Chapter 91
Let's turn back time a little.
I was able to escape by using [Air Buster] to inflict an enormous impact inside the space within Christo's first edition, causing the space itself to collapse.
I heard that first edition cursing me, but well, I chalked it up to my imagination and ignored it.
"So."
After extracting the mana of the instantly killed Sailor, I used the mana-detecting machine Bellias had previously given me to extract even the mana residue from the Marita Museum, our target, and then returned to our lodgings.
There, Bellias was waiting for me with a slightly dark expression.
"You lost her?"
"Yeees..."
Bellias's mission had been to identify and attack Sara, who appeared to be a suspicious person.
Ah, of course, I told her to first confirm something strange through contact or surveillance before launching an attack, rather than rashly suspecting someone without any basis.
It would be pretty embarrassing if we caught an innocent person, honestly.
But Bellias had lost her...?
"First of all, did you secure evidence that she was connected to the [Organization]?"
Nod.
"And you encountered her at her home, fought her, and then she fled."
I had never seen Bellias's full strength.
I knew her as a first-rate puppeteer and alchemist who handled a Master-class automaton and dozens of others, created countless magitech tools, medicines, and explosives, and, finally, held the title of magitech engineer. That was about it.
"You gave it everything you had, right?"
"Um... Since we're in a city, I didn't use absolutely everything I had..."
The mood was gloomy.
Her voice had sunk so low, and was so plainly laden with self-reproach, that I could think of no better way to describe it.
"Perhaps because of that, she chose to run away at the end."
I had probably accomplished my original goal: meeting Sailor, killing him, and extracting both his mana and the mana from the Marita Museum.
By contrast, she seemed to be blaming herself heavily for failing to capture Sara and carry out her mission properly.
"Well..."
Since it was true that she had failed the mission, I did not offer any pointless comfort.
She must have her pride as the boss of [White Shadow], after all, so there was no good reason to poke at it.
"Let's have a drink."
"..."
"It doesn't look like anything more will happen, anyway."
...
A brief silence.
Nod.
Breaking the silence, Bellias cautiously nodded.
Of course.
'Hic, I'm sorry...'
'No, I told you, it's really fine.'
'Things got needlessly complicated because of me...'
Perhaps because she had been blaming herself for so long, she ended up drinking more cocktails than she usually could.
Squeeze.
Time passed as I endured her drunken habit of tightly hugging the people around her.
'Come to think of it, do you know what ability that woman Sara has?'
'Ah... uhehe. Well, you see...'
As she held me in her arms and looked at me with a warm smile, she opened her mouth and told me about Sara's ability, leaving me dumbfounded.
Wait, she fought someone this powerful without any information and was blaming herself this much?
Moreover, the way she had countered Sara's ability was something beyond my common sense as well.
'Huh...'
After staring at her in disbelief for some time, the noisy night in Marita, made chaotic by the protests, passed.
***
"Haa... haa... I'm alive."
A ruin in a wasteland far from Marita City.
Sara, proudly displaying her pink hair, collapsed into the ruins, panting heavily.
Frowning at the dust wind in the human-untouched wasteland and its musty smell, she quietly lamented her situation.
"Just my luck."
All this trouble because of that damn boss who has taken our entire race hostage.
Besides, now that her identity had been exposed, there was no way she could continue operating in Marita.
"..."
Sara stared blankly at the night sky visible through the open ceiling, reviewing her desperate battle against Abel's companion, who had fought her moments ago and, according to the report, went by the alias As.
As, who had entered her residence.
When As stood there holding a report linking Sara to the [Organization] inside the securely locked secret vault, Sara had attacked her immediately without making excuses.
"No, is she a monster?"
Honestly, since she was a woman Abel kept with him, Sara had expected her to be exceptionally capable.
But Sara had thought her own ability would be enough to deal with any powerful opponent...
Resonance.
An absolute attack technique that could not be defended against, constructed using her esper ability, [Sound].
Yes. After creating this technique, Sara had believed she could take on even fairly powerful opponents.
But.
"She can adjust an object's natural frequency in real time?"
At first, she had held the advantage.
Although she had been flustered when As, realizing her ability was sound, calmly ruptured her own eardrums with her hands.
Sara had thought her technique, Resonance, was impossible to counter even if one understood its principles.
'Hmm... Ah, I see. So that's what it was.'
But after several of her automatons were destroyed, As immediately grasped the problem with the current situation and began responding.
Mana control superior even to that of those who had reached the realm of Sword Master or Archmage.
