Chapter 57: Where Is the Mysterious Pendant

Yuki glanced back at Uncle Oda, making sure his emotions had settled. In fact, seeing Uncle Oda cradling the egg-shaped Little Black King with such maternal tenderness, clearly in high spirits, Yuki felt reassured and made his way over to Senior Ayu.

“Senior Ayu, I need to borrow this guy for a bit,” Yuki gestured to Walker, who was sprawled on the ground, “I need to have a private word with him.”

Soya Ayu looked at Yuki in confusion, but Yuki offered no further explanation—just a subtle glance toward Uncle Oda, silently indicating he would be leaving and asking Ayu to help keep watch. Thus, Ayu could only nod in agreement and walk over to Uncle Oda.

“Walker, right? You were Senior Ayu’s old companion.”

Yuki dragged Walker, who lay limp like a dead fish, into a narrow alley with no exit. The faint stench lingering there suggested someone had recently relieved themselves nearby.

Crouching down beside him, Yuki smiled and introduced himself to the prone Walker. “I’m Yuki Kudo, a junior of Senior Ayu. Pleased to meet you.”

“P-Pleased to meet you,” Walker stammered, still reeling from the shock. After all, the man now crouched beside him, gazing down from above, his face obscured by backlight, which made Walker all the more nervous.

Yuki spoke in the gentlest voice he could muster. “You want to do something for those children from other planets. I really like that sentiment—truly, I do.”

“It takes money to do these things, and I understand that.”

“But when you’re raising funds for a good cause, you still have to choose your targets. You steal from an innocent painter—should that poor artist have to suffer loss for the sake of your good intentions? That doesn’t seem right, does it?”

At this point, Yuki shifted his tone.

“If it were me, I’d target those who are already thieves—go after the wicked. An innocent painter would call the police, but those people… they wouldn’t.”

Walker was momentarily stunned, his expression turning bitter. He didn’t have the guts to rob those people who’d never call the police! Were they afraid of the authorities? No—they simply didn’t need them! If there’s a problem, they’d handle it themselves—far quicker than calling for help.

At this, Walker was about to complain, “Isn’t this like telling the starving to eat cake?” But Yuki didn’t press the point. Instead, he continued, “You’re a member of the Villains’ Society, aren’t you?”

Though only a peripheral member.

Walker nodded uncertainly, his face full of confusion, as if asking, “What are you getting at?”

“Since you’ve got a darknet forum to share information, you must have your ear to the ground. I want you to keep an eye on something for me, and I’ll pay you handsomely.”

Payment?

Now you’re talking! In an instant, Walker perked up, the thought of money reviving him from his lethargy. Clearly, he was in dire need of cash.

Yuki continued to hint, encouraging Walker that targeting the Villains’ Society wasn’t a bad thing—after all, robbing the wicked was a worthy cause.

“Has anyone in the Villains’ Society come across a blue crystal pendant?” Yuki indicated its approximate size. “It should be a necklace. If you have information about it, I’ll pay you 10,000 credits; if you can get me the actual item, 100,000 credits.”

Incidentally, “credits” were the standard currency used by member planets of the Interstellar Alliance. Once a planet joined, after a transitional period of one to ten years, it would switch to this unified currency for ease of interplanetary trade.

For reference, 10,000 credits was enough for a small-time crook to live extravagantly for an entire year. Of course, if squandered on vice, it might only last a month or two.

Walker’s face lit up with delight at the thought, and he struggled to sit up, checking to make sure they were alone before lowering his voice. “I—I think I know! I have information about what you’re looking for!”

Yuki was momentarily taken aback. Information? Only information? So you haven’t gotten your hands on it yet!

He almost couldn’t keep the disappointment from his face.

Walker, for his part, was confused—he had information, yet the employer before him looked crestfallen and displeased.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. Go ahead.”

Yuki composed himself, regaining his calm. It made sense, after all—the story had already changed so much from the original, it was only natural for the “future” to shift as well. Without hesitation, he pulled a traveler's check worth 10,000 credits from his pocket, dangling it before Walker like a carrot.

Walker swallowed, choosing his words carefully. “Recently, there was a traitor in the Villains’ Society. He was a high-ranking member in charge of the auction house, but during preparations for the last auction, he ran off with all the entry fees and the auction items.”

“One of those items was the pendant you mentioned! It looked just like what you described.”

Walker, unable to explain further, pulled out his personal pad, logged into the Society’s bounty section, and brought up a reward worth three million credits. The first page showed a close-up of the traitor—a Makindoan.

That detail meant little to Yuki, as members of the same alien species all looked alike to him.

Below was a list of the stolen auction items for bounty hunters to track the Makindoan through the movement of the goods.

The items were arranged by starting bid, highest to lowest, and the necklace was at the bottom—by far the cheapest.

Its starting price was only 5,000 credits.

A single Ultraman, worth just 5,000 credits—what a joke.

Though Walker might be a crook, he wasn’t stupid—in fact, he had a certain cunning about him.

“I’m also following this bounty. The big items are hard to fence—monster weapons and bombs draw too much attention, making them tough to sell. So if the traitor wants to cash in quickly, he’ll likely choose something cheap and inconspicuous—like the necklace.”

Walker looked at Yuki expectantly. Yuki, though a little troubled, rubbed his forehead but still kept his word, handing the traveler's check to Walker and reminding him not to exchange it at the bank, but to spend it directly at merchants to break it into smaller denominations.

Walker stiffened at the advice, nodding in understanding.

This thing… it must be dirty money as well. No wonder he’d just encouraged him to “rob the wicked.”

Kindred spirits!

The stack of credit checks, totaling two million, that Yuki had remotely withdrawn from the research institute’s safe, were off the books and of dubious origin.

After quietly consulting Director Hasui, the official had simply smiled and said: just don’t take them to the bank.

Yuki understood perfectly.