Nine Years Ago　Special Agent Felix Faust had come to the East.　It wasn’t that he had fled the West. He had simply reached a dead end.　Ever since Gilbert, his only ally, was killed, Felix had lost both his connections to the Leni City Police and his access to the state police database.The plan to track down the higher-ups behind the dealer killings had stalled. Ever since that shooting spree, the dealers—and even the general public—had clammed up. Fearing they might get caught in the crossfire themselves, people stopped talking.　To begin with, the dealer killings were under state police jurisdiction. The Narcotics Division couldn’t keep digging into it indefinitely. Felix was shut out of the investigation, unable to obtain any information, and time was simply slipping away.It didn’t take long before Scott Sanderson, the head of the Narcotics Division, ordered him to “pull out of this fruitless operation and return to headquarters.”“Felix. Things are starting to get bad in the Ea

9 Years Ago Felix was somewhat disappointed that the Freedom City Police Department was also using the method of climbing up from street dealers. That approach had failed in the West. But the Freedom City Police Department was not incompetent. “We have our own intelligence network.” Thomas said. “Our own intelligence network?” “A network of gangs that commit petty crimes and cheap dealers. Instead of throwing them into prison, we make them our informants. Sure, ideally every crime should be punished, but overlooking small-time crimes that cause little real damage in order to bring down a greater evil isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” After saying that to Felix, Thomas left the Freedom City Police Department in an unmarked patrol car, weaving through the city lined with Freedom City’s skyscrapers. “How large was the mafia conflict?” “It was terrible. Explosions and gunfights. I heard the scene looked like a battlefield. Fifty-nine civilians were killed or injured as well

Nine Years Ago.　Felix and Thomas discussed the matter between themselves and decided to change their investigative strategy.　The recent shootout had shown that the approach of pressing the dealer for information wouldn’t work. Whether that officer was corrupt or not, the speed at which Felix and his team moved from obtaining information from Blue Boy to taking action was simply too fast.Unfortunately, the suspects were not the mafia, but the City Police.There are 30,000 City Police officers stationed in Freedom City, including both uniformed and plainclothes officers. In other words, that’s a surveillance network of 30,000 people. It’s impossible for all of them to be corrupt, but even so, the only ones who could monitor drug dealers without arousing suspicion and immediately contact their colleagues were the police.　Officers can communicate via Fairy Communications, and it’s not unusual for patrol cars to be heading toward a crime scene. Furthermore, they can legally carry magic

Nine Years AgoThe four men were temporarily placed in a holding cell so their official statements could be taken.The interrogation was about to begin, and Ricardo Rosa’s name would come up. Once that happened, all that would be left was to obtain a warrant and raid every facility associated with Ricardo Rosa.　It seemed the leak had already begun. If we didn’t act immediately, we’d let Ricardo Rosa slip through our fingers. That was the one thing we wanted to avoid at all costs.“So, you’re admitting you bought Snow Pearl from Ricardo Rosa?”“I don’t think ‘bought’ is the right word. We were given a job. We were told to sell this Snow Pearl on Ricardo Rosa’s behalf. And part of that goes toward our pay. It’s a purely commission-based business.”So far, everything was going smoothly.The dealer’s testimony had been recorded and made into an official record.We should be able to get a warrant.We’d take down the Cartabiano family, and with them, the drug business. The drug cartel woul

9 Years Ago　At the specified time, Alois transferred 10 billion ducats to the designated account. Less than an hour later, he received a call from Bradford.“I’ve confirmed the deposit. I appreciate your goodwill.”“To get right to the point, I’d like you to exercise your political influence. There’s a DEA agent in Freedom City who’s been sniffing around about ‘us.’ I want him silenced. Can you handle it?”“Of course. I’ll pull some strings.”Bradford accepted the request as casually as if he were ordering a pizza.　Alois waits. For a call from Cheerio.The phone rings, and Alois picks it up immediately.“Cheerio here. You used magic, didn’t you? Four of our people were picked up and apparently testified to something, but they were released without any witness protection. I’ll take care of them right away.”“Ah. Magic. The wonderful power of miracles.”　Any magician can use magic. But they can’t use the kind of magic found in myths.Alois made a request to Bradford, who put pressure