WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Scum of the Brave

Chapter 15

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That day, I had an errand I needed to finish.

I woke up right around evening, and the sun was far too red. After I showered and went outside, I felt dizzy. Then there was the sharp cold of winter. Tonight would probably get cold too.

I headed to one of the dirty, shabby warehouses in a corner of Nerima Ward. It was the "garage" Ishino the "Musician" had used to store his work tools as a Brave.

Ishino was secretive, as Braves often are. Even so, when we had been forced to team up for work once, he had guided me to this "garage."

"Salt" Joe and I pinned our hopes on it.

"Yo."

When I showed my face, "Salt" Joe poked out his sweaty bald head. Apparently, he had already searched the "garage" ahead of me. He was holding an absurdly huge container in both hands.

"Sorry, but I went ahead and raided the place."

Joe was in an extremely good mood that day. He stroked the container with one hand.

"That bastard Ishino really was a pervert after all. Look how much gunpowder he hoarded. Was he planning to start a war? Sorry, Yashiro, but this is all mine."

"That's fine. Unlike an ex-yakuza like you, I don't have reliable trading partners."

I stepped into the warehouse. A murky yellow bulb illuminated the chilly darkness. The inside of the warehouse was fairly large, and the bulb's light was unreliable.

It felt somehow evil, but that was probably because Ishino's soul had been filthy.

"More importantly, cards. Cards. Were there any?"

I was asking about cards for the card game 《Seven Medallions》, which we played every time we saw each other. Rare cards had high market value, could be used in the game, and above all, could be bragged about to Ed, Maruta, and the others.

In response to my question, Joe deepened his smile and answered:

"Of course. It was a treasure mountain."

"Seriously? Joe, we're playing for those later."

"I'll give you 《Plague Scout》 for free."

"I don't want it either. That thing tormented me every time. Just seeing it makes me sick."

"Ishino really was the lowest perverted bastard. Then what about 《Uprising Jungle》?"

"Ah, no, wait. More importantly, did he have 《Tsunami》? His main..."

"Listen."

An exasperated voice came from behind me.

"You've been going off topic this whole time."

Sara Kashiwagi Pendragon stood there with a face that showed annoyance from the bottom of her heart. When she made that face, it looked like she was picking a fight. Today, she was dressed only in her school uniform with a scarf wrapped around her neck, so she looked somehow cold.

"I skipped school to come here."

Sara growled threateningly.

"If Teacher is just chatting, I'm going home."

"Sorry. So don't sulk."

"Sulk? Are you stupid?"

Sara seemed genuinely irritated. Of course, taking that attitude only made "Salt" Joe laugh. He laughed without restraint, as casually as a sneeze.

"Hey, Yashiro, this one's a rare creature these days! Hilarious."

"Right? She's my disciple, and apparently His Majesty King Arthur's only daughter, so don't break her."

"If she's your disciple, can't be helped. Take after your master and become an easy mark for me. Hey, have you learned Medallion yet?"

"Huh? Uh, no."

At the too-sudden question, Sara's eyes went round. Apparently, Sara had some shy element, and she interacted with "Salt" Joe in an extremely awkward way.

"I guess I haven't. Hey, Teacher, what's Medallion?"

"One of the secrets of being a Brave. I'll teach you soon. Putting that aside."

I lowered my voice.

"About the other night. Those two people we picked a fight with. Neither of them was a teacher, right?"

"Well, probably. I don't know every teacher at our Academy, though."

"Then were they some kind of contractor connected to the Academy? Or if they were thieves, what were they after? It's not a place you trespass into for a casual walk."

"I told you, I don't know."

"Did you talk to papa?"

"I don't..."

Sara's voice turned openly vicious.

"Want to talk to him. I don't know what he's thinking. But I think there's a high chance he knows what happened that night."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know. Maybe there is an Ether Perception like that. I never told him Teacher saved me, but he knew anyway."

"That may be true."

There was a lot to think about. For now, I needed to gather material for that.

"Then, Sara. Gather strange rumors at the Academy for me."

"Strange rumors?"

"Anything is fine. Strange rumors. Suspicious things at the Academy, whatever there is. Handle it flexibly. I'm counting on you there."

"That's way too vague. And why me?"

"Because I don't think I can ask Jogamine or Indo."

"Ah."

Sara gave an ambiguous groan and indirectly acknowledged what I had said. Then her face turned complicated.

"So that's why you only called me? That feels... kind of weird."

"No, there's one more thing."

I pointed to the corner of the warehouse. There was a very sturdy-looking locker. It was quite large. Beside it, "Salt" Joe stood grinning.

"That. Joe! You opened the lock, right?"

"Yeah. I smashed it."

Joe nodded lightly and pulled the locker open.

Inside, a lot of clothes were hanging. Women's clothes, at that. There seemed to be roughly everything from things like school uniforms to maid outfits and mascot costumes.

Sara made an extremely disgusted face.

"What the hell is that?"

"Ishino's hobby."

I did not say what kind of hobby. It would probably make her feel sick.

"Choose clothes from there. Something that could be worn to a party or something. Three people's worth."

"Huh?"

Sara hesitated a little.

"Why?"

"Because we're going to a party. I said it was a social-studies field trip."

"I'm not following at all."

"It's a matter of life and death, so you should choose things that look as close as possible. Expensive ones. This is exactly something I can't ask Jogamine or Indo to do."

"Hah."

Once again, Sara indirectly acknowledged what I said. Then she tilted her head and headed for the locker. She would probably get angry if I said it, but Sara was an upper-class young lady, and my estimate was that she would have a certain amount of taste.

At the very least, she should be far more likely to reach the "correct answer" than if I left it to Jogamine or Indo.

"About Half Dragon. The badge."

Suddenly, Joe spoke to me in a low voice.

"There are people like that. I don't really know what the bastards are. Apparently, they split a dragon face in half and use it like a tally. They seem to be selling modified 《E3》 among Dark Lords."

"That information."

I answered in a low voice too.

"How did you get it?"

"There's a guy who sold out Ishino. Matsugi the 'Watcher.' He told the Half Dragon people there was an idiot investigating weird stuff."

"Is he alive?"

"Well, yeah, technically. He really doesn't seem to know anything beyond that. I'll record his death screams tonight. Yashiro, what are you doing?"

"If I didn't have business, I'd go."

I sighed. My nerves were frayed. Matsugi the "Watcher" was a fellow Brave in the trade. No matter how I looked at it, he was, like Ishino, a bastard below the lowest scum, so even when I met him at Ed's bar, I never spoke to him very warmly.

My conclusion was this. I looked "Salt" Joe straight in the face.

"Let's say the only people who know about this are me, you, Maruta, and Ed. That seems better."

"Yeah."

Joe nodded, looking bored. He liked loud, flashy uproars. This kind of thing was probably not to his taste. I understood the feeling. Everything is better flashy. On that point, tonight would be a little flashy. I looked at Sara.

Her hand had chosen a black party dress that brought funeral clothes to mind.

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