BCST 46

chapter 46

“What did you just say?”

Kin looked more shocked by the man’s words than by the middle finger pointed at him.

“You’re Logan Redfield? You?”

“Huh?”

Logan looked at Kin in disbelief at his reaction.

Then, stroking his beard, he muttered suspiciously,
“What the hell? You look like some outsider punk. How do you even know that name?”

Weird.

Weird indeed, he murmured.

Then his eyes suddenly sharpened, and he glared at Kin.
“Hey, pig. Why do you know that name?”

Kin gave him a “what kind of lunatic is this” look and shot back,
“Do you always talk about your own name like that—‘this name, this name’? Are you out of your damn mind?”

“Cut the crap and answer the question. How do you know that name?”

Kin was about to snap back but caught himself—remembering this was the very person he’d been sent to find.
He took a deep breath.

“Phew… My teammate said that Logan Redfield from Waterfall was the best around here. So I’ve been looking for you.”

“…Oh?”

Logan stroked his beard again, but this time, there was a flicker of intrigue in his eyes.

“So I finally come back to Waterfall, and you’re telling me my father’s skills got that good? Hm. Hmph…”

He muttered quietly under his breath.
It was too soft for most people to hear—but thanks to my enhanced physical senses, I caught every word clearly.

As I thought.
His father, huh?

During my earlier inquiries around town, I’d heard that Logan Redfield was the one I was looking for.
But it turns out that the man in front of me was the son of that Logan Redfield.

A year later in the game, he’d been active under the same name with no explanation, so I’d just assumed it was his real one.
But it turned out he’d inherited his father’s name.

I didn’t yet know why he chose to do that—but now I finally understood why there was a gap between what I knew from the game and the reality unfolding here.

Interesting.
Very interesting.

For an old veteran like me, uncovering hidden backstories about characters I thought I already knew was always a thrill.

As I was watching Kin and Logan Redfield face off with fascination, I noticed a few people in the crowd reacting oddly to Kin’s words.
They must have known the real Logan Redfield.

But before they could cause a scene, their friends quickly hushed them, keeping the overall commotion minimal.

It almost looked like they were afraid of the Logan standing before us.

“Hm…”

If you were paying attention, it was enough to notice.

But Logan didn’t seem to care about any of it—he simply packed some dried leaves into his pipe and lit it using the built-in igniter.

Click.

He drew in a long, deep puff of smoke.

“But that’s not what’s important here.”

Whoosh.

He exhaled a thick stream of smoke and pointed to Kin’s right arm—the cybernetic one, gleaming with mechanical joints.

“Anyway, I can’t just stand here watching a fine piece like that being mistreated by its master.”

Kin’s temper flared.
“What the hell, man? Who the hell are you to tell me what to do with my arm? You my mom or something?”

Logan didn’t flinch. His tone stayed cold and firm.
“Can you walk past a child being abused and just ignore it? Same thing. I can’t just stand by when that poor arm’s crying out for mercy. It’s begging to be saved. You understand?”

Kin recoiled, disgusted.
“What the hell, man! Child abuse? You crazy bastard! It’s a piece of cyberware! What’s next, if I jerk off with this arm, it’s child molestation now, you psycho?”

At that, I found myself stroking my chin.

Well… that’s certainly a fascinating philosophical perspective.

Would it count if a cyber-arm contained an early-stage high-intelligence AI module?
A moral dilemma worth chewing on.

The surrounding crowd began murmuring among themselves too—some debating whether advanced AIs counted as “children,” others arguing whether they could even be seen as sentient life.

Logan, however, didn’t seem to care about the discussion he’d sparked. He replied bluntly,
“Hmph. To a craftsman like me, any piece of cyberware built with that much care is someone’s child. Watching you treat it like that just makes me sick.”

Kin’s expression twisted in irritation.
“You crazy bot-daddy bastard… Whatever you say, this thing’s important to me. So keep your damn mouth shut before you get yourself hurt.”

As he spoke, his eyes glinted dangerously.

“…?”

Uh-oh.

That look never meant anything good.

The moment that thought crossed my mind, Kin adjusted something internally—loosening the linkage on his cyber-arm slightly.

When he lifted his arm, the metal joints groaned and squealed.

Eeeeek.

Kin smirked with satisfaction, curling his hand into a tight, exaggerated fist.

Then he started waving it back and forth dramatically, mocking Logan Redfield.

“Boo-hoo! Daddy! Daddy! Please don’t worry about me anymore! I’m so happy with my master! Please don’t take me away from him! I love him! Boo-hoo!”

Eeeek, eeeek, eeeek, eeeek—!

