Coderoin (Chapter)

Codaime (コデロイン) is the 4th chapter of the 1st volume and the 4th chapter overall of Lost Girls manga, written and illustrated by Ryōsuke Fuji.

Overview
Returning to the Pit Redoz tavern, Annie fights the patrons and defeats Lugg, threatening him into silence about her meeting with them. When the chaos dies down, Carly Stratmann appears at last.

Annie and Carly speak together, and Carly confesses to her involvement in the codaime trade. She tells her that Wayne was a dealer, and her father is the boss of the trade. She and her father agreed to keep codaime out of distribution in Stohess District, keeping it in the capital alone, but Eliot had broken this promise, causing her to leave home. Carly asks Annie to pretend she was not found.

At the Military Police Brigade barracks, Annie retrieves a permit to Wall Rose and a letter from Eliot Stratmann about Wayne's location. Carly prepares to leave, and while walking with Annie she asks her if she ever went against her own father. Annie recalls a time when she snapped during her training and attacked him, even though he was proud of her ferocity in the breakdown. After eating with Carly, Annie gives her the Wall Rose travel permit. Carly bids Annie farewell, and Annie prepares to conclude the day's task.

Summary
Having returned to the Pit Redoz tavern, the patrons begin attacking Annie. She makes quick work of them while Lugg struggles to find ammunition for his pistol. As he fires a bullet at her, she throws a bottle in his direction, shattering it against the bullet. Annie catches Lugg in the destruction, and taking his pistol she demands that Lugg must never speak of her arrival at the Pit Redoz or her meeting with him and Waldo. As Lugg wets himself in fear, Annie takes back her blade ring. Once the chaos dies down, Carly Stratmann appears at last.

In a private room, Annie and Carly speak together. Carly is informed of Wayne Eisner's death, and Annie tells her that she is willing to overlook her involvement in the codaime trade if she returns home. The patrons on the floor below are excited for Carly's return, but the bartender informs them that they will have to pay for their own drinks from then on. Carly demonstrates her expertise in chemistry by describing the process of codaime production in great detail to Annie. She reveals that Wayne was a dealer of the drug, and Eliot Stratmann was in charge of the trade. The Stratmann family had been using their carriage business to send codaime to the capital. Carly had agreed with her father that codaime would only be sold in the capital, and as long as the agreement lasted she would bring in as much fortune as he wanted. However, Eliot had begun to sell codaime within Stohess District, and because of this she left home. She chose to live with Wayne for a time and wanted to leave town though Wayne did not. Wayne wanted to earn more money, leading to his blackmail with Waldo and Lugg, but Lugg had betrayed him. After everything is revealed, Carly asks Annie to pretend that she had not been found. Annie asks Carly why she began codaime production, and she admits that she wanted to keep her father financially stable.

In the Military Police Brigade barracks, Annie forges a Wall Rose travel permit. She notices that she had received a note from Marlowe, delivering a message from Eliot concerning Wayne's location. Annie realizes that the letter had arrived before she had arrived at Wayne's home. At the Pit Redoz, Carly bids farewell to the patrons and leaves a large sum of money with the bartender, an old friend of hers. Annie asks Carly why she befriends drunkards, and Carly says that they do not realize that they cannot retrieve something that is gone.

Carly asks Annie if she ever went against her own father. Annie tells her that she did at one time, and Carly decides to find food for Annie, who had not eaten since lunch. When Carly is gone, Annie thinks back to the time she defied her father. During her strenuous training, Annie had snapped and attacked her father relentlessly. Ever since that day, her father walked with a limp, proud of the strength Annie had displayed. Since that day, her training had been even more brutal.

Carly returns with limeade and donuts, the former being especially enjoyed by Annie. Carly admits that she is the only one who knows how to make codaime, meaning that her father will be financially ruined with her departure. Annie gives her the forged Wall Rose travel permit, and Carly tells her that Stohess might be better off once she is gone. Carly bids Annie farewell, and Annie prepares to wrap up her task for the day.