Chapter 11 : Apprenticeship – 3

I couldn’t just brush off those words.

“Cops are here?”

“That’s what I heard.
For guys who never cared about Rat Town their whole lives, something big must’ve got them stirred.
There’s gotta be a reason, so others will lie low for a while.”

“…Any idea what that reason is?”

“I’m not a cop—how would I know?
Why?
Got something guilty weighing on you?”

I tried to laugh off his teasing question, but my expression must’ve been grim, because Marco narrowed his eyes.

“…I don’t know what trouble you’ve stirred, but hide somewhere for a while.
At least a year.”

If I could, I’d love to.
But with my deal with the reaper, I had to keep working to earn money.

When I stayed silent, Marco let out a short sigh and shook his head.

“Fine.
It’s your life—why nag?
Run around and die or not, it’s not my business.”

“Thanks for the heads-up…”

“Tch.
You’re an eyesore, so scram.”

Even in his gruff tone, I felt his concern for me.
That made me feel guiltier.
Saying my final goodbye, I trudged wearily out of the black market.

On the way home, neither of us spoke for a while.
I just focused on walking, staring down at the ground.

After a long stretch, unable to solve a nagging question alone, I cautiously voiced it.

“The cops… they’re probably after me, right?”

I weighed every possibility, but it all boiled down to one conclusion.

“Could be.”

His vague answer, neither denying nor confirming, came back.

It didn’t feel good.
In this context, that kind of response was basically a yes.

Am I being too paranoid?

No.
Given this is Rat Town, it’s natural to be sure.

Neotopia’s police are a far cry from what we think of as cops.
At its core, this city is ruled by corporations, not a government.

On paper, Neotopia is a city-state.
It’s run under a Parliament, the highest governing body, but dig deeper, and they’re just puppets eating corporate bribes.

So, Parliament’s influence is laughably weak, and naturally, its subordinate police force barely functions properly.

For example, cops don’t hunt criminals.
It’s not just a lack of ability—they don’t even have the will to try.

If they recklessly target a crime syndicate tied to a corporation?
Or a mercenary group working a corporate job?
They’d just pss off* their masters for no reason.

So, cops only focus on cleaning up incidents, not tracking down the culprits to root out the cause.

The only time they move first?
When a corporation gives the order.

In short, for cops to bother coming to Rat Town, there must be heavy corporate pressure—that’s the logical assumption.

“Should I really lie low like Marco said?”

“Scaredy-cat, huh?
Thought you’d brush that stuff off without a care.”

“I don’t care about myself.
But I don’t want to drag the team into trouble because of me.”

“Ha.
Someone might think you’ve been brothers-in-arms for years.
…Hic!
Heh.”

I glared at him, giggling like it’s someone else’s problem, then sighed.

“Why did Lycan take me in?”

“Jeez, now you’re whining?
People might think you’re about to die any second.”

About to die.
Not entirely wrong, is it?
The thought that I could die anytime haunted me.

“Ask him yourself.
I don’t know.”

“Then why did you vote for me, Franklin?”

“Huh?
I voted against you.”

I thought he was joking, but his face was dead serious.
I stopped walking and stared up at Franklin.

“Seriously?”

“Obviously.
Even if you used a Stone, you’re just a green kid with no experience.”

“…”

I had no comeback.
Franklin was spot-on.
Sure, my Stone sync rate is high, but I’m just a 16-year-old girl with zero experience.
Meanwhile, Red Dog is a legendary mercenary crew in Neotopia.

“Why was I picked then?”

“Three voted for you.
Two against.
Majority rules.
…Hic!”

I guessed who the three in favor were.
Karen, who suggested me, is a given.
Lycan said he approved, so the last one…

Probably Mary.
Her friendly attitude from the start makes it logical.

So, Franklin and Spade voted against?
I wasn’t hurt.
Honestly, in their shoes, I’d have voted no too.

