Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume4 Phase01 (section)

===Part 1===

The capital was a tiered city spread out in a fan shape.

That meant the lower the level, the larger it was.

Needless to say, the largest level was the lowest where Ayato’s group had fled.

“H-hey, dangerous individual. Are you sure we’ve really escaped? The capital has the strictest security in the kingdom!”

“Don’t worry. Those elite Royal Guards wouldn’t deign to visit the lowest level. All of the ‘dangerous individuals’ you like to reference so much are just dumped down the Hell Mouth. The jailer work – that is the management and interrogation of prisoners – is probably done by model prisoners instead of civil servants.”

Meanwhile.

Tearful Teleria grabbed the cage’s bars and rattled them.

“Ayato, can you please let me out of here already!? And give me my sorcery guns!!”

“Heh heh. I was thinking I might just continue to adore you like this.”

“Do you have any idea how humiliating this is!? How would you like it if you were being shown off inside a tiny cage!?”

“That’s not all that bad an idea. Eh heh heh. Just imagine it: you dressed as a sadistic jailer with a black leather miniskirt, marching me around and telling everyone I belong to you while I wait for you to feed me? Yes, I quite like that idea, Miss Teleria!!”

She gave him a “why did I think a pervert could ever understand me?” look. Had she already forgotten that he had told her those looks only excited him? If she continued with this level of free service, he might just lose control of himself, so he unlocked the cage.

“This is incredible, coach. Is this the famous capital?”

That was about what he had expected from Dark Elf Mamilis. Henrietta on the other hand (who must have dreamed of coming here every single night) was trembling at the scene before her.

Instead of dark soil or stone pavement, the ground was covered by a smooth red resin. It was probably made from the same stuff as sorcery gun cartridges. Colorless mana was forcibly cooked until it was solid and then stretched thin. But lack of upkeep had let it fade and there were cracks in places. It sounded nice if you called it pavement, but making a garden had to be a challenge. There were weeds growing up from the cracks, though.

Houses built of damp boards and tents made of waterproof cloth were crudely arranged on the ground along with so many filthy puddles. A lot of the houses were slanted, suggesting a poor foundation, and they had many unstable-looking additions building them out both horizontally and vertically. Ayato briefly wondered where they acquired the materials to build from, but it looked like they used unmanned flying sorcery devices that had malfunctioned and crashed while out on a surveillance or delivery job. As the capital of an entire continent, the city contained a massive number of sorcery devices, which meant a greater number of the defective devices that were ordinarily ignored as no more than a rounding error.

This was the bottom level of the capital.

That necessary evil supported the entire large city and no one was allowed in or out. It was home to political enemies who protested the monarchy, the indebted, and criminals who had been found guilty.

“It’s surrounded by the tall wall that defends the capital and the only path back up to the higher levels is the Hell Mouth managed by the guards. I doubt there’s a thriving job market down here.”

Ayato’s cynical comment made Mamilis childishly puff out her cheeks.

“If they don’t want these people, why not remove the wall and let them leave?”

“They don’t want people with anti-royal sentiment to gather together in a secret hideout they can’t monitor. ‘What ifs’ can seem like enough of a threat, so the king keeps his eye on them here. All while making sure to weaken them until they couldn’t rebel even if they wanted to.”

His answer only made Mamilis puff her cheeks out more.

The bottom level had the largest area but the smallest population. That meant the buildings and districts hadn’t been optimized. And he wasn’t about to tell pure-hearted Mamilis, but it was also the area with the highest death rate due to both accidents and crime. The capital as a whole thought it was best if those nuisances could be thinned out without anyone on the upper levels needing to dirty their hands. The bottom level was like a bug cage no one ever bothered to feed.

That said, the people actually living and thriving down here appeared to be scoffing at the upper levels’ intentions for them. More of the people on the streets were children than middle-aged or elderly. That suggested more people here were being born than dying. It might be vulgar, but this had definitely surpassed the expectations of the eggheads designing and running the capital.

“They don’t stew in resentment and they don’t take up weapons and riot. Instead, they use the lack of morals to their advantage and fight against their planned decline. Excellent. I love it. The world contains such fascinating depths.”

“Don’t think I don’t notice the creepy shadow in your smile, pervert dangerous individual. So what do we do now?”

Henrietta stared intently at him.

