She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

AS A KEY CENTER OF TRADE, Ligret had numerous ware houses. One cluster of those storage buildings was off in an area outside the city center. 

A man pulling a cart approached a warehouse. The sun had set, and the moon and stars shone in the sky. Moonlight illuminated the man’s face; it was the assailant who’d attacked Uneko and suffered the consequences.

“According to my intel, the kids who went missing in Ligret were all adolescent girls who look similar to you, Gramps,” Kagura had said as she boastfully revealed her perfect plan.

That plan was simple. If they kept climbing the organization’s chain of command upward, their enemies would get away before long. They needed to let the kidnappers guide them right to the higher-ups. So, in a nutshell, Mira was now to be a bait “victim” delivered directly to the kidnappers’ den of evil.

She could protect herself if necessary, and depending where they sent her, she might find the other victims. That could even give her the opportunity to bring down the organization then and there. They could also potentially track down other victims if Kagura interrogated the leaders afterward.

It was truly a perfect plan.

“Perfect,” my foot! It ignores my needs!

Mira lay in a long, narrow crate among the boxes loaded on the cart. Her arms and legs were bound, and she wore a simple dress in a style common to little girls. She forced herself to endure it.

To avoid being discovered, Mira would have to pretend to be asleep the whole time. Her butt and back gradually started to hurt, however, forcing her to shift in the box. The shaking carriage jostled the aching areas, leading her to gripe endlessly.

At least put a cushion in here with me or something. And why not just put me in the box right before the handoff?

Still, there was a reason she’d accepted this. Upon hearing the plan, she’d initially refused, saying it sounded too difficult. She’d proposed a wide-scale search using her summoning magic to the fullest. 

Kagura, however, countered that that likely wouldn’t succeed. Furthermore, a large-scale search would surely alert the enemy.

Then Tyriel volunteered as the bait. She wanted to save the children as soon as possible, so she preferred to try the method likeliest to succeed.

Based on her height and appearance, Tyriel could potentially have done the job well enough. Of course, the others couldn’t bear to let her do such a thing, so Mira stepped up to the plate.

***

Apart from Mira’s aches and pains, the strategy progressed smoothly. After approaching the warehouse without issues, the man knocked rhythmically—twice, then once, then thrice. 

This man was now working for them as a double agent. After they’d decided on their plan, and Kagura ended her interrogation spell, she’d presented him with two simple options.

The first involved them handing him over to the police after he helped them eliminate the human-trafficking ring; however, in return for his assistance, they’d recommend a reduced sentence. The second option was for them to burn him to a crisp where he stood. Kagura even gave him a demonstration, reducing his jacket to ash with a single talisman. 

“I won’t hold back next time,” she’d warned.

Cooperation was effectively the man’s only choice. A talisman was now affixed to his stomach in case he betrayed them, so he’d begun a life-risking performance.

Someone’s eyes peeked through the tiny window in the warehouse door. Showing them the box he’d brought, the man began negotiating. “Hey, I found a real beauty. How’s five mil sound?”

The eyes narrowed. “Hmph. You have no shame, asking that price right away. Where’d you get the nerve? Well, c’mon. Let’s have a look.” 

The man had seemingly demanded a far higher payment than usual, but that proved to pique the doorman’s interest. The door opened, and he came out.

“Now, let’s see…” The doorman walked to Mira’s box, opened the lid, and looked inside.

Okay. Fake sleep, fake sleep…

Mira’s butt and back still hurt, but she stayed perfectly still, as if drugged. The doorman began looking her up and down.

This bastard staring at me has such a shudder-inducing leer…

Her skin crawled as she felt his breath on her neck, cheeks, thighs, and feet. She could practically feel him drooling over her, but she endured it for the children’s sake. And then…

“You named a fair price. I get it,” the doorman said, sounding lascivious yet satisfied. He finally looked at Mira’s face, then flipped her dress up.

Bastard! You’re nothing but trash!

Mira heard the doorman lick his lips at the sight of her bare body. “Yeah, real nice,” he whispered to himself.

What utter humiliation. Mira was enraged further by the knowledge that the same thing had happened to the children before her. She made a mental note to dish out extra punishment to the doorman.

“Good stuff. She’s the best you’ve brought so far. Hell, I want her for myself.” After seeing every bit of Mira’s beautiful figure, the doorman grinned happily. “All right, five mil. Take the box to number three.” 

He wheeled the cart through the door.

***

Seems the first stage of the plan went well enough.

Once her box was hauled into the warehouse, Mira continued to feign sleep. She listened to the sounds around her, trying to discern what the doorman was doing. He was seemingly transferring the boxes from the cart to someplace else. Apparently a carriage, based on the neighing horses she heard.

She was being taken to another location.

A half hour or so later, the carriage finally started moving. It was a simple cargo carrier, traveling by night. Its wheels reverberated with every hoofbeat, shaking Mira’s poor back and butt.

