Volume 2 Chapter 9 ACT.31 Town Threat (II)
SPLASH.
As the two descended to the bottom, their feet pierced through the puddles.
"It's so dark."
"Wait a moment, I'll turn on the light."
Rize said as she lit a special lantern in her hand.
The darkness receded a bit, revealing red brick walls and floors.
At the same time, Rize's face twisted slightly at the stench that assailed her nostrils.
Sturdy walls and floors, a waterway flowing right beside them, and a strong, putrid smell.
The two Purge Knights had descended into the town's underbelly──the sewers.
* * *
Rize's eyes widened in surprise as she heard Rai's statement in the mess hall.
Their encounter with the dragon herd was just a one-time event last night.
Yet, to know the location of their boss──the Reincarnator──might be somewhat expected in a way.
"Senior, how did you find out!?"
"Well then, take a look at this."
Saying that, he spread out a map of this town on the table.
This map was something Rai had secured in advance before coming here.
However, there were several red circles and marks drawn on it that didn't seem to be originally there.
Calmly, Rai pointed to one of the circles.
"This is where the first incident is believed to have occurred. And this is the next──"
He continued to point out the marked locations of the incidents one after another, and Rai spoke.
"Looking at these, do you notice anything?"
Prompted, Rize scrutinized the map.
The town itself was not as big as the capital but was developing rapidly; the incident scenes seemed to be mostly in less-frequented alleys.
As per the preliminary reports, the time frames varied, so that wasn't a common factor.
Rize couldn't pinpoint any factors that would allow her to find the base just from this map.
However, focusing on that perspective, there was one unnatural point.
"──The crime scenes are pretty spread out, yeah?"
The crime scenes were scattered evenly throughout the town.
That's the weird thing Rize felt.
Usually, when someone's hiding out, the crime scenes tend to cluster around their base.
Maybe close to or far from their hideout, depending on their personality, you know?
But looking at this map, there's no such pattern.
So what this means is──.
"Reincarnator is always on the move?"
"──I thought that might be the case, so I checked with the authorities, asking if there were any unusual residents who had moved multiple times recently. But there wasn't anything like that."
Hearing Rai's reply, Rize lets out a small sigh.
Another answer, different from her current thinking, is hidden in this map.
She needs to think about it again.
──What are the conditions for a good hideout for Reincarnator, the culprit?
First, it has to be hard to find, and second, it has to be easy to commit crimes from there.
Assuming that Reincarnator has the ability to control fog, and they can cover their vision to some extent, does that mean they can completely conceal the movements of those dragons?
No matter where their base is, something's off.
There haven't been any reports of fog-covered movement.
Like when we encountered it, the fog just appeared and vanished suddenly.
So that means──
"──Maybe they have their own unique routes?"
"That's right."
Saying that, Rai spreads another map over the existing one.
It's the same size as the town map, but it shows a different route.
"This is a map of the town's sewer system. I got it from the city hall through Sister."
"The sewers?"
"It used to be managed by the administration, but 2 months ago, a kingdom law amendment decided to outsource part of the administrative management to private firms. Last month, the previous management group here pulled out, and it was supposed to be managed by the contracted private company starting this month. But it seems there have been some troubles, and they still haven't taken over the reins."
"────You mean..."
"Yeah, there's a secret passageway here in the underground that's laid out and not managed by anyone right now."
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