act5d0

I'm honored.

None of my Penguin Logistics reports ever mentioned you. Who are you?

Um... do I have to answer that?

I'm just here looking for a lost package. Like a good Messenger would.

Mr. Capone, we got the place locked down. Everybody here's with you. She's on her own.

What? Are you going to move or what?

Doesn't matter to me. I'm ready anytime.

Hmph... a good Messenger.

Nah. The bolt's locked and loaded. We all got our own business to worry about.

Mr. Capone!

If you wanna die, you're welcome to it.

We do everything we gotta do to survive. Don't get it mixed up.

...And you don't have to talk so spooky. I'm really just an ordinary Messenger.

A Sankta with a horn says she's ordinary? Who's gonna believe that one?

I got no reason to fight you. Do what you want.

A minute ago you were ready to go stone cold killer, now you're just letting me go?

That's how the mafia works. It's got all kinds of little exceptions I don't much like.

But if the princeling ain't gonna cooperate, and I can't kill him, I'll just have to find another way.

We'll be seeing each other again tonight. Maybe.

Hopefully Gambino will have dealt with you by then. Or hey, the other way around works for me too.

...He really left.

You already got yourself out of the bindings, didn't you? Need a hand?

I'm fine. I can get myself up. Thanks for the help, Mostima.

Where's everybody else?

Um.

Heh. Your face says it all. It's been a rough one.

...Their pace... it's kind of hard to keep up with.

I warned you. So you have any idea where they might be?

Texas said 'to the ends of the earth.' And that we'd meet up in an hour?

Okay. Sure. I'll take you there.

The ends of the earth... what does that mean?

Um... The origin of the name has been lost to history, but now we can say it's one of the boss's assets. And it's like a base of operations for us.

People come from all over, at least people moving in the underground circles.

So it's like...?

It's a bar.

Mostima, ma'am, what are we doing...?

We're putting a sheet over ourselves and pretending to be one big ghost. It's the quickest and easiest costume.

No, what I mean is, why do we have to dress up one big ghost...?

So we can blend in with the Sauin atmosphere. People will think we're just going to a party or something.

That 'Mr. Capone' may not have gone far.

Suddenly a black-horned Sankta wielding a staff comes out all aggressive and overbearing...

A control freak like him is going to play it very carefully, right?

Y- yeah.

Speaking of your staff... I just noticed it. Are you an Arts user, Mostima?

It's from a long time ago. I did actually get some serious training.

Pretty different from a certain lazy angel who sleeps all day.

Oh yeah...

So you've known Exusiai for a long time.

Haha. We should have been able to have a nice noisy chat during your fun welcome party.

But the occasional explosion and ambush is par for the course for Penguin Logistics.

Is that right...?

Something else?

I was just thinking about how even a Messenger like Mostima has times like this... what with all the mysterious rumors swirling around...

Are you disappointed?

No! Not at all! That was very impolite of me to say, I'm sorry!

I am a Penguin Logistics employee, after all. This great land is full of Messengers, in every nook and cranny. Adaptability is the first thing you should learn.

There sure are a lot of first things in this business...

I just remembered, from here, we make a left, and then a right, then we go around the third alley here and... Yep. Shortcut.

It's getting so late, but we only see more and more people coming out.

That's the magic of Sauin.

Pretty neat, huh? There's floats and stands and parties, and even some stinky sewer steam, just over the wall.

...pretty neat. Yeah.

We're on a tight schedule. We need to pick up the pace.

Is this a graveyard?

Yeah, only Lungmen would have a cemetery right in the center city like this.

Those people are all wearing funeral dress.

That kind of solemn mourning makes me think of my time in Laterano.

Laterano... what's that place like?

You're very curious, aren't you?

I guess so. I just always wanted to see some faraway places.

But somehow I never got the chance to get any international contracts... *sigh*.

Intercity networks are a lot more developed than they used to be. You should have a lot of chances to leave.

...and the farther away you go, the more meaningful the experience.

Is traveling from country to country very difficult?

Hm... If I had to choose, I'd say the biggest problem is the Catastrophes. If you run into one, then all of Terra turns against you.

There was this time that I left the Catastrophe Messenger's report at the transit station and I ran into one. I was a few hills away though.

The black clouds billowing around, the sky itself threatening you, it feels awful. Truly awful.

Catastrophes... if you're in a nomadic city, you shouldn't get hit.

There's a lot of other problems.

Cities move to avoid Catastrophes, sure, but that means the place you're trying to get can end up crawling away from you. Imagine that.

That sounds pretty frustrating.

So you better make friends with some Catastrophe Messengers. And don't oversleep when you've got a date with one.

...Hehe. Talking like this, it feels like we're coworkers, Mostima.

Oh, sorry, was that a bit much?

...Mostima?

...Hm? Oh. I was just thinking of something.

We have to go through the graveyard. Step lightly.

Okay.

Do you know the origin of Sauin?

Where did that question come from? I heard it had something to do with ancient Sarkaz sacrificial practices...

Sauin in fact comes from some ancient Sarkaz sacrificial rites, and long ago, the meaning of the name was even more complicated.

Most holidays have something to do with sacrifice or worship. It's just that people have been forgetting for a very long time.

People welcome back the souls of the departed, soothe whatever lingering issues they may have with the living, and send them on back.

But nobody takes these things seriously anymore.

The living sing and dance and dress up as ghosts. But the actual dead lay here in the graveyard, totally forgotten. It's not good.

When the pressures of life get to be too much, it's kind of natural to want to do something to soothe yourself and forget...

We've all been through a lot. A Catastrophe is the surest thing in the world, after all.

When you watch those mourners give their flowers and sweep their graves, doesn't it make you feel a little more peaceful?

...Yeah.

By the way, Mostima, back there you said you were looking for a lost package...