Chapter 24
“…What?”
“What about you?”
Flora Crimsonhowl and Ellen Clements.
The Scions of the Magic Noble Family were the origin of the MegaCorp that held Haze in its grip.
To an outsider, they were figures with absolutely no connection to District 27. No, even to each other, that was the case.
“I came to meet my wife. I didn’t follow you off.”
At Flora’s words, Ellen’s eyebrows arched.
The high-and-mighty Crimson Howl decided to meet her Family in District 27 of all places! She could never understand it even if she tried, but if it was true, it was a ridiculous coincidence.
Of course, whether that was the truth or a lie, Ellen didn’t care. It would be a matter Unrelated to her.
“I came “cause I got business too. Like it makes any sense for me to follow you off.”
At Ellen’s words, Flora lowered her gaze and looked at the clothes she was wearing.
It still gave off a smell that stimulated her sense of smell. Her vigilance did not fade.
“…Then we’ll each go our own way.”
“Obviously. It’s not like we’re on good enough terms to walk together.”
Flora and Ellen walked with their heads turned away.
Desperately ignoring each other, they moved in the exact same direction. Then, they came out of the same exit and walked facing the same way.
Even though they tried not to be conscious of it, it kept bothering them.
Feeling uncomfortable in the awkward air, Flora deliberately crossed an alley to move, yet they ran into each other again in the same place.
“…”
“Hah?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
They exchanged blunt words and moved again, pretending nothing was wrong.
They headed to the same place again.
[No way.]
[Probably not.]
Right. As they said, they must have business.
District 27 is so wide; they would go in different directions eventually. There was no way they were heading to Max’s Mercenary Office.
Clack.
Their footsteps stopped just like that.
The two stopped in front of the same building.
“Didn’t you tell me earlier you were going to see your Family?”
“…I did come to see my Family. You told me you were going to take care of business.”
“I did come to take care of business.”
At this point, they each had their certainties.
Because they wouldn’t be a Customer for the Gambling Arcade on the 1st floor or the Cocktail Bar on the 3rd floor.
Flora and Ellen moved at the same time and stepped onto the stairs.
Grab! Ellen, taking the inside, grabbed the wall.
Clang! Flora, positioned on the outside, grabbed the railing.
They pushed each other with their bodies as they climbed the narrow stairs.
“Girl! Move your butt! Are you bragging that it’s big!”
“Don’t say such obscene things! It’s not even that big…!”
As Flora shrieked her face as red as her hair, Ellen pressed harder.
“Are you actually a cow that learned to walk on two legs! It’s seriously so cramped that I could die!”
“If it’s cramped, you can just move out of the way…! And I’m not a cow, I’m a Wolf!”
“There’s no one in class with bigger boobs than me except you!”
“W-what do you want me to do about it…!”
Neither of them knew why they were acting so childishly.
It was just that they felt they didn’t want to let the other go first.
For the two of them right now, the awareness that they shouldn’t damage the office walls or the stairs railing was their minimum sense of Responsibility.
Tap!
The two stepped onto the 2nd floor with a difference so small that it was hard to tell who arrived first.
However, contrary to their expectations, there was no sign of anyone in the office.
“Uh, the lights inside are…?”
“What’s this? We came all the way up here, and it’s empty.”
Even the lights were off, making the office dark.
It seemed Max was out.
“…”
Flora pouted her lips and took out her phone. At that sight, Ellen raised the corners of her mouth.
She didn’t know what kind of victory it was, but she was certain of victory.
“Hah, step aside!”
Pushing Flora away, Ellen placed her finger on the machine.
Beep-ring!
The fingerprint was recognized, and the lock to Max’s Mercenary Office was released.
“…!”
Ellen confidently walked in past the astonished Flora.
Regardless of the circumstances she would come to learn from now on, Ellen would never forget Flora’s expression at that moment for the rest of her life.
* * *
Right now, Flora and Ellen are arriving at the office.
Unfortunately, Max had received a request.
He was told an alligator had appeared during Sewer Work.
Its hide was so hard that bullets didn’t work, a result of whatever it had eaten while living in the sewer. Its size was double that of a normal alligator, and it had reportedly swallowed the personnel working on the construction.
Max had judged it to be a request that would end in a short time and had gone on a business trip.
However, it was taking more time than expected.
It was because the construction workers were having a hard time luring the alligator.
“I see the tail! Poke it!”
“Rookie! Bring a longer skewer.”
“If that alligator bastard tries to turn its body, or if you hear it cry, just get down! If you’re late, your head disappears!”
Upon arrival, Max tried to pull the alligator with Psychokinesis or kill it with Impact and Severing, but the Construction Company feared the sewer might collapse from the Magic Recoil or the alligator’s thrashing, so he was currently on standby after receiving the extra money they handed him.
