A/N:
To jy24: Oh! You guessed certain parts correctly, well done! (: But since I don't want to give spoilers, I won't be saying what they are exactly. Hahaha. Everything will be fully explained in the next chapter~
To readwithcats: Haha, it's okay, I understand. When I first started reading DGM, I was more interested in Allen compared to everyone else. But after some time, I was drawn to the other characters, and Allen no longer mattered that much to me. ^^;;
Chapter Ten
"Oh, look at this! Kanda, come try this on!"
"What? No way."
"Why not? We're in China, so of course we have to experience a different culture."
"No."
"And also, I heard that these clothes used to be worn by the Chinese nobility. I think they would suit you well, so go try it on."
"No."
"Here, quickly."
"…Tch."
"Hurry back, okay?"
"…"
"Oh? As expected, they really do suit you well! Now stay still for a moment while I draw a portrait!"
"No way!"
"Here, Kanda."
"I don't need it."
"It's not a matter of whether you need it or not, this is one of Spain's specialty dishes! Here, eat."
"I don't want it."
"You can't just eat soba for your three meals, it's not healthy. Now, eat."
"No."
"Kan-da!"
"…Tch."
"There we go. Good boy."
"My, the colosseum in Rome really is fascinating. Not just that, the city is filled with amazing art and architecture too."
"Are we staying?"
"We should, it's a good place to draw."
"For how long?"
"Hm. How long do you want to stay, Kanda?"
"Anything's fine."
"Hm… Then, two weeks?"
"Okay."
"Kanda! We're heading to Venice next!"
"When?"
"Now."
"…Okay."
"By the way, I have a place I want to check out first, so head over and wait for me in Venice. I'll follow soon."
"Hah? No way. If I leave you, you will disappear somewhere and I will have to spend the next couple weeks searching for you."
"Oh my, are you still holding a grudge over that? It's not good for a man to be petty, you know."
"Who cares about being petty when your safety is more important? I was barely in time to save you from getting mugged because you were too engrossed in your paintings!"
"Yes, yes. I'll be alright, don't worry. Hurry up and go first."
"Absolutely not!"
"Oh my. So stubborn. Fine, fine. Come along then. I just want to visit the ancient ruins."
"Well... I wonder if we should perhaps start heading back?"
Tiedoll murmured to himself as he stared up at the sky.
"Are we going?" Kanda asked from where he was standing some distance behind Tiedoll. His katana was secured firmly around his back, carefully positioned so that it wouldn't impede his movements yet still allowing him to easily draw it at a moment's notice.
"How long has it been since we started travelling around?"
Kanda frowned a little, thinking. "…About a year," he answered.
"I see. A year, huh."
Tiedoll looked away from the sky, sweeping his gaze over the land.
They were in Northern India, where the palaces and old buildings were still unaffected by the technology advancement. However, there were many world leaders calling for those buildings to be torn down and replaced with ones that suit the highly advanced technology they now had. Within the next twenty years or so, it might be possible that such beautiful buildings bearing thousands of years of history will be destroyed.
Tiedoll sighed softly, turning around.
"Let's go back." He gestured towards the car parked not too far away.
Kanda nodded.
In one year, Kanda had grown quite a bit. He was taller now, and stronger too. Though he was travelling, he never once slacked off on his training. Tiedoll was rather proud of him.
The sound of their footfalls echoed in the peaceful atmosphere as they walked towards the car, when Kanda abruptly stopped.
Tiedoll noticed, turning back slightly in curiosity.
"What is it?" He asked quietly.
"…I heard something." Kanda replied.
Those his ears were hidden behind technology, it didn't mean that they weren't there or that he now hears through his human pair of ears. His hearing was still as sensitive as ever, which was why Tiedoll never once doubted him.
"Where is it from?"
"Over there." Kanda pointed to the left.
"I see. That's near the old palace, isn't it? Why don't you go and take a look?" Tiedoll suggested.
Kanda obeyed, turning around. His footsteps were light and quick as he approached the sound he heard before.
Within the loose rubble near the palace, there came the sound of scratching again. It was weak, but for Kanda, it was enough. He moved closer, reaching down to pick up the concrete blocks, tossing them away.
He had managed to clear away quite a few of the heavy concrete when the sound changed. There was still the sound of scratching, but something that sounded like the rustling of clothes accompanied it.
Kanda paused.
Rustling of clothes? The only beings that wore clothes were humans. Was there a person trapped underneath?
Kanda reached down again, tossing away more of the rubble.
And then finally, a face came to view.
Half-opened eyes stared at Kanda for a mere second, before they closed.
Kanda took in the pale face, marred with an angry red scar, the messy white hair, and the arm that was weakly clawing at the ground. The grotesque, blood red left arm with thick veins crawling all the way up to the shoulder was – to put it simply, unsightly. It was a sight that would have made any other person recoil with disgust.
