Chapter 11: Illegal Alien (9)
"So…?"
Harune stared at Kael, who stood just outside the stall—or more accurately, at the small, bundled-up figure beside him.
The newcomer was wrapped tightly from head to toe: a worn hood pulled low, a black mask concealing their face, and oversized sleeves draped over the backs of their hands.
On the surface, they looked no different from any ordinary street kid wandering the Lower Level.
The problem was that Harune wasn't naive enough to fall for a disguise like that.
"Did you pick up a kid while I wasn't looking?"
Kael didn't answer.
"Hey."
Harune narrowed his eye.
"Explain."
"Just act like she isn't here."
"What?"
"As if she isn't here."
With that, Kael brushed past him and stepped inside the stall.
Rin glanced nervously at Harune before carefully following Kael inside.
Harune stared at the two of them with his mouth agape.
"Unbelievable."
A sigh escaped his lips.
He had seen all kinds of people in the Lower Level, but never someone who clocked off, came back the next day dragging along a bundled-up kid, and told him to act like the kid didn't exist.
"It’s always something with you, isn't it?"
Harune muttered under his breath as he pushed the shutter halfway up.
He still had a business to run, after all.
* * *
Kael took his usual seat at the workbench inside the stall.
Harune had already piled up a mountain of items for repair: small magitech lamp stabilization modules, discarded security devices, and an assortment of miscellaneous parts of unknown origin.
Kael picked up the first piece and popped open its matte-black casing, exposing the circuit board beneath.
Tracing the flow of mana to locate the blockage, he scraped away the residue, reconnected the circuit, and fastened the casing back in place.
Whirrr.
A soft glow flickered to life.
Without missing a beat, he picked up the second item.
Rin sat beside Kael, watching him work.
At first, she stayed quiet, her posture rigid and reserved.
But as Kael methodically worked his way through the pile, her guarded stance softened.
Her eyes locked onto his fingertips.
His movements weren't fast, but they were deliberate.
Above all, there was no hesitation.
Zap.
The second device sparked back to life.
Click.
The third device's lock mechanism released.
Whirrr.
A soft blue light illuminated the fourth magitech lamp.
Without even realizing it, Rin leaned in closer.
Kael scraped off the scorched section of the final circuit board and hooked a thin silver wire to the damaged junction.
Power surged into the previously dead output unit.
Watching from a distance, Harune smirked.
"As expected of our circuit tinkerer. Your hands are in top form today."
"Quiet."
"Look at how you speak to your boss in front of a customer."
"Since when are you my boss?"
"It's my stall, isn't it?"
Kael didn't bother responding.
He simply set the freshly repaired device down onto the cloth.
Right then, Rin spoke up, her voice cautious.
"Um…"
Kael replied without turning his head.
"What?"
Rin hesitated for a moment before asking.
"Are you… a magitech engineer?"
"A magitech engineer?"
He paused to think.
"Ah."
Then gave a short nod.
"You mean people who work with stuff like this?"
"Yeah."
"No."
He replied bluntly.
Rin stared at him blankly for a second.
"No…?"
"Yeah."
"Then how are you so good at fixing them?"
Kael picked up another device without answering her.
Rin pressed her lips together behind her mask, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
She was clearly sulking.
Kael noticed, but pretended not to.
Even so, Rin didn't back down.
"Then… are you a mage?"
For the first time, Kael’s hands went still.
He slowly raised his eyes to meet hers.
"A mage?"
Rin shrank back slightly under his gaze.
"Y-yeah… a mage."
Kael remained silent.
A cold, piercing sharpness replaced the indifference in his eyes.
He set the device down on the workbench and shot back a question.
"What do you know about mages?"
Rin blinked, caught off guard by the question.
"Uh… a little."
"A little."
Kael repeated flatly.
He had yet to see a true mage of this world with his own eyes.
He knew magic existed here—he had seen the mana circuits and handled the magitech devices.
But…
He had never encountered a human who circulated mana through circuits inside their own bodies, deciphered formulas, and warped the laws of the world to their will.
He couldn't afford to ignore what she knew.
"Tell me more."
Rin seemed startled by Kael's tone.
"About… what?"
"Everything you know about mages."
He looked straight into Rin's eyes.
"What are they?"
Rin's lips twitched beneath her mask.
She hesitated before speaking in a low, cautious voice.
"In Magiterra, you can't use magic unless you're equipped with an Artificial Circuit Unit… Ah, I mean an ACU."
Kael remained silent, but his gaze grew heavier.
Seeing his reaction, Rin continued.
"Circuits are divided from Tier 1 to Tier 9. The higher the ACU's tier, the more complex the formulas it can process, and the stronger the magic it can cast."
"Tiers…"
Kael murmured.
"But having a higher-tier circuit isn't enough on its own. The brain has to process the formulas… If your mental capacity falls short, your mind breaks before the circuit can even take the load."
Rin explained, nervously fidgeting with her oversized sleeves.
"That's why high-tier users are so rare. The implants cost a fortune, compatibility is terrible, and if it fails…"
As her voice trailed off, Kael finished the sentence for her.
"You die, right?"
Rin gave a small nod at his words.
"Either you die, or you end up broken."
Mages aren't born here. They're created.
The corner of Kael's mouth twisted upward.
"Interesting."
Rin asked hesitantly.
"Inter…esting?"
"I mean, it's terrifying."
Kael corrected without skipping a beat.
"Ah."
Rin went quiet again.
Kael tapped his fingers against the circuit board on the workbench and pressed on with his questions.
"So everyone referred to as a mage in this city relies on a device called an ACU?"
