Operation: Hey Bee, I'm Inserting the Human Stick
How did Thirin come to devise Operation: Hey Bee, I'm Inserting the Human Stick?
Thirin had not arrived at this idea based purely on her accumulated experience. Surprisingly, she possessed a prudent side.
This other world was a chaotic mash-up of ancient, medieval, early modern, Greek, Roman, Northern European, Celtic, Irish, empires, kingdoms, city-states, and every other setting imaginable. In short, a world where everything that could exist, did.
But above all else, the most critical factor was the tangible existence of gods.
Thirin knew that one of the deities in the Pantheon had bestowed a blessing even upon that garbage human being Heres. A cheat-like entity capable of granting absurd powers. And Thirin saw no reason not to make full use of that cheat.
While Klaus lay awake all night, tossing and turning with worries about his first day at the security station and his unavoidably foul-tempered female superior, Thirin had been scurrying about like an ant, darting here and there.
The first thing to verify was the oracle obtained in exchange for a figurine. Thirin made her way to the appointed spot: the Alley of the Silent.
With her robe pulled low over her face, Thirin's steps were practiced and sure. The moment she grasped the door handle, the familiar click of the latch unlocking sounded from within, just as it had yesterday.
The priestess had already arrived. The air inside the room remained as unpleasant as ever.
"The oracle?" Thirin went straight to the point.
The oracle she sought concerned how to locate the kidnapped children.
The priestess gazed at her from within the shadows of her hood for a moment, then spoke in a low voice.
Horse and wheel.
"......"
"That's it?"
The priestess offered no reply. She simply stared at Thirin with vacant eyes.
Thirin was utterly dumbfounded.
"Horse and wheel? You mean a carriage? A racing chariot? A cart? Or is it some kind of horse-powered mill? Speak clearly so I can actually understand."
The priestess sneered.
"That is for you to interpret, woman. I merely deliver the words."
This is pissing me off...
The tone was unbearably smug. Thirin genuinely felt that punching this person just once would fulfill all her wishes. Yet she endured. This was hardly the first time the priestess had responded with such cryptic nonsense.
Thirin was someone who learned from the past. She firmly believed in using whatever worked. In any case, she had roughly anticipated the priestess's half-hearted attitude.
And if you could anticipate something, you could prepare countermeasures.
"Hold on a second."
Thirin reached into her robes and produced something.
It was...
The priestess regarded it with an expressionless face, glanced once at Thirin, then began scanning her surroundings.
To Thirin, it looked exactly like the gaze of someone searching for a blunt object—say, a chair—to beat her with.
Tsundere brat. The acting is flawless. I should take notes.
Thirin marveled inwardly and spoke.
"Don't need it? Should I just toss it then?"
"......"
The priestess trembled violently before accepting the figurine with a shaking hand. She closed her eyes for a moment, then spoke.
It is a carriage.
"Good. A carriage means they're transporting them somewhere."
Thirin's mind raced. When she thought about it, the meaning was obvious. They had kidnapped the children, and the oracle spoke of horse and wheel. What use would a chariot race or mill have for kidnapped kids? It had to be a carriage.
Even so, Thirin had to be cautious. She could not gamble with lives that were not her own.
On the bright side—
The fact they were taken somewhere means they're still alive, at least.
A question suddenly occurred to her.
What could they possibly want with the children? It's not like this world does modern-style ransom demands. What exactly are they planning to use them for?
Rina had mentioned that some of the children possessed the qualities of a mage, but the missing persons reports showed that not all of them did.
As Thirin pondered, the priestess spoke abruptly.
"I will take my leave now."
"Wait. I still have questions."
Thirin pressed on.
"If it were inside the city, there would be no need for a carriage. This means they're heading outside. Where are they going?"
The priestess gave a slight, mocking tilt of her head. The contempt was unmistakable.
"......I knew it would come to this."
Damn it. She hadn't wanted to resort to this.
But the damn woman was driving too hard a bargain. With a sigh, Thirin pulled something from her robes and set it on the table.
It was the masterpiece she had carved last night in a trance of selflessness, discarding all desire and delusion—a supreme wooden statue that would never again exist in this world.
It was...
"......"
The priestess remained completely silent even after seeing the figurine.
"...!"
Thirin's skin prickled. Killing intent.
In her eyes, the priestess had moved beyond mere anger and now harbored pure murderous desire toward her.
This... this bastard...!
Thirin broke into a cold sweat at the priestess's fury.
This tsundere brat... putting on an act even though she likes it...
Thirin swallowed hard.
The acting is on another level. My Oscar is in danger. How can an acting genius like this exist in such a backwater town...
