The Special Task Force 7th Division (3)
The Special Task Force 7th Division (3)
The western region of the Crane Kingdom.
It is ruled by Count Horden and is at war with the Kingdom of Ravino.
For now, the power is out and the five viscounts under Count Horden keep watch over their respective sections.
At the bottom of the list is the Viscounty of Volta. There is the Miracul Territory, the goal of this mission.
"I'll take you there, then."
His vision blacked out before the teleporter's words were finished.
A moment of silence.
Soon Redin's head was spinning and he was bathed in white light and a new background came into view.
Whirrrr!
A mountain peak with a strong wind blowing.
When he lowered his head, Redin found himself stepping on a towering stone block. Thanks to his [Cold Heart], he wasn't surprised.
'It's Dizzying'
"Redin?"
Rebecca, who had teleported under the boulder, lifted her head to look at me.
A slight frown on her face.
The look on her face says it all.
Why am I up there?
It's not what he wanted, but while we're at it, there's something to check out.
"Hold on a minute."
He lifted his head and looked around.
As far as he could see, there was a dense forest in front of him and an open field to his right.
That field is a battlefield.
The ground was dotted with potholes, and carcass-eating birds flew overhead.
The fence in the center.
That must be the border dividing the Kingdom of Crane and the Kingdom of Ravino. If so, this forest must be the meeting point between Magnes and Miracul.
Now it was time to make a move.
He reached to his waist and pulled out a small telescope from his pocket.
An item from Tervis's warehouse.
[Watcher's Eye].
-Can see up to 20 kilometers away.
-If you specify a specific target, you can see its movement in real time.
-You can search for people.
Redin brought the lens to his eye.
When he closed his left eye and looked over the lens with his right eye, he saw the forest as it was, unmagnified.
He used navigation as it was.
Then a red light appeared a short distance away. When he zoomed in on the human-shaped light, he saw Harris.
The performance is solid.
Now it's time to see if the information from the 1st Division is true. He moved the telescope to the other side, toward the beginning of the forest.
A red glow in the shape of a person appeared.
When he zoomed in, he saw two people who appeared to be members of Magnes organization.
A small wagon¹ near them.
The small wagon was loaded with wooden crates and an unidentified man in shabby robes.
"Human?"
The information the 1st Division had gotten said that Magnes and Baron Miracul would be conducting a trade.
It didn't say what they were trading.
He left a guess that it would be a key to capturing both Baron Miracul and Magnes.
"I guess getting the person is our first priority."
So far, so good.
A small group of Magnus members are headed to Miracul Territory, according to information from Special Task Force 1st Division.
Swoosh!
He reversed the position of the telescope.
The side where Miracul Manor is located. Redin centered his search on the point where the forest ends.
He was wondering how many people had come out this way.
Oomp!
Ooooomp!
Then, all at once, a red light appeared. A group of at least 10 people surrounded the spot.
"What the hell."
Three people were standing in a small open clearing with no trees, the others hiding nearby and holding bows.
The arrows on their nocks were smeared with green liquid.
poison.
"These guys...”
Redin put the telescope in his pocket and went down to the bottom of the boulder.
Thud!
As he reached the bottom, Rebecca approached him.
“What did you do?”
“There are guys in ambush.”
"what?"
Rebecca whispered quietly.
"What does that mean?"
"There are multiple ambushes in the direction of Miracul's territory, and the fact that they have poisoned arrows suggests a plan."
“Is the information leaked?”
"It's possible that they were intentionally divulging information."
Redin's first thought was a trap.
I wondered if Magnes had intentionally planted false information to lure the Special Task Force in and kill them.
But.
If Magnes was trying to lure the Special Task Force out to kill them, there would be more of them spread out in the forest than Miracul's people.
Even if they were going to borrow Miracul's hand to handle it...
"I don't think they set up a trap."
"Why?"
"If they wanted to come after us, they'd be spread out all over the forest. They wouldn't know where we were going to move."
"You have navigation magic."
"Then they should have moved, but they're not moving."
"Then, could they have anticipated disguising themselves and making contact with Magnes?"
That might be true, but.
Due to the nature of Magnes, they prefer to push through with the money and power they have, rather than make elaborate plans.
"Let's take us out of the equation."
"If Miracul is after Magnes, are they trying to silence him by killing him?"
And then.
He felt the Magnes member he'd captured with the Watcher's Eye move toward the entrance again.
"Wait for a sec."
Redin climbed back up onto the rocks and retrieved his telescope. He saw what had happened to them.
A figure in ragged robes was running the way it had come, followed by a member of the Magnes.
A long, shabby robe.
The mud-stained robe was torn off as the gang member's foot stepped on it. At the same time, the man inside stumbled.
"Huh?"
Green hair fluttered in the air.
He zoomed in on the telescope to get a closer look at the face. The gang member grabbed a handful of green hair and forced it to turn.
A full face was revealed.
A young, beautiful girl.
Looking at the clothes she is wearing and her atmosphere, she looks like a child of some noble family.
Who is it.
As the girl struggled, the necklace she wore around her neck popped out. A pendant with initials and symbols on it.
The sigil was familiar.
The sigil of House Volta, which he had seen only a few hours ago, before he came here. It was on the necklace.
Perhaps.
It seems that the Magnes Organization has kidnapped the daughter of House Volta.
"This is a funny turn of events."
The story of the hidden piece intertwined with an unknown nobleman and the current situation were connected.
Baron Miracul was threatened by Magnes.
He used a nobleman's daughter to get rid of Magnes, killing her and claiming it was the work of Magnes.
He made the nobleman and Magnes fight.
While they fought, he eliminated a weakness that Magnes had, and when Magnes took out the noble, he seized the position.
However, the nobleman did not die.
