Episode 137 – The Suit (2)

The Suit (2)

Kwaaaaa───!

The suit crashed into a building. The streetlights and shops on the ground were utterly destroyed, but she immediately bounced back, releasing her magic.

“Ugh, shit!”

The once skinny body of the suit had transformed into a thicker ‘suit’ as she absorbed the magic. She returned to the Brute and threw a punch.

“Boom!”

Their powers collided, creating a massive shockwave.

On one side was a 3-meter tall Brute, and on the other, a figure not even reaching 170cm, but their close combat continued fiercely.

“Thump! Thump!”

However, the tide of the battle was slowly shifting towards the Brute. The balance was clearly tipping.

“Whoa! This. Guy. Is. Strong!”

The fight, which had been a back-and-forth exchange, was now a struggle to survive. It was to be expected. After all, the Brute was a monster who remained robust even on the brink of death. Even for a ‘hero’, facing such a strong opponent from the start was too much.

“Hey, there!”

As the suit blocked the Brute’s punch, she turned to look at me.

“Help! Me!!”

With a loud crash, she blocked the Brute’s fist with both arms.

“Aargh!”

She was thrown back, but the Brute pursued her. Thankfully, it seemed she had become his primary target.

“Save, me!!!”

She moved breathlessly, dodging the Brute. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! The Brute’s fists repeatedly smashed into the buildings and asphalt.

I followed their movements with my upgraded visual acuity. I reached into my pocket.

In an instant, both the Brute and the suit glanced my way.

“Get! It! Out! That, chain!!!”

The suit regained her stance, and the Brute’s gaze shifted to me.

Instead of the chain, I pulled out a ledger.

“…A book?! What, a book?!!!”

The suit was taken aback, but with a swift motion, I tossed the ledger at the Brute’s feet. He looked down at it.

“You bastard!”

The suit seized the moment of distraction. Like a fly, she charged at him, but the Brute repelled her with a kick.

“Cough!”

This time, she crashed into the pavement blocks on the sidewalk.

I gestured towards the ledger and said,

“I Surrender. Take it.”

After all, it was a ‘Memorized’ ledger. I could recall it anytime.

“…….”

The Brute’s movements gradually came to a halt. The blind monster sensed the surrounding vibrations with his intuition. If it had been a remote place, he would have tried to kill everything, ledger or not, but too many eyes were already on him.

Even monsters have a sense of discretion.

Rather, high-ranking monsters like the Brute maintain their rationality.

“I surrender, I surrender.”

I raised both hands.

D-3 Section is adjacent to C Section. It’s a somewhat important suburban area in Trick City.

By now, not only the self-defense force but also the execution squad would be dispatched.

“……”

Just in case, I was ready to summon the ‘chain’. I still had enough mana for one more.

“…”

The Brute picked up the ledger with his big toe and held it in his hand. Then he pointed a finger at me.

Perhaps it meant he had ‘Memorized’ it.

Anyway, he gathered strength in his foot and then, with a loud “Taaaaaah!”, he re-implemented 「Teleportation」 and disappeared.

I looked at my watch.

Three minutes.

Exactly three minutes had passed.

In just three minutes, that bastard had caused such a mess. The path he had charged through looked like a field trampled by a tank, and the roads and asphalt were completely destroyed, almost resembling a construction site.

Moreover, the Brute that just appeared was likely not the ‘main body’ but an ‘avatar’. There’s no way the Master Cartel would send the main body for a mere part-time subcontract.

─Ouch, it hurts… Ah, my back…

The suit, who was embedded in the ground, groaned in pain. I approached her.

“……Are you okay.”

─Of course I’m okay. I let it happen~

She dusted herself off and got up.

As expected, she’s not as strong as she was before the regression. Even the side of her suit that had collided with the Brute’s fist was slightly torn.

─Are you okay? But what did you do? Are you a mage? What was that chain? It was interesting. How is your magic so pure?

Instead, she talked as much as she did before regression.

─Anyway, you’re not hurt, right?

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

Again, I was a fan of hers.

It was a pity to meet her as Dale Kal.

─You’re welcome. It’s only natural to exterminate monsters.

I had received her indirect salvation once or twice, and I had seen her save people too many times.

“I’m a fan.”

I reached out my hand to her.

─…A fan?

The suit’s expression was not visible. Her face and even her hair were completely covered by a full-face mask.

─Do you know me?

But it’s certain that she’s surprised now.

─I’m a criminal.

As she said, she would still be treated as a criminal. She’s not affiliated with the self-defense force, she’s not registered with the execution squad, and she’s even rumored to be a monster, the embodiment of self-help.

I said with a smile.

“I like criminals.”

─…You’re an interesting person.

She also chuckled and took my hand. The bare skin of the fist where the suit was torn touched me.

───At that moment.

Electricity flashed in my temples. I had the illusion that my head was suddenly swelling, and my eyes opened wide.

The residual effect of Perion still in my brain.

“…….”

It was a memory.

