Akugyaku no Black Maria c11
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Dec 06, 2016
Black Mariaâs Zeroth Squad headquarters.
For that reason, the places used as her hideout was called so out of convenience.
âSo youâre here. Do take a seatâ
The capital was dotted with them, and she would change positions once a week.
Once Shizuru entered the lovely coffee lounge that was one of those places, the waiting Richelieu told him.
â⌠Is it just you Shizu? Whereâs Cassie?â
âAnd that happened because?â
âUm âŚâ
Richelieu asked indiferrently. Shizuru hesitated to say.
But since the conversation couldnât continue unless he answered, he finally took a deep breath and explained.
âYesterday, when I closed up the clinic and went on my way back to the hideout, I happened to come across Cassie drunkâ
Even though she had been told to hold back, she was totteringly drunk.
Incidentally, even though Casca had earn the grudges of many, nobody messes with her though she was drunk.
She acts outrageously as naturally as wearing clothes and walking, but she was still holding back in her own way.
Which means, if anyone carelessly did anything, their lives were forfeit.
âSince I was worried whether she could get back o the base on her own, I thought I should take her. I then thought I should take a bit of rest so I brought her to a nearby inn.
âI see, I get the gist of it. It doesnât really matter to the report whether or not Cassie is here, so go onâ
It was rather harsh to talk about an executive staff like that, but thatâs really how it is.
As he was initially told to, Shizuru took a seat and handed the written report to Richelieu.
The page was dotted with braille. One person in every squad had to learn it so that Richelieu could read.
As for the third squad, since the captain Casca couldnât even read or write normally, the sub-leader Shizuru wrote it.
â⌠hmâ
Richelieu swiftly ran her fingertip over the paper, reading the report.
Within a minute, she had finished reading it all and then she burned it up with the fire of lamp on the table.
âSeventeen commissions this month, starting with Eamond the jeweler. Not badâ
âItâs good that weâre getting a lot of business ⌠haahâ
Richelieuâs disinterested way of treating murder as just business made Shizuru unintentionally sigh.
âBut you aside, I do think thereâs a problem with sundries like dealing with the bodies afterwards. We can do more jobs now that weâre splitting them between seven squads, but we might have to think about things like that once we doâ
âI see. Alright, Iâll put it to considerationâ
Tap tap, Richelieu tapped the table with her fingertips twice in rhythm.
Itâs a bad habit of hers whenever she changes the topic.
âHow is Ludmila doing? Ah, you donât need to answer. I can roughly tell from your heartbeatâ
Because she was blind, Richelieuâs sense of hearing far surpassed a normal humanâs.
If she wanted to, she could walk in heavy traffic without running into anyone without needing a cane, and she could hear a pin drop from one kilometer away. She even had the ability to discern someoneâs state of mind through their heartbeats and breathing.
âStill doesnât want to accept her assignment? And it looks like sheâs not getting along with the rest of the team, is she?â
âDo something about it as soon as possible. Any discord between team members is going to affect your success rateâ
Itâs too late to do anything about Lady and Casca always getting into a fight, but they always show good coordination when it comes to work.
In other words, they could make the distiction between business and private, so all was well.
But not all people were the type who could make that distinction right away.
On that point, Ludmila was the kind who couldnât make the distinction well.
âItâs normally the captainâs job, but I just canât expect Cassie to have the consideration. Youâre the man for thisâ
â⌠I seeâ
Honestly, Shizuru wanted to refuse.
But Richelieu never takes back whatever decision that already came out of her mouth.
Thatâs because she had complete confidence in herself, and made the decision after putting all things into consideration.
Shizuru had gotten all too familiar with it over the seven years.
âFor now, I think it would be good for the whole third squad to do a job together. According to the report, you have only had missions that could somewhat be dispatched individually since I sent you Ludmilaâ
Richelieu would always burn down the reports every time, but she remembered all of it.
Everything she read, from the time she started Black Maria ten years ago.
â⌠yes. Even though intelligence gathering was done mostly by Lady and myself, the last time we conducted an assassination with the whole team was before Ludmila joinedâ
âAlright, letâs get you guys a job thenâ
As soon as she said so, Richeliou took out a piece of paper. She then rapidly tapped a tool with a rounded tip on it, making a tak tak tak tak tak tak sound.
After several seconds of tapping, she handed the paper with the words in braille to Shizuru.
While having a bad premonition, Shizuru read the words.
His face stiffened as if expecting what he just read.
âThis is âŚâ
âAn invitation to a welcoming party. Ludmila joined us at a bad time so itâs a little bit late in comingâ
The location was the slums of the capitalâs east ward.
The target, was a notorious criminal syndicate that was involved in numerous crimes.
âYou were complaining that the slums have gotten noisy werenât you? Thisâll calm things downâ
It was a request for a large job, targeting over a hundred people.