Chapter 7, Episode 52: Detour!
Meanwhile, in a room created in secret within the city limits of Gimul, a man’s voice boomed, “Are you out of your mind?! Snatching a damn kid! Do you want them to come after us?!”
“Didn’t have a choice. Constables and adventurers are around every corner, and familiars are flying all over the sky like they’re keeping watch. If we’d bolted from the kid like a pack of rats, we’d be in the slammer by now.”
“You thought it’d be less suspicious to beat up the adult who saw the kid find you and bring the kid here? What’s the point of stealing a carriage to keep a low profile when you pull crap like this?!”
“What else were we supposed to do? Just get caught?”
The pair of men glowered at each other in the windowless, claustrophobic room.
“Knock off the bickering, both of you,” a third man answered.
“Boss, but he’s—”
“You’re not wrong. But remember why we’re crammed into this hole.”
“To hide from those in the city and the new recruits.”
“That’s right,” the boss said. “Can’t trust those newbies. We keep blindly following them, and we’ll be disposed of once they have no use for us. It goes without saying what will happen if we’re arrested. If he had gotten busted and they traced him here, we would have been toast. Am I wrong?”
“Well... No.”
“There’s no point in infighting now. Get over it.” The boss, a bearded man, turned to the kidnapper. “And you. You did almost botch the whole thing. Keep that in mind. I don’t give third chances.”
“Yessir...”
The remainder of the crew—another ten men who’d been watching the interaction—could finally take a breath. They were all packed into a space that was more like a hallway than a proper room; any of them could’ve reached out and touched both walls. They had no reprieve from arguments like this one.
“Boss, what do we do with the kid? We put him in the crapper for the time being...”
“It’s not like we can let him walk. Even a kid can get us some coin if we can sell him off. Since you had the bright idea of nabbing him, you take care of him until the dust settles. Don’t let him get away, no matter what. If the kid tries to run or starts making too much of a fuss, whack him. We need cash to get away, but staying hidden is much more important than some extra pocket change,” the boss ordered.
“Yessir,” the kidnapper answered.
“As long as you weren’t followed.” The boss turned to another man in the room. “How’s it look outside?”
“My familiar’s on patrol, but nothing’s been...” He trailed off, prompting all eyes in the room to focus on him.
“What is it?” the boss asked.
“Ryoma Takebayashi is right there,” he replied. “Just beyond the fence.”
“What?!” exclaimed one of the other eleven.
“I thought your familiar was on patrol!” shouted another.
“Quiet!” The boss returned his attention to the watchman. “Details. Is he hunting us down?”
“I...don’t think so. He’s just passing by, I believe.”
“Passing by?”
“Looks like he’s cleaning the storm drains. He’s unarmed. Only carrying cleaning equipment.”
The men shared a look and scoffed.
“Scared the crap out of me,” one of them remarked.
“You said it. What are the odds?”
Amidst the laughing of his men, their boss stood stone-faced, beads of sweat beginning to form on his face. “Everyone grab your gear. The kid too.”
“Boss?”
“Now!”
“Wh-What’s the matter, all of a sudden?!”
“Why would he be cleaning a ditch right now?! Dammit, I can’t stop the chills. This is never good. We’re getting out of here!”
“But where are we going?”
“Anywhere! Anywhere’s better than staying here—”
The boss stopped short. Sewage had begun to seep out from under the door to the bathroom at the end of the tiny room, much to the dismay and disgust of the men.
“What’s that smell?!”
“The crapper’s overflowing...”
“Move!” The boss pushed past them, reaching for the bathroom door. It didn’t budge. “Snap to it! We’re being attacked!” he shouted.
“Whoa!”
“Wh-What’s that?!”
“An earthquake!”
A grinding sound, followed by a sudden quake, made the men cry out in confusion, drowning out their boss’s command. The next moment, a massive crack ran through the wall. Sand sprayed in through the crack and ravaged the room. The sudden sandstorm, however, passed after mere seconds. Then the sensation of sand pelting at their faces was replaced by a breeze of fresh air.
“B-Boss!” one of the men called.
“Yeah, I can see it too... Seen this magic a few times before, and it’s still just as ridiculous.”
As the breeze swept away the dust, the men found themselves standing amidst the rubble that had once been their hideout. In front of them stood Ryoma, the one who turned their hideout to dust, with a crowd of armed adults behind him. Farther behind them, the boy they had kidnapped was being hurried away.
Drawing their daggers, the criminals immediately prepared for battle. One of them bravely charged at Ryoma, either to attack him directly or to take him hostage. Either way, he didn’t accomplish his objective.
“Don’t go charging in like—” the boss called, a moment too late.
A sphere the size of a ping-pong ball flew into the attacker’s arm, sending the dagger into the air. Before the blade hit the ground, three additional spheres simultaneously struck the man in the temple and jaw from either side and his knee from behind. He let out a yelp and collapsed into the puddle of sewage that had formed at his feet.
“Way to die for nothing,” the boss grumbled.
“I haven’t killed him,” Ryoma said. The four mysterious balls were bouncing by his side.
They were a new species of slime, evolved from the latex slime that could be used to manufacture products like the anti-slip coatings. These rubber slimes could change their own properties just as rubber could change its properties when exposed to sulfur or carbon. Because of this, Ryoma had been able to adjust the slimes’ hardness and elasticity to turn them into bouncing balls. While they closely resembled their toy counterparts on Earth, they could do some damage by striking enemies at high speeds, especially with how much mass they contained.
