Ch.140The Fourth Entanglement – Elegy for the Vigilantes (1)

# The Detective’s Preference

The detective preferred cigarettes to cigars. To him, all tobacco was the same, and he found it more comfortable to chain-smoke in his office chair than to relax on a plush sofa.

However, Pandemonium was the exception. It was a place where he occasionally indulged in more refined tastes. Or perhaps it was a place that allowed him to enjoy his sense of guilt.

There was no better place to soothe his mind and body after the exhaustion of extracting payment from the mafia. Sometimes, dates with Levi weren’t enough to satisfy him.

Those filthy bastards. After dining with the Godmother last week, they had delayed payment repeatedly, forcing the detective to visit the Godmother’s mansion today—a week later—to finally collect his money.

But he’d been well compensated for his trouble. Thanks to the hefty sum he’d extracted, four succubi, including the Madam, now surrounded him in the room.

It wasn’t a losing business for the Madam either if one customer could satisfy four employees. If you don’t put a bridle on desire’s neck and guide its direction, desire will take the reins of your life.

Even so, the detective didn’t frequent Pandemonium much. He more often visited Iris, which was deeper into the red-light district beyond Pandemonium. But today, he was here.

After the contract of providing services for payment had ended, the Madam, enjoying the scent of Pandemonium’s new bath salts emanating from the detective, asked:

“It’s been a while since you came for personal reasons rather than work. Did you fight with that woman from Iris? It’s not good to fight with a woman you occasionally invite home, darling.”

The detective exhaled a puff of cigar smoke and shook his head with an uncharacteristically relaxed expression.

He wasn’t one to forget kindness. He remembered the help he’d received from Pandemonium’s Madam when catching the gambler Arnold last time.

“Of course not. I came because I only asked for a favor last time without giving anything in return. Tell me about that job you were going to entrust me with. Or have you already asked those patron lords to handle it?”

It would be a trivial matter. Fights were common in the red-light district. Very minor fights. At most, it would be about teaching a lesson to a customer who had struck a hostess’s face with an ashtray. That sort of thing was common.

The Madam shook her head briefly. Apparently, it still hadn’t been resolved. She sat up properly from her relaxed position and whispered while looking at the detective.

“You know there are kids who run errands here during the day, right? The ones who only hang around here until business hours start.”

“If you kept them here during business hours, I’d have flipped the counter first thing. What’s wrong? Did something happen to those little ones?”

If something had happened to the children, the detective was readily prepared to use the warehouse by the dock. He didn’t need resolve to pick up the pipe bent with dried lizardman blood.

Only then did the Madam’s expression soften. The gazes of all the surrounding hostesses also turned to the detective. It seemed to be quite a public matter. He might need to draw his gun again.

“No, those kids are all at home. We hire someone to look after the employees’ children at our house. But about two weeks ago… I saw a child wandering around at night. Not looking like a debt collector, but with a bundle of ten-dollar bills in hand…”

The Madam didn’t speculate to the detective about what might be happening inside. The detective didn’t ask either. He already knew from just this much.

Once you know, there’s no need for explanation. Rest time is over. This is a request for disposal. Fortunately, not murder. It was closer to slaughtering a beast. After all, beasts that have tasted blood will bite humans.

“Which establishment?”

The Madam pulled back the curtain at the window and pointed to the establishment across from Pandemonium. Unlike Pandemonium, it had iron bars on its windows. The detective put his holster harness back on. He checked his pistol.

It was a place the detective had never visited. He wouldn’t have felt comfortable with bars like that in the first place. Though that wasn’t the only reason to feel uncomfortable, it seemed.

“Anything else you know?”

“Not much. The kids said the tooth fairy gave them money. And our patrons said they would provide lawyers no matter what our employee does. You know what the demons’ lawyer brigade is like, don’t you, darling? So all of them…”

The sight of the archdemons’ lawyers gleaming their glasses looked just like white sharks flashing their teeth. It meant that whatever the detective did, he wouldn’t be found guilty in court.

The Madam tried to say something she wasn’t accustomed to saying. The detective cut her off. It was his own kind of kindness. After all, the pleasure gained from Pandemonium was substantial.

“I don’t think you need to advise me on that, Madam. Get a grip. You pay me and receive comfort in return. Everything else can be bundled under the word ‘trust.’ How many kids are there?”

