The God of Jesters
Chapter 162 - 3.08.3 Crime Branch

Chapter 162: 3.08.3 Crime Branch

Disclosing information is a thought that Max has had before. But knowing the powers that were at work here. It won’t work, no one would believe him even if he had concrete proof about it and showed it to the public.

So what Max said here was just a lie. A lie to make the dwarf think that his son might just eke out a living. He might just survive if words like those were to be exposed.

"Just kill me." But he chose to not say anything. He had chosen to remain adamant against Max’s questions. He believed that answering Max would neither change his fate nor that of his child. However, if the truth were to get out, his family would still be implicated, the very family that has put him in this position that he hated so much.

So, even if he hated his patriarch, he still loved his family and didn’t wish any harm on them. He can die knowing the fact that there would still be people who would remember him in the end. There would be people that would cry for him.

Max on the other hand was in no mood for self-pity. "Is this your answer?" There was some disappointment in Max’s eyes before he took out a bag of salt from his shirt. "If you won’t answer, then I can only force you to speak."

What happened after was dirty and inhumane. Degradation and pain is the greatest way to destroy a man’s will. And this dwarf was just a civilian who never actually took part in war or any professional training. A strength that he lacked the proper experience to utilize it.

So he was much easier to handle than one might have assumed. Not to mention, there was no contract binding his tongue. Because originally, he was the dominant side when he took the job. They came to him with the preposition and he accepted on condition that he won’t be controlled through a contract. And they relented. There were too many partners already and creating a magic contract for each and every one was hard enough.

Not to mention, the biggest reason was that Krugal was a mere messenger, someone whose sole job was to one-sidedly give orders to those under him. He didn’t know who gave him these orders or where these orders even came from. All he knew was that they appeared every morning on his window sill, as if "they" were always watching and had the confidence to leave a letter inside his room without him knowing.

A scary concept, which has made Krugal sleepless for many nights.

It was all for this reason, that he never knew who they were or their operation. That is until he slowly started to correlate the disappearances of people and the orders he was giving to the gangs.

Then there was the incident where he was handed the duty of discarding certain trash and he accidentally looked too deep into what it was.

A scene that has been vividly imprinted in his mind since then. And this was also the time when the weird man named G33 was sent to him. Where ’G’ stands for Guard33, whose job was guarding Krugal, but it was more of a method to keep an eye on him. And thread to not make another mistake like the one he made before.

"He really didn’t know much?" Max said in a calm voice, looking at the corpse of Krugal whose blood was still warm and there was a sense of relief in his eyes.

As for the body? The less I speak the better. But I will say one thing, Max might be good at killing, but he sure was not during interrogating an enemy. An amateur doing amateur work, leaving the scene like this.

I should have been there with him, teaching him how to do it in his mind. Though it’s too late, and life is the greatest teacher. Hope he does a better job in the future as he would have many people that would come at the end of his knife.

Oh, I should also inform Little Krotal that he is an orphan now. I wonder how he would react. Probably a bit relieved... or he might not just care at all. He is good at acting, I almost thought that he ever cared for his father.

Which was far from the truth, now that I think about it.

I really never expected to meet someone the same as me in this city. But life is about surprises and I am glad that I met him. I truly am.

*****

Currently, most of Max’s resources are spent. His belt where he carried most of his concoctions and vials was empty after this fight. And what did he earn through all of this?

A confirmation that he needed since the start.

He was suspicious of Jester’s actions and why he came to him. Why was he given such odd jobs just to learn the names of his daughter’s killers?

But not all of it made sense to him.

’A fool, I was.’ He thought to himself, cleaning his body in a small river bank before throwing most of the clothes in a bag, fearing attention. While he stole a few new ones that might fit him from some households close by. But it was still harder to find proper pants, as at the end of the day, this was still a city of dwarves.

But after some time, he found a kid’s pants that when worn by him, appeared like shorts. ’Should be enough.’ He thought to himself and chose to first see if the metro was safe to use or not.

Considering last night’s events, things might be too heated and there was a small chance that Sheva didn’t even reach the safe house in time. ’Don’t overthink’ He said to himself, while finding that things were a lot more normal than he had anticipated.

’Hmm?’ somewhat odd considering the Wizards that were considered rare in the city were sent to the location. Which would only mean one thing.

’They’re hiding it now?’ Subsequent attacks in a short time, the authority of the police should be active now.

This was not a homicide case, but something akin to terrorist acts. ’They’re really going to give up this easily?’

No way, he thought to himself. This was a city filled with rich assholes who might not care about their own safety, but once someone of theirs died or was harmed. They would flip the city over its head. The reason is the fear that they might just be next.

And Krugal was that kind of person, one of the rich ones.

’A trap?’ Max thought, before finally choosing to walk back to the safe house.

Yes, it might take hours or even a day without the metro. But he thought that this was the safest choice considering the circumstances.

******

"They really choosing to ignore it? Why would they do such a thing?" Kasim, the intelligence officer and a friend that Fahna had brought to the city was confused at the moment. It would seem that the onsite investigation came to a halt before it even began as some flying figures entered the area and took over the investigation.

Next to him was Fahna reading the report while behind her was the gigantic body of Salveraz. Who currently ate his dinner, a whole cooked pig. "Mages?... Uncle Salveraz, do you know anything about this?" Fahna asked, causing Salveraz to put down the bone on which he was gnawing, and then with a burp, he replied. "Mages are not usually employed by Bothal administrations and there are no mages in the army or the police."

"So the third party?" Fahna asked, wondering whether the mages belonged to the Jester or the other company. But if I really did have Mages on my side, many things would have been easier for the little girl.

I am glad that Salveraz corrected her. "No, not any third party, this is still the government. But the covert operation wing of the government that handles National Security."

"The Crime Branch? Fahna called the name and Salveraz nodded with some relief.

A relief was absent from Fahna’s face. "If they are involving themselves, it will be harder for me to act anymore." A truth that was hard to swallow.

The crime branch investigation Unit was a dangerous bunch. Mad Men some might even say. People that will do anything to ensure the internal security of the country. Usually, the first thing they do when active is to either kick out any suspicious foreign elements or put them in jail to prevent any accidents.

"That is going to happen, I would recommend you to move away from here, they should be coming here soon enough." Salvarez’s suggestion wasn’t much appreciated by Fahna. But she knew of the dangers.

So she nodded. "I will officially leave the city by evening."