“To enter the Karma Zone, we need to disguise ourselves as tourists.”
In order to investigate, it was necessary to disguise ourselves as tourists to head into the Karma Zone where the bank is located.
It seemed like they were trying to provide a tourism-type experience that allows us to enjoy the Triad as tourists.
I was impressed by how they managed to keep the setting while smoothly accommodating our tourist time.
So, we dressed in travel clothes from the Kingdom of Ra and comfortably hopped into the carriage, driven by our guide Shasha, as we leisurely headed into the Karma Zone.
As the organization called Karma entered the region, a familiar sight akin to something from a GTC or an American movie unfolded before us.
“Hand over all your money!!”
A trio of masked punks threatened a street vendor grandmother with a gun, demanding her money.
Then, a group of six elderly women appeared with guns, threatening the punks and saying, “You lot hand it over! You little punks!!”
Watching the scene of punks getting robbed by the elderly ladies made me finally feel like I had arrived in a crime city.
I was a bit disappointed that I hadn’t seen such sights in Sion, but seeing it like this made me think whoever planned this travel course truly knows how to satisfy customers.
“Are there many thieves in the Triad?”
“If you’re talking about small-time thieves, there are plenty. But there aren’t many like the robbers we just saw.”
“Why?”
“Because the organization doesn’t forgive them. However, in the case of Karma, due to the recent change of boss, it’s a chaotic situation, which has led to an increase in small-time thieves.”
I nodded along to Shasha’s words.
The attention to such detailed settings was truly impressive. I’d have to remember this when creating games in the future.
Thinking about this, I watched the Karma area of the Triad from atop the carriage.
Compared to Sion, there were indeed many more muggers, homeless people, and what appeared to be drug dealers around.
Finally realizing I was in the crime city I had been looking forward to, I diligently took pictures with my magical tool alongside Sora, collecting data until we reached our destination.
“We have arrived.”
“Thanks, Shasha.”
“It was nothing, Ain.”
Shasha kindly opened the door for us, and we disembarked from the carriage, gazing at our mission’s destination and my bucket list item: the Karma Bank.
The Karma Bank wasn’t as huge as the banks found in metropolitan cities, but it was the largest and appeared quite sturdy among the surrounding buildings.
“Just out of curiosity, why is there a bank in such a dangerous city?”
“Good question.”
I was also a bit curious about that.
Is it really okay for a place like this, which is a fitting target for crime, to even have a bank?
Everyone’s eyes turned to Shasha, who began to explain.
“I’ve only heard about it, but it seems it was established by a group called the ‘Golden Association’ for smooth business operations.”
“Oh, so it was created by the Golden Association.”
I had heard of the Golden Association. It was definitely a multinational group involved in weaponry, as Sylvia had mentioned while passing by.
It made sense that such a multinational organization would need to establish something for business here.
“More importantly, how about we take a group photo?”
“Right here? It seems too dangerous…”
“Come on! Let’s all gather and take a picture with Shasha too.”
I positioned the camera to ensure both the bank and everyone were in frame.
This was necessary for gathering natural bank building data, not just for a traveling commemorative photo.
“So, one… two… three!”
Click!
That’s how we captured our first travel photo in the Triad.
While pretending to tour around and taking photos, I took the chance in a deserted alley to ask my Master to detect magic around the bank.
“What do you think, Master?”
“Well… I can’t confirm it exactly because they are using a magic barrier, but I can sense about 100 people. And, while it’s not entirely certain, there seems to be the presence of a level one wizard.”
“100 security personnel and a level one wizard? That’s a pretty big number.”
Considering it’s a crime city, having this much personnel to operate a bank makes sense.
However, it was a bit worrying that they had mobilized this many just for us. I hoped we wouldn’t be hit with additional charges later.
“Wow… Karma Bank seems like it evaded detection from any wizards in our organization. How did you manage to sense that?”
“It’s not easy due to the significant usage of magic barriers, but they’re not hiding their magical energy. Back in the wars, people used to hide their magical power, making it much harder to detect.”
“Wow…”
Shasha genuinely seemed impressed by my Master’s magic detection ability.
Heh, it appeared Shasha had not expected someone of our Master’s caliber to be present.
Our investigation continued.
“Are there only about two entrances?”
“There’s likely more than that. Looking at the flow of air from the surrounding buildings and vent systems, it seems pathways are connected to this building and another over there.”
“How do you know that?”
Shasha was once again surprised at Sora’s insight.
Sora had a unique sensitivity as a creature of the Myojin race, allowing him to sense air flow quite accurately.
Plus, his exceptional level design skills from many map designs made terrain detection easy for him.
“It’s part of the job, you see. I can tell just by looking at it.”
“Wow…”
Watching Shasha’s amazed reactions made me think how talented this person was at acting.
Her responses were spot on, making me want to show her more.
