I soon left school and headed straight home. Still wearing my Magical Attire, I walked on roads that were littered with cars and various items, a far cry from the usual scenery I see. The residents must have all gone to evacuation centers, as the only sound that I could hear were the chirping of cicadas.
The surviving hostiles that Layla mentioned…well, even she thought that it was highly unlikely for any monsters to remain. I didn’t think monsters would venture outside a dungeon after the overflow event had subsided. Most monsters would likely vanish within a few seconds due to running out of magic power.
When I stated as much to Layla, she was rather evasive with her replies. I felt something off with that, but I simply chose to comply this time. Plus, this way, we had some leeway to have a preliminary debriefing while we made our way home.
“Layla, are you good to talk?”
<<Yes. I can reply, though only like this>>
“While we were fighting that four-armed Draugr…well, at exactly what point did you intend to die?”
<<No, Master. I didn’t ‘intend to die’, simply because I shall live as long as you do.>>
“Let me change the question then. When did you start gauging when to use Spirit’s Devotion?”
<<…when my attack spell failed to damage the Elder Liches.>>
“Is that so…”
If my memory was right, that was not long after she entered that room and joined the fight.
“I’m sorry…”
<<Why would you be sorry?>>
“It’s because I was weak that you had to make that choice.”
That was the second biggest reason behind her death.
Had I been able to overwhelm or even just stand toe-to-toe against that demon Draugr, maybe Layla wouldn’t have needed to use that ability.
If I had done combat training more regularly, then maybe the outcome would have been different. If I just prepared some anti-monster Magic Tools and carried them in my Item Bag, then…
With those kind of thoughts in my mind, I couldn’t help but feel ashamed.
<<There’s no need for you to feel sorry. I am your Guardian Spirit, and as such, it is my duty to—>>
“Sorry, Layla. This isn’t a matter of logic or anything like that. And sorry to make this all about me, but…next time, please make that decision with me!”
<<…you say that, but I don’t think you’d be capable of arriving at the decision to use me as a shield.>>
“Mm, fair point. Let’s also discuss that in the formal debriefing then. And if you have any thoughts on how you would have preferred me to fight back then, tell me in the meeting.”
<<Very well.>>
I called this a preliminary debriefing, but it ended more about raising my complaints than a dialogue between the two of us.
But as I was reflecting on that, I noticed the magic power of someone I knew.
“Dear!”
“Yukine!”
Not even 2 hours had passed since we separated, but it felt like a few days had gone by already. She went in for a hug and I embraced her back.
Aww, man, I wish I wasn’t still wearing my chainmail…ahh, the feeling of her boobs through her kimono…no! This isn’t the time for this!
“I’m so glad you’re safe…!”
“I’m glad to see you’re well too, Yukine. How are Reinforce and Mom?”
“They’re safe as well. I’ve tasked Reinforce to stand guard at home.”
“Thank goodness…and thank you, seriously.”
Considering the maximum range of the overflow, I figured mom and our home would be alright. Still, I was quite relieved to hear her confirm so. But as I was savoring the feeling of relief, Yukine began turning her head left and right.
“Ahm…where’s Layla-sama?”
“…she died to protect me. She’s currently recuperating within me.”
<<We can hardly call this dying though…>>
In response to Yukine who had taken a step back, I pounded my chest and answered so. She was wide-eyed with shock at first, but when she recovered, she immediately grabbed my hand.
“Layla-sama. If you can hear me, know that I intend to attend to your every need later when we get home…!”
<<N-no, it’s fine. I don’t really need that kind of thing…>>
…some degenerate out there might get a kick from the conversation these two were having.
* * *
After reuniting with Yukine and asking her to stay within me, I made my way toward the city’s gymnasium. With telecommunications apparently restored at some point, I had received a message from Kumai-kun instead of heading home as I initially planned. My actual destination was a vacant lot near the said gym.
