Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume1 Phase2 (section)

===Part 6===

The following morning, the day’s newspaper popped out of the remote printer with a ding like it was a piece of toast. The frontpage story was about the public execution of an old man named Thomas, but if they had carefully scoured the entire paper, they would likely have found an article about themselves. Although it would have been smaller than the Forturiana Church advertisement telling people to consider the Light-Dark Duality whenever they were filled with doubt.

The cheap inn really only provided people with a box to stay in, so it of course did not provide breakfast.

“Ugh.”

Ayato cracked all his joints as he got up from the filthy floor. Forcing himself into Self-Maintenance the night before may have been a mistake. The results were never satisfactory when he did that. His body felt unnaturally heavy and a vague image of holding a giant fish in his arms was dancing around his head.

“A fish???”

But he knew trying to remember would not turn up anything, so he did not bother. More importantly, he realized how hungry he was as his body woke up.

“Morning, Miss Teleria.”

“Good morning to you too, sleepy head. Here, let me fix that bedhead.”

“Nhh.”

At times like this, he let his partner girl take over.

“So what is the plan for today?” she asked.

“First up, how about fish for breakfast? I’m really craving fish this morning for whatever reason. I’ve got this unstoppable desire for fish and I can’t figure out why.”

“Bfhhhhhh!!!???”

“?”

“Cough, cough! Ahem! W-well, fish is good!! Yes, it’s much healthier than other meats and the saltier things you usually eat!!”

“Why am I envisioning an hourglass? No, I’m associating a waist and navel with fish for some reason, but fish don’t have navels. What is wrong with me today???”

“You should probably just forget all about that!! Forcing yourself to do that sketchy Self-Maintenance work last night is probably causing all sorts of malfunctions in your mind!!”

Ayato was not the morning shower type, so he simply walked to the sink to fix his bleary eyes. He chose to trust Teleria’s taste when it came to his hair.

They had not eaten anything since last night, but Dark Elf Mamilis Coster was already at the sink brushing her teeth with the rough toothbrush band wrapped around her index finger. Since they were not out in public, her distinctive long ears were left exposed.

However, she was apparently not doing this because she was the type who liked that sticky feeling in her mouth first thing in the morning.

“Grandma told me to take care of my teeth. And since Elves do have long lives, life probably would be pretty hard if I lost my teeth in the first 100 or 200 years.”

“The faded leather vest and tight pants with slits in the sides gives you a pretty strong punk look, but you’re actually quite a grandma’s girl, aren’t you?”

“These are the only clothes I have to wear right now, Coach.”

“Hm? Coach?”

“Remember last night? You promised to teach me the basics of being a Forward, so you’re my coach.”

“I’m not really feeling it. I probably should have just told you to observe me and figure it out, but I guess I’ll do what I can.”

When she noticed where drowsy Ayato’s (rude) gaze was directed, she sighed and put her hands on the hips next to the thick leather belt Expansion Armor that floated around her like an astronomical orbit.

“This? I just want it to make my waist look skinnier than it really is.”

“???”

Optical illusion or not, Mamilis was tall and slender enough that she almost looked too skinny.

“Things can be trickier when you don’t have the usual curves,” she explained. “An hourglass figure would be so much simpler, wouldn’t it?”

“Hmm.” Ayato’s brain had still not quite engaged as he stared at Mamilis’s navel. “But your skinny body is pretty hot in its own way.”

“Bfh! You could just keep those thoughts to yourself…kyah!?”

Growing flustered proved a mistake.

She lost control of the Expansion Armor around her hips, so the leather belt loop came apart and then wrapped around Ayato as well. Then it reconnected and squeezed them both together.

“Miss Mamilis.”

“Agh! Wait, wait! I’ll calm down, I just need to calm down. Then I can slowly remove it.”

“Hm, you actually do have a fair amount of…how should I put it? Of happiness.”

“Mgyuh!? Coach, are you trying to get us permanently squished together or something!?”

That did not sound like all that bad an idea to Ayato, but the Dark Elf shut her eyes and desperately worked to cool herself down. Thanks to that, they did not end up with two mutilated corpses in the bathroom that morning.