Children should be able to live as children. At the very least, Senator Edward Collins had only tried to exchange lives, not take them away. But this time was different.

“Four. But why do you think we didn’t handle it ourselves? Security is quite tight. There are even two magicians, and some guys with submachine guns getting support from somewhere—will you be okay?”

But they didn’t have an Argonne Invincible. If they didn’t know about the Invincibles, they couldn’t prepare. If they couldn’t prepare, they couldn’t respond. It was an age-old principle.

No more conversation passed while the detective prepared for work. Instead of a skinning knife, he picked up an iron crowbar that had been placed in each room since the fire in this building last time.

The Madam slowly rose and stroked the detective’s shoulder. She straightened his thin coat, fixing its shape, and whispered while leaning slightly against him. It might have been meant for the detective, but in reality, it was something she was saying to herself.

“I don’t have any personal grudge against the people in that establishment, darling. Just think of it as something for the public good…”

The detective, adjusting his clothes, shook his head. As always, he spoke in a dry tone. It wasn’t directed at the Madam. These words were also meant for himself.

“No, Madam. For me, it’s personal. It’s not often that I get motivated by the job rather than the payment.”

The Madam paid the detective $20. That was the rate for a day’s hire. Even if it was just for an hour or two, it always started at $20.

If it had been a personal favor, he would have done it for free, but to receive help from the demons, evidence of proper employment was needed. He tucked those two $10 bills into a corner of his wallet as evidence.

The detective’s plan was incredibly simple. There weren’t many people as capable as the detective when it came to handling business in the red-light district where even police didn’t patrol.

“I’ll send the kids here first, so keep the door open and wait. Don’t report to the police right away. After I finish cleaning up inside, I’ll grab a ledger or something and bring it out, then you can hand that over to the police.”

This wasn’t vigilante justice. It was closer to an expression of anger. The detective reminded himself mentally. He remembered that if he started talking about justice, he would instantly fall to the same place where the Rat-Catcher had fallen.

So, as always, he made a frivolous remark. It was a statement to re-forge a mind blinded by anger. There were sufficient reasons to be angry now, so it could be called righteous fury, but he decided not to justify it.

“They definitely said ‘tooth fairy,’ right, Madam?”

The Madam nodded briefly, her lips slightly blue. The detective left Pandemonium’s largest room. He exited the corridor filled with sounds of pleasure that seemed intoxicated, despite the good soundproofing.

The wind was quite strong between the buildings in the red-light district. The wind passing between buildings on both sides of a single road was always like this. The detective crossed that road without even fastening his coat.

Then, he knocked on the iron door of the barred building a couple of times. An eyehole at about the detective’s eye level opened, and a gaze extended from inside. It was human.

“You know our security is tight. So, what kind of customer are you…?”

“Tooth fairy.”

At that ten-letter word, the attitude of the person behind the eyehole became much more respectful. The eyehole closed immediately, and then two people together opened the iron door for him. The detective walked in like a customer.

The security guard who was said to have a submachine gun was one of those who opened the door for the detective. He had a Thompson M1921 submachine gun hanging from a leather strap on his shoulder. He wasn’t ready to fire immediately.

The detective immediately looked at the opposite side. The person who had opened the door seemed completely unarmed. No, he had a pistol tucked into his back. While that position might be convenient for carrying, it would be difficult to draw properly.

The detective quietly closed the iron door. The door that had required two people to move was pushed by the detective’s one hand, and it closed with a heavy sound. The guard’s eyes widened at the sight.

“Wow, customer. A door that two people have to open and close together, you just… Whoa, as a fellow man, I’m a bit envious?”

The detective smiled at the flattering words. He told the complete truth.

“Ah, there’s no special reason. During the Great War, I received help from a warlock-soldier and sacrificed a comrade. Since then, I don’t know how many years it’s been like this. I sacrificed one person, so I gained twice the strength and twice the vitality. It’s simple. Don’t you think?”

An intruder wearing a mask might not intend to kill the homeowner, but an intruder showing his bare face was different. The secret lies beneath even the bare face.

Even after the detective left, the Madam stood by the window, unable to hide her anxiety as she stared at the brothel across the street. Although he was a capable person, she was anxious, not knowing if he would succeed.

