Vol 1 Chapter 1 (2/2)
“Understood Accelerate progress!”
The light from the universe started to turn into a blur, Swordbreaker continued to accelerate The distance between theh the shelling continued
“The ene”
“Don’t worry about them, onward to Mars”Sixteen hours later, they arrived at a port near Phobos, a satellite of Mars
When they entered the port, the young male control operator on their display screen couldn’t hide his curiosity
“All your paperwork is in order ……What’s with all the marks on the hull? It looks like you were in a battle”
Kane instantly“We were in the neighbour and got caught up in a fleet battle near Pluto! We were lucky”
After a moment of brief silence, Canal calmly spoke
“……It really is eye-catching!”
She said with a smile
“Six o, in the Lubasi star field The interstellar police and soanizations have a little dispute, remember?”
“Yeah Anyway……”
Canal tried to distract the control operator fro at the screen
“It was careless of you to get involved……you should contact your insurance coation”
“……Right……an insurance company!”
“Would you like us to repair the daot some premium plans”
“Hey, Kane, is that alright?”
“……Yeah……sure”
Kane nodded
“……Also, you’ve only applied for one person heading to the surface of Mars Mr Kane Blueriver, is that right?”
“Yeah, I’”
Canal winked at him
The control operator’s serious expression disappeared, as he fell backwards
“I don’t……I……I understand If there’s anything you need, just contact the control room and ask for Thomas”Communications were then closed
“That control operator……I think he’s interested in you”
Kane said angrily
“Obviously, it’s because of uy”
“Then why didn’t you do anything? There’s probably going to be an investigation now!”
“It’s alright……I’ll get theorize it under a theft report”
“Theft report?”
Kane said
“……It’s not like they stole anything”
“The investigation will progress much smoother if we just do that”
“Would you rather say that ere attacked over a personal grudge?”
Kane remained quiet
“Anyway, be careful when you get planeside Try not to get into any trouble, and make sure you take the appropriate weaponry with you Take a communicator and a handkerchief too”
“……What am I in, primary school?”
“Just hurry up and depart”
“Alright”
He said as he raised one hand, he then left the control room
Kane went through the residential area to get to the shuttle hatch
“Mars……”
He softly murmured, as he opened the hatch
Aruba City, this was the first base built on Mars after it had been terraformed, now it has become a city
Kane had just docked in the port
“——Ah——”
Thud, thud, he heard this a couple of times
“……Seems a little different”
The gravity on the Swordbreaker was 1g——basically it was the saravity as on Earth, in contrast to Mars which is only half of that Suddenly Kane felt like he had lost half his weight
The first thing he did was find a cheap hotel
He locked the door to his roo a credit card with hiot a map from Canal
And also——
His opponent is a dangerous organization, he couldn’t forget to bring a weapon
Hidden in his hair was a thin strip, and a little box Inside was a small metal tube about twenty centimetresA spirit (PSI) lightsabre
It saps on the huh the a pushed out of the end of the metal cylinder
It’s a great anti-personnel weapon but it does have its drawbacks First of all, if your opponent has a gun it’s obviously a better weapon than a sword
This is the biggest reason why the lightsabre isn’t a popular weapon——not to mention people don’t like that fact that lit saps on your yTherefore, due to various reasons, the lightsabre is only use by in close quarters by military and by military enthusiasts
“Now……”
Kane said as he checked his watch
“First……I’ll check out the local bar It’s still early”
He took a seat at the hotel bar, he got sandwiched between tomen, when he went to take a drink of his watered doink, Kane finally reinal purpose
(——Ah! Now isn’t the ti!)
“I hope you don’t uy?”
Kane deliberately spoke in a frivolous tone, he reached for one of his chest pockets, and pulled out a picture
Clay Roberts
The guy looked around twenty years old, he had a grilared at you from the picture
“Yeah, this guy owes me 100 dollars”
He showed the picture to both girls, to his right and to his left
“He ran away from home after he couldn’t pay the debt”
“……No, I don’t know him”
“What a guy! Come on, let’s drink in peace”
“Yeah, back off”
Kane had just been triggered
——The result——
He left the store with three bottles of wine, two of which were empty
“……Next……I’ll head to another bar”
While Kane looked up at the dark sky, before entering into another bar
“……Do you know this man?”
The fifty year old bartender looked at the picture as he cleaned solasses
“——Kid, are you some kind of student?”
His expression didn’t change one bit
“No, but I’m not a local”
Kane said, as he handed out some banknotes
The bartender’s expression didn’t change, even when he took his money
“That guy does come in here sometimes, where can I contact you if he does come in?”
“…At the——”
Kane almost blurted out the name of his hotel
It wasn’t clear whether the bartender was friend or foe He couldn’t afford to tell him his place of residence
“Sorry, I’h”
Kane put his drink and a tip down on the table, he then stood up from the bar stool
“At least tell me your name”
Kane heard as he went towards the exit, he then stopped and turned around
“Kane, Kane Blueriver”
Then, Kane pushed open the bar’s door
As he left, the door swung open for a moment
Kane didn’t know this, but one of the bars patrons atching him the entire time
After he finished his drink, he ran over and used the phone
The next night, Kane checked out another bar, it stank of alcohol and cigarettes, and so did its patrons The music was loud and bombastic
“I heard you were looking for someone”
This place didn’t look very friendly, but then again these places were the best places to get information
The man looked like he was in his lasses He earing a dirty coat, his hair was unke but clean
“……And you are?”“Who I aht be able to help you, if you’re willing to talk to your wallet”
The ar smile
——He was an information broker
“I’ for someone, this is my second day on the search”
“Well, that’s quite the outfit It makes you stand out”“Stand out? How so?”
