**
Several days passed.
"We've arrived. So Charon really did know the way."
"What do you mean, 'really did'?! Sinclair and I worked ourselves to the bone on both sides."
"Still, I'm glad we can finally tell southeast from northeast, Charon."
Thanks to Yuri and Sinclair's blood-soaked efforts, we were able to reach our destination correctly.
...Could it be that Faust had arranged for Yuri to be our guide precisely to account for this?
"Is this... the old Lobotomy Corporation?"
Outside the window stood a shabby, decrepit warehouse-like structure, its Lobotomy Corporation logo weathered by the passage of time and poor maintenance.
Was that serving as the passage leading to the branch of Lobotomy Corporation?
"This is my first time seeing it in person too... It shouldn't have been that long since 'that incident.'"
What was "that incident," exactly?
I didn't understand the phrase in Ishmael's words, but I could only vaguely guess it had been some major catastrophe bad enough to bring Lobotomy Corporation down. I had no way of knowing the details.
"Goodness... How can a building end up looking like this?"
"Hah. Must be a sight unfamiliar to a rich young master."
"Enough chatter. We disembark."
At Vergilius's words, which cut off Heathcliff's sneering remark at Hong Lu, we began getting off the bus.
"Huh? New faces..."
"They're Fixers from the same office as Yuri."
"Experienced ones who've visited the Lobotomy Corporation branch several times already."
There were unfamiliar faces outside the bus.
According to Faust's explanation, they seemed to be people who had come with Yuri to help us.
"Allow me to introduce them. The one on the left is Mr. Hopkins, and the one on the right is Ms. Aya."
Ms. Aya and Mr. Hopkins wore outfits generally similar to Yuri's, but unlike Yuri, whose clothes were accented in red, the pair wore blue-accented attire.
"Hello there~"
Ms. Aya greeted us first in a languid tone.
With silver hair, grayish skin, and a weapon that was an electric baton, she gave off a very different impression from Faust. Her relaxed, easygoing personality came through from the very first greeting.
And Mr. Hopkins...
"R...R...R..."
"Red Gaze! It's such an honor to meet you in person...! I've only ever heard the rumors, but to be able to see you like this..."
"Ah."
Wearing the same outfit as Ms. Aya and carrying a crossbow, the green-eyed man with slightly bright brown hair seemed to have an enormous amount of interest in the Red Gaze, that is, Vergilius.
As if used to receiving such admiring looks, Vergilius deftly cut off his fussing and postponed the greetings for the moment, beginning to speak about the mission right away.
"You see that shabby warehouse up ahead? There's a staircase inside that leads down to the basement."
"From the stairs onward, Yuri here will be in charge."
"...Yes."
...She looks tense. Will she be all right?
"These Fixers are experienced too, so they'll handle any unexpected situations well."
"That should do it, then. My accompaniment ends here. I'll be waiting for you all on the bus."
"Huh? All of a sudden?"
"If you thought I'd keep babysitting you forever, that's a grave miscalculation, Dante."
"So you're going to stretch out and rest all by yourself?"
"If I were to accompany you from the start, wouldn't the lot of you be no different from tourists going down there?"
Vergilius easily shut down Heathcliff's complaint.
...If the sole objective is to obtain the Golden Bough, then it would be fastest for him to go himself. So why insist on staying behind?
"...In other words, you're telling us to go get beaten to a pulp and sliced to pieces."
"People usually have some other scheme when they say it like that..."
"Think whatever you like."
Ishmael seemed to share my suspicion, but Vergilius had no intention of answering and dismissed it cleanly.
"I've even gone so far as to assign you a guide, so make sure you do well."
"Yes, sir! I'll do well and come back! Red Gaze!"
"I'll do my best too~"
The Sinners all looked rather unconvinced, but the guides were enthusiastic.
No, Yuri actually seemed reluctant. Was something wrong?
"Mm... Ms. Aya and Mr. Hopkins, was it? I look forward to working with you. Call me Gregor."
"Yes, nice to meet you~"
"I'm Saramago. Please take care of us."
"Yes!, likewise!"
Mr. Hopkins, was it? His level of excitement was seriously hard to handle.
Is he doing this because he wants to make some kind of connection with Vergilius?
"...Dante. Hold on a moment, will you look at me?"
While I and the Sinners were exchanging greetings one by one, Vergilius took Dante and moved off to a distant spot.
······
"My name is Otis. I look forward to working with you."
And by the time the greetings ended with Otis, Dante returned alone.