…and while I was headed there, I sent a message stating I was safe to my mom. I was surprised to see her flood me with replies though. The telecom networks seemed to be too busy for phone calls to go through, but the communication functions that did work, worked astounding well.
I replied, of course, although with a wry smile. Before long, I reached the vacant lot.
“Hey.”
“Yo, good job out there.”
“…yeah, good job,”
There I saw Kumai-kun and Uoyama-kun. There was also a bare-footed old man who was gagged by what seemed to be socks and had their arms and feet bound. This old man was the janitor I saved earlier.
…calm down, calm down. It’s still not confirmed yet. Like, maybe he’s just a molester or thief who got caught and brought here to the evacuation center.
“Before anything else, I’m glad to see the two of you safe. Especially you, Uoyama-kun.”
“Naturally. I’ve been training everyday, you know”
“Sorry…I’m still feeling some aftertaste, so I can’t really talk much…”
Kumai-kun threw his chest out as he declared so. In contrast, Uoyama-kun had a faraway look and looked rather absentminded. As I thought, he was still suffering from the aftereffects of that magic that fused him together with his familiars. I only had second-hand information about it, but even so, I would like to think I had a good idea of how dangerous that technique was. I was glad to see him be back to being human…but, hopefully, he would get himself checked out at a hospital sometime soon.
“…Uoyama-kun. If it’s tough for you, then you should go rest in the evacuation center.”
“Nah, it’s better to not go near there. The place in a state of panic, you know.”
Kumai-kun informed me so with a serious expression, and Uoyama-kun nodded vigorously.
“When they spot an Awakened One, people there would subject them to a barrage of questions, a list of annoying work, and a whole lot of desperate rescue requests. They didn’t care how tired we were too.”
“…seriously? So, our usual play won’t work anymore?”
It used to be that wherever the three of us went, as long as we stayed in the corner and remained quiet, all would be fine. However, it would appear that we could no longer do that around these parts. Frankly, I had mixed feelings about that.
“Yep. It looked like everyone in the neighborhood now knows we’re Awakened Ones.”
“We’re usually people nobody pays attention to…so how come this of all things is what gets us known for?”
The three of us all sighed.
“Like…is there some kind of way for someone to be the talk of the town without anybody getting jealous or resentful?”
“If there was, all the world’s celebrities would be doing it already.”
“I suppose so.”
I did have some aspirations to being called a hero, to be honest. In other words, I also had a desire for recognition. But that desire wasn’t enough to overcome the troubles that came with being recognized.
…I bet people would look at me with distrust, like I was about to do something wrong. And if something did happen, I would be on people’s shortlist of suspects. That or they would demand I did something about the problem. I was so sure of it. On the debate of whether people were fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, I was the kind of person who believed it was the latter.
Ahh…I really get why some Awakened Ones are fleeing to foreign countries now more than ever. Still, I should be fine…I still had the members of my harem, after all!! They’ll cheer me back up as much as I wanted!!
“OOOOOIIII!!!”
“Mm?”
I heard a voice with some strange echo. When I turned toward the voice, I saw Aihara-kun running at full speed. Seeing his coat flutter over his shoulder as he ran wearing a modified military uniform, I couldn’t help but wonder if something was up…it didn’t seem like there was a monster attack though.
Soon enough, he slowed down with a slide, kicking up some dust in the process. When he was about in front of me, he came to a stop.
“Why did you guys leave me behind at school!? Kumai, sure, but I thought you two would have waited for me, Kyotaro and Uoyama!!!”
“Ahh, sorry, I forgot.”
“Same”
“This is the first time my entire life somebody forgot about me!!”
This was the first time in real life I saw someone actually stomp their feet.
When I saw his pointlessly handsome face turn bright red, I lowered my head a little.
“Sorry, really. I was just so tired.”
“What’s with that cheerless tone!? After resolving a major event like this, the usual is for people to be so pumped with adrenaline that they can’t calm down, you know!?”
“I’m so tired I can’t even do that.”
