Baccano! - Volume 11 - Chapter 4.5

Interlude IV The People’s Police

The next day The Boroñal residence

“…”

Up on the hill, the first red-tinted rays of sunlight from the west streamed into the district where the aristocrats lived, illuminating their mansions as if setting them ablaze.

Under the evening sun, Esperanza was out on the balcony again, amusing himself by tending the flowers.

He didn’t appear to be doing his job, but he got most of his routine duties out of the way during the night and spent the time it freed up during the day watching his female servants from afar as they worked. It was an act that risked getting him labeled a pervert, but since he wasn’t actually peeping and had never made a single advance toward any of the servants, no one rebuked him for his hobby.

Of course, someone in his position would probably have gotten away with making advances, but the servants knew he wasn’t that sort of man. Instead, he was occasionally ridiculed as a coward who couldn’t approach a woman as a man, but as long as the ones ridiculing him were women, Esperanza didn’t mind.

He was clearly abnormal, but one thing was certain:

He wanted women to be happy.

He’d once visited a church back home in Spain and met a boy who was going around asking, “What do you suppose I’d have to do to make everyone in the world happy?”

“That’s impossible,” Esperanza had answered. “Since the world has no guiding principles that allow for perfect justice, the happiness of one person is connected to the unhappiness of another.” Immediately afterward, he’d begun to ponder his own answer—“Hmm… If one were to push all that misfortune onto men, however, might it not be possible to make all women happy?”—and he and the boy had talked about it until morning.

That boy had been Elmer C. Albatross, and the connection they’d established then had developed into their current amicable relationship.

Thinking back, Esperanza quietly shook his head.

Even so, I never imagined he’d come here of all places.

True, I did tell him about the alchemists, but still… And then there’s the question of what’s going on back home. Would one ordinarily foist him onto the lord of the town simply because we’re acquaintances?

Still, I wonder why Elmer would suddenly decide he wanted to learn alchemy. It’s sure to displease the church.

At the time, the church had an unsurprisingly negative view of alchemy. However, the alchemists had created technology that was now part of society, so the church had determined that Dalton and his group were “men of science” and currently tolerated the town.

That said, it was a definite fact that they didn’t take kindly to it.

Don’t tell me that fool believes he can make everyone happy by eliminating poverty with a surfeit of gold.

…It’s plausible.

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him since last night…

These thoughts began to dampen Esperanza’s spirits, but then he saw some female servants who were working in the garden, and he smiled, relieved.

Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. He’s male. He’ll probably take care of himself.

Esperanza smiled up at the sky, ignoring religious denominations to give thanks to a goddess from Grecian myth. Where there were women, there his heaven was.

Aah, I’d like to hurry and apprehend that Mask Maker so that Miss Niki will smile, too.

As Esperanza thought these things and gazed up at the sky, Niki was stealthily watching him through a gap in the window.

It had already been three days since Elmer had brought her to this mansion.

The day before, she’d finished steeling herself.

I’m fated to die.

She’d been ready for that part for ages now. She’d even felt glad for her impending death.

However, over the past three days, all her values had been turned upside down. A world she’d never known did exist, right here in this one.

And she’d learned that it might be open to her, too.

Still…it’s too late. I can’t go back.

I saw…the Mask Maker.

And so she’d braced herself for death once again, but—

Not here… I can’t become one of the Mask Maker’s victims here.

—she knew.

Many of the previous victims had been discovered in the mansions of aristocrats.

She knew why they were there.

If I die here, it will cause trouble for the lord and Elmer. That means I have to become the Mask Maker’s victim somewhere else.

She didn’t know…

…that the Mask Maker had already appeared in this mansion the previous night.

She didn’t know…

…that the Mask Maker had stabbed Elmer.

Or what Elmer was doing now after he was wounded.

And precisely because she didn’t know—

Because she didn’t know, Niki squeezed her eyes shut and locked her three days at the mansion away in the depths of her heart.

It would be a pleasant memory, and a dream for herself that she must never touch again.

She held her breath and stilled her heart.

Then, slowly, she opened her eyes.

The girl had experienced the best dream of her life, and now she was awake. She put on the cold expression she’d worn before coming to the mansion—

—and she left Esperanza’s residence behind her, as if fleeing from something.

Keeping out of sight of the servants, she slipped out the back gate—and then she ran and ran and ran.

If she’d tried to escape from the town itself, she could have done it.

If she made it to the highway on the far side from the ocean and stowed away in a caravan of cargo wagons, she could be in Naples or some other city in a matter of days.

However, she did neither of these things.

If she could have gotten a new life for herself that way, she would simply have turned on her heel and gone right back to the mansion instead. I’ll do any job you give me, she’d say, so please let me work here for the rest of my life.

Esperanza probably wouldn’t refuse.

On the contrary, he’d welcome her with a smile. He’d provide for her even if it meant cutting down on what he spent for his own food. She had no delusions about her own importance; he’d do that much for any woman.

