Just How Many Incidents?
Orbis Academy was an incredibly vast place. Built long ago using imperial territory, the academy itself boasted an enormous scale. As talented individuals from across the continent gathered, a commercial district naturally formed around it. Where people gathered, a city emerged. In the process, the academy grounds expanded, and the city—shaped by various vested interests—was never planned from the start, resulting in a maze-like tangle of streets. It was the kind of place rumored to be so dangerous you might never find your way out once you entered. To me, though, it was nothing compared to the mountain behind my village.
"Kuhk!"
"Ghk!"
"Nice! Pocket money!"
I wandered the back alleys at my leisure, shaking down every thug I ran into. They hadn't attacked first, but that didn't matter. If I wanted to gather information from the underworld, I needed the locals' friendly cooperation.
"You really don't know anything?"
"N-no, sir! I might know where rival organizations hide out, but I swear I don't know anything about black mages!"
"Then tell me where their hideouts are."
"I'll talk!"
I moved through the alleys, collecting information and operating funds from the helpful locals. Just in case, I asked around about black mages, but no one knew a thing. Even with the academy's lax security, it seemed they weren't operating openly.
"Neon. Report the detection results."
"The energy is getting closer. We should find something if we go a little deeper."
"The scent of black mana is getting stronger. It's unpleasant."
"Adela can smell it too."
I narrowed my eyes at the words of the two experts in black mana detection, far superior to anyone else. If an official black mage and a monster were saying this much, there really must be a black mage nest nearby. Charging in head-on probably wasn't the best idea.
"We should split up."
"Why split the group?"
"If we all go in from the front, they might burn their internal documents."
Everyone nodded, convinced by my reasoning. We'd already raided six hideouts and gathered plenty of information, but more was always better. We had no idea what intel the academy branch might hold, so we needed to secure it before they could destroy the evidence.
With the black mages' hideout now close, we discussed the operation with serious expressions. If the academy professors showed up, they'd insist on handling it themselves. That was absolutely unacceptable. The black mage hideout was our prey, claimed in advance. We quickly finalized our plan to raid it before the academy could interfere, and the moment we arrived at our destination, we split into teams.
The building radiating traces of black mana turned out to be a run-down three-story inn. From the outside, it looked like the kind of place that catered to impoverished travelers and cheap mercenaries. There was no point hesitating now that we'd reached our target. Standing at the entrance, I glanced left and right. Goro was calmly checking his bow, Anel and Coco were casting waterproofing spells on their guild uniforms, and Arash and Adela were lightly stretching. It was the same team composition we'd had when we came down from the North. Neon had been assigned to Lucy's sibling team to handle internal black magic traps, but that was fine. We'd just knock down everything we saw anyway.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
As we approached with an ominous presence, the vagrants lounging near the inn stood up. The daggers they pulled from their clothes suggested they were guards disguised as drifters. They'd made the wrong choice from the start.
Twang! Twang-tw twang!
"You shouldn't underestimate an archer."
Specially crafted steel arrows shot out like streaks of light, piercing straight through the vagrants' heads. Before they could even react, the disguised guards collapsed, and we kicked the door open and stormed inside before the enemies within could respond.
"Come on out!"
"Who the hell are you?!"
"We're the adventurers here to wreck you!"
If Lucy's sibling team was going to extract internal information smoothly, we needed to cause a big enough scene on this side. Since I wanted to make it as flashy as possible, I grinned savagely and wrapped aura around my fists.
"An aura user! It's a knight!"
"Damn it! What's a knight doing here?!"
"Everyone, draw your weapons! Don't let them inside!"
The organization members, belatedly grasping the situation, hurriedly pulled out their weapons and tried to resist. I snorted at the sight. These guys couldn't even coat their weapons with mana, yet they were making such a fuss.
I kicked off lightly and slipped into the lead member's guard, planting a solid punch into his abdomen. The aura-infused fist rattled his insides, slamming him into the wall, and the battle began in earnest.
From the basement, second floor, third floor, and hidden spaces, organization members poured out. Dozens of them rushed in to eliminate the intruders. It was a fairly brutal scene, but the people involved remained perfectly calm.
"There's quite a lot of them."
"With this many people, there must really be something here."
"Looks like we hit the jackpot from the start."
Every time Arash swung his greatsword, two or three men were swept away. Adela's claws pierced through enemies who appeared to be black knights. Anel and Coco supported with magic from the rear before beating down any organization members who approached them, while Goro's arrows flew without pause. The gap was so overwhelming that the first floor turned into a complete mess in an instant.
