A week had pa.s.sed, and the gangsters gathered for a strategy meeting.

Four men had gathered in a rundown two-storey wooden building on the wharf.

One of the dealer candidates, Stark, was the son of a fisherman. He used this s.h.i.+pping warehouse as his residence.

For their planning session they used a billiard table to place their stuff onto. Like a teacher, Shouji, with his back straight and a pointing stick in his hand, stood facing a blackboard with aerial photos on it.

The other three sat heavily in the sofa at the wall, drinking drinks and snacking on potato chips.

"The factory of ‘Starp Magic Chemicals’ lies along the cliff at the head of the inlet. This is our current target. The target is the 'Ultimate Magic Water' drums. While we're there we'll also go after the safe deposit box in the office. This weekend the factory will receive a payment from the port city Joint. By conservative estimate, there should be at least fifty million iidol (TN: this country’s currency)."

"Fifty million, huh… Quik. I understand the money, but why are we going after the chemical drums?"

With his arms crossed and his eyes devoid of negligence following Shouji, Stark asked from the sofa.

The muscular and skinheaded man with a green wolf tattooed on his upper arm had as evil an appearance as Shouji did.

"They are a must for our potion business. The drums are the main target of this operation. If we obtain those, our material costs should decrease a lot."

"Ce, certainly, those potions are good s.h.i.+t."

"Tell us your plan. If it results in money then I am in."

The fat Doldo nibbled on potato chips as he spoke out in agreement.

The other dealer candidate, the high-strung and slender Bando, declared his intentions warily while smoking tobacco.

The smoke warmed his cruel face.

Having ascertained their reactions, Shouji once again put the tip of his pointing stick on the pictures stuck to the blackboard.

What hung there were pictures of the facility from every imaginable angle, forming a complete picture.

With red circles the magic eyes used for surveillance were clearly outlined.

The trespa.s.sing counter-measure alarm system was described in detail.

The large machinery used to mix alchemical materials and its plumbing were visible.

These were the fruits of his advance survey and bribes.

The employee he had received the information would be in confinement until this times operation was done.

He apparently also had slight connections to the underground guild.

Their contract stated that when he was released he would get ten percent of the loot. Breaking the rules would result in a punishment of blood, so information leakage was not an issue.

"The only way into the factory is through the front gate. Because the place is surrounded by the sea. There is naturally a guardroom there, and the place is defended twenty-four seven. Therefore we will go by the sea. We will board a boat in the port and climb over the walls. First we will invade the energy source and lifeline of the factory, the magic transformer. We will cut the power cable and stop the resupply of magical energy. If we do that then their network will go down temporarily and the light stones (flash rocks) will go dead. We will borrow the help of the darkness to execute our task."

"Taking out the main energy system is fine and all, but surely they have a backup? If they have another magic power stone then the facility's network will come up again right away. And if we destroy the machinery, alarm signals will go off and our position will be exposed. If we go at it too flas.h.i.+ly they will report the matter and the military police is going to rush over."

While running his eyes over the resume regarding the cabling, Bando asks.

The main points of caution are minutely described on the distributed plan charts.

Since they were doing the robbery together, a precise division of work was required. They would have to memorize the layout of the premises and form a detailed plan.

"There is a time lag before the autonomous system activates. This rarely used magic power supply system is intended to be used only when the facility's reaction furnace, which only operates during the day, stops receiving power. Moreover it is a gas turbine type which takes a good while before it reaches operational capacity. There will be more than sufficient time before the network comes online again."

"Does that mean that after stopping that 'heart', we have about ten minutes, where we could destroy whatever we want within the large factory without being exposed?"

Stark's expression lit up. As long as their actions did not cause black smoke or overly loud noises, everything would go unnoticed in the darkness.

"We are a bit short of hands… But their number should not be high, and they will be working to protect the facilities. A point working in our favor is that the alarm display in the central surveillance building emphasizes the first instance of serious break-down. Before we sever the cable we will employ a decoy to distract the official watching the security screens. If possible I want it to be in the facility on the opposite side from where we will be working. Setting fire to the sand filtration building is what I believe will work best. Bando, can you get it done?"

"Don't worry. I am a former professional control system magician. I'll put a timed dummy alarm into their network. They won't be able to tell what we're doing to their magic machinery."

In the voice devoid of intonation there was an unshakable self-confidence.

"Continuing on to our movement route. After obtaining the drums of the purified water from the outgoing s.h.i.+pping storage, we will toss them at the seaside beyond the eastern wall. Then we will prepare for our acts of destruction. If nothing goes wrong we will head for the facility's main building. The antic.i.p.ated cash will be there. As far as obstacles go, there are five surveillance operators, as well as three guards. On top of that there is a protection magician dispatched from the magician guild. The facility is greater than ten hectares in area, so he's an A-cla.s.s magician with responsibilities to uphold. The information says that he is a summoner, if he appears then it will be my job to kill him."

"Quik. Let me accompany you for that matter."

The belligerent Stark struck his palm with his first.

His fingers were astonis.h.i.+ngly thick, his arms and neck were like logs.

He was strong in a fight.

Just looking at his physique, this was obvious to anyone.

But Stark obviously did not possess the ability to defeat the enemy silently.

Besides, this fight would not take place on a standard battlefield.