He flailed the arm wildly, even sticking his tongue out and rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses, putting his whole soul into the mockery.

…I already knew this, but—

Kin.
You’re completely, irredeemably insane.

“Ugh…”

Beside me, John groaned and looked away, unable to bear watching.
The crowd around us reacted in mixed ways—some burst out laughing and whistled, others winced and turned their heads in disgust.

But what really mattered wasn’t the crowd.

It was Logan Redfield’s reaction.

“…”

In that instant, I saw it—the faint, but unmistakable glint of killing intent in his eyes.

I stepped forward, crossing the line of onlookers.

“That’s enough. Stop.”

As I took a step, I released a bit of my mana, letting it ripple through the air.
Though I hadn’t raised my voice, it carried effortlessly, commanding everyone’s attention.

“…And who the hell are you supposed to be?”

“Wh—wha?! A mage?!”

Both of them turned to me in surprise.
Kin hastily retracted his tongue, but it was far too late.
I’d seen everything.

I looked at him and said evenly,
“Kin, you know better than to draw unnecessary attention.”

He protested, looking aggrieved.
“I—I didn’t start it! That bastard picked the fight first!”

To be fair, he wasn’t wrong.
From what I’d seen, it really had been Logan who’d taken an interest in Kin’s cyberware and provoked the situation.

Still, considering we were trying to keep a low profile, even an unfair confrontation like this shouldn’t have happened.

Then Logan growled,
“You’re with this idiot, then?”

I turned to face him fully.

Up close, it was clear—those eyes, fierce and wild, almost bestial.
And deep inside them, something flickered.

Whoosh—!

A violent pressure burst out from him.

“Wh–what the hell?”
Kin yelped beside me.

But I didn’t take my eyes off Logan.

Second-tier… no, third-tier power.
Even knowing what to expect, his strength was impressive.

Despite that, in the original story, he stayed quietly in this city, working as a mechanic until halfway through the plot?
Unbelievable.

But that was then—and this was now.

I wasn’t about to back down from a fight someone else started.

Before his aura could cause real harm, I raised my own mana to meet it.

Hummmm—!

Unlike his wild, unrestrained surge, I spread mine out carefully, wrapping around his presence with the subtlety I’d learned from Jean’s grimoire.

Logan’s expression shifted slightly as he muttered,
“…Not bad.”

I had no intention of letting this escalate or harm bystanders.
Unlike Kin, I wasn’t here to draw attention—we were supposed to be in hiding.

That was the only reason I’d stepped in—to end this quickly.

Thanks to that, the crowd wasn’t affected by the pressure between us.
Still, their faces showed their shock and fear.

“Who is that guy? He’s holding his own against that thug’s aura!”

“It feels like someone could die any second… is this okay?!”

Even when magic pressure cancels out, the sheer presence of two strong fighters remains.
And that alone was enough to terrify the onlookers.

Logan, apparently dissatisfied, began ramping up his aura even further.

Rumble…

Now his force was climbing past the second-tier and into the third-tier range.
But the stronger he pushed, the more unstable it became—wild and ragged.

Meanwhile, I absorbed and suppressed every fluctuation, keeping it contained so the civilians wouldn’t be affected.

The difference in control was clear as day.

“…Enough.”

With that, Logan suddenly pulled his power back.

An abrupt withdrawal like that was dangerous—if I’d kept pressing, my mana could’ve slammed into him and caused backlash.

But—

Whoosh.

I calmly retracted my aura too.

He must’ve expected as much; he didn’t even flinch.

“…”

But someone else was visibly shaken.

Kin.

He’d been watching the entire exchange, and his eyes were wide, his expression somewhere between awe and disbelief.

Well, that’s understandable.
Before today, he’d been feeling pretty good about his growth along the Edge Line.
And now he’d just witnessed what lay beyond that level.

Still, thanks to that, something in him seemed to shift—his gaze deepened, focused.
Good.
He’ll grow stronger from this.

“…So, you really are his comrade.”

Logan finally spoke, his rough voice cutting through the tension.

I turned back to him.
“Yeah. Something like that.”

Logan spun his pipe in his fingers silently, then looked around.

All around us, the crowd was still staring—completely oblivious to how close they’d been to getting caught in a deadly clash.

“…”

After a pause, Logan seemed to make up his mind.

“There’s a better place to talk. Follow me.”

Without waiting for a response, he turned and began pushing through the crowd.

Kin and I exchanged a glance.

A silent understanding passed between us.
He nodded.

“…Alright. Let’s go, mage.”

“I meant—bring John.”

Kin blinked, then hurried back into the crowd to grab John, who was still gawking.

Once he’d rejoined us, the three of us followed after Logan Redfield.