A memory of the body.

From her bare skin, the touch of someone else briefly- seeped out.

─You’ve worked hard. Good job!

Taaaat—!

As she rose into the sky again, I stared blankly.

“What…….”

That suit woman is the ‘hero’ of the underworld. The focal point of a superhuman group formed outside the standards, opposing the monsters of the underworld, led by Trick City.

Her name is, Mila.

Mila.

……It had to be Mila.

But……

I silently looked down at my hand. When our hands touched, memory was triggered. I saw it.

‘Clearly’.

It was someone I knew.

“How could you…….”

In some sense of betrayal, no, in a ridiculous absurdity that was too absurd to be called betrayal.

I blurted out.

“…… be Layla.”

Layla── Layla Ramsey Hilton.

The hero of Trick City I once was a fan of, was that idiot from Endex.

* * *

“Um~ I’ve checked it, but~ I wonder if this will work without the original~?”

「A Glass of Whiskey」. I glared at Kanya, who was mumbling aimlessly. She shifted her posture slightly.

“Just kidding, just kidding. It’s accurate, right?”

“100%. Without a shred of error.”

I handed her a copy of the ledger. It was an item that had manifested the contents of the original exactly.

“If you’re doubtful, start spreading the smallest pieces of information one by one. If insider-only information starts leaking little by little, they’ll naturally start suspecting each other.”

“Ah. That’s what I was thinking, too. We think alike, sir Mage.”

Kanya chuckled. Then she pulled a suitcase from under the drawer.

“Here! The completion fee!”

She opened the suitcase with a thud. It wasn’t a neat stack of bills. Crumpled banknotes of all sorts sprang up. There were even coins among them.

Clink- Clink- Rattle……

I watched the flowing money quietly. Kanya seemed uncomfortable and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Ah. We’ve been fundraising haphazardly. Anyway, it’s 300,000 Ren that doesn’t need laundering. As a bonus, here’s a premium edition CD of ‘Bethune’, worth at least 100,000 Ren. Warm.”

Kanya placed the ‘Bethune’ special edition CD in the suitcase.

Whirring── The radar of 「Treasure Hunter」 reacted.

I put the CD in my pants pocket. I pushed the suitcase back to her.

“You keep this for now.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll take it when it’s confirmed that the ledger’s contents are real.”

I’m not in the best shape right now, so I can’t carry it all the way.

Kanya raised her eyebrows slyly.

“What’s this, sir Mage~ You have a professional mindset~ But when will you release another Magic Spell again~? Don’t you have something like 「Death Eater」?”

“Someday.”

I’m not sure I’ve ever fought a monster before.

I’ve realized that when I was struggling to survive against him.

The experience of dismantling numerous Magic Spells in my Memory in an instant, tearing off parts of that Magic Spell, and reassembling it into a completely new formula.

Although I’m a bit skeptical whether it’s possible in normal times as a result of Perion forcibly enhancing brain function.

Once I’ve done it, I can do it twice.

“……Take care, sir Mage.”

I waved a small hand to Kanya and left the bar. As soon as I came out of Trick City, I caught a taxi.

I don’t even have the magic to maintain my Infimian form now.

In the state of Shion Ascal, I barely sat in the back seat……

Cough──!

Blood flowed from my cough. My vision blurred. My body tilted unnaturally.

─Uh, sir. Sir!

With the desperate voice of the taxi driver as the last thing I heard, I passed out.

* * *

Petra University Hospital’s emergency room. Late at night, when dozens of patients come and go every day. In that place, heavy with the smell of alcohol and blood, Elise was visiting after quite a long time.

“……”

She sat in the waiting room chair, unnecessarily straightening her two legs like chopsticks. She swung her toes and tapped them together.

Just actions she was doing.

Remnants of her childhood when she was still a brat.

Anyway.

The reasons she had come to the emergency room were manifold.

She was feeling off. She didn’t know why she was feeling off. She couldn’t sleep. She suspected it was probably due to the guilt of murder. She guessed as much.

She had come to stay the night in the emergency room, where she could save people.

“Miss, isn’t your provisional assembly soon? You don’t have to do this kind of volunteer work-”

“I’m not a miss, I’m an intern.”

Elise cut off the doctor who was trying to be friendly.

“-came here.”

She smiled wryly.

“Right?”

In fact, she had a medical license. The general education curriculum of Edsilla allowed for early graduation and early admission, so she had already graduated from medical school at the age of 16 while concurrently attending Endex.

“Ah, yes, that… Intern.”

“Intern?”

As soon as she said to treat her like an intern, he called her ‘Intern.’

Was this some kind of injustice?

He might even speak informally to her at first meeting.

“Ah, no. That…”

“Call me by my name. You can call me Elise.”

“Yes, yes. El-”

“A patient has arrived.”

Just then, a person was brought in.

Elise ran as if she had been waiting. It was a traffic accident victim. A broken leg bone had pierced through the skin.

“I’ll assemble it with my telekinesis. Administer the painkiller.”

