Persuasion
While I was dealing with Yi Rumi, the active-duty heroes disguised as the Punitive Force had already latched onto the promising examinees and were running the 2nd Exam. Jin Soyul was among them.
"Pathetic♡ And you still call yourself Punitive Force? Kyahaha, put your back into it♡"
"You little brat!"
She was going toe-to-toe with a B-Rank active hero and not giving an inch.
Whoa... Jin's incredible. She's actually fighting an examiner one-on-one?
Her skill's already at active-duty level.
Th-then why come to the Academy if she's that strong?
Family.
After the Hero party that slew Abaddon, the great houses were the next names to command real prestige. Among them, the Jin family was famous for their black-and-white hair and a twin-sword style as fast and ferocious as a dragon. She'd enrolled with more than enough ability already — purely for the family's honor, and to network with high society.
I'd like Siwoo and Sia to have some contact with Jin Soyul too. Her personality's a bit of a nightmare, so getting close won't be easy — but even in the game she was recognized as a top-tier DPS, and right now she looked every bit as capable of ranking among the best.
Hmm. Jin Soyul was already being tested, so I'd pass. Then who should I take on?
I looked around, but no one particularly caught my eye. Come to think of it, even though we were taking the same Academy entrance exam, I hadn't seen Siwoo or Sia's faces even once. How could my luck be this bad? Of course I'd watched them take down the Queen through the monitors during the 1st Exam, but seeing it on a screen and meeting them in person were completely different things.
Would those two even recognize me if they saw me like this?
Unlike the days of green hair, I had white hair now, plus ears and a tail. They might not know me at all.
They probably would, wouldn't they? You haven't grown much compared to two years ago.
Guh.
Frustrating as it was, thanks to not growing much taller, at least I wouldn't be treated like a total stranger.
Huh? T-Tiss, wait.
Shan, who'd been sprawled out limp, suddenly sat up, pricked her ears, and started sniffing. Something had gone wrong with the exam, it seemed.
Over there... that way.
Got it.
I moved in the direction Shan indicated. An examinee and a hero playing Punitive Force member were there. On the surface, it looked like the exam was well underway.
The examinee was a familiar face. A kid named Levi — not quite a lead, but a supporting-cast type who played the comic relief. The one testing Levi, as far as I knew, was a hero called Talon Man.
Well?
H-hold on.
Shan started scenting the two of them. After the 1st Exam ended, before the 2nd, we'd met the active-duty heroes one by one, exchanging greetings under Baba Yaga's introduction so they'd remember our faces. In the process, we'd had Shan memorize their scents. Tempered by countless delicacies and Essence, Shan's nose and mouth were sensory organs sharper than a dog's. Which meant if Shan said the scent was wrong, it wasn't the hunter or hero I knew. It was someone else. In this situation, that meant an infiltrator.
The scent's different.
You sure?
Yeah...! The appearance is a decent imitation, but you can't fake a human's unique smell.
Understood.
If Shan said that, something was off with either the examinee or the examiner. Watching a little longer, the differences from Talon Man became obvious. Talon Man was a gentlemanly hero who loved children. He'd joined the exam because they prioritized skill, but he'd been worried whether he could even act properly against kids — that was how kind he was. The way he was treating Levi, though, was so cruel and merciless you couldn't imagine him ever saying such a thing. It didn't look like an active hero at all. It looked like a villain tormenting students.
I was about to intervene, worried Levi would get hurt if this continued, when—
Footsteps.
Tiss, s-someone's coming this way.
Someone in Punitive Force uniform approached. A mask over the face, the same convict's uniform as mine...
I-I don't know this scent.
Not an active-duty agent of the Management Bureau.
It's a dangerous smell, like mint mixed with chocolate. Th-the thing is...
Hah.
T-Tiss! It's hypnotic incense! And they've got an artifact too!
Startled, Shan told me, then immediately fired up every biological filter and mental barrier in my body, nullifying the bastard's dirty tricks completely. Of all the nerve — coming at me with the exact method I'd just used.
"Hey there, leader."
The infiltrator waved casually as he approached, acting like we already knew each other.
"Who are you?"
"What's with you? It's me."
"Siwoo?"
"Yeah, Siwoo. Didn't expect to run into you in the Punitive Force."
Pffft...!
You've got to be kidding me.
Siwoo, my ass. This guy was completely full of it. He walked up naturally, talking like we were old acquaintances.
I-it's an artifact that lowers your guard.
Whatever he was plotting, maybe he figured as long as he could get close, that was enough.
If you sense anything else off, tell me immediately.
Okay..! L-leave it to me. I'll keep both eyes wide open and st-stare.
That's reassuring.
At a glance, he really did look like one of the Punitive Force — he'd even disguised a bomb collar. If they'd actually deployed the real Punitive Force, identifying infiltrators would have been a lot harder.
