This chapter is updated by Novels.pl
Today was the deadline to turn in the thesis, presentation draft, and materials to the school.
Suzune, Isori, and Tatsuya had no interest in trying to slapdash the job the day before the deadline, so they had produced the data disc the day before.
During the lunch break, they gathered to go over the final checklist that was not directed towards the contents within, but examining the context and manner of presentation of the major points. After passing their inspection, they accepted Haruka's suggestion and Suzune personally handed the data disc to Tsudzura.
"Does Ono-sensei's advice to not turn in the thesis online have anything to do with yesterday's incident?"
After finishing the portion he was responsible for, Isori asked in a blank manner.
"Possibly."
After finishing his task (even the burden allotted to a Year 1 student was by no ans light), Tatsuya replied in a whisper to avoid distracting Suzune.
"It would be far simpler to hack from on campus to get a glimpse of the network."
"Even then that's quite challenging." Isori shrugged at Tatsuya's point.
At the sa ti, accompanied by the typing sounds on a traditional keyboard
the sound from Suzune's favored traditional keyboard
Suzune turned back this way.
"Was it really a student from our school?"
After finishing her inspection, Suzune organized the materials and joined the conversation.
"No, that remains a 'maybe'."
"Even the uniform wouldn't be that difficult to obtain if they tried."
Hearing Tatsuya and Isori's replies, Suzune fell into thought. "Isori-kun and Chiyoda-san should have access to the student roster."
Isori was a mber of the Student Council and Kanon was the Chief of the Public Moral Committee, so they had the power to review the student roster. Of course, the amount of private information available was zero, so they could only make a cursory inspection of mug shots and full photos.
"Kanon was the only one who got a partial glimpse from the side of the face, so we have to be careful we don't exclude the suspect. Also, with nearly 300 female students on campus, there's no way to identify our target if we can't narrow it down to a manageable number."
Isori wasn't referring to this as a hypothetical situation.
In reality, these were Kanon's words after attempting that this morning.
"Yesterday, the only thing we could say is that one side was chasing the other. Even if we know who the culprit was, the only thing we could do is put her under surveillance, which is the sa thing as doing nothing."
Suzune and Isori were aware of what Tatsuya was saying.
Monitoring students that haven't broken any rules
technically, using a flashbang while escaping could constitute a problem
may lead to accusations of stalking.
At this stage, there was nothing they could do except be on their guard.
By the ti Tatsuya returned to class, Erika already took over his seat. "Ah, you're really early today."
She quickly discovered Tatsuya's presence and rose from the chair.
She wasn't impudent enough to keep sitting there. After Tatsuya sat down, she sat on the edge of the desk itself, which was exercising considerable restraint on her part. "What were you guys talking about?"
Still, just as Erika observed, he was quite early today.
He didn't imdiately face towards the terminal, but struck up a conversation with Mizuki, who sat next to him.
The conversation target was Mizuki because she wore an uneasy expression on her face.
"She said she felt soone watching her." However, the one who answered was Erika. "Watching her?"
At his renewed question, Mizuki hesitantly nodded.
"Early in the day, I felt an annoying gaze on . A nauseating gaze that's lurking in the darkness sowhere."
"A stalker perhaps?"
"That is impossible. I'm not a worthwhile target to be pursued."
The likeliest possibility was presented first, but Mizuki shot that one down by repeatedly shaking her head as if to dispel a ridiculous notion.
"I'm not the target. I think I'm just part of a much larger web being cast out."
Her vague words were likely because she wasn't able to express herself very well.
On the other hand, Tatsuya knew perfectly what she was trying to convey.
"In other words, the target isn't a single student, but many students and professors or even the school at large. Is that what you an?"
"Ah, uh......
That may be my mistake too."
The uncertain attitude was also one facet of her personality. Since they had no evidence, there was nothing for it.
"No, I think Shibata-san is onto sothing."
Yet, as if to shore up Mizuki's flagging confidence, Mikihiko arrived and spoke in the affirmative.
"Since yesterday morning, the spirits on campus have been thrown into an unnatural uproar. I think soone must have thrown down a Shiki."
Since Erika occupied Tatsuya's seat, Leo didn't keep turning around like he usually did. However, he whirled around after hearing Mikihiko's words.