Moreover, mana was energy that responded to the user's mental image.
If so.
'The principle was surprisingly simple, wasn't it?'
'What did you say?'
Changing the natural frequencies of the automatons she had created was quite easy for her.
Watching As do so, Sara could only gape at her in shock, with no trace of dignity, during their desperate battle.
"Gnn..."
Sara's head hurt again at As's response.
No, what did she mean, it was simple?
Natural frequency. The natural frequency an object inherently possessed.
And she could change it however she pleased?
"What the hell..."
Gasp!
No, no, wait. Realizing the undignified words that had slipped out before she could stop herself, Sara covered her mouth with her hand and rose from the spot.
"Enough, enough."
Right. Let's think about it positively.
Since she had found a countermeasure, that meant her ability might advance another step in the future, didn't it?
There was nothing to be gained from despairing like this.
"Hmm?"
Gurgle.
Just as Sara was deep in thought about how to counter As's response and further strengthen her ability, a peculiar sound reached her ears.
How should she describe this sound? The sound of a liquid more viscous than water moving?
[Glug.]
When she turned her head, she saw the bizarre sight of small slimes gathering in one place around what appeared to be the skeleton of someone who had died long ago.
An ordinary person would have been horrified by the scene, but as someone who belonged to the [Organization] and held an executive position, she had seen phenomena like this fairly often.
"Ugh..."
Of course, seeing it often did not mean she was used to it.
The strangely ear-tickling, squelchy, sticky noise was her absolute weakness.
[Sara, how did things go?]
A human voice flowed out from within the slimes that had gathered in abundance.
It was a contact person for the [Organization].
"I'm telling you again, can't you change the way you make calls?"
[What do you mean?]
Gloop.
"That! That thing! I'm seriously going crazy here! You know my ability well! Stop deliberately making noises that grate on my ears!"
[...That is baseless.]
The contact person dismissed her nonchalantly.
Sara's face twisted in disbelief as she looked at the contact person.
"No, just because I said something bad about the boss, did you really have to go this far?"
That was the reason he was being so curt with her.
The boss of the [Organization].
Sara's slip of the tongue, caused by her lack of any favorable feelings toward the boss, had been the decisive reason this boss fanatic had marked her.
For the record, the boss did not expect loyalty toward the [Organization] or its subordinate organizations from its executives, so the boss did not particularly punish her for cursing him like that.
It merely meant that her fellow executives began keeping their distance from her.
[That is baseless.]
"..."
This bastard. He's deliberately refusing to answer me.
At that thought, she gazed at the strangely writhing slime with her eyes half-lidded.
Eventually, she let out a deep sigh and shook her head.
"Fine, let's say that's true."
[So how did things go?]
"You gathered the information too, didn't you?"
[...It was impossible.]
What?
"You couldn't?"
Even though the man was rude enough to treat her like this, Sara was one of those who held his ability in quite high regard.
[Division.]
His ability to constantly divide his body down to particles as small as dust to gather information made him someone who could fairly be called the strongest in the [Organization].
And he had said it was impossible for someone like that to obtain information.
"Why?"
[...]
"Right. I know high-level mana users can detect you. But Abel and that As—anyway, those two were dealing with Sailor and me."
Even if there were other powerful opponents, the detection range of mana awakeners still had limits.
"Was there someone powerful enough to conduct detection so vast that you couldn't find an opening?"
[Haa... That's right.]
At Sara's words, the slime's body began to tremble.
How should she put it? It looked furious.
[There was a powerful individual who expanded their detection range to encompass the entire city of Marita.]
"..."
[It was only natural that I couldn't learn anything from inside the city. The detection worked in the form of a dome, filtering out suspicious people entering from outside.]
"Huh..."
[So I do not know the whole story behind this incident. Explain everything that happened.]
"..."
The tone was slightly commanding.
At that voice, Sara slowly opened her mouth.
[Aaaaa---]
Boom!
At the same time, the slime's body exploded.
"It's already an irritating situation, and now you're ordering me around?"
She was annoyed by both the current situation and the way the [Organization] treated her.
The irritation was enough to make her normally suppressed vulgar speech slip out on its own.
"Ah, seriously."
[Aaaaaaaa---!!]
Boom!!
Once again, this time with a voice filled with pent-up frustration, she cried out, and the surroundings began to be reduced to rubble.
The old city, filled with ruins, began to be swept away by Sara's voice alone.
After sweeping away an area roughly the size of a small village in an instant, Sara dispelled the magic affecting her pink hair.
