"Boom!!!"
The sudden explosion interrupted the conversation between Cid and Yukina Himeragi. Both of them instinctively looked toward the source of the blast.
Under the glow of the lights illuminating Itogami Island at night, a pillar of black smoke could be seen rising into the sky.
"That direction is… the central district of Itogami Island. Could it be…"
After recognizing where the smoke was coming from, a trace of Magical Power silently appeared at Cid's fingertips. It compressed into a single point before instantly spreading outward.
As expected, the feedback from his Atomic Radar confirmed that the explosion had occurred at the Keystone Gate. Among the presences there, he sensed two auras he knew very well: the Armed Apostle and the artificial lifeform Astarte.
"Looks like something big happened."
"Senpai, I'm going to…"
"Wait, wait, wait."
Before Yukina Himeragi could finish, Cid interrupted her and grabbed her arm.
"Senpai?!"
Yukina Himeragi looked confused after being stopped, unsure why Cid had suddenly grabbed her.
"You're not thinking of playing hero again, are you? If someone hadn't saved you yesterday, you would already be dead by now.
"With a commotion this big, and right at the Security Corps headquarters, the Island Guard will probably arrive soon. You don't need to go delivering justice yourself. Let's just hurry home. It's safer that way."
Cid's reason for stopping Yukina Himeragi was simple. He did not want her getting dragged into this mess again. If she got beaten down a second time, he had no interest in saving her.
"But… Senpai, I…"
Yukina Himeragi's expression stiffened.
She now truly understood how difficult it was to keep her identity hidden. She had only arrived a few days ago and had already encountered terrorists, and on top of that, her Senpai seemed genuinely concerned about her.
Now she could not reveal her true identity, yet her Senpai was watching her closely.
At the same time, she found herself hesitating, unsure whether she should rush to the explosion site to help.
Her mission was to monitor Kojou Akatsuki, not to assist Itogami Island in dealing with terrorists.
If she failed to monitor Kojou Akatsuki now, she could still explain it by saying the Lion King Organization had assigned her to the wrong school, forcing her to use a Shikigami for remote surveillance. But running off to deal with terrorists was definitely not part of the mission the Lion King Organization had given her.
And unlike yesterday's incident, which took place in a remote area without the Security Force present, this explosion occurred in the center of Itogami Island, the very location of the Security Force's main headquarters.
The Lion King Organization, the group she belonged to, was one of the island nation's magical agencies. Strictly speaking, they were supposed to avoid direct involvement with the Itogami Island Security Force. If she happened to run into them on the way, she might be able to explain it to her superiors. But abandoning her mission target and running straight to the Security Force headquarters to deal with terrorists clearly counted as a serious violation.
And according to Cid, the explosion had occurred in the center of Itogami Island. That meant the Security Force would likely deal with the terrorists quickly, so there was probably no need for her to worry.
Though many thoughts ran through her mind, only a few seconds passed in reality.
After calming herself and thinking it through, Yukina Himeragi, despite still worrying about whether the Security Force could successfully defeat the terrorists, decided to give up on heading toward the center of Itogami Island. Instead, she would return home with Cid first and then continue monitoring Kojou Akatsuki.
"Ding-dong!"
Before she could say anything, the sound of a notification interrupted her.
Both Yukina Himeragi and Cid looked toward her backpack. The sound had come from inside it.
Yukina Himeragi unzipped the bag, took out her phone, and turned it on. The screen showed an unread message.
She glanced at Cid.
Understanding immediately, Cid turned his head away.
Seeing this, Yukina Himeragi finally let out a small sigh of relief.
It was not that she did not trust Cid. Although they had only known each other for a day, she trusted him quite a lot. The real reason was that the message had come from the Lion King Organization. She was worried Cid might see something important and get dragged into trouble.
She opened the message from the Lion King Organization and quickly scanned it. A look of surprise appeared on Yukina Himeragi's face.
"Senpai, you should go home first. I'm heading over there to stop this crime."
Hearing that, Cid looked at her, assuming she was simply getting fired up again.
"You're not seriously trying to play hero again, are you? I already told you the Security Force will handle it. Just trust them and go home."
Yukina Himeragi did not respond to his advice. Instead, she crouched down, set the guitar case on her back onto the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out the silver spear Cid had seen yesterday.
"Senpai, I hope you will keep what I am about to say a secret."
Holding the silver spear firmly, Yukina Himeragi stood up straight and looked at Cid earnestly.
"Senpai, I am actually an Attack Mage from the Magecraft Disaster Management Agency. As an Attack Mage, stopping mage-related crimes is my duty. So right now, I have to go stop this incident."
"Huh?"
"Please do not worry about me, Senpai. I will be fine."
After saying that, Yukina Himeragi turned and ran toward the pillar of black smoke without waiting for Cid to respond.