As we smoothly engaged in sightseeing and data collection, Sora suddenly asked a question.
“But how do we verify that the date is tomorrow?”
“Oh, right. Good point.”
I’d received information that there would be a transaction tomorrow, but I hadn’t confirmed that.
If the timing was off, all our information and plans could become meaningless, so it was essential to verify.
At that moment, Jiren piped up.
“You can leave that to me, Zweih.”
Saying this, Jiren pulled something from his pack and approached two nearby men who looked like bank security.
Though they dressed like security, they were practically gangsters in disguise, yet Jiren approached them without the slightest hint of fear.
“Hey there, friends.”
“Huh?”
“Who are you?”
Jiren wore a floral Hawaiian shirt reminiscent of the Kingdom of Ra to present himself as a tourist.
“I’m Beer from the Zers Empire, here on vacation. Can I ask you something?”
“What do you want?”
“I hear there’s a place called ‘Last Drink’ around here, do you know where it is?”
The two thug-like guards glanced at Jiren suspiciously for a moment but eventually seemed to relent, giving him directions.
With their expressions seeming like they wanted to get something out of Jiren, I wondered if he’d be alright.
“Just head down that alley and turn right.”
“Thanks, friends.”
Jiren turned to leave, but the thugs stopped him.
“Hey tourist…”
“Are you going empty-handed?”
Upon seeing their reaction, Jiren smiled as if he’d been waiting for this.
Then he pulled a bottle of liquor from his pocket.
“Of course, I wouldn’t come empty-handed. Do you friends like ‘Jainsky’?”
“Jainsky!? The finest liquor from the Empire!?”
“Exactly, want to taste?”
I could see the thugs’ pupils dilating at the mention of Jainsky.
The two swallowed hard, unable to tear their eyes away from the bottle of liquor.
“I’m on duty but…”
“Just a little sip wouldn’t hurt, right?”
The two took turns tasting the bottle of liquor Jiren offered, and just like that, they were caught in Jiren’s pace, the atmosphere became cheerful.
“Hahaha!!! This is amazing!!”
“Wow, I’ve never had something this delicious before!”
The Jainsky Jiren had was fake, made from the Dragon Heart Stone.
However, even as a fake, its flavor stood up against most liquors because the original was top-notch.
“I’m surprised to find such good friends all the way out here. What do you think about having another drink tomorrow?”
“Ah… we’d love to, but…”
“We might find it hard to do so since we have important business tomorrow.”
Hearing the thugs’ responses momentarily sharpened Jiren’s gaze.
Jiren kept pretending to be drunk as he continued to converse.
“Important business?”
“Something like that.”
“A high-ranking individual will be conducting a significant business transaction here tomorrow, and it feels like I’ll be watching over things for a week straight without rest.”
It indeed seemed that a transaction event would take place here tomorrow, just as the intel had indicated.
Good job, Jiren, or rather, Beer, now come back.
But then I noticed tears welling up in Jiren’s eyes as he drew the two thugs into a hug and wept.
“Sniff!! A week of night shifts? That’s tough!! You feel me! I totally get it, sniff!!!”
“You too are working hard, friend…”
For the purpose of gathering information, I genuinely felt Jiren was impressive for even acting out such sincere empathy with the thugs.
“Take care!”
“Yeah, friend!!”
With the thugs seeing him off, Jiren—Beer—returned to us.
Then he explained what he had learned.
“So it looks like there will be a transaction tomorrow.”
“Well done, Beer.”
“Incredible! To pull off such information extraction so easily… certainly legendary skill.”
“Hahaha! That’s nothing.”
Feeling shy after Shasha’s admiration, Jiren scratched his head.
After returning to the lodging, we began devising our plan for tomorrow’s bank heist based on the information we gathered throughout our leisurely tour and research.
Unsure of how far we were permitted to go, we decided to pursue the boldest course of action, and when our boss Sion saw my plan, his expression soured.
“I thought I was the craziest guy in the world, but lately, it feels like even crazier people keep popping up.”
“If that won’t do, we’ll have to find another way.”
Was this truly over the top?
As I began thinking of Plan B, Sion puffed on a cigarette and spoke.
“Uh-huh—let me ask, is there no way other than this loud and flashy method?”
“There are over a hundred security personnel and at least one level one wizard on their side. Do you really think we can just slip by and take something from them?”
Honestly, I had a lot I wanted to say.
There was also a level one wizard on their side, just like me.
I mean, if they can call a level one wizard as an event villain, how does that make sense?
I was annoyed, but then I thought differently.
“Wow, they’ve researched us and even brought a level one wizard to match us. I guess we’ll really have to do our best to rob this bank in line with their expectations.”
“Uh-huh—let’s make sure we only grab the goods and leave the rest to us.”
With Sion’s approval, we finished all our preparations.
The day of the showdown was tomorrow.
