Hurtlocker's Encounter
Ring······ A burly man stepped into the dimly lit cafe. He strode straight to the bar, took a seat, and spoke.
"One glass of milk."
"There's no one here. You don't need to recite the passphrase."
"Is this acceptable, Chief? What if I were actually an Imperial policeman in disguise?"
"Oh, come on. As if."
"Your security awareness is a complete mess······."
Hurtlocker squeezed his eyes shut and muttered. It seemed miraculous that this hideout hadn't been discovered by the Empire yet.
"Kid. With a massive operation right around the corner, you think I'd be that careless?"
"Yes."
"You little punk. I can tell it's you just from the way you walk. That kind of disguise won't fool me."
"······."
Though he was displeased that the passphrase hadn't been acknowledged, Hurtlocker trusted Eric's words without doubt. Even if Eric seemed sloppy in everyday matters, his loyalty to the kingdom was genuine. Besides, with Eric's memory, memorizing every individual's gait wasn't particularly surprising.
"Is the preparation going well?"
"You mean the spell formula?"
"Yes."
"Back in the day, wasn't I called a genius spellcaster?"
"First I've heard of it."
"That's because you're young, kid. Everyone my age knows. Anyway, the spell formula design was finished long ago."
Eric pulled a scroll from a drawer and unfurled it. Countless circles and lines were drawn across it.
"This is too······."
Too complex. At this rate, the mana efficiency would be terrible, and it would obviously spew out mana energy and kill the caster. Just as Hurtlocker was about to say that, his eyes widened. Only then did he properly grasp the spell formula.
"It's not a single spell formula."
"Right. I knew you'd figure it out at a glance."
At first glance it looked like one massive spell formula, but it wasn't. The explosive formula and the detonation formula had been designed separately, capturing both mana efficiency and stability. Still, there was a problem.
"This places too much burden on the caster. They'd have to manipulate two formulas at once······. Wouldn't it be better to use one more caster?"
"That won't work. The two formulas must be manipulated simultaneously, at exactly the same timing. That means one person has to do it. And you don't trust me?"
"······."
Hurtlocker briefly pictured Eric's image. A thorough and ruthless spy. But when boasting about his child, his intelligence plummeted—a doting father.
"I don't trust you."
"Tsk. You're the only one in the Intelligence Bureau who doesn't trust me."
"Isn't it the same for you, Chief? Treating me like a child."
"You are a child."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are, kid."
"······."
Eric laughed and roughly ruffled Hurtlocker's hair before rolling the scroll back up. Hurtlocker straightened his disheveled hair and glared at Eric. Probably the only person who underestimated the kingdom's strongest force like this was Eric.
"Hurtlocker. But have you seen that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Schlus Heinkel. Headquarters found out about that commoner top student's past."
"Was there anything special?"
"He lived in Iceburg during the war."
"You don't mean during the Winter Offensive?"
"That's right."
Iceburg. It had been an Imperial fortress city that the kingdom's army crossed the border to attack during the Winter Offensive. At the time, the kingdom's forces had overwhelmed the few guards and seemed to have seized the castle······ but the unit was later confirmed to have been annihilated. The reason was unknown. It remained one of the war's unsolved mysteries. If Schlus had been a resident of Iceburg back then, perhaps he knew something. Just as that thought crossed his mind—
Ring······
"Welcome."
Someone entered the cafe. Not many people came to this obscure cafe with no signboard. Among them, the one who visited most frequently was······
"······."
"······."
Schlus Heinkel. Hurtlocker turned and met his gaze. Schlus also stood still, and silence hung in the air for a moment. The first to look away and move was Schlus. He sat down at a seat far from Hurtlocker.
"Master. One glass of milk."
Hurtlocker felt as if his breath had caught in his throat. How on earth did this man know the Intelligence Bureau's passphrase?
"Milk, you say?"
"Yes. My mouth feels dry, so something soft like milk sounds better than tea or coffee."
"Understood."
It must have been a coincidence. Hurtlocker thought so and tried not to glance toward Schlus. If he kept peeking and got caught, it would be disastrous.
"The Day of Magic is coming soon, Master."
"Yes. I hear the event will be held grandly this year as well."
"Will you be attending the event, Master?"
"I'll have to close the shop and go. It's only once a year, after all."
"Will that gentleman over there be going as well?"
"Pardon? Me?"
Hurtlocker turned in surprise. Schlus was waiting for his answer with a relaxed smile.
"Yes. I'll be going too."
"Haha. Perhaps we'll meet again at the Day of Magic."
"Your milk is ready."
"I'm looking forward to it. Truly looking forward to it."
Schlus slowly drank his milk. Somehow Schlus's words sounded meaningful, and Hurtlocker's expression darkened.
