Life's Dead End

“Good work, Darakerus. Now, without further ado, you're going to die.”

“......Hahi!?”

In the drumming downpour, on the outskirts of the commercial city of Zenalini, stood a ruined house.

In one of its rooms, the shabby middle-aged mage Darakerus gasped as a magic gun was pointed at him.

The finger resting on the trigger of the cold, black-glinting gun belonged to Darakerus's “client”...... a big shaved-headed man calling himself ‘John’.

“Uh...... heh heh, chief, quit it with the jokes that ain't funny.”

“No, it's funny, isn't it? Some dumbass found our organization's precious young boss safe and sound, for chump change. And if I kill that dumbass on top of it, I don't have to pay the reward. Our organization's scandal stays buried, too. And my face is saved. It's all upside! I can't stop laughing, you know? Right?”

As he spoke, John chuckled, kukuku.

His gaze was cold.

It was the look of a man who felt nothing about killing.

This guy was serious.

“U, u, um, young master!? Me, I'm the one who saved ya, young master!? Tell this baldy, s, somethin', won't ya!?”

So Darakerus switched who he was begging for his life.

That was the ‘young master’.

John had hired Darakerus to find this missing young master...... and Darakerus had just pulled it off splendidly, beating the thugs who had kidnapped him.

In a manner of speaking, Darakerus was the young master's savior.

Killing such a man would be outrageous, right?

Hey, isn't that right, young master!

“Hey, Badengaju! I'm hungry already! I want fried chicken!”

“Yes, young boss, my apologies. I'll wrap this up right away.”

......But, alas!

The young master...... a chubby little brat in a too-tight vest and short pants, seemed far more interested in fried chicken than in Darakerus's life or death!

And not that it mattered, but John's real name was apparently Badengaju.

Really, at this stage, that was completely useless information.

“......He, hehaha......”

Darakerus...... could do nothing now but laugh while breaking into a cold sweat.

How did it come to this?

How did it come to this?

How did it come to this?

Amid the zaa zaa, zaa zaa of rain bursting against the ruined house's roof, Darakerus kept asking himself the same pointless question.

......How did it come to this, he asks?

The answer to that was perfectly clear.

It was because he had accepted a request he should never have taken.

Put simply, that was the answer.

◇ ◇ ◇

Darakerus, a no-good adventurer living hand to mouth in Zenalini, was kicked out of his usual inn one day.

His tab had piled up and up...... until the landlady finally lost her patience.

He didn't pay, came home at dawn with booze on his breath, and teased the landlady about the little wrinkles around her eyes.

What, was the problem?

All of it, was the problem......

“Eh, it'll work out somehow......”

Muttering his usual refrain, Darakerus headed toward the Adventurers' Guild.

It was then that a big man called out to him from a back alley.

That was John...... or rather, Badengaju.

“The young master, could you find him for me?” he had said.

He had the kind of looks that told you at a glance, “Ah, this guy's shady.”

He wore an oddly sharp black suit, he was ridiculously big, he had a shaved head, and to top it all off, he'd shaved his eyebrows too.

And the most suspicious thing of all: he had brought the job to Darakerus without going through the Adventurers' Guild.

The Adventurers' Guild charged a middleman's fee, but it did work worth the fee.

It set fair fees, recruited adventurers and, when needed, passed the job to the right adventurer.

And...... it turned away “shady requests” that might hurt the adventurer, right from the start.

The kind of thing known as an ‘under-the-table request’.

The job Badengaju brought to Darakerus was an ‘under-the-table request’ if ever there was one.

A scary-looking man asking, “I want you to find the kidnapped young master,” without going through the Adventurers' Guild!

Even an idiot could tell there was something fishy going on.

But Darakerus accepted the request.

Because Badengaju had paid him up front, just like that.

For Darakerus, nearly broke and with no idea how he'd live from tomorrow on, it was a sum too tempting to resist.

So, he took it.

He went and took it.

“Eh, it'll work out somehow......”

Muttering that to himself.

......And in fact, the job did work out somehow.

Darakerus had no foresight, couldn't be bothered with anything, and had no drive.

He called himself a mage, but the only magic he could use was the low-level magic he'd learned in his childhood.

Still, he was surprisingly handy with that low-level magic.

