Chapter 436
Chapter 436
«What is it?!» – Elsa mumbled in her “Demon Huntress” image, as she watched the bright fireball. When the roar reached her, the girl involuntarily shuddered, but instead of staying away, she bravely rushed to the danger.
…
Valeera, being in invisibility, stood on the roof of the building and watched the fire mushroom rising up. There was confusion in her usually indifferent gaze. Vague suspicions enveloped the girl’s heart. Is it possible that…
…
The person before whom even royal phasers bow, watched what was happening from the window of the palace. Her flawless face did not flinch, and a spark of interest flashed in her unimaginably piercing silver eyes as she gracefully swayed a glass of “wine” in her hand.
…
«EVERYTHING DESTROYED?! AND THE AUCTION?!» – splashing saliva, Gusteau yelled into the sound transmitter, watching the billowing fireball from the window of the Golden Pig guild.
«He’s insane… He’s a fucking suicide! When I heard his voice, when I looked into his eyes, and then saw this strange screen of his, where everything and everyone exploded to hell, it became clear to me that I had to run away!» – the auctioneer shouted in a broken voice.
{Damn, damn, damn! Shit!} – the fat man cursed mentally.
«Sir, he took all the money from his lots and gave us five minutes… We managed to save most of the goods and personnel by escaping underground, but I’m afraid all the crime bosses are already dead… Tell me, what will be your further instructions?»
«We’ll talk later…» – Gusteau moaned in a cracked voice, rubbing his temples from an instant migraine. It didn’t fit in his mind how he could be so naive to tell the address of the underground auction to someone who has two protectors of the level of Patriarch Bazhen, or even higher. Even during their meeting, the man subconsciously guessed that the messenger of the goddess could not forgive him so easily, but the taste of big money stupefied the mind, and now he can forget an impressive source of income for a long time, if not forever! There is no longer any sense in the black market or in an underground auction, if only ashes remain from the customers! It’s good that the vindictive guy allowed them to save the goods and staff. That says a lot about him. As for the auction building, it only looks expensive, in fact it was created by earth magicians. Such buildings are too unstable, because if the magician dies, the building will collapse. But for one-time use they will do.
Soon the fat man took out the sound transmitter and, when the connection was established, he said: «Kyon… You…» – a heavy sigh. – «You crossed every line! You destroyed the underground auction!»
«So what?» – the guy asked casually.
«S-so what? D-do you even understand what you’ve done?! You…»
«I saved the capital from all scum, having first cleaned their pockets. What is the reason for discontent? I get the impression that you still had some dark dealings with them. You assured me that you would not engage in such questionable activities. As for the address, it wasn’t a problem to get it with your connections, am I right? And if so, what is the problem?»
«What… is the problem?» – Gusteau repeated dumbfounded. From the context of the last meeting, anyone would have understood that the Golden Pig guild has its own interest in an underground auction, but the messenger of the goddess is now making a fool out of himself, relying on the nonsense he heard earlier. And after all, it will be stupid to be indignant. The fat man put himself in an awkward position.
It turns out that Kyon deceived him like a simpleton: he waved his weapon in front of his face, convincing him that he wanted to sell it (which, by the way, turned out to be true), and by the same act forced him to advertise future lots of the auction, which is why the heads of the shadow clans not only came themselves, but also took more friends and money with them. And how did it all turn out? He not only got a lot of money, but he will also become a hero of the city!
Only now the man was able to get an idea of the character of the young man: vindictive, pragmatic, cunning and greedy for profit, but he can not be called a ruthless scumbag, because he acted humanely, letting the auction workers escape with important goods and lots. So, he can cooperate with him, but it’s better not to stand in his way.
«In general, thank you very much for the information.» – Kyon added. – «Now my resentment for trying to kidnap me has completely disappeared. Let’s start our cooperation! Expect the first batch of medicine tomorrow. I hope it will be sold at a decent price, hehe.»
When the connection was cut off, Gusteau grinned ironically. The guy’s revenge turned out to be terrible, and yet understandable and even reasonable. Was the favor of the messenger of the goddess worth the loss of such a good source of income? Yes, definitely. Is it worth cooperating with him after what he has done? It is hard to say. However, after what the fat man went through for the sake of cooperation with Kyon, it is too late to back off on it. From now on, they are tightly bound as partners and accomplices.
