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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I was too late.
I had acted like an idiot and ended up being late.
What if something happened to Emilia?
What if she suffered irreparable damage?
Or worse, if she died?
“Damn it…”
Hertlocker would become an uncontrollable monster.
Free from all restraints, he would grow insanely, fueled by anger, and as a villain at that.
By then, this world might be destroyed by Hertlocker’s hands before reaching its final chapter.
“You’ll regret this.”
I didn’t know who had kidnapped Emilia, but they had kindly provided an address.
If it wasn’t a fake address to mislead me but the real one, they would come to deeply regret it.
If anything happened to Emilia, they would have to be prepared for retaliation.
“Haa.”
As soon as I entered the alley, my breath was caught.
The path was completely blocked, by thugs wielding all sorts of tools.
I hadn’t expected this.
“Is that him?”
“Looks like it.”
If they knew who I was, they wouldn’t have thought to block me with such things.
They must be subcontractors of subcontractors.
They seemed to be cheaply hired thugs meant to buy time.
Judging by how none of them recognized me, I guess my face wasn’t that well-known yet.
“I’m in a hurry. It would be best to clear the way.”
“Huh? Umm. Go ahead.”
“…?”
They snickered and made a path in the middle.
What were they up to?
No, there was no time to be suspicious.
I tried to pass through quickly with brisk steps-
“Ah, wait! I forgot something.”
I was blocked by a large man.
I knew this would happen.
I could clear them all at once with magic, but I didn’t want to waste my abilities on such riffraff when I didn’t know what kind of crow I might have to face.
I opened my right hand, preparing to draw it out.
“Come to think of it, this road is off-limits!”
Axes and clubs came rushing from all directions.
I could see it.
Every movement.
Even though I hadn’t used ‘Selection and Concentration’ on agility, everything looked slow as if in slow motion.
Whirr…
My internal circuits activated, making my body feel drastically lighter, and at that moment-
“W-what is that?”
“Huh?”
Light burst forth from my right hand.
My first targets were the weapons flying at me.
I quickly ducked and swung Vafe.
Zing! Slash!
“Argh!”
Clubs and fingers scattered as screams rang out.
They suddenly backed away, creating space.
Surprise. Confusion. Fear.
Numerous emotions were reflected in their eyes.
It reminded me that they too were people with personalities, but-
“You should have chosen your client more carefully.”
That wasn’t enough reason to spare them, they were nothing more than trash of the Empire anyway.
I might as well think of it as doing some volunteer cleanup.
“H-hieek!”
My unusually light body sprang forward, and the beam of light flew at them.
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It took more time than I thought, there were just too many of them.
Still, I didn’t go so far as to chase down and kill those who were fleeing.
If there were other thugs waiting, they would be excellent mediums to spread fear.
Zing…
As I opened my fist, Vafe was sucked back into my palm.
After swinging Vafe to my heart’s content this time, I realized one thing.
This thing’s performance was too good.
Its cutting power was so great that I felt no resistance even when slicing horizontally through a human body.
It seemed like it could cut through a thin shield in one stroke.
“Phew…”
Now that I looked, my whole body was covered in blood.
My hands were trembling, but that was all.
It was my first time killing so many people, but I felt nothing beyond extreme tension.
It felt like I had crossed a river of no return.
“Damn it…”
“…?”
At that moment, I heard a faint sigh from afar.
There was a group looking at me in shock.
They were holding weapons too, but judging by their appearance, they didn’t look like thugs.
Crows?
“We received a request about an extremely vicious criminal, but you’ve already done the deed, huh?”
“Surrender quietly, boy. We don’t want to get rough.”
“…”
A group of adventurers?
It seemed they had even resorted to false requests to capture me.
If I killed them too, my position would become quite troublesome.
“I’m Schlus Hainkel, a first-year student at the Imperial Academy. I only acted in self-defense after being attacked first.”
“Oh my! You’re Schlus Hainkel? Then I’m Gawayn, kid!”
“…”
I should have worn my school uniform if I knew this would happen.
Looking at the opposite end of the alley, it was already filled with another group of adventurers.
There was no way out.
“The situation is urgent, so I’d appreciate it if you let me go. I’ll come back soon and explain everything.”
“That’s what all criminals say. Why don’t you just come quietly without getting hurt? We want to make a name for ourselves, you know?”
“Ha…”
I was really screwed.
I couldn’t kill them because they were adventurers.
But if I let them be, they were strong enough that it would be tough to handle them without using my abilities.
I was in a dilemma.
Moreover, with things getting so noisy, the Intelligence Agency must have noticed by now.
