The one who had seemed to be an LCCB member... no, the thug he had now become, curled a greasy smile onto his face.
"...Haaam. The name tag was just there for a provocative effect. Now then~ let's see, what was it again. Limbus... Company... before-team... team leader... You've got some nerve, wandering around and getting in our way in our territory."
"Hmph. Your shabby performance is getting in the way, so stop with the preamble and get to the point."
"Oh, you're impatient for someone who's already late. Listen up. You people... are looking for the Golden... what was it?"
"...!"
Golden... what. Judging by the context, the [Golden Bough]. When that word, important enough to Limbus Company, came out of the thug's mouth, Mr. Otis seemed to infer something and showed an uncharacteristic flustered expression.
If I had to guess... she'd realized there had been a leak of information, and that this guy had inevitably met with the Limbus Company before-team leader.
And that meeting probably hadn't been a pleasant one.
"What did you do to him?"
"Ah, don't worry. He's still breathing fine."
"So you're proposing a hostage negotiation."
"Heh. We've done our share of business with people before. Simple. Pay up, and we let your friend go. Don't pay? Then your friend's coffin gets delivered right here."
"So you were kidnappers... filthy bastards..."
As Mr. Heathcliff raised his bat threateningly, the thug waved him off and kept talking with a sneer.
"Ohhh, hold on, hold on. You lot are awfully impatient. There's someone here who wants to swing before they talk. Even if the negotiation goes bad, your friend still ends up in a coffin. If you hand over the money cleanly, you can go retrieve your freed friend and your Golden... thingy. Easy, right? Then we'll even give you the full tour of the good spots. On the house."
"...You maggot..."
"Now, now... got it. I understand what you're saying well enough, so let's have a little talk among ourselves. Yeah?"
Gregor quickly stopped Heathcliff, who had nearly swung his bat in anger, then turned toward us. The awkward smile on his face hardened in an instant.
Hm, discussion time, then. I'll step out for a bit. There's something I need to check.
"What good would it do us to make a scene here for no reason... If we move rashly and that LCCB member really ends up dead..."
"It is true that the situation is unfavorable to us. It seems these people, without even knowing much about the [Golden Bough], have kidnapped someone who looked like easy money."
"There have been many villains who tried to seize the [Golden Bough] until now, but this is the first time I've seen such a brazen robbery..."
"A thin, hollow prank."
A thin, hollow prank... That sounded oddly specific. Was Ms. Ryoshu picking up on something?
"If we swing our weapons too hastily, we'll end up being chased by that unknown accomplice of theirs... or, looking at it more broadly, by whatever organization may be running this district."
"For us, with almost no information about U Corp, the situation becomes considerably worse."
"Yeah, and we don't even know how big the organization is... Listening to their lines, they didn't sound like amateurs either...?"
"Hm... if that's the case, couldn't it just be a small organization?"
At Hong Lu's guess, Mr. Heathcliff brightened.
"If it's small, then we just wipe them all out and that's the end of it, right? Before they can even do anything to the hostage!"
"...No, even if it isn't large, that can still become another problem. A cell-based organization... one so small it would be hard to track."
"Grrr..."
He was quickly shut down by Ms. Otis's rebuttal.
"
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In the end, we know nothing... is what you're saying.
"Really... if we don't pay them..."
"Damn... those kinds of people kill you if things go south, then make sure your body is never found. Filthy maggots, everywhere you go."
Mm... what keeps bothering me is how relaxed those guys have been the whole time.
Should I use my Eye? But if I use it carelessly like last time and end up overexerting myself later, that wouldn't be good.
For now... I should at least ask how much they want.
"Hah."
A sigh slipped from Ms. Ishmael's mouth as she stood there with her harpoon tucked under her arm, arms crossed.
"You're going to pay them? Those people? Have you finally gone insane?"
There's no other choice. While we keep wasting time like this...
"I'm not interested in your excuses. This is the best judgment the Manager made, right?"
"To question a judgment is..."
"'Unnecessary.' Yes, that's what you'd say."
When Ms. Ishmael lightly brushed off Mr. Meursault's words with a sneer, Ms. Otis, who had been listening in silence, flared up.
"Judgment is command. Doubt is disobedience. Ishmael, no matter how outstanding a seal you are..."
"Ha. Fine, whatever. You didn't directly tell me not to do it, so I figure it doesn't matter. ...I just can't stand this any longer."
