Inside the Crete Hollow, the Mole was at this moment sprawled out with consummate swagger across a battered old sofa, one leg crossed jauntily over the other, his expression the very picture of smugness.
"Heh~ Coming up with a method like this to track someone down—truly, that's me for you~"
"As expected of Lord Mole!"
The Mole soaked up his underlings' flattery with great relish.
To avoid drawing the attention of the authorities, he had deliberately used the search for a Bangboo as a pretext, getting the Proxies on the Inter-Knot to do his dirty work for free. What's that? You ask why it was for free?
Friend, have you ever heard of crooks robbing crooks?
"Once the time comes, I'll nab both the person and the Bangboo, then lean on this little fella to close out the job—and on top of that I can swindle, no, requisition, a hefty sum of funding."
The Mole was thoroughly familiar with this whole routine; he was simply born for this line of work.
Had his background been even a touch better, he'd have long since carved out his own corner of New Eridu's political arena.
"Haah~ these days, betting on raw ability counts for less than betting on connections, and relying on yourself counts for less than relying on your lackeys."
There was, in the Mole's words, a faint flavor of railing against heaven and blaming the world.
Still, for the time being, he was fairly satisfied with his current life.
Money when he wanted money, men when he wanted men, and a superior who barely bothered to keep tabs on his end of things.
If only he could also catch that damned little beast, things would be even more perfect.
To this day, the Mole couldn't forget the face of that detestable Little Bangboo.
The first time he ran into it, he'd taken a brutal kick from the great Ethereal it had transformed into, and nearly lost his life.
The second time he ran into it, someone held a blade to his neck, and once again he nearly lost his life.
The Mole figured this little beast was something of a personal jinx to him.
And just as he was lost in these wild, wandering thoughts, one of his underlings suddenly came rushing in with news.
"Sir! A Proxy has come, and he's brought a Bangboo!"
"Hm? This fast!?"
The Mole was a bit dumbfounded—hadn't he only just put the commission out? How could it be this fast?
He'd assumed it would take until tomorrow at the very least before any results came in.
At this thought, the Mole concluded it must be one of those small-fry Proxies looking to fish in troubled waters, who'd bought a Bangboo himself and hauled it over to pass it off as the real thing.
"Heh, there are two things I hate most in this life. One is when someone tries to pull a fast one—and the other is when someone won't let me pull a fast one!"
Of course, he only said this in his head; otherwise, if his lackeys overheard, it might wreck his lofty image.
"Come on, take me over to have a look."
With that, the Mole hopped down off the sofa, ready to go size up this Proxy.
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the Mole's stronghold, Eous—possessed by Belle—was at this moment cradled in Geno's arms, awaiting the rebels' arrival.
"Geno, the other side is rushing your way—be sure to keep Eous safe."
On a distant hillside, Twiggy and the others lay flat behind cover, watching the movements of Geno and his companion through binoculars. The communicator in her hand was linked to Eous, and Eous in turn was linked to the receiver on Geno's ear.
And so a perfect signal relay station now sat cradled in Geno's arms.
As for why the others didn't go over to join Geno—it was because, apart from him, every one of them had already shown their faces to the rebels, and since Trigger was a sniper, that left only Geno.
"Good thing I took on your appearance back then—otherwise I really wouldn't know who to send to carry out the mission now."
"Heh heh, I really must thank you for that."
Eous put on a vividly speechless expression.
Truth be told, if Geno hadn't taken on her appearance in the first place, she and Anby and the others would never have been discovered at all.
And while the two of them were bickering under their breath, the rebel side's people had already arrived.
"So you're the Proxy who took the commission? I hear you've already found that Bangboo of mine that went missing—is that right?"
The Mole's tone was thoroughly arrogant, not deigning to regard Geno as worth a second glance.
Then, his gaze falling on the Eous cradled in Geno's arms, the Mole's eyes abruptly went wide.
"That's it! That's the very Bangboo! I'd know it even if it were reduced to ashes!"
The Mole stared excitedly at the Eous in Geno's arms and immediately grabbed its little hand, trying to snatch Eous away.
"Hm? What are you doing? Let go already. Oh—you want your reward, is that it? Just follow them to collect it. Now, hand over the Bangboo in your arms!"
Seeing that Geno said nothing, the Mole simply assumed he'd been cowed by his own commanding presence, and promptly told him to follow the soldiers off to collect his reward.
Of course, that reward wasn't necessarily going to be Dennies.
"Geno! Geno, what are you doing?! Acting like this will draw the other side's attention!"
Up on the hillside, Twiggy and the others watched Geno standing frozen in place, so anxious they could have jumped to their feet—and then they heard Geno's voice, laced with disbelief and the most exquisite bewilderment.
"I don't think there's any need for that anymore. As it turns out, reality really is more ridiculous than the game."
Hearing Geno finish this baffling remark, Twiggy was taken aback for a moment.
And it wasn't just Twiggy—even the Mole standing right in front of Geno was left stunned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means—we meet again, Lieutenant Colonel Rat!"
Geno shouted, tossing Eous off to one side, and then drove a fist square into the Mole's face.
Taking the solid blow head-on, the Mole felt a sharp sting shoot through his nose; the next instant his mind cut to black, and with a dull splat he toppled to the ground.
And before he passed out, one final thought surfaced in his mind.
Running into this guy never leads to anything good—just as I figured!
After that, he lost consciousness entirely.
"Sir! Damn it! Someone's picking a fight! Brothers—get him!"
Seeing the Mole struck down to the ground, his lackey wasted no more words, raising the gun in his hands and unloading a torrent of ammunition at Geno. The rest of the rebels, seeing this, all piled in as well.
Yet facing the hail of bullets, Geno didn't panic in the slightest. He merely stretched out his arm, summoned a cruciform longsword, batted away every last round, then flashed forward in an instant and struck down the rebels present one by one.
"Uh… 0.0"
In the blink of an eye, the only one left standing was the rebel lackey who'd been barking the orders at the start.
And as Geno—like some baleful star of doom—stepped slowly toward him, he simply stood there motionless, weapon raised in his hands, and then... clatter!
"Eep! Can't we settle this peacefully?"
The rifle in his hands dropped to the ground, his arms wrapping around his head as he crouched and hunched low—a whole sequence of movements so smooth and flowing that it caught Geno somewhat off guard.
"Come on, man... you've really got no backbone at all?"
Geno was speechless, but to avoid any further complications, he gave the man a punch all the same, laying the whole "family" out in one neat, tidy row.
"Geno! What's going on?! How did it come to blows already?!"
Eous, flung aside by Geno, came running back, and looking at the rebels Geno had cleaned up, the astonishment in those little eyes was impossible to hide.
"Weren't we agreed that we were going to dig up intel on the Mole?"
"No need to dig anything up. This guy—he's right here."
As he spoke, Geno even nudged a kick at the Mole himself, the first one to have gone down.
At the kick, the Mole's body twitched in reflex.
All things considered, in the entire rebel camp you probably couldn't have found a single soul more luckless than him.
____
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