***
He'd said far too many unnecessary things at the cafe. Seeing Hurtlocker's face had made him heated, and he might have provoked him a little. That aside, the man was disgustingly handsome. So that was what they meant by face being plot armor. Now he understood why those prideful heroines had fallen for him.
After leaving the cafe, he stopped by the Day of Magic event venue in advance. It was to check where the Intelligence Bureau agents would execute the spell formula. To put it bluntly, there was no significant harvest. One of the hotel rooms near the venue seemed the most likely, but there were too many rooms for it to be meaningful as a candidate. Therefore, he decided to abandon the plan of subduing the caster to stop the spell formula. The only option left was to remotely disable the spell formula······.
'Is that even possible?'
It was a spell formula on a scale that could blow up the entire venue. There would be at least three people involved in the spell formula. It was the kind of spell formula that would operate boldly even under the venue's strict security. Could he really detect and disable something like that alone?
His Mana Sensitivity stat was 75, which was at the level of the strongest in the world setting at the beginning of the novel, so detection should be possible. But the problem was disabling it.
'Even if I boost my computational power with Selection and Concentration, five seconds might not be enough.'
'This······.'
Disabling a spell formula wasn't just about computational power. The higher one's understanding of magic, the faster the disabling speed. At the very least, if he could immediately identify the type of spell formula, there would be no need to compute it.
'I'll need to investigate.'
It would be good to figure out the general type of spell formula in advance. If it was something like that, there was a set place to go. The Imperial Academy library. It was where all the books of the continent were gathered. That wasn't an exaggeration; it was literally true. Since he'd described it that way, there was no doubt. He decided to head straight back to the Imperial Academy.
*
As soon as he entered the Imperial Academy library, he immediately scoured the section on spell formulas. However, most were books or papers that delved into a single spell formula. To identify types, he'd have to search through dozens of bookshelves. Naturally, that would take more than a month.
He wandered around the library a bit more, pondering if there was a clever solution.
'Whoa······. This is seriously insane.'
That was the only impression his limited vocabulary could muster. The library was laid out in a perfectly straight line, with bookshelves stretching out like an endless corridor. How many kilometers was this?
'I never imagined that describing it as "a library where all the books of the continent are gathered" would manifest like this.'
'What's this?'
As he walked slowly, taking in the sights, he spotted a pile of books stacked in one corner. Perhaps books that had recently arrived and hadn't been classified yet. Drawn as if entranced, he approached the pile of books, picked one up, and opened it.
"Latest Medical Techniques. Joseon Studies. Reflections on Internal Circuits······."
They were books on intriguing topics. But when he actually opened them, they didn't read smoothly and kept getting stuck. Come to think of it, the ability 'Translation' was always active. Perhaps the books here were written in languages other than the Imperial common tongue, so the translation wasn't smooth.
"Spell Formula Classification······."
He found a book with an unusual title. He put the other books back down and immediately sat in a chair, flipping through the pages rapidly.
'Classification by element. Flame-type spell formulas. Cold-type spell formulas······.'
It seemed he'd found the book he wanted. It was a book explaining the criteria for roughly classifying spell formulas, and it also contained explanations of common characteristics and core parts of spell formulas. Though it was a rather thick book at 500 pages, if this one book could roughly identify spell formula types, that would be perfect. Suppressing the corners of his mouth that kept trying to rise, he tucked the heavy book under his arm and headed to the counter to check it out.
'No. It might be better to just read it here.'
It was a quiet and comfortable space, perfect for reading books. Of course, being alone in the training room was comfortable too, but it was also true that he'd end up doing other things when he got tired. Deciding to study at the library, he received a few sheets of memo paper from the counter and sat at a desk. Then he saw a familiar face across from him.
"Ugh······."
Erika. The silver-haired girl frowned at him. No matter how you looked at it, what was with the "ugh" upon seeing a person? What a rude brat. Ignoring Erika, he opened the book and began studying. He memorized and absorbed as much information as possible so he could identify the type of spell formula just by seeing part of it. Since the content wasn't particularly profound, the 500 pages went by quickly.
How many hours had passed? By the time the window outside had grown completely dark, only he and Erika remained in the library reading room. It didn't seem like she'd intended to read books until this hour······. Considering Erika's personality, she was probably holding out because she didn't want to leave after him. There was a setting that she had pointless competitiveness.
Then it was time to make her go home. He closed the book and stood up.
"I'd like to check this out."
"Yes. Understood."
He checked it out with the intention of reading more after returning to the mansion. Just as he was about to leave the library······
"What's she doing?"
Erika was looking around in front of the bookshelves like a meerkat. Seeing her holding an armful of books and glancing here and there, it seemed she was trying to put the books she'd read back······. She must have forgotten where she'd taken the books from. Then she should just hand them over to the librarian. Sighing, he slowly approached Erika. Their first impression had been completely terrible, but she was someone who would eventually become an ally. Building favorability wouldn't hurt.