During the past three days, she’d learned that while Esperanza himself would probably accept anyone, the serving women around him didn’t let women who weren’t part of their inner circles approach him easily. Maybe it was an attempt to protect their own places, or maybe it was out of concern for Esperanza. Of course, if they didn’t, the House of Boroñal would have been overrun by females with their sights set on its fortunes.

Even so, they’d let her in.

With Elmer’s help, she’d become able to carry on ordinary conversations with the serving women.

If she’d managed to reconcile it with her own pride, she probably would have had a chance to keep living at that mansion, or to receive support and move to another town.

Niki understood this.

And that was why she couldn’t go back.

She had a reason, but it wasn’t one she could share, and so…

…she just ran and ran and ran, no longer even knowing where she should go.

As she made for the wide avenue that ran from the aristocrats’ mansions to the port—

—her feet tangled with each other, and she crashed to the ground.

She was on a downward slope, but she didn’t start to roll. She got up, checking to see whether she was hurt, then stayed where she was for a few moments.

Where should I even go?

She didn’t even know what she was doing anymore, and for a little while, she looked up at the sky. She couldn’t bring herself to smile at it the way Esperanza had earlier, while she was watching through the window.

The vault of the sky was already beginning to darken, and in the east, the stars were starting to come out.

If she didn’t think of somewhere to go, she might end up sleeping outside, Niki concluded. She decided it might be unavoidable, but then—

—someone suddenly grabbed her arm.

“And where might you be going, young lady?”

“…?!”

When she hastily looked toward the voice, she saw a face she’d seen somewhere before.

“…You’re with the police…”

“Larolf Hancletia. How many times have we met now, I wonder…? During your report to us, and then at Lord Boroñal’s mansion… That would make this our third meeting, wouldn’t it? Still, your timing is excellent,” said the middle-aged man wearing the uniform of the city police, his face impassive. He gripped Niki’s thin arm tightly.

Their surroundings were nearly deserted, but there was a single carriage stopped on a large side street.

“I was just on my way for a pickup. Then I saw you from the carriage.”

“A pickup…?”

“Yes. You. I was planning to give Lord Esperanza some sort of nonsense excuse about needing to question you…but it looks as though it won’t be necessary.”

“…!”

Chief Larolf’s reply gave her a sickening feeling.

If he had to “give some sort of nonsense excuse” in order to come and get her, it meant that this was business he couldn’t tell Esperanza about.

She didn’t know what it would involve—and she wasn’t allowed to ask.

“…Mmph!”

Before she could even attempt to put up a fight, two officers who had appeared from the side pinned her arms and dragged her into the carriage.

“Good grief… I was startled to find you at Lord Boroñal’s mansion, so I did a little investigating to satisfy my doubts… I never expected that would be the link between so many of the victims.”

Inside the large carriage, Chief Larolf cracked his neck, muttering.

Niki was directly across from him. She’d been gagged, her hands were tied, and there was a police officer sitting on either side of her. She wasn’t struggling; she’d probably given up.

The chief calmly continued. “Did you want to let the world know you existed? Or did you have another objective in approaching Boroñal?” he demanded. Any respect for Esperanza had disappeared. “After all, you don’t exist. Did you think you could be reborn if an aristocrat took you in? Did you believe you could have a new life? Well, that’s all over now.”

“…”

“Were you hoping for help from the nobles? I doubt the others would have any interest in you, but did you believe Esperanza would be different? Did you think you’d be able to pressure us that way?”

After the chief made his own deductions about what had been going through Niki’s mind, his quiet voice grew heavier. His words gradually picked up speed, as if he was setting them to the rhythm of the racing carriage.

“We exist for the good of the common folk! If we were frightened of the nobles’ power, we could never protect the peace and tranquility of the people!”

“…”

“But you—your kind—you aren’t even commoners. You can try all you want to seek help from the nobles, but in this town, it’s meaningless.”

“…!”

“Well, I wouldn’t have trouble with a man like Esperanza even if he weren’t of noble blood,” he said and heaved a sigh. He brought his face close and whispered in her ear. “And the people we’re sworn to protect say they want you to die. Before you tell Esperanza anything uncalled-for, you see… I thought it was probably too late, but if you’re running through the streets at dusk in tears, either you didn’t talk to him, or you did and he refused you. Not that it matters.”

“…”

The expression in the girl’s eyes changed, but it was impossible to tell what sort of emotion they held.

It wasn’t clear whether the officers who sat on either side of her were listening to what the chief said. They just kept watching her, stone-faced.

“I do pity you, but alas…” The chief shook his head theatrically and glared into her eyes…

…and his next words for her were dark and heavy.

His sole intent was to plunge her into despair.

“We’re taking you back where you belong. Once we’re there, you’re going to tell us the identity of the Mask Maker. You know who it is.”

“…”

“Hey, at least you won’t have to worry about the scars from the torture. Whether or not your corpse is found is up to the will of the people.”

Smiling in a rather self-deprecating way, this “ally of the people” declared his intent as such.

It was a cruel remark, delivered without hesitation.

And it was all for the sake of the townspeople.

“Either way, the Mask Maker will be taking the blame…for all the crimes the people have committed.”