Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 86

Eighty-Sixth Chapter

Fragile Peace

It took several hours to complete a thorough search of the Institute grounds to confirm that all of the attackers, the escaped prisoners, were gone. Finally, the investigators concluded that the terrorists had been cleared from the campus.

Of course, things weren’t so simple that that was the end of it. After all, it was safe to say that the myth of safety within the human domain had been shattered. The Fiends that had suddenly appeared in the Institute had confused the military contingent that arrived. They had been eliminated, but their corpses remained rather than turning to dust.

Moreover, there was a hole from the room containing Minerva to the surface, and Dante had most likely escaped through that. Sisty had personally confirmed it as well.

Using his men and the mutant phenomenon of Ambrosia to cover his escape, Dante had successfully disappeared. And the oldest AWR, Minerva, had been stolen. There were 138 casualties and 59 deaths (out of which two were students).

The Institute was still recovering from the aftermath of the gruesome attack.

“Well...this is a mess,” a black-haired boy muttered as he looked up at the destroyed research building.

The silver-haired girl accompanying him followed up with a pout, saying deadpan, “Yes. It’s a mess. Please look at this, Sir Alus. Our home has been turned into an observation deck. What skillful work. I must find the skilled artisan responsible and thank them... Sir Alus, I have never tortured anyone before, but do you think I will be able to do it well? I hope they’ll be sorry.”

The anger and shock had removed all expression from her. Like she said, it was awful. Alus’s laboratory would be unusable for a while.

That said, something about how she’d called it “our home” felt wrong. Sure, they were partners and lived in the same room, but they weren’t a couple like Loki had made it sound.

“Well, just calm down,” said Alus. “Still, they just had to hit while I was gone. We’ll need to start by finding out why they targeted the Institute. And then there are the assassins that were sent after me. I want to find out what kind of information network they have.”

“Th-That’s true, but...l-look at it! After gathering furniture and furnishings little by little, we were finally able to live comfortably! And yet...” Loki wasn’t supposed to be the type to get attached to things, but she was reacting like a normal person over this, depressed and angry.

True, there had been valuable research material in the room, but Alus just had a vague hope that they were undamaged. If the room was unlivable, he would just find somewhere else. Materials could just be gathered again.

The wall had completely collapsed and the inside was plain to see. In particular, the living room area, where Tesfia and the others had sat around the table, was completely gouged out, including the ceiling and floor.

If they looked through the area now, all they’d find were broken pieces of furniture. But Alus knew if he said that aloud, Loki would no doubt frown and let out a heavy sigh. When he thought about that, he realized something. Perhaps the things there had possessed more value than their price to Loki.

The time spent there might have been the real value to her. Alus, who didn’t usually feel anything, felt like he was being admonished by Loki’s indignant expression. He tried to analyze and imagine Loki’s state of mind.

If he took it a step further, would he perhaps be able to feel human emotions like sorrow or sentimentality for the things lost. Looking at the state of his surroundings, he reminded himself that now wasn’t the time to get caught up in such a gloomy mood.

There were soldiers and guards all around; all of them with their hands full doing search and rescue or removing debris. The Institute was noisy, and even the open spaces were lined with tents, with medical personnel running back and forth.

The Institute’s familiar everyday life was nowhere to be seen.

There were also generals here and there among the soldiers. The Institute under their protection had been attacked, so it was only natural that VIPs from the military would show up, but... There were plenty of faces that Alus didn’t want to see among them. And they probably felt the same.

“Hey, you. You! Do you think you’ve become so important you can walk past your former superior officer without a word, Alus Reigin?” someone called out arrogantly.

Alus glanced over to find the man and his subordinates standing before him. The site was still abuzz, and this man was wearing a uniform decorated to the brim with medals. He looked completely out of place like that, as if his only goal was to intimidate the other party, but his stocky, obese physique suggested that he’d never trained let alone saw actual battle.

He was the perfect example of the incompetent general who was out of touch with reality.

Alus stepped forward, positioning Loki behind him. “It has been a while. Major General Morwald. As far as I recall, I have never once been under your command.”

“Hmph, is that so,” Morwald answered, his tone rude. He was part of the power elite in the top brass alongside Vizaist and Berwick, albeit from the noble faction that opposed Berwick and Vizaist.

In the past, the unit led by Vizaist, which Alus had also belonged to at the time, had had to clean up after this man’s mess. In the end, the blunders had piled up, leading to a major invasion from Fiends, but Morwald had used ambiguous language to conceal the truth and skillfully avoided being charged with any crimes. After that, he clung onto the top brass like a tick to maintain his authority.

“Hmm, so Vizaist is still running errands for Governor-General Berwick. Good grief, these upstarts are so uncouth I can’t bear it,” said Morwald.

I see he hasn’t changed. The foundation for his power should be shaky right now, but it doesn’t look like he’s feeling it, thought Alus.

Even though he was part of the noble faction, there were a growing number of nobles who didn’t give him support, such as the Fable family and the Socalent family he was just making fun of. Nevertheless, he persistently remained rooted in the field of domestic politics, surrounding himself with the support of upper-level nobles, acting tyrannically under the cover of authority. He was exactly the kind of person Alus hated.

But if Alus were to cause trouble here, it was clear what would happen. Morwald would make a huge deal out of it, using it as material to attack Berwick or Vizaist. There were always troublesome people in the military, but the fact that Alus and Lettie, the military’s greatest assets, sided with Berwick must have been very unamusing to Morwald.

Alus was more or less stuck in an inseparable relationship with Berwick, and it wasn’t like he’d sworn loyalty to him, but an outsider wouldn’t know that. Berwick had looked after Alus since his childhood, and Vizaist had taken care of him too, so anyone would assume as much. And Lettie being Lettie, had an attitude that Morwald would just naturally hate.

Alus let out a heavy sigh and decided to play along. “So are you in charge of this scene, Major General Morwald?”

“Refer to me as ‘Your Excellency’! Hmph, no matter... That’s right, I am.” Morwald grinned wryly and turned his attention to the half-destroyed Institute. “I heard Sisty Nexophia really screwed up. Oh how the mighty have fallen. To think a former Single would fail. The staff and guards could be considered martyrs to their duties, but I can’t overlook multiple casualties among the students, the foundation of the future. And because it was such a gruesome scene, I had to come see it myself.”

He sounded reasonable, but he was really just looking for ammunition against Sisty, who was siding with Berwick.

Taking advantage of other people’s troubles to look for scandalous material...damn hyena, thought Alus.

It wasn’t like this was the first time Morwald had done something detestable for political gain. But Alus was in no position to comment on it; he had distanced himself from the world of politics in order to avoid getting caught up in power struggles in the first place.

“Well, I doubt there was anything wrong with the security. It is clear that this was caused by the principal’s negligence. You should make sure that you show up during the hearing too,” said Morwald.

However, Alus had lost all interest in his pompous remarks and quickly cut off the conversation. “I’ll think about it. Then I will excuse myself here, Major General.”

Morwald’s face turned red with anger when Alus neglected to call him “Your Excellency” and walked past him with a blank look on his face to head for the temporary tents.

Perhaps sensing Alus’s thoughts, Loki ran up to him. “Good work, Sir Alus. You have my sympathy.”

“Yeah. He was the guarantor for Fia’s engagement deed. He’s got a lot of connections because of his support from older nobles, and he’s connected to Womruina as well. So now isn’t the time to pick a fight. If anything, I’m impressed that you managed to endure that,” said Alus.

“How rude. I have been in the military for a long time, you know. However, it seems that it is difficult for even the Governor-General to change the mindset in the military. Although I already knew it.” Loki frowned, recalling the bitterness from before.

Morwald believed that a Magicmaster’s bloodline and their family should be valued most in society, similar to eugenics. In fact, the current military system, where nobles still held authority, was born out of this mindset.

“The Governor-General is in the process of changing things. And as long as Morwald’s in the mix, the anti-Governor-General faction can’t act cohesively, and its individuals make reckless moves. So despite how he looks, he has his uses,” said Alus.

“But...” began Loki.

“I know,” said Alus. “A rotten apple spoils the whole bunch. Berwick probably plans to get rid of him before that. Still, he sure has been running freely for a long time now. I wonder how far his bad influence has spread.”

Alus would rather not be fighting Fiends only to be caught off guard by a military faction from his own nation. As he had these thoughts, a person stepped out of the tent that Alus was headed towards.

It was the principal, Sisty. She was giving orders to a commissioned officer that had come out with her. After receiving the orders, the officer swiftly used his Consensor to convey them across the site before running off himself.

Alus spoke, looking at his back. “Jeez, this sure is a rough situation, Sisty. And wasn’t that the officer in charge of this site?”

Alus had seen his face before, and he had the highest rank after Morwald, so it wasn’t hard to imagine that he was in charge of the scene. It was strange to see someone who was retired from the military, like Sisty, giving someone like that orders, but considering she was the military’s ace card and that she still had a lot of influence, maybe it wasn’t.

“Alus! Where were you?!” exclaimed Sisty.

Alus had casually called out to her, earning a frown from Sisty as she walked over.

“I spoke with the Governor-General, and a lot of things happened. More importantly, Morwald’s here,” said Alus.

“Yes, let’s move somewhere else before that man finds us,” said Sisty.

“Before you’re ousted from your position as principal from the accusations?” he asked.

“Maybe.” Sisty was so exhausted she seemed to consider that trivial.

Noticing her complexion, Alus fell silent. The more he thought about it, the more mystified he was by Sisty’s impatience.

Alus actually highly valued Sisty’s skills as a Magicmaster. If she were still on active duty, Alpha would have had a third Single.

An attack of this scale, with so many casualties and dead was impossible to overlook. However, Sisty had fearlessly fought her way through the massive, unprecedented invasion from Fiends that threatened all of humanity. For someone that powerful to look this exhausted...

