.
—Crack. Crack.
Kava's neck slowly rotated back into its normal position… as his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
And then a voice rang out:
"…Putting poison in her food, I could overlook. But trying to kill Eyjafjalla by setting the inn on fire—""You're awfully confident, huh?"
Roda's head snapped upward — and to his horror, he saw a man sitting on a tree branch above him. He had no idea when he got there.
"Still…" the man continued lazily, "what you said just now was kind of interesting."
"If you don't want to end up like him…" he said, nodding toward Kava's corpse, "then answer me honestly—"
"Who are 'they'?"