"Shiki, as in a shikigami from SB Magic?" Mikihiko nodded at Leo's inquiry.
"It's a little difficult to tell since they used a different type than we do, but there's definitely a Magician of unknown origin snooping around here."
"It's not that rare of an occurrence, is it?" Erika's skepticism also held rit.
Even though this was a high school, they were still affiliated with the magic universities and had access to many important docunts. With so many talented Magicians in its faculty, First High was often the target of individuals who hod in on magic abilities.
"Generally speaking, if they are blocked by the defensive magics hung on the walls, they usually don't co back the sa day. But this opponent continues his assault no matter how many tis they've been beaten back. The fact that they're searching for sothing isn't surprising, but this is the first ti I've seen such sheer obstinacy since coming to school here."
Mikihiko responded to Erika's rather tactful objection with a confident rejoinder of his own.
"......Mikihiko, just then, you said they used a different sort of magic than we did, correct?"
"Indeed I did."
Mikihiko was quite concerned by Tatsuya's choice of words and nervously confird Tatsuya's question.
"Are you saying a shikigami from a different branch of the Shinto System? Or are you saying that it's fundantally different from this country's Ancient Magic?"
He had no idea that the contents of such a carelessly phrased sentence could be mined from another direction; Mikihiko's expression grew solemn.
"I think that's not a magic spell from our country."
"Hey, are you talking about foreign spies?"
"Isn't that the exact point he's making?"
Leo's wide-eyed stare completely contrasted against Erika's light words, but in reality both of them were on the sa wavelength.
"Such conspicuous behavior."
"They're doing whatever they please. What the heck are the police doing?"
Thanks to Tatsuya's words, Erika directed her ire towards the law enforcent.
Rather than being outraged at public officials slacking on the job, she appeared to be scolding her family mbers instead, which prompted an "Ah?" thought from both Tatsuya and Mikihiko.
anwhile, Inspector Chiba of the Kanagawa Prefecture Police
more like exiled from the main office to the Kanagawa Prefecture Police Departnt
sneezed as if on cue.
"......What's wrong, Inspector? You suddenly look agitated."
Sergeant Inagaki, who was currently investigating the illegal entry incident at the Yokohama Harbor, directed a look at his imdiate superior's suspicious action.
"Ah, for so reason I feel cold all of a sudden."
"Are you OK? We're busy enough as it is, don't even try to pretend to be ill."
"What do you an pretend to be ill, you......"
Inspector Chiba's voice had a tinge of a reprimand mixed in, which Inagaki promptly ignored.
"Inagaki-kun, you should at least respect the chain of command." At Chiba's words, Inagaki gave him a skeptical look.
"You're in no position to say that" was written all over his face, but the words that ca out of his mouth were entirely different.
"Compared to that, do we need to continue taking testimonials? I doubt we'll find any more witnesses even if we go further."
Inagaki had a point there. After many days of recording testimonies, they received no new information on those who penetrated the border.
Chiba wore a self-depreciating grin as he looked at Inagaki, whom he saw more as a partner than a subordinate.
"Of course there are witnesses, it's just that they choose to remain silent."
"Inspector, you an......"
Inagaki seed to pick out sothing from his superior's delicate tone as his eyes sharpened.
"Hey, don't scare anybody."
"I think the Inspector is the terrifying one. Did you notice sothing?"
"Relax, I didn't do anything off the book. Well, they say snakes go through snake paths, so let's take a look at the snake's den."
Hearing Chiba's proposal, Inagaki wore an unwilling expression.
"Backdoor dealings are still against the law......"
"I think this still falls within acceptable paraters, right? Not like this is the ti to worry over small details like that."
"Uh......
Is that so?"
As Inagaki was nodding and looking for a counter argunt, Chiba had already taken a seat in the driver's seat of the plainclothes police car parked in the free parking area. After verifying that his partner had climbed on board, Chiba took the car towards the high class residential sector dominated by foreigners.
The destination for the plainclothes patrol car carrying Inspector Chiba and Sergeant Inagaki was the parking lot for a cafe located in the Yokohama Hills area. After Chiba turned off the engine, Inagaki turned a sour face on him.
"Inspector, I have nothing against taking a break here and there, but weren't we headed for the 'snake's den'?"
