"They say the culprit was a ghost of the Liberation Brigade."

"Oh, really?"

Limon nodded once, then tipped the teacup in his hand and took another sip. Li Qingyu tilted her head at his utterly indifferent reaction.

"You don't seem very surprised."

"I'm too old to get surprised by every little thing."

Live long enough, and you learned to take it in stride whether a bomb went off beside you or a king dropped dead. Having flaunted his age like the old fogey he was, Limon added,

"Besides, I more or less expected it."

"... So you knew from the start that the culprits belonged to the Liberation Brigade?"

"I didn't know. Like I said, I only guessed."

"How perceptive of you."

"What's perceptive about it? It'd be stranger not to notice."

Limon gave a faint snort. As a former PAB agent, he was something of an expert on player criminals. Having even predicted their next target, how could he have failed to notice that Ryu Gang-cheol and the other culprits matched the Liberation Brigade's profile?

[Well, there were plenty of clues, like you said, Team Leader.] Yu Na-gyeong readily agreed.

For one thing, it was rare for high-level player criminals to operate as a group outside the Liberation Brigade. The Brigade was unusually hard to track, but ordinarily, the more criminals worked together, the easier it was to find clues with information or prophecy skills. Add the fact that they were all lunatics with military backgrounds or training, and it was harder to think of anyone but the Liberation Brigade.

"That's true." Li Qingyu, who had also realized it fairly early, nodded. Then she murmured, sounding genuinely intrigued, "But the Wang family head didn't notice."

[Come on. Really?]

"Yes, really. He only started suspecting the Liberation Brigade after I deliberately dropped a hint through the Seven Dragons Society."

Li Qingyu said it with a smile, as though joking. But Limon could tell she meant it, and stared at her in disbelief.

"Didn't that guy hire a whole bunch of Tracers? And not one of them pointed it out?"

"Cases involving the Liberation Brigade aren't exactly common. It seems most of them gave up once their skills stopped working, saying they had no leads."

Limon's expression grew stranger still. Cases involving the Liberation Brigade, with its many player criminals, had mainly been handled by the PAB. But thanks to Limon, most of its key agents were dead, the organization had fallen apart, and the remaining agents had scattered. He could understand why there were no Tracers left in the country who knew much about the Brigade. He could understand it, but...

"... Those idiot Tracers can't do a damn thing without their skills."

"They aren't the only ones at fault. The Seven Dragons Society's experts couldn't find a link to the Liberation Brigade either."

"The problem is that Tracers who make a living at this are even being compared to amateurs."

Traditional tracking techniques were already obsolete. Even experts who had learned them were amateurs practicing a hobby or preserving an old tradition. Tracers, on the other hand, were professionals. If people whose job was investigation and tracking had missed something like this, it proved they relied solely on skills and neglected even basic information gathering.

[Well, these days, unlike in the past, all you need is to be good with skills.]

"Exactly."

They couldn't take all the blame. In an age when using skills made every task easy, fast, and accurate, an expert was simply someone who could use better skills more effectively. Any other technique or method was an inefficient waste of time.

"Besides, even if the Wang family head had noticed sooner, it wouldn't have changed anything."

"True enough..." Limon clicked his tongue but conceded the point. He knew that identifying the culprits as Liberation Brigade members wouldn't have helped capture them. That was why he'd given Wang Gi-neung clues without directly telling him to investigate the Brigade. Still, he hadn't expected Wang to miss it until Ryu Gang-cheol was caught.

"Their affiliation isn't what matters anyway, is it?"

"You mean their motive?"

"Yes." Li Qingyu nodded readily and calmly continued as she refilled Limon's empty cup.

"The Seven Dragons Society may not be pro-player, but the Liberation Brigade has never attacked us this directly before."

"Because they didn't want to get themselves killed." Limon snorted.

"Yes. They must have avoided a clash with us because they knew they'd be at a disadvantage for now." Li Qingyu readily agreed.

The Liberation Brigade might have plenty of high-level players, but that was all it had. The Seven Dragons Society, by contrast, was the power behind the scenes that had nearly overturned the world several times, and a corporate giant that still controlled all the world's wealth. One of the ten great guilds might have stood a chance, but for a mere criminal organization like the Brigade, challenging the Society was suicide.

"So why attack us now?"

At Li Qingyu's question, Limon lifted his cup, took a sip, and answered, "Well, it's one of two things."

"What are they?"

"First, they've gained enough confidence to think they can take on the Seven Dragons Society now."

"No. There's absolutely no way."

"Aren't you being a bit too certain?"

"Perhaps in another ten years, but the Liberation Brigade doesn't have that kind of strength now."

"Hmm...?"

Limon gave her an odd look, then nodded his agreement for the moment. The Black Dragon Clan's subsidiaries here were only having trouble because this wasn't their home territory and the culprits were a small, elite force striking and retreating. A head-on fight would have ended long ago. If this had been the Chinese Federation of Seventy-Seven States, the culprits would have been caught within a week, whatever tricks they tried.