With a face and voice that seemed to care nothing for what any of us said, she strode toward the kidnappers...
Hah, crazy woman.
"Punishment for insubordination is..."
She adjusted her grip on the harpoon, glanced back at Dante for a moment...
"Please lower me whenever it's convenient, Manager."
Crack!
She drove the carefully maintained harpoon straight into the center of one kidnapper's forehead.
Seriously, what a crazy woman. Couldn't she at least explain herself first? Would it have killed her to say something?
Why is she so stubborn when not everything she does is without reason?
...?!
When the kidnapper's head burst apart, I did have a fleeting thought that maybe I should have stopped her, but I didn't move.
In the end, whether we paid or not, the conclusion would have been a fight anyway.
Did the others... not even think of that?
Well, what kind of lunatic would openly declare disobedience in front of their superior and act first?
Our Ishmael does. Incredible, clap clap clap.
"A.mazing."
"Yes, his head sure got smashed. That really is amazing."
It was truly an impressive act.
Wow... even that hopeless Heathcliff had only threatened people, never actually gone through with it.
She's got the same level of insanity as Don Quixote. I can feel my goodwill dropping by the second.
"Ms. Ishmael...? Just now... wh-what did you do?!"
Ms. Ishmael... ah, should I be using honorifics for her? In any case, Sinclair was the first to react with open resistance to her actions.
"At this rate, the LCCB member being held hostage could get hurt... because of us!"
Sinclair was trembling so hard I couldn't tell whether he was crying or angry.
Come to think of it...
"Like that time... with Mr. Epi... and Ms. Sword...! It was only... only a few months ago. You haven't forgotten already, have you!"
...!
How much must it have scarred the kid, seeing comrades he had grown attached to in his own home die so cruelly?
I went over and placed a hand on his shoulder, which was shaking pitifully like a sapling in a storm.
It wasn't a fundamental solution, but... maybe it would help a little.
"..."
Even in that situation, Ms. Ishmael showed no intention of answering. She marched over and kicked one of the closed containers with a heavy thud.
...Oh.
Splat.
...!
Inside, a corpse that looked long dead, rotted and faded with time, toppled out limply.
"This has been here about a week. Obviously not an LCCB member."
Ms. Ishmael used her foot to flip the corpse over.
"Judging by the clothes... they're tourists who came to visit this Bluefin Harbor. If they could afford to tour the lake, they must've had money to spare, so there's no way they couldn't send payment."
As expected... so that was it.
"Kidnapping, extortion, murder. Organizations like this have been rooted all over U Corp for ages, changing only in appearance. Like weeds, everywhere. Honestly, 'pirates' is the more accurate name for them here. They keep demanding money as if they'll return the hostage, and when the other side has nothing left to squeeze..."
Ms. Ishmael tapped the corpse with her foot.
"They kill them like this."
"...It seems this is not a one-time occurrence. Why do such things happen as though they were natural?"
At Don Quixote's cautious, innocent question, Rodion reacted.
"In cases like this... there's usually some very powerful backer behind them."
"What in the world does that have to do with anything! Such villains are roaming the City...! Ah, surely the Fixers of the City simply do not know of this fact. Otherwise, perhaps there are too many poor people for them to take the request!"
Put kindly, she was pure. Put harshly, she was foolish.
Some might say she had conviction; others might call her stupid.
For example... Ms. Ishmael.
"Please, Don Quixote... are you still going on about justice and villains? Can't you see reality?"
"I..."
"Ah, no... no, just don't say it. It won't get through anyway. I keep talking because it's frustrating... It's always like this... things just keep getting delayed... By now, we should've already gotten information from the LCCB member we were supposed to meet..."
Haah... I feel like the number of sighs is only increasing. Haven't I already said this more than once?
Because Ms. Ishmael always acts while swept up by impatience and anger, the atmosphere gets wrecked every time, regardless of whether her actions are right or wrong.
That was true here, on the ship, and at the Boat Center too. And she doesn't seem to have any intention of changing.
She probably thinks there's nothing wrong with her own way of doing things... well.
Without some kind of care, I get the feeling she'll eventually botch something badly one day.
"Y-you brought this on yourselves...! This whole area is ours!"
"If you're coming... then hurry up and come already."
Tch, fine. I do like how fast she gets things done.
By the time we finished preparing for battle, I sensed with the sound of shattering glass that my outfit and personality had changed.
Yeah... in the end, if we keep fighting, a path will show itself. Let's go wild for once.