“(I see. So this is Ayato Criminaltrophy. It’s true he doesn’t seem to have any discriminatory feelings, but I feel like he’s a little too ''in''discriminate in other ways.)”

“?”

The Dark Elf glared at him with the finger wrapped in the toothbrush band inside her mouth while she stepped aside to let him wash his face with cold water. He already had an androgynous face, so he did not need to shave. His chin remained smooth all on its own.

“Once we eat some fish, let’s pursue the case. We need to track down that sniper scum who framed us for those murders and then fled.”

“Why fish?”

“It’s like I’m really horny for fish this morning. Venison or pigeon isn’t going to cut it. Only fish will satisfy me.”

“TMI, Coach. At least it’s a healthy meal, I suppose.”

They decided to keep the room in the cheap inn, but they headed out into the early morning of Wind Castle Town Silphine. Mamilis hid her long ears with the Mimic Options shaped like jeweled earrings.

Sky City Celedileka’s four castle towns surrounding central Light Castle Brightio were each uniquely constructed to match their element of fire, water, wind, or earth. In Silphine’s case, that meant lots of high-rise buildings made of stone and glass. A height of 2000 esoule<ref>Approximately 2400 meters.</ref> was standard and the larger ones were as tall as 3000 esoule<ref>Approximately 3600 meters.</ref>, so it felt like a small mountain range. The fact that the buildings were taller than the light castle in the center was apparently a topic of some debate.

The walkways connecting the ultra-high-rise structures gave the whole thing an uneven jungle gym appearance. Yet in some places, the height difference was less than 100 esoule<ref>Approximately 120 meters.</ref>.

The ordinary six-legged sorcery taxis were not enough to get around there. Even winged designs like a bee or dragonfly were inefficient.

That was why Wind Castle Town Silphine had constructed a bold form of transportation infrastructure.

“Wah, wah, wah!! Wait, my skirt, my skirt!”

“Not to worry, Miss Teleria. I can see up it just fine.”

“This isn’t supposed to be a special show for you! Your low angle view is the problem!!”

“I have already burned the image into my eyes. Besides, your defenses are perfect with that disappointing pair of black tights with 0% transparency. Now, let’s get going.”

“It’s not about whether you can actually see anything! My maiden heart can’t stand looking like a broken umbrella on a stormy day!!”

Ayato and Mamilis ignored the complaints and instead grabbed the blonde girl’s arms and dove out of the 149th floor window. Even that rundown underground inn had existed in some vertical space taken from the 149th and 150th floors. There was something seriously wrong with the interior maintenance and inspections in this town.

As soon as they leaped out into the empty air, an updraft caught them. The invisible wind was artificially colored by the bright flower petals floating in it. Artificial air currents were sent every which way and people, objects, and vehicles could be seen complexly intersecting through all that. …There was some gold<ref>Approximately 10,000 yen per coin.</ref> and silver<ref>Approximately 5000 yen per coin.</ref> mixed in, so some Thieves who thought themselves chivalrous may have been throwing their loot from the rooftops to spread it among the masses. That would have been deadly from an ordinary tower.

The sun and the stars shined in the sky above.

Airships and balloons would ride the largescale manaflows in the upper atmosphere to travel across the continent, so that must have been the inspiration for all this. This town had converted it into the wind element instead of mana itself, but since people simply pulled the trigger to use magic and did not really understand how it worked, that form was easier for them to imagine. As far as they could see at the moment, no one was losing control in the wind and crashing despite not using any specialized machinery. This was a universal enough image to be found in children’s books everywhere.

The stores and restaurants seemed to have a clear division between inside and outside, perhaps because of the artificial winds. In addition to using the emergency stairs to enter the individual levels of the ultra-high-rise structures, there were a lot of shops using RVs modeled after six-legged rhinoceros beetles or dragonflies floating in midair or shops simply set up on the walkway roofs and building walls. Those seemed to be selling impractical accessories. In addition to Expansion Armor like Teleria and Mamilis wore, they also sold a lot of decorations made from monster wings and scales. They probably flapped or glowed when instructions were sent to them with a sorcery gun. They were really just costume tools. For how much the people here loathed the Demon Lord, they really seemed to like demon-themed accessories.