As they quietly walked behind the tents to avoid the public eye, Alus watched the former Single and current principal of the Second Magical Institute. Perhaps it was because of her exhaustion, but her back looked smaller than usual. That Sisty continued walking forward without making eye contact with him was telling.

“Alus, the responsibility for this incident is all on me,” the principal said. “With this many deaths and injuries among the staff and students, just saying that it was unpreventable won’t cut it. Some are still in a critical state. By the way, Alus, do you know anything about the attackers...? No, I suppose that was a foolish question.”

“Yes, it seems they’re fugitives from a certain place. I’m actually on the move regarding that,” said Alus with deliberate vagueness.

“I see, then that’s fine. You’re on a mission given to you directly by the Governor-General, so I’m sure you can’t say much... I’m sorry. I’m just a little mentally exhausted,” Sisty said, suddenly apologetic.

From the way she talked and acted, Alus felt Sisty must have learned of the attackers’ origins somehow. He couldn’t even imagine that she’d met Dante before this. That said, she was driven by self-condemnation, blaming herself for even the most trivial thing.

“By the way, where did you hear the details?” asked Alus.

“First...yes, over there should be fine.” Sisty muttered, looking not at the main building but to the research building.

They headed for the laboratory. The upper part of the research building was badly damaged, but the foundation was still intact. But that was all the more reason he didn’t like seeing how destroyed his laboratory was. The inside was a mess, as expected, but fortunately, the console was still working. Loki unlocked the door.

“They really renovated this room to be more open, didn’t they,” said Alus with a sigh.

“It has a great view at least,” said Sisty casually.

Loki alone stood still from the sense of loss. Alus felt bad for her, and he also felt like he was missing something important that made him less human. He felt almost nothing from seeing all of the devastation, as if he was a machine.

“What a lonely room this has become,” Alus murmured, not even sure himself if he really felt that way or if he was playing a role.

“I wonder if it will ever go back to the way it was,” said Loki.

“It will be fine. It might take a little time, but it will be repaired,” Sisty said, trying to console Loki despite the heavy atmosphere. She then moved away the debris and brushed away the dust to sit down on the sofa.

Unfortunately, Alus’s research table that was by the window had been blown away with the wall. It was only by chance that the table by the sofa was still in one piece.

Eventually, Loki brought some untouched snacks from the kitchen. It seemed the small plates and the saucers for teacups were all that hadn’t been destroyed. She set them on the table, which tilted a little because its legs were now twisted. But it wasn’t the time to worry about these small details.

“Now, where to begin? All I can really do is tell you what happened and what I saw,” said Sisty. “First, Ms. Tesfia and Ms. Alice fought against the attackers and were badly injured. Ms. Tesfia was particularly badly hurt. Fractures in four locations, bruising all over, and even some burns. A healing Magicmaster is attending to her right now, so I’m sure she’ll recover from her injuries.”

“I see. It’s bad news, but at least she’s still alive. Is she being treated in the Institute?” asked Alus.

“Of course. But that’s because transporting her would take too long. The facilities for treatment weren’t very damaged in the attack either.”

It was a powerful statement, but there was something else Alus wanted to ask. “So, did they at least finish one of them off?”

“Huh?! Just so you know, this isn’t an institute where we teach how to fight people. But they still did the best they could,” said Sisty.

“So they both lost without being able to take down even one of them, huh?” Alus furrowed his brow and scratched his head.

Sisty looked back at Alus with exasperation. Tesfia and Alice had fought against Godma’s dolls when he’d attacked, but the opponent had been too strong. “To defend their honor, they bravely stood up to save a teacher. That was something the other students couldn’t do. And Ms. Tesfia acted out of a sense of responsibility and pride as a noble!”

“Even so, they’re lucky to be alive,” said Alus.

“Well, yes, I can agree with that,” Sisty said, scowling.

After this, it was likely the curriculum would change to incorporate some lessons for fighting against humans. Sisty would probably make the changes without Alus needing to say anything.

“I guess I’ll go take a look at the two later,” he said.

“Ah, but they still might not have woken up yet. And I haven’t received word that the treatment is finished yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. If they’re sleeping, I’ll just kick them awake,” said Alus.

“That’s a little too stern, don’t you think?” Sisty asked, not to Alus but to Loki.

But Loki seemed to see it another way. “That just means he has high hopes for them. And in fact, they have the potential to answer that hope,” Loki said, but internally she sighed.

Those words were a declaration that Alus thought highly of them. As his partner, Loki had complex feelings on the matter.

“Principal, things have been too dangerous lately. These villains are far too shady, and the anti-Fiend specialized Magicmasters can’t handle them,” said Alus.

“I have been made well aware of that. Perhaps I should retrain myself from scratch as well.” Her comment made it sound like a former Single was returning to active duty, but she probably wasn’t being serious.

“How did the escaped convicts appear to you, Principal?” he asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure I could beat the leader even if I went all out,” the principal admitted. “I’m not all that suited to fighting humans. In the end, I had no choice but to surrender before fighting that leader, Dante.”

From Sisty’s position, it had been an inevitable decision. There had been hostages pushing her to surrender, although Alus wouldn’t have surrendered just because of hostages.

“They’ve run away from the Institute and don’t have any hostages anymore, right? Then I’ll kill them later,” Alus said, his eyes as dark as the night sea.

Even Sisty, who knew that Alus had accomplished plenty of jobs behind the scenes, found herself gulping with complex emotions. But as an adult, she knew that she hadn’t been able to prevent the foolish acts of the people who had used Alus as a tool for killing.

All the adults had known about it and gone along with it. So right now, she felt a little desolate knowing she wouldn’t be able to pull Alus out of his hole.

“Alus, has Lord Vizaist made any moves?” she asked.

“He’s behind this time. There are a lot of escaped prisoners, and he’s trying to get information out to all of the squads moving. The problem is that all the escaped prisoners are pretty strong. It seems that we need to send out elites to eliminate them. Incidentally, it seems that the information Lord Vizaist finally obtained was picked up by following Mir Ostayka. After all, he only just got a report that she’d infiltrated the Institute under a fake alias. He bemoaned never having enough people.”

“As for that, Mir Ostayka was defeated by Ms. Felinella beneath the Institute,” said Sisty.

“What?!” Those words shocked Loki.

Alus wasn’t entirely unfazed himself, but he didn’t let it show. “Lord Vizaist might send Feli out on jobs, but that doesn’t mean she was on Mir’s level. I heard that Mir was particularly dangerous even among the escaped criminals.”

“She’s not in one piece, of course,” said Sisty. “Frankly, she is in a worse state than Ms. Tesfia. Ah, but she will be fine. She’s receiving the very best treatment at the moment.”

“Then that’s fine. By the way, have you confirmed Mir’s death?” he asked.

“We have confirmed her death, but the body hasn’t been recovered because the underground hallway collapsed,” Sisty said.

“Did you confirm it with your own eyes?”

Sisty responded to Alus with a half-hearted “More or less,” and looked outside. She seemed to be looking for someone among the countermeasure personnel gathering below. “Ms. Lilisha... She came and rescued Ms. Felinella, and she saw Mir with her own eyes.”

“Hmm, it sounds like she had a great success, then. Still, to think that she would be able to beat Mir, who was a professional killer.”

From what Alus had seen of Felinella at the Seven Nations Friendship Magical Tournament, she had been amazing for a student, but she wasn’t good enough to come out on top against a professional.

It might be a different story if she had an ace up her sleeve, like the Fable family’s inherited magic. However, the Socalent family had been built up in Vizaist’s generation. They lacked the funds and history to develop their own spells.

Prying was uncouth, and as if to admonish Alus for his thoughts, Loki interjected, “Sir Alus, I believe praise is in order.”

“Hmm? I guess so. She did finish off one of the targets, after all,” Alus said dryly. Seeing his reaction, Sisty couldn’t help but sympathize with what Tesfia and Alice must go through.

“Those two really must be trying their best,” said Sisty with a sigh. Alus was caught off guard by the emphasis on the word “really.”

“What is that supposed to mean? Besides, now’s not the time for unrelated chats. You might get arrested by Morwald and be made to take responsibility for this situation,” Alus said, returning to the topic at hand.

“Yes, that is certainly a possibility. But more importantly,” Sisty said, looking directly at Alus, “I believe the escaped prisoner you’re searching for is called Dante. He stole Minerva from this Institute and disappeared.”

“Why was Minerva here?!” asked Alus.

“Well, it’s a long story and top secret, but I suppose I need to tell you,” Sisty said and began talking.

She spoke about how in order to fairly manage the power that was Minerva, the seven nations had formed a secret pact. And how its position was transferred to the Second Magical Institute under the care of Sisty, who specialized in defensive magic, after the latest Friendship Magical Tournament.

After her brief explanation, Sisty concluded, “Regardless of the process, it is an undeniable truth that humanity’s treasure was stolen, and I am to blame.”

“I see. So that’s why Morwald showed up here himself,” noted Alus.

“B-But...” Loki interrupted and raised her voice. “Isn’t that a little strange? Whose responsibility is it that the prisoners escaped in the first place? Not to mention that Alpha’s military bears the responsibility for letting them enter the nation in the first place. Not to mention their fighting capabilities are far above what one could expect. And considering that they had hostages I believe casualties are still on the lower end of the scale.”

Alus gave her a levelheaded answer. “Morwald’s here, so the point is that it doesn’t matter. He’ll do anything if it will help carve away at the Governor-General’s political power. His belief that the principal is close to Berwick came back to bite her.”

“Yes, I can’t deny that,” agreed Sisty.

“It might be possible to recover, though. Did you get any leads on Dante’s whereabouts?” asked Alus.

