Ch.108The Third Entanglement – Clichy and Ragtime (7)

# That day, Golden Age Press was the only newspaper that exposed the relationship between Clichy Corporation and the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn in the evening edition. Though it was just one newspaper, its impact was not small.

To those unaware of the inside story, it would appear that some young reporter had published an article that the president of Clichy had tried to block. A small hole had been punctured in the Clichy president’s authority.

If it were a hole in a wall, one could merely peek through it, but this was a hole in a ship. Seawater would leak in, and as people noticed and jumped ship, the hole would only grow larger.

Writing the article was the reporter’s responsibility. If there were any errors in the article, it was certainly the reporter’s duty to correct them properly. However, the reporter did not know what would happen next.

After returning from Pennsylvania, the reporter asked the detective who had been pulling a gun from his duffel bag and occasionally checking outside the house. She needed answers.

“So, how much do people know? I’m not sure what they’ll figure out from the article being published, beyond what’s actually in it. This is your area of expertise, Michael.”

The detective, who had set up a well-maintained but old military rifle pointing toward the ceiling, glanced briefly out the window. Though the view was partially blocked by the building in front, he could still see cars passing by.

“One, the Clichy president’s handling of matters wasn’t perfect. It would have appeared that an article was published by a rookie reporter at Golden Age Press—not even a major newspaper that could stand up to threats—so the effect would be doubled. And two, Golden Age Press has backing.”

All reporters and newspapers had sources. And generally, all sources were connected. The detective’s unreliable source, the kobold from the tobacco shop, didn’t sell information exclusively to him.

If sources putting their heads together didn’t know that Madam Ysil was protecting Golden Age Press, then they didn’t deserve to be paid for their information.

“They would know that Madam Ysil is your backer. Ysil becomes the figurehead. Everyone will think Madam Ysil has picked a fight with the Clichy president. Only the Clichy president himself knows you’re involved. So, at least you won’t have unnecessary attention directed at you. That much is certain.”

The reporter slowly nodded. She had hoped to settle matters with her father just between the two of them. Though she herself was a reporter, she didn’t want her issues with her father to become news.

“People in this vile city, where betrayal and scheming have become everyday occurrences, are quick to calculate. The Clichy president will try to move quickly to match that, so be ready.”

The reporter still remembered the detective’s words that ragtime should never be played quickly.

Everyone calculates quickly. Everyone will try to skim through and decide. She nodded, understanding that she shouldn’t get swept up in that flow. Fortunately, she had a good advisor this time.

Still, she couldn’t shake off the ominous feeling. As the reporter reached for the metal window frame to look outside, a short burst of static electricity crackled and jumped with a snap. It was strong enough to make her hand sting.

Pain swept through her as the current flowed through her body, making it ache and contract, but as if the current had locked up all her muscles, she couldn’t even open her jaw to scream.

The New York branch head of the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn was painfully realizing, down to his bones and nerves, why the Forest’s Firstborn had filled his office with metal furniture.

The Forest’s Firstborn sitting before him wasn’t enormous. Being an elf himself, he might have appeared small to other races. His masked appearance with a crown woven from branches might have seemed ridiculous.

But no race would consider a mage ridiculous who could fill an entire room with the terrible smell of ozone just by lightly resting one finger on a metal table.

Only after watching the old hands of the New York branch head barely withstand the current for a long while did the Forest’s Firstborn remove his finger from the table. He began to speak in a calm voice.

“Did I give you a difficult task? Even when Maximovitch’s side started a fire last time, it was a big deal with talk about tanks exploding, but we got through it well. The blame didn’t come back to us. But this time, it wasn’t even something that happened in New York. Was it so difficult to keep mouths shut about what happened in Pennsylvania?”

Lightning jumped between the Forest’s Firstborn’s spread fingers, creating bright discharges with ominous crackling sounds before conducting to nearby metal furniture.

The Clichy president was angry. Though the Forest’s Firstborn often raised his voice, it was only to create the image of an idol who expressed anger on behalf of the elves.