Kane looked at the man in amazement
“……Listen here……every day all kinds of shady characters walk around town, how am I any different?”
Kane said, he had an angry look on his face
“That goes without saying, your walking around with a freaking cape——but then again, that shows that you have a wild personality”
“Yeah I’m a wild cat, okay? ……Come on, let’s head to the bar”
“His name is Clay Roberts, do you know this man?”
After a moment of silence, the bearded man spoke
“……Alright, 50 dollars”
“…Oh…”
Kane sighed
He didn’t want to pay the coh
“I’ll find him myself”
Kane then turned to leave
“……Hey, don’t do that”
The ht for a moment
“What about forty?”
That’s still expensive
“……I just can’t afford to spend that much”
“Wait! We’ll settle at thirty!”
Kane ignored him
“Twenty!”
“……That’s still too high……”
Kane said with a tired face
“What about fifteen? Then we’ve got a deal!”
Kane stood still for a moment
“I still don’t think it’s worth that much”
Kane then pulled up his sleeves, and took out ten dollars
“What! Ten dollars, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!!”
The information broker cried
“Fine You’ve got yourself a deal”
“Okay, where is he?”
“He usually wanders around this area, I’ll help you find him”
The man took the bills from Kane’s hands
“Co”
Kane and the man walked around for ten minutes
The man then lead Kane down a small street, it seemed that the hustle and bustle of the city’s streets had disappeared This place was soo, and even if they did enter, they probably wouldn’t leave alive
“Ah……there’s another bar, maybe he drinks in there”
The“……Oh?”
Kane didn’t ask any questions, he quietly followed the man
“We’ll be there soon”
They walked for a few more minutes
In the dirty little road, the man stopped in his tracks
In the distance, there was one operational street light as
“……Hmm”
Kane looked around with a bored expression
“……Is this it?”
“Yeah This is it”
A voice came from somewhere
Several s
Three in front of him, and three behind him
“……Hey”
The informant walked towards the three in front of them
“……I can’t blame him, this is part of the job”
Kane revealed a fearless smile
“Oh, is that so?”
One of the three men in front of Kane said in a husky voice He stood into the light, he was far taller than Kane
“I was under the assu the information I paid for”“You were foolish to come……you may act confident, but……”
The ht hand
“In that case——”
Hum!
Before the ht
Bang!
The blunt sound of a shot rang out
Soround——it was a shi+ny black pistol
Just as Kane saw the pistol fall onto the ground, all the htsabre tensed up(Everyone will understand who I am, Kane!)
“Ahhh!!!!”
One of the , so he screamed
But before the others realize the sa into action
Thud…
He chopped the second round
Kane then struck the other ut and the back of his foot
He fell to his knees, he couldn’t feel a thing anymore The information broker watched in horror
“I’ll let the rest of you guys go”
“Sure…on’t hold a grudge”
Kane then carved a V-shape into the man’s chest
Since Kane was used to heavier gravity, he did this action in a flash
The three men behind him turned away in a panic
But one of them turned around with a pistol, he wasn’t that far away
Kane aligned his lightsabre in the ht
Hum!The light which was eh the man’s wrist
“Ahh!”
“W-What the…”
“That guy has a laser gun!”
One of them shouted, then he ran away from Kane The other two people followed after him
“…You’re really unprofessional……leaving your comrade like that……”
Kane wasn’t prepared to run after them
“Next”
Kane turned around to the , but he was in severe pain
“Hey!”
“Ahhh!”
He pressed down on his wrist, a dying man like him wouldn’t lie
“I’ you……please, call a doctor……an ambulance”
Kane sighed loudly
“……Don’t worry If you don’t want to die, then you’ll answer me question Then maybe I’ll send you to the hospital”
“G-Good”
The ain
“Answer me, why did you attack me?”
The man shook his head
“I don’t know……I just do as I’et rid of you”
“So that guy……”
Kane grabbed the man’s collar
“Tell me! What else do you know?”“……I……don’t know”
“You don’t know? Then I ht as well cut your head off!”
“I’m serious! I just run errands!”
“For who?”
“An organization”
“——Dugole Connection?”
Kane said quietly
(But why?)
“Why do they want to get rid of me?”
“I don’t know! They tell us to do errands and we do theuy, we do it without question If we ask any questions or refuse to do the job we’d be killed”
“Oh……”
Kane stared into the man’s eyes
He saw a look of terror in his eyes
(Even if that guy was selling inforanization he works for)
No matter how many times Kane questioned him, he would never reveal a name
Kane gave up
“What else do you know? Anything about Dugole Connection will do”
“I don’t know! ……A s man!
“Okay But one ……”
Kane said, as he let go of the information broker
“That inforive it back!”
End of Chapter 1