“No, I didn’t have the time for that when I was escaping the underground. After all, something unbelievable happened to his men.” Sisty paused for a moment, a serious expression on her face. “I want you to keep what I’m about to tell you secret. The truth is that...they transformed into Fiends. Can you believe it? Humans turned into Fiends...! Well, halfway anyways. Dante said that it was the result of a drug called ‘Ambrosia.’”

“Huh?”

“Excuse me?”

Both Alus and Loki let out bewildered exclamations, but then Alus remembered something.

Tsk, Godma! 

In the past, Alice had been caught up in the mad scientist, Godma Barhong’s attack on the Institute. Once cornered after losing all of his dolls, Godma drank some sort of fluid and transformed into a Fiend. Alus had seen that with his own two eyes.

“It’s hard to believe, but something does come to mind,” said Alus.

“You mean Godma, Sir Alus.” Alus solemnly nodded at Loki’s words.

“I don’t know the theory behind it, but I have come across a similar example. Loki was present at the time too and saw Godma transform into an abnormal being,” Alus explained.

“Yes, I believe you could call his appearance that of a Fiend,” said Loki.

“I can’t say for sure. But he did indeed turn into something inhuman. And speaking of monsters, the only thing that comes to mind are Fiends.”

Loki looked towards him in agreement.

“Also, there were the assassins the other day. The last woman looked like she was starting to transform at the end, but before I could confirm it, a gun user finished her off. Things are starting to look really strange now...”

Sisty nodded at Alus. There had been an incident in another nation where Fiends had suddenly appeared within the human domain. Like with the Devourer incident at Balmes, it was possible that the trouble was being covered up by the nation. The important part was to ensure that the Tower of Babel wasn’t destroyed.

In the light of that, the myth of safety started to look like it was built on a shaky foundation.

So they didn’t invade, but originated from inside... Regardless, how long has it been since Fiends stepped foot inside the human domain? There’ll be hysteria among the upper brass, thought Alus.

What was happening at the Institute was bad. Of all things, several half-Fiends had appeared within a facility managed by the nation.

It wouldn’t be strange for there to be multiple witnesses, and depending on how things turned out, it could turn into an international problem, albeit different from Minerva. The very presence of Fiends within the human domain could arouse primal fear among the people and hysteria could spread like wildfire.

“So do you have any information on the Human Fiends that the escaped prisoners transformed into?” asked Alus.

A voice from what used to be a window by the corner of the room said, “Alus, about that...”

A girl with blond, wind-tossed hair slipped in through the half-collapsed ceiling. In her right hand, she held the AWR Magdala. It seemed that she’d hooked the string created by the AWR on the top of the building and used that to climb up.

Lilisha appeared before Alus and the others dressed in her work outfit rather than her Institute uniform. The black-based outfit was decorated with intricate ornaments. It was made from a good mana conductor and suited her quite well. As commander of the new Aferka, she was wearing it as a symbol of Cicelnia’s hopes in the organization’s rebirth.

But the pretentious way she’d entered the research building made it seem like she’d picked up some bad habits from the ruler’s aide, Rinne Kimmel.

“The door and bell are still there, you know? Did the ruler never teach you how you’re supposed to visit someone’s house?” Alus asked in exasperation.

However, she smiled and rocked back and forth, preparing to swing herself to the floor. The thread cut and Lilisha tried to land. Unfortunately it was on the edge of the destroyed building...

Lilisha flapped her hands in panic as she lost her balance.

“T-Take my hand!!!” Lilisha reached out in panic, and Alus grabbed and pulled her in, but... “Ah?!”

Lilisha gasped as her other flailing hand hit a shelf by the wall with a bang. The shelf was already standing on the tilted floor, so the blow made it shake, causing it to fall through a hole in the wall along with everything on it.

Silence filled the room until the sound of everything shattering reached them. Alus furrowed his brow but pulled her safely into the room.

“We’re lucky nobody was standing below,” said Alus.

“Y-Yes, absolutely,” said Lilisha.

“I’ll send the bill to the ruler,” said Alus.

“What? That shelf was already on the verge of falling! It was only a matter of time until it happened, even if I hadn’t shown up! So why not wait on that? I am Aferka’s commander now after all...” Lilisha pointed at herself in panic, but Alus was unmoved.

“So what?”

“It was only just set up, you know. We still don’t have much of a budget either! If you make the ruler take responsibility it’s going to get cut even more!” said Lilisha.

“I know that too. But as somebody who stands above others, you are expected to take responsibility,” said Alus.

“Ugh, why did this have to happen?” A disappointed Lilisha sat down next to the principal looking dejected.

Sisty offered a consoling helping hand. “Alus, could you cut her some slack? She did rescue Ms. Felinella.”

“I see. Well, let’s not dwell on the past,” said Alus. “More importantly, Lilisha, has Aferka come to the Institute too?”

“Y-Yes. But they have already pulled out after eliminating the escaped prisoners that transformed into Fiends. Staying any longer would just bring about unnecessary speculation,” explained Lilisha.

“I see, so you properly finished them off?”

As assassins, dealing with Human Fiends seemed simple for Aferka. Alus knew how skilled Lilisha’s brother Rayleigh had been, so he had a hard time imagining that the more-skilled members of Aferka would be outdone by Fiends in the Outer World.

“Frankly, we lack the know-how for fighting Fiends, so the fighting is not very effective, but we have the basics down,” said Lilisha.

After that, Alus extracted information about the Human Fiends from Lilisha and contemplated for a while. He learned that while they’d transformed into Fiends, the transformation itself was varied. They didn’t seem to match any of the Fiends in the Outer World. Since some still retained human features, the term Human Fiends seemed apt. But according to Sisty, their power was around the level of a C-class or B-class Fiend.

Once explanations were done, Loki asked a question. “But why did Aferka happen to be near?”

“Hmm, I didn’t really want the principal to hear this, but I guess it can’t be helped,” said Lilisha. “I told you before about how we’re looking into Womruina and its surroundings, remember?”

“Ah, so you were looking into that illegal drug,” deduced Alus.

“Well, that is one of our jobs. So we looked into the secret manufacturing plant for Chemical Boost, and as expected, it seems very possible that they’re connected to Womruina. And Ambrosia is also a mana stimulant like Chemical Boost,” said Lilisha. Then she leaned forward, getting into the main topic. “So near the outskirts is a now-abandoned manor that belonged to Womruina. Recently, we found some Ambrosia that is different from the existing one.”

That was something not even Sisty knew.

“In other words, it was Ambrosia with an unknown ingredient mixed in,” Lilisha continued. “It’s turned it from a power-up into something completely different. We also found evidence that the supposedly abandoned manor had been used recently. The question is by who.”

“The escaped prisoners, huh. I doubt the local drug addicts threw a party,” said Alus.

“Can’t you at least pretend to think on it a little more?” asked Lilisha.

“If you want to flaunt your information, go do it elsewhere,” said Alus.

Instead of pouting, Lilisha wore a sweet smile on her face as if to hint at her informational superiority. “That means there’s a very high probability Womruina is responsible for guiding the escaped prisoners. Aside from finding Ambrosia in their temporary hideout, we tracked the escaped prisoners’ movement to the Institute.”

Alus glanced at Lilisha’s face and watched Sisty’s reaction. While Lilisha hadn’t touched on it, it was possible that Aferka waited to act so that they could confirm the escaped prisoners’ transformations. Although, since Lilisha was their commander now, that seemed unlikely.

Either way, Alus had seen both Godma and the female escaped prisoner who’d ambushed him transform. It was safe to conclude that the woman had most likely been turning into a Fiend.

“Anyways, we now know that the Ambrosia that we were investigating can transform people into Fiends,” said Lilisha.

“As somebody who has fought Fiends, it’s hard to accept, but it happened before my very eyes. But to think it had to happen in the Institute of all places,” said Sisty in disbelief.

“Principal, do you remember the Godma incident?” asked Alus.

“Yes, that might have been the first bad omen. And I heard some details from the Governor-General later,” said Sisty.

“This is just a hunch, but I have a feeling that this incident is related to that one. Lilisha, for the time being, I believe you’re on the mark. Lord Vizaist has yet to find the supporter who provided the mastermind with funds,” said Alus.

“Thank you. We’ve been struggling to gather information on that matter ourselves, but I see. We could try with Lord Vizaist. Ms. Felinella has been caught up in this too after all,” said Lilisha. She seemed to already be aware of Godma.

Ah, right. She’s looked into me. I guess it only means that she’s investigated the incidents around the Institute that I’ve been caught up in too, thought Alus.

“While it might just be a hunch, it does sound plausible. Aww, I can feel a headache coming,” Sisty complained.

Alus returned the conversation to the incident. “I supposedly prevented Godma from carrying his research data out of the nation, but it seems likely that it’s secretly leaked out anyways. I wonder if there’s a connection between Godma’s research and Ambrosia.”

There, Loki joined the conversation. “May I ask something? Can we even stop that Ambrosia from leaking? If half-Fiends can suddenly appear out of nowhere in the human domain, the seven nations will need to overview their defenses.”

“I doubt that’ll be all,” said Alus. “Well, that’s why Lilisha is moving.”

Lilisha herself let out a sigh and shook her head to clear her thoughts. “I suppose, but this is way too much trouble for a first job. But what about your problem? The Human Fiends were cleaned up, but the escaped prisoners’ boss managed to run away, causing even more problems, didn’t he?”

She was right about that. Leaving the Ambrosia problem to Lilisha, Sisty had the bigger problem of dealing with the theft of Minerva.

“Yes, something needs to be done about Dante stealing Minerva. Alus, could I perhaps ask for your cooperation about that?” asked Sisty.

