Black Bird

Lupinus City Train Station.

After getting the details of the job from President Rena, Noah had boarded another train and rushed without pause to the city where the Black Bird Consortium was headquartered.

He had spent the entire day on trains.

Leaving the platform, Noah carried a suitcase and looked out at the nearly deserted streets in the dusk. Then he picked an old man out for a stroll and asked him which way Black Bird was.

"Young man, what bird did you say?"

The passerby was clearly hard of hearing, so Noah had to repeat himself.

"Sir, Black Bird."

"Oh, a yellow bird! How did you know I keep one at home?"

As the old man launched into a long-winded introduction to his beloved bird, Noah couldn't interrupt him, but he couldn't walk away either. He helplessly listened to him boast for five minutes.

"Sir, I wasn't asking about the bird you keep at home. I mean the Black Bird Consortium, that powerful consortium."

"Oh, I see."

The old man nodded, then suddenly paused. "What did you say it was called?"

Noah's mouth twitched. "Black Bird."

"Oh, a yellow bird! How did you know..."

"Stop, stop!"

Noah forcibly cut the old man off, held up a hand and clenched it into a fist, then threatened him. "Sir, have you ever seen a fist as big as a sandbag? If not, I can give you a taste."

Noah had been the one to ask the old man for directions, and under the circumstances, he shouldn't have threatened him with violence. But the old man kept deliberately steering the conversation elsewhere.

Seeing that he couldn't brush Noah off, the old man glanced at the heavy suitcase and sighed.

"Young man, are you going to invest in Black Bird?"

"Take it from an old man: the investment business is deep waters. You won't be able to handle it."

"Be careful, or they'll chew your bones to pieces and swallow you whole."

Noah wasn't a fool. He caught the meaning behind the old man's words. On the surface, he was warning Noah, but it sounded more like he was mocking Black Bird for devouring people without even spitting out the bones.

It seemed that in Lupinus, the city where Black Bird was headquartered, the consortium had a poor reputation and wasn't welcome among the locals.

"Don't worry, sir. I've got a good eye."

"Even a major consortium like Heartfilia is investing in Black Bird. If I follow suit, I'm sure to get a share of the profits."

After getting directions from the old man, Noah thanked him and left.

Watching the young man walk away full of confidence, the old man recalled how, when Black Bird had first arrived, the citizens had been just as confident after being hoodwinked by that unscrupulous consortium. They had pooled their money into the "lobster farming" venture Black Bird had praised to the skies.

But in less than a year, the Black Bird Consortium had suddenly announced that the lobsters had all fled because of the ocean currents.

But Lupinus was an inland city, nowhere near the sea. Where could the lobsters have run off to?

The citizens refused to accept such an absurd explanation, so they filed a complaint with City Hall and demanded that Black Bird return their money.

But in the end, they received a notice saying Black Bird wasn't required to compensate them. The original investment contract had contained a disclaimer in print so tiny even a magnifying glass couldn't make it out: "In the event of losses caused by circumstances beyond our control, the Black Bird Consortium shall bear no responsibility."

The citizens' money had gone down the drain just like that.

The old man shook his head. You couldn't help someone who wouldn't listen, so he could only let the young man learn the hard way. At least he'd given him a warning.

The northern outskirts of Lupinus.

Black buildings stood one behind another, surrounding a central, oval, four-story building as if protecting it. From a distance, it looked like an egg nestled in a black bird's nest.

In the luxurious office on the top floor of the oval building,

Joel, the director who publicly controlled the Black Bird Consortium, was reporting to a white-robed man with a fawning expression.

"Priest Kura, the Heartfilia family's assets are even greater than we imagined. Jude can keep going for quite a while just by selling off his real estate."

"But don't worry. It won't take more than two years at most. I'll make sure to swallow the entire Heartfilia Consortium."

Hearing that they could accomplish their goal in just two more years, Kura's cold expression softened slightly. After all, the Heartfilia Consortium was wealthy enough to rival a nation, and the cult could afford to wait two years.

Pushing up his glasses, Kura praised Joel.

"Well done. Once you've completed this mission, I'll submit a report recommending your promotion. Get ready to receive Lord Zeref's blessing."

Joel was overjoyed to hear this. That was the blessing of the Progenitor of Black Magic! It wouldn't just lift him beyond the realm of ordinary people; it might even grant him power to rival a priest.

But Kura remembered something and quickly set aside his daydreams. "Priest Kura, someone recently caught on to our plans. I need the cult's help."

Although the Black Bird Consortium was an arm of the Dark Magic Cult, it was merely a tool for earning the cult money. Its people were all ordinary folk, with no mages among them.

Needing the cult's help meant that Joel had encountered someone he couldn't deal with on his own.

Kura frowned. He would never allow anyone to interfere with his plans. "Who is it? A mage?"

Joel hurriedly shook his head. He was a little afraid when the priest got angry, even though he was one of Kura's own people. "No, no, just an ordinary man. But he has some standing and isn't afraid of our consortium's methods."

"You may have heard his name: Rena, president of the Merchant Guild Love&Lucky."

Priest Kura knew the name Rena. When he had set his sights on Heartfilia, he had looked into the connections of its head, Jude.

As the president of a well-known merchant guild, Rena couldn't be easily dealt with through ordinary means as long as he didn't make a mistake. No wonder Joel wanted the cult's mages to help.

To keep Rena from obstructing their plan to swallow up Heartfilia any further, Kura decided to send his men to kill Rena and his family the next day.

Joel was pleased to hear that Kura planned to kill Rena's whole family, but he couldn't help feeling a little afraid, too. As expected, anyone who became a priest of the Dark Magic Cult had killed countless people. They were madmen who killed without regard for human life.

Just then, someone knocked on the office door.

Joel was annoyed and called out to his subordinate through the door. "How many times have I told you not to bother me at this hour?"

"S-sorry, Director Joel. A young man just arrived, saying he wants to invest in us." Frightened by Joel's angry voice, the subordinate's voice grew weak.

"Why are you asking me about something like that? How much money could he have? Do you have no brains?"

"He says he wants to invest ten million and has already brought a two-million deposit..."

Joel was at a loss for words. Anyone who could put up ten million in cash at once had to come from a wealthy family.

Joel wasn't afraid of spoiled heirs. He was afraid of heirs who wanted to start their own businesses.

To Joel, a young heir eager to prove himself was nothing but a fat piece of meat walking right through the door.

He'd get the heir tied up in the investment, then drag his family down with him... Joel had already worked out his next moves, even before meeting the man.

"What are you waiting for? Get him up here!"