At his subordinate who was leveling a hard look at him that blatantly accused him of being lazy, Inspector Chiba responded with a regretful expression.
"This is the 'snake's den'."
"Ah?"
After hurriedly catching up to his superior who had already disembarked and was locking the door with a remote, Inagaki looked over the cafe once more as he stood next to Chiba.
At first glance, this was a quiet, peaceful cafe. The quaint windows modeled after a cabin in the mountains had a pair of shutters that were currently open and not trying to hide anything at all.
"Ah, calling him a snake would be disrespectful to the owner. The owner's intelligence network is quite sophisticated and he doesn't have a criminal record either."
"Are you saying he's a big fish that we haven't pinned anything on yet?"
"I think he would prefer the term professional businessman over a big fish."
Inspector Chiba lightly shrugged and opened the "Rotterbart" doors.
Thanks to its proximity to tourist locations, there were quite a few custors present, even though it was already past the ti for usual luncheon.
Still, the place wasn't very rowdy.
The mood within the cafe seed to reflect the owner's personality as each of the custors sat there quietly enjoying their drinks. All present belonged to a slightly older generation. Any assumption that they were all tourists would be incorrect, as the majority of them appeared to be regular patrons who favored this establishnt in particular.
Chiba sat in the second chair in one corner of the counter (Inagaki occupied the first) and ordered two cups of coffee from the owner.
The owner appeared to be a businessman on the outside, but Chiba knew very well that he hadn't abandoned his other trade either. Still, the conversation was stillborn before the coffee arrived and just sitting there seed to be a waste of ti, so he took this opportunity to glance around the place.
Off to the side of the counter, a coffee mug that had just been used sat there likely because the custor had just left in a hurry so the owner didn't have ti to recover the mug. What a sha that such a wonderful coffee was just wasted like that. As he ruminated over this idea in boredom, Chiba suddenly discovered that while he was fixated on the coffee mug, the custor he thought had departed in a hurry had returned.
The one who sat down next to the counter was a young woman roughly Chiba's age.
He kept his face forward while surreptitiously glancing at the woman's features.
At first glance, she didn't possess incredible beauty. She wore a plain tunic and skirt, but upon closer inspection, she possessed delicate facial features and an outstanding figure.
This gave Chiba the feeling that she intentionally applied a small amount of makeup.
After drinking in these details, he wordlessly shifted his gaze forward. He should be calling himself out on his idiocy.
His excuse for not asking a few questions in a professional capacity was because of her inconspicuous appearance, but his actions just now were practically outright flirting.
Inagaki's suspicious gaze was starting to hurt.
The owner behaved as his cool appearance suggested and continued to silently prepare the coffee.
Chiba could only sit there and wait for the coffee to be served. At this ti, an unexpected laughter broke the silence.
He could only use his eyes to verify this, but just as he expected, her shoulders were shaking as she bowed her head forward.
"......I apologize. I was still thinking of how to handle a conversation, then you just went ahead and sat there. So it's true that you're not adept at handling won, O heir of the Chiba Family?"
Inspector Chiba was astounded, and not because she was dead on regarding his personality.
Nor was it a major secret that he was the heir of the Chiba Family.
Still, he never tried to proactively publicize his identity or picture through public relations.
In terms of publicized information, his brother Naotsugu far surpassed him.
Besides criminals or those affiliated with the police, anyone able to tell that he was Chiba Toshikazu on sight would have to hail from a select group of the world's population.
Naly, people who wielded magic in live combat. "You are......"
"Pleased to et you, Inspector Chiba. You may call
Fujibayashi Kyouko."
This ti Chiba was truly struck speechless.
The daughter of the Fujibayashi Family renowned for their prowess in Ancient Magic and granddaughter of Kudou Retsu, one of the elders in the Japanese magic community, stood before him smiling without reserve.
It had been a long ti since Tatsuya's party of eight had passed through the school gates together.
"Tatsuya-kun, have you finished all the preparations for the Thesis Competition?"
Even though the eight of them hadn't congregated recently, the one who first asked this question for so unknown reason was Honoka, who attended the Student Council with Miyuki and departed with Tatsuya on a daily basis.
"I can only say we've finished this stage. Right now, we still have to worry about the minute details like preparing the models for the presentation and assorted adjustnts."