“I refuse,” said Alus flat out. Lilisha and Loki kept silent. “I already have orders from the Governor-General, and I will only be focusing on completing that mission. I won’t accept any new requests, nor will I get involved.”

At this, Sisty could only mutter, “Yes...that is the right call.”

She looked downcast and she sounded lonely, but she sounded surprisingly relieved. If Alus got involved, he would be stepping over the line drawn between them. While Sisty understood that, she still had complex feelings about it, so she’d gone ahead and asked. But now that he’d refused, she was relieved.

Sisty was no longer in a military position. So if her request were to take on the tone of a mandatory order, it would distort her relationship with Alus. It would no longer be a casual and humane relationship where they could make deals or cooperate in the case of emergencies.

Sisty, who saw Alus as more than just a student, was reluctant to do that.

Alus was somewhat aware of her internal conflict, so he clumsily added a few words. “But like the Governor-General, it would be a problem for me if you disappeared from the Institute. I will only be pursuing Dante, and whatever he’s carrying is no concern of mine. If you want to pick it up and bring it home, then by all means. And if it’s too heavy, I could lend a hand to the elderly. I won’t allow you to be dismissed on your own after all the trouble you’ve gotten me into.”

Hearing that, Sisty smiled even though her eyes were still downcast. She recalled the boy when he had been quite a bit younger...and she even felt like putting her hand on his head and ruffling his black hair.

Look at you growing up while I wasn’t looking. But...that’s all the more proof that Berwick and Vizaist did something sinful, thought Sisty.

Alus had a past that still cast a shadow over his heart. And while she didn’t go so far as to hate them, Sisty couldn’t completely forgive the two people involved in that.

After a moment, she shook off that inner conflict, clapped her hands, and forcibly changed the topic. “So we were talking about where Dante went after he escaped the Institute.”

“Lilisha, do you know anything about that?” Alus asked, even though he knew it was pointless. If she’d known anything she would have shared the information on her own accord.

As expected, Lilisha shook her head, but Loki made a suggestion. “Sir Alus, how about using long-range detection magic to search for him?”

Typically, a spotter used their detection magic to find Fiends from the flow of their mana or by locating their cores. But if well applied, it could be used to search for people too. Right now, Loki could pick up on even faint traces of mana within a fifty-meter radius.

But Sisty rejected the idea. “Unless that man leaks mana on purpose, I doubt any spotter will find a trace. And even without that, these escaped prisoners are particularly thorough.”

“You mean to say that he has learned to conceal his presence so that he can’t be discovered by spotters?” asked Loki. Sisty let out a pessimistic sigh and nodded.

“I see. So the most vicious criminals in the underworld are professionals at hiding too. I guess they use mana manipulation to minimize any traces they leave behind,” said Alus.

“But you normally restrain your mana too, Sir Alus. I can detect you to a degree even at some distance,” said Loki.

Hearing that, Sisty grinned, knowing a thing or two about the topic. Lilisha, meanwhile, had no idea what she was talking about and wore a puzzled look.

“Well... You see...” Alus started. Naturally he understood the principle, but he hesitated to explain.

Sensing the strange atmosphere, Sisty decided to meddle. “Ms. Loki, if you think about it for a moment, you should be able to understand why Alus’s mana is so easy for you to sense.”

“What do you mean?” Loki earnestly pondered it, looking away, Alus decided to take that opportunity to move away from her a little.

“You have consciously or unconsciously marked him,” Sisty explained. “You know, how you would be able to pick out the person you like from a crowd at a glance. Oh, you young people are just so adorable!”

Loki looked at Alus in shock. And Alus was happy that he’d looked away ahead of time.

“Y-You have the wrong idea! Sir Alus, I wouldn’t try to mark you with my scent like some animal!” Loki panicked, but reality wasn’t far off. It went back to when Loki had challenged Alus to become his partner. She had used a forbidden catalyst that put her life at risk, and Alus had poured his own mana into her to pay the price and save her. Alus surmised that that had been the moment when some sort of connection had formed between their mana information.

For now, Alus was the only one in Alpha who could do that. There was no way to verify it, and he wanted to avoid exposing a portion of his secrets. Moreover, he felt a little awkward about touching on it. So he kept quiet and kept looking away.

“Hmm? I don’t really understand it, but you mean Loki can perfectly grasp Alus’s movements? Well, that would help with my surveillance mission,” Lilisha pointlessly added, and Loki’s face turned visibly redder.

“Sir Alus, I don’t use detection magic that often. Do I?” Loki timidly asked, pulling on his sleeve.

Alus hadn’t suffered any bit from the stalking Sisty and Lilisha had suspected yet. “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask yourself?” he responded.

“N-No way...” said Loki.

Sisty calmly continued, “However, it seems clear that a person’s mana information is related in some way. When I was in the military, I heard strange tales about it.”

“I can’t deny or affirm that. With magic research how it is now, it will probably remain unexplained for the foreseeable future,” Alus answered in place of Loki, who was red up to her ears.

It wasn’t entirely rare to hear about Magicmasters who were lost in the Outer World spending three days and nights wandering around before luckily rejoining with their squad despite not being spotters. There were many things that were yet to be clarified by modern research, such as what a Magicmaster’s intuition was or the connection between intuition and mana.

“Ah! Speaking of spotters, I just remembered that I was asked to run an errand.” Lilisha raised her voice to show that her errand was rather important. She pushed her overcoat aside and put her hand into the bag slung across her body, finally revealing what had been bulging under her coat. “Here, this is from Lady Cicelnia. Ms. Rinne apparently struggled to get her hands on it.”

The thing she pulled out had filled the entire bag, looked like a stone slab, and it was wrapped in layers of high-grade anti-magic fiber cloth.

“This better not be anything strange,” said Alus.

“Like I said, it’s from Lady Cicelnia! Of course it won’t be,” said Lilisha.

“You’re the only one who’d think so. You’re like a crazed fanatic.” Alus received the object with a face of disgust. It was heavier than he imagined.

“I was only asked to deliver it, so I don’t know what’s inside,” said Lilisha.

“Mmm, I wonder what it is.” Loki curiously looked on from the side, the red on her face having already disappeared.

“All I know is that it’s not anything good,” said Alus.

“I think anyone would normally jump for joy over something directly from the ruler. Well, I guess this just highlights the relationship between you and the ruler,” Sisty’s exasperatedly said, but there was sympathy in her voice. She had been a Single in the past, so she could understand Alus’s struggles. That said, she also had a somewhat amused smile on her face.

I see you start taking pleasure in other people’s misfortune when you get older, Alus thought.

While Alus wanted to complain, he managed to hold it in. He needed to keep an open mind, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to be pushed around by the ruler. So in his mind, he decided that if this was just a spark that would cause further problems, he would pretend he didn’t see anything and push it back onto Lilisha.

Removing the cloth around the object, time froze in Alus’s mind when he saw what was revealed. The material was like glass, and the texture was solid and reminiscent of ceramics. It weighed more than one would think from how it looked.

It was an ambiguous and strange book. The cover was vividly decorated with a detailed, elaborate design. It was a deep, dark blue that could make one think that it was imbued with mana and had a slight wine-red tint.

“What is this? A book... But the material is odd. Do you know what it is?” Lilisha asked Alus, looking puzzled.

Sisty furrowed her brows and muttered, “At the very least, it isn’t some kind of celebratory gift.”

“Yes, if this was just a present, I’d be relieved. No, even if it wasn’t...”

“So what is this, Sir Alus?” Loki cut in and asked.

Alus looked from her to the book. Even as he ran his fingers across the cover, he couldn’t believe it. “The Four Books of Fegel. And an original at that,” he said.

Loki raised her eyebrows, as if trying to recall a distant memory. But the first to react to his words were Sisty. “They exist?! How can you even tell if it’s real? But if it comes from the ruler directly, then...”

Sisty couldn’t hide how shaken she was. And Alus finally nodded. “So you knew about them too. Books filled with mysteries, called either miraculous prophetic books or the most unusual books in the world. Copies exist, but even they are not in circulation. I’ve heard rumors of the nation, and the ruler specifically, holding on to them, and this partially proves it.”

“Why would the nation safely store such an incomprehensible book?” asked Lilisha.

Alus answered Lilisha’s amateurish question without hesitation. After all, the Four Books of Fegel would lead to the mysteries of the world that Alus was in pursuit of. “They are said to be the only books that touch on the essence of magic. I hear they are filled with nothing but research topics that nobody knows about. There are also theories that they touch on the origin of Fiends and magic.”

“Huh? No way, it could only be some old people’s delusions filled with nothing but rumors,” said Lilisha.

Sisty responded to Lilisha’s denial with a serious expression. “It is said that the Four Books of Fegel are from a time beyond the past where mankind touched on such fantasies and delusions. For starters, the characters used are so difficult they’re near impossible to read. We’re not talking half a century here. They might even be before the seven nations were formed.”

“What?! You mean it could be from before Fiends appeared?” asked Lilisha.

“Well, we don’t know exactly when Fiends appeared, so it’s hard to tell. However, the only thing I can say is that they are rumored to touch on not only the origins of Fiends and magic but also magical developments that would have been unthinkable at the time. That would be why they are called prophetic books,” said Sisty.

“You seem to know a lot about them,” said Loki.

“Yeah,” added Lilisha, nodding along.

“Well, I am a former Single and an educator. Even so, that is about all I know. Not long ago I thought it was just some old folklore,” Sisty said and shrugged. That was only natural, as only a handful of occult enthusiasts or delusional researchers would have heard that name in general society.

“It’s only a smattering of knowledge I got from my teacher,” said Sisty.

“What?! From Mrs. Miltria?!” Lilisha burst out by reflex.

“Oh yes, I suppose that would make you my sister apprentice,” said Sisty.