Ayato’s group’s goal wasn’t to reach the bottom level. They wanted to find Queen Astaroth Revolver who had apparently snuck into the capital for some nefarious purpose and they wanted to stop her before she could cause any real harm.

Which meant…

“The bottom level is safe, but we can’t pursue that woman if we stay here. What I want is some means of moving freely between levels of the city.”

“I-I thought the Hell Mouth was the only way in and out?”

“It is…according to the rules of the noble Royal Guards who keep the  capital safe. But filthy Sorcery Hackers like us always assume there’s another way.”

“Like you and only you!!” sharply corrected Henrietta.

Then the Striker glanced to the side.

“That aside, what is that wall?”

“The Precipice. I explained how the capital is a tiered city, remember?”

One direction was filled by a massive wall. It was around 50 esoule<ref>Approximately 60 meters.</ref> tall. The wall was more than just vertical, forming an overhang, and its surface was dark and wet. That was likely a nonflammable oil. Black spikes, presumably made of oxidized mana-conducting silver, were also driven into it here and there.

“Those have to be bait.”

“What do you mean, coach?”

“Those visible handholds make it look like you could reach the upper level, but that’s to make you let your guard down. If you actually try to scale the Precipice, a ton of flying sorcery devices will fly in and open fire. Don’t count on us being able to just climb the wall. We’d just end up filled with holes while clinging on for dear life.”

That was no issue for anyone living a normal life.

So the ordinary citizens didn’t question it or view it as a threat.

Even though these things were like cavities and termites: once the obvious symptoms began, it was hard to say how deep the damage went.

Anyway, they had to start by gathering information. But…

“Coach.”

Mamilis stood close to Ayato’s side.

She was tall and beautiful, but she carried a childlike timidity inside her. Anxiety clouded her face. Which made her more sensitive to a certain kind of sensor than the rest.

Namely, people’s eyes.

Eventually, Henrietta shut one eye.

“We’re being watched from all over. From that window, from the roof of that rundown building, and from that side street. The children in tattered clothing over there were handed some money by an adult, so are they being paid to keep an eye on us?”

“Seeing how you’re dressed, I don’t blame them.”

“What is that supposed to mean, dangerous individual? It might be an older design, but I am wearing the armor of a proud Striker who serves the king and protects the sky city.”

…Yes, and why did she insist on shoving a symbol of official authority in the faces of the filthy bottom level? This was the Hell Mouth that not even the royal guards or other guards dared enter.

On the other hand, Henrietta wasn’t the only one who stood out. Even Ayato was too clean to have been living on the bottom level. The lack of royal guards and other guards was only the ''ordinary'' way of things. Who could say what would happen if they received word of a wanted criminal. If he didn’t learn how to blend into this plain district and fast, escaping here might prove meaningless.

(So to start with…)

Ayato mentally listed out the things they would need.

Escaping here was all well and good, but letting the girls sleep out on these lawless streets was out of the question. That meant they needed a cheap inn to use as a base of operations.

They also couldn’t search out or stop Queen Astaroth Revolver if they stayed down here on the bottom level. He wanted some means of moving freely between levels of the city.

Also, even if he could run an investigation via sorcery hacking, something else was needed to operate covertly within the capital.

Money.

“We need money, but this district doesn’t look too friendly to outsiders.”

“What a pain.” Henrietta put a hand on her hip and breathed an exasperated sigh. “Why does everything you do have to be a crime? If you want information, you can just ask an honest citizen walking by instead of breaking the law with your sorcery hacking, dangerous individual.”

“You can do that, Miss Henrietta? We may be in the capital, but this is the bottom level.”

“Who do you think I am? I specialized in criminal investigation back in the sky city and I gathered information from people of every class and background.”

“Oh, really?”

“Excuse me, you there!” She raised her hand and approached a passerby. A single gold coin<ref>Approximately 10 thousand yen.</ref> appeared between her fingers as if by magic and she began her questioning.

But perhaps she should have been more cautious.

When that Sorcery Hacker couldn’t hide his grin, he was likely up to something.

Some time later, a dazed Henrietta returned after failing to get a single person to stop.

“Th-this is a gold coin<ref>Approximately 10 thousand yen.</ref>. Why wouldn’t they want it?”

“Coach, the capital is an incredible place. Even on the bottom level everyone is rich.”

