Rescue [https://i.imgur.com/y5IZOwL.png]
Chapter 10: Rescue
Garfield managed to acknowledge the report from his babysitter without tipping off the King. “I don’t mind discussing the requests I completed, but may I ask why you are investigating such matters yourself?
“As it happens,” the King explained, “the stakes for these matters are extremely high.”
“Forgive my ignorance, but how can some monkeys be so important?” Garfield asked.
“Many strange things have been reported to me of late. The monkeys are just one of them. And just an hour ago, there was an attempt on my life.”
“I noticed. In fact, my eagle really noticed,” Garfield pointed out.
“I cannot thank you enough for intervening in the attack by that assassin. If not me, my family could have been struck. The Kingdom is once again in your debt, and it pains me greatly that I must ask you about matters which call into question the completeness of your prior answers.”
‘Then don’t?’ Garfield thought.
“I’m sure you have a good reason for withholding any information you’ve neglected to mention, but I hope you trust the sincerity of my words when I say that I trust your intentions, if not the truthfulness of your responses. I’m meeting with you, almost entirely unguarded, to that end.”
“In that case… are you aware of a person getting abducted from my inn this evening?” said Garfield.
“What?” The King looked at the Prime Minister and the Captain who both shook their heads. “I’m sorry but we know nothing about that. If there is anything we can do to help, please say so.”
Garfield shook his head. “All I’ll ask is that we keep this brief. To answer your earlier question, I did collect herbs, but I did not discover any strange monkeys on that day.”
“Do you know where the young fire dragon we sighted might have come from?”
“Young fire dragon? Like, a drake?” Garfield offered.
The Prime Minister closed his eyes. That verbal trap must have been his idea.
“Yes,” the King confirmed. “One was sighted, but it appears to be unrelated.” The King looked at the Prime Minister and then back at Garfield.
“Since you are apparently short on time, I’ll ask you about just one more thing. You appeared on the same day as the great hydra that terrorized our city for a short while and then departed. As a summoner and a presumed visitor to our nation from afar, what do you know about that hydra?”
“…It’s big.”
“…Anything else?” the King asked.
“…It’s green.”
“…” Somehow, the King did not seem amused.
“Sir Garfield, did you witness what happened at the western gate when the divine beast appeared?” the Captain asked. “Perhaps you saw how the guards reacted or who came in and out of the gate at that time?”
“No, I had already entered the city by then. I didn’t see anything like what you are talking about.”
“I see. It must have been a different person in unusually bright clothing who entered around that time.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Garfield claimed. The King suddenly asked another question.
“Do you believe it truly is a divine beast as many people are saying?”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never seen a divine beast before,” said Garfield.
Now, the Prime Minister joined in. “Sir Garfield, are you not a religious man? Do you perhaps not share our Gods?”
“I doubt you’ll find a more devout believer of the Gods anywhere else in this world. However, believing in them and cooperating with them are two different things.”
The three other gentlemen were stunned into silence. Garfield stood up. “I have some more lives to save today. If you will excuse me.”
The King gestured and the Captain escorted Garfield out of the palace. As Garfield was about to pass through the outer palace gate…
“Sir Garfield, why did you rescue the King from the assassin?”
Garfield paused and turned his head over his shoulder to respond to the Captain.
“Why did I need to?”
Garfield departed the palace property as the Captain stood there at a loss for words.
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In the basement of a certain establishment…
“Just what did you tell him?”
“Nothing, I swear!” Lilah insisted. “I just passed on that we were interested in hiring him due to his unique abilities.”
A henchman smacked her face with the back of his hand.
“You expect me to believe that?” the boss asked. “First you pretended to break contact with him, then you met with him again, then he arranged a cover story so he could go to the palace. Start talking. Now.”
“I was as surprised as anyone when I heard he was invited to the palace! I found out because I tried inviting him to meet with you tonight!”
“How convenient. Again,” the boss ordered. Lilah took a blow for the umpteenth time today. Blood dripped from her mouth and chin.