“Huh, oh, yes. Although I’m not an official disciple, I can’t help but think of her as my teacher too,” said Lilisha.

“Hmm. Still, I’m surprised to see that she would take such a young disciple,” Sisty said with a somewhat sentimental tone.

Aferka’s former advisor had cared for Lilisha to the point that she worked together with the ruler to protect her. Perhaps to Miltria, Lilisha was like a granddaughter.

“That aside, Mrs. Miltria also has an interest in research in magic history. But she’s rather narrow-minded, so she didn’t do anything as eccentric as getting her disciple wrapped up in it, but instead she dabbled in it as something to enjoy at the end of her life. I heard all sorts of things from her,” said Sisty.

“If I recall, the Four Books of Fegel were a rather dubious tale with only a few eccentrics who were seriously in pursuit of them. So it seems Miltria is quite the oddball,” said Alus. He’d gotten a rather decent impression when he’d seen her at the palace, but looks could be deceiving.

“You of all people are going to say that?” Sisty asked and gave him a cold stare, but Alus shrugged it off.

“I had a feeling that I saw one of the Four Books of Fegel during the incident with Godma, but it didn’t show up during the on-site inspection afterwards. But I recall that the aura it had was exactly like this one.”

With an original in hand, it was clear now that the book at the time was also one of the original Four Books of Fegel. The problem was the source of the book in front of him.

Berwick had implied that Kurama was behind the incident, and Alus was more or less in agreement with that. It was an easy possibility to imagine. In fact, as someone pursuing Kurama, he felt it would be strange if they weren’t involved in such a large incident.

“Well...let’s examine this a little,” Alus said and reached for the book in front of him.

He touched it with great care and carefully flipped a page, which felt like a thin board. Eventually, the conviction on his expression turned into surprise. Alus could reach ancient languages and Lost Spells to a degree, but he couldn’t read this at all.

It wasn’t a matter of age. Even the approach to characters was completely different from existing ones. It was like they had come from another world.

But as he skimmed through it, he noticed that the characters he didn’t know were slowly being converted in his brain on their own. It was like the characters were magically being converted to some sort of sign and forming a connection to a meaning in his mind. As a result, he could read parts of it.

The sensation was familiar to Alus. When Alus had fought the king of moths, Shem Azah in Vanalis, he had dispelled the ultimate-level wind spell Kehenage. During the strange phenomenon born from that, Alus had indeed come in contact with that sensation.

This phenomenon again. I don’t know what it is, but this is convenient, he thought.

As he continued to flip through the pages, some things started to become clearer, albeit still vague. The book seemed to have diagrams, although they were crude. But strangely enough, they weren’t pictures drawn on a page. As the letters started to make sense through the conversion above, points turned to lines, drawing images in his mind.

They were magic formulas, but they varied in style. He understood why Cicelnia had sent it to him. Eventually, the excitement caused his head to hurt. As he rested against a piece of overturned equipment behind him, the last line of letters burned into his mind and was replaced by a flash of inspiration.

Although it was somewhat different from what he had seen during the demonstration at the Friendship Magical Tournament...but it certainly had an appearance that reminded him of Minerva.

I see, so this part of the description concerns Minerva, Alus thought. I can only get a vague understanding of it, but I should be able to find out what Dante is after. In fact, just how much does Cicelnia know? I’m probably the only one who can oppose Dante, but it’s not like she has an acquaintance among the escaped prisoners... No, it couldn’t be. 

Having the ruler see through this much just made Alus more suspicious. Where had Cicelnia even gotten the information on the escaped prisoners, and how did she know what Dante was after?

“Did you really not hear anything from Cicelnia? Sending a book like this is just bad taste.” Alus turned a suspicious glance towards Lilisha.

She frantically waved her hands in front of her. “I don’t know anything! Really, I haven’t been told anything. But based on your reaction, it seemed like it was perfectly timed. Maybe this was in the works before the Aferka problem was resolved.”

“I bet. By the way, Ms. Rinne is a highly skilled spotter. Did she tell you anything...?” asked Alus.

“Not at all. I don’t know anything about that either! It’s true!” said Lilisha.

Like with the Aferka incident, he couldn’t get a read on what Cicelnia was doing. All that he could tell was that she was working towards something far in the future. She’d probably known that Alus had an interest in the Four Books of Fegel ahead of time too. He had gotten a copy from Berwick when he enrolled into the Institute. It wouldn’t be strange for the ruler to have heard about that.

Seeing Alus fall deep into thought, Sisty tried to bring his attention back to the matter at hand. “Now, now, why not put that aside for now. Nobody can understand what’s going on in Lady Cicelnia’s head. At this moment, we should focus on the escaped prisoners, right? I know this is a little late, but Dante said everything began with the Four Books of Fegel and that we didn’t know anything.”

Sisty recounted to Alus that Dante seemed to know something about Minerva’s mysterious power.

“Then I better get on with it. With the logic of the Four Books of Fegel transmitting information images to my brain, as long as the analytical equipment for deciphering Lost Spells is safe, I should be able to find out more,” said Alus.

“Sir Alus...”

Alus looked at a corner of the room that Loki indicated with her stare, and his shoulders slumped. The equipment Alus needed to analyze the Four Books of Fegel in detail had been completely destroyed.

“I guess not even Cicelnia could have predicted this,” said Alus.

“There might be still-working equipment in the Institute that you can use,” Sisty said, offering her cooperation.

“I don’t have high hopes, but I appreciate it. At the very least I need a scanner analyzer and a mana extraction analyzer,” said Alus.

“Uhm, Sir Alus, wouldn’t that be the latter?” asked Loki.

“Huh?” Alus said and realized that he was currently leaning on the massive device. He hadn’t noticed because it was lying on its side, but it was indeed the mana extraction analyzer. That said, part of its frame was twisted from a bad impact, so it would probably be unusable without maintenance.

“And the scanner was over there...” Loki said.

Alus’s shoulders slumped once more as he followed Loki’s gaze. In a corner of the room was the scanner analyzer, having seen the most damage of all.

“Talk about bad luck. Then maybe I can use the shelf of Lost Spell related materials to...ah.” Indeed, the shelf he was thinking about was the very same one that Lilisha had just given its last rites. Lilisha slowly turned her back and tried to escape. “Hey, pick it up.”

Alus pointed outside, and all Lilisha could do was give him her best forced smile. “Uh, right. I was just about to do that, aha ha... S-see you later!” Lilisha said and flew out the door.

Since it would be too much for her to pick up alone, Alus asked Loki to follow her. Besides, he didn’t need all of the documents. He could also use the Institute’s library to fill in any blanks.

“Right, I should get in contact with Lord Vizaist too,” said Alus.

He hoped that the cooperators from Clevideet, the Fanon squad, had taken care of Gordon and Suzar. If they could at least pin them down, Alus would have a much easier time moving. If Dante joined up with them, things would become a lot more annoying.

That said, now he had gotten his hand of one of the Four Books of Fegel, and in his excitement, he was feeling a lot more tolerant. He prayed that it wouldn’t be a letdown, but his mind was already flying off to the ocean of unknown knowledge.

If he could push dealing with the escaped prisoners onto Lettie, he would have paid anything to do it. But his pride wouldn’t allow him to abandon the job, since he’d accepted it.

“You look like you’re having fun. But if Dante goes into hiding, it will get a lot trickier, right?” Sisty asked, pressing in a roundabout way.

Alus casually brushed her words off, walking around the laboratory to find any still-working devices. “It’s not a problem, and if you get too concerned about it, your face is going to get wrinkled,” he said.

“Hey! Sure, Dante doesn’t seem to be a member of Kurama, but it’s too dangerous to leave him on his own. He said something like the seven nations will be caught up in the flames of war too. And now he has Minerva and is in hiding. Don’t you find that disturbing?” Sisty argued, recalling Dante’s words.

He’d been talking about a table for deciding the fate of the world. He’d said in the midst of chaos, leaders of several factions would be necessary for the sake of a new future. It wasn’t clear what that meant, but Sisty felt it could be essential information for humanity to overcome the dangers it would face in the future.

But even hearing this, Alus remained indifferent. “I wonder about that. It might just be this Dante’s delusions of grandeur. Maybe his talks about a fateful table and the rights to earn a seat are just trying to sound plausible. Doesn’t it sound similar to the tricks of some shady prophet?”

“But he did seem to know something about Minerva. I don’t know what, but that can’t be good,” said Sisty.

“I’ll find out by examining the pages related to Minerva in the Four Books of Fegel. Besides, the seven nations already have plenty of problems on hand. While Fiends are still around we might be fine, but you never know when someone might pull the trigger on some great war. There’s no doubt that there’s no room in the future for violent and bloodthirsty escaped prisoners,” Alus said, then complained about another broken device.

Exasperated by that, Sisty got up from the sofa. “Oh fine, then I’ll be leaving now.”

“You should probably stop. I can hear Major General Morwald’s voice below. Jeez, if he’s just going to disturb the scene, he never should have come in the first place,” said Alus.

When she listened for it, she could indeed hear the overbearing man’s voice, and from the sound of it, he was looking for Sisty.

“What will you do?” Alus asked.

“Maybe I will stay here a little longer,” Sisty said after a pause.

“As you please,” said Alus. “I could offer you some water.”

“I think I should do it myself,” Sisty said, making a beeline for the kitchen. She got an idea of where things were and started scavenging.

“I will make a list of rooms I want repaired, so please fix all of them, even if it means rebuilding this entire place. I will pay for it if necessary,” Alus said without anything in particular in mind.

That was just the thought that had entered his mind as he looked at the now-well-ventilated laboratory. Perhaps he’d wanted to see the room like it used to be once again. He was not used to getting attached to where he lived. To him, it was just a temporary abode for eating and sleeping.