"Stark, your job will be to escort Doldo and Bando. We aren't going there to fight. We're going there to steal. If the facility is restored, then soldiers are going to be coming. We're talking armed military police. Anyone who notices an abnormality is going to report the crime right away. By my calculations, the time we are going to have before they arrive is roughly thirty minutes."

They went over the many important points of the plan, asking questions and figuring out their true plan.

After they were done, Shouji threw out his arms.

He addressed them with the words he had prepared as the clincher.

"We are going to rake in the money. We'll ride horses of fine breeds, surround ourselves with elegant furniture as we live palaces overlooking the city. Every day we will drink wine while sprawled out at the poolside. If we feel like it we will call for high-cla.s.s prost.i.tutes, or perhaps take on a couple of beautiful wives. If we toss out some money we can throw upper cla.s.s parties and act like above-board businessmen."

The three listeners sat in silence with wide opened eyes. Those were not daydreaming faces, they were the faces of expressionless puppets.

They were the faces of men trying to imagine a world they had never dreamed of.

"Errorknife's unemployment amongst the youths is about fifty percent. The end of the war took away our jobs. The great king has no interest in bringing revival for us who are constantly tormented by financial hards.h.i.+p. These days all we can do is call out to the on-site foremen to ask for work as day laborers. Even if you uprightly follow that path, all you get is low paying manual labor at the side of refugees and beastmen. Let us, here, put an end to those days that we are so fed up with."

— That's right. Since my father's s.h.i.+p was taken by the debt collectors, we've lived in poverty.

— I was had to leave the magician school because I was forcibly drafted for the army, and after exhausting myself for them I was simply discharged and discarded.

— I worked as an ironworker, but the work making bomb sh.e.l.ls decreased and I didn't get my contract extended.

"We are professional criminals. A team that perfectly completes their tasks. We're different from those teenage boys who do a bit of small-scale theft on impulse. Let's go and prove that."

Their feast's main dish was lobster.

In a small boorish voice Stark called for celebration, and treated the others to what he had procured during the early morning.

The garlic b.u.t.ter covered lobster was hot, and the delicate meat juice had the scent of the sea. As a secret flavour cheese had been added. It was delicious enough to make your eyes pop out.

Doldo, in his cooking outfit, served the food as the three other men licked their fingers.

"Shouji, lately the beastmen have been sniffing around about you. Did you do something?"

While digging out the meat from a torn off claw, Bando poked fun at him.

"No idea. I don't recall doing anything in particular. Maybe I forgot to send a birthday present or something."

Shouji answered bluntly as he formed his fingers into the shape of a flick, and used it to knock the neck off a beer bottle.

As that action scattered liquid onto the tablecloth, Doldo called out to him in blame.

"Use the d.a.m.n bottle opener."

Shouji paid it no mind and poured the beer into a gla.s.s and drank it down in a single breath. His throat echoed and white foam was stuck to his upper lip.

"It's too bad, though."

As he was removing a lobster's sh.e.l.l and pouring dressing sauce on the tender meat, Stark let his thoughts be known. His meal became covered in a red and white line pattern of dressing.

Together they formed a sweet oily flavour.

"Wh, what's too bad, St, Stark?"

"There's going to be lots of sacrifices. Beastmen have a strong sense of brotherhood. If you kill one of them they come crawling like seals in large numbers. It's gonna be a ma.s.sacre."

The calm and warm atmosphere died out.

All of them turned silent. Imagining the mountain of corpses, their appet.i.te decreased.

Slightly hurt that his friends did not seem to be concerned for him, the cause of the issue, Shouji, sullenly drank his soup.

Indeed, if they appeared before he him he would probably kill them.

"In any case, I am happy I get to do work with you, Quik. We entrust this to you, army commander Lobster Commando."

Under the effects of the alcohol, Bando attempted to instill some gaiety.

Turning the food into a slang and joking lightened the mood at the table.

Bando, who had been an information officer in the army, had in the past been mobilized with the officer candidate Shouji.

Officer candidates had the status of non-commissioned officers, and were in charge of organizing their platoon.

Bando had never been under the command of Shouji, but he knew of his past.

Therefore, for such recollections to flow out during drinking sessions was natural.

"… In the army there was a regulation called 'death or glory'. It stipulated that the solder who was the first to enter the enemy camp would receive a bonus reward. Aah, it meant the first guy who received the baptism of magic attacks and long spears. The person almost always died so usually soldiers would go as the third or fourth man. Even the most brave would do that. Even they received the credit of fearlessness and monetary rewards.

"However, Shouji was always the first man a.s.saulting. I did accounting work for the army so I knew who was earning the money. I even went and confirmed that he did it with his bloodshot eyes while drinking potions. It was very dependable. The enemy's faces said that they couldn't deal with it. Their expressions seemed to say that the devil had invaded.

"But, I thought it was odd. Could he possibly be without fear? Therefore I asked him 'how can you do these things?'

"I thought that maybe he had gone crazy from taking too many potions, or maybe that he was just suicidal. Since he had no family to send the rewarded money home to, I thought that suicidal thoughts wouldn't be out of the question.

"But what came out of his mouth was 'whenever I noticed where I had gone, it was always in the vanguard'.

"He seemed to find his own actions strange. Aah, he had indeed drunk too many potions. The money he had gone to great lengths to obtain was all used for more potions. I fell for this guy at that moment."