Vicious Darling

[9]

As soon as Yuri, personally guided by the person in charge of the Barrel Society, sat down, simple refreshments were prepared before him. However, unlike with the cocoa and cookies earlier, Yuri didn’t touch any of them.

Chris was also politely invited to sit, but he silently stood guard behind Yuri.

“My name is Victoire,” the middle-aged man who had offered the seat introduced himself, now seeming more composed.

The one-eyed gatekeeper woman sitting next to him was watching her colleague with a vigilant gaze.

She seemed to be keeping a close eye on him due to his earlier impulsive behavior.

“Pleased to meet you,” Yuri nodded in greeting. The other side seemed about to offer a handshake but awkwardly withdrew their hand at Yuri’s movement.

Chris stood with his hands behind his back and spoke before the silence could stretch any longer.

“Our boss has personally come to seek the Barrel Society’s advice while tracking the guiding drug that has started circulating in the Winter Continent.”

“Ah, ah. Guiding Delight?” Victoire asked, his eyes narrowed as if in thought.

“I heard it prevents Espers from going berserk. Is that a problem?”

His tone suggested he didn’t quite believe it.

It’s common to use debts or drugs to subjugate Guides to organizations and use guiding as a weapon to employ Espers.

So from his perspective, Baekyah’s boss trying to stop the distribution of guiding drugs might look like a move to prevent his Espers from leaving.

Although the burn scar had slightly swayed his opinion, he still seemed unable to uproot his deep-seated suspicion.

“It appears that way initially, but the results become increasingly similar to drugs over time. We’ve obtained information that long-term use can lead to death.”

This was written in the documents found when they entered Yuri’s old mansion this time. The guiding drug had good short-term effects but had a fatal problem.

One of Rosenhauser’s goals was to spread this drug to low-grade Espers who couldn’t meet Guides, and use the results that appeared in their bodies to improve the guiding drug.

Since “normal” Espers affiliated with the Esper Union wouldn’t seek guiding drugs anyway, this plan had relatively low risk. Moreover, if unregistered Espers caused violent incidents or continued to show unstable behavior due to guiding drugs, they would face social condemnation. This would relatively elevate the reputation of Union-affiliated Espers.

Then wouldn’t more Espers want to come under the Union’s shadow?

Victoire let out a sigh of disbelief.

“…Well.”

“The ones selling it plan to perfect a more addictive drug by experimenting on people. Now, do you understand why I want to borrow the eyes and ears of the Barrel Society?”

As Yuri finished Chris’s explanation, the gatekeeper sitting beside them spoke up.

“Do you just need our information?”

“Including smuggling routes.”

Victoire frowned at Yuri’s firm words.

“That’s difficult. The Barrel Society’s smuggling routes aren’t owned by any specific individual, and no matter how good your purpose is, you’re…”

“I have no intention of restricting the means you use to raise funds. We’re in a somewhat symbiotic situation with that as well.”

Because the channels for incoming goods are limited, the Winter Continent has a high dependence on items imported from other continents.

However, things like medical drugs often don’t get export or import permits, and depending on the raw materials, their export from other continents is often prohibited altogether. As a result, as more locals started obtaining necessary items through the Barrel Society, a full-fledged black market formed.

“But we need to block the routes through which drugs are coming in.”

Yuri’s voice was cold.

“This land has extremely low productivity. There are quite a few natural resources and minerals, but development takes time and requires investment. Most importantly, labor is crucial, and the more people who are high on drugs rolling around in back alleys, the greater our losses.”

Some people don’t even think Yuri would do anything good. It was now not so difficult for him to package his words appropriately to convey his intentions quickly and easily to them.

As befitting a profit-driven mafia, when he delivered his words packaged in calculations, a faint understanding spread in Victoire’s eyes.

“…That’s true.”

“Alcohol and drugs are different. If alcohol is the worst, drugs have no bottom. The addiction rate is faster, and recovery takes a lifetime. Moreover, it would become a bridgehead for those who experiment on humans to enter this cramped land.”

Where there’s demand, supply follows.

Just like when prohibition was enforced, there were people who secretly smuggled in or made and sold alcohol even though making alcohol was banned.

Yuri had no intention of standing by and watching as Thorns Order’s suppliers increased in the winter land. This was the refuge where the boy who had fled from Rosenhauser had arrived.

