374 – S7. Omelas’ Fixers -5

He pursued. The man entered the emergency stairwell.

Tap, tap, tap, thump. Thump.

Light and heavy footsteps echoed in alternating rhythm. Finn glanced up through the gaps in the spiraling stairs. He caught a glimpse of the mercenary. They were separated by about two floors.

How many floors did they climb? Just as Finn’s thighs began to burn with a fiery ache, he heard the rooftop door open.

Thump! Crunch.

A sound like something being crushed followed.

With about ten seconds separating them, Finn also arrived at the door. He tried to open it…

Click, click.

“…Damn it!”

Finn grabbed the handle of the door leading to the roof and pushed, but it seemed the man had wrecked the handle. It wouldn’t budge.

“Papa, It’s going to be a little shaky now . Haaah..”

He took a deep breath.

Retreating five steps, he took a running start. He put all his strength into his leg and kicked the rooftop door. *Bang!*

The door, its hinges torn off and mangled, went flying. He immediately sprinted out. In the distance, near the railing, he saw the back of the mercenary Brian, preparing to jump to the roof of the next building.

A jump like that in Omelas, a city crammed with high-rises?

It looked like suicide at first glance, but the man had a mechanical arm with an ejection function. Using that, crossing between buildings would be possible.

“Stop right there!”

“………”

*Whoosh!*

The mercenary’s mechanical arm ejected, latching onto the railing of a building two blocks away. At the same time, he pulled a small pistol from his coat and fired a warning shot.

*Bang! Bang!*

“Son of a—!”

Finn hugged Vecchio tighter, pressing himself against the rooftop air conditioner. Bullets whizzed past, spitting sparks. The Little Pope started hiccuping.

*Whirrrrr*. The mercenary’s wire crank spun, humming. Any minute now, the b*stard would be flying to the next building.

Situation analysis. Initiate Goddess Module. A high-pitched whine filled Finn’s head.

[OUTPUT: Low-Accuracy Subcompact Revolver. Six rounds remaining. Subject maintains evasive maneuvers; 88% probability of failure to connect.]

12% chance to hit. Acceptable odds for Finn alone, but with Vecchio, it was an unacceptably high risk.

“F-Finn! He’s getting away! *Hic!*”

“I’ll do my best, Your Holiness.”

He had to reduce the risk. Situation analysis, action acceleration, trajectory prediction, acoustic tracking, threat detection, neural link… and all the rest. He’d received a plethora of abilities from the Goddess. If he activated them all at once, he could dodge bullets with ease.

Hell, bullets were nothing. If he used every function simultaneously, he could overpower the mercenary right here and now. It was, after all, the power of a Goddess.

But he couldn’t.

If he were a mage with superior brain capacity, he would have activated all the modules. But Finn was just an ordinary mercenary; it was beyond his capabilities. His brain had its limits.

Finn could only handle three modules at a time. Trying to process any more than that would result in debilitating side effects: tinnitus, mental confusion, and worse.

So he had to choose. Three cards to play.

Combine them. Predict the trajectory, accelerate his actions, and finally… future sight. Finn presented a hypothetical scenario, and the Goddess reviewed the proposal.

[OUTPUT: ‘Piggyback’ Scenario Success Rate: 98%.]

“Your Holiness!”

“Y-Yes!”

“I need a protection spell. Just in case we fall!”

“*Hic*, Fall?!”

[Trajectory Prediction, Action Acceleration, Future Sight, ACTIVATED.]

A rush of heat. A throbbing at his temples, like when he’d been thinking too hard. And at the same time, he could see… everything. Finn surged forward.

*Thuck*.

*Bang*—! *Baang*—!

He ran. Weaving his body, he dodged the red lines that marked the bullets’ paths, approaching rapidly with optimized movements. *Whirr-whirr-whirr*. The mercenary Brian’s wire crank spun, the wire connected to his flying arm growing taut.

It was too late to stop him. If he had any ranged attacks, he might have aimed for the wire, but Finn only had his longsword.

If he couldn’t stop him, he would join him.

*Drrrrrrr!*

The mercenary Brian threw himself off the railing. His body hung suspended in the air, about to be propelled towards the opposite building by the rapidly retracting wire.

Right then.

“C’mon, let’s hitch a ride!”

“Finn?!”

Finn launched himself off the railing. Vecchio and Brian stared, their eyes wide with the audacity of it all.

Whooosh-!

The wind of a dizzying fall whipped past Finn and Vecchio as they began their free-falling arc. No footing to be found, and one wrong move would splatter them like a pancake.

But, there was a point where Finn’s parabola met Brian’s arc.

Thwack-!

Got him. Finn snagged Brian out of the air, managing to hang on. With Vecchio still in his arms!

Even a battle-hardened merc like Brian couldn’t help but offer a choice compliment for Finn’s antics.

“…You crazy son of a b*tch!”

