There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 88

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“Huff, huff…!”

William gasped for breath, his lungs burning, as he burst into the dimly lit warehouse.

He scanned the silent darkness. Thankfully, there were no constables in sight.

This was a warehouse secretly managed by the Hounds Merchant Guild.

The ownership was under someone else’s name, so it seemed the constables hadn’t been able to trace it back to them.

“Damn it!”

Furious, William kicked a nearby crate. He had abandoned his subordinate as bait and barely managed to escape himself.

How had things gone so wrong?

‘How did this happen?’

The constables were convinced the guild was committing illegal acts. Moreover, they had directly mentioned fairy wing fabric.

“Someone must have leaked information. Who could have snitched?”

The first face that came to mind was the greedy one of the investigator he had bribed. But it couldn’t be him.

The bribe William had given him was twice his annual salary. There was no way he would give that up.

Next, the faces of those who knew about the guild’s fairy wing fabric distribution plan flashed through his mind.

“Not the family, of course, and the employees are unlikely too…”

That left only one person.

The person he had shown the fairy wing fabric to today.

“Philomell, that wretched girl!”

That fool had finally caused trouble. Just like her mother, she was endangering the family.

“Such ingratitude!”

Unable to contain his anger, William kicked the object in front of him again.

Thump-!

“Aaaagh!”

A heavy thud was followed by excruciating pain, and he clutched his foot, rolling on the ground. He must have kicked something incredibly hard.

After a while, William stood up and made a firm vow.

“I will kill her, no matter what!”

He had no choice but to retreat for now, but he planned to return here once things had calmed down.

He glanced around the dark warehouse and smiled.

“Heh heh, with these…”

This warehouse was where he kept his hidden assets. He would take them and leave Belleroph [the city where the story is taking place].

The rest of his family and the guild employees would suffer, but William was the most important. They would surely understand.

“But it’s too dark.”

He groped along the shelf next to the entrance. There should be a lamp around here.

Found it.

William took out a match from his pocket and lit the lamp. A dim light illuminated the dark interior.

“This is…”

The first thing he saw was the object he had just kicked. It was William’s head. Or rather, the head of a stone statue of William.

He soon realized what it was. It was the head of the statue made in his likeness.

The statue’s head was lying on the floor, separated from its body.

It was a hollow statue specially made to smuggle contraband inside, and William had liked it so much that he had kept it in the warehouse.

“W-What? Why is this…”

Cold sweat trickled down his neck. Someone was here.

William frantically ran towards the safe.

That’s when it happened.

“Looking for this?”

A clear voice rang out, and a bright light flooded the warehouse.

Blinded, he reflexively shielded his eyes. And then, as his eyes adjusted to the light…

“Fancy seeing you again.”

A familiar face greeted him.

Philomell, sitting on top of the safe he had been desperately searching for, smiled sweetly.

William didn’t have time to wonder how she had gotten in here before he shouted.

“Get out of the way! You impudent…”

He suddenly realized something.

Philomell was alone.

He didn’t need to wait any longer to avenge today’s humiliation.

He was so desperate that he didn’t even consider the obvious – that Philomell wouldn’t have come here alone.

The moment he lunged at his young niece.

Thump-!

Something flew past his face at high speed. Blood trickled from the tip of his nose where it had made contact.

He slowly turned his head to look at the object that had crashed into the wall with a loud bang.

It was the statue’s right hand.

“Ah, missed.”

A silver-haired man holding an iron bar said calmly.

“Still, nice shot.”

The red-haired man next to him placed a stone block on the ground. On closer inspection, it was the statue’s chest.

“This time, I’ll aim carefully…”

The silver-haired man raised the bar towards the statue fragment.

“Uwaaaaaa!”

Soon, countless pieces of the statue flew towards William.

Some time later.

“I-I’m sorry. Please… spare me just once.”

Philomell stared at the man hanging in the air, bound by ropes. His once-handsome face was now a swollen, bruised mess.

‘You should have lived a good life…’

Originally, Philomell hadn’t planned to get so directly involved in this.

She had intended to report William to the constables and then step back, but her mind had changed as things progressed.

Since she had started it, she wanted to see it through to the end.

