The battle was over. All the gangsters had been defeated, treated just enough to keep them alive, and tied to the base of a tree alongside those who had surrendered. They could contact Vengeance or the local authorities later to handle the cleanup.
"Hi," Meirin said, approaching Sasha with the prettiest smile she could muster and waving. But the strange girl was clearly too much for the child. Sasha quickly turned and burrowed into Kamibarez’s arms.
Meirin straightened up, her expression crestfallen. ‘She’s not letting her guard down easily.’ Sasha barely spoke a word to anyone but Kamibarez, her eyes darting around like a wary little animal.
"Hahaha! Excellent, everyone!" Seiwyr appeared, applauding dramatically. While the students were covered in dirt and blood, he alone was impeccably dressed. "Thank you for following my command so well, agents."
"Command? What command...!" Meirin shouted. "Where have you been? We were in some pretty dangerous situations back there. Why didn’t you help us?"
"What a disappointing thing to say." Seiwyr shrugged. "I, too, was in the midst of a fierce, life-or-death battle. I faced over thirty men at once."
"There are barely more than thirty men in this whole gang! What are you talking about?"
"Agent Meirin, that kind of nitpicking only harms teamwork. At this rate, I may have to deduct from your teamwork score."
Meirin, ever sensitive about her grades, trembled with frustration. ‘He’s being so damn petty with the scores!’
"Ah, there they are."
Dick, still in his tattered disguise, and Simon were returning from interrogating the prisoners. Dick had used the same theatrical method from the village.
"Looks like they really don’t know anything," Dick reported. "They said it’s common for clients to hide their identities in the neutral zone. They got a lot of money, so they just did what they were told."
Simon nodded in agreement.
"I see. You’ve all worked very hard, agents," Seiwyr said, looking around at everyone. "Seeing your skills improve by leaps and bounds under my guidance, my heart swells with pride."
Simon let out a silent, dry laugh.
"Ah, that’s right, that’s right. It’s all thanks to you, Agent," Dick chimed in. As sociable as ever, he played along, but his voice lacked its usual energy. It was soulless praise. Dick, too, was starting to suspect Seiwyr for his absence during the battle.
"Now then!" Seiwyr pointed at Simon. "Please present your opinion on what we should do next, Agent Simon!"
As Simon stood there with an indifferent expression, Seiwyr began to watch him cautiously before adding, "If you give an answer close to the correct one I’m thinking of, I will award you tactical points!"
At this point, Simon couldn’t care less about the score. He let out a light sigh and turned his head toward the dark mountain hill.
"We don’t know who the client is, but we found out the rendezvous point from the Sentinel’s captain. It’s a twenty-minute walk from here, so I wanted to go there directly and capture the client." He turned back to look at the shattered carriage and splattered blood. "But the battle happened too close. They would have heard the commotion, so there’s not much point in us chasing them now."
"That’s right! That’s what I was thinking, too!" Seiwyr interjected.
"For now, Sasha has injured her leg," Simon continued. "Before the night gets any deeper, we should get out of here and head back to the town where the Vengeance headquarters is. How about we look for a means of transportation?"
Seiwyr agreed, and everyone quickly scattered.
"Oh, look at this, Simon! There’s one carriage left that’s still in decent shape!" Dick called out, patting the carriage’s frame.
"It looks like a wheel is broken. Can you fix it?"
"Of course! I can just swap it with a good one from another carriage!"
While Dick started on the repairs, Simon went to look for horses. Most had either run away in the chaos or been killed in the battle. ‘I can’t make a Skeletal Horse out of these.’ He crouched in front of a dead horse and examined it. Most carriage horses on the continent were a species called Hanobred, a cross between a horse and a monster. Only the corpse of a pure horse monster could be reanimated. ‘This is a Hanobred, too.’