“I don’t think that’s the explanation,” replied an exasperated Ayato, tapping trembling Henrietta on the shoulder and pointing at something.

Some children were buying some kind of meat on a skewer at a dirty stand that seemed to have become one with the dark stains on the wall. They were paying with paper money, not silver or copper coins.

“Paper money. The capital’s class system is so strict each level uses a different currency. Because the commoners, the nobility, and the royalty ''must not purchase the same products as each other''. I doubt they’ll even give a second look at a coin in circulation outside the city altogether. They might be interested if you crushed it and rolled it up into ‘mere gold’, but even then who knows. They might not trust an ingot with no proof of legitimacy. They’d probably assume it was mixed with copper or lead to scam them.”

That was another issue they had to solve.

They couldn’t even get started without something they could use to negotiate with the residents of the bottom level.

(But it doesn’t look like there’s no economic activity down here at all. We can probably find some way to earn the local currency.)

Assuming there wasn’t some catch-22 where they needed to work to earn paper money but they needed to hand over a stack of paper money for the worker’s guild to tell them where to go for a job.

And as Ayato was working to figure out where to start, he heard a small child’s voice.

“How about this!?”

“Pass it here! I’m open!”

He turned that way and saw a large and familiar figure.

The man had a bull’s head and a human body. In other words, he was a muscular minotaur. With an enormous shirtless macho playing with small children, Ayato had to question the safety of the capital.

It was completely in character for the self-proclaimed 1st Prince to be on the bottom level playing soccer with the small children. He was an imposing figure in a space no wider than a road, but…

“The ball’s headed your way!”

“Goalie! You’re biggest, so block the goal with your body! Guard it with your life!!”

“Hey, wait! Are you even trying to score anymore, or is this just turning into a game of ‘beat up the mino-’ gfwah!?”

“Ah ha ha ha ha!!”

“He fell over!” rejoiced the children as they held their sides in laughter.

Ayato breathed an exasperated sigh.

“What are you doing, bull?”

“Oh, hey. Finally got your ass in the capital, did you!?”

The minotaur hopped to his feet with surprising agility.

“This is my duty as a royal. As the 1st Prince, I’ve gotta play with the poor children who are lonely during the day while both their parents are out working.”

“Heh heh. And he’s so full of himself we can hit him with the ball guilt-free. He’s a braggart!” said a small boy, showing no restraint at all.

But the bull seemed to be enjoying himself, so whatever.

“Sigh…”

Ayato noticed Maid Micha Angelos standing a short distance away.

But not because she wanted to be. She was probably just reluctant to lean against the filthy walls or sit on the faded resin ground covered in puddles. Her face remained an expressionless mask, but a somehow irritated aura rose from her shoulders. It was plain to see that only her master’s presence kept her from holding a hand to her brow. Very plain.

Ayato wasn’t sure which one to speak to, but…

“Hey, what’s the deal? I know you’re not some sheltered kid who’s shocked by poverty or crime! Hah hah!!”

The minotaur chose to speak to him.

The maid pointedly looked the other way, so Ayato had no choice but to walk over to the self-proclaimed prince.

“Not often my client shows up in person. Although it looks like your usual go-between is in an awkward position here.”

“This isn’t some distant region – the capital’s my own backyard. I don’t need to send a messenger here.”

“Mister, who are they?” interrupted a boy in a filthy shirt.

He may have wanted the minotaur to hurry up and take his position as goalie.

“Well, Geranud, they are a criminal and his gang.”

“That doesn’t mean much. Most everyone down here’s a criminal of some sort.”

Henrietta’s mouth was flapping wordlessly, but the boy brushed off the comment before she could get a complaint out. With her chance to provide a correction lost, the Striker waved her hands helplessly.

The boy called Geranud looked to be 10 or maybe 12. He had unkempt blond hair, pale skin, and a filthy shirt and work pants. For shoes, he wore thick boots, but their comparative quality was probably due to all the glass, nails, and broken shards of resin on the unpaved ground. The laughing boy wore a thick monkey wrench at his hip.

That wasn’t even a sorcery gun designed for everyday use.

But that kind of crude and primitive weapon could be plenty frightening when enough people were armed with them. And it was probably more useful than a sorcery gun in this chaotic district that didn’t follow any kind of managed structure.

