How to Live as a Knight After the Ending - Chapter 26
Only Noblemtl
Episode 26. Broken Fist (2)
The guard was sweating and catching his breath.
“Oh, I’m just asking just in case. Are you the one who broke Frank’s arm over there?”
The guard asked Ossian as solemnly as he could.
“You?”
“… … Is it you?”
As Ossian narrowed his eyes, the guard who was feeling sorry immediately raised his voice.
I realized too late that I didn’t need to raise my voice, but it was already too late.
Ossian nodded as if satisfied.
This is not it.
The guard knew his actions were wrong, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Because everyone feels the same fear of the strong.
People who were watching anxiously from the surrounding area reacted with bewilderment at the guards’ attitude toward Ossian.
Weren’t the guards the ones who would harshly scold even those who had committed no crime?
But the guard seemed to be struggling with Ossian.
“I tell you, I didn’t break my arm.”
Ossian spoke shamelessly and confidently, without even avoiding the guard’s gaze.
“It broke on its own.”
“… …Do you think that makes sense?”
“one?”
“… … What do you think?”
The guard was about to respond strongly to Ossian’s shameless attitude, but the moment he saw his gaze, he shrugged his shoulders.
I would have liked to leave, but I couldn’t because of my sense of duty as a guard.
“How does your arm… break on its own?”
“It just started outputting by itself and then broke down. It must have been broken from the beginning. Like a defective product.”
“You say it’s a defective product… …?”
“Yeah. Like your mask.”
“… … !”
The guard flinched at those words.
He hurriedly touched his mask with his hand, realized it was fine, and sighed in relief.
Even now, when I close my eyes, the memories of that day come back vividly.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“that…….”
The guards were still hesitating, unable to do anything.
Then two other guards approached him.
“Senior. I think the situation has been sorted out. And according to the witness statements, Frank was the problem.”
“okay?”
The moment the guard heard those words, his face lit up.
“Then let’s just take Frank, the one who caused the trouble!”
“Yes? Well, that’s right. But can we leave alone the person who is causing trouble?”
“Ahem. You said Frank was the one causing the trouble? Then all we have to do is catch Frank.”
At those words, the successor nodded his head sheepishly.
The successor didn’t know why his senior was suddenly so happy.
“Ahem. We’ve caught the guy who caused the trouble, so we should go now.”
“Would you like to see it?”
“… … Ah, be careful not to get involved in something like this in the future!”
The guard, wanting to save face in front of his successors, pretended not to hear Ossian’s words and just left.
Ossian looked at the back of the guard and snickered.
Next time we meet, I should at least ask for your name.
*
“Haha. I heard the story. You completely destroyed Frank’s arm? That’s really amazing.”
Those were the first words Ronan said to Ossian when he returned to Violet Fox.
The sight of him sitting there with his eyes wide open and smiling was a bit suspicious.
“Where did you hear that?”
Ronan tilted his head slightly to the side at Ossian’s cautious question.
Where did you hear that? There were several witnesses at the scene at the time, so wasn’t it enough for rumors to spread?
Ronan scratched his cheek in embarrassment.
Strangely, people are so cautious about what they say.
What on earth is the problem?
“Didn’t I tell you? You need to have at least this much to work as a broker. By the way, what happened to your ID?”
“He told me to wait a few days and then come back.”
“That’s good. Thanks to that, you probably don’t have any spare cash in your pocket right now. Would you like to take on a request?”
Its naturalness was so outstanding that it felt like a sophisticated commercialism that I had no choice but to live with it.
“That’s what you were aiming for. Just listen first.”
“This time, it’s not just a request, it’s a very big request.”
“It’s a big request. Are you going to capture a group of black magicians?”
“Hahaha. If something like that happened, it would be a really big deal. Fortunately, that’s not the case.”
“It’s a bit disappointing. So what’s the request?”
“This is a group request. Since it is a group request, the minimum number of people will be over twenty. Naturally, this request is appropriately large.”
Is this a large-scale commission?
There was interest in Ossian’s eyes.
“What is the request? What is the content?”
“It is said that a violent group has illegally occupied a power plant. The power plant in Ward 43 supplies electricity to Ward 39, and an emergency has been declared in that area.”
Ossian suddenly became curious about something.
“Why is the power plant in Ward 39 in Ward 43? Isn’t it usually placed in its own district?”
“Thermal power plants emit a lot of pollutants. They make the air dirty. As a result, residents of Ward 39 protested to the Ward 39 Office and blocked the power plant from being built.”
All places where people live are similar.
Ossian nodded, feeling a strange sense of sentiment.
“I see.”
“Yes. That’s why power plants are often built in underdeveloped areas where land prices are cheap. No one will be harmed there no matter how much fuel is burned.”
Of course, people live in Ward 43 too.
But the city did not treat poor people who did not pay their taxes properly as human beings.
“A violent group occupied that place?”
“Yes. They suddenly attacked us two days ago. And they are demanding money. If we don’t pay by the deadline, they will completely destroy the power plant system. Even if the power plant is shut down for a few hours, it will be a huge loss.”
“It’s like we’ve been taken hostage.”
This time, the client was a company that was operating a power plant with a license from the city of Tirna.
Ossian felt something strange there.
“Is it okay for a company to be in charge of a facility as important as a power plant? I think the city would usually take charge of that. Aren’t they essentially public facilities?”