“Treat the passenger a little better, would you? Good grief.” Feigning sleep was already getting difficult, and this didn’t help at all. “I’ll remember this,” she muttered angrily.

After driving for a while, the carriage containing Mira’s crate stopped in a spot where lots more carriages were parked. This was a district crowded with pubs, busiest at night, so nobody paid any attention to a random carriage parking here at this time. 

Disembarking, the doorman moved to the driver’s seat and opened the box Mira was in, apparently reluctant to let her go just yet.

Now what’s going on? Have we already reached their hideout?

Mira couldn’t tell what was happening around her, save for the fact that it was raucous. Could she start fighting now, or did she have to wait? Amid the drunken voices, she struggled to understand the situation. Finally, she decided to wait and see, feigning sleep all the while.

“Oh, man. Too good,” the doorman said.

Wha…?! You damn pervert!

Assuming she was asleep, and exploiting that fact, he groped Mira’s boobs and butt.

“Yeah, that’s nice…” the doorman moaned ecstatically, touching her to his heart’s content. 

Mira withstood the discomfort. If she punched his lights out now, it’d jeopardize the whole mission. 

After a while, the doorman muttered, “Whoops. Better hurry.” 

He left the carriage with a satisfied expression. Where was he going? Mira sent Woofson after him just in case.

I’ll kill him.

Since her arrival, he’d only added to his list of crimes. Now she’d rendered judgment. No leniency—as soon as this was all over, he was dead.

***

Two minutes later, a man got into the driver’s seat—a different one from the doorman. The doorman was going back to the first warehouse, Woofson explained. In other words, this would be a second handoff.

That was a cautious step, indeed. Mira was relieved that she’d reined herself in before.

The carriage moved again. Its fake captive writhed in pain, her rage only growing at the road’s continued violence against her delicate form.

A while later, the carriage stopped in front of a mansion on the city’s outskirts. The driver exchanged words with the gatekeeper, and the gate opened. The carriage drove onto the property, circled the building, and stopped behind it. 

This time, the wooden box containing Mira was unloaded and hauled off somewhere. When it opened, someone else touched her. Mira braced herself, recalling what’d happened earlier, but this man seemed gentler. He picked her up and laid her on something soft.

Hmm? Is this finally it?

As the aching in her butt and back lessened, she used Biometric Scan to search her surroundings. A weak signal… There were other people there, but not adults, judging by the strength of Biometric Scan’s response. 

After ensuring that the man who’d brought her here was far enough away, Mira opened her eyes a sliver. It was too dark to see anything.

Is this…a basement?

Using Ethereal Arts: Illumination for light, she checked her surroundings again. The walls and ceiling were rough stone. This seemed like an underground storehouse, but she was the only thing being stored here, besides a few simple beds. Spotting objects on them, the small signal she felt before became clear. 

Could those be…?!

There were four children on the beds, but they didn’t move, as if they were dead. The fact that Mira had sensed them with Biometric Scan meant they were all alive, though.

Hrmm… I think they’re fine. Under the circumstances, anyway.

Mira untied the ropes around her hands and feet, then checked the children one by one to ensure their safety. They were tied up, but they were just sleeping. The man who’d attacked the Korpokkur had mentioned this: The kidnapped children were transported while they slept under the effects of a special drug.

And four children are missing from Ligret, right?

Seeing the girls lying in the beds, she remembered Kagura’s description of those four missing children. She’d mentioned that they were adolescent girls resembling Mira. Clearly, these were the very same girls.

“I’ll get you out of here in no time, I promise,” Mira told the sleeping children gently. Untying their hands and feet, she used Biometric Scan once more to search a larger area around her.

There were dozens of people, perhaps even a hundred, one floor above.

That was a lot. Between that and the fact that the four children were being kept here, Mira hypothesized that this was one of the organization’s key hideouts. 

All that was left to do now was the dirty work. Once Mira had a grasp of the situation, she reported to Kagura through First Pupil.

First Pupil passed on Kagura’s reply: “‘Got it. Keep it up, Gramps. We’ll be a little longer,’ she says!” 

“Understood,” Mira replied simply, and got right to work.

First, she summoned Guardian Ash to guard the children. That would prevent the enemy from taking the girls hostage or otherwise harming them.

“Now, are you ready?” Mira asked her summons. 

Everyone replied in turn.

“Yes, Mother!”

“The Sisters Seven are prepared to fight at any moment.”

“Good and ready!”

“Ready anytime.”

“Popot’s ready to fight!”

“I’m prepared as well.”

“Undine and Sylphid say they’re also ready and raring to fight,” the Spirit King reported.

Everyone had been following her on her journey as bait, and now they surrounded the building above. Through their reports, she got a sense of its exterior. The mansion, built on a large estate, covered about four hundred square meters. It had three floors, and most of its occupants were on the first and second.

“Such reliable friends,” Mira realized anew. Then she ordered, “Chaaarge!”

The moment she did so, the floor above filled with shouts and crashes.