Lutetia was not a backwater, the priestess was not acting, and the Oscar awards were separated into male and female categories anyway. In other words, they were not even in the same competition.
Yet Thirin still felt threatened by the priestess, because she interpreted the entire world through an utterly self-centered lens.
Thirin was Chinese. S h i r i n spoke.
"D-do you... not need it?"
She had even begun to stutter. That was how terrifying the prospect of losing her Oscar was.
The priestess, who had been glaring at her, accepted the figurine and closed her eyes once more.
East.
"I see."
Kidnap the children, load them onto a carriage, and head somewhere east. The exact destination remained unknown.
With this much information, she could work with it, but still...
Unfortunately, she had only prepared two figurines.
"Just wait a moment. I'll quickly carve another..."
The instant Thirin reached for her carving knife, the priestess spoke first.
"...?"
It was a high, strained voice completely unlike her usual tone.
While Thirin stood stunned, the priestess suddenly began shaking her head like a madwoman. After twisting her head as though suffering a violent tic, she spoke again in an entirely different register.
This time it was a deep, suppressed bass.
Thirin rose from her seat with an awkward expression. It seemed this was the limit of what she could accomplish with her cheat key.
-Click.
The moment Thirin closed the door behind her, a loud crash echoed from within the room. Curious, she cracked the door open again and saw the priestess smashing the figurines with a completely blank face.
A chill ran down Thirin's spine.
"...."
There were many things she wanted to ask about the Pantheon, but now was not the time to dwell on them.
Carriage, and east.
"Carriage, and east. When I asked how to find the kidnapped children, this oracle descended."
Of course, Thirin did not tell Klaus the entire story. Explaining the lewd figurines and her battle of nerves with the priestess would have been tedious and pointless. What Thirin wanted was for Klaus to gaze upon her with reverence and awe.
She was that materialistic.
"A carriage. And east. The kidnapped children are currently being transported somewhere east in a carriage. Or they soon will be."
"......I'm listening."
Klaus shook his head. He had countless questions about the fact that this woman had received an oracle at all, but a more pressing matter demanded his attention.
He focused. What exactly had she said? Something about becoming a stick wandering near a beehive to make the bees relocate.
"......But I still don't understand. You called it a stick?"
"That's right."
"The oracle said those bastards are transporting the children through the eastern gate, did it not? I fail to see what that has to do with causing chaos in the back alleys."
Klaus furrowed his brow.
"In that case, would it not be simpler to strengthen inspections at the eastern gate?"
"Absolutely not."
Thirin's reply was unusually curt. A strong, unequivocal rejection.
"Security Force Decurion. Listen carefully. Strengthening the inspections is the one thing we must never do."
Thirin looked straight into Klaus's eyes.
"If word gets out that inspections have been tightened, what do you think will happen? They'll assume their tail has been caught. They'll try to eliminate the evidence. And what exactly is that evidence?"
"......"
Klaus's face hardened.
"The children. To them, the kids are both assets and a lethal liability that could tighten the noose around their necks if discovered. They'll slaughter every last one without hesitation and scatter."
Klaus had already grasped the implication, but Thirin spelled it out anyway, as if hammering it directly into his skull.
She continued.
"That's exactly what I told the captain this morning. Inspections must continue exactly as sloppily as usual. Just like I requested before—familiar faces get to pass without inspection. I practically begged him. Because otherwise the children will be massacred."
Klaus was speechless.
"How could anyone..."
"You think it's impossible for people to do that?"
Beneath the mask, Thirin's mouth twisted. Her lips smiled, but her eyes did not.
"You shouldn't think of those bastards as people. They're beasts. Timid beasts, at that."
"They commit crimes even though they're cowards?"
"Exactly. They're so cowardly that committing crimes is the only thing they can manage."
Thirin turned her gaze toward the inn window.
"Look at that street vendor auntie over there."
At the edge of Klaus's vision was a middle-aged woman running her stall right beside the back alley.
"There's probably no one weaker than her in this entire alley. Yet she's holding her ground. Whether it's to feed her family or simply to survive."
"...."
"When you have something worth protecting, you don't retreat even in the face of danger. That's what real courage looks like."
Ordinary people. They were the truly courageous ones.
"But those bastards are different."
Thirin's eyes returned to Klaus. Flames burned within them.
Klaus swallowed.
She continued.
"Those bastards lack the courage to build anything through their own effort, and they lack the patience to wait for results."
So instead of taking risks, they choose the easiest path: stealing the fruits that others have cultivated through blood and sweat. That is their only logic for survival.
Which is why they obsess.
"Once something enters their grasp, they will never let it go. Greedy cowards, the lot of them."
