Episode 163 – Going Out (3)

Going Out (3)

“Berrieda Ren Casano.”

He’s a well-known figure in C-Section. Various personal details are written in the file, but there’s no need to memorize them.

Because I already know him.

Instead, I searched for him on TrickNet in Trick City.

For reference, TrickNet refers to a magical communication network that only works in Trick City. It’s deeper and perfectly anonymous compared to the internet of the continent, but it requires a dedicated implant called a ‘Trickto Chip’. If you implant a Trickto, you can connect to TrickNet anytime you want using mana as fuel.

I inserted that chip into my wrist.

“It’s a D-grade chip. Upgrade it when you earn more money.”

D-grade chip implantation could be done even on a cheap seat.

I placed my finger on my wrist. As I infused mana, TrickNet appeared like a hologram in front of my eyes, on my retina.

[Connecting to TrickNet…]

[Identity confirmed: D]

[[[Newgle]]]

Newgle, a representative web surfing site on TrickNet.

I searched for articles related to Berrieda Ren Casano.

──A renowned philanthropist and devout religious person. Meet the light of C-Section, Berrieda Ren.

──Volunteering with children.

──Berrieda Ren, advocates for vigilante ‘Mila’. The children of Trick City need a hero…

All of them only introduced his mask and hypocrisy. His shell of deception is still solid.

Well, I was led by his ‘manipulated reputation’ in the past.

I turned off TrickNet and walked towards my destination.

It wasn’t far.

[Ren Orphanage]

Orphanage, Berrieda’s residence. Three simple but well-decorated buildings built on a not-so-large site on the outskirts of C-40 Section.

There must be secrets here.

“Grawl. Can you scan?”

─Yes. Just a moment.

Grawl sat down on the ground with a thud. He crossed his arms with his eyes closed. His eyebrows trembled as if he was concentrating.

─…Do you see that building at the end?

He pointed somewhere in the Orphanage. The smallest building on the Orphanage site. It was the director’s residence.

─There’s a space underground.

“Any personnel or security formulas?”

─I can’t detect any. There’s no one, and no security formulas either.

In that case.

I put a fencing mask on my face.

It’s better not to get caught. The identity of Dale Kal is valuable.

“Hoo…”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. I summoned a specific Magic Spell with the 「Notepad」.

Mana gathered at my feet, and the surface of my body became foggy.

Shadow-like movement. It’s a 5th level Magic Spell─「Shadow Spot」.

From level 5, the consumption of magic power is quite serious, but thanks to my growth so far, I can maintain it moderately.

I quietly approached the director’s residence. The building, similar to a two-story house, had a window half-open.

I slipped my body through it. I stepped on the shabby wooden floor. All the processes were done without a hint of noise, like a snake.

─Here it is.

Grawl pointed to a bookshelf in the living room.

─There’s a secret space beyond this bookshelf.

I scanned it with the SZX-9500.

“There’s a formula.”

The security formula was wrapped around the entire bookshelf. Touch it, and an alarm would sound.

─Is that so? I must have misjudged it because it’s made of wood.

“…… It’s okay.”

I lifted my wrist. There was a bracelet similar to a rosary.

It was the 「Blink Defense Bracelet」. An item I brought from Bethune.

I activated it.

──Whizz!

A strong sensation, as if the wind was lifting my whole body.

For a moment, my feet left the ground, and quickly landed again.

“…….”

Everything around was dark, but the SZX-9500 brightly observed the interior.

Nothing special. Carpet, reading desk, drawers, etc… A space decorated like an ordinary study.

But the reality was hidden in a clever illusion formula.

It was the carpet.

I looked at the carpet with the SZX-9500.

There were evidences ‘inside’ the various geometric patterns embroidered on the carpet.

Letters exchanged with the underworld cartel. Proposals to overthrow Trick City and plan terror attacks.

Berrieda, the contact of the underworld, had disguised all the materials he received and delivered as ‘pretending to be carpet patterns’.

Thud-

At that moment, the entrance opened. I quickly activated the 「Shadow Spot」 and melted into the darkness.

Thump- Thump-

The approaching footsteps.

Click-

Then, a faint light turned on and a face was revealed.

Berrieda Ren Casano.

The white-haired man took off his hat.

Then, I grabbed him from behind.

“If you move, you die.”

I coldly warned him, pressing my wand against his back. At the sensation of the magic, Berrieda froze.

“If I see a hint of magic, you die.”

The waist is a vital point. If I detonate a formula in this state, he would be cut in half before he activates his Magic Body.

“……Calm down.”

Berrieda raised his hands. He spoke as calmly as possible.

