Holding a tablet in his hands, Makoto scrolled up and down, his eyes scanning the lines of text one after the other. Very rarely did he bother reading through medical documents, but this time, he found himself glued to this one in particular, going through it again and again as if he had developed an obsession.
The document itself didn’t belong to him or any of his comrades. The target he had been ordered to observe was hospitalized, and to confirm whether it was an act or not, Makoto had paid one of the hotel’s Divers a good sum to retrieve it.
The result was nothing like he had expected. If the examination results truly reflected the state of that red-haired youth, one can only wonder how he was still alive. The state of his body was no different from a piece of fabric that had been stretched to its limit, making it so that a single pull would be all it takes to rip it apart.
How could a human being get themselves to that point? Makoto had several ideas, but none matched the image of a youth who washes dishes for a living, which only served to fuel the suspicion tormenting him over the past few days.
"Still going through that, Makoto?"
Looking up, he saw the mildly annoyed expression Ken was giving him. His cousin has been acting up as of late, using Brody and Elias’s deaths to question his competence.
"I’m not in the mood to deal with you, Ken." Said Makoto. "How about you go mind your business?"
"Didn’t father tell you to drop it already?"
"I’m currently on my off time, if you hadn’t noticed. I can do whatever I want."
"Well, you’re just wasting your time, if you ask me."
Though he made it sound like their conversations were nothing short of annoying, Ken still went and sat on a nearby sofa, clearly having more to say. Seeing his blond hair and relaxed attitude, one would never believe that he was the head’s son.
"Say, do you seriously believe that guy was the one who did it?"
Makoto kept his silence for a while, his eyes still fixed on the screen of his tablet. Eventually, he decided to offer a reply, not wanting to listen to his cousin’s complaints.
"Of course not." He said.
"Just because he didn’t do it himself doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved in what happened."
[We have been discovered by Flame Guard.]
That was the last message Brody sent before they lost contact with him and Elias. Investigating their last known location has shown that they had engaged in a difficult battle, and since it happened right around the time Flame Guard interfered to stop the nearby riots, the obvious conclusion was that the two had been wrapped up in that mess somehow and ended up in a even bigger one, something Makoto found preposterous.
It did not make sense for two trained members of the Shirogane clan to make a big enough blunder to be discovered by the city’s top watchdog. The task entrusted to them was to monitor a suspect and nothing more. Even if they remained in the vicinity of the incident, it was highly unlikely that they would be exposed, unless they had been targeted from the start.
"I get how you feel, man, but you gotta let it go for now," Ken said. "The Romanos are already pouring in as we speak. We can’t afford to be distracted."
There have been whispers about the police and BEO preparing a massive operation against the Stahlwölfes and their allies. Though they didn’t have any solid evidence to support it, it was concluded that the red-haired youth was a part of the enemy’s schemes, a bait intended to lure out the members of the Stahlkorps to extract information from them.
His uncle, the clan head, had made the difficult choice to ignore what happened to two of their members so they could focus on the matters at hand. Instead of ordering the capture of the one responsible for what happened to two of their kin, they are letting him go to avoid antagonizing the authorities even further.
Though he understood it was to prevent themselves from being dragged into a deeper swamp, Makoto couldn’t help but feel anger gradually burning through the threads of his rationality.
His mistake of underestimating the red-haired youth was still gnawing at him, and just when he thought he had changed his impression of him, the bastard went and caused two trained clan members to disappear without a trace.
Makoto wanted nothing more than to put his focus on the red-haired demon and expose the vile machinations of how he was attempting to harm the clan, but his hands were tied at the moment, and he could only wait till things settled down before attempting to finish the job.
"Let’s forget about the damned tomato head for a while." Said Ken, his previous annoyance replaced with barely restrained excitement. "You have met the Romanos princess, right? C’mon, spill the beans!"
A deep sigh escaped Makoto.
"She is powerful, that much is clear." He said. "Her mana is almost on the same level as uncle’s."
"Is something wrong with your head? I’m talking about her looks! She must have been a beauty, right? And a natural one at that!"
"You seriously don’t care, do you?" Now it was Ken’s turn to sigh. "Aren’t you tired of all those chrome-infested meatbags?"
"I make a point of not looking at women who are already taken." Said Makoto. "You should learn to do the same."
"Heh, you’re no fun at all," Ken said. "To be honest, I don’t understand why a powerful family like the Romanos wants to mingle with a bunch of mundanes like the Stahlwölfes. Shouldn’t they be looking to strengthen their bloodline instead?"
"Let me guess," Makoto let the corners of his mouth rise into a mocking grin. "Instead of wedding their princess to one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, they should have picked you instead?"
"Hey, at least I have the talent and mana to lead them to a better future." Relaxing back into his seat, Ken propped his legs on a nearby table. "In fact, they should just send their women my way and I will make sure their bloodline never dies any time soon."
Staring at him for a moment, Makoto shook his head dejectedly.
"I won’t tell you to stop dreaming. Just make sure you don’t do anything that might get us into a bigger mess than the one we’re already in."
"Yeah yeah, I promise I won’t try to seduce the bride right before she get’s on the aisle."