Not a Lion, a Kun

Time always slipped by when no one was paying attention...

Especially real-world time in a game novel.

Innocent World, Pato City, before dawn.

Cole, who had barely slept all night, left the Black Rye Inn early and came to a tavern called Rotten Rose. This had to be the place that gentleman had told him about.

The place was famous in Pato City, not just because Rotten Rose was almost always open, serving customers around the clock, but because it was so unusual. As taverns went, it was decidedly unconventional.

There was no hard liquor. The light, refreshing drinks it served were better called "floral infusions" than alcohol. They might contain a little alcohol, but even a farmer who knew nothing about drinking would balk at paying three copper coins for a "drink" that had no kick, would not make him need to piss, would not warm him up or give him courage, and went to neither his head nor his face.

There were no sultry waitresses, either. The only person there was the flower-elf proprietress, who handled the tables, mixed the drinks, and ran the counter herself. She was fairly pretty, but her modest figure and rather unremarkable innate magic were still enough to keep plenty of people away.

Most importantly, though Rotten Rose was open twenty-four hours a day, it stopped serving drinks after sunset. No loud talking was allowed, and no one could sit at the bar. Anyone who wanted to stay the night could make do in one of the little rooms upstairs—for a fee, of course.

Famous or not, the place was usually almost empty. Cole knew it well, though, because Rona... had loved coming here for a drink and a few snacks when she was alive. She would often sit for an entire afternoon.

Cole and Lada had both come looking for her plenty of times as her suitors, as had her close friend Little Ai. When they had time, they would sit down and rest awhile too.

But now... Rona was dead. Lada was dead. And Little Ai, who had escaped with her life, was probably hiding inside...

Standing before Rotten Rose, Cole, who had also narrowly survived, felt as if a lifetime had passed.

At last he steadied himself, parted the strings of unfading petals that served as a curtain, and walked in. To the flower-elf proprietress wiping down a table alone in the main room, he said softly, "Hello. I'm looking for..."

"Upstairs. First room." Ms. White Rose, who looked barely into her twenties, pointed toward the stairs without much interest. "Take her something to eat."

As soon as she spoke, a plate of pastries rose from the counter and drifted slowly over to Cole.

"Thank you." Cole dipped his head gratefully to the flower elf, who had already turned away, then took the plate and hurried upstairs. That gentleman had not lied. Little Ai really was here, and he had so much to ask her!

The moment he opened the door, a petite figure recoiled several steps. She stared at him in a daze, then let out a pained sob and rushed into his arms, crying uncontrollably.

"Cole!" Little Ai clutched the front of his clothes. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her slender shoulders still shook as though she had yet to wake from a nightmare. "Lada... he... he died... right in front of me... He could've... could've escaped... I couldn't save him! I couldn't save him, Cole!"

Cole could feel her trembling with fear and guilt against him. Though he was suffering too, he managed to stay calmer. He patted her back, guided her to a chair, and shut the door behind him. Then he turned and asked quietly, "Tell me, Little Ai. Tell me everything you know... please."

"It was Dave..." Little Ai looked up. Her eyes, open all night, were bloodshot and full of fear. "He attacked Lada... then let go of his lance, drew his sword, and came at me... It hurt... it hurt so much..."

It took Little Ai more than ten minutes to explain what had happened. While the three of them were fleeing, Dave, who had been half a step behind, suddenly attacked Lada as he carried her. The blow was so unnaturally powerful that it could have pierced them both. The instant he was struck, Lada used all his strength to throw the priestess from his shoulder, but the attack pierced his heart, killing him on the spot.

Dave then attacked Little Ai with a black longsword he had somehow kept hidden. With her magic exhausted, the priestess stood no chance against a knight. A single thrust pierced her abdomen, leaving her gravely wounded and near death.

But just as Dave was about to deliver the final blow, he suddenly froze. After a long moment, he muttered something under his breath, then left Little Ai dying on the ground and hurried away...

A little later, that gentleman appeared. He bandaged Little Ai's wounds, gave her a remarkably effective potion, and slapped her a few times until she could calm down enough to speak. Then he asked her what had happened.

Afterward, he gave Little Ai some money (thanks again to the generous Medi) and told her to slip back into Pato City as quickly as possible, find a quiet place where she could rest and recover, and wait for news.

When Little Ai said she planned to go to Rotten Rose, the man left in a hurry.

"So you sneaked back into the city and haven't set foot outside Rotten Rose since?" Cole asked softly. "You must have been terrified..."

Little Ai nodded hard, then shook her head. "Before I left, I took some time to bury Lada. The teachings say... only then can the dead rest in peace..."

"Do they?" Cole sighed and shook his head. "No. Even then, Lada won't rest in peace. I know that rotten temper of his better than anyone. So we have to..."

He glanced at Little Ai, who was still shaking, then turned his head away without finishing.

"Take revenge..." Little Ai finished for him. Looking at Cole's profile, she spoke in a voice hoarse from crying. "We have to avenge them, don't we?"

Then her strength gave out, and she slumped forward. If Cole had not caught her, she would have fallen to the floor.

"Eat something, then get some rest." Cole carried Little Ai, who was so weak she had nearly fainted, to the bed and held out the plate of pastries. "We'll avenge them. We will! That gentleman... he'll help us..."