“…”

For a Dark Elf who had to live hiding her long ears, it must not have been fun to see those things sold for nothing more than idle amusement. That may have been part of the reason why her grandmother had chosen the Fire Castle Town. Blonde Teleria, meanwhile, was too busy blushing and feeling dizzy to focus on her surroundings.

“Nooo!! This is too much for my maiden heart!! Why am I the only one in a skirt!?”

“Miss Teleria, try to right yourself before lamenting. You should probably focus on the embarrassed comments only once you are no longer flipped 180 degrees upside down.”

“Gyahhh!!”

Ayato and Mamilis ascended while dragging the panicking girl with them. They were right next to the giant round indoor theatre that was the wind town’s greatest landmark. It was probably using the updrafts of the city infrastructure to stay afloat, but it was still stunning to see a 400 esoule<ref>Approximately 480 meters.</ref> mass of stone and glass floating in defiance of gravity like that. …Of course, Sky City Celedileka as a whole was floating in the atmosphere’s manaflows.

The theatre was commonly known as the Continent Egg and Mamilis made a comment as they safely moved away from it.

“If you don’t want your skirt spreading out like that, you could always have Coach hold you around the hips.”

“Oh,” said Ayato.

“No, that is not the answer!” protested Teleria. “Where do you think you’re sticking your face!?”

Ball-shaped devices large enough to require both hands to hold were floating all throughout the air while regularly switching between a red or a green light. Those were the traffic lights for the wind town. Instead of telling people and vehicles when to stop, they forcibly changed the direction of the wind to carefully weave the air currents together such that no one collided with each other. That allowed a lot of traffic with no real congestion.

“That place there should work.”

“Hm? What???”

“Breakfast.”

They visited an open café on the wall of a high-rise building’s 155th floor. Just like the other shops around here, it was located at an end point of an air current, so you could enjoy a relaxing morning as long as you were not too worried about your hair.

He had avoided choosing one of the busier places since they did not have time to stand in line, but this did not seem like a bad place. A Sky Pirate girl in an eyepatch and miniskirt and a Fortuneteller with a thin veil covering her face appeared to be enjoying their breakfasts despite showing some concern about their skirts. This may have been a hidden treasure of a restaurant, or it may have been nothing special.

“But should I get white-flesh fish or red-flesh fish? What does the image in my mind tell me? When I peer deep inside myself, what kind of fish is it I want to devour?”

“Ahh, are you still doing the fish thing? A-and I don’t know how your Self-Maintenance works, but I feel like the type of desire here is heading in a more dangerous direction because you don’t know how to classify that memory.”

“(Hm, so she prefers having coach’s more standard bestial desires directed her way.)”

“Cough, cough! Just a quick warning, Miss Brown Skin! You really shouldn’t jump to strange conclusions about these things!!”

“Also, be careful when you pay the tip. If you don’t make sure the waiter has it in their grasp, the coin will be swallowed up by the whirling air currents and blown away.”

Ayato ended up choosing a white-flesh fish with cooked vegetables and pasta that he was recommended. The light-colored and nearly transparent sauce with a seafood base was apparently the selling point and it had a light flavor that was perfect for the morning. The culture here knew how to enjoy its seafood flavoring.

“Wait, why were they recommending fish here and not in the Water Castle Town?”

“For that matter, the entire place is a sky city.”

A crystal ball about the size of a fist sat at the center of the table. It was a portable Media Summoner that combined the functions of a television, a radio, and a data search. Teleria reached for the snowdome-like device to perform a search just as Ayato had the same idea, so his hand ended up on top of hers.

“Hyah!”

“Oops.”

The Dark Elf simply watched, wondering if this would take a bittersweet turn, but…

“Hm, interesting. Miss Teleria, I knew you had plenty of happiness contained in your bust, waist, and hip measurements, but it would seem the happiness is contained in every last part of your body.”