“Geranud.”

“Gera.”

With their match(?) paused, the other children gathered around. They apparently idolized the boy. Teleria’s eyes widened and Geranud shrugged bashfully.

“I don’t do all that much.” He roughly grinned with his hands behind his head. “My parents are almost never at home during the day. None of ours are, so the older ones like me have to look after the littler ones.”

“Huh,” said Teleria, sounding impressed.

…That sounded nice, but he was organizing them with weapons for self-defense and they knew the back streets of the bottom level like the back of their hand, so couldn’t you call this the beginning of a small gang?

Henrietta put a hand on her hip.

“Not bad for someone so young. You aren’t paid or rewarded for it, but you still protect the people in need because your position demands it? A certain dangerous individual could learn a thing or two from you.”

“Ah ha ha,” roared the minotaur. “Do you have any idea who you’re talking to right now, young lady?”

“?”

“Prince Geranud Azul Wing Totalinus is 3025th in line to the throne. He is technically a member of the Static Continent’s Combined Royal Family.”

“Wha-!?”

Henrietta did an honest-to-goodness spit take.

Was that in response to coming face to face with a real royal without warning, or was it due to finding out the line of succession reached quadruple digits?

As the name Combined Royal Family suggested, it was the result of joining together a few different kingdoms that used to exist on the Static Continent. The different royal families had intermarried so often they created a giant combined bloodline that now ruled the entire continent.

3025th Prince Geranud himself averted his eyes and pouted his lips.

“It’s not like I’m King Guardeleo’s kid or anything. With four digits, I’m basically a relative of a friend of a relative of a relative. If you look at my blood, I barely have any connection to the Combined Royal Family at all. There’s no way I could ever end up on the throne. Oh, and there’s apparently around 1000 more below me. Not that I’ve ever seen those relatives of a friend of a relative of a relative.”

Henrietta, finally having recovered, reacted with exasperation.

“Did you say of a friend?”

“C’mon, don’t be like that. Jokes aren’t funny if you explain them. We’re talking about those immoral royals here – you just know they’re doing it with their friends.”

Asking for a correction ended up with receiving a verbal sucker punch from the child, so the straitlaced Striker fell into a crouch. Grandma’s girl Mamilis had a big question mark written on her face. She was probably too lacking in certain knowledge to understand that dark joke.

“Still, he’s the real deal,” said the minotaur. “If you doubt me, go to the royal library and check the Royal Family Tree written out as a vast network. You’ll find Geranud’s name there.”

That sounded like overkill, but maybe royal blood was too important to not go that far. Whether they were married or it was a one-night stand and even if they were a relative of a friend of a relative of a relative, anyone with even a drop of royal blood had to be recorded. And that had led to the lengthy list.

Down here on he bottom level, 3025th Prince Geranud had to live a worse life than the ordinary citizens did. He had no assets and only an infinitesimally small chance of reaching the throne.

But as seen in political marriages, connections created by blood were a constant problem for organizations. Most likely, Geranud was not free to marry anyone from another continent and he would have other restrictions placed on him as well. Whether or not he was aware of them.

Ayato grinned.

“I hear if you search the Royal Family Tree, you can find a large number of dancers and maids who frequent the palace. Eh heh heh. Now, why might that be, Miss Henrietta? I need a knight like you to explain to me the world of the noble and righteous aristocracy.”

“Should I interpret that question as a form of severe sexual harassment, dangerous individual?” asked the Striker, her voice low and her head lowered and dark.

Did she think a rule-breaking wanted criminal could be taught manners at this point? All that Sorcery Hacker had left were his juvenile morals.

The smaller boys and girls tugged on Prince Geranud’s clothes. As the oldest, he seemed to be their babysitter and boss.

“Gera, I’m hungry. Starving even.”

“Okay. There are sandwiches in that basket, so split them among you all.”

The small children delightedly devoured the sandwiches.

Although the bread was the same dark color as the rundown shirts they were wearing. Even when they camped out, Teleria had always made sure to keep their food sanitary as she cooked, so she had to make an effort to avoid reacting.

“Make us candy!”

“Geranud, candy!”

3025th Prince Geranud reacted to the begging with a “well, if you insist” smile and pulled out a silver spoon. After placing a white powder inside, he pulled out a lighter and prepared to heat the spoon from below.

