Глава 12

That's business.

I would pry up every tile in Londinium to find the last of your hidden shards, Damazti.

You yet refute the possibility of change. This has always been your choice.

A little arrogant, aren't we, young Banshee? We understand change. We come from change itself.

But change is merely a means to adaptation. All change has a final objective.

Even before the Sarkaz found themselves in this state, we had long been walking upon the lands.

Ideologies, faiths, missions, slogans. None of them can escape the sands of time.

Those ideas you mistake as novel have been conceived long ago. The paths you deem noble have been paved time and again.

And where are they now?

We yet still before you.

And that is the greatest proof.

(Bang!)

(Bang, bang!)

Phew—

You should save some strength, Cador. You've eaten more than enough.

Delphine has talked to you about your appetite problem already. We're much worse off than we used to be now.

Relax, Baird. Things haven't completely gone to shit yet.

Them devils aren't nearly as strong as they look. All they did was catch us off-guard.

I had a chat with Marshall from the transport union. They have a group of men over there. Once we rope in more people on our end, we might just stand a chance to defeat the Sarkaz.

Just like how we joined forces with those other gangs to take the cops down.

Jump them from behind, get the job done clean. 'Pow pow,' 'bam!'

A couple punches. That's all it takes.

The Sarkaz army isn't cops.

I know. They're a force to be reckoned with.

But we aren't afraid of blood. We aren't afraid of sacrifices! We will walk over our fallen comrades, and smash their faces in with our fists—

Like our gym's name, 'Slobberknocker!'

Marshall and I worked it out. We will definitely win!

Just like those bootleg Lungmen videos you collect, hm?

I'm serious, I've been around the block in Norport not much shorter than you.

We need to find a way out of this mess ourselves just like before.

That Siege of yours just up and left Glasgow all those years ago, and our turf got handed over, just like that. It was you and I who racked our brains to figure out how to gain a foothold here again.

This is nothing different than before. We stand together, get prepared, and beat them all up. That's how we've made it this far.

It doesn't matter how things are outside. Out on the streets, we do things the street way.

Next, we just gotta find ourselves the right moment...

Looks like Delphine's back.

Did Ol' Baldy Per finally give in? Given the circumstances, we're paying a pretty decent price. I'm sure he—

What's this? Is that... blood?

Ol' Baldy Per is dead.

The Sarkaz—

No, not the Sarkaz! Dammit, I have no idea who they were, but they were already at it when we got to the store!

They were a bloodthirsty bunch! I saw with my own eyes there was this man with a crowbar, pinning another man on the floor. That man even—

*cough* *cough*, *cough* *cough*!

The situation's bad. My guess is some starving bum set his sights on Per's shop. The idiot still had bread in his glass showcase.

And it went as you'd expect.

You can more or less guess just how many of these 'bums' there are in this locked-down district.

Bloody idiots... Whatever they have been sniffing must've finally got to their heads!

I know the man with the crowbar. He's a tail hair product salesman. Always had a smile on his face.

I bought from him a number of times since he gave me discounts. They aren't all that good, though.

I saw him just now... His eyes were deep red, there was blood on his lips. That crowbar was completely bent. I... I almost didn't recognize him.

Fear is spreading, Cador.

The transport union guys did say there could be cowards going nuts, but how could...

Barricade the door!

I... I...

What are you spacing out for? Make yourself useful! Cador, push that sofa over here!

Bloody bastards, what do the lot of you want?!

Now piss off, we've got people alive in here. This is Glasgow's territory!

Baird, watch out!

A fire axe smashes through the gym's thick door and breaks open a hole. The sharp axe brushes past Baird's hair.

A few strands of her hair flutter in the air.

I said it already. We've got people still bloody alive in here!

Cador presses against the door with his body and grabs the axe peeking through the hole back with his two hands. The man outside makes several attempts to pull the axe back in vain.

I don't care who the hell you are, but get out of my sight, or I'll have this axe in your brain!

The axe wobbles a few times, and after a few heavy kicking sounds on the door, the men outside finally gives up, their chaotic footsteps slowly growing quieter.

Your hand... Your fingers...

Good thing that bandages are the last thing we'll run out of in a gym.

Baird, Delphine. We need to take inventory of all our resources again.

I'll take down a couple sandbags to reinforce our front door.

Th-These people... Have they gone mad?!

They... The citizens of Norport Borough were all upstanding men, basically... What about the police? They were always so quick to write tickets!

If I were a cop so unlucky as to not make it out of this plate in time, I would definitely have locked myself in my home with my weapon at the ready by now.

I... I need to head on over to the transport union later. The people here still trust Marshall.

He—Everyone always listens to him. He'll find a way.

Dammit... Bloody hell! The Sarkaz are still out there. These people are out of their minds. How could they—

What... What should we do now? Cador said we just had to wait for...

An opportunity?

Mr. 'Next Academician,' are you aware of the great fire in Norport fifteen years ago?

Oh, yes, I've heard. It was in the port, if I recall...

It doesn't actually take very much to burn down a port.

All you need is scorching hot weather, a warehouse full of wood shavings, and a cigarette butt not fully extinguished.

No one can put out a fire like that.

All we can do is watch everything burn to ashes.

These munitions factories are all empty.

We hauled away two production lines and tore down the others.

The situation was dire. We didn't know how long we had until the Sarkaz mercenaries caught on to what we were up to in the factories. Otherwise, we could've taken even more equipment.

Highbury... This new industrial district feels rather different from the old district I was in.

In Sudean, we were more like spanners, hammering away to knock together everything at all costs. But here... these production lines... I don't know. Maybe you guys are more like gears.

Turning ever so stably day in and day out.

We're used to it. That's how shocking human adaptability is.

Found it. It's here.

Why are there symbols carved on the collection boxes?

Years ago, our workshop used these as codewords to let each other know when to slack off. Never did I imagine they would one day come in handy.

Looks like workers everywhere just want to catch a breather, no matter the cost.

Let's see. Patto reorganized most of the Self-Salvation Corps from the other districts.

The Highbury safehouse was ambushed too, but a few of the pipelines deeper into the plate that's used as rest stops weren't discovered.

They should be there.

I'm back~

I've marked the positions of all the Sarkaz sentries. There's not a whole lot of them. Looks like all the manpower in the city is either headed to the frontlines or followed the others.

Closure... I still can't say I agree with you installing your voice banks on my drones.

Hey, don't forget I helped upgrade this drone of yours!

Alright, enough chit-chat. I just heard from Ascalon that some of our communications systems might have been compromised by some Victorian duke.