"Sounds tough. Speaking of which, Mizuki's helping out with the model production, right?"
Erika didn't belong to either the Student Council or the Club Activities Group, yet was still curiously well inford as she shook her ponytail back and forth as she looked towards Mizuki.
"Ah, yes. I'm helping out a Year 2 senpai. Even though I'm not really doing anything."
"We left the model entirely to Isori-senpai, so it makes sense that Year 2 students make up the bulk of the production personnel."
"Hm~, so what does Tatsuya do?"
Leo took this opportunity to ask Tatsuya, who had voiced his support for Mizuki.
"I perform calibration for the magic techniques used during the presentation."
"......Isn't it usually the other way around?"
"Really? In terms of producing objects, I think Isori-senpai's several leagues ahead of ."
"Well, Kei-senpai does fit the 'alchemist' impression more than a 'magister'. I guess this is the right tool for the job."
Seeing Tatsuya tilt his head, Erika wryly smiled and expressed her agreent.
"Alchemist? RPG?"
Shizuku continued to keep her head tilted to one side. "Using that as an analogy, what class would Tatsuya be?" Suddenly, Mizuki sprouted this question.
"He would be a mad scientist of course." [Erika] "That's not from an RPG." [Shizuku] "Then, maybe a sage dwelling in the remote lands far removed from civilization that imparts a secret technique." [Erika] "A martial sage then." [Leo] "An evil wizard scheming to conquer the world?" [Erika] "I think a Demon King would be more suitable." [Mikihiko] "No, no, no, after defeating the Demon King, turns out I'm the real man behind the man~. Doesn't he fit being the Final Boss who bars the main character's way?" [Leo] "How co everyone doesn't think he fits the hero?" [Honoka] "Forget it, Honoka. I do give off an evil vibe after all." [Tatsuya] "Onii-sama, strength alone is the true justice." [Miyuki] "Oh snap, as expected of the Demon King's sister!" [Erika]
......And thus, a vibrant discussion began.
Even though they were walking along and bickering as students do, Tatsuya never let down his guard.
After reaching the intersection that leads to a few small stores, Tatsuya turned to face the direction where he felt soone watching him.
"Want to head over there?"
In response to Tatsuya's suggestion to take a detour and incur more ti spent to handle the pursuit,
"Agreed!"
"Tatsuya will probably be very busy starting tomorrow."
"Indeed. Let's grab a cup of tea."
Erika, Leo, and Mikihiko's responses seed a little too eager. They likely each had their own agenda in mind.
Tatsuya feigned ignorance and pushed open the door that led to the Anneliese Cafe.
Unfortunately, their usual two tables that seated four people each weren't available to be joined together, so the eight of them crowded around the counter and the table that stood closest.
The ones next to the counter were Tatsuya, Miyuki, Honoka, and Mizuki (In order of seating, there was Mizuki, Miyuki, Tatsuya, and Honoka).
At the table, Erika sat with Shizuku while Leo and Mikihiko shared the other side.
From an outsider's perspective, Tatsuya would undoubtedly be the scoundrel with a harem of several beauties serving him.
"Ah~, welco, welco. Seems you're just as popular as usual, Tatsuya-kun."
Eh, forget outsiders, even the owner of the establishnt who was familiar with their group cast a cold gaze from the other side of the counter.
"I'm sure the owner would be just as popular if you would just shave off that beard."
Tatsuya intentionally retaliated with the taboo (?) word popular.
"That's true, Owner. That beard is a darn waste and makes you look rather old."
Thanks to Mizuki's innocent (?) nature, she naturally provided supporting fire.
"Old, eh......
Mizuki-chan certainly doesn't hold anything back."
His beard definitely qualified as a ss. The owner sighed deeply while gently brushing his beard in order.
Despite the gray coloring, the owner wasn't nearly as ancient as Mizuki made him out to be.
More like he was quite young actually. Certainly he wasn't yet 30 years of age.
His hair color and beard were both gray, likely due to genetics. After all, the owner was a quarter German (Anneliese ant "slight wind" in German, which ward Leo's heart enough to make him a frequent patron).
