Ch.13Chapter 13. Operation: Hourglass Heist (3)

“Is this it?”

“Yeah. I checked it several times to make sure it wasn’t switched like before.”

“Hmm. It looks more ordinary than I expected… hehehe.”

Erika was thinking the same thing as me.

Watching her turn the hourglass I’d handed her back and forth, shaking the devil’s bone powder inside, was like seeing myself from a few moments ago.

Of course, there was a slight difference in that she was smiling with pleasure while examining the hourglass.

A transparent glass in the true form of an ‘hourglass’ without any special patterns or decorations, containing powder like sand that was supposedly devil’s bone powder.

I thought I might feel some special energy since it was devil’s bone powder, but I didn’t feel anything particular.

“Anyway, good job. Our side had almost no casualties.”

“Really? Everyone’s amazing.”

“Of course. They’re my subordinates after all.”

Erika smiled proudly as she lowered the hood covering her mouth and untied her hair.

I’d seen her briefly earlier, but Erika’s appearance after such a long time remained unchanged.

Exaggerating a bit, she gave off an elegant and beautiful impression that could make her pass for a princess of some kingdom.

The moonlight made her silver hair shine, enhancing that impression even more.

“So this is worth 50 million gold…”

“Hehe. We finally found it.”

“Do you want to take it yourself? Or should I deliver it to Addy?”

“Better if you take it, just to be safe. Ah, refreshing. By the way, where have you been lately? I heard you’re taking a break.”

“Ah, there’s a bit of a story. I was originally planning to take a short vacation in the west, but somehow it looks like I’ll be staying in Crescen for a while.”

“Crescen?”

Talking with Erika made all the recent events in my life feel like they happened in another world.

The sudden Academy entrance quest, winning first place in the entrance exam and giving a speech in front of numerous students, and even getting into an argument with a ‘friend’ right after being assigned to a class.

“Yeah. I’m at Crescen Academy.”

“Why? Need to retrieve something?”

“No, it’s not like that…”

Addy had let it slide since she’s my secretary, but I knew very well that Erika wouldn’t just ignore the fact that I had enrolled as a ‘student’ at the Academy.

In times like these, it’s best to be vague.

“Just, have some business there?”

“Hmm. So it’s a mission you’re not sharing even with your captain, huh.”

“Something like that. Mm-hmm.”

Since the quest was technically a mission, I nodded vigorously in agreement.

Erika seemed to accept my enthusiastic nodding and turned her gaze toward the ‘village’ still engulfed in flames.

Though calling it a village was a stretch since there wasn’t a single civilian in sight—it was more like some organization’s hideout.

“Well… shall I get going? You’re heading back to headquarters now, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll take my time getting back with the team.”

“Right, right. Clean up well.”

I wanted to catch up more with Erika after not seeing her for so long, but both of us had our own responsibilities.

Though the situation was resolved, it was still the captain’s role to lead her subordinates out safely.

After receiving the 50-million-gold hourglass from Erika, I waved goodbye to her as she smiled softly.

It was a brief meeting, but a welcome one.

Woong-

And then I was back in my office.

“Addy-!”

“Did everything go well, sir?”

“Whoa!”

I naturally expected her to be waiting for me outside, but Addy appeared behind me in response to my call.

She did this last time too, and now again—it seems almost intentional.

“I believe I mentioned last time that I should be the one surprised.”

“Phew. You startled me. Here. 50 million gold.”

“Ooh.”

“Hehehe.”

Addy showed a rare display of emotion as she took the hourglass from me.

Following me and Erika, she also examined the 50-million-gold hourglass from various angles before carefully placing it in some box.

Watching Addy put the hourglass in the box, I felt like a troublesome matter I’d buried in a corner of my mind thinking ‘when will I deal with this?’ had been resolved.

Though Erika did most of the hard work and I just helped at the end, I felt oddly proud of completing a mission we’d been working on for a long time.

Plus, 50 million gold.

To exaggerate a bit, it’s about the same as the Black Shadow Corps’ income from last quarter. I can’t help but smile.

“Please take care of the rest?”

“Yes. You worked hard today.”

“Haah. I really did. Even had to wear my gloves for once.”

“Oh? Was there such a strong opponent? As expected of a 50-million-gold mission.”

“Let’s just say there was someone who didn’t match well with me. Anyway, you worked hard waiting too. Erika will be back soon, so give her my regards when she returns.”

“…Hmm? By the way, didn’t Erika say anything when you told her you enrolled as an Academy student?”

“Oh please. As if. That’s why I didn’t mention it at all.”

“…”

“You can explain it to her later. I’m off!”

“…Sigh.”

Woong-

I think I heard Addy’s genuine sigh at the end, but I deliberately ignored it as I returned to my room.

It was the end of a long day in many ways.

