Chapter 8 – The Broken World (Three)

A proposal, he said.

What on earth was he trying to say?

How did he know that Niles was dead?

“Ray. I’ve been watching you for a long time. I want you to hear me out.”

Humphrey the Silent.

A nickname earned from being usually quiet and flawlessly executing any task given.

He was now uttering more sentences than ever before in his life.

And with a voice tinged with extreme urgency and desperation.

Ray examined the mana contained in Humphrey’s vessel.

There was no sign of lying or trying to deceive him.

Ray’s concentration wavered.

He shed his anger like a skin, pulling himself out of the intense immersion he had been in.

“……”

This man had pretended not to know him when he was with Hector, letting it slide.

What is received must be repaid.

That was the ironclad rule.

Ray nodded quietly.

Humphrey let out a sigh of relief, swallowed hard, and spoke.

“Let me get straight to the point. I want you to leave Sector 50.”

Ray remained silent.

Again. This man was also telling him to leave this place.

“Why?”

“I want you to find my brother.”

“Your brother?”

“My brother, whom Hector sold to the City of Wizards.”

Ray asked in return.

“You had a brother?”

“Yes. That’s why I work for Hector. He promised to tell me the exact location of my brother after ten years of service. He must be around your age by now.”

Strictly speaking, Humphrey wasn’t particularly eloquent.

But it was a story he had prepared for a long time to deliver to someone.

Thanks to that, he had no trouble conveying the information quickly.

“You knew I could use magic.”

“Yes. I had my suspicions before. I was sure after the fight in the warehouse.”

Humphrey pulled open his collar to show a shallow burn mark on his chest.

“I saw you climb up from the riverbank and head into the streets. I followed and didn’t miss seeing you take down his men with magic.”

The story continued rapidly.

Lest Ray change his mind and do something else.

The more Ray talked, the cooler his head felt.

“What is the City of Wizards?”

“I heard it’s somewhere upstream on the Elton River. They say only Wizards can enter.”

“Find your brother yourself. Don’t ask others.”

Humphrey shook his head with a bitter expression.

“…I don’t have the courage to leave this place.”

“……”

This man was like that too.

An adult who had put down roots too deep, stripped of the courage and self to try anything new.

Ray spoke in a cold voice.

“I don’t see why I should grant your request. And I have revenge to carry out.”

Humphrey shook his head.

“Just because you can use a little magic doesn’t mean you can beat Hector. Moreover, that terrifying Wizard is by his side.”

The Wizard with dark blue mana.

Also the one who controlled the Golem.

“How strong is that Wizard? What kind of magic did he use?”

“…You have no idea how terrifying that man is.”

Humphrey’s face darkened.

The pitch-black mana corresponding to fear was churning in his vessel.

“One operative who offended him had his entire body frozen solid and shattered. Another had a blob of water forced over his face and suffocated to death.”

“……”

Humphrey told him everything else he knew about the Wizard.

Ray calmly settled his thoughts.

Right.

Objectively speaking, his chances of defeating that Wizard were slim.

He hadn’t learned magic systematically.

He had only used magic based on intuition, and perhaps the knowledge he possessed was just a corner of the vast picture called Magic.

No, that was highly likely.

In contrast, his opponent was a professional.

He would possess all sorts of knowledge unknown to Ray, along with the cruelty to kill people without a second thought.

The odds were close to nothing.

He might be able to inflict some damage by catching him off guard, but that would be it.

Was he truly satisfied with that?

Could that be called revenge?

“Hector is currently capturing all the children in the entire Sector. If you stay here, you’ll definitely be caught. You’ll be sold off as a slave somewhere, for sure.”

“……”

“Leave this place first. Only then will you have a chance to achieve revenge or anything else.”

Just then, angry shouts came from the alleyway Ray had passed through.

─Over there! The brat ran that way!

─There are more downed guys here too!

The voices of Hector’s underlings.

“We don’t have much time.”

The color of Humphrey’s mana changed to anxiety.

A few seconds passed before Ray spoke.

“There’s a condition. Retrieve the bodies under the overpass.”