“Same”
“I mean, it’s my fourth overflow…”
“Goodness! Young’uns these days!!”
So said a classmate.
But seriously though, how many people out there had been caught up in dungeon overflows for at least 4 times?
…well, there was that one guy I heard of on the TV. He was an old guy, so not my age, and he was from abroad. Apparently, he got caught up in 5 dungeon overflow incidents already. He said it was really a pain, since each time that happened, he had to change jobs and such. That person must have really been cursed. He should get a purification ritual done on him, in my opinion.
“So…is this the guy, Kumai?”
“Yup. He matched the person you described, so I arrested him.”
…ahh, so that’s what happened.
It looked like it was Aihara-kun who figured out that this restrained janitor was the culprit behind the overflow at our school. It wasn’t so surprising, given that Aihara-kun was the first one who said the Dungeon Gate was on the rooftop.
Still, he really is the culprit. Come to think of it, the Draugr that attacked him was all alone, as opposed to the Draugrs that moved in groups under the influence of the Liches. Like, maybe that Draugr was close to the other side of the Gate but was ejected by magic power shortly before I encountered them?
“Thanks, you ball of muscles”
“Oh shut it, beansprout”
Aihara proceeded to roughly take out the sock from the old man’s mouth. But as soon as his mouth was free, the old man took a deep inhale.
“HEL—”
“Shut up”
“MmHMMm”
I immediately grabbed his neck with my gauntlet-clad hand.
I made him hold his breath, but still careful enough not to break his neck or cause any uncommon injuries that this guy could use against me in a trial later on.
“…Aihara-kun. Are you sure it’s this guy?”
“…yeah. He fits the estimated time window of the Gate’s emergence. Plus, he matches what I’ve heard from a security guard and from the information I’ve gathered from the teachers over time.”
“I see.”
When I noticed that the old man’s face had gone dangerously pale, I let go of him. Looking down on him as he coughed for air, I somehow resisted the urge to reach for my newly-reformed zweihander.
I didn’t know for sure if it was because Kumai-kun sensed my killing intent, but he nonetheless moved to stand between me and the old man.
…calm yourself, Kyotaro.
I told so to myself as I took a deep breath under my helm. But simply closing my eyes was enough to bring back to the surface the horror that happened in school. This wasn’t just about what happened to Layla. So many lives had been lost forever.
“Y-you brats! Don’t think you can get away doing this…!”
“Ha, that’s our line, old man. Do you even understand what you’ve just done?”
“What are you on about!? I don’t know anything! You’re falsely accusing me! I’ve memorized your faces now, you know!? I’ll search for your names on the student roster and sue your asses!”
“If it’s a trial you want, sure, go ahead. I’ve gathered more than enough evidence against you.”
Aihara-kun said so and then produced a zip-topped plastic bag through Space Magic. Within the bag was some kind of cracked statue. Upon seeing that, the old man’s face instantly became even paler than before.
The old man then opened and closed his mouth, much to the satisfaction of Aihara-kun.
“This is the Magic Tool used for concealing a Dungeon Gate. It has the residual magic power of your body fluids, which you’ve probably sprayed when you were doing your Awakening training. If you ask me, that’s good enough evidence in court…but I bet this also has your fingerprints and DNA all over it. It even has a self-destruct function, but that’s easy to deal with by freezing the spacetime within. The function’s totally disabled right now.”
“You sure do advanced stuff so effortlessly…”
“Ha, praise me more!”
In response to Uoyama-kun’s comment, Aihara-kun puffed out his chest. In contrast, the janitor’s face became terribly contorted.
“…y-you think that can be used as evidence? You brats could have forced me to smear my hands over that thing right here and now, you know? And that’s exactly what happened. There’s really no telling what Awakened Ones will pull off, huh?”
“Sure, sure. Why don’t you tell that to the cops? But who knows what’ll happen next? I sure don’t.”
Aihara-kun laughed in mockery. In response though, I could see veins bulging in old man’s forehead.