**

Late at night, in a room with no light except for the moonlight coming through the window, two people were having a quiet conversation in a space so dark they could barely see each other’s faces.

“…It was stolen?”

“…Yes.”

“The culprit?”

“Well…”

The man sitting in a chair looking out the window at the moonlight slowly rose from his seat.

At this, the man kneeling on one knee in the center of the room, who had been hesitating to continue, bowed his head even lower.

“Not only was the medium stolen, but you don’t even know who took it.”

“Shen and Max, who were in charge of security, have disappeared without a trace according to reports. It seems they were taken down…”

“Huh?”

The man who had risen from his chair snorted in disbelief at the continued bad news.

If it weren’t for the serious, trembling voice of his subordinate reporting, he would have dismissed it as a joke—it was that unbelievable.

“How is that possible? There should be a barrier I installed there.”

“The… barrier is still functioning, according to reports.”

“And yet?”

“There’s no one inside the barrier. No trace of living beings, and the medium is also…”

“That doesn’t make sense…!”

The man, Landgar Bayer, who had been quietly listening to the kneeling man’s report, almost lost control of his rising anger and nearly used his power on the man before him, but barely restrained himself.

“Shen and Max, both of them together were defeated?”

“…Based on the information we’ve gathered so far, yes.”

Landgar couldn’t easily accept this fact.

Max was one thing, but Shen was a fairly skilled magician within the organization.

Mainly using lightning magic, Landgar himself saw talent in him and had personally taught him magic—he was a promising talent standing out in the organization.

While his current skills weren’t at the elder level like himself, Landgar thought that if he continued to grow, he could eventually compete with others for a new elder position.

Add to that Max, who was somewhat crude but had impressive attack power, and the two of them were together—yet they were both taken down so cleanly that not even a trace remained.

“How is this possible…”

“Um, this information isn’t confirmed, but…”

“What is it?”

“There’s talk that the attack on Branch 7 might have been carried out by the Black Shadow Corps. Someone reportedly spotted the Silver Tracker at the scene.”

“Hmm.”

Landgar groaned in contemplation at his subordinate’s words.

The name Black Shadow Corps was one Landgar knew very well.

He had heard it just earlier today—a group that had been giving Landgar headaches in various ways recently.

When they stole the Dragon Heart from the O’Neil Kingdom a few years ago, he thought ‘these thieves are incredibly bold,’ but they still hadn’t been caught and were instead expanding their influence and operating more actively.

“Why would the Black Shadow Corps…”

Gulp-

Landgar stopped his muttering when he heard his subordinate swallowing nervously below.

“You may go for now. I’ll go to the scene myself tomorrow night to check.”

“Understood.”

Pung-

With a sound like a balloon popping, the subordinate who had been kneeling and reporting in Landgar’s room disappeared in an instant.

Left alone in the room, Landgar stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the moonlight outside the window.

‘Salvation is not easy.’

Landgar thought as he looked at the moonlight that seemed especially bright today.

The nameless organization that followed the devil who lost its name.

Landgar was one of the seven elders of the Nameless Organization.

“Hmm.”

The organization had put so much effort into finding the hourglass containing the bone powder of the nameless devil, only to have it stolen so futilely.

Landgar felt his barely suppressed anger rising again at the thought, but he pushed it down.

Getting angry now wouldn’t change anything.

‘The Black Shadow Corps, huh.’

Even if it wasn’t confirmed information, it was worth looking into.

If they could breach the O’Neil Kingdom’s security and steal the Dragon Heart, perhaps they could also breach his barrier and deal with Shen and Max.

Among the rumors about the Black Shadow Corps captain, the most credible information was that the captain was female and that no barrier could stop “Black Shadow,” the captain of the Black Shadow Corps.

A genius magician with faster mental processing than anyone else, capable of disabling most barriers within seconds.

If this rumor was true, the likelihood of the Black Shadow Corps being behind the attack on Branch 7 was very high.

‘They penetrated and bypassed that barrier?’

Though it was hard to believe.

Landgar recalled the magic circle he had personally installed at Branch 7.

Although he had received help from the Great One, it was still the best defensive barrier ever created on the continent, born from his own hands.

A barrier that completely blocked the approach of anyone with mana—even Landgar himself would need considerable time to dismantle it.

“Haah.”

With a long sigh, Landgar dispelled the soundproofing magic he had cast in the room just in case.

As Landgar moved away from the window, the unusually bright moonlight today freely illuminated the room.

Thud-

Landgar collapsed into a chair beside him and turned his gaze to the nameplate on the desk, glittering in the moonlight.

<Crescen Academy Vice Chancellor, Landgar Bayer>

The nameplate, bathed in moonlight, sparkled even more brightly today, unaware of Landgar’s troubles.