"Me, me?"
Greta visibly panicked and avoided Osian's gaze. She tried not to show her emotions, but it was useless. Her inner thoughts had been unintentionally exposed too nakedly.
"I'm not going to say anything. I've only looked around this place a bit as an outsider, but even I wouldn't want to live here. Especially if you have many younger siblings to take care of like you do."
Osian looked at the children watching them from a distance. They were all young. Greta was young too, but those children were much younger than her.
He thought of the church where Martinez stayed. The children there also lived hard lives, but at least they had a place to eat and sleep.
The children of District 44 didn't even have that opportunity. To survive, they had to struggle.
'Those children can't possibly work to make a living.'
Osian's gaze turned to Greta sitting across from him.
"Alone, you've been making money to feed those kids. You've lived hard."
Greta turned her head away, seemingly embarrassed. Her face was slightly flushed.
"And, I'll be honest. You're right. My siblings, you can get them out of here, right? You... ahem. Excuse me. Big brother, you can do it."
At first, she had casually called him uncle, but once his face was revealed, those words didn't come easily. Indeed, it was better to be good-looking.
"Because I'm a good person? I'm just a fixer."
"I just get that feeling. When you see various people, you can distinguish who's okay and who isn't. There are people who seem good but are bad, and conversely, there are people who look rough but are soft-hearted inside."
Just listening to what Greta said, she seemed able to see through people's inner nature. She probably actually could. The fact that she survived in District 44 with her siblings was proof of that.
"I trust that intuition of mine. Thanks to it, I've been able to survive until now. That's why I'm asking you. I don't care about myself. Please, at least my siblings."
It seemed like a bold request at first glance, but her voice was filled with undeniable desperation. The children who had been eavesdropping on their conversation also seemed to feel something from Greta's appearance, as their expressions became gloomy.
'Well, this is something.'
Of all things, he had to come here and witness such a scene. Honestly, Osian had no reason whatsoever to grant that request. He just needed to cleanly finish the transaction with the money exchange.
'I came here to confirm whether the liberation army gathered in District 44 has joined hands with heretics. I can't waste time with children in a place like this.'
The priorities were clear. The incident in District 44 was a major matter that would determine Tirna's future direction. On the other hand, Greta and the children were, in crude terms, far too insignificant to warrant attention. In crude terms, it was not worth caring about.
People often criticize the saying that for the greater good, trivial matters should be ignored. If those who make such arguments were thrown into Osian's current position, what choice would they make?
Would they willingly suffer for the children to uphold the creed of the words they criticized? In a situation where heretics might proliferate and the liberation army might stir up chaos in the city at any time? Moreover, Osian had even received a commission from the Tirna city government. What a fixer needs is not compassion, but the ability to perform their duties.
'I have neither obligation nor reason to help these children.'
Right. For the majority. For the public good. For the greater cause. The reasons to ignore them were all too clear.
But
'How many people in this city have been abandoned for such reasons?'
People ignored and alienated in the name of the greater cause. What they wanted was just human treatment, small kindnesses. Unable to receive even that, they were thrown into the depths, gathering in District 44 to survive.
The liberation army must be dealt with. That wasn't wrong. But no one knew why the liberation army had proliferated in the first place.
'Lukai.'
Lukai listened to the voices of the abandoned. He extended his hand to them. Even if there were calculated reasons for his purposes, the action itself couldn't be denied.
Words and will are hollow without action. Even if the will is misguided, if the action is right, even if it's hypocrisy, it becomes hope for them.
'Lukai gathered people with hatred and anger toward the establishment. But that's not the only reason. Fundamentally, people moved because of hope.'
Hope that things would change. The wish that things would get better.
District 44 was a powder keg stacked with kindling, but it was also a melting pot where the hopes of the abandoned were mixed.
In it, there was a girl searching for her own hope.
Osian closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them slowly. He stood up from his seat. Greta seemed tense, frozen and unable to say anything.
Just as disappointment was about to appear on her face.
"To take your siblings along, I'll have to work more diligently."
"...?"
Greta looked up at Osian with a face asking what he meant.
"I'm a fixer. And fixers must ensure proper compensation for their work. We're people who make a living from it. So conversely, if the work is done properly, proper compensation is also provided."
"Uh, so that means..."
"If you do well, I'll pay appropriate compensation accordingly. Is this a sufficient answer?"
Greta's blank expression brightened instantly.
"Of course! Leave it to me!"
Flames ignited in her eyes. The name of those flames was hope. And the flames of hope somehow resembled starlight.
"District 44 is basically a hopeless shithole, but recently new water has been flowing in. It's still shit water, but well, it's better than the existing stagnant and rotten stuff."
"That's quite a miserable analogy."
"This is the only way I can describe this environment."
Greta explained as much as she knew about District 44.
"To survive, you have to be aware of reality. I'm saying this because I've coldly judged that this district has no future."
"Right. I understand the reason for wanting to escape. So where is the liberation army gathered?"
"I don't know the details either. But I have some guesses."
It was a vague answer, but Osian didn't complain. Even establishing this framework was considerable progress. Otherwise, he would have been floundering in the dark for a very long time.
"The central area of District 44 it's more complex and more maze-like than here but I don't usually go there either. There are, well, a lot of dangerous people."