Bones heal on their own once aligned. Elise’s telekinesis could anchor bones more perfectly than any surgical tool.

“Aaaaaah!!!”

The patient was in pain, but it was better than amputation.

“Hold on.”

Snap─!

The sharp sound of aligning the bone with telekinesis.

The treatment was perfect, and Elise wiped off the spit and blood that had splattered on her face.

“……Phew.”

─Here! Emergency, emergency!

After that, Elise kept moving busily.

Falls, collisions, traffic accidents, etc… There were many emergency patients today, but none had a neck bone crushed to dust.

“I’ll stop the bleeding, so administer the sedative first!”

Even as she saved people like this, Elise kept thinking about that.

Snap─ Snap─

The sound of the neck bone almost being torn off. The screams of dying B01 echo like hallucinations.

“Next… next patient.”

Did Shion Ascal know this would happen and consider me?

Because he was worried I’d be troubled by the memory of murder.

If so, does that mean he has already killed someone?

The fact that there was no need to ‘further’ dirty one’s hands means that the other hand—himself—is already dirty.

But how did it happen?

……Perhaps.

Because of ‘revenge’?

─Emergency! It’s a blackout patient!

At that time, when I felt a headache that seemed to break just by imagining.

A new patient was brought in. Elise glanced at him absentmindedly and sank back into her thoughts.

“……Wait.”

She quickly turned her gaze. Her body moved first towards the patient who had just come in.

“Uh……?”

Elise looked at his face while clutching the hospital bed.

“Elise, do you know him?”

The doctor asked just then.

She, looking at ‘him,’ answered blankly.

“……He’s a classmate from Endex.”

It was Shion Ascal.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital. A room as white as clouds.

“…You’re awake now.”

A voice suddenly flowed in. I turned to look. My head naturally tilted.

“Who… is it?”

It was Elise. She was fiddling with the IV connected to my wrist and said,

“Your belongings are in the basket over there.”

In the basket at the head of the bed were a CD, a smartphone, and… thankfully, no wand.

The coat was on the hanger. It seemed they hadn’t noticed it in the pocket. It wouldn’t matter much even if they did, since it looked like a tree branch.

“What’s that CD?”

Elise asked, glancing at the CD.

“Why are you here?”

I responded with a question. Elise’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“Here. It’s Petra Hospital.”

“…Huh?”

“You were brought in.”

I belatedly looked around the room. Indeed, there was the Petra emblem on the wallpaper.

“What’s on the CD?”

Elise once again focused on the CD.

“Bethune Dungeon.”

“Bit Dune Dune?”

“Yeah. It’s a game.”

…A game about floating a boat? Elise mumbled with a puzzled face.

“Why?”

“Isn’t it a bad time to play games? The provisional assembly is tomorrow.”

“I was going to try it in the dorm. We’re going to the highlands.”

The second quarter of the college board is held in one region only. So, you have to take care of your hobby life.

“…Well.”

Elise, who nodded, repeated very softly, “Bit Dune Dune- Bit Dune Dune-”

“It’s not Bit Dune Dune. It’s Base of Dungeon Dungeon. Bethune Dungeon.”

“Ah.”

Then she repeated a little softer, “Bethune Dungeon, Bethune Dungeon.”

“…Hey. By any chance. Did you do any tests at the hospital?”

I asked casually.

Cancer of the Magic’s Core can be diagnosed with a full-body MRI.

“No. It’s just overwork, so don’t worry. I prescribed Zelic fluid, so you should be fine.”

Zelic. It’s a top-grade natural medicine that costs 20,000 Ren per root.

It works well, but it’s a bit too expensive and close to a luxury item.

“That’s really expensive. For a person who fainted-”

“I made the payment under my name. I also paid for the taxi you took.”

Elise shrugged her shoulders with a flicker of disbelief.

“You still have more pluses… just a little more.”

Pluses and minuses.

Anyway, she seemed to want a thank you, so I scratched my checks.

“Yeah. I won’t thanks.”

“Just as I hoped~”

Elise lifted her chin and took off her sanitary gloves.

“Just sit still and rest. Don’t collapse doing something strange again. But who are you living with?”

There was a strange question mixed in with her dry, indifferent voice.

“Living together? Why would I?”

“Never mind if you’re not.”

Creak. Elise opened the door.

Her humming of Bethune- Bethune- as she walked down the corridor slowly faded away.

I looked around the inside.

“……It’s a VIP room. Grawl. Are you there?”

Then Grawl came out from R-elix. The cat-like creature curled up and lay on my stomach.

“Grawl.”

─……

There was no answer. Seemingly very tired, it just slowly fell asleep with its ears perked up.

“Are you okay?”

For some reason, I feel a bit of affection for it.

Is it because of the way it blew up its body to protect me?

“I’ll make a lab.”

Saying that I put my hand on its back. I gently stroked it. The creature yawned and curled up.

A faint smile appeared on its mouth.

‘……As planned’.