episode_0146

Adela was lost in thought as she traveled by car to the deep zone.

‘Could Violet’s words be true?’

When she met Violet again, she was very pleased. It was the anticipation of meeting a girl who might become her junior.

When she realized Violet had lied about her name, she was greatly disappointed. She had thought Violet was a cute and innocent child, but it turned out she was hiding such a mischievous side.

Just as she was about to turn away in disappointment, looking into Violet’s eyes made her waver slightly.

Tears welled up slightly in the eyes of the young girl who was stammering as she explained her circumstances.

-“My parents passed away. And bad people are chasing me… so I can’t attend the academy anymore…”

There were many parts that couldn’t be rationally explained. The reasons she gave were strange and exaggerated. She was clearly hiding something.

However, her intuition, honed by training and experience, told a different story. At the very least, Violet’s words themselves didn’t seem to be a lie.

-“Adela Unnie. Can I go now? I need to earn money with my friends…”

“Unnie,” Adela muttered.

Adela muttered. Certainly, according to what she had learned, interactions between people should be rationally analyzed and judged. But she couldn’t understand why she couldn’t do that with this girl.

It was truly a coincidence that she met Violet again after the car arrived in the deep zone and while she was guiding the juniors under her care.

‘Let’s talk to her first.’

She gave an awkward smile and said,

“To think I’d see you here again… I’m sorry for getting angry earlier…”

“Hehe, no problem! I did something that could be misunderstood too.”

As Violet replied with a bright smile, Adela somehow found herself feeling a little relieved. Perhaps she didn’t want this girl to resent her.

She saw armed soldiers sitting behind Violet.

A blurry impression that prevented one from paying attention unless concentrating—an awareness-hindering device.

‘Why is this child here like this? Who are those people?’

The word “forced labor” came to mind. She suspected that Violet might be being exploited by a suspicious organization.

Adela cautiously asked. Violet immediately replied.

“Oh, those people? They’re from the Ariel Group…”

“Ariel Group?”

Violet gestured behind her. The sitting soldiers stood up and moved in perfect formation, lining up neatly.

“They’re my bodyguards. Left to me by my parents.”

Violet smiled somewhat sadly.

Seeing that, Adela’s mind flashed as if struck by lightning.

Her knowledge of the awakened world and the customs of high society, along with her various experiences in social circles as the next head of an old noble family, began to operate like clockwork gears.

The flow of knowledge and thought pointed to a few given clues.

Deceased parents, a female student from an awakened academy, an unidentified bodyguard organization, and awakened companions who seemed to be friends.

‘Internal power struggles within a clan. Issues of inheritance and shares.’

The Cascadia Family had a wide network. Thanks to that, they often heard rumors and stories involving numerous clans, whether they liked it or not.

Nothing was as frequently discussed among gossips as the blood-stained power struggles and share disputes between family members.

‘What if her parents died, and she’s being chased by relatives or rivals?’

A narrative naturally formed. It was a common story.

Everyone becomes cruel in the face of money and power.

Violet was a young girl driven out of her clan or family for some reason. Unable to attend the academy, she was now venturing into dangerous dungeons with loyal forces and friends to reclaim her rightful birthright.

The puzzles with holes in them began to fit together, one by one. Although there was no definitive proof, so she couldn’t conclude anything with certainty, it was a regrettable situation.

It was simply a shame that, due to her family’s policy, she couldn’t intervene in others’ affairs rashly.

“I see.”

Adela swallowed her bitterness and feigned composure.

‘If it’s true, what a poor child…’

**

When Adela suddenly started probing into the identity of us Violets, I was honestly flustered.

It was because I didn’t know how to explain it well. I barely managed to answer by fabricating Irene’s situation. Fortunately, Adela let it go.

*“We’re saved! The excuse about them being my parents’ bodyguard unit worked!”*

*”That’s a relief.”*

I sighed in relief inwardly.

As I was wondering how to leave this place, Adela approached my bodyguard unit—the Violet squad members—who were lined up neatly beside me. We stood still without moving.