But Kanda's expression didn't change at all.
His eyes travelled down the arm, to the fingers.
They were completely unlike a normal human's.
From each joint of the finger, a scale protruded. It was made all the more obvious because the fingers were bent, but if they were lying flat, Kanda was sure that it would be almost indiscernible. Those scales… They looked as though they belonged to a reptile, yet not.
It was different, it was strange.
Even so, the one thing Kanda knew for sure was that this was not an ordinary human. This tiny, pale boy was a modified human, most likely a slave of some sort.
With a huff, Kanda pulled out his sword.
He sliced through the remaining concrete like it was nothing more than paper, and then slid the sword back into its sheath. Now that he had gotten rid of all the rubble that was trapping the boy, he was able to get a better look.
A pair of dirty white ears rested on the boy's head, resembling those of a wolf. One of the ears was caked in dried blood, turning the fur into a deep red. There wasn't any tail, but it may have been hidden in his oddly thick clothes or perhaps cut off.
Kanda didn't bother to thoroughly search, and instead, reached down to lift the unconscious boy onto his shoulder.
He briskly turned around, returning to Tiedoll's side.
"Hm? A human?" Tiedoll asked when Kanda approached close enough.
"No, a modified slave. Found him within the rubble."
"Oh?"
Kanda set the boy down, and Tiedoll bend over, inspecting him.
"Hm? Oh my. Here, look at this." Tiedoll pointed down at the boy's torso, where almost every inch of exposed skin showing through the tears in the shirt was covered with still healing scars. There must surely be more on his back. "He seems to be in quite a terrible condition."
"From experiments?" Kanda asked.
"Perhaps."
"What are you going to do? Bring him back with us?"
Tiedoll lightly stroked his beard, thinking.
"I wonder? Seeing as how recent these scars are, this boy's owner must be somewhere close. Perhaps the boy ran away, and if we were to just kidnap him, it would be bad if the owner decides to make him self-destruct before we reach the Order."
"Then, are we leaving him here?"
"Hm." Tiedoll's eyes narrowed as he hummed contemplatively.
A moment of silence passed, and then Tiedoll mumbled softly to himself.
"Maybe leaving him here would be best. Normally, we don't immediately pick up slaves with such recent wounds, choosing to leave them be for a couple of days first to be sure that there's no one coming for them."
Kanda did not reply, simply waiting until Tiedoll came to a decision.
"But this boy's condition is rather bad. I'm not sure if he would make it if left untreated for too long. Hm… If it was you, what choice would you make?" Tiedoll suddenly directed a question at Kanda.
Kanda blinked, surprised. He stared down at the pale boy, and frowned.
"Leaving him here would be a good choice, since his wounds appear to be really recent. And we do not know the identity of the owner, so it's dangerous if they come after us. Perhaps his owner may even be one of the Order's enemies. We should not recklessly endanger the Order. If someone troublesome comes and causes chaos because of this boy, it would be too late to throw him out." He said.
Tiedoll nodded.
"Yes, that is true. The Order is home to many, and we cannot endanger those who have nowhere else to go, all for one boy who may have a place to return to, no matter how mistreated he may be."
"So we will leave him here?" Kanda asked.
"Yes."
Kanda stepped over the boy, approaching Tiedoll's car without taking another glance behind. He reached out, tapping the floating screen to open the door. But he didn't enter, waiting for Tiedoll to climb in first.
Tiedoll was scanning through his inventory, an uncharacteristic frown on his face, walking slowly towards the car.
He felt bad about leaving the boy behind, with those injuries he had. And he seemed really young too. There must be something that he could use; something to help the boy, at the very least.
"Oh ho?" With a soft exclamation of shock, Tiedoll stopped right before the car.
"What is it?" Kanda enquired.
"I found something interesting. With this, it might work." Tiedoll murmured, reaching into the inventory screen and pulling out an item.
Kanda stared at it.
It was… a collar.
The collar was about two inches wide, barely a centimetre thick, made with black-coated aluminium. There was something that appeared to be a gem fixed on the front, but on a closer look, it was an eye.
"…"
Kanda looked away from the collar, sending Tiedoll a questioning look.
"This is something Komui made while playing around. It's a collar that once it's put on, it will synchronise with the brain. It has quite a few functions, though I can't say that I know what they all are. But anyway, if we use this, we can control that boy." Tiedoll explained.
"Still, it won't help when he receives a command to self-destruct, will it?"
"Hm, it's never really been tested before, but Komui did say he added some safety measures so that it will at least interrupt the functioning of any microchip that is not made by the Order. And it also disables the tracking ability within the microchips."
Kanda stared at Tiedoll, then at the boy, and then back again.