“N-no, Forest’s Firstborn… I, I contacted that one newspaper, Golden Age Press, and sent some followers to notify them. But they just ignored it…”

The Clichy president already knew the reason. Ysil, that woman, had played her hand. After saying she would protect Golden Age Press, she had her orc bodyguard or lover or whatever he was shoot dead the followers sent to threaten them in broad daylight. She sent photos of the dead followers to Golden Age Press as a gift, encouraging them to print the newspaper.

Even more cursed, the Clichy president now thought he understood why Ysil, who had been quiet until now, had made her move. Rose had asked her to. Rose was the one who had published the article.

He tried to think of reasons why it couldn’t be Rose. Perhaps Rose had only lent her name to help another reporter who wanted to publish it. No. The writing style was distinctly Rose’s.

Perhaps Rose had been threatened by someone to write such an article. No! If that had been the case, he would have long since struck them down with lightning and burned them to death. So this too was Rose’s will.

If it had been anyone else, he would have seen them only as a reactionary trying to overthrow the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn, but Rose was his daughter. She was family that the Clichy president had to protect, a child raised with love.

That fact planted pain in the Clichy president’s old, withered chest. It sprouted. Knowing all the reasons, he had no way to vent his anger, and was now reprimanding the New York branch head who had no words to answer.

“You seem to think that the elf future you believe in can be shaken by one tiny newspaper that doesn’t listen. If that’s the case, I have no need for someone like you.”

Normally, he would have sent him away and then sent someone to deal with him, but this time the Clichy president needed somewhere to vent his anger. Once again, the smell of ozone spread around them.

Electric charge gathered in that old elf’s chest, creating blue-green discharges, and before the New York branch head could dodge or make excuses, lightning struck his chest.

Though he controlled the power since they were inside a building, he had aimed for the heart, so there was no chance this old elf would survive. Magic requires calculation. Magic requires composure.

The Clichy president now, perhaps due to his emotional state, hadn’t controlled it properly. Even after striking with lightning, electricity remained, flowing and spreading around. Still, this should be the end of it.

The Forest’s Firstborn took several deep breaths before calling in the followers from outside. They were inhuman things. They seemed to feel nothing even with the branch head collapsed before them.

“Throw him at any hospital to get a death certificate, then send him to a public crematorium for those without family and burn him. This is what happens when someone who claims to move for the future of elves can’t even handle one small newspaper.”

The masked followers looked down at what had been the New York branch head until just moments ago as if they wanted to stomp on him and spit, but to them, this walking corpse wasn’t important. The Forest’s Firstborn was more important.

“Truly, truly, we shall do as you command, guiding Forest’s Firstborn!”

The Clichy president let the tiresome words of praise go in one ear and out the other. Those things were beasts. They merely barked with such sounds, beasts that didn’t understand the meaning of their barking.

Were the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn at their end? Or was he, who commanded them, at his end? The Clichy president decided to conclude that it was the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn who were at their end.

They had clear limitations from the beginning. This is the modern age. He had been thinking that he couldn’t handle matters with such things forever, and decided to believe that this was simply that moment.

He wasn’t sure how much Rose had discovered, but he was certain he could persuade her again if he showed some sincerity along with a promise to cut ties with the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn.

He could still pull out for now. He wasn’t worried about Rose. Unlike her, what worried him was that the detective who had the ability to plan all this was by her side.

First, he should make a phone call. If there were problems that could be resolved through conversation, it would be better to resolve them now.

Once again, the smell of ozone spread around, and the room was sealed. The air stopped in a layer, becoming completely silent so that no sound could escape.

Only then did the Clichy president call Rose. Until now he had been the Forest’s Firstborn, but from now on he was Charles Clichy. He was Rose Clichy’s father.

The call connected after ringing only once. It wasn’t Rose who answered. That child would answer only after at least two rings. Only her lawyer answered the phone this quickly.

