An Incompatible Man

Yohane felt his heart growing cold.

He hadn't expected someone he'd once employed to be this brazenly unapologetic after stealing from him.

He supposed this was proof that he'd simply been lucky with the people around him, and sighed.

Kanaha's story had been nothing but self-justification from start to finish.

Her stance was clear: they were the pitiful victims here.

But to Yohane, they were simply thieves.

If she'd shown genuine remorse, there might have been room for leniency. Instead, not a single word of apology had come out by the end.

She didn't seem to realize that trying to negotiate after being caught with nothing to bargain with was meaningless.

"So, let me get this straight. A man whose name you don't even know told you to ransack my warehouse?"

"That's right."

"And since you didn't know what he was looking for, you just grabbed whatever you could carry?"

"Well, if we came back empty-handed, he'd yell at us."

Stealing to avoid getting scolded. The logic was incoherent.

The moment Kanaha said that, Azu nearly moved, but Yohane held her back with his left hand.

"Um, they're not the least bit sorry."

"I know."

She couldn't bear to listen anymore, apparently.

Azu held her tongue out of deference to Yohane, but the look she directed at Kanaha and the others was icy.

In the end, they had nothing of real value to share.

Or rather, it was probably better to assume they'd been treated as disposable from the start.

"… Um, I told you everything, so you'll let us go, right?"

"That's not for you to decide. I told you at the start that not answering my questions would only make me less sympathetic."

"You can't be serious."

"I don't know what that man told you, but you slapped away a hand I'd already extended to you. And that's not all. Have you ever thought about the orphanage's reputation? If this comes to light, it's possible no merchant will ever hire from that orphanage again."

"Who cares about that place! So what are you going to do with us?"

"Let me think. If you cooperate in catching this so-called mastermind, I can put in a word to keep you from being flogged. But I'll warn you now, becoming a criminal is unavoidable."

Kanaha clicked her tongue.

Everything about her gave the impression of someone constantly looking for the easiest way out.

It baffled Yohane that she'd rather follow the orders of a stranger and commit crimes than work honestly at his shop.

The pay was a bit higher than what other shops offered, even.

Yohane had always lived carefully and practically.

Taking Azu and the others under his wing and starting the adventurer business had been one of the biggest risks he'd ever taken, but he'd put in plenty of preparation and research to make sure it produced results.

"So what exactly did they tell you to steal?"

"They said tickets. And a red brooch."

The red brooch was probably the fire brooch he'd given Alexia.

And the Triwright Auction tickets. Plenty of people would want those.

Word must have gotten out that Yohane had obtained them.

Neither item was anything he'd ever store in a warehouse, though.

"And after you stole them?"

"They said hitting the same shop twice would leave a trail, so we were supposed to be moved to another city."

"You really…"

He wanted to ask if she'd actually believed they'd follow through, but he stopped himself.

Any more of this was a waste of time.

"Enough. Take me to the meeting point."

"Fine."

They got the three children to their feet.

With the kids leading the way and Azu and the others in tow, they headed for the rendezvous.

They went south first, then turned east.

It was an old part of the city, a maze of narrow alleys.

Anyone who wasn't a local kid would get lost.

One of the boys swapped out with Kanaha and led them deeper through the alleys.

Yohane's group followed close behind to avoid losing them.

Before long, they emerged into a slightly wider space.

It seemed to be a clearing at the heart of the tangled alleys, invisible from outside.

A lone man sat there in a battered chair.

He was draped in a worn black coat, sitting perfectly still.

When the man saw the boys arrive with Yohane in tow, he crushed the cigarette in his right hand.

"Shouldn't have used kids. Didn't have anyone better, though."

"So you're the one who used them to trash my shop."

"Yeah, that's me. Not that they managed to do their errand."

The man said this with a laugh.

He was utterly lacking in tension.

And yet Yohane felt an intense revulsion. A sense that they could never see eye to eye.

"Logos was a nice cover, but now he's gone too. With the Church of the Sun God out of the picture, it was easy pickings for a while, but I guess my time here's up."

"I don't know where you learned about the tickets, but once I take you in, this whole mess is over."

"Take me in? That's a problem. I haven't done anything. Those kids did it."

"You made them do it."

"Well, yeah. I suppose that might be true."

The man stood up.

Azu and Alexia were already in combat stances.

The man was unsettling, but he didn't look strong.

"You don't scare me, but those ladies behind you do. Looks like getting hit would hurt, so I'll take my leave."

With that, he produced a single sheet of paper.

"Don't let him use it!"

The instant Alexia saw the paper, she shouted and lunged.

Azu broke into a run as well.

But the man's figure was already beginning to waver.

"We'll meet again, Yohane. My name is Iefuda. Remember it."

Azu hurled her scabbard, and it struck Iefuda square in the head. He writhed in agony.

But Alexia's hand closed on nothing.

The scabbard clattered to the ground.

"A teleportation magic scroll. How careless of me."

"He got away, huh."

"Looks like it."

"So he had at least that much up his sleeve."

Scrolls were paper imbued with sealed magic, and they were exorbitantly expensive.

A teleportation scroll, no less, would have cost a fortune.

Forcing him to use that was the best they could take from this.

Meanwhile, the children had been trying to sneak away, so Yohane cut them off.

He wasn't about to let them slip out in the confusion.

"Dawn's almost here. Once it is, I'm handing you over to the guard patrol. With all charges, you'd be flogged, but I'll leave some of it out when I report, so the sentence will come down to labor in the mines. If you're a girl, kitchen duty there."

Hearing that, Kanaha finally seemed to accept her fate.

Completely charmless.

If she'd been as honest and straightforward as Azu, he'd have been quite inclined to dote on her.