I was a step late.
I messed around like an idiot and ended up late.
What if something happens to Emilia?
What if she gets a wound that’s beyond recovery?
No, what if she just dies?
“F*ck…”
Hertlocker becomes an uncontrollable monster.
A guy who throws off all limitations will grow madly fueled by rage.
And as a villain at that.
By then, the world might face destruction at the hands of Hertlocker before reaching the final chapter.
“I’ll regret it.”
I don’t know who kidnapped Emilia, but they kindly gave me the address.
If that wasn’t a fake address to disturb me but the real one, that guy would deeply regret it.
If anything happens to Emilia, he’ll have to prepare for revenge.
“Ha.”
As soon as I stepped into the alley, it took my breath away.
The path was completely blocked.
By thugs wielding all sorts of tools.
I didn’t expect this.
“That bastard?”
“Looks like it.”
If they knew who I was, they wouldn’t think to block me with such trash.
Are they subcontractors or something?
They were probably cheap hires for stalling.
Seeing none of them recognize me means my face isn’t widely known yet.
“Hurry. It would be good to clear the way.”
“Uh? Sure. Passing through.”
“……?”
They chuckled and opened a path in the middle.
What’s their game?
No time to suspect.
I tried to pass quickly through the gap when—
“Ah, wait a minute! I forgot!”
A big guy blocked me.
I knew this would happen.
If I used magic, I’d clear out the room in an instant.
But I didn’t want to waste my abilities on these idiots when I didn’t even know which Crow to face.
I opened my right hand, preparing to pull out my weapon.
“Come to think of it, this road is off-limits!”
From all sides, axes and clubs came rushing in.
I could see everything. All the movements.
Even without using ‘Selection and Concentration’ for Agility, everything felt like it was in slow motion.
*Whoosh…!*
As the internal circuit spun up, my body felt suddenly light.
And in that moment—
“Wha-What?!”
“Huh?”
Light burst from my right hand.
My target? The weapons flying at me.
Ducking quickly, I grabbed Vafe and swung it.
*Shink! Thwack!*
“Aaaah!”
Clubs and fingers scattered, screams echoing.
They suddenly withdrew, creating space around me.
Shock. Confusion. Fear.
Countless emotions were reflected in their eyes.
That reminded me they were also beings with personalities, but—
“You should have been more careful about who you took the job from.”
That wasn’t enough reason to spare them.
They were basically trash of the Empire anyway.
I could think of it as cleaning up while volunteering.
“Ha! Ha!”
Today, my light body sprang out, and the beam shot toward the thugs.
*
I ended up delaying longer than I thought.
There were too many of them.
But I wasn’t about to waste time chasing down those trying to escape.
If there were other thugs waiting around, they’d serve as excellent conduits to spread fear.
*Zing…*
As I released my fist, Vafe was sucked back into my palm.
After swinging Vafe without restraint, I realized one thing.
This thing, it performs way too well.
The cutting power was so good that I felt no resistance even when slicing a person’s torso.
I could probably slice through a thin shield in one go.
“Whoa…”
I just noticed I was covered in blood.
My hands were trembling, but that was it.
It was my first time killing so many people, but I felt nothing beyond extreme tension.
It felt like I crossed a river of no return.
“Damn it…”
“……?”
Then, from a distance, I heard a quiet sigh.
A group was staring at me in horror.
They were also armed, but they didn’t look like thugs.
Crows?
“We came here on a request about a heinous criminal. And you’ve already caused a scene?”
“Calm down and surrender, boy. I don’t want to go rough on you.”
“……”
A group of adventurers, huh?
It seemed they mobilized a fake request just to catch me.
If I kill them too, my situation could get complicated.
“I’m Schlus Hainkel, a first-year student at Imperial University. I’m only defending myself against an attack.”
“Oh! You’re Schlus Hainkel? Then I’m Gawayn!”
“……”
If I had known this would happen, I would’ve worn my school uniform.
Looking across the alley, I saw another group of adventurers already there.
There’s no escape now.
“Things are urgent, so I’d appreciate it if you let me go. I’ll come back and explain everything soon.”
“Criminals always say that. ‘Let’s just calm down and surrender? It’ll boost my brothers’ names.'”
“Hah…”
This is bad.
I couldn’t kill them because they were adventurers.
But letting them go would mean facing formidable opponents without using my abilities.
It was a catch-22.
Plus, with all this noise, the Intelligence Agency would definitely notice.
Shit…
If it gets out that Emilia was kidnapped, Hertlocker wouldn’t just sit idle.
