Chapter 199
"The base is beneath a noble's mansion that no one is currently using. Since it belongs to a group of mages, powerful barriers have been set up, so I would advise against teleporting there directly."
"Understood. In that case, please wait nearby."
"As you wish."
"Then I'm off."
"Have a safe trip."
With that, I teleported there in my guise as Silver.
The destination was the noble's mansion I'd been told about in advance.
It had apparently been abandoned after falling out of use several years ago. The fact that a criminal organization had made it its base could hardly be called anything but an oversight on the Empire's part.
"Well, we can't keep track of every abandoned mansion, so I suppose it can't be helped."
Muttering that, I entered the mansion.
Then I found a door leading to the basement.
Of course, it was locked and sealed with a barrier.
But something this minor was as good as nonexistent.
I placed my hand against the door and poured magic power into it.
The door exploded in an instant. The barrier couldn't withstand the magic power I sent into it and vanished completely.
"They must have realized someone was here by now."
As I descended the stairs to the basement, I increased the density of magic power around me.
Even though the organization was led by mages, the people at the bottom were probably ordinary humans.
There was no need to go out of my way to deal with such people.
Just as I was thinking that, I reached the basement.
"Oh?"
A single straight corridor stretched out before me.
It looked perfectly ordinary, but invisible threads of magic had been spread across it.
If someone got caught on one, something would probably come out.
With that in mind, I proceeded down the corridor as though nothing were amiss.
The threads reacted, and arrows shot out from the walls.
"A combination of magic and traps. I suppose this is to be expected from Maokodan's base."
It was an interesting mechanism, but that was all it was.
Considering how long it took to activate, it wouldn't work against a true expert.
In fact, the arrows flying at me lost momentum partway through and fell to the ground.
Once I passed through the corridor, I suddenly emerged into a wide space.
Dozens of men were waiting there with their weapons at the ready.
"He's here! Throw them!"
They must have judged that arrows would be useless against anyone capable of breaking through that trap.
The men hurled spears at me.
Those spears had also been slightly enhanced with magic. Their quality was high enough for military use.
Even so.
"Is that all?"
"No way..."
Someone muttered those words.
Every spear they had thrown stopped in front of me.
Seeing the spears suspended in midair, the perceptive ones realized what was about to happen and tried to hide behind cover.
"Then I'll return them all at once."
The spears spun around on the spot. Only then did most of the men realize what was happening and try to flee, but it was too late.
In an instant, the spears that had been floating in front of me shot out and pierced the men's bodies.
Even those who had hidden behind cover were pierced along with it. Most of the people there were either dead or incapacitated.
However...
"Oh?"
"Uooooooh!!"
So there was one fairly capable fighter after all.
A man with a drawn sword charged in from my left.
The fact that he had made it through that rain of spears meant he probably possessed the strength of an A-class adventurer.
But...
"This... impossible..."
"Sorry, but a half-hearted attack can't even touch me."
The man's full-power strike stopped before it could reach me.
Seeing his sword refuse to budge, the man wore an expression of despair.
"Anything you want to say before you die?"
"S..."
"S?"
"S-Silverrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!"
"Thanks for the introduction."
I blew the man away with my left hand.
The blow embedded him in the wall, killing him.
Now, everyone on the enemy's side should know that I had arrived.
This basement was quite spacious. They had probably expanded a basement that had originally been part of the mansion.
"Now, let's find the executives."
Muttering that, I passed through the room that had become a sea of blood and continued onward.
■■■
"Fire, fire!! Don't let him any farther inside!!"
As I proceeded through the basement, people who appeared to be members of the organization launched counterattacks using whatever means they had at hand.
Some used magic, while others fired repeating crossbows at me.
The result was the same in every case: none of it reached me, though several of them were on a similar level to the strong man I had encountered at the beginning.
That alone was enough to show me how deep their ranks ran.
"You're in the way."
When I found some men stacking desks in front of me to make a barricade, I swung my right arm and generated a blast of wind that blew them away along with the barricade.
In a confined space like this, I had to hold back considerably no matter what I did, which put me at a disadvantage. But seeing the forces arrayed here, I was glad I had come in myself.
Sebas and Mia might have been able to subdue them, but it surely would have taken time, and the chances of overlooking some of them would have increased.
As I was analyzing the situation, a young man emerged from deeper inside.
He was a rough-looking man with blood-red hair. A greatsword was strapped to his back.
A provocative smile played across his face.
"I never expected an S-class adventurer to be involved with a criminal organization. Ignat."
The man before me was Ignat. He was one of the S-class adventurers gathered for the subjugation of the Spirit Turtle.
"Hah! Adventurers are jacks-of-all-trades, you know? If the reward's high enough, we'll do anything! I didn't get as much as I expected because someone butted in, so I'm making money here. These guys are the best! They pay exceptionally well. Unlike the Empire!"
Ignat laughed cheerfully as he said this.
Being motivated by money was a very adventurer-like way of thinking. There was nothing wrong with that.
But the Adventurers' Guild had declared that its members were not permitted to associate with criminal organizations.
For the people. That was the guild's one and only ironclad rule.
"Have you thrown away your pride as an adventurer?"
"For the people, huh? As expected of an SS-class adventurer. What a goody-goody. Here's my answer: To hell with that. What have the people ever done for us? We protect them, and all they do is complain. I hate them. The people, and people like you who wave that adventurer's ironclad rule around!"
Ignat drew the sword from his back.
As magic power flowed into it, the blade became engulfed in flames.
"A magic sword."
"That's right! Whether it's monsters or humans, it'll burn through anything! The best partner a man could ask for!"
Shouting, Ignat charged straight at me.
An S-class adventurer was formidable to begin with, and I couldn't fight at full strength in this confined space.
This was a miscalculation. A colossal miscalculation.
But...
"Gah...!?"
"—Funny coincidence. I hate them too: people who break the one and only rule of adventurers."
Before Ignat could get close, he was struck by a sideways blow and slammed into the wall.
Ignat didn't seem to understand what had happened, so I beckoned him toward me.
"Get up, Ignat. As an SS-class adventurer, I'll teach you the adventurer's ironclad rule."
"Screw you! You frail excuse for a mage!!"
Ignat rose, then closed in on me while throwing in feints.
Then he brought the magic sword down from overhead. I stopped it with a barrier.
"You blocked it? You don't seem so confident anymore, Silver!"
"No, I was just testing that so-called partner that can cut through anything. It wasn't much."
"You...! I'll kill you! Then I'll tear off that hideous mask of yours!!"
Thus, unbeknownst to anyone, the battle between an SS-class adventurer and an S-class adventurer began beneath the Imperial Capital.