“If you need money or food-”

“Drop the gentleman cosplayer act.”

“……Young man. There are thirty children here.”

Berrieda’s voice was solemn. As gentle as his wrinkled face, and as merciful as his appearance.

“For the sake of the children-”

“Omertà of the underworld.”

I cut off his words.

The code of silence, Omertà.

The word also means ‘a spy dispatched by the underworld cartel’.

“…….”

For a moment, his lips twitched. A deep tremor ran through his body.

I smiled faintly, and said his real name.

“Nice to meet you. Beltrino.”

“……There was a rat inside.”

It wasn’t a clichéd line like, how did you know. He just expressed his anger, furrowing his brows. He put his hand in his pocket.

“You moved.”

I clearly told him he would die if he moved just 5 seconds ago.

I gathered magic in my wand. He tried to pull up his Magic Body, but my Magic Spell was faster.

I pulled out two Magic Spells from the 「Notepad」and combined them.

Level 3 Magic Spell 「Blade」and Level 4 Magic Spell 「Gale」.

Condensing the magic of the 「Blade」 into a crescent shape,

And sending it flying at close range with the 「Gale」,

If I had to express it, it would be a 「Gale Blade 」.

At that moment, the speed far surpassed a bullet. It was enough force to separate that bastard’s upper and lower halves.

Kwazzzzzuck──!

“Krrrrrrrrrrrrah───!”

Black blood spurted from him. His body split as brutally as his scream.

“Krrrrrr, Krrrrrrrrr…….”

He looked back at me, supporting himself with his hands on the ground. Even with only his upper body remaining, he was still alive.

“I don’t know… what kind of vermin you are.”

Staring at me, his brain was Berrieda Len Casano.

In his malicious voice, the gentle tone from before his regression overlapped.

─Shion. You’re a really good person.

Once upon a time, in the distant past.

When my comrades and I were being hunted as fugitives.

Berrieda willingly invited us to stay here. He welcomed us warmly.

─So don’t worry and rest comfortably. As long as you’re here, you won’t get caught.

“I will… curse you… human…”

He now was quite different from before his regression.

No, this was his true form.

“Existence… annihilation… chewed up…”

The true form of the repulsive creature who sold me and my comrades to the underworld, and as a pawn of the underworld cartel, tried to overthrow Trick City.

“Krrrrrrr…….”

He died.

Split into upper and lower halves, grotesquely with his mouth wide open.

But then.

Kwaaaaa───!

A fire broke out underground. Fire spread everywhere. It was a system for destroying evidence.

“!”

The carpet caught fire in an instant, and I barely managed to escape with a tiny piece of evidence.

Hwururururuk───!

“…….”

I came out to the Orphanage. I stood in the garden decorated by the children. I looked distantly at the building being swallowed by the flames.

Today, I killed him as Dale Kal.

At the same time, I set a ‘standard’.

Dale Kal kills his enemies.

In the future, I will ‘preemptively’ kill those who will take too many lives, those who will become my enemies.

To prevent things from happening that are too horrific.

Rustle-

A small footstep sound.

I looked back.

There was a child.

The small child trembled as he looked at me. He asked in a frightened voice.

“Who… are you?”

The child held a teapot in his small hands.

Did he come to put out the fire?

“…….”

I looked into the child’s eyes.

His large, trembling pupils.

Children are innocent.

Therefore, I should answer his question, “Who are you?”

“Raquel.”

Just as ‘Layla Hilton’ is ‘Mila Sayre’.

An anagram of ‘Dale Kal’.

“Raquel Dra.”

Saying so, I put my hand on the child’s eyes.

“I’m someone who came for revenge.”

I infused a little magic.

Swoosh……. The child fell into a powerless sleep.

I gently laid him down on the ground.

Wiiiiiiing──!

Just then, the sound of a siren rang out.

Well, it must be the fire department responding.

* * *

Meanwhile, Elise, having returned home, felt aimless. Bored. Dull. Numb.

She thought it should be a crime to waste time like this. A time-murder crime, or something of the sort.

“Sigh…”

She had already made all the calls she could, and her energy was fully recharged, but she still had a day left of her outing period.

So, she became curious.

She lay on her bed and opened the messenger on her smartphone.

[Lilden: You’re out, aren’t you?]

[Cellio: You’re out, right? The kids said they saw you lol]

[Bellin: You were on SNS lololol. Congrats on the early college admission.]

She scrolled past many messages with an expressionless face.

She scrolled through her friend list.

She stopped at one name.

[Shion Ascal]

“…”

What could this guy be doing right now?

There must be a reason he changed his profile picture.

“Hmm.”