“Drive straight. If you mess up, we all go splat!”

“What are you on, some kinda drugs?!”

“The Goddess assured me of success!”

He said it with conviction, but truth be told, Finn was sweating bullets. His back was soaked with a cold sheen.

Ninety-eight percent success. Moreover, he had confirmed a one-hundred percent success rate regarding Vecchio’s survival and safety. According to the Goddess’s calculations, Vecchio’s holy magic would allow him to survive a fall from this height unscathed.

Which left only the small matter of finding the courage, wouldn’t you say?

Whooosh-!

The three of them, a tangled mass dangling from a single wire, traced a grand arc. They glided over the busy street teeming with cars. The opposite building was rushing toward them.

If it had been just the mercenary Brian, the ejected mechanical arm would have been more than enough to pull him onto the building’s rooftop. But now there were two extra weights attached.

Whirr, whirring. Whirring!

The wire crank on his shoulder spun uselessly. It didn’t have the output to pull that much weight; it was barely holding on. So, instead of the intended rooftop…

“Fi-Finn! The window!”

“I know! It’s part of the plan!”

Crash-!

Several floors below, they burst through a massive plate glass window and hurtled into the building.

Roll, roll.

Finn shielded Vecchio, tumbling three times across the floor, before rising to his feet, crunching shattered glass underfoot. He drew his blade.

His target: the weak point in the wire. The module indicated damage from their stunt. Finn swung his longsword with all his might.

Clang-! Sizzle.

The metal wire tears away. With that, the mercenary Brian is down an arm. His most threatening weapon gone, the remaining dangers are…

“You son of a b*tch-!”

A revolver trained on him.

Four shots fired already, two rounds left. If he was horribly unlucky and took both, as long as they missed anything vital, he could weather it. Finn shielded his head and neck with the longsword’s flat and charged.

Then, a holy light erupted from Vecchio’s hands.

“『Hound Protecting the Goddess』!”

Fwoosh-!

A shield made of holy power enveloped Finn. Bang-! The revolver fired, but that degree of physical force merely scratched the shield.

The mercenary Brian was greatly dismayed by this magic from another world.

“An energy field…? This is definitely technology that hasn’t been released to the public…”

“Take a nap. We’ll chat after you wake up.”

Whoosh-! Thunk!

Finn’s sword blade flew. Brian took the full force of the iron mass to the head and, eyes rolling back, lost consciousness.

The matter was settled.

—

When the mercenary Brian opened his eyes, he was tied to a chair, his limbs bound. Looking around, it seemed to be an abandoned warehouse, no longer in use.

And before him, a little kid.

“Finn! He’s awake!”

“Yes, I’ll go get him, Your Holiness.”

Vecchio scurried off to deliver the news. Finn approached Brian, holding a suspicious object. In his hand was… a dagger?

Not just any dagger. The mercenary studied the object intently. And the moment he understood the truth, he was struck with a terrifying shock.

It was a s*x toy with a blade attached with duct tape.

Why?

If he was going to torture him, wouldn’t a well-sharpened blade suffice? Why attach it to… a s*x toy of all things? The incomprehensibility of it sent shivers down his spine.

Finn had devised this method so as not to torture him in front of Vecchio, or threaten him, or show him anything too gruesome. He was using an obscenity filter.

“Finn, why did you bring a cheering stick?”

“I wanted to encourage this friend to speak articulately.”

“Ah!”

This looked like a bizarre blade to the mercenary, but to the little Pope, filtered as it was… it looked like a cat paw shaped cheering stick.

“Let’s talk about Mary’s necklace. Where is it?”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

“Mercenary. It might be embarrassing to return stolen goods to their owner. But be brave! Walking down the righteous path is ultimately for your own good! I’ll 『cheer』 you on!”

Mercenary Brian’s expression crumpled further. He shuddered at Vecchio’s declaration of encouragement and practically surrendered. He neither wanted to know nor experience what kind of 『cheering』 he’d get from that adult-toy-blade.

“⋯⋯This little brat is vicious already. Applying pressure with such an innocent face.”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯?!”

Vecchio was utterly bewildered. He was just trying to offer encouragement!

The mercenary, having resigned himself to his fate, began to spill everything.

—

Look, I don’t know where the necklace is, okay?

Because I was hired to do it, too. Some suspicious types in masks came and paid me a fortune, told me to steal the necklace from Bunny Girl Mary at the club. But there were a few extra conditions attached.

Mary couldn’t die. Mary couldn’t be seriously injured. Mary couldn’t suffer any financial loss beyond the necklace itself. Buying the necklace from Mary with money was also out of the question.

Yeah, I know, weird, right? But they paid handsomely.

Why’d I take such a shady job, you ask? Well, like I said, the payout was huge. And… I got the feeling the guy was connected to a corporation.

Looked like he was sporting some high-end augmentation implants. Body modification surgeries too. You don’t just get that stuff as a civilian.

