Nagumo Shian's Request

After the man in sunglasses collapsed from my Ten Thousand Blooming Flowers, I dealt with the remaining attackers. The man in sunglasses must have activated the same resistance that had blocked Kiyona Mari’s flames and Sawayanagi Seari’s wind blades earlier, because even after taking my strike, he was still alive. I regretted not bringing the ancient glasses that let me view status windows. I was curious what kind of ability he possessed.

“Should we kill him?”

“He doesn’t seem to be from Kurotsukidoo, so we need to find out what force is behind this. The guns aren’t the Chinese models Kurotsukidoo uses either—they’re the ones commonly issued to Japanese PMCs.”

When I asked, Sawayanagi Azuma answered. Indeed, the firearms were all Japanese-made. The attackers were armed with the 37-type rifle and 29-type M-5 submachine gun, both mass-produced around the time of the Third World War.

After the war, an enormous number of these guns had flooded Japan and remained a persistent social problem to this day. I’d save that story for later. Looking at the weapons, it really didn’t seem like Kurotsukidoo’s work. They preferred Chinese guns, which had been distributed a thousand times more widely than Japanese ones.

One of the reasons people feared the Taira Group was that they always took revenge on anyone who attacked them. That was why the order for this mission had specifically demanded we capture several enemies alive. We were keeping the man in sunglasses—the one who seemed to know the most—alive for that reason.

“Thank you, Investor-nim! I thought I was going to die!”

“I really thought I was going to be strangled to death.”

Sawayanagi Seari and Kiyona Mari, who had been clutching their throats and coughing, now approached me. Red hand-shaped marks were visible on their necks. Those were definitely going to bruise later.

“Are you two okay? Do you need treatment?”

“I’m fine, hehe. This much will heal quickly.”

“An injury like this is nothing.”

When I asked, both of them insisted they were all right. It didn’t look like they needed to go to a hospital. While I was talking with Sawayanagi Seari and Kiyona Mari, Sawayanagi Azuma made a call somewhere and then walked over to me.

“I contacted Taira Food headquarters. People will be here soon to transport the attackers.”

“Still, they’re coming from Daisen City, so it’ll take quite a while, right?”

“Yes, they said about twenty-five to thirty minutes.”

It had taken fifteen minutes to get from Yurihonjo City to Mount Kokuuzoo where the laboratory was located, but it took about an hour from Daisen City where Taira Food was based. Adding the fifteen minutes to reach the lab and the roughly twenty minutes we had spent fighting inside, that made thirty-five minutes total. Subtracting thirty-five from sixty left twenty-five minutes until they would arrive.

“Um…”

“Yes? What is it, Seari?”

While Sawayanagi Azuma was speaking with me, Sawayanagi Seari approached her with a slightly tense expression.

“There’s someone on the fifth floor.”

“Isn’t it just the researchers?”

Sawayanagi Azuma assumed it must be researchers since the fifth floor was also a lab, but Sawayanagi Seari shook her head firmly.

“There was no one there before the battle. But now there is.”

“Then let’s go check it out right away. We need to confirm.”

“I’ll tie up the man in sunglasses.”

I decided to head to the fifth floor with Sawayanagi Seari and Sawayanagi Azuma, while Kiyona Mari stayed behind to restrain the man in sunglasses. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Since he had taken a direct hit from Ten Thousand Blooming Flowers, his internal organs were probably completely ruptured, so heavy restraints wouldn’t be necessary. Still, we had to be careful of his psychokinetic ability, so I gave her some advice.

“For psychokinetic users, line of sight is one of the activation conditions, so blindfold him as well.”

“Understood.”

Kiyona Mari nodded at my advice and began preparing ropes and other tools. Leaving her behind, we climbed the stairs to the fifth floor. The door was a sturdy steel one, but it wasn’t locked. Maybe the attackers had opened it before we arrived.

Clank!

When we opened the door after climbing all the stairs, an enormous computer came into view. Was this the supercomputer? In front of it stood a blonde woman wearing a tight black cyber suit and VR-like goggles that covered her eyes. The form-fitting suit revealed her figure clearly—a tall, slender body like a model’s.

“Thanks for taking care of those bad guys for me.”

The blonde woman in the cyber suit smiled as she spoke. Her voice sounded slightly unnatural, as if it had been modulated. It felt vaguely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠familiar. Where had I seen her before? It was ambiguous, but I was certain I had met her somewhere.

“Here, catch.”

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cyber-suited blonde tossed a note toward me. What was this? I caught the flying paper and looked at it.

Ah, so this woman was the phantom thief François. I had seen this memo on the game screen before, which let me identify her immediately. She was a phantom thief who occasionally appeared in the era of Megacorp’s youngest son, as well as in TMC, which was set even further in the future.

She was an NPC who would show up if the protagonist left valuable items unused in storage. If you failed to stop her, she would steal them—an utterly vicious character.

“Just what are you and these attackers after in this laboratory?”

“I don’t know what those bad people are aiming for, but I simply stole the most valuable thing in this room.”

With those words, she pulled a small storage device from her bosom and showed it to me. It was a 9th-generation USB. She must have stolen the research data from the computer. The data inside the machine had probably all been deleted. The monitor displayed only black card-like screens, confirming the files had been wiped.

“If you hand that over, I won’t chase you.”

“No thanks? Just close your eyes for a second.”

