Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: A Solo Mission
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Lying in bed, Loan endlessly replayed the 'what ifs'.
If he had more mana left, if he could have extended the Narrow Path just a little faster, if he had reached Bella sooner—
‘Could I have stopped it?’
No.
It was a hypothetical he knew was impossible from the start.
The darkness had spread like ink seeping into paper. Perhaps if he had prevented the contact itself. It was merely a reference for preventing future transfers.
Then what if he had chased her to the very end?
He had tried.
Exhausted, with barely any mana, he had forced his legs to move.
But he couldn't chase her blindly without knowing the direction, so he took another gamble.
With his depleted mana, he drew out Convection in the form of thin threads, spreading them as far as he could in every direction.
And to each thread of Convection, he imbued a [Barrier of Perception].
It was the same wide-range magic his seniors in the Honor Division had used to connect with each other to expel Le Tell back in Ollen.
Back then, he had melded his senses into the magic his seniors had cast; this time, it was nearly the opposite.
The dark mana he had sensed while binding Amy with the [Sphere of the Void]. He imbued that sensation into the threads as he extended them.
Fortunately, Bella's dark mana had left some traces, and Loan was able to discern the direction indicated by the edge of his barrier.
But that was all.
He had lost consciousness right after.
Recalling it was incredibly frustrating, but at the same time, it cooled his head.
‘I have to think calmly.’
When he first started chasing Bella, his emotions had gotten the better of him.
It had happened naturally.
He was the one who had hired Bella, the one who had bought the Stone of Goetia from her, the one who had exposed her to danger and ultimately caused her to become a vessel for a demon.
That was why he felt it was all his fault.
The obsession with not wanting to lose anyone else connected to him had unconsciously driven him to follow Bella.
He hadn't considered his physical condition, the Union, or Vice Commander Oscar. There was no time.
‘What's done is done.’
Now, to resolve the situation, he needed a calm mind rather than anger.
The target of his anger was, after all, Amy and the demon that had granted her power.
Even if he caught them right away, he couldn't just take Bella's head, unlike what had happened to the head of the Pobel family who was possessed by Bifrons.
He had to first think about what would happen after he caught the demon.
‘The most important thing is how to return Miss Bella to normal.’
As long as the demon's main body was possessing Bella, she likely wouldn't be in any immediate physical danger.
Even if it took time, he had to find her and restore her.
As he sorted out what needed to be done, his own lack of ability became painfully clear.
In the end, the biggest problem was his lack of mana.
Loan organized his thoughts, preparing for a similar situation in the future.
First, he should only use Aul's ability to make others tell the truth when his own safety was minimally secured.
Otherwise, he couldn't guarantee Aul's safety, and having to empty his stomach for it would also endanger Loan, who was already short on mana.
‘I also have to consider being without Sheville.’
The Sheville themselves were each magical tools, which was why they could produce so much power even with Loan's meager mana.
If he tried to use psychokinesis with anything other than Sheville, it would be worse than not trying at all.
A Loan without Sheville and Aul was not much different from the boy he once was, conjuring a flame from his fingertip in front of Dean Arthur and Director Lazaros.
Having finished his harsh self-assessment, Loan shot up from the bed.
His body was well enough.
It was time to resume the chase for Bella.
‘The last direction. It was toward the south of Ferrara.’
The Bureau had said they suspected Le Tell's core forces were in Versaille.
So he thought Bella might head that way too, but her direction was unexpected.
‘Rhodes is in that direction.’
He'd heard from various sources that the Stone of Goetia originated in Rhodes. It might be connected to the direction Bella was heading.
The problem was that you had to take a boat from Ferrara to get to Rhodes.
Seeing the sea again would be exciting, but it also meant there was a high chance of losing Bella's trail.
Feeling a sense of urgency, Loan flung the door open to leave, only to come face to face with people who had been waiting.
His heart seemed to drop.
"Ah, hello."
They were the employees of the Bella Trading Company.
The man Loan had first seen at the restaurant, the one talking with Bella, spoke for the group.
"Young Master, we heard you know something about the president's disappearance."
"Yes, but it's a bit difficult to explain…"
"We know you're with the Union."
"…"
"We have no intention of blaming you for deceiving us. We just… ask that you please find our president."
The man bowed his head deeply, and the other four followed suit.
Loan felt a deep sense of apology and responsibility.
"Yes. I will be sure to find her."
He had no choice but to promise.
He had to sever this ill-fated connection with the Puppeteer, which had now entangled Amy, Sophie, and Bella.
Around that time.
Ferrara was in a precarious situation, like a candle in the wind.
Vice Commander Oscar of the Faith Division had to immediately visit the Cervini family, the second most influential family in Ferrara, to conduct negotiations.
This was to prevent a clash between the Cervini family and the other families belonging to the original Ferrara territory—families who had lost their children at the social gathering.
The 2nd and 3rd squads of the Stability Division were urgently dispatched to handle unrest at the northern border that Ferrara was responsible for defending, while the Practicality Division scattered across the duchy to deal with attacks and looting at Ferrara's regional administrative offices.
Besides that, there were plenty of troublemakers all over, seizing the opportunity to cause chaos.