“Of course. But Mr. Ossian, think about it. Tirna is a big city. How many power plants do you think you would need to supply electricity, gas, and other things to that big city?”
For Ossian, who did not know exactly how large Tirna was, it was a question that was not easy to answer.
But considering that one district is the size of a relatively small city.
The number of power plants required would be enormous.
“So, usually, the power plants related to this project are operated by companies that have received special permission from the city of Tirna. Since the city cannot manage everything, it subcontracts to companies.”
“But if it is taken away by an outside group like this, then its qualifications cannot help but be questioned. Did the authors of that company properly protect the power plant?”
“It’s not that I didn’t keep it, it’s that I couldn’t keep it.”
It’s not that companies didn’t take proper precautions either.
They also knew that if the power plant was taken over, it would be fatal, so they hired guards to guard the area.
Since it is a subcontracted job, if you maintain it well, you will be able to win bigger projects later.
The problem, if there is one, is that the scale of the violent group that invaded this time is quite large.
“Even if they are guards protecting the power plant, if they are outnumbered, they have no choice but to run away, regardless of their money or anything else. After all, their lives are important.”
“I guess the content of this request is to retake the occupied power plant by hiring troubleshooters and mercenaries.”
A coalition of violent groups that illegally occupied a power plant.
Listening to the story, it was definitely not on an ordinary scale.
“But in an incident of this magnitude, wouldn’t the city take action?”
“For now, the city is nominally viewing this incident as a problem of corporations and some violent workers.”
“You must know that they are gangsters, but they are workers. The city has no intention of interfering with this situation. The company is taking full responsibility.”
“Yes. It may be disappointing for companies, but on the other hand, it is a welcome development for the industry. It means that there is more work to be done than just sharing the pie among many problem solvers.”
And the most important thing was reputation rather than compensation.
Since problem solvers are freelancers, they need to have a reputation to receive frequent requests.
As a result, the troubleshooters did not hesitate to use any means necessary to make their names known, but it was rare to find a stage as well-equipped as it is now.
“I think a lot of problem solvers will gather. Money and fame. It’s a request where you can get both if you succeed.”
Of course, for that job, it was essential to be prepared to risk bullets and death.
“What would you like to do? As I always say, the choice is yours, Mr. Ossian.”
It’s a group request.
If so, you will meet many problem solvers other than yourself.
Actually, I wasn’t really interested in meeting anyone.
The same goes for money and fame.
Instead, what caught Ossian’s attention was the [karma] that could be gained if this quest was successful.
When Ossian knocked down Bloodfist Frank, he felt a very subtle, yet certain energy rising within his body.
It wasn’t difficult to realize that this was the karma I had heard about in my dream.
Although the karma I gained as an individual with only a name for myself was very small, I had no regrets.
Now that you know how, all you have to do is put it into practice.
And this group request was the optimal condition for building that business.
“I accept it.”
*
Abandoned factory in Ward 43.
A group of about 40 troubleshooters, mercenaries, and hired hands gathered in a place filled with rusted steam engine debris and rats.
“There are so many of them here.”
“How could I miss such a big event that was finally held?”
“I heard that all the gangs in the neighborhood have joined forces. Is that okay? If we’re not careful, we could end up in a beehive?”
“It’s okay, but how great can a gang from the 40th district be? They must be relying on numbers to make a fuss. The number of people gathered here is not small either.”
“That’s true.”
Even as they talked like that, the mercenaries did not neglect to analyze their opponents with their sharp eyes.
“See over there? The guy with the gun over there.”
“Red hair slicked back and a pair of pistols with the initial K engraved on them. Could this be Gunman Kid?”
“Yes. They say that the speed of fire is so fast that you can’t even see it. The number of solvers who have been shot between the eyebrows by that gun alone is over two digits.”
“What about that guy? That guy is Jonathan Runsell, the iron-skinned one. He’s a mutant who can turn his skin into metal.”
“Damn. All the great guys are gathered here.”
This is why big commissions are a problem.
This place also has a certain reputation and I am confident in my skills, but when I came here, I saw that there were a lot of worse guys there.
“There’s also Anna the sniper and David the puppeteer.”
“All the crazy guys in the industry are gathered here. Is this not a request or a management meeting of the crazy guys?”
“Look. If you’re going to be that picky, there’s someone here that you really need to be careful of.”
“Who are you?”
“See that guy over there sitting still with his eyes closed and praying?”
There was a man in his mid-fifties kneeling on one side and praying quietly.
He looked like a devout believer, but he seemed calm, which was out of place in the tense atmosphere of the scene.
“Praying here? Are you a priest?”
“No. He’s actually more dangerous. That guy is a modified human belonging to the ‘Steel Followers’.”
The mercenary who had been secretly conversing with her held his breath at those words.
Steel follower.
There was no one in this industry who did not know the heaviness and bloodiness that came with that name.
“He is the most detestable madman.”
“That’s right. He’s the craziest guy in the place.”
The mercenaries, who were trying to organize a list of people to be wary of, turned their gaze when they belatedly discovered a new person who had appeared on the scene.
He was a young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties.
His hair was unusually black, and his appearance was so handsome that it didn’t seem like he was doing any hard work, and his skin was clear.
With his gorgeous features and sharp appearance, he looks like he would be trusted even if he were a young master from a noble family.
But there was one thing that was different.
“What’s that? Is that a knife in your side?”
He was carrying only a sword, without any firearms.
The bewildered mercenaries looked at each other.