Black Jugg

After fending off those Mitsugoshi Company assassins, I went back to my usual routine: ordinary student by day, Shadow Agent by night.

Between keeping in touch with Yukime to help circulate the Counterfeit Notes and "retiring" anyone who tried to sniff out their source, I was kept fairly busy. Yukime mentioned that the sheer volume of fake bills was starting to raise eyebrows even within the Great Commerce Alliance.

However, since only the Mitsugoshi Company had actually caught on so far, my actual workload was pretty light. Even they seemed to have gone quiet, likely wary of making a move after I'd trounced their last squad.

In short, I was bored.

I wanted some of that cool, high-stakes agent action.

I spent my days lurking in the shadows and guarding the Counterfeit Note carriages, waiting for something—anything—to happen. Finally, that day arrived.

As a carriage rattled down a moonlit road, I sensed a faint presence approaching silently.

An assassin.

And a damn good one, too. They’d erased their presence almost completely. In fact, I only knew one person capable of masking their Ki that effectively.

A familiar dark silhouette emerged from the shadows.

It was a woman clad in a black bodysuit. She moved with supple, feline grace, her muscles rippling with hidden power.

There was no mistaking her. It was Delta.

I see. Since those three goons got wrecked, they decided to deploy their heavy hitter.

Unfortunately for her, she’d picked the wrong opponent. As a wire-user, John Smith’s combat style was the ultimate hard counter to "muscle-brains." I figured I’d just tie her up with some Hidden Steel Wire and call it a night. Then again, her instincts were unnervingly sharp; there was a non-zero chance she’d just dodge everything by sheer luck.

Actually, that was a very real possibility.

Wait. Is she actually my worst possible matchup?

Eh, whatever. If things got hairy, I’d just kick it into Serious Mode.

With that thought in mind, I stepped out in front of her.

"My name is John Smith. Beyond this point lies—"

"—Boss? What are you doing here?" Delta asked, her nose twitching as she sniffed the air. Her tail began to wag furiously, thumping against the ground.

"I-I am John Smith. I am not your 'Boss'—"

"Boss! You wanna go hunting with Delta?"

"...No hunting."

Crap. Busted immediately.

I’d even taken a bath and doused myself in perfume to mask my scent, but I’d clearly underestimated the power of the dog-nose.

I gave up, pulled off the mask, and revealed my face.

"Boss is John Smith?"

"Well, yeah. Something like that."

"Uuu... Delta can't beat John Smith. I have to tell Alpha-sama!"

"Wait a second!"

I lunged forward and grabbed Delta’s tail just as she prepared to bolt. Oops, I think I pulled a little fur out.

"Yipe! Not the tail!"

"Sorry, sorry. Now listen closely, Delta. I am currently on a Secret Secret Mission."

"A Secret Secret Mission?"

"That's right. A Secret Secret Mission is a secret and... well, secret mission that absolutely no one can know about."

"That sounds cool! Delta wants to do it too!"

"No, only I can handle this one. But if you tell Alpha about John Smith, the Secret Secret Mission will fail. Do you understand why?"

"I don't!"

"Because then it wouldn't be a secret anymore. So, you can’t tell a soul about this. Got it?"

"But... Delta still has her mission from Alpha-sama..."

Delta lowered her ears, looking at me with a conflicted expression.

"It's fine. I’ll give you a new mission. You remember the Shadow Garden Rule, right?"

"I don't!"

"The missions I give you take priority over everything else. Even over Alpha’s."

"Won't Alpha-sama be mad?"

"She won't."

Oh, she is definitely going to be pissed, I thought.

In the first place, Delta was currently working for the Mitsugoshi Company. Dragging up some trivial Shadow Garden Rule I’d made up years ago to override her current orders was technically a total dick move.

Sorry, Delta. I’ll apologize with you once this is all over.

"This, too, is for the sake of the world..."

"For the sake of the world...?"

"Yes. For the world."

"For the world!"

"Right. Sorry about this, Delta. Once the mission is over, I'll give you whatever you want as a reward."

"Anything!?" Delta’s eyes sparkled as her tail resumed its frantic wagging.

"Not anything. Within the scope of what I can realistically do, provided it’s not too much trouble and doesn't cost me any money, I will do my best to accommodate your request."

"Boss will do what I say!?"

"Within the parameters I just defined, yes."

"Yay! I'll do the mission!"

"Now, what should the mission be... Oh, I know. If you go straight from here, you'll hit the Lawless City. There’s a black tower there. A guy named Juggernaut lives in that tower, and he’s a very bad bandit. Go hunt him down."

"Lawless City... black tower... Juggernaut? Just hunt him?"

"Exactly."

"Understood! If I hunt him, Boss has to listen to me!"

"Within the scope I mentioned. There's no rush, so take your time and enjoy the trip."

"Lawless City! Black Jugg! I'm gonna go hunt!"

With that, Delta dashed off into the night.

The "Black Jugg"? I mean, close enough.

I'll take it. At least I managed to get her out of the Royal Capital. Delta can't act to save her life; if she’d tried to keep a secret, she would’ve folded in seconds. With the vague info I gave her, it should take her a while to find the guy. It’s perfect.

The Counterfeit Notes haven't fully saturated the market yet. It’s way too early for my secret identity to be exposed.

Now then, back to the grind.

---

"We’ve lost contact with Delta. She was pursuing John Smith, but her trail has gone cold."

"—!?"

Upon hearing Gamma’s report, Alpha dropped her pen. She stared at Gamma, stunned.

"We found this at the scene..."

Gamma held out a tuft of fur from Delta’s tail. It looked as though it had been violently torn away. Looking at it, a cold, sharp anger surged within Alpha.

Gamma’s eyes remained professional, but Alpha could see the suppressed rage burning in their depths.

"I see... So Delta..."

Alpha realized her voice sounded more fragile than she had intended, and she forced herself to remain calm.

She had prepared for this. She knew that, eventually, someone would fall. That day had finally come.

"I can't believe Delta would just abandon your mission, Alpha-sama. That girl... she was an idiot, sure, but she was strong. And she lived for your orders..."

"It’s alright. I know."

Alpha comforted Gamma, whose voice was beginning to tremble.

Because of her overwhelming combat prowess, Delta was always given the most dangerous assignments. Whenever there was a dirty job to be done in Shadow Garden, she was the one who did it. For Delta to go missing... it almost certainly meant she was dead.

It wasn't a certainty yet, but the hope was agonizingly slim.

"Continue the search. At the very least... bring her home."

"Yes, ma'am."

Alpha took the lock of hair from Gamma. She wrapped it carefully in a cloth and tucked it into her breast pocket.

She had already heard of John Smith’s lethality from Number 664. She should never have let Delta go alone. If there was a way to defeat someone as feral and powerful as Delta, it could only be through a cold, calculated trap.

"John Smith...!"

The name bubbled up from Alpha’s throat, low and heavy with venom.

Her teeth ground together with a sharp, audible click.