"Can't find where the books go?"
"Huh? Uh? Hmph. Of course not?"
"······."
She was pretending it wasn't the case.
"It's just······."
Just as he was about to say she should leave them to the librarian, the title written on the book's cover caught his eye. 'Introduction to One-Handed Swordsmanship.' It was a book whose purpose was obvious at a glance.
"This 'Introduction to One-Handed Swordsmanship' belongs in the martial arts swordsmanship section. 'Internal Circuit Genetics' belongs in the magic science biology section, and—"
Had she not even looked at the classification chart when she came to the library? Even he, who was visiting for the first time, knew which books were on which shelves to some extent. After listing the locations where the books should go, Erika's expression went blank.
"And I didn't know you read books like Eden's Enormous······ Ahem. Ahem."
"······?"
Weren't these kinds of books designated as subversive literature······? He trailed off with a cough. He'd told her the original locations of all the books except that one.
"You can thank me later."
"······."
Since she had nothing to say, he simply left his seat. When would that brat fix her attitude? In the original work, she'd shown favor toward the protagonist from the beginning, so why was she like this here? Ah, right. Hurtlocker was insanely handsome. Now it made sense. Chuckling to himself, he left the library.
***
'Huh?'
Erika's expression crumpled as she sat in the library reading a stack of books. The most unsettling person, Schlus Heinkel, had sat across from her. But the moment she saw the cover of the book he was holding, she almost burst out laughing.
'Pfft. What's he doing?'
It was a book written in an ancient language. A language used during the era when the entire continent had been a unified kingdom thousands of years ago. It was a forgotten language that still hadn't been completely deciphered. Yet Schlus was calmly opening the book and scribbling something on paper. The sight of him pretending to read without understanding a word was so funny that Erika had to keep suppressing the sneer that threatened to escape.
'What's he really doing······.'
But pretending to read had its limits. Schlus had been diligently turning page after page and taking notes for several hours. The memo paper, now densely filled with writing, already exceeded ten sheets. She couldn't understand why he was doing this at all.
'Isn't he going to leave soon?'
No matter what, she didn't want to leave before this guy who was fake-studying. So she spread out a dictionary beside her and was diligently translating an Elvish book when—
'He's finally leaving.'
Only then did Schlus close his book and stand up. Erika let out a sigh of relief inwardly and gathered all the books in her arms. Most of them were books she hadn't even started reading yet. It was already late at night. If she went back now, her mother would make a fuss about how worried she'd been.
'Huh? Where did I get these from again?'
Erika came to a halt. Normally, even if she took out books, she remembered all their locations······. Maybe because so much time had passed, she seemed to have forgotten everything. It was also closing time now. Wanting to avoid giving the librarian extra work if possible, she was desperately trying to recall when—
"Can't find where the books go?"
Schlus spoke from behind. He'd hit the mark exactly.
"This 'Introduction to One-Handed Swordsmanship' belongs in the martial arts swordsmanship section. 'Internal Circuit Genetics' belongs in the magic science biology section, and—"
As Schlus began listing the locations one by one, Erika's expression hardened. She thought it was nonsense again. These books were all written in different languages. One in Elvish. One in Beastkin language. One in Gallian······. There was no way Schlus knew all those languages. Just as she was about to scold him for talking nonsense, it happened.
"And I didn't know you read books like Eden's Enormous······ Ahem. Ahem."
"······?"
Schlus coughed and his ears turned slightly red. It was the first time she'd seen him show agitation outwardly like this. He was someone who wouldn't even blink if Ainz fired flame magic right in front of him.
"You can thank me later."
"······."
After Schlus left, Erika immediately returned to her desk and opened the dictionaries. She needed to confirm right away that Schlus's words were nonsense to feel satisfied.
"Introduction to One-Handed Swordsmanship. Magic Circuit Genetics······. Huh?"
When the same titles Schlus had mentioned appeared, Erika's mouth fell open. He really could read Elvish, Beastkin language, and Gallian. Even she, who had received language education since childhood, could barely read Gallian and Elvish with a dictionary. She wondered how a commoner like him had learned so many languages.
Then, could it be that he'd actually read the ancient language too? The thought occurred to her, but Erika immediately shook her head and denied it. No matter what, that couldn't be possible. Come to think of it, that book whose title he'd stopped reading midway······. What could the title have been to elicit that reaction? Erika looked through the dictionaries and translated the book's title.
"It's in Beastkin language. The title is······ Eden's······ Enormous······ Member······ Member······."
Erika's eyes widened. No matter how many times she cross-checked the dictionary words with the cover words, they were completely the same. Only then realizing the book's true identity, Erika's cheeks flushed bright red. That book was—
—I didn't know you read books like that.
"Ah······! Aaaah······!"
It was an erotic novel. Erika's scream echoed through the empty library.