“That’s possible. I can retrieve them without Hector knowing.”

The color of Humphrey’s mana changed to deep excitement and elation.

He pulled a leather pouch and a note from his pocket and handed them to Ray.

“I didn’t plan to ask empty-handed. It’s all the money I’ve saved my whole life. The note has my brother’s name and characteristics.”

Ray opened the pouch.

It was filled with high-value coins and a single car key.

“Why are you trusting me with this money? I might not keep my promise.”

“I know you. You’re not the type to break a promise. And.”

Humphrey steadied his breathing and said.

“The you I’ve seen has the ability to rise to the upper Sectors.”

“……”

Ray looked at the pouch.

He was about to return the key but changed his mind and kept it in his pocket.

The vehicle Niles had prepared was on the outskirts of the Sector, but who knew how things might turn out again.

Ray stared outside the alley.

In the direction of the central square where Hector was.

I haven’t forgotten my anger.

Someday, I will return here, dig up the buried anger, and spread it all over my body.

“Wait. Until I return.”

Tap.

Ray disappeared into the alley with quick footsteps, soon vanishing completely from sight.

Humphrey took a deep breath.

And with a booming voice, he shouted down the alley.

“This way──!! The enemy is here──!!”

It was to buy the boy a little more time to escape.

Inside the gloomy, grayish alley.

Mana of various colors, a mix of anxiety, excitement, and anticipation, churned in Humphrey’s vessel.

Ray ran and ran.

─There he is!

─Don’t let a single kid get away!

Every time he turned a corner, Hector’s gang swarmed at him like a hive.

Zap!

All of them trembled and fell under the blue current.

─This way!

─Keep pushing! We’re chasing him now!

Enemies appeared endlessly.

As the commotion grew, all the enemies in the vicinity were converging on Ray’s direction.

But it wasn’t a big problem.

The mana overlaid on his body allowed him to keenly sense all presences felt around him.

This, too, was a use of mana that Ray had instinctively realized.

Thanks to that, Ray could navigate the maze-like intertwined alleys without being surrounded by enemies.

When Ray’s legs finally stopped their sprint.

Before his eyes appeared a wide intersection leading from 17th Street to streets with other numbers.

He braced his knees with his arms, gasping for breath.

After recovering his breath somewhat, he raised his head to start running again.

And his gaze met that of a person standing on one side of the intersection.

“……”

A person who had existed there and would continue to exist.

Suddenly, one story came to mind.

Confirming there were no Hector gang members around, Ray strode purposefully towards that person.

“……”

“……”

In a strict sense, it couldn’t be said their gazes met.

The other person was a blind person who couldn’t see ahead.

Viola was sitting on a mat with her usual gentle smile on her face.

As if completely unrelated to the commotion in the streets, there wasn’t a single wound on her body.

…It must have been because she was away from the center of the street where the massacre had taken place.

“I have a question. I don’t have time, so I’d appreciate a quick answer.”

Ray took out a coin to put in the can but hesitated.

It was the 1000 Shilling coin he received from Hector.

“……”

I can’t use this.

I’ve already decided how to use it someday.

Ray took out another coin from his pocket and dropped it into the can.

Clink─!

“The saying that if you find the Rainbow, you can make a wish. It’s true, right?”

“It’s Ray.”

Viola’s closed eyes turned directly towards Ray’s face.

As if meticulously tracing the contours of his face with unseen eyes.

She answered with a warm smile.

“The Rainbow exists. You can wish for anything.”

Viola’s vessel still contained only the vivid purple mana.

It was impossible to know what she was thinking, whether her words now were true or false.

「That Wizard said he came here looking for something. The Rainbow… was it?」

However, it seemed the Rainbow wasn’t entirely baseless talk.

According to Humphrey, the Wizard with the monocle had also mentioned the Rainbow.

“Can it bring people back to life?”

“Yes. Anything at all. But no one knows where the Rainbow is.”

“Thank you.”

Ray turned to leave.

Then, remembering something to say, he turned his head back.

“It would be better for you to move your spot for a while.”

Ray started running again.