When I reached out, Phantom Thief François stuck her tongue out playfully and dropped a small, round metal orb. The orb rolled toward us, then its top opened with a hiss, releasing a massive cloud of smoke at incredible speed. It was a smoke grenade.

The laboratory was instantly filled with thick smoke. How could such a tiny orb produce so much?

“À plus tard!”

She said something in French as her presence grew more distant. Of course, I could have caught her before she even threw the grenade, but the feeling that I somehow knew her had made me ask for the item verbally instead of acting immediately.

Once I figured out who she was, I could retrieve it easily. There was no need to overexert myself now. Besides, if I got the item back later, I could keep it all to myself. I deliberately let her go. Once I knew her identity, everything Phantom Thief François had stolen until now—including that data—would become mine. So for today, I’d let her escape. Keep stealing lots of treasures for me, François.

It seemed she had noticed my lack of urgency, because she fled in a leisurely manner.

When the smoke finally cleared, Phantom Thief François was gone. There was a hole in the ceiling just large enough for a person to pass through. She must have escaped to the roof. She truly lived up to the title of phantom thief. Rianna Holden had said infiltrating the roof would be impossible, yet she had done it with ease.

“There’s nothing we can do about the data she already took. Let’s head down, rest, and wait for the main force.”

“Yes, Investor-nim.”

I stopped Sawayanagi Seari, who wanted to chase her to the end, and we returned to the staircase connecting the fourth and fifth floors. Since we had stopped the attackers, did this count as mission success? Or had it been a failure because Phantom Thief François ultimately stole the data? It was ambiguous.

###

“Stop dawdling and get in the vehicles!”

The soldiers from the PMC named Taira Food Security Guard, sent by Taira Food, were loading the attackers into transport vehicles. The Taira Food Security Guard was the second-tier PMC under Taira Food. Because the intense fighting with Kurotsukidoo had left them short on manpower, the second-tier unit had been dispatched. Even then, only a small portion had come to the laboratory. Still, escorting prisoners should be well within their capabilities.

Although two-thirds of the attackers had died in the battle against Seryu Military Company, the remaining third was more than enough to extract information from.

“I have reported the current situation to command. You will receive further instructions shortly.”

Kido Hayata, the support unit deputy commander of Taira Food Security Guard, spoke to Sawayanagi Azuma, president of Seryu Military Company. She nodded in acknowledgment.

“Then we will take our leave. Let’s go!”

Although the building had suffered considerable damage, there were no dead researchers. With nothing more for Seryu Military Company or Taira Food Security Guard to do, Kido Hayata climbed into a vehicle along with his subordinates and the bound attackers, and they departed.

After traveling some distance, they turned onto a road bordered on the right by a vast field of reeds. Kido Hayata gazed at the reeds swaying in the wind. In his eyes, it looked as though something was moving through them in a single direction, like a wild animal.

“Deputy Commander, those women from Seryu Military Company were all pretty hot, weren’t they?”

“And what if they were, you idiot?”

When the driver broke the brief silence, Kido Hayata chuckled softly. In truth, he had taken a liking to the blue-haired president of Seryu Military Company. The purple-haired Westerner in that outrageous operator outfit had been attractive too.

“What do you mean, what? I’m going to ask one of them out, obviously. Once this job is over, maybe invite her to dinner? Or how about a company-wide dinner after this mission? That’d be the perfect chance.”

“You’ve already thought that far ahead?”

“That far? I’ve already imagined having three kids with her, lol.”

“Heh heh heh, you crazy bastard.”

Kido Hayata, who had been looking out at the reeds, turned to the driver with a laugh. What the—? A red laser dot was shining on the driver’s forehead. A sniper! But he noticed too late.

BANG!!!

At the same instant as the gunshot, the driver was shot between the eyes and collapsed. The vehicle swerved wildly before crashing into the guardrail and coming to a stop.

“Everyone, wake up! It’s an ambush!!”

At Kido Hayata’s shout, the Taira Food Security Guard soldiers staggered out of the vehicles. But as soon as they emerged, they were all cut down by bullets flying from the reed field beside the road. Around ten figures walked out of the reeds with steady steps.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t know…? Well, I’ll satisfy your curiosity before you die.”

A black man wearing yellowish fatigues that blended with the reeds seemed to be the leader. He opened his mouth.

“We are the Second Squad.”

“What kind of name is—.”

Bang!

Kido Hayata couldn’t finish his sentence before he was shot and killed. The black leader scanned the stopped vehicles with cold, mechanical eyes.

“Collect the First Squad. There are houses nearby, so the gunshots have probably been reported. We need to get out before that happens.”

At the black leader’s command, the Second Squad rushed to the vehicles, searched them, and retrieved the members of the First Squad. The man in sunglasses was also being supported by one of them.

“You idiot.”

“Heh heh heh, still, it was half a success. We didn’t get the data ourselves, but since Phantom Thief François stole it, the secondary objective of destroying the data if theft was impossible has been achieved.”

The man in sunglasses untied the ropes that had bound him and stretched his limbs as he spoke. But his confidence quickly faded and he spoke again.

“...The boss is going to chew me out, isn’t he?”

“He’s going to chew you out hard.”

The man in sunglasses cursed under his breath, then walked back toward the reed field where the Second Squad had emerged. The others followed him into the reeds. Before long, both the First and Second Squads had vanished among the swaying stalks.