He was spending his time waiting for the alligator to appear.
Max’s phone spat out consecutive vibrations.
[Flora Crimsonhowl: Oppa, I’m at the office]
[Ellen Clements: Where did you go? I came to work. Why is it empty?]
“?!”
Max’s eyes widened at the messages arriving without an interval.
[Isn’t it time for both of them to be at the Academy?]
The current time was morning, and moreover, a weekday.
Wondering if there was a hole in his memory, he checked the calendar, but as expected, it wasn’t a Public Holiday either.
It wasn’t the Minerva Academy Founding Anniversary either.
Anyway, the situation meant that the two of them were together in the office.
Given the time, it would be hard to see it as their running into each other by chance.
[Is the relationship between Flora and Ellen actually okay?]
Just from the fact that I hadn’t heard anything Before Regression, I might have been worrying for nothing.
[Have I become too steeped in Haze’s Ecology? It was a prejudice.]
Right. Even magic noble families could be on good terms with each other.
Since they were two of the three families that established Genesis Bio.
It was a fully possible story.
Roaaar!!!
The alligator that suddenly jumped out of the sewer stopped the moment it tried to swallow one of the workers.
It was because multiple invisible hands had grabbed the alligator. Max had maintained his vigilance and focus even while looking at the messages.
[Manipulate Hands]
Caught in Max’s 3rd-Tier Psychokinesis, the alligator floated in the air and thrashed about. Unable to close its jaw, it drooled profusely.
Its short, chubby legs, which didn’t match its massive body, moved diligently.
Snort, grrr, roaaar!
The alligator spat out air and made a dinosaur-like sound.
Flesh and blood were stuck near its maw, along with tangled clothes, showing how many people it had eaten.
If it weren’t for that, he might have felt its thrashing was a little cute.
[As expected, a Creature Without Magic Power is nice because its resistance is weak.]
The Worker who had almost been eaten by the alligator’s maw lost strength in his legs and fell on his butt.
“H-Hiiiik!!!”
He had only just realized that he had been on the verge of death.
Workers ran over to him and pulled him.
“You stupid bastard! Get out quickly! Do you want to die!”
“Mister Mage! We leave it to you!”
Max finished gesturing for the workers to step further back.
He delicately wove his magic power, forming a system of 3rd-Tier Severing Magic.
[Ripper]
Max’s magic power took the form of a blade and flew at the alligator.
The alligator’s tough hide and muscles were hacked and torn apart.
Pitch-black blood poured down onto the floor.
[Its hide is definitely hard. Did it pick up and eat some weird drug inside?]
The claim that normal firearms didn’t work wasn’t a lie.
Max threw the alligator, its head and torso separated, onto the floor. As soon as the work was finished, the Site Manager came running.
“Thank you, Mister Mage! Here is your payment. Great work!”
“This kind of work is always welcome.”
Packing the hefty daily wage into his arms, Max quickly left the scene. He sent a reply to the two in the office, but there was no response.
Instead of walking the path he would normally have taken leisurely, he caught a taxi to return.
The way back made him strangely tense.
[…They’re doing fine, right?]
He only hoped they were peacefully chatting while eating the lollipops on the desk.
Flora and Ellen were unable to look at their phones because they were deep in conversation. Wasn’t it a situation that was simple to imagine and easy to accept?
“Customer. That will be 6,900 credits.”
“I’ll pay by card.”
Finishing the payment and getting out of the taxi, Max raised his head and checked the building first.
Fortunately, there were no signs of it being burned or struck by lightning.
Thud-thud-thud!
He climbed the stairs like lightning.
He opened the office.
“…”
Flora and Ellen’s gazes turned to Max at the same time.
The two were sitting facing each other on the Reception Sofa, but they hadn’t set out anything to drink, nor did they have smiling faces.
[What is this atmosphere?]
Max shook off the sensation of his body stiffening and somehow moved.
He fumbled along the wall and turned on the office lights first.
“Why do you have the lights off?”
The air inside was heavy enough that the expression 'crushing' was fitting. It felt like he would suffocate and choke.
Max calmly headed to his computer chair and took off his outerwear.
“Did your work go well?”
“Is the request over?”
Flora and Ellen asked at the same time and glared at each other.
Thanks to that, Max corrected his thoughts.
It might not be the relationship he predicted. The thought occurred to him that they might have really met here by coincidence.
“…”
Max dragged his wheeled computer chair and moved.
Roll - .
He didn’t sit on the Reception Sofa but took the center. He could clearly see Flora and Ellen facing each other.
Max somehow endured the gazes of the two staring piercingly at him.
He calmly opened his mouth.
“Shall the three of us have a talk?”