Striker Henrietta’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!! What do you think you’re doing! And in broad daylight no less!?”

“?”

Geranud and the other children looked confused, so Ayato smiled bitterly and explained.

“He’s heating a mixture of sugar and baking soda to make a treat. It’s called honeycomb candy, but is that not something a classy knight like you would be familiar with, Miss Henrietta?”

“Sugar…then is it sweet? That sounds delicious.”

As soon as she heard what it was, Mamilis’s eyes were glued to the spoon. She looked like a tall cool beauty, but she was a grandma’s girl at heart and didn’t try to hide her reactions to these things. In fact, she looked right at home among the children of this poor district. Her mistrust of humans had been overpowered by the promise of candy.

“Huh? It won’t light. Is this thing out of oil?”

“Miss Mamilis.”

“Okay. But if I help, you have to give me some.”

Mamilis pulled out her large full-auto shotgun sorcery gun. As a rookie, she could only really use fire magic, but that was enough to instantly earn the trust of the excited children. That she did it to get the candy they also wanted may have helped.

Henrietta seemed somehow apologetic for her wicked misunderstanding.

“Ugh… I-I see. Sorry for yelling. I have no issue with a wholesome treat. As long as you aren’t melting it to inject it into a vein.”

“Ah ha ha. Miss Henrietta, if you’re looking for that stuff, you’ll have to step into a back alley and say the code word. Look, that hooded man looks like a likely candidate.”

“You are all under arrest!!”

Henrietta raised her hands and ran off. When the children (and Mamilis) saw it, they laughed and began fleeing. ''I see. The minotaur must have ended up their laughing stock in much the same way,'' thought Ayato (while making a surreptitious getaway). And unlike the lovely Striker, the minotaur was shirtless and had a bull’s head.

“This isn’t the worst district to live in,” said 3025th Prince Geranud.

“It isn’t?”

“We live right in front of the stairs. The Precipice in the back is where it gets really bad. That’s directly below the Banishment Cliff that politically failed chancellors and royals are thrown off of.”

Apparently the bottom level had its own divisions. Ayato needed to get a grasp of those unseen local factors in a hurry. There were things you couldn’t fake with sorcery hacking.

More that that, this was probably what the place had been created for.

The bottom level seemed out of place in the bright and shining capital, but the populous center of the political world would naturally have its fair share of unwanted people. Which would have more criminals: a village of a hundred or a metropolis of a million? But if they shoved all those criminals into a publicly-run prison, they had to feed the inmates with public money, which would apply pressure to the city’s finances. So the bottom level was a necessary evil used to separate out the criminals and political enemies while cutting down on public expenses. Simply put, the poverty here benefited the majority, so no one was even trying to find a solution to it.

And while Ayato was thinking through all this…

“Geranuuuud.”

A small boy ran over.

He was out of breath, but still worked to get the words out.

“Huff puff. I still can’t find Isabella anywhere.”

3025th Prince Geranud handed the boy a water bottle and let him rest.

“Are you sure she isn’t just napping somewhere?”

“Pwah. I checked on the media summoner and saw her in the corner of a random photo. She was on that red roof. The one we only use when sneaking over the wall and outside the capital. It has to be that armored train. She’s been saying she wants to see a prince, right? Y’know, when she was insisting you aren’t strong or handsome enough to be one and that she’d know a real one at first glance!!”

“That’s not good…”

3025th Prince Geranud sounded deeply concerned. The previous playful mood was gone.

Teleria tilted her head.

“Um? But if she isn’t lost and she wasn’t kidnapped, is there really anything to worry about? I doubt the armored train circling the city actually has a prince aboard, though.”

“Are you kidding!? Isabella’s only 6! I’m not worried about slavers or other criminals! Some rubble could fall on her or she could fall into a fissure in the ground!!”

After shouting back at Teleria, 3025th Prince Geranud gathered some other boys his age and ran off somewhere. Were those the knights serving Gang Leader Prince Geranud?

Henrietta was concerned.

“Wait, wait, wait! Won’t they just get hurt too!?”

“This place is their backyard, so they’re tougher than that. I just hope an overeager 6-year-old won’t startle the guards who are on edge after their precious train was destroyed.” The minotaur grinned and glanced Ayato’s way. “So what’re you gonna do, Sorcery Hacker?”