You know how it is, other lowlifes you gotta worry about getting stiffed on the bill, but corporate guys, they always pay up proper.

But it looks like I got mixed up in something messy. Seeing as how you guys use energy fields… you’re probably with a corporation too, huh? No need to play dumb. I don’t plan on digging.

If I knew it was a whale fight, I wouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place. Damn it, I knew the pay was too good to be true. I’ll forget this ever happened and disappear, so just let me live.

—

“⋯⋯What in the world is going on?”

On the way back, Vecchio spoke, holding Finn’s hand tightly.

But Finn had no suitable answer to give the little pontiff’s question. The word *why* just kept swimming around in his head. What *is* going on?

Mary is an ordinary person. The lost necklace is just an ordinary necklace.

But that wasn’t reason enough for things to escalate like this. According to the mercenary Brian’s testimony, there’s a corporation behind all of this… a necklace that a corporation desires?

Could it contain the location of some great treasure, or maybe the blueprints for some future technology?

He wouldn’t know until he knew. Just speculation. One thing was certain: there was a group of people wearing white masks running around. They were the ones who took the necklace.

There was a clue. But he didn’t know if he should dig any deeper.

Because it was dangerous.

Corporations were terrifying. They possessed immense power, and Finn and Vecchio, strangers in this world, were just individuals. Therefore, he had no choice but to worry.

Lost in a confused tangle of thoughts, they reached the front of the ‘Drunken Mama’ motel.

“If you borrowed it, you gotta pay for it. Pay up!”

“When did I ever say I wouldn’t pay?! Don’t pull my hair, you’ll mess it up! I said I’d send it when the money comes in!”

A shout echoes. One voice is familiar. Merida.

Finn strides forward, entering the motel room. Inside, three burly men in suits are cornering Merida, putting pressure on her. One of them has a fistful of her hair, pulling it roughly.

Finn can see bruises on Merida’s face and body. She’s already taken a few hits. Finn clenches his fist, about to intervene, but hesitates. He glances at Vecchio’s expression.

“…Finn, what seems to be the trouble? Merida is having a very serious conversation with those gentlemen, and she doesn’t seem to be enjoying it.”

The filter is engaged.

Right. The little Pontiff suffered abuse for a long time at the hands of those cardinals, so witnessing something like this could trigger his trauma. Finn felt a subtle sense of relief.

“…I’m afraid I must intervene, Your Holiness.”

“Yes. Help Merida, Finn!”

Finn doesn’t know how Vecchio’s filter works. So, as quietly as possible. Unobtrusively. With restrained movements.

“Who are you? Don’t butt in, just get ou- guck!”

He took them by surprise.

—

After chasing away the unwelcome guests, Merida rubs a silicone egg against her swollen eye and says, “Thanks.”

“You were blocking the Pontiff’s path, so I removed you. Anyway… what’s going on?”

“Same old story, I guess. Mom took out a private loan once, and the debt snowballed into something enormous. I ended up inheriting it. You know. And to top it off, it was borrowed for my hospital bills, so I can’t even resent Mom.”

“… … … ….”

A deep sigh dissipates into the air. Vecchio looks at her with sad eyes. Finn pauses for a moment, then, thinking he should report on the progress of the request, opens his mouth.

“I think we’ll have results soon.”

“…That nuance is a bit ominous?”

“Either we’ll find the necklace, or we’ll confirm that it’s gone forever. It seems to be tangled up with a corporation. By the way, did your mother ever get involved with anyone from a company?”

“… … … ….”

Merida thinks hard, then says, “『Toybox』, you know? The toy company that went bankrupt… She worked there as a housekeeper for the third son for about two or three months. She quit quickly, though. Now that I think about it, she bought me the necklace around that time…”

Finn and Vecchio exchange glances. Could there be a connection? It had to be investigated.

“Mamma! May I borrow your internet connection!”

Finn unplugs the internet cable and connects to it. Seeing this, Vecchio also joins the search. And about ten minutes later.

[Doubts Arise After 『Toybox』 Bankruptcy, Where Did the Missing Funds Go?]

-Following the recent bankruptcy of 『Toybox』, a toy company that was once very popular, suspicions about the reasons behind it are growing. Creditors have stated that they found a significant discrepancy during the investigation of the company’s assets in the bankruptcy proceedings. This refers to the difference between the assets the company should have possessed and the assets that actually remained.

Specifically, experts are suggesting that this discrepancy isn’t a mere accounting error, but potentially linked to the creation of a slush fund. However, as of now, the precise scale of the missing amount, its usage, and the individuals responsible remain unclear, fueling continued debate.

The key executives of 『Toybox』 were embroiled in internal controversy even before the bankruptcy, and some former directors… (Omitted).

“This is it…!”

“I think this is it, Finn…!!”

That plastic necklace, for the possibility that it was a winning lottery ticket.