Did Vergilius go back to the bus?
"Has everyone finished greeting each other?"
"Yes, with me greeting Otis last, everyone has finished."
After hearing that, Dante looked at us and said, "Then, let us enter."
"...Let's enter the branch."
At Faust's words, the Sinners began entering the old Lobotomy Corporation branch, following the office personnel who were going in first.
...Something about this feels ominous.
"Saramago, aren't you coming in?"
"Ah, yes. I'm coming."
Ignoring my unease, I too entered the Lobotomy Corporation branch at Dante's command.
**
Creeeak...
Ignoring the eerie sound, we began moving deeper into the passage.
As we slowly advanced inward, the stench rising from below grew thicker, and the light coming in from outside began to diminish.
"Ugh... The smell... It's awful..."
"Mm... It feels like garbage is sticking all over my lungs."
"It's a smell that actually clears the head."
Mm... What exactly is Yi Sang?
No matter how I looked at him, his personality was far too strong.
"Let me say this again: if you die in here, you won't come back even after the battle ends."
Faust, thinking we were getting too lax, began emphasizing the warning she had given before entering.
"Come back...?"
"Is this some trendy joke~? Sigh, the City's gotten to the point where I don't even know what stories are going around anymore~"
Ah, so this one and Yuri don't know.
I wondered if I should explain, but seeing that Faust made no special effort to do so, I decided to stay quiet.
Of course, the reason wasn't only that she hadn't explained it.
More than that, the sources of the stench right in front of us were hard to ignore.
"It seems quite a bit of time has passed since they died."
"An accurate observation. They appear to have reached the stage of corpse decay."
Otis, seizing on the opening, praised Dante in an exaggerated tone.
...Does she never get tired of that?
"Ugh, looks like the bugs are throwing quite the feast."
"...Let's hurry."
Gregor urged us on, apparently reluctant to look at the corpses of those whose bodies had been reduced to insect-like forms and left sprawled across the floor.
"Huh... Greg? Are you maybe scared of bugs?"
"...Just in case, don't tell me you're planning some childish stunt like shoving a bug corpse in my face..."
"Ta-da!!!"
Before Gregor could even finish speaking, Rodion swiftly delivered a bug corpse right in front of his eyes.
"I trusted you wouldn't do it... Agh! Get that away from me! What's so funny about this?"
"Hahaha! I had no idea Gregor would be scared of bugs."
My words and Rodion's prank seemed to sour Gregor's mood, and he made an unpleasant face.
"...Greg? Was it really that bad?"
"...I'm sorry. Are you angry?"
"...Forget it."
"Hey there! Cut the pranks out. Don't make trouble that the Manager has to worry about!"
At Otis's rebuke, we all froze for a moment, and then Faust looked over something and said, "Hold on... this corpse is still warm."
"It seems the attack happened fairly recently."
Yuri, who had been examining the corpses with a dark expression, gradually brightened.
"These aren't... no, they're not employees of Lobotomy Corporation."
The corpses looked quite similar to the people outside with insect body parts.
...But the wounds look strange somehow?
"...These corpses look like they were killed by a person."
"The wounds aren't from some unknown thing or insect body parts... It's as if they were killed by a weapon..."
"This place has become practically a gold mine, so even riffraff have started gathering here."
"Among some Fixers and organizations, there's even talk of a Lobotomy Dream or an Enkephalin Rush. Maybe it's one of those?"
...Is that so? Maybe I'm being overly sensitive.
The wounds do feel a little too clean, but... there are plenty of wounds like this, so I suppose it could be that.
"Road, Enrush... what stylish abbreviations..."
Ryoshu said something out of nowhere.
"Haa, after staying quiet all this time, that's what you finally say..."
"Wouldn't such English make the original meaning hazy?"
"That's exactly what I mean..."
Ishmael was speaking when she suddenly asked a question.
"Yi Sang, don't you seem to be talking more than usual?"
Huh, is that so?
Hearing Ishmael say it, it did seem that way.
"Is that strange?"
"He's not exactly a man of few words to begin with."
"He's only changed a little recently."
Did something happen to Yi Sang?
"It's not a bad thing to have more underlings with sharp observation."
"I'd like you to keep up this state. Let's go."
"You sound almost like the captain. I'd say that's the Manager's job."
"...I've overstepped my bounds, Manager."
Otis's expression stiffened as if she had been caught off guard, then she lowered her head.
"No, it's fine. Let's go down."
At Dante's command, we headed deeper into the branch.