To deal with Baron Miracul, the lucky surviving nobleman snuck into the basement of his castle and obtained a special item.
-It's a cursed power, but I have no regrets.
The revengeful nobleman eventually commits suicide, and the item falls into Bahad's hands.
Perhaps that nobleman is Viscount Volta.
Of course.
It may be something that never happened anymore.
"I guess Viscount Volta has nothing to take."²
He'll have to think about that later.
* * *
Harris watched Redin and Rebecca from a distance. They weren't supposed to be recruiting newcomers like them.
This is because they have too little experience.
There wasn't enough time to teach them one by one, and he was too busy fulfilling his mission at hand to care.
So most of the people coming to the Special Task Force had at least some experience in the Arrest Department.
In fact, the whole Special Task Force Divisions preferred an Arresting Officer to a new recruit.
‘So did I.’
However, it wasn't without its challenges.
-I can do this on my own.
-I can do this alone.
Each one of them was full of pride.
A sense of superiority, of being in an elite group that only the best get in. They got caught up in that idea and never really listened.
'Consideration...'
He figured if he approached them in a nicer way, they'd know he meant well, and they'd be more willing to be open to it.
But that was a mistake.
The men in the arrest department are closer to the criminals than the Special Task Force, because the hand they extended was so sweet.
Many of the new recruits in the Arrest Department were corrupted.
Crunch!
The grip on his clenched fist shook.
"Justina.."
Harris could still remember it clearly.
The day Justina died.
He watched the video on her ID card. Justina and the new recruit were chasing an unknown person.
Then the new guy screwed up.
He made the mistake of revealing his identity where the criminals were hiding, and Justina was caught in the crossfire.
-I knew it.
-I could have gotten away with it if I was on my own, but you got us all killed.
-Shut up.
Justina tried her best to escape, but it was hard to get away from people who usually had a grudge against the Special Task Force.
Plus.
The overconfident newcomer got in her way, and she was captured by the criminals, tortured, and killed.
She was sobbing that she wanted to live.
A video record containing Justina's last voice. At the end, the damn newbie was laughing.
-But I did live thanks to you. I'll let you go comfortably as a token of my appreciation.
Betrayal by a trusted colleague.
'Never again...'
I'm not going to make my precious colleagues die. Therefore, they also created education exclusively for special teams.
'Not the ones that have already rotted.'
An educational method that includes a special training course for new recruits who have just joined Burning Hell to serve as special task force members.
I'm planning to accumulate data through Redin and Rebecca from what I have been working on.
If it works.
Not only will we be able to expand our ranks, but we'll also be able to prevent the deaths of the existing members due to rookie mistakes.
"Hmm?"
Redin and Rebecca, who had been huddled in place, began to move.
Not toward Magnes, as they had originally planned.
Instead, towards Miracul's territory.
"Is this a type 3?"
One of the most common mistakes newcomers make.
Somehow, when they arrive on site, they think they have a better plan than the one they already have.
"Let's see how different it is."
Harris moved to where Redin and Rebecca had traveled.
* * *
In the distance, he sees three people in a clearing.
Next to him, Rebecca tugged at his shirt and whispered quietly in his ear.
"Are you sure this is okay? Shouldn't we stick to the plan?"
The original plan was made by people who didn't know what they were getting into.
But he does know.
Magnes has kidnapped Viscount Volta's daughter and intends to hand her over to Baron Miracul.
"Our old plan won't work."
Redin already explained it once.
The reason for this anxiety is that she's still inexperienced. It's that feeling you get when you first learn something and it doesn't work the same way.
"Follow me."
He tapped Rebecca on the shoulder, then moved a little further inward.
A place where we can spy on our opponents without being spied on by them. He held his breath and amplified his senses.
"dudududu."
The sound of wagon wheels rolling began to be heard. The people in the clearing heard it, too, and made a gesture.
Redin checked the condition with a telescope.
The ambusher stared at the clearing, ready to shoot an arrow at any moment.
The tension is palpable.
The sound of horses' hooves and wagon wheels grew louder and louder, and then the members of the Magnes Organization appeared.
"Hey, you guys were here first?"
The man on horseback raised his hand in greeting.
Then, among the three people in the clearing, the blue-robed man standing in the middle took a step forward.
"And the goods?"
"You got it right, Lanto!"
A gang member riding a cart got off with a shabby robe. When the robe was removed, the daughter of Viscount Volta was revealed.
A bruise on her face.
Blood at the corner of her mouth.
She couldn't open her eyes, and she was shaking with fear.
“What we wanted was for it to be in top condition.”
"She was so rebellious, we couldn't help it."
The man on horseback shrugged his shoulders.
The man in the blue robe saw that and threw away the leather pouch he was wearing on his belt.
“This is the promised price, hand over the goods.”
"It's a waste to just kill her, can I just do it once and leave it at that?"
"It's paid for."
"Yeah, yeah. Lanto!"
A member of the organization called Lanto handed over the girl to the man in blue robe.
The moment he accepted her.
Whoosh!
A hail of arrows rained down on the two of them.
The man on the horse leapt from his seat and swung the sword at his waist.
He parried the arrows and used up his mana.
screech!
The two men behind the blue robes' collapsed to the ground as Lanto moved toward the forest.
"Aaaahh!"
"Shit!"
"You're trying to fuck us over. Did you think we didn't know?"
Clang!
Their swords clashed.
He glanced at Rebecca beside him and signaled.
Now.
** ** **
TL/N:
1. Difference between a cart and a wagon.
Cart - has two wheels and pulled by one animal
Wagon - has four and pulled by two or more.
2. Redin was offhandedly mentioning that since his objective was the Hidden Piece Viscount Volta originally found, he would no longer have it in his possession.