Chapter 91: Mutual suspicions and twists and turns lead to the beginning...
"Luger?"
Clementine was momentarily stunned, then immediately thought of the red-haired man who had been seriously injured and nearly died.
"Oh, that guard captain's alias... he really almost died, he's still unconscious. After all, he was hit by you, it's a miracle he survived."
"A pseudonym."
Mainkun was pleased that no one had been killed, but also somewhat puzzled:
"You mean he used an alias when he introduced himself to me? ... That's unnecessary. He's a guard, not a gang member from Grey River."
“When he was a regular guard, he would indeed introduce himself by his real name to ordinary people.”
With a helpless sigh, Clementine still remembered the shock she felt when she had thoroughly investigated the guards.
“But you’re not an ordinary person, and he’s not an ordinary guard either.”
"I don't understand."
"It means..."
Clementine lowered her voice and leaned close to Mainkuen's cat ear:
"The husband who burned his wife and children to commit insurance fraud, the teacher who sexually assaulted disabled students, and the nobleman who hired someone to kill—all these prisoners who were supposed to be escorted to Mero Petersburg by him mysteriously disappeared along the way."
"He let them go."
Mainkuhn twitched his ear expressionlessly.
"No, he killed them."
“…Hmm.”
A guard committing murder, even if it's against a bad guy, is shocking enough, but after thinking about it, Mainkuen's first reaction was:
“Intentional homicide, bending the law for personal gain, abuse of power—Navelette told me about similar cases. He seemed very upset when he told me… Sorry, I was distracted. Please continue.”
"...Huh? What are you saying? Is this something I should hear in the House of Hearths?"
Clay, who had broken the law, suddenly widened her eyes:
"Stay away from that damn judge, and stop studying that damn law. You're not qualified to take the civil service exam!"
“.
Mainkuhn was unwilling and changed the subject:
“Continue explaining why Luger used an alias in front of me.”
"You've been completely misled by him! Those high-sounding articles are of no benefit to your mental state whatsoever!"
Or perhaps it's a matter of "positive"? Having walked the gray path for years, Kreeway gritted her teeth and laboriously returned to the main topic:
"Because of the alias 'Lu Re,' he only introduced it to his true friends, elusive heroes, or accomplices who helped him punish evildoers!"
"It all sounds like it has nothing to do with me."
Mainkuhn recalls:
"I have never helped him kill anyone."
Indeed, the cat and Rouge were not acquainted.
But Clementine sighed and reminded him.
"You may not have killed one, but what about a lynx?"
“Lynx…”
Mainkuhn vaguely recalled his other identity:
“I did kill a lot of bad guys without realizing it. Rougete thought I was one of his kind… Ah, no, Clementine, he liked me a lot when he saw me cripple a wanted criminal. At that time, he hadn’t found out I was a lynx…”
"Stop! Mainkuhn."
Clementine abruptly interrupted him, her voice unusually stern.
"No matter why he is close to you or trusts you, ignore him!"
"He may indeed admire you, but that admiration is tinged with impure madness. It's clear, Mainkuen, that he wants to use your formidable strength to forge an extrajudicial guillotine to compensate for Fontaine's lack of a death penalty!"
She shook the cat's shoulder violently, her voice anxious like that of a mother dealing with a teenage boy, as if afraid he would go astray:
"But what does the law have to do with you? What does justice have to do with you? Don't you want to be an ordinary person? Then ignore him, Mainkuhn!"
"Of course I want to be an ordinary person, but the circumstances don't allow it."
Mainkuhn tilted his head slightly, the shadow of his scarf obscuring most of his face, revealing only his pair of deep, inhuman golden vertical pupils in the dim morning light.
"Don't worry, Clementine. In the current situation, it's more accurate to say that I'm using him than him using me."
"You, trying to take advantage of others... Hey, where are you going!?"
Before Clementine could finish speaking, the cat jumped out of the room, turned several corners in the street, rushed into the hospital sponsored by the Fools, and frantically patted the red-haired man's shoulder.
"who!"
Rougete sat bolt upright in his sickbed, wincing in pain from his wound, but his eyes lit up the moment he saw Maine, as if a dying believer had witnessed a miracle.
"Lynx! You've finally come to your senses! Are you willing to join me in purifying this decaying Fontainebleau and eradicating the filth that the law cannot punish?"
"without."
Mainkuhn's answer was crisp and straightforward, but his actions were quite misleading. He grabbed the medical record and pen and slapped them onto the gauze on Rouget's chest.