Damn it…
If they found out it was Emilia who was kidnapped, Hertlocker wouldn’t sit still.
I had to get out of this situation first, rescuing Emilia was the top priority.
Zing…
“W-what’s that?”
“Flash magic?”
I had no choice.
I activated my internal circuits to draw out Vafe and-
Bang! Crack!
I stabbed Vafe into the wall and climbed up the building.
They rushed at me in surprise, but I was already at a height beyond human reach.
“Magic! Shoot magic!”
“I-it’s not working!”
“Huh? Why is this happening?”
Dismantling all of the flashing formulas from all directions, I quickly climbed to the roof.
A cool breeze blew in, and the view of the district spread out before my eyes.
It would be nice if they couldn’t follow me now…
“Hurry up and climb! Quick!”
From below, I could already hear busy sounds of people climbing stairs towards the roof.
I had to quickly put some distance between us.
“Phew. I can do this.”
I took a deep breath and ran quickly across the roof.
Then I jumped precariously from the edge.
I barely landed on the next building and ran again.
For now, my target was the address written in the letter.
I could only judge whether it was a trap or not once I got there.
The direction should be that way…
“It’s there.”
I felt mana waves seeping from far away.
A barrier formula?
It was quite high-powered.
That must be it, without a doubt.
‘No. Is that really it?’
Suddenly, I had doubts.
With that level of output, even someone not as sensitive to magic as Schlus could easily detect it.
Would kidnappers who had taken Emilia and needed to prevent her rescue advertise their location so blatantly?
The thought that it was a decoy grew stronger.
Of course, it could also be due to their confidence that the barrier couldn’t be broken.
Both possibilities made some sense.
‘That’s a trap.’
In the end, I decided not to go to the address written in the letter.
There was probably a trap set to ensnare me.
I judged that their goal was more focused on ruining my midterm exam than harming me, so they would try to stall for time somehow.
But if I couldn’t find any other clues, I would have no choice but to head there eventually.
‘Find it. Damn it, find something.’
I kept using Examine while looking down for anything that could be a clue.
Just one would be good.
In the midst of this, something strange caught my eye.
“Jin?”
Jin.
Although she appeared to be an old woman on the outside, the caption above her said she was Jin the Crow.
I found it.
A clue.
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“Damn it, how many were hired?”
“It seems like every thug in this area has been bought off!”
“Not just this area. Looking at it, there are guys from other regions too!”
In a closed cafe-cum-bar.
Inside, radio reports were coming in frantically.
It was an emergency.
Thugs who had received suspiciously large sums of money from someone were causing problems by obstructing traffic here and there.
However, the range was so wide that it was impossible to tell exactly where they were trying to block access to.
Of course, this couldn’t be found out even if they caught the thugs and broke their legs.
All they knew was that they had been ordered to guard the roads.
“This is no ordinary matter…”
Of course, these thugs weren’t causing serious damage.
In less than an hour, the Imperial Police who had received reports and been dispatched would suppress this situation.
Then what reason was there to cause such an insignificant commotion, even spending a large sum of money?
The commotion lasting just that one hour must be the goal in itself.
This must be…
“A kidnapping.”
“…!”
At that moment, the door burst open and a man with a dark expression entered.
It was Hertlocker.
“Kidnapping? Who?”
“Emilia has been kidnapped.”
He dropped a basket with a thud, it was a small basket filled with groceries.
Eric immediately recognized it as Emilia’s.
It was the one Emilia had made whenever she had time, saying she would use it for shopping.
“The target is Schlus Hainkel. Their goal is probably to ruin his midterm exam. We’ve received information that there’s a boy going around slicing up thugs while claiming to be him.”
“Hertlocker.”
“Don’t try to stop me! I can’t calm down!”
“Ow. My ears hurt. I wasn’t going to stop you, you idiot.”
“What?”
Hertlocker, who was about to rush out of the cafe, looked at Eric with a dumb expression.
“Take a radio artifact with you. I’ll give you real-time updates on the information. You don’t need support troops, right? They’d only get in your way.”
“You know well.”
“Annoying bastard. Get going already!”
“Yes!”
Hertlocker grabbed the artifact and rushed out in an instant.
Since Hertlocker always lost his reason when it came to matters involving his little sister, there was no way to stop him, nor any reason to.
The only worry was-
“I hope he doesn’t attack his own side…”
When he encountered Schlus Hainkel.
Right now, they were both moving with the common goal of rescuing Emilia, but it was obvious what would happen when the two met.
All they could do was desperately pray that the two wouldn’t encounter each other.
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[they better not have touched emilia cuz hertlocker gon castrate them]
So this is how the Exams get stretched.
Kill that bitch jin