For now, I had to get out of this situation.
Saving Emilia was my top priority.
*Zing…*
“What’s that?!”
“Is that flash magic?”
I had no choice.
I activated my internal circuits, pulled out Vafe—
*Boom! Crash!*
Stabbing Vafe into the wall, I climbed up the building.
The thugs rushed at me in confusion, but I was already too high up for their reach.
“Magic! Shoot the magic!”
“Ah, that won’t do?”
“Huh? Why not?”
I dodged all the flashing spells and quickly climbed to the roof.
A refreshing breeze blew as the scenery of the institution came into view.
It would be great if they couldn’t catch up…
“Hurry up! Quick!”
Below, I could already hear them rushing up the stairs towards the roof.
I needed to widen the gap fast.
“Okay. I can do this.”
I took a deep breath and swiftly ran across the roof.
Then at the edge, I made a daring leap.
I barely landed on the next building and kept running.
For now, my goal was the address in the letter.
I had to check if it was a trap or not.
The direction should be over there…
“There it is.”
From afar, I sensed the mana wave slowly rising.
Is it a barrier spell?
It was quite powerful.
That must be it.
‘No. Is that the right place?’
Doubts crept in suddenly.
With such output, even someone not sensitive to mana like Schlus could easily detect it.
Would those who kidnapped Emilia openly advertise their location like this to prevent her from being rescued?
I strongly felt that this was a decoy.
Of course, that could also be due to their confidence in the barrier not breaking.
Both possibilities had some merit.
‘That’s a trap.’
Ultimately, I decided not to go to the address in the letter.
There would definitely be traps to ensnare me there.
Their goal likely wasn’t to harm me but to mess up my midterms, so they’d try to stall me in some way.
Yet if I couldn’t find another clue, I’d have no choice but to head there eventually.
‘Find it. Damn it, find it.’
I looked down, continuing my search.
Anything that could serve as a clue.
Just one would be fine.
Then something strange caught my eye.
[Jane]
[Real Name: Jin Watson]
[Gender: Female]
[A member of the Crow. Skilled in disguise. Inside there’s…]
“Jin?”
Crow Jin.
On the surface, she looked like an old woman, but the caption above said she was Crow Jin.
Found it. A clue.
*
“Who the hell hired all these guys?”
“Seems like all the thugs around here have been bought off?”
“It’s not just here. I’ve seen some from other areas too!”
In an abandoned cafe and bar.
Inside, radio communications were buzzing with reports.
It was an emergency.
Thugs who received suspicious amounts of money were causing disturbances all over the place.
But the scale was so vast, no one could figure out exactly which entrances they were blocking.
Of course, they wouldn’t be able to learn even if they broke a few legs of those thugs.
The thugs themselves only received orders to guard the paths.
“This isn’t a typical situation…”
Of course, the thugs weren’t causing serious harm.
The Empire Police would soon respond and suppress this in less than an hour.
So what reason would there be to cause such a trivial incident at great cost?
This one-hour commotion must be part of the real objective.
Could it be…?
“It’s a kidnapping.”
“……!”
Just then, the door swung open, and a stern-faced man entered.
It was Hertlocker.
“Kidnapping? By whom?”
“Emilia has been kidnapped.”
He dropped a small basket.
The basket was filled with groceries.
Eric quickly recognized it as Emilia’s.
It was something she had made with her spare time, saying she’d use it for her shopping.
“The target is Schlus Hainkel. It’s probably aimed at sabotaging his midterms. We’ve received intel that there’s a boy out there claiming to be him who’s been slicing through thugs.”
“Hertlocker.”
“Don’t try to stop me! I’m beyond calming down!”
“Geez, my ears. I wasn’t trying to stop you, you idiot.”
“Yes?”
Hertlocker, who was about to burst out of the cafe, looked at Eric with a blank expression.
“Grab that radio artifact and head out. I’ll provide you with real-time updates. You won’t need backup, right? It’ll just hinder you.”
“You know me well.”
“You annoying brat. Just get going!”
“Yes!”
Hertlocker grabbed the artifact and dashed out in an instant.
Whenever it involved his younger sister, Hertlocker lost all rationality, so there was no way to stop him, nor was there any desire to.
But what concerned me was—
“I hope he doesn’t attack my side…”
It was when he crossed paths with Schlus Hainkel.
Both were currently moving with a common goal of rescuing Emilia, but what would happen if the two met was painfully obvious.
All I could do was fervently pray they would never cross paths.