"Who do you want me to kill? Write down ten names now, along with descriptions of their crimes and their addresses."
"well!!"
Fontaine's system is cumbersome and feedback is slow, rarely offering such direct questioning and rapid efficiency. Overwhelmed by joy, Rouge's pain and doubts were immediately overwhelmed, and he eagerly took up the pen and began writing furiously.
Mainkun waited quietly to the side, like a cat crouching and waiting for someone to give him food.
"Finish!"
Ten lives were offered by Rougete with both hands, as if they were the purest sacrifices, and the medical records were handed into Mainkuhn's black pointed armor.
"Do you want to know more details? Like the evidence of the crime, the details of the case, etc. Of course, I can assure you that these are cases that are difficult for the court to handle, and the law is ambiguous! For example, this case: a father abused his son from his previous marriage under the guise of discipline, causing the boy to commit suicide by jumping off a building at the age of nine..."
He was prepared to be interrogated and had thought about what kind of honorifics to use when answering, but he saw that the boy didn't look at a single word. Instead, he lowered his head and leaned closer to the piece of paper that smelled of medicine.
"call."
He took a very focused and serious sniff, his nose pressed against the paper, and commented:
"A decent killing intent."
It's like appreciating a rare and exceptional dish.
The ecstasy on Luger's face froze instantly.
"you--"
Rouge came to find like-minded companions.
But he was horrified to find that his 'comrade's' face showed no murderous intent, no identification, no anger, not even a sense of justice... only a pure, almost bestial... sniffing and satisfaction?
Who...who are you?
He suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Isn't a lynx a child that doesn't like to talk, is very quiet, very shy, and looks a bit fierce?"
He became terrified.
"You...you're not a lynx!"
But this boy in front of him... no, this "thing"! Luger didn't know how to describe him. Although he had the appearance of a lynx, the sharp armor of a lynx, and even wore the old trench coat that Luger had personally returned, he was definitely not a lynx!
"oh."
Mainkuhn looked at his face, which was contorted with terror.
"An unexpected bonus, not bad."
"Who are you? What did you do to the child?"
The poor, well-informed man was terrified. He tried to touch the gun but couldn't, and could only ask in a trembling voice.
"What do you want the list for? Your eyes are clearly empty!"
Of course, it's because I need a few bad guys to drain my emotions. Although it wouldn't matter if I just grabbed a few on the street, I'd definitely break down once I sobered up.
However, this reason was difficult to explain, so Mainkuhn could only speak rigidly and give a report devoid of emotion.
"You give me a name, and I'll grant your wish."
"As for the rest, lynxes, justice... or whatever, it doesn't matter."
"..."
"No, no—it's not like that. Only those who are righteous can—can understand the weight of this list! Can bear this mission of cleansing the filth! What...what are you going to do with it?!"
Mainkuhn really doesn't understand what he's breaking down about.
But it doesn't matter anymore.
Because compared to the destruction of his brother and the world, everything else is insignificant.
"Don't even think about making friends with lynxes."
With a final pang of pity, he offered Rouge a word of advice.
"Tigers don't need companions."
as well as.
Thank you for your hospitality.
*
Now that he had the list, Mainkuhn didn't linger.
He found the abusive father, knocked him down from behind, broke his arms and legs with a stick, and pushed him off the building.
He didn't see Mainkuen's face, nor was he dead; after all, a dead person has no emotions.
Before pushing him down the stairs, Mainkun grabbed his ear and said to him:
“I am a lynx, and I have come because of your son.”
"I have remembered your name, I have remembered your scent."
The boy's voice was soft and low, completely calm.
"I will come back in three months, break your newly reattached arms and legs, and push you off this cliff."
"Six months from now, I will come back, break your newly reattached arms and legs, and push you off this cliff."
"Nine months later..."
"Enough...enough! Aren't three meals enough?!" The man whimpered as if on the verge of death. "Aren't three meals enough for you to vent your anger?!"
"No, I'm not angry."
Maine reached out and removed a few of his teeth, enough to keep him from dying but not from living too painfully, just enough to keep him from grieving for his killer day and night.
"Nine months later, eleven months later, thirteen months later..."
Perhaps there was a calculation error somewhere? But who cares? Mainkuhn simply stated:
“Every three months, I will come to visit you, break your newly healed arm, and knock out your newly installed gold teeth.”
"Waaah...waaah—stop! There has to be an end to this, right?! Even prisoners at the bottom of the sea get released after serving their sentences!" the man wailed incoherently.
“Okay.” Mainkuhn readily agreed, his tone flat.