Alus suddenly stopped moving and closed his eyes. When he did, he felt like he could see all kinds of things that had happened in this room, like they were projected directly from his memories.

With Sisty in the kitchen, he couldn’t tell what reaction she had. However, it seemed she had moved a stool to stand on and reach a tall shelf.

“That’s what I intend to do,” she responded to his request. “But don’t worry about the money. Besides, it would only be a problem if you remodeled the place however you pleased. The only thing that I can say is that it will be easier for me to officially fulfill your wishes if I’m still the principal.”

“If you’re going to be so petty, you’ll only earn animosity,” said Alus.

“I do feel bad for asking the unreasonable and for Major General Morwald,” said Sisty.

“Well, just leave Minerva to me. I’ll do what I can.” Alus closed his eyes once more. If Sisty were forced to take responsibility and her position was threatened, there were still things that he could do.

Vizaist and Berwick would no doubt do what they could to prevent it too. The Institute was an important facility for the military, so it was hard to imagine anyone but Sisty running it with her background as a Single and her expertise in defensive magic. She was also well known in the international community and had both military and government connections.

Sisty’s sly nature aside, Alus did value her highly. He also felt that the situation would have been different if Sisty’s underground stores of mana had been in perfect shape. She had used up a vast amount of mana in order to block the taboo spell Senas Requiem used during the Godma incident.

The escaped prisoners’ attack had been clever, and Sisty had had her hands full responding to attacks targeted at several areas of the campus. As a result, she had been too distracted to notice Dante’s main goal was Minerva. If she’d known from the start, she could have made a plan to keep Minerva from being stolen so easily.

Still, he did a good job inciting the escaped prisoners. Dante, huh... He’s hard to get a grasp on but for a different reason than Kurama’s executives. We’ll see what a mere criminal knows, Alus thought, moving his arms around to relieve the stiffness of his shoulders.

◇◇◇

After a thorough examination of the laboratory and its equipment and some hasty preparations for analysis, Alus headed for the tents that were set up to treat the injured.

He was going to check on Tesfia and Alice but was unable to find them, so he headed for the main building instead. Once treatment was done, the injured were moved there. He also thought about paying Felinella a visit, but she had been carried off to a hospital under military jurisdiction and was no longer at the Institute.

Beds filled up the classrooms in the main building, and some of the injured even spilled out into the hallways. Just seeing that, one could tell how fierce and ruthless the attack had been. It was a sight that Alus was used to, after many battles in the Outer World.

He walked past a line of body bags that held the remains of teachers and guards. Then he entered the main building, which smelled of medicine and so echoed with groans of pain. It was a scene from right out of hell for a civilian, but Alus didn’t so much as waver at something like this.

Loki and Lilisha had been sent to a different room to collect materials and lighter equipment that had been gathered at Sisty’s instructions. But even if Loki were here, she would have also remained calm. Moments like this made one painfully aware that the military was a career where one had to kill their heart.

After wandering around several rooms, he still hadn’t found Tesfia or Alice. Instead, he found hurt students here and there. There was a girl, pale from shock and still trembling. There was a boy with dead eyes, staring at the ground.

The students hadn’t really experienced the Outer World, so this had been a shocking experience. Several students stared mystified at Alus walking without a care in the world. They all looked like they wanted to appeal for something.

They no doubt knew of Alus’s abilities and wanted to know why he hadn’t saved them. As far as they knew, Alus was helping the military. In that sense, if he’d been present during the tragedy they could have clung onto him to be saved.

That was common in the military too. Alus couldn’t count how many times he’d been asked why he’d abandoned someone. And every time, he had brushed them aside with an “I don’t care.”

That stance still hadn’t changed. But unlike in the military, nobody called out to him. The students didn’t have the courage to do it, so all they did was send him glares.

Their complacency around peace is deeply ingrained in them, he thought.

What were they expecting? Even if Alus had been present, there was no guarantee that he would have helped those who didn’t face the difficulties on their own. It would have been one thing if they were prudent and prepared to endure shame in order to survive for the greater good. In that respect, Tesfia and Alice were better to him even though they’d misjudged the difference in their ability and their opponent’s.

“Don’t worry about it, Alus,” a voice said as Alus was brushing off the students’ stares. It was second-year student Senniat Fokmil.

“I don’t think that it’s because you’re special. They are just feeling helpless right now...and they’re unconsciously looking for someone they can take out their frustration and insecurities on,” she continued.

Alus wasn’t directly acquainted with her, but he’d heard her name from Alice before.

“It doesn’t bother me. Nice to meet you. I am Alus Reigin.”

“Ah, I’m sorry for making you introduce yourself when I called out to you... I am Senniat.” She had a friendly attitude, and she looked at Alus apologetically. “Uhm... Did you come to check on Ms. Tesfia and Ms. Alice?” asked Senniat.

“Yes, I believe they should be resting here,” said Alus.

“Then you will be glad to hear that they’ve both opened their eyes. But I really do feel bad about them. I am so pathetic.” Senniat cast her eyes down and sighed in self-condemnation. She offered to guide Alus to them, so he followed her. “I should have stopped them from doing anything reckless. It’s my fault they were so hurt.”

“Why are you telling me that?” Alus asked.

“I heard about you from Ms. Alice. I was overseeing her group during the extracurricular lesson, and I had the same mindset this time around too...” said Senniat.

“I see. But they did what they did because they wanted to, so it’s ultimately their own responsibility. If they die, that’s all there is to it. Besides, you’d ruin your body if you tried to keep up with everything reckless your juniors did. So don’t force yourself to carry that burden,” said Alus, trying to give her advice, but even he felt it was somewhat hollow.

From what he could tell, Senniat wasn’t a bad person, but he also couldn’t say that she was the right kind of person to lead a squad. Being a good person alone wasn’t enough.

After thinking about that, Alus tightly pursed his lips together. He was having a hard time switching out of his work mindset.

After a while, they arrived at the infirmary. He’d come here once before but thanked her anyways. In response, she lowered her head and apologized again. He felt she’d probably done the same to Tesfia and Alice too. She’s a difficult person to handle, he thought.

Before going in, Alus took a deep breath to return to his usual self at the Institute.

Inside, things were more or less as he expected. Tesfia and Alice were sitting on their beds and talking. He’d heard they had been seriously injured.

“Are you two sure you should be up?” Alus asked as he stepped in.

“Fia, looks like I won our bet,” Alice said in her usual bright tone.

Tesfia ground her teeth in response and looked at Alus. The girls were both wearing patient gowns, but they didn’t look as bad as he’d heard. Tesfia had her arm wrapped in a sling, and Alice had bandages wrapped around her upper body. Alus realized it was possible that Tesfia’s lower body, which was covered by a blanket, was in an even worse state.

“I was so sure that you wouldn’t come check up on us right away,” said Tesfia.

“I show up and that’s the first thing you say? Well, I did come empty-handed,” admitted Alus.

Since there was no free chair, Alus sat down at the edge of Alice’s bed, and the simple pipe bed creaked.

“So what were you betting on?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Alice said, like it was a matter of course.

Alus shot back, “Then that’s not a bet, is it?”

From how Tesfia tilted her head, it seemed that they didn’t understand the meaning of these kinds of bets in a military setting. They weren’t trying to ease the tension in the battlefield; they were just playing a game as students. But he found himself drawn to their energy. Perhaps that was why he felt that it would be inappropriate to act overly serious.

“Jeez, you sure got beaten up badly. That’s what you get for meddling when you’re weak,” said Alus.

“Hmph, did you come here to lecture us? This isn’t a big deal,” Tesfia asserted, observing Alus’s expression. Alice smiled wryly and gave him an apologetic look.

“Look at you talking,” said Alus. “Then maybe I should roll up that blanket and check you for injuries.”

At once, both girls spoke:

“Huh?! Y-You don’t need to do that!”

“Yeah, it’s fine!”

But when Tesfia curled up out of caution, her face distorted in pain.

“Fia, are you okay?! Did your wounds open up?!” Alice looked worried.

Alus snorted. “I told you so. I’ll take a look, so get on with it.”

“It’s fine, really,” said Tesfia.

“What are you getting all embarrassed for? I saw you naked some time ago, so I won’t think anything about it now,” Alus said with a serious expression.

Alice was surprised. “Was that in the infirmary before? I remember Fia looking a little happy despite being angry,” Alice said with a mischievous smile.

Tesfia’s face instantly turned red in response. “Th-That was just an accident! And what do you mean by thinking nothing about it?!”

“Keep it down. Someone’s going to hear you,” said Alus.

“Then don’t do something you don’t want to be seen doing!” Tesfia insisted as Alus moved over to her bed. She stiffened to fight back. “A-Are you serious...?” she asked, trying to be intimidating.

When she realized from his expression that she couldn’t win, she began making excuses. “It’s fine, really! Oh, I-I know. What about Alice? She said she’s in pain too.”

“That’s uncalled for, Fia! I’m properly resting here, so I’m fine! Why don’t you have Al thoroughly examine you?”

Watching the two with amusement, Alice crawled into her own bed. But she made sure to keep looking with a mischievous stare.

“Wh-Whoa! Don’t take that off! Don’t touch me! Ow!” said Tesfia.

“I told you so. I might not be a healing Magicmaster, but I know enough that I can check your condition,” said Alus.

“Then call for a healing Magicmaster instead! Why does this kind of thing keep happening to me?” said Tesfia.

“You need to know when to give up. Be quiet. I’m not telling you to get naked; just show me your stomach,” said Alus.

“Ugh...” Tesfia rolled up her hospital gown, revealing bandages wrapped mainly around her abdomen. Thankfully, they weren’t stained with blood.