Finding people in particular was Darakerus's specialty...... and Badengaju must have learned that through some connection, which was likely why he had approached him.

“Hey, it worked out!”

After knocking out the cornered-looking young man hiding in the ruined house with low-level magic and rescuing the brat they called the young boss, Darakerus couldn't help cracking that joke.

Then, beaming from ear to ear, he turned to Badengaju to talk right away about how he'd be handed his hefty reward.

And there stood Badengaju, smiling coldly, the muzzle of his gun pointed at Darakerus...... and that was how we got to the opening scene.

It didn't...... work out after all......

◇ ◇ ◇

“Hey, Darakerus. You got any last words you wanna leave behind?”

Now, amid the roar of the pouring rain, Badengaju put that question to the cold-sweating Darakerus.

“W, why...... would ya...... ask me, somethin' like that?”

Darakerus didn't understand the intent behind the question.

But thinking it was a chance to buy time, he went along with the conversation, as slowly as he could.

For the record, he had no plan whatsoever for how he'd get out of this mess once he'd bought the time.

“Well, sure. Even I feel bad about it, y'know? About havin' to kill ya.”

As Badengaju spoke, he knit his brows.

“But in a business like this, ya can't just go spoutin' pretty ideals. Our face weighs more than the life of some small-fry adventurer, see. Selfish, ain't it?”

Looking truly, truly sorry, Badengaju continued.

Wasn't there...... wasn't there some way to survive, some hint!?

Darakerus listened to Badengaju's words with utmost seriousness.

“That's exactly why, see, I figure I gotta carry it, y'know. The feelings, of the guys I've killed.”

“............”

With that, Badengaju took a deep breath......

“BAAAAN!!!”

He imitated the sound of a gunshot at the top of his lungs!

“Uhyah!?”

Darakerus, who had been listening with intense concentration, leaped up in terror at the sound and then fell flat on his backside!

“Kuku...... Kuhyahya! HYAHAHAHAHAAA!”

Seeing this, Badengaju burst into evil laughter!

(Th, this damn baldy!! So he was just messin' with me!!)

“Hey, Badengaju! I want fried chicken! Hurry up and kill this filthy vagrant!”

(You little BRAAAT!!!)

Darakerus turned beet-red with indignation!

That said, he had no means of striking back.

At this rate, he'd be killed as casually as someone kicking a pebble, and that'd be that.

Couldn't it work out somehow!?

It'll work out somehow, won't it!?

Fortunately, the anger that surged from being mocked temporarily freed him from the terror that had bound his body and mind.

Darakerus sent magic power coursing through his whole body and, eyes darting restlessly around, began a desperate search for a counterstroke that would turn things around.

......And that was exactly why!

“Hahaha...... sorry about that, young boss. Now, the fun and games end here.”

With that, Badengaju moved to pull the magic gun's trigger once more, and at that very moment.

ZUGAAAAAAN!!!

“Mmph!?”

“Uwaah!?”

“......!!!”

From a bolt of lightning that just happened to strike near the ruined house, a fierce flash of light, and a thunderous roar.

Even Badengaju, a man who belonged to an underground organization, flinched at that.

Darakerus...... did not miss that opening!

“‘O light, overflow and spread! 【Light Bomb】’AAAAH!!!”

“Wha!? You wretch, GWAAAH!?”

What Darakerus chanted, seizing that split-second opening, was light magic.

Light might sound like something special, but this wasn't holy magic, and it had no killing power either. Really, it was just a way to blind people.

It was low-level magic that bathed the area in intense light and robbed everyone there of their sight for a while, the kind even a child could use once they'd learned it.

But now, in this situation...... that low-level magic saved Darakerus from his predicament!

“So long, damn Baldy!! Guess the idiot was you, you DUMBAAASS!!!”

“Dammit don't screw with me you piece of trash go to hell DIEEEEEE!!!”

Ban, ban, ban!!

While a blinded Badengaju fired the magic gun wildly, Darakerus hurriedly leaped out the window and escaped from the ruined house!

“Haah, haah......!”

By the time Badengaju could finally make out the inside of the ruined house again, Darakerus was nowhere to be seen.

Zaa zaa, zaa zaa.

Only the sound of the pouring rain echoed all around.

【Adventurers】

People who take on all sorts of requests to earn their daily bread.