"You don't know contact between convicts is forbidden during the exam?"
"Don't worry. They can't see us from over there right now."
"Can't see us? What's that supposed to mean?"
I played along, pretending to be under his hypnosis, and the infiltrator, thinking I'd fallen for it, grew excited and kept talking.
"All the electronics around here are dead. Meaning the Management Bureau has no idea what we're doing, and none of this conversation is getting leaked."
Shan turned her fur into antennas and waved them around.
Huh...? I-it's true? The comms signal is terrible.
Without even looking at a terminal, Shan checked the network herself and confirmed it with a startled face. Whether it was interference or jamming, the scale was pretty big. I said nothing, just stared at him with suspicious eyes. He laughed and waved it off.
"Boss, aren't you sick of playing the Management Bureau's dog?"
He came in strong from the first word. That was how confident he was he could talk me around.
"Who does this because they like it?"
"Right? Boss, I can set you free from that bomb collar."
Hmm.
"Ha, don't talk crap. You don't know some guy brought something similarly weird before and his head blew off?"
Instead of a flat refusal, I asked with a skeptical look that suggested I wasn't entirely against it. A smile spread across his mouth.
"If I ratted you out right now, the Management Bureau would cut my sentence in half."
"Boss, you'd do that? You've gone full Management Bureau lapdog."
What villain wouldn't get pissed hearing that.
Twitch.
"Want to say that again?"
I pulled out tentacles and glared like I was about to wreck the exam and everything else on the spot. He seemed to realize he'd crossed a line, throwing both arms up and scrambling to explain.
"W-wait! Boss. Hold on! There's really, really a way to take the collar off and escape, okay? I-I'll show you with my own eyes."
Then he pulled out something that looked like a plausible artifact, held it to his own collar, and—
Click.
He actually disengaged the bomb collar around his own neck.
Would you look at these bastards. Trying to pull the Punitive Force in with hypnotic incense, even. What were they trying to do? This wasn't some small-scale terror or raid for political ends. They weren't thinking about the aftermath at all — they were preparing something huge.
When I looked at him, startled, the infiltrator puffed up with pride.
"I'm telling you it's real. You can be free too, boss."
"Hand it over."
I threatened him just enough with a tentacle, and he quickly stepped back. Judging by that movement just now, he was definitely no ordinary civilian.
"Whoa now, even for you, boss, nothing's free. I had a hell of a time getting this. Give and take, yeah? You know how this works."
Wow. If that really was a bomb-collar release kit, a genuine Punitive Force member would have flipped their eyes back in their head no matter what the trade was.
"What's the condition?"
"Simple. Just sign this pledge."
The word "pledge" brought an artifact straight to mind. The Geas Scroll. A scroll modeled on the geas of Celtic myth — it makes you swear an oath yourself, and if you break that vow, you die or suffer damage equivalent to death. A self-enforcing contract of coerced action. Usually used to make someone willingly sign a slave contract, or to make an offer they can't refuse.
"You playing games with a Geas Scroll?"
"Sharp... So, you in or not? You only get one shot."
He said that, but he was already settling into a stance like he'd shut me up the moment things went south.
What's he after?
If they're trying to pull in even the Punitive Force, the scale is definitely big.
What kind of major incident were they trying to pull?
"Let's hear the offer."
"It's real simple. Just go wild. Once. That's all."
"When...? I'd like to know what you're planning to blow up. If it's 'raid the central area,' that's just telling me to suicide-charge."
"Ah, boss. Why do you keep backing off? If you're gonna live like this forever, isn't a gamble with even a small chance better?"
"Killing you right now and taking that thing looks like better odds to me."
"Kh!"
I kept probing and wouldn't bite easily, so he started glancing around, getting impatient. They were the ones in a hurry. Spit it out already.
"Hah... I'm not supposed to say this, but if you join our side, boss, that'd be a huge help, so whatever."
He came closer and whispered carefully.
"That's not so bad."
"Right? And it wouldn't just be you, boss."
I'd gotten the information I needed. This guy was no longer necessary.
"So this isn't an offer you're making just to me."
"That's right! With your skills, boss, you could get out of it no problem, couldn't you?"
Boss, boss — he didn't even know who I was, and he was still hustling like some desperate salesman trying to close a contract. Time to put him out of his misery.
I concentrated all my Ichor into my tail. Then I killed the sound. The Ichor-sheathed tail burrowed into the ground without a whisper of noise or vibration, then surfaced behind his back.
"Give it here. I want this damn collar off already."
"That's the spirit, boss."
I asked him for the Geas Scroll, drawing him in close. Pen in hand, I started reading the document and spoke to him.
"Hey. You know something?"
"Know what?"
"Nah. Never mind."
There was no sound.
"Wait, what do you me—"
With a single motion like drawing a line, his words were cut off — along with his neck.
Huh?