The Company Commander has returned

Chapter 37 - Fake Monster

"Not everyone's here. The assistant manager is missing. I guess Madam Anne is off doing something else?"

"Mago..."

The head chef called my name.

The white-clad attendants, who had been preparing food, came to kill me.

"You could say killing me is just part of the food preparation process."

"Mago, you've done a good job hiding your true identity..."

The head chef pointed at my navy military uniform.

"Well, it was not hard at all to manage to keep it hidden, right?"

They slowly advanced toward me.

With every step they took on the floor, a creaking sound echoed.

"How are you still alive?"

"How? What reason do I have to be dead?"

"Madam Ann struck you with lightning twice. How is it you weren't hit?"

"When fireworks go off, lightning follows. I've experienced that before. How could I forget?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't need to know. But aren't you all a bit busy? I doubt you came here just for me."

"Is she... dead?"

"She's alive."

I pointed to the ground with my index finger.

"She's tied up under here."

"What are you planning to do, locking her away?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted you to experience what you did, even for a brief moment."

"You found out about the warehouse too, Mago... If that's the case, we can't let you live...!"

The head chef gestured.

The attendants, realizing the meaning behind his gesture, closed in even more.

A little closer.

Just a bit more.

"Mago, did you think you could take us on with that axe?"

The head chef pointed at the axe I held.

"We don't die easily from regular weapons. Even if we're wounded, we regenerate as long as we don't lose too much blood."

I gripped the axe tightly with both hands.

"What can you do alone? You're just an imperial soldier."

I didn't respond.

I simply swung the axe downward.

When the axe blade hit the ground with all my strength, the floor they were standing on cracked in a chain reaction.

The floor, which had already been damaged, collapsed entirely from the shock.

Thirty vampires.

All of them fell underground.

It was like gravel being dumped into a lake.

The splash echoed continuously.

I quickly struck a match.

Connected it to the firework's fuse, and a moment later...

The light shot through the broken ceiling.

The firework, rising amidst the gray smoke, exploded in the sky.

For a brief moment, the blue moonlight was obscured.

"Mago...!"

Voices echoed from the underground.

As an Anaconda attendant, they should know the meaning of the fireworks.

The voice sounded as if it were crying desperately.

Through the gap in the ceiling, a bolt of lightning descended.

The blue flash reached the very bottom of the distillery in an instant.

As soon as it was visible, it struck.

There was no way to avoid it.

The electric shock collided with the underground, now a sea of wine.

Madam Anne had killed her kin with her own hands.

They all died from electrocution.

The thunderous roar devoured their screams.

They rose to the surface like a school of fish.

***

Madam Anne was hovering above.

She had risen as high as possible to avoid the lightning hitting any obstacles.

"How are they handling this? Making me fire three times."

She reduced the flapping of her wings and descended toward the ground.

"Let's keep going."

She gestured.

Twelve vampires followed her, catching up.

They walked through the forest all night.

After some time, Madam Anne stopped in her tracks.

"I found it."

She then quietly listened.

The other vampires stopped and focused on listening as well.

"I hear goblins. We've found their dwelling."

At this, the Anaconda attendants relaxed.

"We'll finish this job and leave."

"Yes, Madam."

"Mago isn't alone. If he came as an imperial soldier, there's likely more forces with him. We'll enjoy our last supper and hide."

***

In Madam Ann's warehouse.

"Hyung...!"

The voice of the right-hand man trembled with anxiety.

He looked at the leader with fearful eyes.

He quietly stood by, just watching.

"This stupid handcuff..."

The leader had a small iron pin in his mouth.

He lifted the handcuffs up to his face.

Using the iron pin in his mouth, he tried to unlock them.

"Hyung, it's been a day already..."

"I know. I really need to go to the bathroom. I can't hold it anymore! If I don't get these off, I'm going to wet myself here..."

"Yes... Hyung, actually, I kind of... already..."

"Shut up! Don't say it. I don't want to hear it."

The leader kept trying.

There was a clattering sound for a while, then suddenly, one clear, sharp noise.

"I did it...!"

When the cuffs were removed, the rest wasn't that difficult.

The leader spat out the iron pin from his mouth.

The shackles were freed, and he felt liberated.

"Bathroom, bathroom!"

"Hyung! Me too..."

"Ugh, seriously..."

The leader made an annoyed expression and quickly unlocked the handcuffs of the right-hand man.

"Ah..."

The freed thief stretched his wrists, feeling the freedom.

"Here. Take care of the rest."

The leader threw the iron pin to the right-hand man.

"Yes, Hyung."

The right-hand man used the pin to unlock the shackles on his legs.

The leader looked down at the five mixed-blood vampires with a troubled expression.

"Take care of the rest."

"Yes..."

The mixed-blood vampires lowered their heads in defeat.

He couldn't just leave them like this.

"More importantly, I need to use the bathroom quickly..."

The thief leader climbed the stairs toward the first floor.

By simply opening the iron door, they could reach the first floor.

"Oh, right. This... they said only a vampire or that white-haired monster could open it..."

The gang leader slumped down.

"Tch..."

Once sitting, he received a signal and immediately stood up again.

He kept sitting and standing repeatedly.

"Hey, boss, let's try together. I'll help you."

