The Necromancer's Path
The headquarters of the looter group was the main office of a bankrupt distribution company. Since it had warehouses and garages, it was probably chosen for its convenience in managing stolen goods.
"The site isn't as large as I expected."
Comet peered at the base through binoculars from the rooftop of a building near the rear entrance. A single car was entering through the front gate, and a few looters could be seen wandering around.
"Perhaps their main storage is outside the city?"
Dan Gayeon, who was also looking through binoculars beside her, replied.
Comet nodded and lowered her binoculars. She then unfolded the architectural blueprint that had been handed over by the police. Dan Gayeon turned at the sound of the paper unfolding.
"We probably won't have to go in ourselves."
"That's a shame. I thought you'd use the authority of a super-legal agency to persuade them into a joint operation, Chief Dan."
"Haha... Still, they did allow us to wait at the rear entrance, so isn't that good enough...?"
Dan Gayeon gave an awkward smile. Comet stared at her with a slightly pouty expression before breaking into a grin.
"I suppose so."
Comet snapped the creases out of the blueprint with a loud rustle. She tried to locate where the looter group's necromancer might be staying, but the blueprint wasn't much help. It was disappointing that the police would confiscate the necromancer's achievements.
"Chief Dan, what's your synchronization rate now?"
"I've raised it to 14%."
Comet leaned her arms on the railing and rested her chin on her hand.
"The martial arts class must be nice. Just swinging a sword restores your stats."
"If you look at it that way, the magic class is even more convenient."
Dan Gayeon spoke with a somewhat sour expression. The sword hanging at her waist swayed. She seemed dissatisfied that her busy schedule left her no time for separate training.
"You just absorb mana, so you don't even sweat or need to shower."
"True. Mages have it easy too."
Comet nodded.
"I don't know why everyone lives so comfortably."
Unlike those who handled mana, a necromancer who dealt with spiritual energy needed an environment rife with death rather than peaceful surroundings. They required incidents that produced large quantities of souls.
"Still, aren't your base stats high even with just your initial synchronization rate, Comet?"
"They're high, but if you compare them to other top-tier rankers, they're not that impressive."
"I can't relate to that at all..."
The grumbling was rather amusing, so Comet smiled. Dan Gayeon stared at her for a moment before raising her binoculars again to watch the front.
It wasn't long before the awaited signal arrived. A small white flag fluttered from a rooftop near the looter base.
"Comet!"
"Yes, I saw it too. Let's get ready."
Comet double-checked that she had her knife and soul beads properly secured. Seeing Dan Gayeon focused on the rear entrance, she turned her binoculars to secretly observe the police's entry process.
Armed officers swarmed over the walls while police cars smashed through the front gate. There were no police at the rear entrance, however. She'd heard it was intentional—to leave an escape route and prevent the looters from fighting to the death, since total annihilation wasn't the goal.
One of the awakened looters tried to cast a spell but was mercilessly cut down by gunfire.
"How scary..."
Comet felt a renewed longing for higher stats.
"Hm?"
"Nothing. I just hope the necromancer escapes safely through the rear entrance."
Already, a few quick-witted looters were fleeing through the back. Comet held up her soul bead to check for a reaction, but there was none—perhaps the looter necromancer had already claimed the area first—so she tucked it away again.
"There he is!"
Dan Gayeon shouted, alternating between her binoculars and a photograph.
"Let's go."
Comet grabbed the railing and leaped from the rooftop. A brief sensation of weightlessness followed as her short black hair fluttered and her dress billowed. Her underwear flashed into view before disappearing again. The impact of her landing echoed across the roof. Footprints appeared sporadically as she bounded from rooftop to rooftop.
She twisted once in midair and landed directly in front of the necromancer. The man stopped running, his face frozen in shock.
Comet straightened her disheveled hair and clothes, then spoke in a friendly tone.
"I was just passing by and saw someone in the same profession, so I thought I'd drop in. Would you like some help?"
The necromancer paused for a moment, then scowled.
"What the hell is this bullshit? What crazy necromancer has a sense of camaraderie?"
After spitting out the words rapidly, he glanced around and bolted toward the other looters. Comet scratched her cheek. He wasn't wrong.
"Haa, where's the necromancer?"
Dan Gayeon arrived a little late. Comet pointed at the man who had already hidden himself among the looters.
A man stepped out from the crowd of looters.
"I didn't know the great Comet had become the government's dog."
Judging by the looters' reactions, he seemed to be the boss of the organization. His natural way of speaking suggested they might have met before, so Comet hesitated for a second.
An awkward silence fell. The boss furrowed his brows and opened his mouth to speak, but Comet quickly raised her palm in a gesture that said wait, don't speak yet, and searched her memory.