Still, the only feature that marked his foreign lineage was his hair color, as his pupils were black and his face was thin and angular in the
Asian fashion. Even though he had the gentle aura of a handso male, the owner seed to be very particular about his appearance and took great pains to cultivate his beard and hair to create a more masculine image.
Nevertheless, Tatsuya and company felt that the beard didn't suit him very well, but the scent of coffee more than compensated for that. Of course, all eight of them ordered coffee.
"Eh......
So you're appearing in the Thesis Competition."
While the water was on the broil, the owner inquired the reason why they hadn't frequented here recently and responded with an appropriately exaggerated nod.
"You're quite capable despite your Year 1 student status."
The owner's feelings weren't just idle talk to pass the ti. Speaking of which, even though the owner didn't have any magic talent of his own, the very fact that he opened a store on the road to the magic high school implied that he knew a few details regarding the world of Magicians. Occasionally during their idle conversations, he could surprise Tatsuya and the others with news or trivia that they didn't know about before.
"It's Yokohama's turn to host the event this year, right? My old house is in Yokohama. The setting will be in the International Conference Center like usual, eh? That's quite close to my house."
The owner continued to speak as he used this opportunity to pour the coffee from the kettle into the mugs.
"Where's your old house in Yokohama?"
Mizuki asked this question as she took the coffee for four people from the owner on a tray in place of a waitress.
"There's a cafe called 'Rotterbart' halfway up the Yokohama Hills."
"So your old house is also a cafe."
"Indeed. If you get a chance, make sure you stop by. I would love to hear an unreserved opinion on who serves a better cup of coffee between my father and I."
"Owner, you're a heck of a salesman."
Shizuku returned the tray in place of Mizuki and offered a direct retort that caused both sides of the counter to burst into laughter.
By the ti Tatsuya's mug was down to its last third, Erika had already drained her cup in one gulp and silently placed the mug back (a sign of excellent upbringing on her part) and rose to her feet.
"Erika-chan?"
"I need to use the restroom."
After replying to Mizuki, who had raised her head in question, she lightly walked towards the back of the store.
"Oh!"
Afterwards, Leo imdiately pressed a hand to his pocket and stood up.
"Sorry, phone call."
Leo stepped outside after dropping that line. "Mikihiko, what are you doing?"
Tatsuya's gaze returned from Leo's oddly polite behavior to rest on the notebook (more like a small journal) that lay open next to Mikihiko's hand.
"Uh, well, there's a few things I have to write down so I don't forget them."
As Mikihiko replied back, the hand holding a pen never stopped moving.
"You'll be discovered if your movent is too obvious, so make sure to dial it down."
After Tatsuya said this and swept a razor sharp glance behind Mikihiko's back
and not his surroundings
he kept his back to the counter and continued sipping his coffee like nothing happened.
"Old man, want to have so fun?"
Even though this was an alley with sparse traffic, the man almost dropped the drink in his hand upon hearing these words before the sun had even set.
Turning around, he found a young girl with a ponytail that could be described as "beautiful" in a heartbeat standing at the intersection where he was keeping an eye on the cafe's backdoor. She kept both hands held behind her back as she smiled happily.
However, upon recognizing her face, the man beca anxious for a wholly different reason.
"What are you talking about? You should be more careful with yourself."
"Ah? I just said 'have so fun'. What exactly did you take that for?"
The young girl continued to wear an innocent smile as she tilted her head to one side. There was no doubt about it, she was one of the people close to his surveillance target.
"Don't mock adults. Now stop ssing around and go ho."
He was ntally sweating buckets, so all he could do was put on his ga face and continue to act like "an adult annoyed by a child's antics and about to leave".
"The sun is about to set. If you stay in a place with little traffic like this, you risk running into the phantom killer."
As he said this, the man turned his back on the young girl. Only to stop dead in his tracks.
"......By phantom killer, you an soone like ?"
Directly in front of him, a bulky youth chuckled while smacking his fist that was covered with a black glove into his other hand that also wore a black glove.
"Didn't you know? Phantom killers refer to 'Magicians who just happen to be "passing through" '."
Within the young girl's happy reply to the young man, the man began to feel increasingly uneasy and turned around again.
The young girl wielded a retractable police baton and fell into a combat stance.
She smoothly raised the police baton in her hand, but that simplistic motion caused an overpowering pressure to resonate from the young woman in an instant.
