The Hidden World

‘This was way easier than I thought it would be,’ Yuki transmitted to Akira as he half carried Ludwig on his shoulders.

[It helps that he was piss drunk,] she replied. [And how are you so comfortable?]

‘It helps that I’m a guy and that I actually find this mildly amusing,’ he explained. ‘Let’s finish this up now.’

“Where’s your room big guy?” Yuki said out loud.

“Just down the street. Down the street!” Ludwig repeated loudly. “Big sign with a shoe? Wait.”

“I know what you mean, don’t worry about,” Yuki said. “We’ll take you right there, don’t want to keep you waiting. Right~?”

Ludwig nodded and Yuki felt him grab his butt. Yuki didn’t react and just gave Ludwig a raised eyebrow.

“Impatient I see,” he said. “You just need to wait a few more minutes.”

‘That drink enhancement is more effective than I thought.’

When Yuki had given Ludwig the second glass, he added a small spell that increased the effectiveness of the alcohol. And it seemed that it was working splendidly.

[Yuki, he’s touching your ass,] Akira pointed out.

‘I know. I don’t care,’ he replied. ‘Part of the job.’

While they walked, Yuki quickly gave the drunken man leaning on him a quick pat down. Inside the pocket of Ludwig’s suit, Yuki found what he was looking for. It was a silver pendant and from the feel of it was shaped like a snake.

‘He’s our guy,’ Yuki told Akira. ‘Knock him, I’m getting tired of this.’

[Gladly.]

“Hey, handsome,” Yuki said.

Ludwig turned his head.

“Yeah, sexy?”

“Good night~.”

Then Ludwig slumped over, Akira’s hand hovering where his neck use to be.

“That was satisfying, I don’t like this guy,” she said, pulling her hand back and flipping her hair back. “What are we going to do with him?”

“Like I promised. We’ll taking him to his room for some one on one time,” Yuki said.

They picked up the unconscious man and dragged him to the hotel down the street.

“You shouldn’t let him touch you like that,” Akira said.

“Why?” Yuki asked. “I’m a guy. It doesn’t bother me. That’s why I did this and not you.”

“Are you saying that you wouldn’t feel anything if anyone touched you like that?”

“No, it’s just that I’m not attracted to guys in the least. Maybe if someone like you did that it would be different but a dirty drunk like that? No way,” he laughed.

“Good to know,” she said. “You seem more, I don’t know, open?”

“Open?”

“Emotionally.”

“Ah, yes. I noticed that too, at least around you. When I’m not disguised it’s like there’s a faucet that leaks only when you’re around,” he said. “Doesn’t really bother me though, and that was a terrible analogy.”

He walked into the hotel named the Showcase and the receptionist waved them through. It seemed that having a Ludwig hanging on your shoulders was enough identification for a person. The two dragged the drunk man upstairs and Yuki dug through Ludwig’s pockets until he found the keycard for the room. Then they went to the elevator and hit the fifth floor. When it opened, they walked to the seventh room and opened the glossy wooden door.

“This is a nice room,” Akira commented.

“Could you grab a chair?” Yuki asked. “I have some rope.”

“Okay.”

While Akira searched for an appropriate chair, Yuki went through all of the things that he had stored within his ring. He didn’t need to bring out the items themselves since he was able to distinguish what each thing was from the mana itself.

‘Rope, rope, rope, nope that’s a whip. Rope, where did I put the rope? What’s this?’

Out from his ring a glowing red jewel formed and he stared at it with confusion.

‘When did I pick this up?’

Yuki thought back and realised that he had taken the Blazing Jewel without a second thought after he had defeated Nataru.

‘I don’t remember. I’ll deal with this later.’

He put the jewel back into his ring and found the rope that he had placed in there. Then he tied up Ludwig to the chair that Akira brought him and began to look through all of Ludwig’s possessions. What he found was nothing particularly surprising or important.

“We’re going to have to ask him ourselves,” Yuki said. “He should be regaining consciousness soon.”

“How are we going to do that?” Akira replied.

“Well, drunk people like to talk. Especially when they’re scared to death. We’ll take that route.”

