Never a Dull Moment (2)
Inside a commercial building in Elaim.
A rickety chair creaked and groaned. Smoke curled upward in thick plumes, licking at the ceiling. Only the feeble glow of a small lamp lit the damp basement.
Around the table, the mouths of those seated flickered with the periodic flare of cigarette tips.
"…And so, he took his own life."
When the man with the close-cropped hair finished his report, the rest of the group fell silent, stunned into speechlessness.
"…"
"…"
"…"
For a while, the only thing that moved was the length of their cigarettes, shrinking at an accelerated pace.
A muscular man pulled out a fresh one and muttered,
"I don't understand it."
It was a sentiment shared by everyone present.
"…Could it have been betrayal?"
At the woman's suggestion, the man shook his head at once.
Who betrayed anyone like that?
This was a plan they had spent long years carefully preparing. There had been no risk of their identities being exposed, and Creek was no low-level agent who would fold under persuasion or mental interference. Nor could the man think of a single benefit Creek would have gained from turning traitor.
The manner of the failure itself was bizarre in the extreme.
He had gone out wearing a music player instead of a bomb?
That meant someone had tampered with things in advance.
If it wasn't Creek's betrayal, then the problem lay elsewhere.
Objectively speaking, only two possibilities came to mind: either information had leaked from higher up the chain that had greenlit the operation, or something had gone wrong with the field agents.
The former was vanishingly unlikely. Frankly, if the Empire had gotten wind of it, they would have simply arrested everyone from the start. There was no reason to go to the trouble of swapping a bomb for a music player. And there had been no sign whatsoever of Imperial intelligence moving near the Academy.
Which left…
"Huuuuh."
The man exhaled a long stream of smoke that came out more like a sigh.
It was his own unit that had handed the mana bomb to Creek. The Reconnaissance Bureau would naturally start by suspecting the low-ranking agents like them rather than hunting for a traitor among the higher-ups. Whether by accident or design, the more probable scenario was that the wrong item had been delivered, wasn't it? He would have thought the same thing in their position.
"…"
As that realization settled over him, the man dragged a hand across his mouth in bleak frustration. They had botched a plan of this magnitude. At best, they were looking at severe disciplinary action; at worst, they would be branded as traitors. He could already picture, with perfect clarity, the kind of suffering that awaited them if they got caught on the wrong side of this. As an agent of the Bureau himself, he knew better than anyone how vicious their interrogations could be.
Delaying or falsifying the report to their superiors had its limits, too. How many witnesses had been there? Journalists had seen the whole mess—it would be on the front page of tomorrow morning's papers.
"…Leader, what do we do?"
Seeing the gravity settle over his face, the unit members looked at him with worried eyes.
Time was short. They needed to act—or produce results. Something solid enough to prove they weren't the traitors…
— Leader.
Just then, a sound transmission from an agent outside reached the man's ear.
— What is it?
— Billy Kaintel just walked into the first floor.
What?
The man shot up from his seat. It was like a lifeline dropped from the heavens at the moment of absolute crisis.
Billy Kaintel. Eldest son of House Kaintel, top-ranked among this year's incoming students. As the agent assigned to Elprime Academy, the man naturally had the boy's file memorized cold.
This is a gift from the gods!
A current of electricity seemed to race down his spine. The timing was so perfectly convenient that he found himself invoking a god he had never believed in.
We take him out.
The top-ranked freshman—that ought to be enough for the higher-ups to accept. As far as he knew, Billy Kaintel was only Expert Mid-Low, and that was no problem at all. He and every member of his unit had already crossed the Expert threshold themselves. Handling a greenhorn with zero real combat experience would be more than manageable. You didn't underestimate the fighting ability of deep-cover operatives embedded in the heart of the Empire.
As evening approached, the streets gradually filled with more pedestrians.
Billy made his way toward a clothing shop. He was well aware that his appearance drew enormous attention wherever he went—but other people's pointless stares and interest only exhausted him. So he deliberately avoided the crowds, heading for a commercial building on a quiet side street with little foot traffic.
Ding-a-ling!
"Welcome— Huk!?"
The female clerk who had been greeting customers with a bright smile saw Billy's face and her eyes went wide as saucers. It was a familiar reaction. He gave her a slight nod and began browsing the merchandise in silence.
"Is there anything in particular you're looking for…?"