The answer was clear.
"Cowards will flee when they see a stick, but they won't release what's in their hands. Just like bees carrying their honey while they relocate. This isn't my first time dealing with their kind."
"......"
Klaus remained silent. He had much to think about.
Thirin stood up.
"Let's go. We still have a lot to do."
And so they moved to another alley. Another scene of chaos.
Thirin, apparently tired of the theatrics, simply bellowed.
"Newly appointed Security Force Decurion Klaus! All you fraud gamblers, get down on the ground!"
"Why the hell is the security force here?!"
Once again borrowing Klaus's name, Thirin dismantled an entire gambling den.
In the middle of the now-empty gambling hall, Thirin spoke.
"This is where your role becomes crucial."
"Didn't you say I was just a simple stick?"
"I changed my mind after seeing how you handle yourself."
Thirin shook her head.
"You can't just be a simple stick. You need to be a competent yet stupid stick."
"...Explain yourself."
With serious eyes, Thirin said,
"Mr. Stalker. Your job is to play the part of a newly appointed security officer overflowing with a sense of justice, poking his nose into everything without knowing anything. Just like when you stalked me."
"......"
"But you can't act as stupidly as you did when you were stalking me."
So saying, Thirin dragged Klaus outside.
"Why the hell are you barging into someone's business and causing a scene?!"
A few enraged thugs came running, furious that their gambling den had been arbitrarily destroyed.
Had Thirin heard them from inside? How?
Thirin glanced at Klaus and asked,
"Mr. Stalker. Think you can handle those guys?"
"......I'm not that incompetent."
-Thud.
"Aargh!"
It was too one-sided to even call it a fight. Klaus knocked down all five thugs in just a few exchanges.
Watching this, Thirin smiled brightly.
"Good. Excellent."
Leaving the thugs where they lay, Thirin moved to a new location and continued.
"You'll have to play quite a difficult role."
"Difficult?"
"Yes. You need to act like this."
Thirin stopped walking and spoke each word with deliberate clarity.
"A man of outstanding ability but lacking in experience, too stupid to strike at the heart of the matter—a foolish rookie."
"A potential threat overflowing with justice, who might one day purge this entire back alley."
"A security decurion who does pathetic things for now, yet possesses genuinely competent combat ability."
"A picky low-ranking officer who might get caught if luck turns against him."
"An unpredictable officer like a frog, poking around without apparent purpose, who might expose everything if fortune frowns upon them."
Thirin repeated the same core meaning with different words, as if kindly teaching him so he wouldn't misunderstand.
"That's exactly what you need to become. Not an immediate threat, but a potential one. That way the bees will see you not as a mere branch they brush past, but as a proper stick. Threatening enough to be wary of, but not enough to make them abandon their honey."
Thirin looked up at Klaus.
"It's quite a demanding role for a stick, Mr. Stalker. Think you can pull it off?"
"......I understand the general idea."
Klaus nodded.
Thirin had not done all this merely to embarrass him.
In contrast, Klaus...
In a hoarse voice, Klaus asked,
"I understand my role. But what exactly do you plan to do?"
"Follow me."
Thirin moved again.
This time it was a shabby inn near the eastern gate. She nodded to the owner as though she had reserved a room in advance and headed straight up to the second floor.
Once inside the room, Thirin tore down an old rag hanging haphazardly on the wall. Behind it was a strange hole, as though the stone itself had been melted and allowed to drip downward.
"....How exactly did you make a hole like this in the wall?"
"Shut up. Don't ask pointless questions."
"....?"
"This stalker bastard. True to his name, asking annoying questions."
Thirin suddenly snapped irritably.
Klaus could not understand why the woman was suddenly acting this way. Had she not been rather kind just moments ago?
"How the hole was made isn't important. Look through it."
Following her order, Klaus put his eye to the hole.
What he saw beyond was... the city gate and the inspection post. The city's main artery, with countless people and carriages flowing through it.
"I'll monitor from here to see if any suspicious carriages pass by."
"......Do you have any idea how many carriages pass through in a single day? You plan to watch all of them? And how will you even tell which ones are suspicious?"
"I have my own methods that you wouldn't understand."
Thirin's answer was completely irrational. She clearly had no intention of explaining further.
But when Klaus looked into her eyes, all his questions vanished.
"Besides, I'm very used to doing boring work."
The eyes with which Thirin looked at Klaus burned with ferocious intensity, like roaring flames. As though she were recalling some memory.
Klaus could not tear his gaze away from those flame-like pupils.
Suddenly, a strange thought occurred to him.
The stronger a flame's light burns...
The shorter its lifespan.