If he had lowered his guard, that "pressure" would have sent the man to his knees......
From this, he knew what that was.
That was her fighting spirit.
Not killing intent, the wish to crush the life from one's opponent, but a pure desire to seek combat.
"Scary...... So you're the type of woman who only reveals her true nature in these kinds of places."
He heard a voice rrily comnting on the situation.
Despite his inability to verify the conditions behind him, he believed that the young man must have made this remark with a grin on his face.
"Help! Thieves!"
There was no way for him to escape. If that was the case, the man decided he might as well call for help.
He possessed a modicum of ability.
Even if he wasn't the most talented individual, he didn't believe that he could be vanquished by fifteen or sixteen year olds.
Regardless, he was currently in the middle of an assignnt, so he chose to avoid confrontations if possible, given that squaring off against them served no benefit towards his mission paraters.
"Wow~, how weak......"
"No, no, I think you should praise his decisive judgnt, right?"
The action the man chose seed to gravely disappoint the young girl.
But the young girl didn't let go of the police baton, nor did the young man drop his raised fists.
Afterward, nobody ca to answer the man's calls for help.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ntion that it's useless for you to call for help, OK? After all, no one drops by this area."
"More like no one can even approach. We've already set up a barrier around here with our 'understanding' as the foundation, so you're not leaving here without knocking us out, got it?"
Hearing the girl's words, the man finally realized that nobody had passed by since the start of their confrontation.
They found out.
He was out of options.
The man retrieved the cup he dropped earlier and drew to his full height.
Wearing a thin jacket, he raised his hands like he was protecting his head
which was what they thought until he suddenly turned towards Leo and dropped his left arm to a 90 degree angle at the height of his stomach.
"Hmph...... The boxing stance known as the Hitman Style? I thought you actually carried weapons of so sort......"
"You idiot, just because he didn't pull one out doesn't an he's not carrying one!"
Hearing the warning (?) Erika threw out, the man clucked his tongue. Still, beyond that, he didn't appear to be overly anxious.
He didn't have any need to keep up pretenses. There was no ti for that.
The cowardly middle-aged man who was just screaming had warped into an experienced fighter who was closing in on Leo.
His lowered arm whipped towards Leo and landed blows like rain falling to the earth.
The bullet-like punches ca crashing towards Leo's face.
The continuous chain of attacks persisted without pause, which gave proof to the fact that this man was a wolf and not a sheep.
However, neither Leo nor Erika was surprised by this turnout.
Through Erika's insight developed through long years of training and Leo's natural instincts, they already detected that the man's real nature was that of a wolf, no, a highly-trained hunting hound.
With astonishing speed.
Matched with incredible power.
And most importantly, the ability to move at a speed that surpassed human physical abilities without a trace of magic usage.
He had launched dozens of punches in less than 10 seconds without leaving any room for retaliation, so Leo could only move his arms left and right to defend himself.
Finally, there was a chink in Leo's defenses and a fist bypassed Leo's defenses and crashed straight into his face.
Pow, with a sound of a rubber balloon bursting, Leo went flying backwards.
Without wasting any ti to verify the result, the man imdiately swiftly whirled around.
Using the centripetal force when turning around, he flung a flying dagger towards Erika.
Clang, the crisp sound of tallic impact.
Erika used her police baton to deflect the dagger.
Since she swung her police baton from inside to out, there was an opening in her forward defenses.
Without missing a beat, the man's left fist swung towards Erika's face. However, the police baton pulled back to defend at a speed that surpassed the man's fist, so he pulled back.
Not only did he pull back the punch, the man's entire body jumped backwards. Yet, in the next instant.
"Gah!"
The man's back took a direct hit from a powerful shoulder tackle and he went face first into the ground.
"......
Ouch, that hurt. This guy isn't a normal human being. Still, I didn't feel any machinery during contact......
Maybe he's using dicinal enhancents?"
After applying a tackle from behind, Leo rubbed his chin where he took the hit and murmured at the man stretched out on the ground without letting down his guard.
"......You're in no position to talk. Just then, you definitely took a solid blow to the face."
Compared to the groaning man who was trying to find purchase with his hands, Erika seed to be more wary of Leo as she said this.