Simon stood up and looked around, spotting a collapsed horse breathing heavily. He quickly ran over. ‘Damn.’ It seemed this one hadn’t been able to escape because its reins were caught. It had been caught in the battle and was bleeding from a wound in its stomach, slowly dying.
"That horse is a goner," Seiwyr said, having approached at some point. "It would be best to put it out of its misery."
"Let me take a look at the wound," Simon said, pulling a potion from his Subspace.
"I’m telling you, it’s no use." Seiwyr shook his head and wandered off to lecture Meirin.
Simon pretended to pour the potion on the horse’s wound, checking over his shoulder several times. ‘Is anyone watching?’ Everyone was far away. In that moment, he respectfully brought his hands together in front of the horse’s wound. Secretly. As quickly as possible.
’Heal’
White divinity flowed from Simon’s palms and enveloped the horse’s wound. ‘Focus, focus.’ The results of his systematic training in White Magic under Professor Parahan were showing. The horse’s wound began to close rapidly. Soon, its breathing became regular, and it remained still, as if it knew it was being treated.
’Done.’ The wound was completely sealed. After finishing the treatment, Simon casually smeared some potion on the area and stood up.
"I think this horse can run."
"Really?" Dick and Meirin exclaimed, rushing over. Seiwyr joined them, his mouth falling open when he saw that the horse’s wound had truly healed.
"Ahem, very well done, Agent Simon! Actually, when I told you to put it out of its misery, it was to provoke you and bring out your true potential..."
"Yes, yes."
Simon went to check on Sasha next. Meirin came up beside him and whispered, "Hey, Simon. Don’t you think Agent Seiwyr is a little suspicious?"
Simon smiled faintly.
"He is. Everything you’re thinking is probably right."
"Huh?"
He didn’t explain any further. Up ahead, Kamibarez was with Sasha, whose leg was already wrapped in a makeshift bandage.
"Hello."
When Simon spoke, Sasha flinched and tried to run.
"Calm down." He quickly took a few steps back to give her space. Sasha threw herself into Kamibarez’s arms, and Kamibarez hugged her warmly, stroking her hair. Meirin also crouched down at a slight distance.
"It’s a relief she’s at least following Kami," she said, cupping her face in her hands as she watched them. She had a melting smile as she observed the two of them hugging. "Cuteness plus cuteness equals super-duper cuteness!"
’What is she talking about?’ Simon thought, crouching down next to her and signaling to Kamibarez.
Kamibarez saw his signal and gave a slight nod.
"Someone might attack again if we stay here," she said gently to Sasha. "Won’t you come with us?"
Sasha quickly nodded.
"...As long as I can be with you, big sis, anywhere is fine."
Fortunately, Sasha obediently followed Kamibarez. Soon, the five of them were in the carriage. Dick took the reins, with Simon and Seiwyr in the front, and Meirin, Sasha, and Kamibarez in the back. While Simon and Seiwyr discussed their route, Kamibarez kept talking to Sasha to ease her anxiety.
"Are your parents in the village?"
Sasha shook her head, her face blank.
"I’ve never even seen my mom and dad." She was an orphan.
"Then... do you want to go back to the village, Sasha?"
"I hate the village! It’s scary!" she reacted strongly.
"Scary? Who?"
"...The villagers." Her shoulders trembled, and leaves began to fall from her body. Kamibarez quickly hugged her tightly. "Okay, I understand. We won’t go to the village."
As she spoke, Kamibarez glanced at Simon, who nodded in agreement. ‘The people of Kelso definitely called Sasha a ‘monster’.’ A child born with an innate ability. To ordinary people, she might seem like a monster, especially for someone like Sasha, who couldn’t properly control her power.
This time, Meirin asked, "If you don’t have parents, did you live alone in the village?"
Sasha shook her head.
"My godfather visits sometimes."
"Godfather?"
"Yeah."
"Who is he?"
"I don’t know. But he helped me when I was sick. He made the pain go away."