The fact that William had escaped the constables also played a part.

She couldn’t leave any loose ends. And more importantly, she had met ‘that person.’

Immediately after leaving the Central Constabulary, she had met ‘that person’ through Le Guin’s arrangement, and ‘that person’ had asked Philomell for help.

She couldn’t possibly refuse that request. Because ‘that person’ was…

“B-But, everyone… how did you know about this place…?”

Philomell snapped out of her reverie at William’s voice.

Seeing her uncle, whose tone had become remarkably polite after experiencing violence, Philomell replied.

“I have my ways.”

In truth, it was thanks to the tracking magic Le Guin had placed on him.

He had attached it just in case when he saw William in the Imperial Palace in his cat form, he said.

‘He must have been planning to deal with him since then.’

In any case, Le Guin and Jeremiah were originally following Philomell, so they came here together.

Lexion had contacted Jeremiah for another matter, heard the story, and followed along, saying it would be fun.

Jeremiah poked William with his sword, muttering.

“Can’t we just kill him here?”

“Hiiiik!”

William made a strange noise and struggled to avoid the sword.

Lexion opened the wooden crates in the warehouse one by one.

“Hoo, there are quite a few rare items here. Let’s take them.”

Violence and theft. They were just like a gang of villains. And now Philomell was a member of that villainous gang.

Just as Philomell was feeling strangely nostalgic, William shouted.

“Philomell! Ugh!”

His honorifics changed only after nearly being cut by Jeremiah’s sword.

“P-Philomell-nim [an honorific title].”

Philomell lightly waved her hand to stop Jeremiah.

“Speak, Uncle.”

“Please, let me go! Am I not Katrin’s brother? At least for her sake…”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have that much loyalty to my own mother. And I’m not kind enough to let go of someone who tried to kill me.”

The man’s face turned as white as a sheet as he recalled the words he had muttered to himself earlier.

“I’m sorry! I was out of my mind and talking nonsense!”

“You seemed perfectly fine.”

“If you let me go, I’ll give you 20% of my entire fortune!”

“Only?”

“50%!”

“I don’t need it.”

“Kuh, I’ll give you everything!”

“I have much more wealth than that, so I’ll refuse.”

“Liar!”

It was true. The wealth she had received from Eustis was at least ten times the net worth of the Hounds Merchant Guild.

Contrary to its seemingly prosperous appearance, the Hounds Merchant Guild was suffering from chronic financial difficulties.

Philomell had learned this while reading the secret ledger in this place while waiting for William.

The Hounds Merchant Guild’s fortunes had been declining for about ten years. It was the year William took over the family business after the death of the previous guild leader.

‘So that’s why he was so desperate for the problematic fairy wing fabric business.’

In short, William Hounds was a man devoid of both morality and ability.

When Philomell didn’t budge despite all his persuasion, he screamed.

“Fine! Do as you please! Hand me over to the constables! At best, I’ll serve some time and then get out!”

William had a reason for shouting so loudly.

Legally, the maximum penalty he could receive was death, but it was rare for someone to actually be executed.

The beings who suffered from the fairy wing fabric were fairies, not humans.

If they handed William over to the constables as he was, the punishment would be, at most, life imprisonment, or usually twenty to thirty years in prison.

If he bribed the judge well, it could be even less.

William grinned.

“I’ll come find you again when I get out of prison. Then, ugh!”

Blood splattered from the man’s nose and mouth as Jeremiah kicked him. Jeremiah, looking quite angry, said.

“We should just kill him here.”

Philomell grabbed his shoulder.

“Be patient. That’s not our job.”

She looked at William.

“Unfortunately, you won’t be going to the constables or the Empire’s prison.”

“…What? What do you mean…”

Whoaaaa-!

At that moment, Le Guin, who had briefly left, arrived with a burst of light.

“I brought her.”

And a new figure appeared behind him.

Flowing pink hair, slightly pale skin, translucent butterfly wings. A woman overflowing with elegant and captivating charm spoke.

“I’m sorry. So many children wanted to come with me that it took some time to bring them all.”

A voice that pierced the ears like the sound of bells. ‘That person’ Philomell had met.

It was the Fairy Queen, Serphiane.