He didn’t find peace here. Rather, there was only fierce struggle, but he built his life in this winter.

If Rosenhauser’s shadow tried to wedge in with muddy feet to such a place, uprooting it completely was the only gift Yuri could give to his past.

“To the people out there, the Winter Continent is a desolate land of snow and ice from which living people flee, but to us, it’s home.”

The man born in the summer continent, fresher than anything else, came to call this frozen land where white nights descend his home.

In this room, only Chris knew about that process, but everyone could feel the weight of that statement.

“Isn’t that why you all haven’t completely left this land either? You don’t want your hometown to disappear, do you?”

Yuri gestured with his chin towards the old woman and Victoire.

“Barrel Society. I hear the name was inspired by people hiding in barrels to stow away to other continents.”

The gatekeeper’s wrinkled lips pressed tightly shut. Victoire’s ashen eyes flashed with a different light.

One of the few things exported from the Winter Continent was underground resources. So, fugitives hid in barrels reeking of oil to escape. As their numbers grew one by one, they banded together, sharing their longing for the homeland they left and the joys and sorrows of the new land they would live in.

“But isn’t the direction the Barrel Society pursues a Better Society?”

It was the ideology of this organization hidden behind a simple play on words. At first, it started as a joke, but it became a naturally settled belief before anyone realized.

Those gathered here are not fugitives.

They were pioneers gathered to move towards a better life.

“Alright,” the old woman spoke.

“As the gatekeeper of the Barrel Society, I agree to provide information to Baekyah.”

Victoire, glancing at her, swallowed a sigh and continued.

“…As the storekeeper of the Barrel Society, I agree to provide information to Baekyah.”

“Is there no higher authority you need permission from?”

“Not within this continent.”

Chris recalled the titles of others who could be considered responsible for the Barrel Society besides the gatekeeper and storekeeper.

‘The shoemaker, the baker, and the locksmith, was it?’

According to what he had found out before, the gatekeeper is responsible for managing contact points like this. The storekeeper manages the Barrel Society’s assets. The shoemaker is in charge of transportation, and the baker is in charge of supplies within the Barrel Society.

Among them, he heard the most dangerous was the locksmith.

‘I heard that as the Barrel Society grew in size and the amounts of money they dealt with changed, the locksmith became responsible for eliminating threats that arose.’

They were called locksmiths because they traversed the most secret places.

Since there hadn’t been even friction, let alone all-out war, between the Barrel Society and Baekyah, even Chris didn’t know the identity of the locksmith.

“But Mr. Sobolev,” the gatekeeper woman spoke up.

“You must promise that this information will be used solely to block that guiding drug you mentioned. If the Barrel Society’s information is passed to a third party for other gains, or if Baekyah tries to take over our smuggling routes…”

Despite her dark gaze, Yuri maintained his composed expression.

“We will be everywhere.”

Chris looked at her with an expressionless face. Regardless of whether the threat would actually be carried out, he couldn’t simply stand by while someone threatened Yuri.

Although on a leash, a beast is still a beast, and the flame that rose in Chris’s blue eyes was enough to freeze the air inside.

Yuri called him without looking back, in a leisurely tone.

“Chris.”

“Yes.”

“As I’ve said many times, don’t bark before you bite.”

Chris lowered his eyes.

He always kept in mind Yuri’s order to refrain from unnecessary threats and to act decisively when it was time for a show of force. However, his instinct couldn’t stand by when faced with a threat to his Guide, leading to such situations every time.

‘I must be careful.’

It wasn’t long ago that he had acted independently. Chris couldn’t afford to fall out of Yuri’s favor again.

“Hah…”

The old woman, experiencing an S-class Esper’s threat for the first time, managed to hold her ground without fainting, perhaps due to her years of experience. However, cold sweat had formed on her temples.

Victoire quickly intervened to mediate.

“Well then, it seems our business here is concluded.”

Yuri answered while staring at the gatekeeper, without even glancing at Victoire.

“I’ll keep your words in mind. Baekyah keeps its promises.”

As if all matters were settled, Yuri stood up. Chris draped the coat he had been holding since they re-entered over Yuri’s body.

“Then we’ll wait for your contact.”