3
Nebulis Sovereignty. Suburbs of the central state.
The astral power research center was still burning and enveloped in smoke. Several hundred people who had sniffed out the commotion had gathered around the iron fencing surrounding the grounds. The rubberneckers approaching the place were largely news reporters and the military police who had come to control the situation. In addition to them was an assassin from the Zoa who had come to survey the destruction of the Hydra’s facility.
“I’ve arrived at the scene.”
“How does it look, Shanorotte?”
“Hmm…not good. All I can tell is that Snow and Sun is burning. And the top floor is especially horrendous. And the fifth floor, I think. There’s black smoke billowing out every window, but I can’t tell what’s happening at all.”
“And the sorcerer?”
“No signs of him. And the reporters are so noisy, I can’t tell what the military police are saying.”
She opened her palms like it was out of her hands. The woman with golden hair holding the communications device with a strained smile was Shanorotte Gregory.
The former Imperial captain of Special Defense Third Division. More accurately, the spy for the Zoa who had snuck her way into the Imperial forces. Her identity had been exposed at the Mudor Canyon, so she had returned home. Here she was now.
“And the Hydra’s staff? Do you see Mizerhyby, the next in line?”
“I really can’t say.” She twirled her permed hair around her finger. “There are witness reports of the sorcerer forcing his way into the building. They might be having a heroic battle, right now, throwing daggers and all that stuff.”
“That would be precious footage.”
“No, no, no. I can’t get into the building, and even if I could, someone as puny as me couldn’t face up to them.”
One was a descendant of the Founder. The other was a sorcerer who had attacked the previous queen. Shanorotte didn’t want to get involved in the fight.
“So, I propose withdrawing.”
“Someone’s eager to give up.”
“Think of it as a strategic retreat. I don’t think we have much to gain here with the rubberneckers around. At least not from the scene.”
She tucked the communications device away in her pocket and turned around, heading to the café where her subordinates were waiting. Just as she was about to head out, suddenly, she heard hurried footsteps coming from behind her from Snow and Sun.
“Captain, over here! We’re mingling into the crowd and leaving the suburbs.”
A boy’s voice.
And she heard several other footsteps immediately behind her as well.
“I—I know, but the crowd…”
“Are you okay, Captain?”
“Uh, uh-huh! I’m fine, you can keep running ahead of me, Iska! You’ve the most injured out of all of us, so you should go back to get them treated right away— Ah!”
“Whoa?!”
Someone had run into Shanorotte’s back.
They were trying to run through the crowd and likely hadn’t been paying attention to where they were going.
The other person was flung back from the impact. Shanorotte had a rather large build, after all, and she had trained up as a captain of the Imperial forces. A petite girl seemed to have run into her.
“Oh, sorry. I’m always told I have a big frame.”
She thought it was a child.
She turned and offered a hand.
“……Huh?”
Shanorotte’s smile froze with her hand still held out. What she saw was a girl with light blue hair, an adorable baby face, and childlike limbs.
However…Shanorotte knew she was actually a fully grown adult, despite her appearance. That was because when Shanorotte had been a spy in the Imperial forces…
“…Mismis?”
“Huh? Noro?!” The girl who had turned to look at her also opened her eyes wide.
She, too, was part of the Imperial forces, one Mismis Klass from Unit 907. In the past, they had been colleagues and friends—or so Shanorotte had pretended to her sworn enemy.
“Noro…Where’s the…real Noro?”
“Ha-ha-ha, I can’t believe it. Shanorotte Gregory was born and raised in the Nebulis Sovereignty. I’ve been the one and only Shanorotte since you and I met.”
Why?
Why was an Imperial commander in the Sovereignty, and why in the central state?
“Mismis!” She reached her hand out in a daze. She couldn’t understand what had led to this, but an Imperial commander was an enemy no less. She reached out to grab Mismis’s collar.
“Hey, boss, over here.”
“Uh, uh-huh!” Mismis came back to her senses and immediately made a break for it. She took advantage of her small stature, slipping through the gaps of the crowd to get away.
With her large frame, Shanorotte couldn’t pull such a feat herself.
“W-wait! Catch that woman! She’s an Imperial subject!”
Not a single person reacted.
Shanorotte’s voice disappeared into the noise around her. The military police had their hands full dealing with Snow and Sun.
Unable to do anything, the spy, Shanorotte, could only watch as the back of her former colleague from her Imperial days got smaller and smaller.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login