For a skillful martial artist like Ryoma, these rubber balls were effective enough to incapacitate his foes. With enough force, an effective strike could even deal damage through an armor helmet—and an accurate enough strike could knock out an opponent in one shot. Still, the relatively less destructive rubber balls were well suited for fighting in the city. Even if a stray rubber ball hit a passerby, they weren’t likely to suffer severe injuries. With all that in mind, Ryoma had decided to use the rubber balls in martial arts training.
Of course, he had no obligation or reason to explain any part of it to the kidnappers.
With his head held high, Ryoma called out to them, “Drop your weapons and surrender. I won’t say it again.”
“Heh... You’re too soft,” the boss said. “If we’re arrested, we’re done for anyway. Scatter!” he commanded, and his gang ran in all directions other than Ryoma’s. Ryoma’s group was all behind him, leaving their escape routes apparently unguarded. While the kidnappers weren’t optimistic enough to believe they weren’t surrounded, they ran as fast as they could, each with the slim hope that at least they might make it through.
Meanwhile, their boss held his dagger waist-high as energy enveloped him. He had no intention of accepting Ryoma’s suggestion, nor of making a run for it. He would risk his life to face Ryoma head-on...or rather, he would have, if he’d been able to move his legs. Turning his gaze to the ground, he found several blobs of water, each the shape of a human hand, extending from the murky puddle to restrain his feet.
With no other choice, he tore his feet out of their watery grasp. He only wanted to leave one scratch on Ryoma—to buy just a fraction of a second for his men. Even though he knew with great pain that he had no chance of winning, he had to make a stand. With foolish resolve, he enhanced his body as much as possible as he marched towards Ryoma, the end of his blade pointed at the boy.
More liquid hands grabbed at him; he tore them away. The grip of these watery appendages was weak, but every time the boss tore through one, it reshaped itself in an instant. Soon, the fluid hands covered his entire body, and his feet were caught in the muck. Try as he might, there was no escape.
The water had taken hold of the other men too, who fought with all of their might against the murky hands.
“Dammit!”
“Get off me!”
It was to no avail. Before they knew it, their hideout had turned into a bubbling, sewage-filled swamp which expanded before their eyes.
Grotty and reeking, the countless hands extending from the quagmire looked like dark spirits come to drag the criminals to the underworld. Some of the kidnappers were trapped a mere ten meters away from the clean road, and the short distance between them and safe ground seemed like a vast torrent they couldn’t dream of crossing. Despite their efforts to break free, the kidnappers fell one by one into the swamp.
“You monster,” their boss snarled, the last one to be subdued.
Before long, everyone had sunk into the murky water, leaving Ryoma and his legion of watery arms.
■ ■ ■
“They put up more of a fight than I would’ve thought,” I said, and turned to the group that had gathered around me after I’d cast my first spell. “Everyone...what are you doing?” Most of them had put some distance between themselves and me. “Hudom?” I asked.
“They’re keeping away from your spell,” he explained. “I know how accurate you are with it, but those who don’t probably think that they’ll be dragged down if they get too close. And those muddy hands? It’s terrifying. And it reeks. To be honest, if I wasn’t supposed to be your bodyguard, I’d be over there with them.”
“Oh, I see. Maybe because I was focused on incapacitating them—I wasn’t trying to make it look ominous or anything,” I said.
“In any case, it’s all over,” Hudom said. “And you did apprehend them, right? From here, it looked like they just sank into the sewage.”
That, at least, I had taken care of. “They are getting air down there. I could cover their mouths and noses completely if needed, but they’re just immobilized right now.”
“Then let’s wrap this up, quick.” Hudom turned to the crowd. “We’re all clear!”
Once Hudom had called out to them, those who’d been waiting at a distance came running up to us.
“I’ll start receding the water until they appear,” I explained.
“Got it,” one of the constables on the scene answered. “Phew. It’s pungent over here...”
“It is all sewage and muck,” I said. “How is the little boy? I did make sure he was alive, but...”
“He’s fine. Tied up, but he wasn’t hurt. Sent him to the hospital already.”
“Good.”
“Then I’ll go join them,” he said, and ran up to the swamp where the kidnappers were being held.
All that was left to do was to slowly return the sewage into the drainage system so the constable could take the kidnappers into custody.
“Are you all right?” one of the delinquent adventurers on the scene asked me.
“Looking a little wobbly there,” said another.
“I’m fine. Now that it’s over, I’ve let myself relax a bit. Thanks for the help,” I said.
“We don’t deserve any thanks.”
“Yeah, we haven’t done anything.”
They laughed good-naturedly. They had helped me track down the kidnappers too. It was nice that I had people on my side who were familiar with the sewage system, since that’s how I had verified my suspicions as to where their hideaway was, utilizing the two slimes that ate sewage and sludge.
I had to admit, though, the effort had worn on me a little bit. Good thing that our prep work had narrowed down their possible hideouts, and that I had actually found the right one.
“Fascinating how they turned a rental warehouse into a hideout. Looks like they even built a hidden room between the walls,” Hudom said.
“They must have spent a long time on this,” I said. “Although I can’t tell how long. Since they modified the warehouse like this, I suspect the owner of the warehouse or someone who works for them was involved in this... I’ll leave that to the constables, though.”
By now, the kidnappers had all been apprehended and were being pushed into wagons designed for transporting those in custody.
“I’ll get going,” I told the chief constable on the scene. “If the owner of the warehouse comes out to claim damages or reimbursements, please let me and the security company know. While it was an emergency, I know my methods were...flashy.”
“I’ll make sure my supervisor knows,” he answered. “And...thank you for your help in apprehending those kidnappers.” He saluted me.
For whatever reason, the other constables, the adventurers, and even Hudom joined in. So I returned a salute to them and then cast a Space magic spell.
I walked out of the city through the north gate, and with another bout of Space magic, I was home.
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