If anything, I was grateful to Franklin for helping me despite his objections, without showing any resentment.

“You don’t need to worry too much.
The evidence was cleaned up tight, right?
That jerk’s a pain, but he’s thorough.
The cops won’t easily pin you as the culprit.”

His words let me nod with relief.

Right.
Wasn’t this exact scenario why I made the deal with him in the first place?

Now’s not the time to drown in useless anxiety.
I need to focus on mercenary work to meet the deal’s terms.

“…Thanks.”

“Save that for when you gift me some booze.”

“Huh?
If I give you booze, shouldn’t you be the one thanking me?”

“Nah.
You’d gift me booze because you’re grateful for something.
No such thing as free kindness in this world.”

It sounded a bit off, but I nodded and let it slide.

After that, I kept chatting idly with Franklin as we walked, and before I knew it, we reached home.

The door, perfectly fixed, didn’t even look like it’d been smashed.
Pulling the key from my pocket, I unlocked it and called to Ruby inside.

“Ruby.
Your sister’s back.”

Ruby, sitting on the bed gazing out the window, lit up with joy.

“You’re early tod—”

Her words cut off as her face turned wary.

“Ruby, this is Franklin, my new coworker.
And this is my sister, Ruby.”

“Hic.
You two don’t look alike at all.”

“…He’s a bit rude at first, but he’s kinda alright.
Maybe.”

Ruby, silently staring at Franklin, spoke.

“You smell.”

“R-Ruby?”

“That guy smells weird!
My nose hurts…”

Oh, that’s what she meant—the booze smell.
With a nickname like Drunkard, Franklin never puts down the bottle, so it’d be weirder if he didn’t reek of alcohol.

But why didn’t I notice the smell at first?

Thinking back to when we met today, it was such a dramatic moment that I didn’t register something as minor as smell.
After sticking close since then, my nose must’ve gone numb to it.

Still, some truths are too awkward to say out loud.
Worried he might be offended, I glanced at Franklin and lightly scolded Ruby.

“Tch.
You can’t say that.
Use kind and gentle words.”

I’m trying hard to teach Ruby manners to keep her from turning into a psycho villain, so I need to nip this in the bud.

Luckily, he didn’t seem upset.
If anything, he was busy chuckling and teasing Ruby on their first meeting.

“Heh.
When you’re grown, you won’t live without this smelly stuff.”

“Ruby won’t be like that.”

“Who knows?
You never can tell with people.
…Hic!”

Time to move past their banter and get to the point.

I hadn’t told Ruby yet, so I was a bit worried.
Leaving the home she’d grown up in since birth could be tough for a kid to accept.

But like Lycan said, staying here was dangerous.
Living at the bar, with comrades always around, would be much safer for Ruby.

Above all, I couldn’t stand the thought of Ruby being alone while I’m gone.
It always bothered me, but after yesterday’s incident, I couldn’t even imagine it.

Hesitating over how to bring it up, I carefully asked.

“Hey, Ruby.”

“Mm?”

“Last time, a bad guy broke into our home, right?
That was scary…”

“…Yeah.
It was scary.”

Kneeling to meet her eyes, I warmly hugged Ruby.

“Yeah.
It scared me too.
So, what if we moved to a safer place instead of here?”

“A safer place?”

“You had orange juice yesterday, right?
It was yummy, wasn’t it?”

“We’re going there?
We’ll live there from now on?”

I didn’t bother with lies that’d fall apart fast.
My sister’s no fool—she’d get it with just this.

“Yeah.
We’ll live there from now on.
What do you think…?”

“Sounds good.”

Her quick agreement surprised me, and I wondered why.

It’s not just the orange juice, right?

“You sure it’s okay?
We might never come back to this house.”

“Doesn’t matter.
As long as you’re with me.”

“…”

“As long as I’m with you, that’s our home.”

Hearing Ruby’s answer, I stood there, mouth open, speechless.
In the end, unable to find words, I just held my precious sister tighter.