“I… don’t think he’d be interested in working together with you, anyway. I was very vague about what we do and he immediately figured out how strongly connected we are to the criminal underground. He even wanted to meet with you knowing he was not interested in a business relationship. Perhaps he was offering that to save me from all this blowback…”
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The henchman went to smack her again, but the boss stopped him. “Oh, I’ll meet with him. First we need to figure out what he spilled to the palace. Then we’ll grab him when the time is right. You needn’t concern yourself with this anymore.”
“Well, be careful,” Lilah warned. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s easy to grab.”
“You should really be more worried about yourself. Whether you get to live or not depends on how much he spilled.”
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Garfield returned to his room to escape prying eyes. “Anything else happen?”
“Nay,” the Backdoor Innkeeper reported.
“All right. Continue your duties here. I’ll be going out again. «Mapping: Display Map. Identify Individual Lilah».”
Apparently, there were several Lilahs in the city. By gathering more data on each Lilah, Garfield figured out the location of the woman who came to him for help. He left the inn and proceeded to a bar deep in the southern district.
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The bartender looked up from the glass he was wiping. “We don’t serve your kind here.”
“What kind is that?” Garfield asked.
“Rich folks from the northern district. Go back to your manor.”
Garfield looked down at his dark suit. “Believe me, if I had a manor, I’d rather be there than here right now. Anyway, I came to meet with the big boss. He even sent some agents to make contact with me.”
The bartender’s eyes widened, but then he returned to his previous demeanor and played dumb. “I don’t know what you’re going on about, but this is a bar. If you’re not here for drinks, then I have nothing else for you.”
“Oh, so you will serve me so long as I’m here for drinks, and not to meet with whatever criminal organization is holed up below this establishment?”
The bartender didn’t know what to say. Garfield continued.
“Something you should know about me is that I’m not a patient man. I used to be decently patient, but that was years ago. When I determine you are more valuable to me dead than alive, your luck will come to an end.”
Garfield moved a bit closer and lowered his volume. “Pass me through to your safe house or whatever this is unmolested. If you do not, you will have a bigger problem on your hands than an entitled snob from the northern district.”
The bartender eyed the various weapons he had stacked up behind the counter. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
“Just do it,” said Garfield. “It will save me a lot of time at this rate.”
“I don’t get paid enough for this shit!” The bartender hopped over the counter and ran out of the bar. Garfield referred to his minimap and, eventually, figured out the trick to proceeding underground.
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“Boss.”
“What is it?”
“That guy you have me following is here,” the rogue reported.
“Oh, you escorted him?”
“No, he threatened the guard at the bar and snuck in.”
“What!?” the boss exclaimed. “This is too risky. Go deal with him.”
The rogue hesitated.
“What is it?”
“We should escape.”
“Escape?” the boss asked. “Have you lost your mind? Don’t we have him outnumbered like 50 to 1?”
“He’s becoming famous for his magic. I don’t know how to deal with high-level magic users. We could lose a lot of men. I can’t guarantee your safety, either.”
“I’ve held the organization together for almost twenty years, and not ONCE has the royal family bested me! You expect me to yield to some idiot adventurer who threatens the guard on his way into my headquarters!? The only noteworthy thing about him is his ability to duplicate gold. Unless you’re afraid he’s going to bury you under counterfeit gold coins, get out there and deal with him!”
“That’s a pretty good idea, actually,” Garfield admitted.
“What!?”
“Where is Lilah?” asked Garfield.
“Lilah?” the boss repeated back. “So, you’re working together after all! I knew that bitch was lying to me.”
“Working together?” Garfield simply titled his head.
“Just what did she tell you? It wasn’t smart going straight to the royal palace with whatever intelligence she provided. That didn’t leave much room for negotiation, you know.”
“Um, Boss…” the rogue tried to interject.
“From what I could tell,” Garfield responded, “she did a good job of not directly telling me anything that would place your business in jeopardy. I did manage to read between the lines a bit, but you can hardly blame her for that. Her job was just to get me in touch with you, right?”
The boss didn’t deny it.
“If she could somehow seduce me with her body or with other promises, all the better. She failed to interest me in the way you probably wanted, but I still agreed to meet with you simply because I thought it would better to come to terms on how we could coexist in this city rather than live out a protracted adversarial relationship from afar. Now that we’ve met, her job is complete and she deserves to be rewarded.”
