“Miko! Come down!”
A little girl reached towards a kitten on a tree.
The kitten had a ribbon with a bell on its neck, meaning it was most likely kept by the little girl and her parents.
The girl was walking with the kitten in her arms, when sudden barking made it run away.
The momentum took the kitten up a tree, but it was scared to get down because it was higher than expected.
The girl was worried because the kitten was not coming down no matter how much she called it, and tried to climb it. And the many branches provided plenty of footing.
“Miko, Miko.”
At around the one meter mark, she was within reach of the kitten if she stretched her arm.
Just a little more, just a little more… And she got it.
With the job done, she looked down.
“Eek.”
This time, it was the girl who could not climb down.
“Mii,”
The kitten sounded exasperated over its unreliable owner.
But then, a man in a black suit passed by.
“Oh dear, what happened? Are you stuck up there?”
The man in the black suit, Kuroitsu, saw the girl and spoke with a calm voice, so as not to frighten her.
The girl silently nodded, and Kuroitsu led her and the kitten back on the ground.
It was easy. From his point of view, the girl and kitten were simply sitting right in front of him.
“Thank you.”
“No problem at all.”
The girl thanked him, and Kuroitsu continued on after telling her it was nothing.
She thought he looked cool as she watched him leave. And then her eyes fell on the kitten in her arms.
“Miko?”
The kitten trembled as if scared.
◇ ◇ ◇
Kuroitsu entered a bar. It was daytime, but it was open, and inside were the bartender and three patrons.
He did not know the patrons, but he did know the bartender.
Kuroitsu greeted him with a friendly hello, and received a somewhat scared expression in return.
“Can I go to the back?”
“Y-yes. I will contact the owner.”
“No need. I’m sure he already knows.”
He could feel a wary sight from the back.
It was not the first time, it happened every time he was there. This was because Kuroitsu was affiliated with a division that managed seekers, and because trouble in the past led him to not like him.
“Are you here about work again?”
After passing through the door, and two more doors, he saw a middle aged man with sunglasses, who looked like who you would expect to find there.
He wore his suit out of shape, and had tattoos on his chest and neck.
“Yes, what do you have for me? I would appreciate it if you excluded the difficult ones.”
“Keh, Because you’re not doing them. I have three, pick what you want. All have the same deadline, tomorrow morning.”
The man placed three documents on a table, and moved them closer to Kuroitsu.
“Hahaha, a friend is in need of money, so I am providing some work… This one, stopping a transaction.”
Kuroitsu took a document, that was about stopping a transaction of narcotics brought in from overseas by a cartel.
Of course, it did not say who requested it. It was most likely a criminal organization that did not want its own market disrupted.
Taking an aggressive position publicly would not be possible due to the enemy being too powerful. And so, this was the only method. At least they so predicted.
A criminal organization surrounding itself with pro seekers made them a target for purging. Even if they were former seekers who only reached the twentieth floor, they might end up being targeted.
They were aware of this, so they refrained from hiring seekers. And so, they created what they called an underground guild, where shady quests arrived from various places.
“Kuroitsu…”
“What is it?”
“Is your organization all right? I heard it was being headhunted by those utopia people.”
“There is no problem. We think of it as retirement. We have plenty of replacements, and if it comes down to it… No, let me stop there. That will be all for me then.”
The man exhaled loudly, as Kuroitsu left and the door was closed.
“Ahh.”
He could not stop sweating every time Kuroitsu was there.
He stopped using the Clairvoyance and Foresight skills, and fell back on his chair.
His relationship with Kuroitsu was better compared to when he was being hunted, now that he offered him work, but he always felt as though he could be killed on a whim.
He was aware of the shady work he did, but had no intention to quit at this point. In fact, he knew that knowing so many secrets meant he would be killed the moment he did.
And Kuroitsu would be the first in line to kill him.
“Ahh, won’t someone kill that monster?”
“Oh, I forgot… What is it?”
Kuroitsu suddenly returned, and the man fell from his chair. He said it was nothing, and after hearing what Kuroitsu had to say, he saw him leave again.
He learned not to speak out of line, even if the man himself was not present.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Am I really going to storm in there, Kuroitsu?”
It was a storehouse near a dock. It was quite far from the dungeon, two hours by car.
He was driven there by Gotouta, and intended to return the same way.
“Yes. They are not ordinary people, but they are normal humans. No match for a fully equipped Gotouta. This time you don’t have to hesitate to hurt people. Leaving them be will only create more unhappy people.”
Said Kuroitsu gently to a fainthearted Gotouta.
He had completed four jobs brought to him by Kuroitsu, but they all took a toll on his body and mind.
“Then shouldn’t we call the cops…”
“What are you saying? This is your atonement. Did you not say you caused people problems? I was moved by your intention to atone, and decided to help. This job will help people, and its reward will go towards helping those harmed by you. Is this not a perfect job for you? What else could you want?”
Kuroitsu gradually increased the pressure, taking away Gotouta’s will to argue. He was not making use of his Curse skill. There was no need to use it and carve away life span.
Gotouta’s eyes lost their vitality, and he stepped out of the car facing down.
He grabbed a weapon, asking himself if that was how big his crimes were.
He knew he hurt a lot of people. He knew he tore apart families, and about the suicide.
Still, he glared at Kuroitsu, who sat in the car. But he quickly looked away.
Kuroitsu was abnormal.
He noticed it right away. And the jobs he brought were not only abnormal, but impossible to reject.
It was as though his instincts told him not to go against him.
What would happen if he did?
That question lost him his will to resist.
◇ ◇ ◇
There were fourteen people inside, all tough looking adults. Half were foreign and half Japanese. They had guns, and were clearly not law abiding citizens.
Still, they were less scary than Kuroitsu.
Gotouta entered the place where the deal was taking place, beat everyone beyond recovery, and threw all attache cases into the sea.
“Good job. Here.”
He drank a potion given to him by Kuroitsu, and the wounds from being hit healed.
He was shot in a few places, but the armor blocked most, and the ones that hit missed vital areas. He was not in danger of dying.
“Rest easy, the reward has been transferred.”
“Ah… Thank you.”
Gotouta looked at the sea.
At night, it had a frightening quality to it, as if its darkness could swallow all.
If he jumped now…
He felt cornered by Kuroitsu enough to consider it.
Yet…
“I will come again with more.”
His heart broke, as he could not escape this demon.
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