"Hey! Yukina…"
Hearing Cid calling from behind her, Yukina Himeragi channeled even more Spiritual Energy into her legs, increasing her speed.
Last night, when she applied to the Lion King Organization for a school transfer, she had also mentioned the mage crime incident in her report.
The message she had just received was from the Lion King Organization. In their reply, they said nothing about the transfer request. Instead, they assigned her a mission to resolve the mage crime and stated that, if necessary, she could reveal her identity as a Sword Shaman of the Lion King Organization to request assistance.
She did not understand why the school transfer, something that seemed like the biggest obstacle to her mission of monitoring Kojou Akatsuki, had received no response, while the Armed Apostle matter she had casually mentioned had been given such a formal reply.
She knew the situation was suspicious.
But she did not care.
For her, it was enough that the sense of responsibility and justice she had suppressed because of her mission and cover could finally be put into action.
...
Cid watched Yukina Himeragi run toward the explosion, blinked, and rubbed his chin.
"She cannot really be the one this conspiracy is targeting, can she?"
He had said before that Yukina Himeragi, like the Armed Apostle, was one of those poor souls caught in the web buried across the whole world. But he swore he had only said that on impulse to save her. He truly had thought she was just an unlucky girl, trying to be a champion of justice and ending up getting beaten half to death for it.
Still, Cid could not help recalling the idea he had previously dismissed: that Yukina Himeragi had been sent out by her own faction to become someone else's Peerage.
The thought sounded absurd, but Yukina Himeragi's behavior was far too strange.
Yukina Himeragi only told him her identity after receiving that text message. Before that, it was obvious she wanted to go and carry out her duty as an Attack Mage, yet for some reason, she had to hide her identity and could not go.
But the moment she read that text, she suddenly no longer needed to hide who she was. She even went so far as to reveal her identity to him so she could head to the Keystone Gate. That made the contents of that message very worth examining.
Cid looked meaningfully toward the black smoke.
There were not many clues, but every one of them mattered.
With this much commotion, and in the very center of Itogami Island, letting Rudolf get away now would be overdoing the whole act. So this was probably the final stage of Rudolf's operation. The island was already on the verge of sinking.
Then there was that text message.
Why did it not come earlier or later? Why did it arrive precisely when the Armed Apostle and the others began sinking the island, and just so happen to remove the very reason Yukina Himeragi could not go, sending her off to stop Rudolf?
And on top of that, she had already run into Rudolf yesterday. Was that really just a coincidence?
Was it possible that yesterday it was not because of him that Yukina Himeragi ran into Rudolf, but that he himself had been dragged in because of Yukina Himeragi?
When he found Yukina Himeragi just now, the path she was taking was not the way home. If she was not going home, then where had she been planning to go?
Remove his own involvement and reconstruct Yukina Himeragi's movements from the start.
If Yukina Himeragi did not go home after school, then she must have been going somewhere or going to meet someone.
Assume the second possibility, that Yukina Himeragi was going to meet someone. After meeting that person, would they part ways, or leave together?
Continue with the second possibility. Yukina Himeragi would head back together with that person, and then they would hear the explosion.
There was no need to deduce that part. He could just copy what had happened to him a moment ago.
For some reason, Yukina Himeragi would be unable to go. Then that text message would arrive on her phone, removing whatever was stopping her and prompting her to reveal her identity.
There was nothing more to copy after that, but he could still make assumptions.
If Rudolf and the others were being manipulated, then they would definitely be safe until the mastermind achieved their objective. There was no way the mastermind's goal was simply to test the Security Force's combat ability.
If Yukina Himeragi really was the one being set up, then she would inevitably clash with Rudolf. With Yukina Himeragi's fighting ability, it was hard to say who would win in a one on one fight, but if it became two against one, she would definitely lose.
So was the mastermind's goal to get Yukina Himeragi killed?
Of course not. This was where the person Yukina Himeragi had originally been on her way to meet came in.
If Yukina Himeragi really had been sent out by her own faction to become someone else's Peerage, then what could raise affection faster than a hero swooping in to save the beauty?
Deduction complete.
Cid tilted his head. A trace of crimson gradually appeared in his black pupils and slowly spread.
"Good grief, I really am overthinking this. How could that possibly be true? How could a faction really go to such lengths just to hand one of their own over as a subordinate? And how could so many coincidences line up to form this conspiracy, only for someone as plain and ordinary as me, a background extra, to guess the whole thing? How could it possibly be that convenient? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha."
A bright, energetic voice, the kind that gave off the feeling of a lively young boy, came from Cid's mouth. Yet on his face, which was plainly full of mockery, even the laughter sounded flat and theatrical.
As he strolled toward a nearby alley, black slime seeped out across the surface of his skin, and a deep, mature voice came from his mouth.
"I have already… seen the script."
...
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