Garfield gestured towards the door. “Let’s go to her location so we can congratulate her together.”
“You…”
“Boss!” the rogue shouted.
“What!?”
“This guy didn’t come in the back door like I did. He came in the front door. You realize what that means, right?”
“That’s why you got here first,” the boss concluded. “Is that what you mean? The front route is longer and requires passing by virtually all the men I employ…”
“For a criminal mastermind, it’s strange how 100% of your employees are not combat capable,” Garfield observed aloud.
“Not combat capable?”
“Boss, it has been an honor. Now that I’m retired, please don’t come looking for me. Sir, it has been an honor to meet you, as well." The rogue nodded to Garfield and then started to walk away.
“Wait! You can’t just leave me!”
The rogue just left him.
“Lead the way!” said Garfield, after an awkward pause. “I’ll help you come up with lots of flowery language for Lilah’s performance evaluation, too.”
“Wha?” The boss reluctantly led Garfield to where Lilah was.
“Y-you…” said Lilah, looking at Garfield.
“Yes, me. You’re in luck! Everybody gets one.”
The guards looked back and forth between Garfield and the boss, clearly confused. Garfield continued.
“I literally cut my meeting with the King short in order to come save you. You should be honored. Never mind the fact that he was asking really tough questions and I was glad to have an excuse to leave early. Doesn’t count.”
Garfield turned towards the boss. “Hey, boss man, unlock her.”
The boss gestured and the two henchmen released Lilah from her restraints.
“Aren’t you going to heal her up good?” Garfield asked.
“I… don’t have a way to do that right now,” the boss admitted.
Garfield rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner. “Must I do everything myself? «Healing Balm».” For a moment, Lilah was engulfed in a yellow glow. Her wounds slowly but steadily healed. Garfield spoke in the meantime.
“This brings us to the heart of the matter. Somebody came to me for protection, and you or your subordinates captured and then tortured her. Shall I interpret that as a declaration of war? You might have more luck openly opposing the royal family…”
“Just who are you?” the boss asked.
“If I tell you that, I’ll have to kill everyone here. If that’s what you want, let me know. I’ll wait.” Garfield waited but the boss didn’t seem interested. “It seems you have two choices. Do you know what they are?”
“…You will either kill or capture me, or I can yield my organization to you.”
“What?” Garfield responded, somewhat shocked. “You think I want to take charge of the local crime family? I’ve heard of being dual-hatted but, that’s just ridiculous.”
“Wha? Then what’s the other choice?”
“Clean up your act,” Garfield proposed.
“…Meaning?”
“You give Lilah here a nice severance package, I forget I was ever here, you adjust your business practices to be a bit more altruistic, everybody wins. How does that sound?”
“I don’t get it,” the boss said honestly. “How do you want me to be more… altruistic?”
“Instead of your businesses being 10% legitimate, 90% criminal, flip those percentages and act more like, say, an opposing faction to the royal family rather than a criminal among criminals. Effect change through nonviolent means. Avoid making the common folk suffer.”
Garfield glanced down at the dried blood on the floor as he said that. “Develop your crew to become the foremost experts on advanced mathematics in the kingdom. I don’t know, surprise me. I’d rather not disestablish this place entirely, otherwise new folks will simply step in to take over.”
The boss looked like his mind was racing as he struggled to parse what Garfield was telling him.
“Oh, there’s one more thing I should make clear to you, but I want to keep this one private. Everybody out. Go aid all the unconscious guards outside,” Garfield ordered.
Lilah mouthed ‘thank you’ to Garfield. She and the guards quickly exited. When only Garfield and the boss remained…
“I don’t want your commitment to the cause to wane with time, so I’ll punctuate today’s chat like this. «Summon Hellish Creature of Legend, The Duke, Demon Allocer». «Summon Angelic Creature of Legend, The Archangel of Justice, Lord Raguel». «Summon Godly Creature of Legend, The Ferryman, Lord Charon».
The three mythological creatures loomed over the Boss.
“Do you understand what will happen if I ever feel betrayed by you?”
It took the boss several seconds to work up the courage to respond. “…I think I have a newfound love for mathematics…”
Garfield was impressed the boss could respond at all under these circumstances. “That’s the spirit.”