Ch.75Chapter 13. Counterattack (7)

Not long after, sirens began to sound outside.

Whenever we were called out, the entities the police had been dealing with were typically Kaijin, but today the target was different.

This was about protecting the chairman of an extraplanetary corporation that played a fairly important role in this country… something like that.

Obviously, the chairman wasn’t here. I don’t know whether they prioritized protecting the chairman or securing the company’s important facilities, but it seems they decided to be cautious about “both.” I had to admit their judgment wasn’t wrong.

If I had actually met the chairman here, I would have broken an arm or a leg or something.

Well, with Hayun and Iris beside me, I wouldn’t need to kill him. Even if I were alone, I probably wouldn’t have actually killed him. That would be actual murder.

Wait, is breaking someone’s arms and legs also a serious crime? Is it different from simple assault? Hmm.

I guess intimidation would be the best approach.

Hayun and Iris looked at me.

We still had time. The police wouldn’t come in right away. They’d know that sending in a few officers wouldn’t be enough to subdue me—someone who wouldn’t be neutralized by a single sniper shot and might go berserk instead.

Would they wait until I came out?

But even so, I didn’t want to deal with even a few people coming in to bother us.

I set up a table in front of the front door to block it. I also propped a half-broken wardrobe behind it to make it take a bit longer to break through.

What about the large window we had smashed to get in? Would the police come that way? They could certainly manage it with a helicopter, but unfortunately, it was awkward to block that side, so I left it as is.

There was nothing on the second floor. Not surprising. The space was too small to hide anything. Compared to the outside, the empty spaces were too obvious, and above all, the top of this house was flat like a rooftop.

There would only be enough space to hide something important if a person were to lie flat. Just to be sure, I hit the ceiling in each room to check, but there was only space for checking electrical wiring.

James hadn’t come inside yet. At least that was evidence that the police weren’t planning to deploy via helicopter.

Iris looked at me.

She didn’t say anything out loud in case there were listening devices, but she must have noticed that this space was strange.

Even so, there was a complete lack of facilities to deal with us.

Did they think I wouldn’t come here because it was the former chairman’s house? Did they think I would find where he actually was?

Or did they truly not have any more resources to move Kaijin? Maybe the Kaijin they had deployed against us were all they had, and after we defeated them all, there weren’t many left.

Another possibility… perhaps they were preparing to develop more reliable equipment for their remaining Kaijin rather than wasting them one by one against us.

If that’s the case, this place might have been classified as “relatively less important” as James had predicted. The chairman doesn’t need to be here. It wouldn’t be strange if he had dozens of buildings to stay in, and if he were staying secretly in an expensive hotel room, we’d have no way of finding him.

And we’d have to be careful about raiding such a place anyway. There would be civilians involved.

It’s frustrating, but this might be a waste of time.

“…”

I pondered for a moment.

Should we just leave now? Or should we check if there’s a basement?

“What’s the matter?”

While I was thinking, I heard James’s voice.

“I came to check because I didn’t hear any sounds of destruction from inside, but it seems there really wasn’t anything important here.”

James’s drone flew around, surveying the area as he spoke.

“…”

“Don’t worry about eavesdropping. There’s nothing as far as I can detect.”

“Couldn’t you have told us that a bit earlier?”

“How could I tell you when I was monitoring for helicopters and drones until just now? You didn’t even bring wireless communication equipment.”

“…”

Maybe I should make one.

“Well, it’s not like you came here with high expectations, right? Our goal in coming here was to create the impression that you’re targeting the chairman’s life. The purpose was to draw forces away from our real target, so there’s no need to be too disappointed.”

Hearing James speak like that gave me a strange feeling.

Is he… trying to comfort me?

I can’t see his expression. Since he’s a hamster, even if I could see his face, I’d only be able to tell by the shape of his mouth or the size of his eyes, so it wouldn’t be precise, but there’s still a big difference between seeing that and not seeing anything.

I don’t think James feels any friendliness toward me; more likely, he’s worried that if I become completely discouraged, it would interfere with his revenge.

I was about to suggest we leave when—

“Um, do you have scanning capabilities too?”

“Pardon?”

When Hayun suddenly spoke up, James’s drone turned toward her.

Even through the speaker, which distorted his voice slightly, his surprised tone came through clearly.