"Then it must be the second possibility."

"As you said before, they're after something the Seven Dragons Society has."

"Right. Though I don't know what those lunatics want badly enough to risk all-out war with you."

"At least it won't be money or territory."

"Because the cost wouldn't be worth it?"

"Yes."

It was a reasonable deduction. Fighting the Seven Dragons Society for mere money or material gain would be like burning down a house to light a candle.

"Hmm. Then they're probably after a particular object or person you can't put a price on. Something or someone you acquired recently."

"Because if we'd had it for a long time, they would have acted sooner."

"Right. They might only just have learned about something you've had all along, but we could speculate endlessly down that road."

It was good to keep an open mind, but for now they needed to make a few assumptions, even if they were a stretch. Limon put the point plainly, then asked, "With that in mind, can you think of anything? Any recent changes in your Seven Dragons Society?"

"Well, it's not that there haven't been any..."

"Why the look?"

Li Qingyu trailed off, then continued with a somewhat troubled expression. "The biggest recent change for the Seven Dragons Society is that you and I became engaged, Sword Lord."

"Me?" Limon blinked involuntarily and scratched his cheek. "You don't think they're doing this because of me, do you? Because I destroyed one of their bases?"

"That can't be it, can it?"

"Of course not."

[If they went this far to avenge their comrades, they wouldn't be called a band of lunatics.]

Li Qingyu, Limon, and Yu Na-gyeong—the two people and one bird—unanimously agreed that revenge was unlikely. Some criminal organizations lived by the rule of blood vengeance, but the Liberation Brigade disregarded comradeship and loyalty altogether.

"There's crazy, and then there's crazy. They can't even handle the Seven Dragons Society. Why would they pick a fight with me?"

[Wow... That's so obnoxious. Worse, I can't even argue with it.]

"Could they want something from you besides revenge, Sword Lord?"

"Beats me. All I've got is one sword, this chicken-pigeon, and the body I was born with."

[Oh, damn it! I told you not to call me a chicken-pigeon! Keep it up and I'll start calling you a handsome-faced old fogey, Team Leader!]

Li Qingyu chuckled for a moment as she watched Limon hold Yu Na-gyeong and spin her around. Then she spoke up. "Actually, something has been bothering me."

"What's that?"

"The Liberation Brigade is an organization of the players, by the players, and for the players."

"So?" Limon wondered why she was pointing out something so obvious. Gazing at him with eyes dark and deep as obsidian, Li Qingyu asked quietly, "Are players really the only ones who benefit when their power grows?"

At that, Limon's expression turned peculiar. After a brief silence, he asked, "... Do you have any grounds for saying that?"

"Only a suspicion for now."

"Somehow that sounds scarier than if you'd said you had proof."

"There's good reason for that."

Limon and Li Qingyu nodded to each other through a conversation that had conspicuously left its subject unnamed.

Yu Na-gyeong blinked, unable to follow them, like a pigeon suddenly dumped in the trash with its cage. She asked uneasily, [Excuse me, but I have no idea what you're talking about.]

"It's nothing much."

"Yes. Without clear proof, it's only a hypothesis—just another conspiracy theory."

[Hmmmm?]

Yu Na-gyeong folded her wings like crossed arms and looked suspicious, but Limon and Li Qingyu carried on unperturbed.

"I suppose we'll have to ask him directly."

"Well, if we can, that's the best way..." Limon crossed his arms and, looking every bit as doubtful as Yu Na-gyeong perched on his head, asked, "You think that Wang bastard can get Ryu Gang-cheol, or whatever the fucker's name is, to talk?"

"No. Not at all."

"Why do you always have an answer ready?"

"An informant I recruited within the Wang family of Shanghai told me."

"... Well, thoroughness has its virtues."

"Being prepared for emergencies and knowing how to handle informants are basic qualities of a good bride."

Perhaps pleased by Limon's praise, Li Qingyu smiled shyly. Yu Na-gyeong stared at her in disbelief.

[They absolutely are not! Fine, being prepared is one thing, but ordinary brides don't plant spies to steal information in the first place!]

"Really? I thought housewives spread specific information disguised as gossip and pry out secrets whenever they get together."

[That's neighborhood ladies chatting! It's not a spy network!]

"Is there a difference?"

[Of course there is!]

Yu Na-gyeong was beside herself. Li Qingyu tilted her head at her, then spoke again.

"Well, even leaving my informant's reports aside, it's clear the Wang family head hasn't made much progress."

"How do you know?"

"He's requested use of the Torture Hall."

"... That Wang bastard asked Leviathan to let him use the Torture Hall? To have them torture that fucker for him?"

"Yes."

At her answer, Limon raised an eyebrow. He set down his teacup and spoke in a cold voice. "I couldn't be bothered to beat him to death, so I let him be. Does that motherfucker think I'm a complete pushover now?"