He wondered if they were people involved in crime, but from her reaction, it didn't seem exactly like that.
"Who's there?"
"I don't know well. I just remember feeling somewhat uneasy when I saw them from afar. Of course, I might be mistaken."
Greta said she might be mistaken, but Osian found her intuition to be more accurate than expected. Probably eight or nine times out of ten, her words would be right.
"Ah! I know!"
Then one of the children who had been eavesdropping on their conversation interrupted.
"I saw people there doing strange prayers!"
"Wait, Timmy. You saw them? Don't tell me you went all the way to the center?"
Greta's eyebrows shot up.
"I told you not to go because it's dangerous!"
"I, I just wanted to be helpful to you somehow, sis..."
"I told you there's no need for that! Why don't you listen to people...!"
"That's enough. That story from before is quite interesting to me."
Osian stopped Greta and asked the child named Timmy.
"So, kid."
"It's Timmy."
"Right, Timmy. You saw people praying there?"
Timmy nodded.
"Yes, I saw them. They were speaking incomprehensible words too."
Osian stroked his chin with his hand. From the description alone, they were definitely heretics. However, it wasn't certain whether they were real heretics related to foreign gods or just a persecuted minority religion.
'But the fact that religion is also connected to District 44 has at least been established as fact.'
And the liberation army was hiding in what could be called its center.
"How do I get to that center?"
"Are you really going?"
"Don't worry. You just need to tell me which direction to go."
Greta seemed to hesitate for a moment, then made up her mind.
"No. I'll guide you directly. If you move half-heartedly following my instructions, you might get lost."
Greta immediately stood up from her seat.
"Since we're talking about it, let's move right away. Finishing it as quickly as possible would be convenient for both of us."
"You seem to worry a lot about your siblings. Did you want to escape from here that badly?"
"It would be convenient for you too if it ends quickly, right? Well, I won't deny it."
Greta had no intention of letting go of this lifeline she had finally grasped.
Osian nodded, knowing this.
"That's right."
"You guys, stay put until I come back. Got it?"
The siblings answered in unison that they understood. Since they had endured well so far, nothing worrying would happen.
Having left the train car, Greta led the way with quick steps. When they had gotten some distance from the train, Osian spoke up.
"You're being hasty."
"...What?"
Greta hesitated but then resumed walking as if nothing happened.
"A lot of people have recently flocked to District 44. Are you anxious because of that? Because people are starting to approach your residence one by one."
"...You really have incredibly sharp senses, big brother. Are all fixers like that?"
The reason Greta was being so hasty was because too many people had recently gathered in District 44.
Greta was perceptive since she had survived in this shithole with young siblings.
In her view, something was definitely going to happen in District 44 soon. There were already plenty of signs. The liberation army being tracked by the city government had hidden here, and people following strange religions had also flowed in.
Plus other people are drawn by them. When all sorts of things mix together like this, unintended chemical reactions occur. How strong and explosive that would be was unknown. At least it would be enough to involve Greta and her siblings.
Osian followed Greta's guidance. Before long, the sun was setting and darkness was descending on District 44. The darkness of District 44 was different from other districts. It seemed somehow sticky and clinging to the body.
Walking through it was not much different from crossing a swamp. Although people chasing hope had gathered, the atmosphere was still full of gloom that couldn't be washed away.
After weaving through the gaps between densely built structures that ignored building regulations for a while, Greta stopped and raised her index finger to her lips.
She silently pointed beyond the alley with her chin. Light was visible there.
It was inside an abandoned building. Inside the skeletal remains, people could be seen sitting around a bonfire lit in a drum barrel.
'Is this a jackpot from the start?'
Anyone could see that those hooded figures looked like a suspicious religious group. As Osian took the lead and walked forward, Greta mouthed a question.
'What are you going to do?'
Osian didn't answer. Instead, he silently drew the sword at his waist. Even in the darkness, Osian's long sword gleamed eerily beautiful. Greta was captivated by the sight.
Meanwhile, having fully drawn his sword, Osian jumped into the scene.
"What, what is it!"
"Who, who are you!"
Since he deliberately didn't hide his presence and revealed himself, the people gathered around the bonfire immediately spotted Osian. Osian quickly scanned the heretics. There weren't even ten of them. Among them, who could be the leader?
'Since they won't understand well through words, I might have to start by cutting off at least one limb each.'
Even if not that, he would need to leave sword wounds and injure them at minimum for them to give up thoughts of fleeing or counterattacking. With such thoughts, Osian rushed like lightning toward the closest one.
Osian's transcendent movement wasn't something the heretics could see and judge with their eyes. From their perspective, he appeared to move leaving afterimages.
"Huh?"
When Osian appeared right in front of him, the heretic panicked and gaped his mouth open. At that dumbfounded reaction, Osian felt something strange. Could they be just underlings rather than elites?
If so, there would be no need to use excessive force.
The strength left Osian's hand as he swung his sword. Of course, that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt. Even a gentle swing was still a knight's sword.
Clang!
Sparks flew. Osian stared at the obstacle that had appeared before him.
"I thought I was lucky, but this is a complete jackpot."
He could see the red scarf wrapped around the opponent's neck. The man wearing it was an enemy he had encountered even in District 1.
Lukai, the leader of the liberation army, had appeared before him.