A few minutes later, Ludwig began to snort and his eyes snapped open. He glanced around and slowly seemed to realise that he was tied up in a chair.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Hmm? That’s what I want to ask; what’s this?” Yuki asked. He held up the medallion that held the emblem of the Shikaku.

“That’s, um, family relic?” Ludwig said.

“Is that so?” Yuki said. He came in closer and leaned in. “I know what this is, Ludwig. There isn’t any need to lie. You said it already.”

“I did?” he asked. “When?”

“Oh, let’s see,” Yuki said, looking at his watch. “Ten minutes ago? Shikaku was it?”

“Oh god,” Ludwig moaned. “Aw shit.”

“That’s right. So just tell me everything.”

“Why do I need to tell you everything if I already told you before?” Ludwig asked.

“I don’t want this to be harder than it has too, Youth,” Yuki sighed. “I want you to repeat everything now so that I can make sure what you said was the truth. If you can’t do that for me then, well.”

Yuki snapped his wrist and a dagger seemingly appeared out of thin air. Then he started gesturing with it as he spoke.

“I’m going to have to find a way to convince you, you know? I would prefer if we just had a nice calming chat,” he continued.

[Yuki, he’s drunk. How would he feel anything?]

‘I’m a support magician with knowledge in anatomy,’ he replied. ‘He’ll feel it. Probably more than the normal person.’

“What do you mean?” Ludwig responded slowly.

‘Oh yeah. He’s piss drunk so he wouldn’t understand this type of conversation.’

“I’m going to torture until you speak unless you answer my questions,” Yuki explained in a matter of fact tone of voice.

“You wouldn’t do that, right? A pretty girl like you,” he mumbled.

Yuki rubbed his face with his other hand as he groaned to himself. Maybe acting as a girl was a mistake. Ludwig wasn’t taking him seriously. With a sigh, Yuki grabbed Ludwig’s hand and made a thin cut on it.

“Gaaah!” Ludwig cried out as he open and clenched his hand rapidly.

[Why does he look to be in so much pain? That was like a paper cut.]

‘His drink was also made to enhance his neuroreceptors,’ Yuki explained. ‘So pain is amplified. Pleasure is also amplified but why would I do that?’

“You understand now? If you just talk the pain will go away,” Yuki said out loud.

“What do you want to know?” Ludwig groaned.

“First tell me what was your job in the Shikaku,” Yuki asked sweetly.

“I designed weapons and machinery, that’s all I did,” he said. “Once I finished them, I normally hand them over by hand.”

“Who’s the other person in the Academy that is part of the Shikaku?”

“He’s the caretaker of the Academy Forest. Shinzo or Shibo or something is his name.”

“So who made the golem?”

“Not me. I just designed. Dunno who made it,” Ludwig said.

“How do you communicate to your higher ups?”

“Never talked to the big guys myself. I just talked through some middle men.”

“Mm, I see. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Yuki proceeded to smack the back of Ludwig’s head with the hilt of his dagger and watch him fall unconscious.

“You didn’t need to know anything else?” Akira asked.

“No, he’s too low in the Shikaku to be a useful source of information.”

“What do you want to do with him then?”

“Kill him and take care of the body. Meet me back at the gate of the Academy,” Yuki instructed. “I don’t want to turn him over to the authorities. The Shikaku have probably already infiltrated them.”

“Okay, but what happens after this?”

“We’ll find the third person then we’ll decide where to go from there,” he said.

“Understood,” Akira replied.

She grabbed the head of the unconscious Ludwig and gave it a sharp twist, his neck snapping. Then she pickup the body and draped the arm over her shoulder.

“I’ll be done in a few minutes,” she said before leaving the room.

‘I’ll be waiting at the gate,’ Yuki reminded. ‘Don’t get caught. Not that I need to tell you that.’

[Don’t worry. I’ve done this before.]

Yuki waited a minute then left the room as well. Then he headed toward the Academy gate, ignoring the glances and stares from the crowds around him. When he got to the gate, he waited until he saw the shadowy form of a person running gracefully toward him.

“Glad you could make it,” he said to Akira.

“Let’s go back home,” she replied.