Chapter 49 – Sewer Encounter (1)

[Translator – Late Dreamer]

[Proofreader – Seeker]

Chapter 49 – Sewer Encounter (1)

Dirty pipes twisted and turned, snaking across the ceiling, while to the side, polluted water of unknown depth rushed by at a rapid pace.

We had left the underground village area and passed through the sewer tunnels.

We stopped briefly at a sewer path leading to Neon City.

There wasn’t any particular reason for stopping, other than a few people blocking our way.

Considering the current situation.

They were blocking the entrance to the city.

We could suspect them to be Kojaka’s hostile employees or adversaries of the Vice President.

But their appearance was too shabby for that.

Honestly, they were dressed in a “street fashion” so authentic that even the lower levels of Neon City would be hard-pressed to match.

One of them spat out a thick glob of phlegm.

One person had a prosthetic arm, a simplified hook replacing his hand, capable of delivering a blow worthy of Captain Hook himself.

It was a very rare type of prosthetic in the cyberpunk world.

In an era where cyberware was mass-produced, even the homeless in the slums didn’t walk around wearing such prosthetics.

In a way, it was quite unique.

It could be seen as the reality of outsiders living beyond the city limits.

The vagrant-homeless-thug spat out an unnecessarily long stream of phlegm.

He tilted his head towards us.

“Huh? What are you guys doing here—Grrrr.”

Fortunately, we resolved the situation peacefully (with a little electric persuasion) without resorting to violence.

Catherine nonchalantly kicked the unconscious vagrants aside, moving them into a corner.

Her actions clearly conveyed her unwillingness to touch them with her hands.

William Kojaka muttered awkwardly as the vagrants lay foaming at the mouth.

“…Is this okay?”

“Well, what’s not okay about it?”

The reality was that outside the city, even basic human rights couldn’t be guaranteed.

Frankly, if we had been weaker, we might have been stripped of our organs and served as a meal

Well, we didn’t kill them (probably), so there was no need to worry.

Before entering the damp sewer, I took out a mask I had received from the Four Eyes guy and handed it to William Kojaka.

“What’s this?”

“As you can see, it’s a mask.”

He carefully accepted the mask I offered.

Then he asked me a question.

“Does it help to reduce the smell if I wear this?”

It seemed he still hadn’t adapted to the stench.

His face lit up as if he had found a ray of light in the darkness.

I shook my head firmly.

“No, it won’t change the smell.”

“…Then I’m fine.”

He handed the mask back to me.

“I don’t usually wear masks because they’re stuffy. My lung Bioware is custom-made, so it filters out polluted air anyway.”

“Oh…”

Was he a rich guy after all?

But I didn’t take back the mask he offered.

I asked him directly,

“Does it also purify poisonous gas? Different areas have tear gas or deadly pathogens floating around, is that okay too?”

“…”

He must have been mistaken because William Kojaka quickly took back the mask he had offered me.

With awkward hand movements, he covered his face with the mask.

“…What kind of place is this?”

William Kojaka muttered to himself, embarrassed.

It was definitely a strange place.

It was beyond even my broadened sense of normalcy, thanks to being dropped into a cyberpunk world.

Well, if you think about it seriously,

Maybe it’s because it’s like a dungeon in a game.

Even so, it’s not a place where people can live, no matter how you look at it.

The fact that there were people struggling to survive in such a place was astonishing.

William Kojaka fumbled with the slightly crooked mask, trying to adjust it properly.

Then his gaze turned to Catherine, who wasn’t wearing a mask.

He seemed to find it strange that she wasn’t wearing one, despite my explanation.

“What about that mercenary?”

“Oh, she’s fine.”

Unlike the ‘special product’ the vice president mentioned,

She was someone who had a real “special product” in her body. We ordinary people didn’t need to worry.

After confirming that we had put on our masks, Catherine walked towards the iron door of the sewer.

Then she delivered a powerful kick.

—-Bang!

The large iron door flew off its hinges, into the dark corridor beyond, where not a single light source could be seen.

Catherine looked at me and said,

“Are you ready?”

Hmm.

I thought it would have been nice if she had asked before kicking down the door.

I nodded.

“Yeah.”

Come to think of it, this was the second time we were passing through this door.

The first time was when Catherine and I entered Neon City together for the first time.

I thought there wouldn’t be any reason to enter Neon City through the sewers again after that day….

It really seems like you never know what the future holds.

***

“…Oh, if you’re talking about Lee Shun and Catherine, aren’t they famous mercenaries from Monolith?”

“Ah, we’re not actually part of them, we just take a lot of their requests.”

We walked through the darkness-covered corridor.

We chatted peacefully as we walked through the sewer as if we were on an impromptu picnic.

Catherine was walking in front.

William Kojaka was in the middle, and I was walking at the end.

The only sound in the unseen darkness was the loud rushing of water.

Since the place was completely unmaintained, there wasn’t a single working light.

