A Strong Body Makes for an Easy Mind
The next morning, in the backseat of the operation van.
Selene was dozing off with her blue hair loosely tied back, hugging a bag of snacks and swaying gently along with the motion of the moving vehicle.
Our destination was the Black Society.
One of the villain organizations currently hostile to us.
With a business network sprawling across the continent and roots buried deep in its political spheres, it was, in sheer scale, an organization even larger than Nightfall.
It had shown up fairly often in the game, too.
Most of the time they served as low-tier mooks or expendable fodder the protagonist could dispatch with ease, but their sheer numbers and the combat strength of their executive-level villains were never something to take lightly.
The Association was well aware of their existence, but the Society's roots ran so deep that the official line was simply that they couldn't be dealt with.
Of course, as time went on, their internal foundation weakened, and the protagonist did eventually take them down.
"Hwaaam..."
A yawn drifted over from the seat beside me.
Selene lifted her head groggily and rubbed her eyes.
"Huh... are we there yet?"
"Still a ways to go."
"Aww... we're still not there?"
She rested her forehead against the window, curled herself back up, and stole a drowsy glance at me.
"The Black Society, huh... that's a grand name for a group that mostly cleans up after the Association."
"Must be profitable for them. That side never lets profit slip through their fingers, no matter how dirty the work is."
"Then that makes them even worse."
Selene gave a sly grin and dug her hand into the snack bag.
She popped a few pieces into her mouth and spoke while chewing.
"But why would the Association even shake hands with an organization like that? It'd be nothing but bad news if it ever came out."
"It's always been that way. When they need something, they'll use anyone—villains, whoever."
It was something I'd witnessed more than once in the original story, too.
The whole thing always got papered over with talk of there being no other choice.
Not that the reasons were in short supply.
Minimizing casualties, efficient outcomes, political pressure, public opinion, the interests of the upper brass—the list went on.
Any single one of them was enough to make the decision sound reasonable.
"...Closer, do you hate the Association?"
"Never said I did."
They rubbed me the wrong way, sure, but that didn't mean they did nothing but dirty work.
Still...
I paused for a moment before adding quietly,
"I just... don't really trust them."
Honestly speaking, by my standards the Association's credibility had long since crashed through the floor into the basement.
Both in the game and after I possessed this body, I'd watched them countless times spin plausible-sounding words while their actions went in a completely different direction.
In the game, the target of that treachery had been the protagonist, so I could watch it unfold with relative ease.
But me?
For an extra like me, one wrong turn meant a one-way ticket straight to rock bottom.
That was part of why I'd never chosen the path of a hero and ended up here instead.
This side was dirty, no question about it—but at least it was honest.
No need to watch anyone's back, and when it came to survival, exactly what had to be done was always crystal clear.
"Hmm..."
Selene stayed quiet for a long while, then let the corners of her mouth curl up slightly.
"That's okay. I don't much care for the Association either."
"Isn't that only because your problem happened to be with them?"
"Oh my, did you investigate me? How flattering—you're interested in me?"
"Your head's still not screwed on right, is it."
"Aww, come on, I just want us to get along. This is our first time going out on a mission together, you know? Even if it was me who arranged it..."
Mid-sentence, she glanced down at the snack bag.
At some point, it had gone empty.
Selene's expression fell in an instant.
"Ah... I ate them all already."
"We'll be moving a lot once we arrive, so quitting while you're ahead is probably wise."
"That's completely beside the point..."
More pointless small talk carried on from there.
How long had we been driving? Around the time the outskirts scenery gave way to aging buildings and unfamiliar signage, the driver's voice came from up front.
"We'll need to continue on foot from here."
Where the van stopped, a rusted iron fence, a handful of derelict buildings, and an alley overgrown with ivy stretched out before us.
I quietly opened the door and stepped out, and Selene climbed out after me, stretching her arms skyward with a long yawn.
"Their base is about three hundred meters ahead."
"Good work. Grab whatever gear you need and follow us—waiting in the van is more dangerous in a place like this."
"Yes, sir! Understood!"
After walking a short while, a building standing alone amid the ruins, flaunting its size, came into view.
Brick walls enclosing the entire block, a tiled rooftop, and a massive gate that looked at least twice the height of an average person...
Typical of a huge syndicate—the entrance was practically advertising we're right here.
We stood before the gate and looked up at it for a moment.
"So... we've arrived, but how exactly are you planning to get in? Stealth? Or..."
"Pfft, why bother with all that... We'll just knock."
"What?"
"A strong body makes for an easy mind, you know."
Isn't that normally the other way around?
Leaving my baffled face behind, she took a couple of steps forward and planted herself in front of the gate.
Then she reached out her hand.
Crreeeak...
With a rough grinding sound, her fingertips sank straight into the wooden surface.
A disturbing screech rang out—raw flesh tearing into wood without a single glove to protect it.
Then, with a slight twist of her arm, the entire massive door tore loose like a sheet of paper, wrenching free from its frame with a deafening crack.
"There~ door's open!"
"......"
I pressed a hand lightly to my forehead.
