-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: I Have to Catch Him
-----------------------------------------------------------------
That day, evening.
As the sun began to set, the students who had been touring the academy headed toward their dormitories.
The caretakers locked the doors of the buildings they had kept open for the visiting students, then made their way to the central control room to light the streetlamps powered by mana.
It was the time when the academy was gradually being shrouded in darkness.
* * *
Whoosh—
A man was sprinting through the shadows untouched by the light.
He had no name. He was known only by his number.
One of the ten Troubleshooters who had infiltrated the academy, the number assigned to him was 97.
No. 97 had been surveilling two low-priority targets when he received an emergency summons and was now heading back to their base.
The place he arrived at after crossing through the darkness was an abandoned warehouse in the first-year district. It had served as their base for the past year or so since infiltrating the academy.
Swoosh.
He smoothly climbed through the warehouse window as if it were routine, and immediately a voice greeted him.
"You're here."
No. 90.
The Troubleshooters who had infiltrated the academy were numbered from 90 to 99, and he was the highest-ranking among them, serving as the team leader.
No. 97 gave a perfunctory reply to No. 90's greeting and glanced around before asking,
"Where are the others?"
"They went ahead."
"Went ahead? Where to?"
Emergency summons were meant to gather all team members unless in exceptional circumstances. Yet here, only No. 90 and himself were present.
It struck No. 97 as highly unusual, but No. 90 soon provided the explanation.
"Orders came from above. We're to converge at the target's nest."
"Target? Main or sub?"
"Sub."
The main target they referred to was Henji, the core of the mission and the one they absolutely had to mark.
The sub-targets were the individuals suspected to be Henji's accomplices, and the one currently under surveillance by the 90-series Troubleshooters was none other than Professor Parun.
The "nest," meanwhile, meant Professor Parun's estate.
But to suddenly converge at Professor Parun's estate?
"What's going on? Has the mission changed?"
"The main target's been tailed. They've acquired significant intel. Tonight at midnight, the objective will be handed over to the sub-target."
"Hmm, I see."
It was welcome news to No. 97's ears.
Over the past year or so.
Even for Troubleshooters, for whom missions were routine, this assignment at the academy had been particularly grueling.
The security wasn't especially formidable. Objectively speaking, it was quite solid, but to Troubleshooters, it was merely average at best.
The real issue was the professors.
'So many monsters...'
They couldn't let their guard down for even a moment.
A single step.
Fail to maintain distance even for one step out of carelessness, and inescapable death awaited.
One small mercy was that they mostly operated in the open. There weren't any particularly skilled at detecting stealthy intruders.
But that was as far as his thoughts went.
"Damn it, hold on."
No. 97 spat out a rough curse.
"Converge at the target's nest?"
"Yeah, that's the order."
No. 97's head throbbed at No. 90's calm tone.
"You sure the orders came through right?"
"They did."
"Damn it. Really? Then what about the single digits? At least No. 1 should show, or a couple of single digits, or we can't do shit."
No. 97's outburst stemmed from something specific.
The professors of Jenion Academy.
He had indirectly experienced their prowess firsthand while embedded here.
To charge into that nest? Troubleshooters were meant to die completing missions, but dying at the hands of Jenion Academy professors was no different from a dog's death.
So he looked at No. 90 with desperate hope.
The response was utterly despairing.
"No. 1 isn't coming. None of the other single digits either."
"Ha, fuck."
"But..."
No. 90 trailed off somewhat ambiguously.
His expression suggested something off, and No. 97 impatiently pressed him.
"But what? Oh, reinforcements? Troubleshooters? Bloodline members? Or family mages? Which is it?"
"A family mage."
At that answer, color returned to No. 97's face.
Of course, it was hidden behind a black mask, but No. 90, who had known him for so long, could tell.
That was why he hesitated.
Once they knew who from the family was coming, even that shallow hope would vanish.
"How many? No, who is it?"
But in the end, he had to answer.
"Karahen."
"...What?"
When that quiet word slipped out, No. 97 froze in place.
He seemed to need time to process it, staying silent for a moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was devoid of strength, as if he had already given up on much.
"You mean the Karahen I know?"
"Yeah. Fire Demon Karahen."
Fire Demon Karahen.
One of the vice-captains of the Decullan mage squad Crimson Jade, a mage whose skill matched his rank.
Yet his vice-captain title felt hollow because he always operated solo, and the reason was simple.
Ruthless pragmatism that brooked no means or methods to complete the mission.
