MCBD 32

Chapter 32

“Look at this, Bell.”

She called Bell Dio into the sitting room and showed him the disguise magic tool.
The mirror magic tool had cracked slightly.

She looked at Bell with a flustered expression.

“Do ancient magic tools ever break? I checked the books, but there was nothing like that.”

“It’s a very fine crack.”

“Yeah. It seems to have cracked suddenly yesterday. Do you think I might’ve let it come into contact with something it shouldn’t have?”

Bell examined the magic tool carefully, then whispered,

“May I take a closer look at this ancient disguise magic tool?”

“Ah, could you do that?”

“Yes. I think it would be best to gather information by visiting the Information Guild or magic tool artisans. Since there’s a crack, some follow-up measures will be necessary.”

“Oh, okay. Then go ahead.”

“First, I’ll make a copy of the magic tool. I won’t be able to replicate its abilities, but if I create it as a mirror copy so that any abnormalities in the original affect the copy as well, that should work. Would that be alright?”

“Sounds good. Make a copy and check it first. And actually…”

“Yes.”

“I’m planning to resign soon, so I don’t think it’ll be necessary to repair the magic tool. Just look into the information to a reasonable extent.”

Sienna smiled softly and looked up at Bell encouragingly.

“I always trust you, Bell Dio.”

At those words, he clenched his teeth tightly.

Her trust was a kind of asset he had built up over more than ten years. As long as it didn’t harm her, Bell would never cross the line—never.

“Thank you, Lady Sienna. I will become someone worthy of that trust.”

He had always been satisfied with his position as Sienna’s useful servant.
At least, until now.

There’s a saying: if your tail is too long, it gets stepped on.

As I changed my appearance back to Lirier’s face, I decided it was about time to prepare my resignation.

Of course, not immediately—after teaching the puppy a bit more human language first.

‘If the puppy can speak properly, it can testify about the illegal experiments, just like Aldehyde said.’

And it seemed I’d more or less confirmed that Aldehyde wasn’t a bad person.

‘Once that’s done, I’ll quietly submit my resignation and disappear.’

But then…

After putting away the disguise magic tool and going to work, something unbelievable happened.

Inside the Ability Stabilization Room, a dog was walking on two legs.

“Mother, thank you for saving me and raising me.”

And it was using polite speech.

“…Am I dreaming?”

I have never raised a dog like you, you know…

“This is not a dream.”

“What… is this?”

A dog suddenly speaking so clearly.

‘Is this the effect of the illegal experiments?’

As I stared at the dog in a daze, it muttered indignantly,

“Those damn bastards experimented on me. This is the document containing my testimony!”

“…R-really?”

The dog held out some papers with its front paw. It looked like a stenographer had typed up its testimony.

[There are two types of villains]

1. The mastermind who directly funded it.

2. The subcontractors who smuggled illegal stabilizers and conducted animal experiments.

‘I knew it would help catch the villains, but I didn’t think it’d be to this extent…’

As I folded the papers in amazement, the dog went back to walking on all fours and said,

“With my splendid testimony, you can catch the second group of subcontractor villains!”

“Y-yeah?”

What is this guy? He’s incredibly composed.

Among all the humans I knew, he surpassed even Ppuppu, and his command of language seemed even better than Aldehyde’s.

Seeing my confused expression, the puppy even cleared its throat.

‘A dog clearing its throat…?’

Just then, a chilling voice came from behind me.

“Let’s go.”

It was Aldehyde. He repeated himself.

“I heard everything from this dog. About who carried out the illegal experiments.”

The dog stood proudly on two legs and declared,

“Please catch those bastards based on my testimony!”

Is this really happening…? A dog speaking human language perfectly—have I lived too long…?

“Yes, then if you go catch those guys—”

I was about to finish the sentence when something felt off. Aldehyde’s eyes were rolling a bit too much. As I stared at him in alarm, he muttered,

“Come with me.”