The clerk edged closer.
"I'll find it myself."
Billy's curt reply made her smile awkwardly and withdraw.
"…"
His gaze lingered on the clerk for a moment before sliding away. Her gait, her breathing, the muscle definition faintly visible beneath her clothes—she looked like a martial artist of considerable skill. She was deliberately moving like an ordinary young woman, but she couldn't fool Billy's eye.
Someone that capable is running a clothing store?
Pretending to examine the clothes, Billy spread his sensory field and scanned the surroundings. His instincts were bad. And his bad instincts were rarely wrong.
But he was not given time to assess the situation.
Rrrrk!
At the sudden noise, Billy's head snapped around. The wall behind the counter—which had looked like solid nothing—split open as if the whole thing had been a lie.
Thud-thud-thud!
Through the open doorway, a narrow staircase led down to a basement. From within, three men and one woman came charging out like a pack of dogs. Even at a glance, they were fighters of no ordinary caliber.
Billy flung aside the clothes in his hands and spun to run—
Ssshing— Clang!
The clerk was already at the entrance, dropping a shutter that sealed the doorway completely. The bright customer-service smile was gone from her face, replaced by a pair of ice-cold eyes. The atmosphere left no doubt about her intent: she was going to tear him apart.
Running is out of the question.
Shing!
Billy drew his sword in a flash and settled into a ready stance.
"Why are you targeting me?"
The low, level voice and the utterly composed eyes made the attackers' pupils flicker for an instant. The complete absence of panic, the unshaken calm—it was hard to believe he was only eighteen.
"…"
"…"
"…"
This was no greenhorn. The attackers raised their vigilance another notch and began slowly closing a net around him.
"…"
Sensing that no answer would be forthcoming no matter what he said, Billy simply lifted his blade in silence.
Snap!
In unison, short daggers appeared in the attackers' hands. A moment later they all reversed their grips, holding the blades in reverse. Sharp killing intent poured toward Billy at the center of the circle.
This is bad.
Billy felt the heavy weight of a losing position. The shop interior was not particularly large. In tight quarters, short daggers held a decisive advantage. His long sword would struggle to find room to work among the scattered furniture. And every one of his opponents had already broken through the Expert wall. Against one or two, he might have had a chance—but five? Walking out of this in one piece was a fantasy.
Call for help? A thin layer of mana had been woven around the entire shop to dampen sound. On top of that, this was a deserted alley—anything short of a full-blown riot would go unnoticed from outside.
In every respect, the situation was grim.
Billy put his back to the wall as best he could, denying them a full surround.
Crackle!
Blue sword aura bloomed along every attacker's dagger at once.
Whoosh!
Billy answered in kind, drawing out his own. His was denser and sharper than theirs.
A taut tension rode the air between them.
"…"
"…"
"…"
A hair-trigger moment. The slightest movement from anyone would ignite the fight.
KRAAAAAANG—!!!
The iron shutter sealing the entrance exploded outward in a colossal detonation. The sudden shockwave knocked everyone inside off their feet. The clerk, who had been closest to the door, was flung clean across the room, cracked her head against the wall, and went out cold.
Eeeeeee—
A sharp ringing filled their stunned eardrums.
"Ugh, uuugh…"
"Ghhhk…"
"What the hell is—!"
Sprawled across the floor, they clutched their ringing heads and looked toward the entrance. The doorway had been torn open as if a giant had ripped it apart by hand. Through the acrid dust and debris, four silhouettes appeared. As the dust gradually settled, their forms came into view.
"Have you lost your mind!?!? You can't just set something like that off in the middle of the city!!!"
A blonde girl, pale as a sheet, was screaming at the top of her lungs.
"I knew it! Leon, you were right!"
A massive man built like a beast, his fighting spirit already rising.
"Leon, I think I like you."
A girl with deep violet hair offered a cool smile as she drew a short staff from her waist. Clack! With a short flick of her wrist, the staff elongated into a full-length spear in an instant.
And last of all—
"Ohhh, yeah~!"
A wide, delighted grin. Two vivid eyes flickering with a red radiance. The black-haired boy ran his tongue slowly across his lips, as if he had just spotted a delicious meal. The attackers who met those mad eyes flinched involuntarily.
Ssshing!
Leon drew his sword with a light, almost cheerful flourish, body humming with anticipation.
"Never a dull moment!"