"Of course. After all, as a Magician, a fourth of
is thanks to the research labs. I have no inclination to say that this is entirely due to my natural genes."
Leo chuckled wryly at Erika's piercing gaze and ruthlessly kicked at the prone man's limbs.
"Ooph!"
"Stay down. We don't want your life. We just want to know why you're following us around."
Leo spared a glance at Erika to find her utterly shocked at his barbaric behavior wholly unlike that of a normal person before raising a foot off the ground.
The implication was obvious.
"......
Wait a second
...... I got it, I surrender......
Originally, I never...... was your enemy......
It's not worth...... getting killed over......"
"That's true. If it wasn't the two of us here, your attack would have killed us for sure."
"Aren't you...... the sa......"
Coughing in between his words, the man sat up.
"If I hadn't strengthened my flesh, that hit would've ruptured my internal organs."
The pain must have largely passed, seeing as how the man still sat on the ground but was able to speak more fluently.
"If I didn't think you were enhanced, I wouldn't have done that in the first place."
Leo's tone wasn't concerned in the slightest.
"Regardless, since you're not our enemy, then give us the low down. You can't expect us to keep this barrier up forever."
"OK. It's not my intent to draw attention to myself anyways."
The man seed to look past all this and sighed in relief.
"Start with your na, since you already know ours at this point."
"Jiro Marshall."
The man answered Leo's question, but there was no way to tell if this was his true na or not.
"I am unable to reveal any details regarding my identity, but I can say that I am not affiliated with any governnt organization. That is all."
"So you're black ops."
Again, the man didn't affirm nor deny.
"......And then? Since you won't tell the truth even if we asked, then why don't you talk about your purpose as well as the current situation?"
"My task is to monitor the magic high school students and prevent cutting edge magic technology from falling into the hands of the East. I am to take action in the event that magic technology that could constitute a military threat is leaked to the East."
At Leo's impatient urging, the man who called himself Jiro replied back in a business-like manner.
The East was a term favored by USNA intelligence agents and military personnel after the last great war. Even Leo and Erika were familiar with knowledge on that level.
That being said, this did not prove the man's connection with the USNA intelligence community. In order to confuse his affiliation, he may have intentionally used terms specific to a certain region.
"At the very least, your employer isn't soone in this country, right? Why bother with all this?"
Hearing the skeptical implication behind Leo's words, the man shook his head like he was saying "Seriously......".
"And here I thought this country's peaceful naivet had been cured, though I guess I can't apply the sa standard to teenagers......
Military balance across the globe isn't just one country's problem. If this country's technical expertise was handed to the East, then the West's technological advantage may be lost. Regardless of whether it's the New Soviet Union whose interest lies in improving existing Magic Sequences or the Pan Asian Alliance who emphasizes restoration of old magics over advancing modern magic, everyone is searching for new practical applications of technology in magic engineering for military purposes. Not just this country, but the USNA and the nations of Western Europe have seen large increases in spies that target magic engineering. Even your school has beco the target of the East as well."
"Peaceful naivet is an old term from decades ago, and if you really wanted to creepy peeper then you should be more cautious. Didn't we easily discover that you were following us?"
Irritated by the man's smug attitude, Erika ruthlessly attacked the man, but she didn't object to the actual contents of the man's ssage.
"Exactly. I'm not a spy, I'm just tasked with stopping their activities. Since I'm not your enemy, there's no conflict of interest here."
The man stood up and made a show of brushing off the dirt.
Mockingly
in reality, sarcasm probably made up 30%
the man delicately brushed his pant leg before straightening up.
In his hand was a pistol that could easily be hidden in the palm of his hand. The muzzle was pointed at Erika.
"Tch!"
"You!"
"The fact that I didn't pull this out earlier is proof that I'm not an enemy."
"......Things might get a little hairy if you used a gun. Lots of evidence will be left behind."
At Erika's furious words, the man smiled aningfully.
"That's true as well. Next, I've said everything that needs to be said, so allow
to bid adieu. May I trouble you to alert your companions to take down the barrier?"
Despite his bantering tone and attitude, there were no weaknesses to exploit in his stance. It would be suicidal for Erika and Leo to press the issue here.
With the advancents in CADs, modern magic could achieve speeds that rivaled firearms on so level. Still, this didn't an that they were "faster than guns
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