“Looks like a skilled healing Magicmaster treated you. The flow of mana has calmed too,” said Alus.

By lightly touching her abdomen, he could tell that proper healing magic had been performed. Meanwhile, Tesfia was desperately holding her gown to prevent any more skin from being exposed. Upon closer inspection, he saw a brace around her ribs and sternum.

“Did your lungs get hurt too?” he asked.

“No, according to the healing Magicmaster, it was just the ribs... That’s enough, isn’t it?! If you move that hand further up, I’m going to get angry. And I’ll throw up blood too,” said Tesfia.

“What kind of a threat is that? Well, just from looking at your abdomen, I can see the rest is probably fine too.”

When Alus finally removed his hand, Tesfia quickly closed her hospital gown and grabbed the blanket to cover up her upper body.

“More importantly, why did you come here? Did you just come to lecture us rather than to see how we’re doing?” asked Tesfia.

“Are you still at an age where you want me to lecture you?” Alus asked, sitting back down feeling exasperated. He really had just come to check up on Tesfia and Alice, and he did not intend to give them any lectures or advice.

But as someone who had put time in to train them, he was bothered they had so casually put their lives in danger. At the same time, he knew if they were truly serious, he had no way of stopping them. Alus had witnessed more than his fair share of people giving up their lives to save their allies.

There were times when people made no sense, no matter how hard one tried to reason with them with logic. In the end, each person decided how he or she would use their life. Alus had emotionlessly seen people follow such shallow impulses countless times. But he could never understand it himself, which was why he had no choice but to believe there was a reason for it.

So Alus accepted it rather than rejecting it.

“Nothing I can say will change anything. That was just the kind of action you took. If your actions had been based on some kind of logic and calculations, I’d have to lecture you on your misconceptions. But in the end, you can only compensate for a lack of estimation with experience. You may get lucky and continuously barely survive, then when you look back on the path you took, you will learn the heights you stand on now. That may be part of what makes you a Magicmaster,” said Alus.

But he knew that following that method, their luck would eventually run out. From his point of view, Tesfia and Alice were still inexperienced. He wondered how many more times would they need to risk their lives to reach the heights, and the thought of that long road made him dizzy.

For the time being, Alus raised his head and looked out the window at the indigo-tinted sky past.

“It looks like you two were nervous I’d scold you, but that just means you’re aware that you failed somewhere. So just make sure that you don’t repeat the same failure. The path to becoming a Magicmaster continues, and it’s not like there’s no hope for you. You’ve survived not once but twice now,” said Alus.

They didn’t immediately realize what Alus was talking about...but after thinking about it for a moment, Tesfia and Alice realized at the same time. In an extracurricular lesson, they had stood against Fiends without faltering. That was another time they’d survived in a battle to the death. That experience had been the first step on the road to becoming a Magicmaster.

“Well, if you die, that’s the end of your story. But for students, you’ve started off with some good experience,” said Alus.

“What part of this is a good experience?!” asked Tesfia.

“Yeah, it sure doesn’t seem good,” said Alice.

“Is that what you think? Well, one day you will understand its true value. And if I had to say something more...” Alus trailed off.

“Yes?” Tesfia timidly urged him to continue.

“You should have at least taken down one of the attackers. Getting a one-sided beatdown doesn’t have any benefits,” said Alus.

“Ugh!” Tesfia and Alice looked bitter as they heard his words.

Having said his piece, Alus stood up, but a voice called out, asking if he was leaving already.

“I have something I need to do, so I don’t have time for you novices. Besides, Senniat is waiting outside to give you a real scolding,” said Alus. He could clearly imagine the two of them unable to say anything to Senniat, as she apologized profusely.

“Aha ha, that’s true. You’ve got a point there.” Alice scratched her cheek and nodded.

“She even apologized to us,” said Tesfia, struggling to endure her feelings.

After saying he’d visit again, Alus left the infirmary. Even though the girls heard that everything had been settled, they still bombarded Senniat with questions about what happened.

Alus moved over to an old building in the corner of the Institute that was used for research. The fact that it was so far from the main building was proof of how dangerous the research performed there was.

Neither Alus nor Loki had used the facility before, so it felt somewhat fresh to them. Similar to the training grounds, it was built to be resistant to mana and impacts. While not state-of-the-art, the walls and ceiling were clearly made with military-grade magic-resistant material.

Because it required room for experiments, it was so large it was hard to get a complete picture of the building. There was a separate five-story building attached to it. It had been used as a shelter after the attack, so there were students and teachers here and there, but only a few would come this far out. Most victims evacuated to the dorms instead.

Using Sisty’s authority, they had equipment brought to a room on the second floor, including the documents from the shelf Lilisha had dropped. The room was large enough, but with all the equipment acting as obstacles, it felt cramped and labyrinthine.

By the time all the work was done and the equipment was brought in, it was already night. But because of all the night-lights everywhere, it didn’t really feel like night. After what had happened today, the Institute would likely not sleep for the time being, and guards were on patrol all throughout the night.

The Institute had immediately been closed, and students were sent to their guardians, although some of the students had decided to stay in the dorms. There were now guards and soldiers everywhere, reassuring them that this was probably the safest place they could be.

Alus had Loki get some rest as he started his research. He sat down at a simple table and cheap chair and opened the Four Books of Fegel again.

He noticed that each entry used a different encryption. Some even mixed Lost Spells into the encryption, and it was so unbalanced that it was hard to imagine only one person had written it.

Now then, how much can I decipher...? thought Alus.

Alus had no need to try to figure out if this book was real or fake. The moment he had laid eyes on it, he had instinctively understood it. Waves of information he had no knowledge of and various flashes of inspiration were being crammed into his brain. It would take complex analysis and research later to understand why he could read it.

Still, not only are the descriptions complicated, the contents of the book aren’t well organized either. Most of it is magic-related, and the topic on Minerva is more AWR-oriented, thought Alus.

As expected, the Four Books of Fegel were divided into separate volumes, and he anticipated that he wouldn’t understand the whole picture until all four of them were gathered. He held only one-fourth of the whole.

After first sending detailed information and the scanned data to the analysis terminal, he turned his attention to the virtual screen that displayed the results. It was black with an error message indicating that the data was corrupted.

Huh? A reading error?! 

“Is it a problem with the equipment, or could it be...?”

Was it perhaps due to the unique material that made up the Four Books of Fegel? If that was the case, there was nothing he could do. If possible, he would have liked to have read the other entries.

“It looks like it might have something written about special abilities. I might even come to understand something about my own abilities...”

The research and explanation of Gra Eater was actually Alus’s foremost research goal. By going through this book, he felt like he might be able to reach an answer. But with no other options right now, Alus slumped his shoulders and suppressed his endless desire for knowledge.

When he reached the last page, his hand stopped. The language here was easier to understand.

“Does this say that it’s a fragment of the Akashic Records?! I see, I was wondering what kind of genius had written this...but I see that they touched that too.”

In Vanalis, a record had directly engraved itself into his brain, containing a fragment of wisdom that he—no, nobody—knew of. Remembering that, he could finally understand. The seeming omniscience of these books was because the author had glimpsed into the Akashic Records. In other words, the Four Books of Fegel were a transcription of the Akashic Records.

Considering that it says fragment, even this is just a portion of the entirety. But on my end, I feel like I didn’t gain that much knowledge. If anything, it’s like my memories are only dredged up when I touch upon unknown-yet-relevant information. Like I can only draw on knowledge passively, pondered Alus. 

Alus didn’t know how, but it was clear that the author of the Four Books of Fegel had managed to draw out more information from the Akashic Records than he had. Perhaps there was an issue with the brain’s memory limit.

“Still, this is ridiculous. Brains that exceed mine, the current rank 1. What even are the Akashic Records in the first place? Where in this world does this massive amount of information even exist? I can only hope that it’s not somewhere ridiculous, like another dimension.”

As Alus wondered where he’d extracted the knowledge from, he felt like he’d stepped outside the realm of human knowledge. Even so, a thought flashed through his mind. “Could it be...Fiends?”

If there was anything he could think of to explain where it all came from, it would be an alien existence. And in this world, the only thing that came to mind were Fiends.

Either way, not being able to actively dig through it myself is just too inconvenient, he thought. It was now past 10 p.m. I need to wrap this up by reviewing the Minerva-related information in the Four Books of Fegel. As reluctant as I might feel about it, I can only really half-assed read this. 

After reading through the encrypted passages and staring at the strange drawings projected in his mind, Alus pulled out his license from his pocket and used its calling function. It was rare for him to contact someone himself, but he didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

“Lord Vizaist,” Alus said, and the other end of the call was silent for a while.

There was an eerie silence until a familiar deep voice answered, “Alus. It’s unusual to see you grow impatient.”

“Yes, well, if all I did was receive my salary without doing any work, even the Governor-General would get sick of me,” said Alus. “So did you find anything?”

More than half a day had passed since Dante had escaped from the Institute, but Alus hadn’t heard from Vizaist.

“There has been no progress on information regarding the target,” said Vizaist. “I heard about the attack on the Institute, but we can’t spend any time on that. With the escaped prisoners running amok, we’ve got our hands full.”

“I see. By the way, did you hear about Felinella?” asked Alus.

“Of course. It seems she got too involved. My daughter’s failure is my responsibility,” Vizaist said, his voice stiff, but it was easy to imagine his face on the other end of the call. They had worked together for a long time, after all.

“You jest. You don’t need to give me that sort of extraordinary canned phrase. I am glad that her life isn’t in danger, but I’ve heard about what she did. Apparently, she single-handedly defeated Mir Ostayka, a top-class magical criminal. That’s certainly something to be proud of, even for a doting parent like you,” said Alus.