Elise cleared her throat with a fake cough.

“What are you doing?”

It was a rehearsal.

“What are you doing… rather, what’s up?”

Choosing the right first word. Not too much, not too little, seemingly indifferent but enough to start a conversation.

“It’s probably a waste of time, but our outing time is almost over. So-.”

Ring──.

Her phone rang at that moment.

“Who’s calling…?”

Elise, frowning, looked at the name displayed on the screen.

“!”

She flinched as if she had been startled.

Ring──.

The ringing continued.

Her eyes were fixed on the contact of the person who called.

[Shion Ascal]

Elise took a deep breath.

There was no reason to be nervous. No need at all. He means nothing to her.

Click-

She pressed the call button. She unknowingly held the phone with both hands and quickly switched to one hand.

“Hello.”

─Hey. What are you up to?

He asked nonchalantly.

The first words she had been pondering over, not too much, not too little, seemingly indifferent but enough to start a conversation.

Could it be… was he thinking the same thing as me?

Elise answered as usual.

“I’m studying.”

─I see.

“……Why did you call?”

─I was going to ask when you’re going up to Planarium. We have to go by tomorrow.

His voice was quite low.

“Well, why do you ask?”

─Lend me your hoverboard. I’ll ride it up too.

“……”

Elise clenched her teeth. It was a very practical reason.

─Why. Can’t you?

“You buy one.”

─It’s really expensive. It’s almost the price of a mid-sized car.

Sigh. She let out a sigh naturally.

“I’ll hang up.”

─Hey, by the way.

Shion held her back. Elise asked while searching for a hoverboard on her smartphone.

“What?”

─Can you teach me a Magic Spell?

“……Magic Spell?”

─Yeah. Not levels 1~3.

Elise let out a hollow laugh for a moment. She was dumbfounded.

“If not levels 1~3, so levels 4~6? You mean intermediate?”

─Oh, is that considered intermediate?

“Indeed.”

Elise sat up, baffled.

“You must not know because you’ve never properly learned. Magic Spells aren’t as easy as you think.”

─Oh. I haven’t learned properly.

“…Even if you don’t know the lower levels, the intermediate levels aren’t easy. If everyone could learn just by teaching, the whole continent would be mages, wouldn’t it?”

Elise scanned the bookshelf. There were hundreds of books related to Magic Spell.

“Moreover, you’re an aspiring knight. Magic Spell requires talent. The closer the Magic Spell is to magic, the more so. That’s why you need to first determine whether you have the talent.”

─I have a bit. Of talent.

“That must be wishful thinking. Talent isn’t for you to judge.”

─So are you saying you’ll teach me or not?

“Let’s see…….”

Elise carefully selected books from the bookshelf.

“…Tomorrow.”

She said as she neatly packed them into her backpack.

“I’ll check your talent on the train.”

* * *

The next morning.

At [A Glass of Whiskey], Kanya was checking the accounting books of [Valmant’s Tease].

“We would have gone bankrupt if it weren’t for Death Eater.”

The company she runs is barely in the black this year. All thanks to Dale Kal’s Death Eater.

Of course, if Bethune was still in her hands, she wouldn’t have had to worry about this.

“Ah, there’s no luck at all.”

She still regrets it and has nightmares every day.

But Dale Kal is Valmant’s treasure. Let’s think of it as buying favor.

[Breaking news.]

Suddenly, the TV screen flickered and changed.

[Philanthropist and social welfare worker ‘Berrieda Ren Casano’, who runs the C-40 Section, Ren Orphanage, was found murdered.]

“…?”

Kanya watched the screen.

[The police department of Trick City has created a composite of the suspect based on the testimony of the only witness, a child.]

“What kind of composite is that?”

Rather than a composite of a face, it’ll be one of a fencing mask. There’s an X mark on the face.

“Some guy is in a suit.”

Is it a trend these days?

[Furthermore, the suspect called himself ‘Avenger Raquel’. With the death of philanthropist Berrieda, who advocated volunteer……]

As Kanya Wieder watched the screen quietly, a person suddenly came to mind.

Dale Kal.

She stroked her chin with a somewhat hardened face, but soon chuckled.

“Oh, no way.”

[With the recent prevalence of hate, indiscriminate crime and terror, even the Orphanage, which should be protected the most… The former Senators of Trick City are expected to convene a meeting.]

Creak-

Suddenly, the door opened a bit eerily.

Kanya looked there.

It was Dale Kal. He trudged over and sat down on the counter chair.

“Background check.”

He pushed forward the request for a background investigation of [Berrieda Ren Casano].

“It seems there’s no need to do it.”

Kanya stared at him with a blank look.