The right-hand man spoke while untying the others' restraints.

"There, it's done."

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

The leader urged.

"I'll do it."

At that moment, one of the mixed-bloods, who had been sitting absent-mindedly, stood up.

With a sharp glint in his eyes, he pushed the iron door.

"Ugh..."

But it was too much for just one person.

"Me too."

"I'll help as well."

The mixed-bloods stood up one by one.

Five mixed-blood vampires and two humans.

"One, two..."

They combined their strength and pushed the door together.

The iron door creaked and slowly opened.

"We did it!"

The gang leader hurried out first.

He went straight to the bathroom on the first floor.

It was as fast as entering; he was out in no time.

"That white-haired... It's all that white-haired monster's fault..."

The leader squeezed the last of his strength to utter the words.

"Why did he drag us into this..."

He walked to the window and surveyed the situation outside.

"Boss, if we go out, Madam Anne might strike us with a bolt of lightning."

"Is that so?"

"I think I heard thunder a few times yesterday..."

"Is that so?"

"Boss?"

"It's nothing."

"Eh?"

The right-hand man rushed to the window.

He too looked outside.

"It really is quiet... Too quiet."

"I thought they'd keep watch outside so we couldn't escape, but this is so sloppy..."

"They probably never expected we'd break out of our cuffs."

"That's because Madam Anne underestimated us, being from a bandit background. She didn't know we always carry iron pins with us."

"Do you think they're after Mago?"

"Hmm... That might be it."

"Shall we go out?"

"What if they're sniping us from another building?"

"Then... we'll die."

"We just got out of the underground, and now we can't even leave..."

"Hey, over there!"

"Hm?"

"It's Mago!"

"Ah, Boss! Isn't that a military uniform? So you were from the Empire's army!"

The right-hand man noticed the change.

"Ah, right. Of course. I wouldn't quit. I was the top of my training camp. What a waste it would've been."

"I knew it..."

The leader sighed as he spoke.

"Are you trying to take down Madam Anne as part of the Empire's forces?"

When he asked,

"I'm not from the Empire. I'm from the special ops unit. I wouldn't have done it if the vampires had stayed quiet."

"You're causing trouble, white-haired. You're bold for a new recruit."

"Otherwise, it would have escalated."

"Mago, what's happening outside? Isn't Madam Anne lurking, waiting for a chance?"

"Madam Anne is not here. She left the entertainment district with the remaining vampires."

"Eh...?"

"I don't know the reason. There must have been something more important than catching me. I have a guess, though."

"White-haired, if you don't know, this will end badly..."

"So, I'm trying to find out now."

He stared directly at the leader.

"Did Madam Anne ask about me? What did she say?"

"Look, if we hadn't talked, we'd be dead by now."

"I'm not blaming you. I'm looking for clues."

"They wanted everything, so I told them everything."

"Everything?"

"Yes, Boss..."

"The scope of the questions was too broad. Tell me more specifically."

"It's exactly as I said. That we fought against you and Kinjo in the capital. About the letter with the code and the wooden orc model I brought to the training camp."

"Boss!"

The right-hand man suddenly clapped his hands.

"I think Madam Anne laughed when we talked about that!"

"Laughed?"

"Yes, Boss. She laughed when we mentioned the orc dummy."

"She reacted to that... What kind of laugh was it?"

"What do you mean by what kind of laugh?"

"I'm asking whether it was mocking, hollow, or a big laugh."

"White-haired, do you need to know that much about her laugh?"

"I need to know."

"Hmm... If I had to say, it was more of a slight smile."

"Did she figure something out from the orc dummy talk...?"

Madam Ann's laugh—what was it about?

The coded letter.

The orc dummies.

The sword inside it.

"The orc dummie was a fake monster... That's what she said while laughing."

The right-hand man added.

As soon as he heard that, Mago imagined Madam Anne laughing mockingly.

It wasn't mocking or hollow laughter.

It wasn't a big laugh either.

"That... should've been mentioned from the beginning."

"Eh? The orc dummy is just a dummy, so of course, it's a fake. Was that the key point...?"

"I roughly get it. In fact, I would have preferred if it wasn't important..."

"White-haired, do you know everything? Please explain. There are others... well, not just us trapped here."

The leader pointed to the five half-bloods.

"The orc dummy looked like an orc, of course. One of my teammates even tore it apart by mistake."

"That's kind of foolish, but anyway, go on."

"They're planning to use that. Something that looks like a monster."

"What do you mean? Is Madam Anne planning to make a vampire dummy?"

"No, they're going to turn themselves into dummies. The second invasion—winged monsters were flying in the sky."

"Yes, Boss. I know, I heard about it..."

"Hearing about it and seeing it are different. I've seen them, so I know exactly what they look like. But if you only hear about it, they're just winged black monsters. You can only think of them that way."

He pointed to a mutt vampire.

"That's why hearing about it isn't enough."

Especially the wings of the vampire, which looked like bat wings.

"If someone only hears about the wings, they'll believe even if what they see is a bat wing. That's what they plan to use."

"So, White-haired, Madam Anne is planning to pretend to be one of those winged monsters from the second invasion...?"

"Probably."

"Why would she imitate that?"

"To mess with me and the special task force."