Глава 9

I imagined a bit, dunno why. That song would be lovely for singin' alongside tractorin'.

'The hibernatin' mountains carry livestock herds~'

He's starin' at me. Was I singin' out of tune?

You remembered the words wrong.

Oh! Wasn't it livestock? Was it buildin's, then? Or tillers?

You, Hillock pal over there, do you know what this song's words are meant to be?

You shouldn't be singing in here.

Sorry. Did I violate any of your rules?

At the very least, don't go singing that bunch's songs in front of us.

That bunch? What bunch? I don't get what you're sayin'.

Are you fiddling with me, Vouivre?

Huh? What's got you angry now?

...Bagpipe.

Can't shake the feelin' somethin's off-kilter.

You can save it for later.

Uh, I'm not talkin' about... Leader, I think I just heard someone in there singin' as well!

You're right.

A matching tune comes from the depths of the dimmed corridor, of a deeper tone, rougher, broken off by a few fierce coughs from time to time.

You think the man's in there?

Hey, you're not allowed in!

Oi! A—Are you the one we caught yesterday in the outskirt warehouse?

*cough* *cough*... *pant*... D'you mean Damian? Poor Damian... got dragged off ages ago...

Eh?! When?! How'd we not hear?!

Where did he get taken to?

Where... ha, haha... you're asking where...

He's already... already...

Shut up!

Or would you like to go the same way he went?!

You're threatenin' him. Why? Where in the world did that man yesterday go to?

Ah... ha... went home.

Went... home?

He got let go? So he had nothin' to do with the spectre force at all? Leader—

Let me in...

You aren't allowed to converse with the prisoner without permission.

I want to see Captain Kelly. Step aside, soldier. I know he's in here.

He is not.

You? You were the adjutant at the warehouse with the vile mouth, I remember you. What's your idea here?

The Captain left on urgent business. He asked me to pass this on to you—the interrogation ended one hour ago.

Gah...! So you mean, you went and gave us the wrong time?!

A lapse in communication. Not uncommon at all, is it?

What bloody lapse in communication... do you think we're idiots?

Leader, they gave us false info, led us up the garden path!

That's not the key point.

I'm asking you, soldier. Why did you show up to tell us this information now? Since you've bided so much time, surely none of you will mind us wasting even more.

In regards to your question...

(Muttered report)

Thank you, acknowledged.

Lieutenant Skamandros, the order I received was to inform you of the following—

Convict Damian Barry, your individual of utmost concern—was, ten minutes ago, in an attempt en route to seize weaponry from his escort and assault military personnel, shot dead.

What... what bloody nonsense are you feeding us?

We've seen that lad, he's just a normal man! He was frightened stiff when he saw us! How would he go attackin' a fully-armed regular by himself?

That is to say... you summarily executed the suspect without trial.

I have relayed to you the facts.

Leader, we've been put in the dark. Why wouldn't they let us have access to the suspect? Aren't we stood on the same side?

I'm still unclear about their reasons right now.

The one thing I can be sure of is, if we want to continue investigating, we've only got ourselves to depend on. The attitude the barracks have is loud and clear—they won't be of any help to us whatsoever.

Ugh. I'm not daft, either. I can see they've got a mean habit for trippin' people up.

So what do we do next? We scarcely got a lead, and it's gone again.

We need to think of some other way.

Oh, yeah! I just thought. That man called Damian, he said his work was sortin' the potatoes.

Every outer agriculture plate in a nomadic city has its own channel for transportin' crops inwards!

We should be able to find the farmworkers' settlement by followin' along. If we can have a chat with his friends or kin, we might find our lead again.

It's a very 'you' train of thought.

Then you just leave the information enquirin' to me!

Excellent. We begin immediately.

Leader, are you gonna come with?

I'll stay to negotiate with the barracks. To my mind, they wouldn't slop out an execution without going through interrogation. As long as they held one, there'll be records left behind.

Triangle?

Leader, we were in the outskirts—

You got ambushed?!

They came out of nowhere, and I got rumbled...

This lot's combat techniques and weaponry, they're a full match with previous intel... even Snare's Arts can barely hit them! Damn it!

Remember, your main duty is to come back alive!

Acknowledged, Leader! We should be fine! Triangle, out—

This is major intel. Our target, the force they call spectre-like, is in County Hillock this very moment.