Immediately, every pair of eyes in the courtyard snapped toward us.
Armed with wooden planks, iron maces, knives—some seriously nasty-looking tools.
The atmosphere sharpened all at once.
Selene strolled forward without a care in the world.
Wandering leisurely inside, she slowly loosened her hands and spoke.
"Helllooo... members of the Black Society... I know we've just met, but could everyone please put down whatever you're holding and surrender...?"
"....."
"........"
The moment she finished, a brief silence fell.
Breaking that silence was the sound of someone scoffing.
"Heh... what the hell. What's this chick on about?"
The man standing at the very front slowly stepped forward.
A half-bald crown, slightly damp suit pants, and a heavy iron pipe clutched in one hand.
"You know where you are, mouthing off like that, huh?"
Behind him, men in shirts straining over prominent tattoos filed out in a line.
"This ain't an amusement park, sweetheart. Keep prancing around like you're walking the dog and your head's gonna come off."
"Hmm... I did clearly make myself understood, didn't I? I even offered you the chance to surrender."
When Selene tilted her head and asked, another thug burst out laughing.
"Surrender? Ha, this bitch is hilarious. Should we just bury her, boss?"
"No."
Another one ahead of them gave a slight shake of his head.
"I was getting bored, so this works out nicely. Let's play with her a bit, then bury her. Maybe snap an arm or so. Let's see where she gets off making eyes like that."
"Sure then, don't mind if I do—!!!"
The man swung his iron pipe straight at Selene's arm.
CLANG—!
A sharp metallic impact rang through the air.
======
Generally speaking, an awakened person's body is stronger than an ordinary human's.
Even C-Rank Heroes—the lowest tier by common estimation—sit comfortably in the upper range for reflexes and physical ability.
But even within that spectrum, there are differences.
Some are rated only slightly stronger than average, while others soar far, far beyond it.
Selene was one of the latter.
Her power itself wasn't particularly devastating.
By special-ability standards, she was downright ordinary.
And yet the reason she'd clawed her way into an executive seat was clear.
Because her body's raw specs alone could be classified as a power in their own right.
CLANG—!
A metallic impact cracked through the air.
The iron pipe, thick as a rebar rod, landed squarely on Selene's forearm.
No blood. No wound. No bruise.
It was the pipe that had bent inward.
"...What?"
The man's face twisted.
Selene slowly turned her head to look at him.
"I did tell you... to surrender."
She gave her arm a single flick downward.
Thud. The bent pipe dropped to the ground with a short metallic ring.
"I never wanted to fight in the first place. It's a hassle. That's why I always offer surrender terms when I first arrive, but for some reason nobody ever takes them... Maybe it's my face..."
With her head tilted slightly to the side, she watched the man with the same expressionless eyes as ever.
There was no anger in that gaze, no excitement either.
Just the attitude of someone utterly indifferent, confronting an annoying errand.
The man staggered back a step without thinking.
"What the hell is this psycho—!"
Whoosh—!
A roundhouse kick whipped into the man.
WHAM—!
His upper body folded backward, slicing through the air before slamming into the nearest wall.
The impact rippled up the wall, and the man slumped over, out cold.
A beat of silence swept through the space.
Selene quietly studied the tip of her own foot, then glanced back at the man embedded in the wall, unconscious.
"He's not dead, right? I did hold back, you know..."
Her tone was a touch flat—not so much genuine worry as the mild wish that no inconvenient paperwork would follow.
"Now then, what will the rest of you do?"
As she turned her head, the gazes of the remaining Black Society members converged on her all at once.
Some gripped their iron pipes harder; some desperately re-gripped their knives with trembling hands.
And eventually, someone broke first.
"Wh-what are you doing! There's only one of her! You scared or something?!"
"Screw it! Kill her!"
Maybe six of them charged out at almost the same moment.
Rushing in at close range was, without question, the right call.
Against a normal opponent, that is.
WHAM—!
Selene's knee drove precisely into the jaw of the man at the front.
The man's upper body folded at the head and launched skyward.
After tumbling a few times midair and slamming into the wall, he never got back up.
Toward the second and third men right behind him, Selene gave her arm the slightest twist.
Her fist swept through the air like a brushstroke.
THUD! CRASH!
Two impacts rang out one after another.
One man's face caved in and he went sprawling sideways; the other flew toward the wall with the crack of snapping bone, unable to so much as scream.
A brief stillness.
In that gap, a few more of them lunged in from behind.
Selene glanced over her shoulder at them, then slowly raised one leg.
And the next moment, that leg came hammering down like a sledgehammer onto the skulls of the charging men.
BOOOM!
"......Ow, jeez."
The ground rang.
That wasn't an exaggerated figure of speech.
The entire floor genuinely shook.
The driver, who had been watching the scene in a daze, carefully opened his mouth.
"Closer, sir?"
"What is it?"
"What should we be doing, sir?"
"Hmm..."
I watched Selene nail another guy into the floor before turning my head.
"Got any popcorn?"
"Ah, yes... we do, but..."
"Then let's munch on some popcorn until they finish clearing the entrance."