“I stopped when your son came over and said to me, ‘Big brother, stop, I don’t want Dad to suffer anymore.’”
"But, but that brat is dead! He's dead!! How can he talk like that!"
That's your problem.
Mainkuhn said no more and gently pushed the obese body away.
"ah!!"
The bulky body tumbled and twisted in the air, followed by the dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground.
"Ah! Someone has fallen from a building!"
"Call an ambulance! Call security!"
This wasn't a remote place, so Melusin and the crowd spotted him immediately and exclaimed in surprise:
"Sir, sir! Are you alright? Are you conscious?... Wow! So many wounds, not from a fall, who hurt you!?"
“...lynx... lynx…”
"Great."
Mainkuhn flicked his thin tongue, quite pleased that this man could accuse him in public.
"Everyone saw his miserable state, and they must be very afraid of me, a prisoner."
The cat found a secluded spot, ready to harvest the fear and hatred fermented by the "lynx's brutality"—the precious fuel that would drive his plan to save the world.
"Huh? Lynx, this..."
But he saw even the gentlest of them, Melusin, wagging her tail in annoyance, trying to help while asking, unwilling to give up:
"Are you sure it's him?"
"..."
The man was unconscious and unable to answer.
"?"
A faint sense of confusion flashed through Mainkuhn's mind as he stood in the tree.
"The reaction is wrong."
"It's a lynx."
"It's a lynx."
A buzz of discussion arose around them, but instead of the expected panic, there was a strange...understanding? They exchanged glances, their voices low, as if sharing an open secret.
"I reckon the Rose Association members should arrive soon."
"?"
What does this have to do with wild roses?
"Make way! Make way!"
A piercing shout grew louder as it approached! A figure in bright yellow robes seemed to cleave through the crowd! It was Navia! She charged in with a squad of black-clad men, exuding murderous intent! Silver, holding a tranquilizer gun, boomed:
"The young lady has arrived! Get out of the way!"
"Keep a low profile!"
Navia kicked Silver in the leg, and at the same time, with a ferocious expression, she pulled the safety pin on the flashbang in her hand and smashed it into the man's open door!
"Put on masks! Charge! Take them alive!"
Bang!
A blinding white light and a deafening explosion engulfed the room, leaving Mainkuhn expressionless.
Navia, it seems you're the one who's less low-key.
"Damn it! Nobody's here!!" Navia's furious roar came from the smoke and dust as she charged out again.
"Search! That damn lynx can't have gone far. Go ask! Has anyone seen a weird-looking kid wearing a scarf? Quick!—Don't make the features too obvious so others won't hear! We have to get him into our hands first!"
"Ah, Kares is still in my hands. It's normal that they arrested me." A faint trace of anxiety belonging to the Rose Thorn Society drifted over, but was absorbed by Mainkun.
But it's too little, far from enough. What about the anticipated, massive public fear and hatred?
"What's wrong with those onlookers? They seem afraid of me, but not really."
Should we wait for things to develop further?
Mainkuhn waited and waited, until finally passersby started talking about it:
"Have you heard? A lynx pushed a man off the building here."
"!" Yay!
Mainkuhn pricked up his ears with a hint of anticipation.
Another person chimed in, "Sigh, I've heard about it. They're really not human."
"!" Yay! Yay! Scold me! Scold me!
Wait, something's not right, why isn't my demonic power increasing?
"That father is such a terrible person!"
A roar:
"If the Rose Society hadn't exposed that evidence today, I wouldn't have known that such a beast in human skin existed!"
They started hurling insults and abuse at the victims. Although no one praised the lynx for doing a good job, Mainkuhn didn't receive any negative feedback.
Finally, they all said in unison:
"Thanks to the new owner of the Rose Society, otherwise who would have known that the boy suffered so much before his death?"
After a moment of silence, someone finally couldn't hold back and blurted out:
"The lynx did a really good job... cough! Of course, friends, I don't mean to advocate vigilante justice!"
Mainkuhn: "..."
Beneath the scarf, his face, which had been kept relaxed by the medication, revealed for the first time a violent, incomprehensible, and near-collapse-like crack.
"??????"
No, wait, Navia, I am a lynx! The lynx that took your father's lynx!
Shouldn't you hate me to the core?! Shouldn't you use all the power of the Rose Society to tear me to pieces?! What are you doing now?!
Ah! Answer me! Navia! Why are you doing this for no reason! What's wrong with you!?
-----------------------
Author's note: Mainkuhn and Navia have achieved the feat of calling each other crazy.
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