"Damn it! They weren't knights—they were northerners!"
"What are northerners doing here?!"
"Go down and request support! We can't stop them alone!"
With half their numbers down in moments, several men rushed to the basement. They seemed to be calling for backup, but that was actually welcome. No matter how many came out, we'd just wipe them out.
When figures who appeared to be black mages finally emerged from below, I smiled.
"Bingo."
With black mages appearing, there was no doubt left. To help Lucy's sibling team cause chaos in the now-understaffed interior, I rampaged even more violently.
"Everyone, come out!"
Vwoooom!
When I snapped my fingers, summoning circles appeared in the air and Ikelos manifested. Wolf-shaped creatures made of shards streaked through the air toward the black mages, and the faces of those who had just begun preparing spells turned deathly pale.
"Aaaagh!"
"Aaaah!"
Watching the black mages get torn apart by Ikelos's fangs, I wore a bored expression. Unlike northern mages who could chant while parkouring to dodge monster attacks, central mages were more like fixed artillery. There might be some capable of moving while casting, but the majority stood still to use magic. That was why I never expected the black mages to dodge Ikelos's assault.
Once the remaining stragglers were also swept away by Ikelos, we sat down on chairs without so much as breaking a sweat.
"That was too easy."
"The central region's level is lower than the North's."
"There's a reason northerners don't bother going to other regions."
"Even taking that into account, it was too easy."
This wasn't even a warm-up. We'd already handled multiple hideouts on the way to the Holy Kingdom, so I knew this would happen, but it was still disappointing. I'd hoped an operation of this scale would have at least one strong opponent.
While we waited for Lucy's sibling team to come up, familiar faces appeared from the basement.
"We're here."
"How'd it go?"
"Perfect results."
Judging by their confident smiles, things had gone well. Confirming they'd secured a bundle of documents and valuable-looking spoils, I stood up from my chair. We'd gotten the materials, so all that remained was cleanup. From the distant sound of whistles and clanging metal boots, it seemed the academy guards were finally arriving, but we'd leave the cleanup to them.
Though the fight hadn't been satisfying, we'd achieved our goal. We'd divide the spoils later—escaping before the guards caught us and caused trouble was the priority.
"That's it, then."
"No, it's not over yet."
As I was putting the documents and spoils into my inventory, I gave Ruin a puzzled look at his words.
"What do you mean, it's not over?"
"Look at this. According to the documents, there are several more black mage hideouts near the academy."
Oh? I raised an intrigued eyebrow at the unexpected news. So there were more than just one or two hideouts of this scale?
"How many are there?"
"Five branches that we've identified."
At Ruin's words, my gaze met the Lucy siblings'. Five more branches, each housing at least dozens of members?
"We're raiding them."
"Yeah, raiding."
"Definitely raiding."
Everyone shared the same thought. Come to think of it, there was a festival in a week, wasn't there? Given our experience in the central region, there was a 100% chance they'd attack during the festival.
I tucked the documents into my inventory and stepped out of the half-destroyed inn.
"W-what the—?!"
"The building's been wrecked?!"
"Lady Veronika told us to secure the area, but what is this...?"
Listening to the guards' belated reactions as they finally reached the inn after crossing the alleys, I looked at my companions.
"Anyone here who believes the guards will take down all five hideouts in time?"
No one answered. They might not have shown it outwardly, but it was clear none of them trusted the guards. After all, rumor had it that there had already been five publicly known academy raid incidents last year alone. As if reading my thoughts, Harne blushed and averted her gaze.
"It's not that the academy guards are incompetent, but their skills are simply too weak."
"If even the Saintess is saying that, then there's no hope."
"I-it's not that bad! It's just that the damage would be too great if we had them deal with the black mages we've been facing..."
The guards' original duty was to catch petty thieves and back-alley thugs, after all. Among the people in those hideouts were several who could handle mana—in other words, strong by central region standards. With less than a week left, it didn't seem like the guards could handle it on their own. Unless the professors got involved.
"Then should we take care of it ourselves?"
"Just to be safe, let's deliver the documents to the professors first and then move."
"It's late today, so let's start tomorrow."
The Lucy siblings nodded casually, as if they were used to operating on their own.
"It's been a while since we've had a case."
"Let's call our friends too. They're all skilled, so they'll be helpful."
"We can divide the personnel into the same teams as last time, right?"
I made a strange face at the siblings, who treated this like an everyday occurrence rather than something unusual. Just how many incidents had they solved at the academy?