Simon recalled seeing signs of someone coming and going in Sasha’s house, along with syringes and medicine. He filed away the existence of this "godfather" in his mind. ‘Alright, let’s summarize. Sasha is an orphan. Because of her innate ability, the villagers of Kelso treated her like a monster, so she’s afraid to go back. And it seems a ‘godfather’ figure used to visit and help keep her powers from going out of control. That’s about it for now. Let’s focus on returning to Vengeance.’
Simon unfolded the map.
"Agent Seiwyr, let’s go this way."
Their initial route had been Vengeance Headquarters → Kelso → Haldun Mountains. Now, they would head straight down from the mountains to the town where the Vengeance headquarters was located. He was worried about monster attacks in the forest, but on the other hand, there was no better place to escape from pursuers or Efnel priests.
"And," Simon said, looking at Seiwyr, "please contact Vengeance. We don’t know when Efnel might attack, so it would be best to request that they come out to meet us as far as they can."
At that, Seiwyr’s face went blank, and he stammered, "Ha, haha! I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Agent Simon! Vengeance is busy too, so we should solve this on our own...!"
"No way," Meirin said, a triumphant smile spreading across her face. "You wouldn’t be trying to say that an ace agent of Vengeance doesn’t even have a communication crystal, the lifeline to headquarters, would you?"
If there was a hell on earth, this was it. In a pond of blood, hundreds of monsters with grotesquely swollen bodies let out agonized groans. In the middle of this hell, created by rounding up every monster in the mountain range, stood a man with fluttering orange hair. His face was melted as if from a burn, and one of his eyes was a faint, milky white. Beneath his fluttering priest’s robe, he wore an outfit lined with numerous cases and work pockets filled with syringes and medicines.
"I hope this works," the man said, his voice devoid of emotion as he stuck a syringe into a monster’s body. One of the creature’s fingers swelled up like a rock. It staggered in agony, but the man simply stood up, unconcerned.
"What a foul hobby," a voice said from the darkness.
The man turned and bowed.
"Laus, ladies."
From the shadows, four female students in white Efnel uniforms approached, each carrying a different weapon. One of them stepped forward.
"Are you the instructor?" she asked.
"Yes. That’s how it turned out. My name is Figaro."
"I’m Lirinet."
After a brief exchange of greetings, the two stood facing each other.
"Instructor, what on earth did you do?" one of the students behind Lirinet asked, pointing at the monster corpses.
"I was creating something useful from those who have been cursed by the Goddess," Figaro said, as if it were nothing. In the Holy Federation, monsters were simply seen as cursed creatures. Lirinet, not particularly interested in them, got straight to the point.
"Let’s talk business."
"Yes, first, I will brief you on the situation," Figaro said.
Lirinet shrugged.
"Is there anything to brief? It’s just kidnapping someone from the neutral zone with high divine compatibility."
"The situation has become complicated. Kizen has caught the scent and intervened."
At the word "Kizen," Lirinet’s eyes widened. The students behind her began to whisper among themselves.
"Kizen was one step ahead," Figaro continued. "Your arrival was delayed, so I acted on my own. I hired a local gang to bring the target here."
"That’s resourceful. Did you succeed?"
"I failed." Figaro shook his head. "Kizen caught up and took the girl. They’ve probably escaped by now."
Lirinet’s expression hardened.
"For Kizen to get involved," Figaro went on, "she must be more than just an ordinary person with high divine compatibility. She also possesses a unique ability. She might truly be on the level of a Saintess Candidate."
"Let’s go after them right away," Lirinet said, her passion flaring. "If Kizen attacked and took the target, then we just have to attack Kizen and take her back."
Figaro smiled.
"Are you confident? A mercenary group of over thirty men was completely wiped out."
"A match between Kizen and Efnel is something we can never avoid. And," Lirinet said, the corners of her mouth lifting into a smirk, "the necromancers of Kizen are absolutely no match for us from Efnel."

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