“A normal person would have let go by now!”

“I see. So this is my coach, Ayato Criminaltrophy.”

The Dark Elf muttered a comment like some kind of ancient sage while the brightly blushing blonde girl finally managed to brush off Ayato’s hand and distracted herself by touching the crystal container, operating the small metal leaf floating in the liquid, and performing a search with the Media Summoner.

“Ahem! Um, it seems there are some species of literal flying fish. This says they are raised by having them fly against artificial air currents to toughen them up.”

“I live in this city and I’ve never heard of that. I guess the fire and wind towns are more different than I thought.”

They got in a light argument over whether to have coffee or tea after their meal, but they did get some bread crumbs to soak up the rest of the sauce at the bottom of the pasta plate.

“That was actually really good. Could you figure out the recipe?”

“More or less. But I bet I could recreate it with cheaper ingredients.”

“You two? The lady at the register has a smile frozen on her face, so how about you wait until we leave the restaurant to discuss that?”

Now that their stomachs were filled, they could start on the actual investigation.

They caught a random updraft to reach the top of the high-rise building. The rooftops were at different heights and they functioned as rest parks known as Perches where all air currents were kept out. There were of course a lot of the mobile shops made from RVs there. For some reason, Blonde Teleria grew pale and held her mouth when she saw all the accessories made from monster wings and scales.

The area Ayato and Teleria had shopped the night before had been a rooftop on a lower level. Ayato glanced over at a Songstress who was gathering attention with her song in what may have doubled as both voice practice and conquering her stage fright.

“Let’s start by sharing our information.”

They wanted to learn the truth of what happened in Fire Castle Town Flared. They had managed to resolve the human trafficking incident without killing anyone, but then some unknown third party had intervened and now Ayato and Teleria were seen as vigilantes who had gone too far and killed the villains.

There was one other primary issue.

“That was probably meant to silence the human traffickers who knew about the abduction of Jorbe Alphoverin, the urban design manager for the sky city. Although it is a mystery what the criminal hopes to accomplish by learning how the system works.”

“I can’t imagine it’s anything good,” said Mamilis. “Not to mention that they’ve already chosen to kill people.”

“Ahh. But how are we supposed to investigate this?” asked Teleria. “We don’t know their name or what they look like.”

If that was enough information for them to successfully find the person from among the densely-packed population of the Selected Kingdoms’ largest sky city, then they might as well find a new job as fortunetellers.

But Ayato remained calm.

“We do have a hint.”

“Hweh?”

“The sorcery gun they used. With power like that, it must be an anti-dragon rifle longer than we are tall. And standard customizations aren’t enough to explain it. If a normal human used that, the recoil from converting the mist mana into magic would tear their body apart. That means this is not an ordinary product. If we search out where they acquired it, we should be able to reach the sniper as well.”

“Hmm.” The Dark Elf placed a hand on her chin. “That sounds reasonable, but doesn’t that make it less likely it will work? Whoever they think did it, the knights are sure to investigate the origin of the weapon used. Would the person behind this really be careless enough to leave such an obvious line of investigation open? If so, framing you two would be meaningless.”

“Actually, how would they investigate the weapon’s origin?”

Ayato reached into his blue blazer’s breast pocket like someone reaching for the newspaper that was remotely printed on the same reusable paper every day and he pulled out the ultra-thin crystal tarot cards of his Linkage Monitor.

The mist mana that exchanged all sorts of information ran throughout the city in thin, web-like lines, but it passed through all people and non-magical things and it was also invisible. That was why he predicted where a manaflow was based on the location of the relay devices shaped like outdoor showers made from metal pipes or from the streetlights that automatically changed their brightness between day and night. Then he stabbed his Linkage Plug sword into the ground in between to place the blade in the path of the mist manaflow and hack into it. He was spying on knight communications over the manaflow.

Portable wireless devices like Ayato’s crystal tarot cards were really just Sorcery Hacker toys that picked up on mist mana spray, so they were little different from the tools of a niche hobby and had no standards. A public agency in a well-maintained city would generally used a wired connection by clipping their device to the fixed connection points dotting the city like the stars in the sky.