Rin tilted her head as if thinking for a moment.
"Yeah… I guess so?"
"You guess?"
"At least as far as I know."
Rin caught her breath quietly beneath her mask.
Looking straight at Kael was still difficult for her, but her voice was noticeably more relaxed than before.
"ACU is an implant that lets your body absorb mana and connects to your brain to calculate magic formulas."
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"So it's not an external tool, but something you embed inside the body."
"Yeah. Usually it's implanted near the spine, the back of the neck, or around the chest. I heard that higher tiers get connected closer to the brain."
"Sounds dangerous."
Rin nodded.
"It's extremely dangerous. That's why not just anyone can get one. It costs a fortune, you have to pass compatibility tests, and you need medical clearance. I heard a lot of people die trying to install cheap circuits illegally."
Kael looked down at the circuit board in silence, his fingers tracing a worn line.
"Implanting mana circuits into human flesh…"
He murmured under his breath.
"It's a miracle anyone survives it."
"Still, you can't use magic without an ACU."
Kael fell silent, weighing how casually she took it for granted.
If that is common knowledge in this city…
Kael slowly raised his head to look at Rin.
"Then do you have one too?"
Rin's hands froze.
"…What?"
"An ACU."
Kael asked, observing her reaction.
"I asked if you have one implanted in your body."
Color drained from Rin's face.
"N-no. I don't have anything like that."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
Rin nodded frantically to deny it, but…
"Hmm."
Kael instantly recognized it as a lie.
Yet he didn't press further, shifting his gaze back down to the circuit board on the workbench.
"Right."
That brief reply only seemed to make Rin more anxious.
"You… believe me?"
"You said you don't have one."
"…"
"That's good enough for now."
Rin closed her mouth.
Just then, Harune's voice chimed in from outside the stall.
"Watch what you say, you two."
Kael raised his head.
"You think you're in your own bedroom?"
Harune spoke quietly.
"Why are you talking about dangerous stuff like that here?"
"Were you listening?"
"I'm old, not deaf."
Harune glanced around before pulling the canvas down a bit lower.
"Don't throw around words like ACU or mage so casually around here."
"…"
Rin's shoulders hunched slightly.
Yet Kael didn't bat an eye.
"Why?"
Harune stared at him as if he had lost his mind.
"Why?"
"Yeah."
"Sigh."
Harune put a cigarette in his mouth, then pulled it right back out.
"Sometimes you really don't act like a guy who's lived in the Lower Level for a year."
"I think I know as much as I need to."
"No. You only know what suits you."
Harune leaned against the workbench and lowered his voice.
"Down here, people barely even grasp the concept of magic."
"Even though magitech devices are common?"
"That's completely different."
Harune pointed at the broken devices on the workbench.
"These things are just goods you can dismantle, fix, and sell when they break. But a mage is a human. A person with an ACU stuffed inside them."
He paused briefly.
"And there are hardly any people like that down here."
As Kael listened in silence, Harune continued.
"Why do you think that is? Because it's expensive. Damn expensive. A single low-tier ACU is worth more than the lives of hundreds of people in the Lower Level. High-tier? Don't even get me started."
"Is it really that much?"
"That much?"
Harune chuckled.
"A single ACU is equal to the lives of hundreds—no, thousands. I'm not exaggerating. A circuit is worth more than a human life."
Rin's hands quietly clutched her sleeves.
Harune added in a low whisper.
"The mages who wind up in the Lower Levels are usually low tiers. Tier 1, Tier 2, or on rare occasions Tier 3. Failures who were discarded from the Upper Levels because they became useless, got kicked out over debts, or had broken circuits."
"Where are they now?"
"Dead."
Harune answered instantly.
"At first, they all think they're hot stuff just because they can spark a flame or cast a weak barrier. But down here, guys like that stand out the most."
"They are targets."
"Exactly."
A brief silence fell inside the stall.
Rin bowed her head while Kael tapped his fingers against the circuit board on the workbench.
"So that's why even mentioning the word 'mage' is dangerous," Kael noted.
"You're finally getting the message."
Harune glared at Kael.
"Especially you."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you."
Harune gestured with his chin toward Kael's hands.
"You're weird enough as it is. You read mana flows without schematics, and magitech jumps to life just because you messed with it."
"I don't just mess around."
"Sure looks like it to me."
Harune bared his teeth.
"If you toss terms like mage or ACU on top of that, these idiots will let their imaginations run wild. Does that guy have something implanted in him too? What if we slice him open and see what comes out?"
As Rin gasped, Harune shot her a quick glance before lowering his voice even further.
"So keep it down, kiddo."
"…Got it."
"Yeah. Save an old man the headache."
Harune grumbled.
"Just repair the stuff today. I don't want us getting our whole stall looted because you were spouting nonsense."
Kael didn't answer.
But just then—
A loud commotion suddenly erupted outside the stall, making it seem like a fight had broken out.
"Huh?"
Except this time, that wasn't it.
Harune pulled back the canvas slightly and looked out, noticing a crowd gathered along one of the market alleyways.
He frowned, stepping outside.
"Hey."
He grabbed the arm of a passing man.
The man tried to pull away, but stopped when he saw Harune's face.
"What's going on? Why's it so loud?"
"You don't know?"
"Would I be asking if I knew?"
The man glanced around before whispering.
His voice was a mix of excitement and fear.
"People came down from the Upper Level."
At his words, Harune's expression froze.
"What?"
"Surface dwellers. Guys in suits. They brought security guards with them too."
"Public Safety Bureau?"
"No. Not the bureau."
The man swallowed dryly.
"It's a corpo."
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