Of course, that wasn’t a problem for me or Catherine.

Our eye implants came with a ‘night vision’ feature.

But it was too much to expect the same from William Kojaka’s eyes.

So, for safety reasons,

I had created a bright sphere of light above my shoulder.

When I first created the light, William Kojaka’s wide-eyed surprise was a sight to behold.

‘You can Create light from your hand…!’

It was only then that I realized we hadn’t told him about our true identities.

After hearing about Catherine’s and my true identities, William Kojaka nodded to himself.

“So the bullets you blocked on the airship were all magic.”

“That’s right.”

“…A meteor, and the sole magician. I can definitely trust you with my safety.”

[Translator – Late Dreamer]

[Proofreader – Seeker]

He didn’t know our faces, but he seemed to have heard rumors from the mercenary industry.

His shoulders, which had been hunched with worry, seemed to relax a little.

Seeing that, I said briefly,

“You still need to be careful, though.”

“Haha, with legends of the mercenary world protecting me, what do I have to worry about?”

“Things like this.”

As I answered, I created a chunk of ice in the air.

Thanks to gathering mana so I could continue using magic while walking, the speed and accuracy were impeccable.

With a popping sound, something bounced off in midair.

If I hadn’t used magic, a giant blob of liquid that had burst through the ceiling would have hit William Kojaka.

“Ugh!”

William Kojaka ducked his head with a short scream.

Thanks to my quick reaction, he wasn’t hurt.

I slowly walked towards the location of the ‘thing’ that had been bounced away.

I illuminated the area with the sphere of light, revealing something frozen solid by magic.

There, a giant eyeball encased in a blob of liquid was completely frozen.

She kicked it like a soccer ball.

It rolled smoothly towards William Kojaka.

“…What’s this?”

“You could call it a giant amoeba, except it eats people.”

Whether it was a corporate experiment or a mutant created by pollution.

I didn’t know its exact identity. And it wasn’t like there were only one or two of these things, so I wasn’t particularly interested.

I could have incinerated it with flames, but using fire in an enclosed space carried some risk.

Besides, I thought it would be better to show William Kojaka directly what the danger was.

William Kojaka scratched the back of his neck, his face drained of blood.

I continued my explanation as I watched him.

“Honestly, we’re fine. It’s not that dangerous unless we go a few levels deeper underground.”

“…Hmm.”

He probably understood what I meant.

We’re fine.

But what about you?

William Kojaka’s shoulders, which had briefly relaxed, slumped again.

He didn’t need to be too nervous, but not being nervous at all was also a problem.

A certain level of tension would be helpful for his protection.

“Well then, let’s get going again.”

“…”

With William Kojaka between us who had become quiet, Catherine and I started walking along the path again.

Drip, drip.

The sound of falling water droplets echoed eerily.

It was a path we had taken a long time ago, but even then, it was a place we had risked our lives to get through.

When we were younger, both Catherine and I were weak.

Thanks to that, the structure and layout of this place are still embedded in my memory.

So there was no worry of getting lost in the complex sewers.

It seemed Catherine felt the same way, as she continued walking without hesitation at the crossroads.

……

We just kept walking.

Hmm, it’s too quiet.

I am bored again.

The idea was to maintain a moderate level of tension, not to stop talking altogether.

So, to ease William Kojaka’s tension a bit.

I was about to ask, ‘What Kojaka stock should I buy to earn credits?’

Even Eve wouldn’t be able to stop me from buying stocks that the vice president himself recommended.

But just then,

[Sudden biological signal detected ahead.]

With Eve’s words, Catherine moved.

She probably didn’t hear Eve’s words.

It was a voice only I could hear.

The reason Catherine moved became clear through sound.

Kang! With a sound, sparks flew from the metal in front of Catherine.

I looked ahead.

Several curved streaks of light flew through the darkness.

Looking closely.

I could see that the streaks of light were throwing shuriken.

And between the LED-flashing throwing shuriken.

Black-painted throwing shuriken flew in alongside the others.

It was a classic but effective tactic against opponents relying solely on night vision eye implants.

But I had a sphere of light floating above me.

If I fell for this, I should quit being a mercenary.

…Actually, there was nothing for me to do.

Catherine swatted away the incoming throwing shuriken with her bare hands as if it were nothing.

Her palms, which had deflected the sharp shuriken, were unscathed.

Wait, throwing shuriken?

Did the cleaning robots here finally go crazy?

Or was it a vagrant obsessed with Japanese culture, as befits a cyberpunk world?

I increased the size of the light even further.

It brightly illuminated the surroundings.

The narrow passageway.

The polluted water flows in the sewer to the side.

Amoebas rolling their eyeballs in the corner.

And beyond all that.

At the end of the sewer passage.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Several shadows appeared.

“Fuck.”

I couldn’t hold back a curse.

Ninjas had appeared.

[Translator – Late Dreamer]

[Proofreader – Seeker]