“What’s with that damned attitude!? You brats do understand you have no right to restrain me, don’t you!?”
“Nah? If a civilian catches someone red-handed of a crime, they can arrest that person, can’t they? Or do you want to bring that up in court as well~?”
“Don’t you dare mock me, brat!! Why did brats like you, of all people, get to become Awakened Ones!!?”
With saliva flying from his mouth, the tied old man then got close toward Aihara-kun.
I was alert and reached for my sword, but Aihara-kun nudged me with his elbow. I took it to mean ‘don’t start a fight’.
“Ohh. You jealous of Awakened Ones? Then why don’t you do some Awakening training?”
“It was only by luck that you got those powers! Kids who have no idea of the harshness of the world have no right to speak so pompously! Don’t you realize that only those with money can afford to take time off from work AND pay the ridiculous fees those corrupt monks in Kyoto and Nara are charging for Awakening training!?”
“So, you just did nothing? Then, what right do YOU have to talk?”
“I did something, of course! I trained daily—”
“Where?”
“…!!”
Perhaps because of Aihara-kun’s sudden shift to a calm, serious tone, the old man hurriedly shut his mouth and cast his eyes down.
As cold sweat began to appear on the old man’s face, Aihara-kun sighed deeply. One that felt so forced.
“…Kumai. Did you record that?”
“Pretty much. Can we use this in court?”
“Who knows? In a civil case, maybe. But in a criminal case? We’d have to ask a professional.”
Aihara-kun crouched down in front of the old man and looked the latter in eye.
“Can’t believe someone fell for such a classic trick…”
“W-what are you talking about? When I said I trained everyday, I meant I did it at home and only there. My training has nothing to do with that thing you showed me…!”
“If this is all the evidence there is, maybe that excuse will fly. But, you see, I’m betting the cops will find a lot more after they’ve searched your home and other haunts.”
Aihara-kun then hit him with a look that was a mix between exasperation and pity.
“…I guess it’s no surprise that a guy who will fall for that simple trick of ours would involve themselves in such dubious and obviously dangerous scheme. Stupidity knows no bounds, I guess.”
“…don”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t mock me!!”
The old man tried to headbutt Aihara-kun, but Aihara-kun effortlessly stepped back and evaded. The old man fell face first, but made no effort to stand back up.
“…I…this wasn’t supposed to happen to me…a better home…better women…better wealth…that’s what…!”
“…all the same, there are things you should and shouldn’t do. You’re an adult; you should have known at least that much already.”
“If I…If I could have become an Awakened One, then those debts…! Dammit, dammit…!”
As I watched the old man cry, Uoyama-kun grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away.
“I don’t think you’d try anything, but it’s best to avoid risk.”
“I understand…let’s leave his fate to the authorities.”
“Well, it is true that we were rather heavy-handed in apprehending him, so we might get some backlash for that.”
“…hopefully, that’s a thing that can be sorted with a letter of apology.”
“Hope so too. We said we caught him red-handed, but it’s only kind of like that. Plus, we tied him with rope, but only because we thought restraining him ourselves might hurt him.”
“Yeah, if I remember correctly, they’re pretty strict when it comes to arrests. I think they called this a citizen’s arrest, but either way, the examples they showed on TV had the pattern where the person who performed a citizen’s arrest were mostly the ones who were arrested by the police.”
“…I’ll just take a toilet break”
“I’m not letting you escape this one, Four-eyes”
“Tch.”
While grabbing Uoyama-kun—who wasn’t seriously trying to escape—by the shoulder, I watched Kumai-kun and Aihara-kun put back the sock in the old man’s mouth. I wondered why they did so since the old man wasn’t being so loud anymore, but then I thought that maybe it was to prevent him from biting his tongue. According to old movies, biting the tongue off was a way to commit suicide. But according to what I’ve heard in more recent times, it didn’t really work and you’d only be hurting yourself for no good reason. Still, as someone who didn’t know a lick about medicine, it was probably best not to risk it. I had a feeling we’d be questioned on the sock later on though.