Due to the distance and the iron door blocking the way, she couldn’t hear what was being said inside. The curtains also prevented her from seeing the situation inside properly. This only increased her anxiety.

Several minutes after the detective entered, the eyehole opened even though no one had come. A bloodied green hand stretched out through the eyehole. It seemed to be trying to hold onto the frame of the eyehole for support.

Then, just like hair being sucked down a sink drain, it was suddenly pulled back into the building. The eyehole closed quietly. It was impossible to know what was happening inside.

After about five minutes, the light in the room directly to the right of the building’s central entrance went out. Four minutes later, the light in the next room went out, and then even the light in the corner room went out.

After one side of the building had darkened, the iron door opened briefly. Four children, including the one the Madam had seen two weeks ago, rushed out, and the iron door closed coldly again.

Now the lights on the left side of the building would go out, but instead of worrying about that, the Madam rushed down to the lobby. Pandemonium’s door was already open, and children smelling of cheap perfume were there.

They were all trembling as if suffering from hypothermia. Among them, the oldest-looking child, who seemed to be barely fifteen, spoke up.

“T-t-tooth, tooth fairy came. A real tooth fairy. Really, really. It was…”

The Madam thought the children had seen an apparition. It was a situation where that could happen. But the children retained their honesty.

Since she had to wait until the detective brought the ledger, the Madam took the children to Pandemonium’s office behind the counter. It was the only place in this building where sounds wouldn’t be heard.

Of course, she left both the office door and the iron door leading to the street open. She reminded the children that they could leave whenever they wanted. Although the Madam had never received proper higher education, she wasn’t a stupid person. The children seemed to be gradually regaining their composure at the news that the police would soon arrive.

About fifteen minutes later, the detective walked into Pandemonium. He tossed a thick ledger onto Pandemonium’s counter. It was quite an old item. It was terrible.

“Call the police, Madam. It’s better to call human police, not angel police. Even though archangels are emotional, they’re not as good as humans.”

With those words, the detective left Pandemonium. The sound of his car hurriedly leaving the parking lot was faintly heard outside the door.

Even though the demons had said they would provide lawyers, it was best not to be indicted in the first place, so the Madam called the hostesses who had entertained the detective today.

Those hostesses seemed to already know what had happened. One of the gathered succubi spoke first.

“So, there were no appointments today, right?”

“That’s right. Suddenly, children ran from over there to Pandemonium, and someone came and threw this ledger here before leaving. It was dark outside the door so I couldn’t see their face, and we reported it because it was strange to see children on this street at this hour. Understand?”

The children would talk about the apparition they saw again, so there would be no suspicion from the police. Although she couldn’t know what the inside of that brothel looked like, the Madam believed the detective had handled the job cleanly.

“Yes, Madam. I’ll keep my mouth shut. So, we’ll be in our room… You won’t need to call us, right?”

The Madam was a madam, but not such a cruel type of madam. For the succubi, this was their livelihood, so it couldn’t be helped.

“I’ll handle it at my level, so you all go in and rest. Ah… We should worry about these children before worrying about ourselves, what are we doing…”

Selfishness is inevitable. The Madam had to protect Pandemonium too. If she was falsely accused of instigating murder, she wouldn’t be able to remain in this street, and it would also tarnish the names of her patrons.

Nevertheless, enough altruism remained that the children could sit on the office sofa drinking warm milk. The Madam immediately called the police station. It had been a while since she had dialed this number.

The Madam composed her voice. To prevent the response of “handle it yourself unless it’s serious” when reporting from the red-light district, she mentioned the children first.

Not long after, the sound of police cars was heard. The sound of angels flapping their wings was also heard, and an elf police officer accompanied by two angel officers opened the door of Pandemonium and entered.

He was trembling as if having an epileptic seizure. He was trembling even more than the Madam who had seen these children running in before her eyes.

“Inspector Leonard Price from the New York Police Department. Are those the children sitting over there? Then, the place the children came from…”

The police officer slowly turned his head to look at the darkened brothel across the street. His face turned red and blue as if his eyeballs would either burn up or flow out. With clenched fists, he barely maintained his sanity.

“Officer Judiel, Officer Suriel. Take care of the children first. I’ll go see what happened first. If any of those bastards are still alive…”

Inspector Leonard would gladly shoot them dead and then write one more report. Or maybe he wouldn’t even write one.