“Thank you for not making me regret my choice, Paulina. Seeing how you’re protecting that child, even keeping quiet and not reporting to me…”

However, all that came from the other end of the phone was a cold voice. It was entirely the detective’s voice.

“If you’re going to hide your boiling anger and launch into a long speech, I’ll put you through to that lawyer. She has more patience than I do, Mr. Clichy.”

The Clichy president answered the detective, holding back the curses that rose to his throat. He wasn’t a good man for showing emotions.

“Is this what you meant by imagining? Persuading my daughter to write such an article, telling her who to use as backing to make things easier. Is that what you meant by imagining?”

The detective had maintained respectful manners until now because he was a client, but the Clichy president was no longer his client. And his attitude was always for a fee.

“From what you’re saying, it sounds like you’re looking for a five or six-year-old child rather than a twenty-year-old daughter. She persuaded me. I weighed my options, like placing a bet on horse racing. And I bet on the horse that could win. That’s all, Mr. Clichy.”

He was breathless with indignation, but the detective calmly poured out his words. He continued to pour out sarcasm and mockery.

“And frankly, you’re a bit ugly. Knowing that Rose Clichy did this of her own will, yet pretending not to know and trying to deny it like that? It seems even the Forest’s Firstborn can’t drop lightning on his daughter’s head. It seems your daughter’s life is more important than the future of elves, so why not hold onto what’s precious?”

The detective said almost the same thing as the Clichy president. They had the same temperament. An identical human being was now standing on the other side, speaking as if he were somehow a better person.

At those words, the Clichy president lost his self-control. He poured out words like a madman in a thunderous voice.

“Ah, yes. Thank you for pointing out my hypocrisy, Husband. Are you any different? You’re the one who took on and handled my dirty work! Does Rose know that? That child should know how ill-suited you are to the shining future she holds in her head!”

The detective’s mockery continued. The Clichy president belatedly realized that shouting at someone who wasn’t intimidated by him wasn’t a very good method. He had been drawn into this filthy attitude.

“This is truly unlike you, Mr. Clichy. You were going to announce to the reporter that you just found out how deeply the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn had infiltrated Clichy Corporation, that you would now step in directly to cut ties, and then neatly end it by dropping lightning on your second son’s head.”

The detective could easily imagine the escape route that the Clichy president would have thought of, being similar enough to speak the same language. He shook the Clichy president with that prediction, and now he struck.

“Yes, as you say, we are the same kind of people. People so alike that we can predict what kind of tricks the other will think of. Do you know what your daughter said? She said she would surely be persuaded by you, so I should answer the phone first.”

The detective had no intention of stopping. Just as the reporter thought words were her specialty, the detective thought words were his specialty too. Though their methods of using words were completely opposite.

“Where did today’s madman go? Half your face is still that of young Charles Clichy who barely survived the fire set by orc immigrants when you were four, and the other half is the Forest’s Firstborn who makes people chant about the future of elves. Yesterday you were bound, tomorrow you’ll be dragged away. So you wanted to pretend to believe just for today?”

Just as Charles Clichy had investigated the detective, the detective had investigated Charles Clichy. And until now, something like the loyalty of business partners had kept those words from leaving his mouth… but not anymore.

Rose wanted to use the detective to make this adversarial relationship definite. For her, Charles Clichy was still her father, so if she answered the phone, she might want to give him one more chance.

She had no right to do that. As Charles Clichy said, the detective who had been in charge of handling his dirty work ironically knew all those dirty deeds. He had shown her her father’s true face.

That dirty true face pointed to only one thing. It pointed only to the fact that there were no more chances left. Electricity spread around the Forest’s Firstborn, and the phone call was unnaturally cut off.

Just as he was about to shout something, Rose’s voice came through the phone. That child’s sad voice stopped him from getting angry.

“You’re really good at hurting other people. I thought it was necessary… but I’m still sorry, Dad. Still… I felt like I had to do this. Yes…”