Midterm Exams of the First Semester (9)
I was one step too late. Like an idiot, I’d wasted time and ended up late. What if something happened to Emilia? What if she suffered an injury that could never be healed? Or worse—what if she was already dead?
Hurtlocker would turn into a completely uncontrollable monster. Once he shed every restraint, he would feed on his rage and grow at a terrifying rate. And he would do it as a villain. If that happened, the world might be destroyed by Hurtlocker’s hand long before it ever reached the final chapter.
I didn’t know who had kidnapped Emilia, but they had been kind enough to provide an address. If that wasn’t a fake meant to throw me off and was the real location, they would regret it with every bone in their body. If anything had happened to Emilia, they would have to brace themselves for retaliation.
I let out a long breath the moment I turned into the alley. The path was completely blocked. A gang of thugs wielding all sorts of tools stood in my way. This, I hadn’t expected.
"Is that the bastard?"
"Looks like it."
If they knew who I was, they wouldn’t have tried to stop me with this kind of trash. They must be subcontractors of subcontractors. It seemed they had been hired cheap just to buy time. Judging by the fact that none of them recognized me, my face still wasn’t that well known.
"I’m in a hurry. It would be best if you cleared the way."
"Huh? Oh, sure. Go ahead."
"…?"
They snickered and opened a path down the middle. What were they planning? No, I didn’t have time to be suspicious. I quickened my pace to slip through them—
"Ah, wait! I forgot."
A large man suddenly blocked my path. I knew it. I could have cleaned them up in one go with magic, but I didn’t want to waste my strength on these small fry when I didn’t even know which Crow I might have to face. I opened my right hand, preparing to draw it out.
"Now that I think about it, this road is off-limits!"
Axes and clubs came flying in from all directions. I could see everything. Every single movement. I hadn’t even used Selection and Concentration on agility, yet it all looked like it was in slow motion.
Whirrrr…!
My Internal Circuit spun, and my body suddenly grew incredibly light. And at that moment—
"W-what the hell?"
"Huh?"
A brilliant light burst from my right hand. First, I targeted the weapons flying straight at me. I ducked low, grabbed Bappe, and swung.
Ziiing!
Slice!
"Aaaaargh!"
Clubs and fingers flew through the air as screams rang out. The thugs suddenly staggered backward, creating space. Shock. Confusion. Fear. Countless emotions swirled in their eyes. It reminded me that they, too, were people with personalities—but that wasn’t nearly enough reason to spare them.
"You should have chosen your client more carefully."
These were nothing more than the Empire’s trash. I could just think of it as volunteer work and give the streets a thorough cleaning.
"H-heek!"
My unusually light body shot forward today, and beams of light flew toward them.
*
It took far more time than I expected. There were simply too many of them. Still, I didn’t chase down the ones who fled and kill them. If there were other thugs waiting ahead, these survivors would make excellent carriers to spread terror.
Ziiing…
When I relaxed my fist, Bappe was sucked back into my palm. After swinging it to my heart’s content this time, I realized one thing. This weapon’s performance was ridiculously good. Its cutting power was so sharp that slicing horizontally through a human body felt like cutting through nothing at all. It seemed like it could even slice a thin shield in a single stroke.
"Hoo…"
Only now did I notice that my entire body was drenched in blood. My hands were trembling slightly, but that was all. This was the first time I had killed so many people, yet aside from extreme tension, I felt nothing. It was as if I had crossed a river I could never return from.
"What the hell…"
"…?"
At that moment, a low sigh came from afar. A group was staring at me in horror. They were holding weapons too, but they didn’t look like common thugs. Were they Crows?
"We received a request about an extremely heinous criminal, but it looks like the deed’s already been done?"
"Come quietly, boy. We don’t want to get rough."
"…"
They seemed to be an adventurer party. It looked like they had even used a fake request to capture me. Killing them would put me in a rather difficult position.
"I am Schluss Heinkel, a first-year student at the Imperial Academy. I was attacked first and acted in self-defense."
"Oh my! You’re Schluss Heinkel? Then I’m Gawain, you idiot!"
"…"
I should have worn my school uniform. Looking at the opposite side of the alley, I saw it was already filled with another adventurer party. There was no way out.
"The situation is urgent, so I’d appreciate it if you let me go. I’ll return soon and explain everything."
"That’s what all criminals say. How about you come quietly without getting hurt? Our names will get pretty famous, you know?"
"Ha…"
I was truly fucked. I couldn’t kill adventurers, but if I held back, they were strong enough that I would have to expend my abilities just to deal with them. It was a dilemma. And now that things had gotten this noisy, the intelligence bureau must have noticed by now. Damn it… If they found out that the one who had been kidnapped was Emilia, Hurtlocker wouldn’t stay still. For now, I had to get out of this situation. Saving Emilia was the absolute top priority.