Swish.
The vivid pink pigment in her hair began to fade gradually, before completely changing into vivid blue hair that looked as though it held the sea itself.
"Haa..."
Having swept away her surroundings satisfyingly, she began tying up her hair in its natural color in a fairly refreshed mood.
She had often taken the role of a princess at the request of the [Ashen Troupe], so she had styled her hair like a princess's as well, but there was no longer any need for that.
Her residence had probably been reduced to a complete mess long ago by her decisive battle with As.
With Abel and As both knowing her face—or rather, knowing about her activities in Marita City—continuing to stay in this city would be no different from acting like a fool.
"What a shame."
Being a theater actress had suited her surprisingly well. She could have kept at it.
Saying that, Sara checked her hair, tied in a ponytail, then left the spot without looking back.
Since she had destroyed the contact person's body itself, she first needed to return to the [Organization] and submit a report.
***
"Wow, it looks like it's finally over."
A rooftop of a building tall enough to overlook all of chaotic Marita City.
Charon wiped the blood staining his dagger and turned his head to look at a woman.
"Thank you for your assistance, Miss Nella."
"Don't mention it."
"Wow, as expected of you, Miss Nella. Detection powerful enough to envelop the city—truly amazing."
"..."
One of the members of [White Shadow].
Nella raised her head and looked at the enormous dome-shaped detection she had emitted before speaking.
"Information warfare is my specialty, after all."
In particular, she hated it when enemy forces used the opening after an incident to gather information about them.
"I agree."
Charon nodded at Nella's words, then turned his head to look at the pile of corpses stacked behind him.
They were the [Organization]'s agents whom he and Nella had dealt with.
"So I made sure to take care of the cleanup too."
Inside that pile of corpses.
"..."
One of the city's councilors listened intently to their conversation while desperately concealing his presence.
After being abducted without warning, the councilor had barely survived by taking the drug in his molar that induced a temporary state of suspended animation.
'Huh?'
Just as he was forcibly suppressing his heartbeat with mana, the councilor began to wonder at the quiet outside.
Whoosh!
"Peekaboo."
"..."
"A drug that temporarily induces a state of suspended animation? It's one I enjoy using quite often myself."
"Aah..."
"Wow, you're skilled. You even tried to regulate your heartbeat by force with mana. That hurts terribly, you know. I know from experience."
Mm. Mm.
The councilor fell into despair at Charon's clownish gestures.
'Damn it!'
"I almost missed you, you know?"
'Don't give me that!'
Who would believe you didn't leave me there on purpose?!
It was a vile hobby—a vile hobby of playing with people's thoughts and hopes.
Enraged by Charon's behavior, the councilor was just about to drink the suicide poison hidden in his molar as a last resort.
"Ghk!"
"Now, now, you can't do that."
A dagger entered the councilor's mouth.
Since the dagger kept his molars from touching, the poison capsule had not broken.
"The fact that you even have something like this is proof you know quite a lot, isn't it?"
"..."
Only then did the councilor understand Charon's intentions.
A drug that induced temporary suspended animation, and a poison capsule embedded in his molar in case he was ever caught.
These were things a low-level member who knew a lot about the [Organization] could never possess.
In other words, they were proof that he was someone who knew a great deal about the [Organization].
'Damn it.'
He had lost.
He had lost in both the psychological battle and in force; he had not won a single thing.
Thinking that, the councilor was consumed by a profound sense of powerlessness enveloping him.
"Sigh..."
Seeing Charon like that, Nella shook her head as if he was beyond help.
Good grief. So that was why he had saved the man.
It was efficient, but she could not deny that it was a vile hobby.
"Now, a little prick. Don't be afraid of a needle like a grown adult, okay? It's just a sleeping pill."
"Mmph, mmph!!"
"There, there. Good job. Shall we have a cozy little time at our ducal residence?"
Ignoring the voices behind her, Nella took out the cigar box Abel had secretly asked her to bring from inside her clothes.
Christo cigars.
'Hmm. It would be best to give these to Miss Bellias first, right?'
"Grrrk."
"Oops. As expected of the ducal household's sleeping pill. It works well, doesn't it?"
'And while I'm at it, I'll steadily raise Mr. Abel's affection for me...'
"Ah, Miss Nella! I'll take this fellow back to the ducal residence!"
"Hm? Ah, sure."
Nella nodded at Charon while looking at the slowly rising sun.
And so.
The unrest in the City of Artists was brought to an end, for the time being.