“…Pardon?”

I was just about to hand in my resignation.

Then Aldehyde explained smoothly,

“It’s dangerous, so I don’t really want to take you along, but I’ve made a decision.”

“…What?”

“Don’t ask what that decision is.”

I hadn’t planned to ask, but you’re really misunderstanding things.

Still, I had enough social awareness not to say that out loud.

“Well… I’ll protect you. Let’s go together.”

He probably said it without thinking, but for some reason, my heart lurched.

I’d lived my life vaguely thinking things like “I’ll protect world peace” and the like, but no one had ever told me, “I’ll protect you.”

Especially not from Aldehyde—the so-called “mad dog.”

Somehow, I felt strangely unsettled.

I turned my gaze away and muttered quietly,

“Alright. Let’s go together.”

I could always submit my resignation after this was over.

A pub located at the far end of a dark alley. Anyone could tell it was a gathering place for shady individuals.

About ten hooded men had gathered there. They slammed today’s already yellowing newspaper onto the table and vented their anger.

“Damn it, we’re finished now.”

“Why the hell is Aldehyde even paying attention to small fry like us?”

“That illegal stabilizer was just… just an illegal stabilizer!”

The rough-looking men gathered here were the group that had imported and sold illegal stabilizers.

“We never should’ve taken that suspicious guy’s request!”

They were small-time villains who did all kinds of illegal work but never took on anything big—the Rihad Association.

Then one day, suspicious figures with their faces wrapped in veils appeared and asked them to import drugs. At the same time, they requested animal testing with those drugs.

Of course, they knew something about it was off.

But the money offered was too large to refuse.

And so, without any pangs of conscience, these petty villains gathered animals, conducted rough experiments, and reported the results back.

‘Those reports are piled up in this pub’s warehouse…!’

One man ground his teeth and muttered,

“Damn it, those bastards said they’d come for the experimental reports—the documents—any day now.”

All the villains wore aggrieved expressions. To be fair, most of them had devoted their entire lives to illegal activities. But they’d never been caught before!

‘Hey, even parasites like us who leech off society need to eat and live!’

At that moment, a man with an impressive record of eighteen counts of fraud, Reko, spoke solemnly,

“Ah, fish can’t live in water that’s too clean!”

“Aldehyde… Having such overwhelming authority, yet daring to go after petty villains like us—he’ll be punished by heaven!”

“Exactly. Do you know how much we contribute to the underground economy?”

“Yeah, sure—we don’t pay taxes, so the Empire treats us like parasites, but still.”

The accountant’s dry remark briefly chilled the atmosphere.

“But seriously, why does Aldehyde work so hard anyway?”

“No idea.”

One villain whispered grimly,

“…Don’t worry. He won’t be able to find this place. There’s a barrier here, right?”

That’s right. Though it looked like a suspicious pub, this wasn’t a real pub at all, but a secret underground room temporarily built near the waterways.

No matter how keen Aldehyde’s nose was for sniffing out villains, he wouldn’t be able to come this far. They were confident they wouldn’t be caught.

One man, who had remained quiet, lit a cigar and muttered,

“If the documents in the warehouse are discovered, it’s all over. You know that, right?”

“Damn it. We should burn all those documents before they’re found.”

They looked at one another. But there was a major reason they couldn’t burn the documents immediately.

“Relax. We’ve taken care of it.”

The warehouse door was locked so perfectly that even they, who had locked it, couldn’t open it themselves.

Then someone whispered cautiously,

“But what if they do find us?”

At that, Mimi—who had ten prior convictions for violence—muttered,

“Even if we can’t catch Aldehyde, we can grab the ones who come with him. Let’s take hostages.”

Another scoffed at Mimi’s cowardly suggestion.

“Hostages, my ass. The entrance is so narrow he’d only be able to come in alone.”

To have two people enter, they’d have to be pressed together so tightly it’d be hard to move.
Would he really take that kind of risk?