As a member of the Union, chasing the Puppeteer was a matter of course, but given Ferrara's current situation, it was difficult to spare the personnel.
And so.
"Loan, I'm giving you a solo mission."
Before leaving for Cervini, Oscar gave Loan his assignment.
It was a solo Rank 5 Runner mission: track the Puppeteer's movements and report to headquarters as soon as her whereabouts were confirmed.
The Puppeteer was an extremely dangerous individual, but if the mission was just to confirm her location rather than capture or kill her, a single Runner should be able to handle it without major issues.
But Oscar's true intention was simply to give Loan a chance to resolve the knot in his heart.
Because life in the Union was rife with such incidents.
Oscar knew all too well that if one couldn't overcome them, they would continue to spiral into despair.
"Go. However, this mission will be top secret, so it won't do for you to be collapsing left and right like last time."
It meant he had to be careful, as there would be no support. It was less a warning and more an expression of concern.
"Yes, sir. Thank you."
Loan watched Oscar leave for Cervini for a long time, his fist held to his chest.
A moment later, he started moving south, alone.
He decided to restart his search and pursuit from the place where he had collapsed.
He hadn't decided on a definite destination after that.
‘For now, I have to trust the direction. And I'll have to keep investigating possible destinations.’
It was a very basic method, but since he had already lost her, he had no other choice.
In any case, Bella had barely escaped under immense pressure. It wasn't a blind flight. He believed there must be a purpose behind her chosen direction.
He spread his [Barrier of Perception] to check for any potential traces.
He detected a few faint traces of dark mana, but their nature was different from Bella's.
It probably wasn't her. But it would be enough to feed Aul.
‘Then I'll go.’
He picked up his pace, running within a range that wouldn't consume his mana.
He passed the outskirts of Ferrara Castle and went through the satellite villages.
And then, a quiet road.
There were a few private houses, but they seemed to have been recently hit by a major raid or looting; there were no survivors.
On the other hand, the aura of darkness grew a little clearer.
A murky halo of light shimmering in the distance further confirmed the results of his search.
He felt a strong conviction that there was a causal link between the ruins and the darkness.
‘I don't know who they are, but they must be bad guys.’
Loan acted more cautiously than usual.
He gazed at a gray brick building standing alone amidst a dead vineyard and considered his strategy.
Closing the distance to observe their mana and launching a surprise attack with Sheville, or connecting a Narrow Path to unleash a barrage of attacks while weaving through the enemies.
He probably would have done just that before, but now he intended to choose a different method.
He was alone, and there were many enemies.
He wanted to return to that moment of defeat and realize his limits once more.
‘If I don't overcome this, I'll always be stuck in the same place.’
Not relying on anything.
Using what he was given and developing it further.
‘What I've been given. What I do best. I'll start again from there.’
Loan heightened his five senses and stepped on the dry weeds, walking confidently toward the men.
Outside the building, five or six men were gathered, smoking and talking.
A group that looked quite dapper in their suits.
On the outside, they looked like gentlemen, but on the inside, you could believe they were friends with demons.
"Hmm?"
Now, Loan came into their view.
A handsome young boy in a black uniform.
He wore shining badges on the left and right sides of his chest, and some of them immediately recognized their meanings.
"Looks like a Union uniform, but that's a Runner insignia. A kid? Makes no sense."
"That badge symbolizes Barchino. You can only get it if you've been knighted."
"I know that one. It's the badge of the Torch Clan from the Bridge District."
"The one going from Grafton to Barchino?"
"Yeah. That terribly dark place."
"How random."
"But I don't recognize that one. The one shaped like a mountain."
This time, Loan answered.
"It's the symbol of the Albre family. They're in Versaille."
At Loan's answer, the men looked at each other and burst out laughing.
One of them, a man wearing a flat, bread-shaped hat, exhaled a long plume of smoke and said.
"So, what? You're saying all those badges are real?"
Loan shrugged. There wasn't much he could say to explain.
Instead, he said what he needed to say.
"You guys seem like bad people. Do you happen to know a Puppeteer? She might have used the name Amy, or maybe Bella."
"What are you talking about?"
"Hmm, she doesn't use a name? Then, a human woman. I believe she's between eighteen and twenty-two years old."
"…"
Loan pointed to his collarbone area and continued.
"She's about this tall, with a well-proportioned figure. She has curly brown hair down to her shoulders, and her skin is lightly tanned. Her eyes are slightly upturned, light blue, with small, faint freckles spreading from the corners to her cheekbones. A long, straight nose balances her face, though the tip is a bit rounded. Her lips are full and rosy. She was wearing a slim-fitting, sapphire-blue suit, but I don't know if she's still in it. Have you seen her?"
At Loan's description, the men looked at each other and snickered again.
Their comments ranged from wondering if he was looking for his mother or his lover, to asking how they could possibly remember one girl among the many they'd dealt with, all before descending into remarks so vile that no decent person would dare speak them aloud.
Loan shook his head slightly.
"So you don't know. Well, at least I'm certain you're bad people. Go on, then. Do something bad. There's something I want to test."
"This crazy bastard…"
Loan watched the charging men intently, then gently closed his eyes.
An old memory surfaced for a moment.