But soon enough, I heard sirens coming from the direction of the gymnasium. It also seemed like they were headed our way. Aihara-kun or somebody else must have called them earlier, but it was only now that they were on the way.
I leaned my back on a nearby concrete wall and looked up at the sky again.
I intended to make the culprit pay. But I guess leaving him to the hands of the police was fine too. And so, as I pressed the weight of the sword on my back against the wall, I closed my eyes in an attempt to not look at the old man any further.
* * *
POV: Togo Miyokichi (Saionji Yasuo)
“Are you sure about that?”
<<Yes, it’s reliable intel. The local police has, without a doubt, secured the Magic Tool used to hide the Dungeon Gate as well as the perpetrator.>>
“That’s good to hear. Probably the best piece of news I’ve heard recently, in fact.”
I felt the corners of my mouth rise up.
Finally…we had finally obtained incriminating evidence against the Society of the Sage. Before, whenever a dungeon overflow happened, at least ones that were similar to the most recent ones, the crucial Magic Tool used couldn’t be found and even the perpetrator was swallowed up by the dungeon. And because of that, we couldn’t investigate the Society of the Sage openly and directly.
Hopefully, this change would get my slow-acting superiors to start moving.
<<Apparently, four Awakened Ones, including Aihara Kensuke, took part in the arrest. Your favorite, Okawa Kyotaro, was involved too.>>
“Got it. I have nothing but gratitude for them. Please make the local police know how grateful I am of the Awakened Ones. Once we’ve finished some business on our end, I’ll go meet them.”
<<Roger that…but we might not even need to meddle, seeing that the local police is planning to acknowledge the Awakened Ones’ citizens’ arrest to be valid and lawful. Prosecutors would likely have no objection as well.>>
“That would be for the best, so I hope so. Let’s try to avoid any unnecessary conflicts here, okay? Well then, I’ll be hanging up now.”
I ended the call and exited a secret passageway. After walking for a few meters more, the sound of footsteps and shouting of the prefectural office’s employees already reached my ears.
“Hey, where’s the documents from the next town? Which place’s data is this?”
“Aren’t these the evacuation center data from the year before last? Where are the latest ones?!”
“Yes. Yes. That’s why, from your Fire Depart…yes. Yes.”
“We’ve made arrangements for 3 additional ambulance units! They’ll now be heading to the operation area along with the police!”
Even though it was more of a cover, I was still a staff member here. I should put in enough work to avoid arousing suspicion. Those kids pulled out all the stops and risked even their lives.
We adults just can’t let them see our ugly side now, can we?
Knowing for sure that this would turn into another all-nighter, I picked up my phone and my documents.
Taroppe-sensei(author)’s Q&A corner
Thank you for reading!
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Your support is appreciated and I hope you continue doing so.
Summary of this chapter:
Under Aihara’s guidance, Kumai apprehended the old man. Kyotaro and the others then met up with him.
Aihara lectured the old man
Kyotaro: “It sounds like a citizen’s arrest is a pain later on”
While having a mental fist-pump moment, Togo-san headed toward the all-nighter hell awaiting him.
Q: Wasn’t the citizen’s arrest Kyotaro and the gang did kind of going over the line? Also, the evidence they have kinda seem insufficient.
A: Police Officer: “…considering that they’re all minors, plus the severity of the crime in question, we had decided to impose on them nothing more than a warning. I will leave the final decision to our higher-ups, whether to impose stricter punishment on them or give them an award.”
The Police Officer’s honest thoughts: “Don’t give us more work, you idiot!! It’s already guaranteed that I’ll be pulling an all-nighter tonight!! If I have to arrest high-ranking Awakened Ones on top of that, then that’ll surely be the death of me! Of us!! And we still have to assist with the evacuation centers and the rescue operations!”
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