Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Magian Company - Volume 7 - Chapter 7.2

"This is terrible..."

"He-Hey hey, this is not good Lei-chan."

When Masaki and Akane arrived at the scene, it was already over.

Masaki rushed over to Lan Caihe and cast remedial magic.

Masaki holds out his mobile terminal behind his back without taking his eyes off Lan Caihe, "Akane, take my Terminal and dial the contact address of the Asaka base command post. Say I captured an enemy foreign agent magician, we were forced to use force to eliminate resistance and that they were severely wounded in the process."

Unauthorized use of magic is a well established crime. Add the detail that the magic is of the strategic level 一even if reduced to an anti-personal scale一 avoiding severe penalties would be an uphill battle. If Lan Caihe dies, then there will be an extra charge of murder. Once the incident falls under the purview of the judicial authorities, even the Ichijou family will not be able to cover it up.

Their best bet of clearing Leila of any blame was to make it a national security case under the jurisdiction of the National Defense Forces, where Masaki had a good reputation as Japan's second "Apostle".

"O-Okay. Got it." Though not certain if she really understood the reasoning behind it, Akane nevertheless followed her brother's instructions.

"Masaki-san..." Seeing the panic in Masaki and Akane, it finally dawned on Leila. The color drained from her face as she realized she went overboard.

"Leila-san, right now, let's just wait for the military police to arrive."

At this point in time, Masaki wasn't entirely certain who this "Aikawa Keika" really was, but if she was an enemy agent, the NDF would have the authority to arrest her.

The police were probably already alerted that magic was used. Despite the controlled deployment of [Thunderclap Tower], it was likely to also have caused damage to sensitive electronic equipment.

Masaki recalled the familiar face of the base command adjutant, he prayed in his mind that he would arrive soon.

His prayers were answered, though by no consequence of its own.

The fatigues of the first authorities to arrive on the scene were characteristic of those of the National Defense Forces. And given their priorities and duties, the NDF base commander didn't have the same requirement to respond to the incident as would the police commissioner.

Emergency response and care of Lan Caihe was assumed by the medical corps. Masaki made sure to brief them on the characteristics of [Love Incense]. The medical team responded by ensuring that they would task a female-only team to treat Lan Caihe. It would already be a matter of procedure, to ensure no incidence of sexual abuse of prisoners of war.

Masaki and the girls accompanied the military officers to the Asaka base, where they brought to their attention the Bāxiān name for the first time.

"She is a magician from the Greater Asia Union's Western Regional Command's Magician

Operative Unit [Bāxiān]. She and the others in that unit use names of the Eight Immortals as their codenames; her's is 'Lan Caihe'." At the questioning, attended by not just the adjutant but the base commander as well, Leila answered the questions in a calm and collected tone.

"I was originally training for intelligence as well before becoming a Strategic-Class Magician, so I was taught of the Bāxiān as something to watch out for when acting undercover."

"Watch out for, to cooperate with, you mean?"

Leila shook her head, "No. To avoid mutual interference. There was no lateral communication among different operative units."

Up to that point, Masaki almost let out a satisfied "understandable" with the explanation. He was probably glad he didn't, because of what she said on the next line:

"Besides, given the competition between my unit and Bāxiān, the bad blood would more than likely culminate in friendly fire and casualties if we crossed paths even during the course of a mission."

With a scowl, Masaki's mutter was revised, "That's bleak..."

Akane, who is used to living a peaceful high school girl's life, looks uncomfortable seeing the drastic departure in the face she's so used to seeing in her harmonious routine.

"That is why I know of her and her modus operandi, Commander." That was the end of Leila's answer to the commander's question about who was the woman who identified herself as Aikawa Keika and what was their relationship.

"I understand. I have one more question."

Leila nodded to the commander, "Yes, I'll answer to the best of my knowledge."

"What do you surmise was the objective of this operative ─Lan Caihe, you mentioned, here?"

Leila paused, gesturing as if she were pondering. Perhaps she was considering whether or not she should answer honestly with Masaki present. "This is just my speculation, but I think Lan Caihe was attempting to take control over Masaki-san and manipulate him into becoming an assassin for her to take out a target that only Masaki-san could."

"You don't believe she was attempting to coax Ichijou-san into defecting to the Greater Asia Union?"

"No, if that was the case, they would have set a more substantial presence to get

Masaki-san out of the country. And, from what I can tell, Lan Caihe was acting alone."

"I see. You have a sound argument," the adjutant makes a non-committal response to Leila's answer. "Now, when you say someone that only Ichijou-san can eliminate," he turns to Masaki, "Who do you say would be your target?"

"...I still haven't processed all that happened yet... Aikawa-san, or rather Lan Caihe, didn't show any signs of suggesting that I should do anything in particular, that I know. It looks like the brainwashing magic was only starting to take effect."

"Well, I imagine you are still trying to get your bearings."

The base adjutant expressed a brief moment of deep sympathy for Masaki. It didn't last long.

"Now, Ichijou-san, leaving aside your opinions about Lan Caihe herself for a moment, I'd like to ask you what your take is as the subject based on what Leila-san here just told us about."

His eyes are piercing cold as he poses the question to Masaki. He is keen to find out if Masaki truly does not know what Lan Caihe asked, or if he is being made to feel like he doesn't know.

"If she was truly not after you Ichijou-san, who might Lan Caihe have sent you to assassinate?"

"Hmm… I can't really think of anyone in particular. Objectively speaking, I would say that my abilities rank among the best in Japan, but even then I can't think of an opponent that only I would be able to assassinate… That is, under the consideration they see me as one of the strongest magicians in the country."

There was no sign that Masaki was trying to hide anything, consciously or unconsciously. All they could sense from him was a self-disciplined caution not to fall into arrogance or complacency.

In a way, this was also a sign of inexperience. The adjutant mouth relaxed slightly.

But there was no change to his eyes whatsoever. Those were the piercing sharp eyes of a high-ranking military officer who gives his highest priority to his duty.

"Ichijou-san, let me put it in perspective for you, say you are an GAU strategist planning an operation. Who would you have picked as the target if you could manipulate someone like you to be the assassin?"

"In that case... I'd say, someone who is easy for me to get in contact with. The first people that come to mind then would be someone at the Magical University, either a staff member or a student... Among them, I think I have a good idea who the GAU would like to remove from the board, even if by assassination: Shiba Tatsuya."

At the mention of Tatsuya's name Akane and Leila's expressions involuntarily tightened. They looked at Masaki, who answered the adjutant's question, and their eyes widened in surprise to see the sudden deadly look in his eyes.

"So, the target of the Greater Asia Union is Mr. Shiba Tatsuya, hm..." The adjutant exchanged nods with the base commander. "Mr. Ichijou. We are in the process of obtaining instructions from the Joint Forces Command on the handling of this matter, which includes settling the issues related to the magic used to capture Lan Caihe. We would appreciate it if you could please remain here in the base until we receive an answer."

His response suggested that he suspected Masaki might have been brainwashed to some extent. The victim himself was so preoccupied with the cleanup part of [Thunderclap Tower] that he did not realize it.

He and his sisters agreed to the request.