Vaguely… Danan awoke to the light of a lamp that had been left on. He grimaced, the dull throb of a hangover pounding in his head, and kneaded the ache from his shoulder.

  "..."

  He yawned and glanced at the clock. Seven-thirty in the morning. Drunk, and having finally surrendered his consciousness willingly, Danan had no memory of how he’d gotten back to the apartment, or what he might have said.

  The fact that he was in one piece, without a single new scratch, meant he hadn’t been jumped by vagrants or thugs. His eyes narrowed at the pale glow of a display monitor. He could see the back of Lyrus as she typed away. Tossing aside the blanket that had been draped over him, Danan lightly tapped the girl's shoulder. "Hey."

  "Morning, Danan. My, you were saying some rather embarrassing things last night."

  "Don't remember."

  "What a pity. Why don't you go take a shower? You reek of sweat."

  You don't have to tell me. Danan grabbed a bath towel from the drying rack and took a sip of the coffee Lyrus had made. It had already turned to lukewarm, bitter water. From the taste, he could tell it had been sitting for at least half an hour.

  He tossed his sweat-soaked shirt into the washing machine and dug a piece of food from between his teeth with his finger. He hadn't noticed it while he was asleep, but Lyrus was right. On top of the sweat, the stench of gunpowder and blood seemed to hang heavy on him.

  Of course it did. He hadn't bathed in over two days, and had been fighting that entire time. Fighting, killing, running himself ragged to save Eve, and finally, drinking... Normally, Danan would delve into the ruins, retrieve relics, complete Lyrus's requests, shower, and then sleep like the dead. To have fought this much was a rarity for him, and it was enough to make him realize the headache wasn't just from the hangover, but from sheer exhaustion.

  He opened the door to the shower, a faint light and the sound of running water greeting him. From within the softly lit, steam-filled room, he could hear the voices of two girls—Eve and Satera. Danan sighed and quietly closed the door.

  "Lyrus."

  "What? Not taking a shower?"

  "It's occupied."

  "So? It's not like looking is going to cost you anything, is it?"

  "...That's true, but that's not the point."

  "Oh? And what is?"

  Danan pulled a damp cigarette from its pack, stuck it in his mouth, and spoke with an air of exasperation. "What about you? You want some guy walking in on you?"

  "I wouldn't mind if it were you. What, don't tell me you're getting shy now?"

  "It's not about being shy. I'm more than used to the sight of a naked woman."

  A cloud of purple smoke drifted between them. Lyrus waved it away with her hand and took a sip of her cold coffee. "And you say that?" she asked with a sly smile. "The man who won't even look directly at my skin?"

  "Has anyone else ever said that to you?"

  "Well, no. In the real world, my circle of friends is surprisingly small. Oh, by the way, do you remember what we talked about yesterday?"

  "Yesterday?"

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Yes. The job from that Peacekeeper, Edes... I have to say, agreeing to it without a second thought was a bit much, in my opinion."

  He didn't remember a thing. The long ash on his cigarette fell to the floor. Lyrus let out a sigh that was thick with exasperation at Danan's hesitation, then tapped a key, bringing up a detailed map of the ruins on the monitor.

  "This is a separate job from ruin excavation."

  "..."

  "Well, you'll still be going through the ruins, but the contract you made with Edes is an auxiliary mission: rescue operations and assistance in dismantling an organization. While the Peacekeeping Force takes down the Mid-level mafia, you're to go through the ruins and rescue a girl named Satera and her friends. Well? Ringing any bells?"

  "Nope. Not a one."

  "That's it. You're banned from drinking. You can have a little, on a rare occasion... and only when Eve and I are with you. Got it?"

  "I don't really drink that much to begin with."

  "That's not what I'm talking about. I'm telling you not to drink like a damn fool."

  "Right."

  "So, what's the plan?" Lyrus asked. Danan lowered his gaze, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and poured some water over it. "I was planning to go to the ruins today anyway. This just adds a Peacekeeper job on top. It's no problem." His eyes drifted toward the shower room, from which cheerful voices now echoed.

  "Lyrus."

  "What is it, Danan?"

  "This Satera and her friends. Where are they?"

  "The Commercial District. Why?"

  "...Are the Ranks of the Dead involved?"

  "They are, but they're mostly on the sidelines for this one. It seems some Mid-level mafia guys are forming a new organization down here, and the ones getting mixed up in this are that cult, The Trembling, Maddened God. You've at least heard the name, right?"

  "Heard it? I couldn't tell you how many of them I've killed. But why them? They're just a mob of lunatics. Not an organization capable of pulling off anything big."

  "And that's the perception gap between the Mid-level and the Low-level."

  A web of related organizations appeared on the screen, and the face of a slender-eyed man popped up on a sub-display.

  "Who's this?"

  "Ailey. He's a top figure in the mafia and a member of The Trembling, Maddened God."

  "Is there a connection?"

  "I'm about to explain it to you. Open your ears and listen up."

  Next to Ailey's picture, the cult's symbol and the Mid-level mafia's symbol appeared, with arrows branching out from them.

  "In the Mid-level, Ailey is a well-known financier. He seems to make most of his profits from real estate, but some suspicious financial records have turned up."

  "..."

  "Unlike the Low-level, drugs are contraband in the Mid-level, and you can't run a nightlife business without a license from Silentium. And the ones running the illegal drug trade and illicit prostitution rings are..."

  "Ailey?"

  "Wrong, unfortunately. The mass crackdown on the Mid-level mafia and the condemnation of its members to the Low-level are already set in stone. The destruction of their headquarters is just a matter of time. Right now, the Peacekeepers are letting them run loose, and it seems their annihilation of the Mid-level mafia will start from the Low-level. The reason Ailey is a person of interest... is to capture the Prophet of The Trembling, Maddened God."

  An arrow extended across a map of the Low-level city, landing on a red marker. It was an area with an unusually high concentration of cult members.

  "You saw that group of 'fallen' citizens yesterday, right?"

  "Yeah."

  "And you know there were Ruffian members among them."

  "I do."

  "Then this will be quick. The contents of Ailey's shady ledgers detail human and organ trafficking in the Low-level, and the payments to the Ruffians as expenses for the job. It's a method of capturing 'fallen' Mid-level citizens, selling them off, and amassing wealth. Looks like Silentium found out."

  "And the connection to the cult?"

  "To him, even his fellow believers are just a money tree. If one or two of the many followers disappear, or even if fifty nobodies vanish, no one in the Low-level bats an eye. Ailey is probably just using the cult as a convenient front... a means to make money."

  "Then there's no point in catching Ailey, is there? I doubt he has any critical information."

  "True. Based on what I've said so far, he doesn't seem that important. But..."

  Lyrus smoothly pulled a micro-card from a small, cute pouch.

  "If you can trace the flow of money and find out where it's all going, that would be a huge score, wouldn't it?"

  She inserted it into the card slot of her information analysis PC.

  "My job is to analyze that information and parse the credit bank data transmissions. It's not a job I'm interested in, but the pay was attractive, so I took it. Danan, if you have a spare moment, I need you to find Ailey before the main Peacekeeper force does. I'm going to launch a hack through his code and plant a backdoor in the cult's credit accounts."

  "What's my cut?"

  "The best living environment imaginable. How about a house big enough for a family of four to live comfortably?"

  "Deal." A faint smile crossed Danan's lips. He looked up to see Eve and Satera, their faces flushed, stepping out of the shower. He put a fresh cigarette in his mouth.