“Alus, you’ve drifted too far off-track. And who are you calling a doting parent!” exclaimed Vizaist.

After a moment’s pause, a bitter voice replied, “Oh, who could I be talking about? Well, frankly, taking down Mir should be a big deal. Not only does that weaken them, I can move more easily as well. All I really need to do now is pursue Dante.”

“I suppose so. The other escaped prisoners have been mostly cleaned up too,” said Vizaist.

“I see. But I’ll tell you just in case... It seems that the last trump card up their sleeves is some strange drug that transforms them into Fiends. It’s hard to believe, but just check with Aferka,” said Alus.

Vizaist responded slowly, “I have already heard about it, but as you say, it’s hard to believe.”

“Also, I believe that Godma Barhong’s secret research is related to it,” said Alus.

An audible gulp could be heard from the other end of the call. “What! So the results have already been leaked?!”

“Maybe. Considering how one of the Four Books of Fegel that I caught a glance of at that site has now disappeared, Kurama might be pulling the strings behind the scenes,” said Alus.

“Then we don’t have enough hands to go around,” said Vizaist. “Or fighting power.”

“It’s probably too late for that now. For the time being,” said Alus, “leave Dante to me.”

“Do you have any leads on him?” Vizaist asked bluntly, but with a hopeful tone.

“Yes, something like that. And I’d like to borrow some help,” the rank 1 Magicmaster responded.

“How many? I’ll send some your way no matter what it takes,” said Vizaist.

“Three should be enough. I’ll be sending you a suspicious coordinate, so keep a lookout there.” Alus then used a virtual keyboard to send the coordinates to Vizaist’s terminal.

It didn’t really seem worth sending Vizaist’s precious men on lookout duty, and he said as much. “This seems rather exaggerated just to mark a suspicious location. Is there something that’s bothering you, Alus? If you want, I can make a formal request to the military instead, using my authority to have them send Magicmasters that will work for me.”

“No, your subordinates will be more reliable. Besides...”

As Alus hesitated, an irritated snarl came from Vizaist. It seemed that he’d confirmed the coordinates that Alus had sent him. “Alus...I want you to tell me what is here.”

“To be honest, there is a hole in the barrier that even the military can’t detect,” explained Alus. “According to information from Aferka, the Womruina family might have guided the escaped prisoners, which is how they were able to so easily infiltrate Alpha. The barrier is strong on the outside but can be surprisingly fragile on the inside. It might be premature to judge based on just that hole, but the barrier is thin and hard to perceive. I’ve considered all sorts of things, but this is the only place I could think of where the escaped prisoners could come in from the outside without being found out.”

The military’s surveillance system wasn’t so lax as to just let escaped prisoners waltz on in. Although there was still the possibility they’d entered through another nation, Dante seemed to have been after Minerva from the start, and Womruina was a major force in Alpha. So it would have been the shortest and most rational way to infiltrate Alpha.

“Understood. I’ll make the preparations,” said Vizaist.

“Thank you.” Alus hoped that Vizaist understood the meaning in him finding that “hole” and revealing it to Vizaist. And he wanted to believe that Vizaist would take the necessary precautions.

It was pretty good for cunning tricks, and it was a good ace card to play too, thought Alus.

It was the slightest break in the absolute defense that the Tower of Babel offered and the only Achilles’ heel of Alpha’s defenses. It was a secret path that Alus had discovered by chance or perhaps the only possible means of escape from this world. But for now, it would serve as a onetime-use trap to get a huge catch.

Regardless of Alus’s thoughts, Vizaist didn’t question why he had such information. He had another question instead. “What? You have an affiliation to Aferka? Well, I was certainly struggling until they came out of the shadows, so perhaps it’s not for me to say.”

That was a very thorny coming from Vizaist, considering that Alus had served under him for many years. Now wasn’t the time for deception, so Alus spoke his mind. “Well, less Aferka and more Lady Cicelnia.”

“I bet. If possible, I want to avoid performing the same work as them,” said Vizaist.

Vizaist worked as an intelligence unit that had a similar role to Aferka. And with Aferka now serving as the ruler’s limbs, there would probably be situations in the future that made it difficult for Vizaist to act.

“With Lady Cicelnia at the top, you will be at a disadvantage,” said Alus. “Well, considering how their commander, Lilisha, is acting, I doubt she would get in your way.”

“What’s that, you actually trust the Frusevan’s youngest daughter?” asked Vizaist. “Sheesh, if you have the time to be infatuated with that brat, you should make a move on Feli already.”

Alus didn’t have a wide enough variety of conversational topics that he could keep up with that joke. He could only curtly sigh and once again turned his attention to the person on the other end of the line.

“It’s not so much that I trust her; it’s more that I believe she won’t betray me. Also if Felinella hears you say that, she’s going to hate you. She’s pretty calm for her age, but if there’s a crack in your father-daughter bond, it will have an impact on your job.”

“Th-That’s not possible! Not for her...!” said Vizaist.

“Yeah sure, I’m hanging up now. It’s good to hear your voice again. I feared that you’d screwed up against the prisoners and were groaning in a hospital bed,” said Alus.

“I will pretend I didn’t hear that last bit. We can save the next call for when things have been cleared up.”

“Got it.”

Although it was far from a business talk with casual talk mixed in, their conversation fit comfortably into Alus’s sensibilities. More importantly, it reminded him of the work behind the scenes and sharpened his senses whether he liked it or not.

Alus put his license away and realized Vizaist hadn’t used his usual catchphrase “once this mission is over.” It was just something Vizaist usually said to himself, but it had become a habit after he started leading the special forces Alus had belonged to.

But that happened from time to time, and Alus shook off the slight sense of discomfort and turned towards his desk. Now, it was time for work.

“I hope I’m wrong but... No, if Dante has gone after Minerva, it can’t be wrong. Not to mention that he seems to be a guy with some class among a pack of bloodthirsty beasts.”

Alus sharply saw Dante’s nature. He was a merciless man who wouldn’t hesitate to perform a massacre if there was a need for it, but he wasn’t the kind to find pleasure in it. As proof of that, Alus could point to the fact that Dante hadn’t killed anyone during the attack on the Institute. He’d left the violence to the others, and it was his subordinates, let off their leashes, who had shed blood unnecessarily.

And from what he’d heard from Sisty, his words and actions regarding Minerva showed that he was surprisingly intelligent and reasonable for a leader of escaped prisoners. If Alus were to guess, he’d say Dante was the type to enjoy the process of playing a game by moving bloodstained pawns around. From his personal experience, that kind of person was particularly strong in a fight.

Having run out of things to do quicker than he’d expected, he wanted to properly investigate the Four Books of Fegel, but he didn’t have enough time for that either. Instead, he put one of the knife-type AWRs he’d gotten from Loki the other day on the tabletop. As it belonged to someone else, he couldn’t be careless with it.

After moving the work desk, he fixed the AWR in clamps. Loki’s assignment with the magic formula had already started taking shape thanks to her efforts. From what Alus had seen, it was certainly theoretically possible.

So it was a good way to make use of his spare time.

Although it was a temporary laboratory, there was plenty of equipment and tools, as well as many other items brought over from Alus’s room. Taking a needlelike pen, Alus dexterously used it to engrave several marks on the hard AWR. He worked slowly and took his time, and his work finally ended as the date changed.

As he looked around, he found a sofa pushed into the corner and laid down on it. Returning to the dorm now was too much of a pain, and on days like these, where he slept didn’t really change anything. Eventually Alus fell asleep, keeping his killer instincts and coldheartedness near the surface of his consciousness.

Those senses spread and thinned out like oil on water and eventually swallowed his consciousness. Like that, he could entrust himself to his instincts and throw himself into an intense battle immediately upon waking. After everything the escaped prisoners had done, he needed to be able to repay them in kind.

Three hours later, Alus woke up. He had no particular time in mind for getting up, but he had a feeling that things would start before morning approached.

As he opened his eyes, he found Loki next to him. She was sitting on the floor by the sofa, dressed up and breathing softly.

“Good morning, Sir Alus,” she said.

“I’m surprised you knew when I’d wake up,” he answered.

“No, I got plenty of rest myself and just happened to wake up earlier,” the spotter responded.

“I see,” Alus said as he got up and put his hand on her silver hair. As he patted her head, she looked a little ticklish. He saw that all of the equipment he would need was already in place in a corner of the room. It was quite a lot that she’d brought over from the laboratory.

“I have also brought over some more clothes. What will you do about your clothing?” She really was thoughtful. Almost overly so.

Loki was in a military uniform, but Alus chose a simpler outfit.

“You might be fine like that, but I can’t wear a military uniform when working behind-the-scenes,” said Alus.

“Excuse my lapse in judgment,” she said.

“Well, I can’t tell if you can call this behind-the-scenes anymore, but just in case... Wouldn’t want any civilians seeing it and adding more hassle.”

Alus put on black slacks, changed his shirt, and put on an overcoat. Once Night Mist was at his hip, the two dashed out of the room without a word. Regardless of whether or not he got word from Vizaist’s subordinates, Alus had a final destination in mind.

“Now, let’s go wrap things up,” he said.

“Yes, Sir Alus. By the way, did you find something in the Four Books of Fegel?” Loki curiously asked as soon as they started running. There were many guards on duty in the Institute, as well as skilled Magicmasters keeping a close eye on things. They were still on high-alert.

Running across the roofs of the dark Institute, Alus and Loki could see a huge hole in the training grounds. Even then, the casualties of the Human Fiends were mostly limited to the guards.

Blending in with the darkness, Alus and Loki ran through the Institute in a flash. For better or worse, a ringtone came from Alus’s license twice and then stopped. As he put his hand back in his pocket, he said just one thing. “Let’s hurry.”

With that, the two left a gust of wind as they disappeared.