The old scenery of 17th Street watched the boy’s figure recede.

The outskirts of Sector 50.

Specifically, 23rd Street, located at the very edge.

Ray could easily find the vehicle written on Niles’s note.

A white vehicle parked next to a derelict building.

A small four-seater.

Even that felt a bit large for the boy.

“……”

His mind was hazy.

It was due to excessive mana use.

The effect of the body Enhancement Magic had almost worn off, and he didn’t have the strength to use other types of magic either.

Just as he was about to approach his sweat-soaked body and insert the key.

“What’s this. We didn’t catch Niles’s brats, but a rat brat instead?”

A man appeared from across the vacant lot along with the voice.

A swaggering gait.

A gaze that was anything but friendly.

The moment their faces met, Ray instantly recognized who he was.

The day the Black Rain fell.

The chase that started from the food warehouse.

One of Hector’s operatives who had chased him then.

…One of his fingers was missing.

A bandage was wrapped around the severed part.

It must have been the punishment received from Hector for failing to catch the rat brat.

But that wasn’t the dangerous part.

The needle marks on his rolled-up forearm.

The syringe in his other hand, filled with a murky liquid.

Ray knew what that was.

A cheap drug that was both a painkiller to forget pain and a stimulant that put the body in an awakened state.

“Who are you? Why do you have the key?”

The distance between them narrowed threateningly.

Fortunately, the man didn’t seem to recognize him.

“You look like one of Niles’s brats. Did you get an order to bring the car? Where’s Niles?”

A tense atmosphere flowed between the boy and the man.

While they were sizing each other up, Ray moved first.

Creak! Clunk!

“You little shit! Where do you think you’re going!”

As Ray opened the car door with the key, the man also kicked off the ground and charged.

Ray got into the driver’s seat, inserting the key into the ignition with his right hand while closing the car door with his left.

Thud!

It would have closed.

If the man hadn’t arrived a split second later and grabbed the door handle.

“You insolent little brat!”

Ray also pulled on the door from the inside, but due to the basic difference in strength, the door slowly began to open.

Excessive mana use had reduced the effect of the body Enhancement Magic to almost nothing.

Through the created gap, the man shoved one arm in.

“Get out… you little…! Where do you think you’re trying… to pull a trick!”

The man gnashed his teeth and flailed his arm, trying to grab Ray.

Ray held on as best he could, continuing to insert the key into the ignition.

Click! Click!

But his body was being shaken, making it difficult to insert the key.

Meanwhile, the hood of Ray’s jacket, grabbed by the man’s hand, was pulled off.

The man’s eyes narrowed as he saw Ray’s face.

“You little─! Could it be─!”

Whether he recognized Ray or not, the man’s force in pulling the door exploded in strength.

The door opened more than halfway in an instant.

The moment the man continued the struggle and tried to wedge his body into the widened space.

Thump!

Ray let go of the hand holding the door.

The man lost his balance and tumbled violently backward.

“You fuck! Fucking brat! It’s you! You’re the one from the warehouse, right!”

The impact of the fall was considerable, but anger took precedence.

The man sprang up from his spot and immediately charged towards the open door.

The moment the man reached out his arm, Ray slammed the door shut with all his might.

He had used magic with his somewhat recovered mental strength to enhance his physical power.

Bang! Crunch!

“Gah!”

The sound of bones breaking came from the man’s arm caught between the door and the car body.

Crack.

And at that moment, the key slid into the ignition.

Without hesitation, he turned the key.

The vehicle awoke with a noisy engine sound.

Ray grabbed the steering wheel.

He had never driven a car himself, but he had seen Niles drive a few times from the side.

He remembered exactly how Niles had operated the car then.

Click! Thump! Vroom─!

He shifted into reverse and pressed the accelerator deep.

With a jolt from the sudden start, the scenery visible through the windshield rapidly receded.

The man was getting up, clutching his broken arm.

“You fucking brattttt─!!”

The man’s face was completely contorted.

Ray shifted into drive and turned the steering wheel to the right.

Vroom─!

And he pressed the accelerator.

Unhesitatingly, with all his might.