…
A minute earlier, five imperial phasers and almost twenty royal phasers of security forces, having received an order from their superiors, cautiously approached the site of the explosion. Suddenly a man emerged from the ruins: a half-naked old man smeared with dust and blood, and then another – a tall, thin man. Both, like shadows, rushed in different directions, fleeing. But how can they get away from the five imperial phasers, being wounded? They were quickly captured.
Security forces scanned the rubble and found seven more survivors. They were quickly taken out of there with the help of the earth element. Two of them died soon after, the other two received critical injuries and barely lived, and the other three, the clan heads of the 3rd-5th rank, received moderate wounds. Everyone has a different degree of concussion and lacerations all over the body.
«What happened here?!» … «What a terrible explosion!» … «Report the situation!» – the crowd gathered around the cordoned-off ruins, over which dust was still settling. Investigators and security officers from the nearest law enforcement departments appeared, but when the curious tried to find out at least some information from them, they were simply ignored or asked to move away. Someone even noticed a man with glasses, in which any self-respecting investigator recognizes Milan. What is he doing here?!
Everyone wanted to know what caused such a powerful explosion.
The truth is this: Kyon took an obscenely huge amount of explosives from the dwarfs and laid it under the auction hall. And before the explosion, his subordinates took the residents in the risk zone away from the epicenter.
Lovr also deftly forced the heads of the clans to descend from the balconies so that they suffered the greatest damage, but even so it was worth taking into account the probability that the strongest or luckiest would still survive… And to prevent them from escaping, he had to call the security forces – the imperial phasers. Without them, it is unlikely that Isaac and Diego would have been caught.
Having finished talking with Gusteau, Kyon entered the cordoned-off area and stood next to the boss with such a proud look, as if he was a genius sculptor examining his just finished masterpiece.
Noticing the fat man, Milan flinched, as if he saw a ghost, stared at him with bulging eyes and asked in a strangled voice: «Is this your doing?!»
«Yeah. I destroyed the rathole in one fell swoop.» – Kyon agreed dryly. – «Now the lion’s share of Dantes’ crime bosses is dead.»
He looked at the fat man’s impassive face with disbelief: «Th-that is, you yourself destroyed the entire underground auction?!»
Kyon turned to Milan and grinned unkindly: «Prepare the hat and glitter, boss.»
After a short explanation, during which the man did not calm down at all, Lovr approached the ruins and collected the harvest unnoticed by everyone. He managed to fill the core with souls by 15%, exactly the same amount was given by the second wave of demons.
Meanwhile, Elsa watched Dick and his boss from invisibility. The girl frowned in bewilderment, trying to understand what was going on there.
…
Late in the evening, the whole department was on high alert. All the investigators fussed about, not knowing where to start and who to contact. Alarms came from all over the capital.
Kyon, with his hands crossed behind his head and his feet on the table, sat in the head’s office opposite the boss and lazily rocked back and forth in his chair.
Milan nervously drummed his fingers on the tabletop, thinking feverishly about something. The last time he was so nervous when he first spoke with the head of the department face-to-face. It was during his promotion to the head of the investigation department.
«So did you go to an underground auction through your so-called «rat» and blow up the hall with dwarf explosives?» – the man asked for probably the fifth time.
«Yeah.» – Lovr nodded. – «The same person helped me to go to the meeting of the heads of the clans.»
«Did you get anything wrong? Because if you made a mistake, then you will be fucking skinned alive! What you have done has stirred up all the citizens of Dantes! I would not be surprised if I get an order to execute you for disturbing important people with your explosion, or even the bloody empress herself! I’m going to clean up this mess for the rest of my fucking life! I swear to the goddess, if you’re wrong, then I’ll strangle you myself…»
«Take it easy, boss. Here’s the proof.» – Kyon threw the nephrite to the man.
The bespectacled man deftly caught it and activated it. After that, he saw a recording of the large hall on the screen that appeared. Hundreds of people took their places, including on the balconies. The auctioneer gave the opening speech. He greeted each of the clan heads, explained the plan of the event and announced the first lot – poisons.