Success was all that mattered, even if it meant sacrificing comrades without exception.
In other words, being deployed alongside Karahen meant just one thing.
'Complete the mission and die.'
"Damn it."
As No. 97 slumped in despair, No. 90 continued in his even tone.
"It might not come to a fight. Even the family would find it burdensome for a well-known mage to tangle with Jenion Academy professors."
"Hoo, yeah. Guess I have to think that way."
No. 97 dropped his head weakly.
Truth be told, it was a hopeless notion.
If they truly wanted a peaceful resolution without violence, they never would have sent Karahen.
"Then let's go. We need to link up soon if we want even a slim chance of survival."
"Yeah, let's move."
No. 90 headed to the nest with No. 97 as planned.
'The two low-priority targets...'
The ones he had assigned to No. 97 for surveillance crossed his mind briefly, but he dismissed it.
Tonight at midnight, the objective would be delivered to the sub-target.
Now that the accomplice had been identified as Professor Parun, who the courier was didn't matter anymore.
Clack, clack.
The two slipped out of the warehouse and melted into the darkness.
And beneath the warehouse window.
'...'
A pair of eyes reflected their receding figures.
"Hmm, midnight tonight?"
* * *
I replayed the Troubleshooters' conversation I had overheard from outside the window.
Terms like "target" and "nest" were still in use back when I was active, so I had no trouble understanding.
'No wonder they suddenly pulled back.'
Troubleshooters' surveillance protocols bordered on obsession.
Even for the lowest-priority targets, they tracked every move 24/7 as per doctrine.
Suspicious of the sudden withdrawal, I had followed and reaped an unexpected windfall.
Still, a few things didn't add up.
'Isn't the objective the paper?'
I was the courier who received the paper from Henji, but I had no intention of handing it over to Professor Parun yet.
Getting entangled with Decullan so soon was a heavy burden, even for me, so I planned to deliver it as discreetly and slowly as possible without exposing myself.
That raised a question.
'Then what's this intel the Troubleshooters got? It's not like their superiors can predict my moves.'
Even if it was precognition, it would be wrong. I had no plans to move that way.
In any case, their conversation had several baffling elements.
'Hmm.'
I left the warehouse that had been the Troubleshooters' base and headed to the dormitory.
The moon had risen in the sky, asserting its presence clearly, surrounded by stars dotting the black canvas.
A rather beautiful night sky, if you could call it that.
As I walked beneath it, I mulled over and discarded various hypotheses.
Quite a few scenarios flashed through my mind, most of them garbage, with only a handful holding any credibility.
First.
'Henji didn't give me the real paper to begin with.'
That was entirely plausible for the Henji I knew.
He could have diverted the Troubleshooters' attention to me while sending the real one through another channel.
But it wasn't very credible.
'This paper is real.'
The Heavenly Origin Art paper was dense with esoteric terminology, but grasping the overall context and authenticity posed no major issue.
Second.
'There's no chance their "objective" isn't the paper...'
A decent hypothesis, but ultimately nonsense.
It had to be something on the level of the Heavenly Origin Art paper for Decullan to risk deploying Troubleshooters to the academy.
Final third.
'What if the objective being delivered tonight is a fake paper?'
I nodded to myself at that point.
Conveniently, under a streetlamp.
Bathed in its bright light, my mind felt unusually clear, so I pressed on.
'And it happening on inauguration day is suspicious too.'
Henji was insane.
Not just any madman, but one of the continent's top lunatics, making his thought process nearly impossible for a normal guy like me to predict.
But if I stretched to guess...
'Leak info about a fake paper to cloud Decullan's judgment and scatter their surveillance on Professor Parun.'
Of course, a fake alone wouldn't loosen Decullan's net. There was probably some additional measure...
That was as far as I got.
I stepped out from under the streetlamp.
If my judgment was correct, there was no need to verify.
I could just wait until Decullan's surveillance thinned, then deliver the paper.
However...
'They said Karahen was coming, right?'
Karahen. Even during my active days, he was at his peak.
After the clash with Blandoga, he stayed with the declining Decullan to prove his loyalty.
Dangerous as ever now, but Karahen's true prime came after the war with Blandoga.
The Fire Demon enforcing Decullan's will was unstoppable. He left his mark as a war mage.
So...
'I have to catch him.'
Karahen's magic was one of Decullan's flame-based secret arts.
Even setting aside that it was a Decullan secret, he was one of the continent's renowned mages.
A secret from such a mage was worth the risk.