*”She still looks suspicious! What should we do?”*

*”It’s fine. We even wore insoles, didn’t we? She won’t know!”*

Adela looked at our unit members. Her amethyst-like eyes held goodwill.

“They seem like good people. That’s a relief.”

*”Why is she suddenly saying something like that?”*

I was puzzled but stopped thinking further. At least Adela didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.

After resolving the crisis, a question arose.

Why did Adela come here?

*”Could Adela also be plotting some strange human experiments?”*

*”Don’t talk nonsense! Adela is kind.”*

Those kids slowly turning to look this way, they must definitely be lower-grade students.

But I wondered why the student council president accompanied the lower-grade students on their field trip.

It was a bit strange for the student council president to accompany them to a place like this.

Now I see students wearing armbands, seemingly from the disciplinary committee. There were also quite a few armed guards.

I asked about it, and I could see Adela making a troubled expression.

“Actually, one of the first-year students caused trouble this time. So the student council seniors came along.”

“Trouble?”

When I asked again, Adela placed a hand on her forehead as if her head was throbbing.

“Well, one new student ran away from home to find an artifact with their friends and went into a dungeon. Fortunately, they were rescued quickly, but it was chaos. Because of this, we’ve strengthened the safety regulations for experiential learning. We need to prevent further deviations, you see.”

“Oh, something like that happened! That’s scary.”

As I responded, Adela nodded and made a troubled expression.

“The adventurous spirit of our young juniors is too high. A Holy Grail… a confession…! *Sigh*…”

With a few words that slipped from her lips, I understood the situation.

Oh my, this is that Alex kid’s story. Tsk tsk, looks like he got caught.

Suddenly, something I had forgotten came back to mind.

*”Wait, a field trip?”*

Surely, it was questionable whether the Aegis Academy people knew about the Unification Society. Just a moment ago, I had explained about those cultists at the outpost.

“Um, Student Council President-nim? There’s something I need to tell you.”

I explained about the existence of those Unification Society members and what I had experienced.

“Is that really true?”

“Yes! And here are their items…”

I pretended to put my hand in my inner pocket and pulled out the spoils I had obtained from them from my inventory, showing them. Adela’s expression darkened when she saw the Unification Society’s pocket scripture.

“Thank you for telling me, Violet! I need to tell the professors right away.”

The moment she turned around, a violent barrage of artillery fire echoed from somewhere far away in the deep zone.

Everyone present turned their gaze towards the darkness beyond. It was too loud to be the sound made by hunters.

A peculiar noise, heard for the first time, followed in quick succession. A sharp sound like rough cloth being cut with a knife. It sounded like gunshots, but sharper and more unusual.

“This is the sound of Federal Army weapons…?”

As Adela muttered, the scene I had seen yesterday came to mind.

“That’s right, last night I saw Federal Army tanks coming!”

“Is that true?”

I talked about the Federal Army mobile unit. As soon as she heard my words, she rushed towards the academy bus.

**

Somewhere in an unnamed ruin, while the members of Mystical Investigation Department 3 were rummaging through the corpses of the fanatics, Lera, who was operating a detector, spoke.

*”The Federal Army has started moving. We need to move faster.”*

She sent a telepathic message and glanced at one side of the wall. The sound was bothering her.

The noise coming from a distance was quite loud and peculiar.

This distinctive sound, like tearing cloth, produced when tungsten projectiles flew, was something that could never be heard from ordinary firearms circulating on the market.

“Well, these are electromagnetic weapons. They’ve prepared quite well.”

The Vanguard Commander, leaning against the wall, comically raised both arms, making a gesture as if something big had happened.

“At this rate, there’d be no reason for carrying that heavy thing on our backs. Did you see the expression on that elder’s face when he died just now? That ‘Why isn’t it firing?’ look. The more I think about it, the funnier it gets.”

The surrounding agents chuckled at the commander’s words. The sound, modulated into a mechanical tone from behind their sealed masks, was somewhat bizarre.