Everything became clear to Milan. He was so relieved. Now he has an explanation for what happened. So, he will definitely keep the position. And everything will be fine with Dick. Moreover, he will become the hero of Dantes! He single-handedly cleared the capital of all the villains!
The bespectacled man turned off the recording and stared at Dick, as if he were a creature out of this world: «In just a month, you’ve caught all the clan heads… Completed all the “S” rank tasks… Who the fuck are you?!»
«Actually, not all of them.» – Kyon shook his finger. – «The clan of the eighth rank was absent from the auction for some reason. You saw it on the recording.»
«Damn it…» – Milan was alarmed, clutching his head. – «The most potentially dangerous shadow clan, and it remained intact? Oh, shit! It turns out that without competitors, this clan will crush the entire shadow segment of the capital?! Bullshit!»
The indignation of the bespectacled man was not groundless. The clan of the 8 rank has long proved that it has much more potential than all other clans. The department was just afraid of the appearance of a megaclan in the foreseeable future, and now, when Dick had destroyed all the hyenas, the little tiger was left without competitors in the forest overflowing with herbivorous animals.
«Don’t worry boss. I will definitely catch the leader of the Silent Horror. I don’t think he will be able to hide from a genius like me for a long time.» – Kyon said haughtily.
«That sounds encouraging… If anyone else had said it, I would not have believed it. But I believe you.» – Milan grinned. – «And yet, no matter how effective your methods are, I do not approve of them. You cannot create such chaos in the city without the consent of the authorities! You should have at least warned me about what was coming, Dick! Do you have any idea how much noise you made with your explosion?! And if civilians were killed?! The shock wave, you know, was strong! The windows were even blown out!»
«I am sure the casualties among civilians are minimal.» – Kyon said what he already knew, because he brought many people away from the epicenter.
«We can’t know that! To cover your ass, I’ll have to…»
«You don’t have to cover anything. Soon the people will find out that Dick Baker saved the capital from seven shadow clans that terrified everyone. Even if several dozen civilians were injured, it was worth it. If someone starts behaving aggressively towards me, the people will quickly stand up for me. You know my motto: the main thing is the result.»
«The people are good, but…» – the bespectacled man drawled uncertainly.
«If you are not satisfied with my methods, you can fire me. I’m sure someone else will stop the Silent Horror clan.» – Kyon shrugged.
Milan groaned: «I’m not going to fire you… If I do this, I will either cease to respect myself, or the same people will eat me alive. Dick, my boy, you are irreplaceable… Oh, surely, I don’t have the right to call you that anymore, do I? Ha-ha… By the way, I need to buy the hat…» – the head of the department recalled. He treated the fat, unsightly young man in a special way, he considered him a monstrous genius whose efficiency was a thousand times higher than any other investigator, so he was ready to tolerate such antics of him, for which he would have killed anyone else.
«It’s a pleasure to work with you, Mr. Milan!» – Dick politely returned the compliment. – «I hope the promotion will not be long in coming.»
«Soon it will be yours. But haven’t you forgotten the condition I voiced?»
Earlier, when Kyon requested to organize a secret raid of 5 imperial phasers, Milan put forward a condition: to give him compromising evidence on Lindia. And he had a reason to do so, because during the last raid, 2 practitioners of the royal phase died.
In addition, the convocation of 5 imperial phasers requires a good reason. The man could not send such strong people wherever he wanted, because they belong to the imperial family and report directly to the head of the department.
Kyon didn’t hesitate much about handing over the compromising material. That’s because Horace Clinton got in his way. Due to the need to evade pursuit (when he was being followed), he lost a precious 15 minutes. If Edward had raped Valeera because of this, the patriarch would have regretted violating the terms of the deal a thousand times.
«Only use it for its intended purpose.» – Lovr smiled.
«Ha-ha. Funny joke.» – Milan chuckled, hiding the precious visual recording. If anyone else had made a joke like that, he would have been punched in the face and would have been suspended from the department.
«I will hand over the compromising evidence to the patriarch, he will decide what to do with it. And from you, Dick Baker, I expect the mo-o-o-ost detailed report! You may go now!»