"Will he?" Little Ai did not look at the food. Pale-faced, she gave a relieved smile. "If he really can, I swear by the Holy Church that I'll pay any price to follow him..."

"Little Ai?!" Cole stared at her.

"I had nothing to begin with. My parents, who raised me, are dead too." Ai Fanye, who had lost her family only half a year earlier, picked up a pastry and lowered her eyes. "All I have left is my life and you, my friends. And this 'gentleman' you mentioned saved my life. If he can help avenge our friends too..."

"You don't have to say any more. I understand. Get some rest."

"Mm..."

At the same time.

Pato City, Brass General Store.

"What do you want?" The bald dwarf picking his nose beside a shelf greeted his first customer of the day without much enthusiasm.

Mo Tan glanced around casually. "A lamp."

"What kind of lamp?" The dwarf raised an eyebrow. "Wall-mounted or portable? Or one for confessing your love to some girl?"

Mo Tan shrugged. "One that doesn't illuminate a thing."

The dwarf got reluctantly to his feet, walked over to a counter about as tall as he was, and turned his head. "Who are you?"

"Darkness beneath the lamp." Mo Tan smiled.

"Come on over." The dwarf beckoned and shifted slightly to one side.

He revealed a barely visible passage.

Mo Tan gave an exaggerated bow, then followed the passage underground. The bald dwarf glanced outside the shop, shut its door, and followed him down.

This was a small outpost of Pato City's Thieves' Guild, an intelligence exchange reserved for members. The general store owner was in charge of it.

The passage ended in a spacious room lined with tall wooden shelves. They held neatly stacked files, recording crystals, letters, and several iron boxes that looked especially secure.

"What do you have? What do you want?" the dwarf asked as soon as he came down.

"Information on Medi Le, a former priest of the Holy Church Coalition." Mo Tan got straight to the point. "Incidentally, he became a necromancer seven years ago."

The dwarf showed no surprise. He merely nodded. "I imagine some people would be interested in that."

If the information was true, at least certain people in the Holy Church Coalition—and quite a few necromancers—would be interested.

"I thought so too." Mo Tan nodded, then grew serious. "I want everything you have on Dave Sager, a second-year student at Pading Knight Academy. The more detail, the better. I also need some basic thief's gear and a practical shadow-technique training manual. The kind they use at Pading Knight Academy will do. I know you've got one."

The dwarf immediately shook his head. "Impossible. That's nowhere near fair. Not many people care about a priest who vanished seven years ago, even if he dabbled in forbidden knowledge."

"Is that so?" Mo Tan smiled noncommittally. "Then we have nothing to discuss. Bye."

He started to leave.

"Wait!" Sure enough, after a moment's silence, the dwarf stopped him. "You can't take the files away. And I really can't get you a Pading Knight Academy training manual."

Mo Tan gave a cold laugh. "Fine, I'll read the files here. Forget the manual, too. Write out every skill an apprentice thief can learn, and throw in a good set of poisons."

Bald Blackshovel, the high-level thief in charge of intelligence for Pato City's guild, bristled. "What kind of bullshit demand is that?"

"To my knowledge, Medi Le's research into necromancy has begun to bear fruit over the last seven years," Mo Tan said evenly. "He's also quite accomplished in the study of souls and has focused his work on resurrecting the dead."

Bald shuddered and stared at him. "He succeeded?"

"No. He failed, and another ten years probably wouldn't be enough." Mo Tan grinned wickedly. "When it comes down to it, he's a pretty useless old geezer."

Bald nearly choked. "Then what was the point of telling me all that? That information's still worthless!"

"How could it be?" Mo Tan whistled. "Do you really need to 'hear' that last sentence I added? Has the Thieves' Guild's intelligence work become so... uh, sorry... stupid?"

Bald fell silent. He had assumed this frail-looking young man—who really was frail—had stumbled across a piece of information and wanted to sell it for a good price. He had not expected the bastard to demand so much from the start. Then, after Bald tried to haggle a little...

He realized calling the kid greedy hardly did him justice. Watching him raise the price on the spot, Bald thought, That's no damn lion. That's a kun!

Maybe I should scare him a little?

The thought had barely crossed Bald's mind when the young man's expression turned knowing...

"Sir." Mo Tan politely extended his right hand. "We both know that for someone as 'unfamiliar' as me to find this place, I must have asked around. Anywhere from one person to countless people know I came here. So there's no need for the threats we both know are empty, is there?"

Honestly, Bald felt that if he were twenty or thirty years younger, he certainly... probably still would not be able to do a thing to this kid.

So he gave Mo Tan a perfunctory handshake and said sourly, "Deal."

Then he turned to rummage through the shelves.

Damn it, why are all these shelves so high...

Two hours later.

Mo Tan sat at a low table in the store's hidden room, a space set aside through some clever construction. Before him lay a thin stack of documents; beside his hand sat a black leather bag crammed with potion bottles and a few handwritten pages. He was smiling broadly.

If Bald ever met the stallholders at the market near Mo Tan's home, they would have plenty to commiserate about.

For example—

"I met a kun today!"

"Heh. You get used to it. One comes around here every few days and swallows everything in sight. I'd thank my lucky stars if he let me sell to him at cost."

"At cost?! See that fat idiot next door? The guy got so turned around talking to him that he gave him two pounds of tenderloin for free..."

"@#￥%*&..."