Ziiing…
"W-what is that?"
"Flash magic?"
I had no choice. I activated my Internal Circuit, drew out Bappe, and—
Boom!
Crunch!
I stabbed Bappe into the wall and climbed up the side of the building. The adventurers rushed toward me in confusion, but I had already climbed high enough that no one could reach me with their arms.
"Magic! Use magic!"
"Uh, it’s not working?"
"Huh? Why isn’t this working?"
I dismantled every flashing spell cast at me and quickly climbed all the way to the roof. A cool breeze blew in, and the entire view of the capital spread out before me. It would be nice if they couldn’t follow me from here, but…
"Hurry up and climb! Quickly!"
From below, I could already hear the hurried sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs toward the roof. I needed to put some distance between us right now.
"Hoo. I can do this."
I took a deep breath and sprinted across the rooftops. Then I made a precarious leap from the edge. I barely landed on the next building and kept running. My first goal was the address written in the letter. Only by going there could I determine whether it was a trap or not. The direction should be over there…
"There it is."
I felt a faint magical wave creeping in from far away. It was a barrier spell. And quite a high-output one at that. It had to be there.
Wait. Is it really?
A sudden doubt arose. A barrier with that much output should be detectable by anyone with even moderate mana sensitivity, not just someone like Schluss. Would the people who kidnapped Emilia and needed to prevent her rescue really advertise their location so blatantly? The more I thought about it, the more it felt like a diversion. Of course, it was also possible they were simply confident that the barrier could never be broken. Both possibilities made some sense.
That place is a trap.
In the end, I decided not to head to the address written in the letter. There was probably a trap set to snare me. Their goal seemed less about harming me and more about ruining my midterm exams, so they would try to stall for time no matter what. But if I couldn’t find any other clues, I would eventually have no choice but to head there.
Find it. Find something, damn it.
I looked down below and kept spamming Inquiry. Anything that could serve as a clue. Even one thing would be enough. Then something strange caught my eye.
Name: Jean
Real Name: Jane Watson
Gender: Female
Member of the Crows. Highly skilled in disguise. Beneath the surface…
"Jean?"
Crow Jean. On the surface she looked like an old woman, but the text floating above her clearly said Crow Jean. I had found it. A clue.
***
"Just how many people did they hire, damn it?"
"It looks like every thug in the area has been bought off."
"It’s not just this area. There are people from other districts too!"
Inside a closed café that also served as a bar, urgent radio reports kept pouring in. It was an emergency. Thugs who had received suspiciously large sums of money were blocking roads everywhere and causing trouble. The problem was that the range was so vast, it was impossible to tell exactly which route they were trying to block. Of course, even if they caught the thugs and broke their legs, they wouldn’t be able to find out. The thugs themselves had only been ordered to guard certain streets.
"This is no ordinary matter…"
Of course, the thugs weren’t causing any serious damage. The Imperial Police, who had been dispatched after reports came in less than an hour ago, would soon suppress the situation. So why would someone spend a fortune to cause such a trivial disturbance? The purpose must be that one-hour commotion itself.
This was probably…
"A kidnapping."
"…!"
The door burst open and a man with a dark expression entered. It was Hurtlocker.
"Kidnapping? Who?"
"Emilia has been kidnapped."
He dropped the basket he was carrying. It was a small basket filled with groceries. Eric immediately recognized it as Emilia’s. She had been fiddling with it every chance she got, saying she would use it as a shopping basket.
"The target is Schluss Heinkel. Their goal is most likely to ruin his midterm exams. We’ve received information that a boy is going around claiming to be him and slaughtering thugs."
"Hurtlocker."
"Don’t try to stop me! I can’t calm down!"
"Ugh, my ears. I wasn’t going to stop you, you idiot."
"Huh?"
Hurtlocker, who had been about to storm out of the café, stared at Eric with a dumbfounded look.
"Take the communication artifact with you. I’ll send you real-time updates. You don’t need backup, right? It would only get in your way."
"You know me well."
"You unlucky bastard. Get going already!"
"Yes!"
Hurtlocker snatched the artifact and dashed out in an instant. Since it involved his little sister, Hurtlocker always lost his reason. There was no point in trying to stop him, nor any intention to do so. The only thing that worried Eric was—
"I just hope he doesn’t attack an ally…"
It would be when he encountered Schluss Heinkel. Right now, both of them were moving with the common goal of rescuing Emilia, but it was obvious what would happen if the two met. All he could do was desperately pray that they wouldn’t run into each other.