"That collar has never been tested before… And you want to use it on the boy?"
"It's been through trial tests in the lab. It was all fine, nothing abnormal with it at all. The only unfortunate thing is that it got stored away after that, without it being put to use. What better time to use it than now?"
"…No." Kanda quickly rejected Tiedoll.
"Why not? We can take a chance." Tiedoll smiled happily. "And it won't be for a prolonged time, it's just a temporary measure until we get back," he added.
Kanda was left speechless.
Using a questionable technology produced by Komui himself, if the boy dies as a result… Then again, if they simply left him as he was, he might die too. Both consequence were bad.
"Here, take it." Tiedoll dumped the collar into Kanda's hands. "Go put it on the boy and then we can bring him with us."
Kanda stared down at the collar in his hands, not moving an inch. And with a sigh, he gave in. Walking over to the boy, he carefully crouched beside him, body on alert. Pressing onto the little button near the back, the collar opened up and Kanda slid it around the boy's neck.
The collar beeped as it closed, and the eye in the front opened, shining brightly before dimming to a tolerable level. The bright green eye – with a single narrow slit as a pupil – blinked at Kanda. It looked as though it was waiting for a command.
…Was he supposed to say something?
But what the hell was he supposed to say?
"…"
"…"
Kanda stared at it without a word, and the eye stared back.
"…Activate."
Eventually, Kanda decided to just attempt something.
Numerous beeping sounds suddenly came from the collar, Kanda instinctively pulling away from it.
"Reading implanted microchip. Status: 60%... 100%... Recognition complete, commencing destabilising receptors… Completed. Initiating connection with the brain. Status: 48%... 75%... 91%... 100%... Connection established. The collar is now fully activated."
Kanda stared blankly down at the collar, his eyes a little wide.
A couple of seconds later, he unfroze. Picking up the boy, he tossed him into the car none too gently. Tiedoll was humming happily as Kanda settled into the seat beside him.
The door slid shut.
After one year, they were finally on their way back to the Black Order.
"How is he?" Tiedoll asked.
Komui lifted his head from where he was typing in some data, blinking at Tiedoll. "Huh?"
"The boy. The one we brought in."
"Oh. That boy. Well…" Komui pushed aside the current screen, reaching for a different one. "Let's see… Other than the fact that he's covered in wounds, he will need surgery for his damaged ear. Thankfully, the damage isn't severe enough to cause deafness."
"I see. And what about the microchip within him?"
Komui frowned. "That's where it gets a little strange. The microchip does seem to be the standard one used on all other slaves, but there had been some intense modifications done to it."
"Modifications?" Tiedoll's eyebrow raised. "Was that done by the Master of the boy?"
"Perhaps. It shocked me quite a bit when I first received the data on the boy. Those modifications done on the microchip… Whoever did it, is on par with the Black Order. The Black Order excels technology-wise, so much so that the government can't get any trace on us. But after reading that boy's microchip details…"
Tiedoll frowned. "I see. So this means that there is someone out there who is capable of matching the Black Order. If that's the case, that boy is a dangerous existence. Perhaps bringing him back was a mistake?"
Komui lips curled up into a little smile.
"Not quite. If you didn't bring him back, I wouldn't have known that there is someone out there with equal skills to the Black Order. So that is a good thing. But since that boy is still unconscious, we can't get any answers yet."
Komui lightly tapped on his desk, eyes narrowing in thought.
"Tiedoll."
"Hm?"
"When you picked up that boy, was there anyone else around?"
"Not that I know of. Kanda didn't pick up on anyone's presence either, other than the boy. Do you suspect that there may have been someone else there?"
"Well, I don't want to rule out that possibility. What if there was someone there, someone watching the both of you as you took the boy with you? I do not know why they didn't stop you, perhaps they had a motive."
"Hm." Tiedoll hummed thoughtfully, frowning deeply.
Komui sighed.
"However, I might just be overthinking things. Still, being cautious is better than letting down our guard. I had the boy moved to a different room, he's still getting medical care, but he is now isolated. Any further decisions will wait until he is awake."
x
"Hey. They took him, didn't they? The Black Order."
"Yeah. That collar-like device was actually able to cancel out our microchip. There's no doubt that those were members of the Black Order."
"Hm~ Were they both human?"
"Who knows? The Black Order members are always using strange technologies, making it hard to discern between human and slave."
"But you were watching that long-haired man quite closely, weren't you?"
"He seemed interesting, that's all."
"Oh? Hehe."
"…You look happy."
"Of course! With this, we can finally have some fun!"
"I guess that's true. We've been patient for a long time, after all."
"Heh. You're excited too, aren't you?"
"Haha. Perhaps. Come on, let's go back. They're waiting for us."
"Hehehe. Okay!"