“We’re not here to fool around. You know that.”

“Honestly, young people these days are too serious. Alright. I’ll be careful!”

The commander grumbled.

“Anyway, it’s over once we find the item, isn’t it? Since we came in with different identities, no one will know. Oh, like that, we just found it.”

One of the staff members found a strange key among the crushed and mangled corpses of the Unification Society fanatics.

Lera took the key, examined it, and then found a protruding hole on one side of the ruins and inserted it. The agents’ gazes focused. The wall twitched, and a geared sphere from within was revealed.

The expectant atmosphere among the agents subsided. It wasn’t the artifact they wanted.

“It’s not the Vision Prism. We’ve drawn a blank.”

Lera didn’t hide her disappointment.

“Wasn’t it necessary for the plan anyway? Don’t be too hasty! We have plenty of time. Take it easy.”

She gave other instructions to the agents. The agents prepared to detach the geared sphere fixed to the wall. Other agents were seen bringing equipment from a distance. One agent looked at a corpse, quickly lowered their head, and gagged. Their equipment clanked as it fell to the floor.

“Ah, damn it… Just like a rookie…”

“Ah, ugh. I’m sorry! Ugh, a-ack!”

The agents grumbled.

Lera approached the female agent, led her to a corner, and comforted her.

“I, I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright. I’m not angry. Is this your first time in the field?”

“Yes, I was assigned from the lab… and this is my first field exploration… Ugh! What are these people…”

The brown-haired woman trembled.

“You heard the explanation earlier, right? They’re fanatics. You’ll get used to it, so don’t blame yourself too much.”

The brown-haired woman gloomily picked up her equipment and returned to work. Shortly after, the metal sphere detached from the wall. Lera quickly withdrew with her team. The noise was steadily getting closer.

**

After Adela left her spot, she was seen discussing with people who appeared to be professors. The instructors around them were also listening with serious expressions.

The result came quickly.

“… Cadet Adelaide is right. Alright, everyone, attention!”

The professors called the students and said something loudly.

The conclusion reached by the Aegis Academy staff was simple: Field trip canceled!

*”Faster than I thought?”*

If it were Polaris, they would surely have told us to tough it out with sheer willpower.

It seems like a good school, sensitive to safety issues. The fact that they immediately withdraw as soon as there’s talk of danger shows it. They focus on creating a safe educational environment where students come first. As expected, I definitely have to go to that school. By any means necessary!

*”They’ll probably feed us well too, right?”*

I also slowly prepared to return to my main work. I needed to find valuable artifacts in the deep zone, earn a lot of money, and buy weapons.

Urgent voices were heard from the Aegis Academy side, which was preparing for withdrawal.

“Where did those guys go?”

“Three teams are missing!”

Oh no, it seems there were other Alex-like kids. That academy is in big trouble.

While the convoy carrying the other students hurried back to the safe zone, Adela approached me.

“Huh? Unnie. What’s wrong?”

“Huh, Unnie? Hmm, no, that’s not it… Violet. How long will you be here? It’s dangerous here.”

“I’ll just find a few more artifacts and then leave. I need money, you see.”

“Ah… in that case, I suppose it can’t be helped. But could you do me a favor?”

I nodded. Adela spoke with anxious eyes.

“We need to withdraw quickly, but some of our academy students are missing! I and others plan to search for them, but the area is too vast, and we don’t know where they went. If you happen to find any students, could you bring them to these coordinates? I’ll give you a reward.”

The answer went without saying. I couldn’t refuse this. It might even help with my academy admission or transfer if I caught the eye of the professors standing there.

“Yes! I’ll bring them right away if I find them!”

Above all, it was Adela’s request. I absolutely had to grant it!

“Don’t overexert yourself. Violet’s own matters come first. Understand?”

I received photos of the students and coordinates from Adela. The coordinates pointed to a border area on the dungeon’s internal map.

I returned to my teammates and explained.

“Let’s find artifacts and students!”

Finding people is a piece of cake for us.