“I have completed a list of sorcery gun shops. We are ready for the second human wave attack. What are our instructions?”

“Some unlicensed sellers work from street stalls, so be careful. There are loopholes everywhere.”

“I will finish this by lunchtime. That mobile trattoria has apparently received some top-rate wheat for the first time in forever, so I already know I’m getting some fried pasta today. Now, to work!!”

Ayato sighed as he gave up on listening in and cut the connection. He glanced over at a Chef in search of the best ingredients and a Dragon Knight whose skills were more like acrobatics than combat. The two of them were getting into a scuffle in a pet shop that looked more like a circus tent.

“Looks like they actually plan on searching every last shop that sells sorcery guns. The human race will be fossilized and dug up by the lifeforms of a future age before they find the criminal like that.”

“Eh? Eh?” Teleria was confused. “But the sniper was using a sorcery gun, right?”

“You don’t have to buy the completed product all at once. What about the metalworkers? If someone is skilled enough to cut down a mana-conducting silver pipe, carve the magic circle rifling inside, and process it to allow the mist mana explosion to pass through, they might be able to follow some plans and create their own special sorcery gun from the ground up.”

Of course, metalworkers came in all sorts of different types, so narrowing down a suspect from there would be difficult. But Ayato and Teleria happened to know someone with a connection to a specialist in that field.

Yes.

Hadn’t the scorpion-like Zootoxin Mk. IIIs from Flared been designed and manufactured by Mamilis Coster’s grandmother?

“Yes, grandma probably could make a sorcery gun, but I’m pretty sure she only accepts jobs from Government Security.”

Hearing that alone might make her sound like a government flunky, but that “grandma” worked in the large weapon development business. It would be unusual for anyone other than Government Security or the knights to buy from her.

“I wonder if stubborn craftsmen like that ever create some kind of guild that ordinary people aren’t aware of,” said Teleria. “Then the general guild contact point could deal with the first-time customers asking for flashy accessories, the taxes, the location costs, and all the other annoyances while the craftsmen can focus on development and manufacturing.”

“They do. The one my family belongs to is called the Silver Anvil.”

“Huh? But in that case…”

“Yes. Any sketchy jobs that sound awfully illegal will never reach the craftsmen in the guild. Any jobs that would hurt their reputation will be detected by the general contact point and rejected. Without that bare minimum of protection, there would be no point in joining the guild.” Ayato raised a finger. “On the other hand, a self-taught craftsman who is little better than a complete amateur could never produce a special sorcery gun that would requires professional skill. That leaves only one answer: someone who was once part of a guild but made some kind of mistake that got them kicked out and has to take illegal jobs to get by. It’s similar to how back-alley doctors get started. They maintain their skills, but their filter against sketchy jobs entirely vanishes.”

“Hmm,” groaned the Dark Elf while toying with her disguised ears. “Grandma doesn’t like talking behind her colleagues’ backs, so I only have the slightest of rumors to go on.”

“That’s good enough.”

“Once she did tell me not to end up like Alonso Bercouli. It kind of slipped out though, so it might not be much to go on.”

“Bingo. Let’s start our search there.”

“Eh? But, Coach, you have no guarantee this will lead to anything.”

“And that’s fine. Even if Alonso isn’t who we want, he should have exchanged contact information with other underground craftsmen. Wherever they were exiled to, people can’t survive on their own. Whether he did this job or not, we can at least find another hint there. This is like a game of concentration with one card already flipped over, so we might as well start with the name we know.”

They had an advantage over the government or the knights because they would not get in trouble for investigating someone based on the flimsiest of evidence. Forwards generally did not worry about their methods. They would still get paid as long as they achieved the desired result in the end. Of course, that was why a lot of people thought they were as criminal as the criminals they pursued. And since Sorcery Hacker hackers were proper(?) criminals as well, Ayato was not about to argue the point there.

“Now, we have some food in our stomachs, so let’s go stir up some trouble.”