Now that she thought about it, the face looked vaguely familiar yet not. She couldn't remember exactly where, but he might have been a guild master.
Comet tested the waters with an uncertain voice.
"Guild master...?"
"...I was part of one of the guilds that received orders to kill you during the Empire's extermination decree."
The boss, seemingly reading her mind, provided the additional explanation.
"Ah. I think I remember now. You had top-tier combat sense, right?"
Comet improvised an answer to match the added details. The necromancer hiding behind them looked at his boss in awe. While many guilds had taken the extermination quest, a guild master would certainly be considered ranker level.
"If you understand, I'd appreciate it if you'd step aside now."
The boss glanced back at what had been their headquarters. The gunfire continued but was gradually dying down.
"Are you looking for a fight to the death?"
His voice carried the confidence of someone who believed he held the advantage in stats. With a necromancer among his subordinates, he probably assumed Comet's synchronization rate was low.
Comet silently twirled a strand of her hair. Then she looked at Dan Gayeon.
"Why are you just standing there?"
"Huh...?"
Dan Gayeon, who had been quietly reading the room, flinched when the sudden attention fell on her. She swallowed dryly, stepped closer, and whispered.
"What should we do?"
"Indeed. What should we do, Chief?"
"...Can you win?"
"Yes. But isn't this outside my responsibilities? Even as external support, I'm still a civilian."
"Ugh."
The hand gripping her sword hilt trembled. Comet waited patiently, but when she heard the boss's irritated cough, she stopped spectating and whispered to Dan Gayeon.
"Let's let them go. Honestly, this isn't even your department, Chief. The police can handle it. They said they'd take out the looters who fled through the open escape route one by one."
At the suggestion to pass responsibility to another department, Dan Gayeon's face brightened. A very civil-servant-like reaction.
"...Should we? But if a ranker breaks through the encirclement and escapes, what then?"
Comet silently patted Dan Gayeon on the shoulder. After agonizing for a moment, Dan Gayeon took several steps back to create distance. She even lowered her head, apparently finding it too difficult to verbally tell them to pass.
Comet followed suit and stepped aside, gesturing with one hand for them to go ahead.
"Move out now!"
The boss began leading the looters past them. As she watched the fleeing group, Comet spoke up just as the boss was about to pass by.
"By the way."
The boss stopped and turned around. His eyes were filled with irritation and tension, as if asking whether she was going to pick a fight after all.
Comet deliberately toyed with her knife in plain view.
"I'm curious whether that necromancer committed murder at a convenience store. As the boss, you must know what your subordinates have been up to, right?"
The boss turned to look at the necromancer who had been following obediently.
"...You're asking if one of my men committed murder at a convenience store?"
"Yes."
A look of disbelief flashed across the boss's face. The necromancer clearly preferred staying indoors; his expression was definitive. The boss seemed to grasp Comet's intention and glanced at Dan Gayeon.
At first Dan Gayeon looked puzzled, but then she stared at the boss, clearly curious about his answer. The boss looked back at Comet.
From outside Dan Gayeon's line of sight, Comet naturally moved her knife to point it at the chief's side. The boss's eyes changed.
"...Of course he did."
"It was for the souls, right?"
"That's right. I remember now. I recall hearing him brag that harvesting souls at the convenience store let him snack whenever he wanted."
"Me?!"
The boss had casually added a lie. It seemed like repayment for Comet pretending they were acquainted earlier, sparing him embarrassment. The necromancer who had just been sold out by his boss widened his eyes in panic before falling silent under the boss's arm around his shoulder.
With the conversation over, the looters departed. Comet turned to Dan Gayeon with a bright smile.
"You heard the guild master's testimony just now, right? Can we use it as evidence?"
"...You made a deal with a criminal in exchange for letting them go?"
It was a transaction between criminals, so not judicial but a private arrangement.
"That depends on how you interpret it, Chief Dan. So, can we use it as evidence?"
"I'm not sure... But at least our suspicions seem confirmed! We just need to wait for the police to bring him in! You did well!"
Dan Gayeon grabbed her hand.
"It's all thanks to you, Chief."
Comet held her hand in return. Hearing Comet's praise, Dan Gayeon's expression brightened. It was very much like a new graduate.
But it didn't take long for Dan Gayeon's face to cloud over. The police, having finished securing the headquarters, came looking for Chief Dan and began questioning her responsibility.
Instead of shifting blame, Dan Gayeon was tossed around and kept apologizing. While Comet watched the spectacle, she heard that the encirclement had been breached and returned to her room.
It had been a good day.