Chapter 89: An Acquaintance

Half an hour later, most of the passengers had recovered from their shock. They sat wherever they could on the ground; some simply lay down, clutching their bundles tightly. At least no more snatching or murderous attacks broke out. After all, the last person who had tried had already been reduced to a heap of mangled flesh beyond recognition.

Some people ate a little to restore their strength. Hiroyuki recognized the bar-like ration as jerky, pressed from the meat of some monster. It was edible, and apparently tasted rather good.

The moment he said so, however, his brow furrowed, as though an unpleasant thought had struck him.

Yuki thought of it too. Those little monsters that had been teleported into the cavern with them and then taken away... could they have all been turned into this kind of dried meat?

They had brought food and water with them, but those were emergency reserves to be touched only when all other options were gone. So long as they could hunt or obtain food from the outside, they would not waste their stored provisions.

“Yuki, aren’t you going to eat?”

“No. I’m not hungry.”

“In a hellhole like this, who knows whether we’ll even get regular meals. You should eat something now.”

Yuki nodded perfunctorily, but he truly was not hungry.

Come to think of it, from the moment they had set out until now, he had only eaten a single chocolate bar in the cabin. By any reckoning, it had been nearly a full twenty-four hours since his last real meal, and yet he felt no hunger at all.

It was not nausea, nor a loss of appetite from any other cause. His body simply had not sounded any alarm telling him it needed energy.

An hour later, the group had more or less finished resting and prepared to move on.

Just as Yuki had expected, this makeshift company began to dissolve as they walked, because everyone’s goals were different.

Most proposed heading for the Starport Tower the soldier had mentioned earlier, to gather information there and see whether they could find a ship off this place. As one, they turned hopeful eyes toward Maguna, clearly wanting him to join them.

Maguna naturally refused. He had come here to find people, and until he located his two missing companions, he had no intention of leaving.

As for Yuki and Hiroyuki Soya, neither of them particularly trusted the intelligence that soldier had provided. In Yuki’s judgment, the military organization called Storage did not want them to leave easily. It wanted them killing one another in this planetary city.

Those supply bags they had handed out were an investment. And if they did not want that investment to go to waste, then the route of escape they had indicated was almost certainly compromised.

So Yuki suggested they first gather information within the city, and only after confirming the situation here should they look for a way out.

At that, Maguna came over as well. He needed information too. The city was even larger than he had imagined; searching for someone in it was like dredging the sea for a needle. Blundering around blindly was no choice at all.

And so the original crowd gradually split into several smaller teams and headed deeper into the city.

At the same time, a rumor spread wildly through the dark alleys of the Hive—

A whole shipload of lunatics had arrived, apparently fanatical devotees of some cult. The moment they came out of the Cavern, they had performed some unheard-of live sacrifice, chopping one unlucky fellow from their own batch to pieces on the spot. The chunks of his corpse still had not been cleared away; they were piled outside the Cavern’s gate even now.

Many people, driven by curiosity or other motives, ran over one after another to confirm the story, and came back pale and green-faced. One could only imagine how revolting the sight must have been.

By then, Yuki and his two companions had found their footing. Their first gain was a crudely printed map, taken by force from the arms of an alien who had tried to rob them.

Only then did Maguna belatedly understand why Yuki had told him to wrap himself in a cloak and conceal his identity. It made baiting easier, and resources easier to obtain.

But that tactic could only be used so many times. Before long, descriptions of their little group had begun to circulate, and far faster than Yuki had expected.

As a result, their road was strangely uneventful. Yuki almost suspected there was some glowing sign floating above their heads reading: Dangerous. Do Not Approach. The figures lurking in the dark seemed to suppress their greed and step aside of their own accord.

Even so, they did manage to gather some useful information.

First, the map. Then, word of where to find someone well informed. Unsurprisingly, they were given the name of a bar, and the street thug even marked its location on the map for them.

So it really was a bar... Yuki thought. Somehow that felt very fitting for a fantasy setting.

Their next destination was decided.

On the map, they found a shortcut. Next to that narrow path, the map’s previous owner had scribbled in marker: Dangerous. Highway robbers stationed here. More than thirty.

Wasn’t that even better?

And so they made up their minds and headed straight for it.

This city barely had any infrastructure at all. Only a few lamps stood before certain shops to guide prospective customers; everywhere else was almost entirely swallowed by darkness. And this was an underground city besides. Looking up, one saw only a black stone vault overhead, not a starry sky.

So there was no use hoping for starlight.

After walking some distance along the cramped road, they heard the sounds of blows landing, coarse laughter, and the thin cries of pain from someone very young.

All three stopped at once and looked at one another.

From the sound of the wailing, it seemed to be a child.

“Shall we take a look?”

The moment Yuki spoke, Hiroyuki had already nodded.

Under ordinary circumstances, Hiroyuki Soya might have advised Yuki to keep the mission first and foremost. But this time he agreed without hesitation.

In his eyes, after what had happened earlier, Yuki had been in low spirits the whole while. At a moment like this, he might instinctively want to save someone else as a way of compensating for the guilt gnawing at him inside. That was why he had asked whether they could interfere in this bit of “someone else’s business.”

Maguna had no objection either. Though he was anxious to find his two companions, it was not a matter of every second counting. Yuki had a remarkable talent for gathering and analyzing information, and Maguna was still counting on his help.

Besides, bullying was one thing. Bullying a child was another.

Maguna could not stand that sort of filth either.

Seeing that neither Hiroyuki Soya nor Maguna opposed it, Yuki let out a quiet breath of relief and felt even more strongly that they had to go and see. His own thought was this: with luck, they might even recruit a local and easily gain more information about the place.

“Be careful it isn’t a trap. Let’s observe first, then act.”

Maguna reminded the other two. Yuki and Hiroyuki both nodded; in a place where they knew neither the land nor the people, no degree of suspicion was excessive.

The three of them carefully erased the sound of their footsteps and made their way toward the source of the noise.

When they drew near, they crouched shoulder to shoulder behind a grimy oil drum, listening as the punching and kicking continued without pause.

Yuki cautiously poked his head out for a glance—

Then suddenly sprang up from the shadows.

“Wait, what?”

Hiroyuki Soya did not even have time to grab him before Yuki shot to his feet from behind cover.

“I thought we agreed to observe first and act later!” Hiroyuki hissed.

“No need. I know them!” Yuki had no time to explain further. He darted toward the scene of the bullying, already prepared for a fight.