James is somewhat awkward with the other magical girls. He’s not exactly friendly with me either, but at least I see him as emergency food.

I haven’t often seen James conversing with anyone except Iris, with whom he builds and fixes things. Usually, even when there’s something to say, one side just says what they need to and that’s it. He’ll respond to what I say, but if another magical girl jumps in, he’ll adjust his response accordingly.

Hayun in particular seems uncomfortable with James being a “former enemy executive,” and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her initiate conversation with him.

“Like checking if there are any empty spaces…”

Hayun’s voice grew quieter. The drone has no expression, but it seemed to be staring at Hayun silently, as if at a loss for words.

“Strictly speaking, such methods do exist.”

“But?”

“That doesn’t mean I can see through walls like an X-ray. At most, I can scan the surroundings to find somewhat suspicious places.”

“…”

The three of us—myself, Hayun, and Iris—looked at each other.

Then we looked at James.

“Then why not scan the first floor with that? Why didn’t you say so from the beginning?”

“Because I have the blueprints for this house. There’s no underground research facility.”

“…”

We fell silent again at James’s words.

After standing dumbfounded with my mouth open for about five seconds, I glared at James.

“Why didn’t you say so from the beginning? No, more importantly, didn’t you act like you didn’t know anything at first? What were you thinking when we were planning this operation?”

But James ignored my words with a very gentle attitude and turned back to Hayun.

“Well, let’s scan the first floor and then leave. If there’s anything special, we can destroy it or take it with us. Though it’s unlikely there will be anything.”

He clearly just wanted to watch me struggle. Damn him.

But since we’d already achieved our original purpose in coming here, it was awkward to complain further.

We followed James, who left first, down to the first floor.

James went to the middle of the living room and turned on… some function of the drone.

Lasers shot out in all directions from the drone. At first glance, they looked like surveyor’s lasers, but they were much more complex. Probably some alien technology.

I wondered if it was okay for us to be in the midst of it, but since James didn’t say anything, we just stayed put.

While we remained silent, sirens wailed outside, and the sound of people murmuring could be heard.

By now, the building was probably surrounded by police.

They hadn’t yet told us to surrender and come out.

They must be moving more cautiously.

It hadn’t even been 30 minutes since we arrived.

From the police’s perspective, it would be best if we left without doing anything.

“…”

“What?”

After the lasers had swept from above us to below, James fell silent. After waiting a moment with no response, I didn’t bother to hold back and asked again.

“…There’s no facility.”

“Really? Then shall we go—”

“No, wait a moment.”

There was a bewildered emotion in James’s voice.

“…What?”

“There’s a circuit under here. It seems to be powered by the mana you use.”

“You can see that too? I thought you said there was no penetration function.”

“I can detect vibrations.”

If that’s the case, the vibrations must be very subtle. At least we couldn’t feel them.

If there’s something running buried in a solid floor, the vibrations felt on the surface would be almost nonexistent. The thick concrete would absorb almost all the vibrations. Especially if there’s no space around it.

“But why? Is that circuit important?”

If a circuit is running, it’s clearly because of me. It’s only natural if it’s making the ground vibrate, even slightly.

“Important? Yes, it is.”

James paused briefly before continuing.

“The circuit is extremely unstable. And it’s large.”

“…Huh?”

“It’s as unstable as the circuits you used when you were a Combatant. But much larger.”

“…So?”

“It means there’s a risk of explosion.”

The three of us—myself, Hayun, and Iris—fell silent.

“Let’s go.”

“Wait, wait a minute. Are you thinking of creating that black hole? Do you want to be blown away along with the mansion? If mana overflows, it will explode immediately. That’s probably what the enemy is counting on.”

“So you’re saying they planted a bomb in a place we might visit?”

“Rather than a bomb, it’s a crudely made circuit, but yes, that seems to be the case. It would be easy to hide a circuit powered by your mana. If you didn’t come, it wouldn’t activate in the first place.”

“…Then why didn’t it explode as soon as we arrived?”

“Didn’t you drop from the air?”

Ah, I see.

“Then let’s fly away right now—”

“No.”

James spoke in a quite serious voice.

“Thanks to your use of the propulsion device while destroying this place, the circuit is already running extremely unstably. The vibrations are irregular.”

Ah.

I see.

To activate the propulsion device, I had to run the circuit powerfully. I heated up various parts of the house enough to break mechanical devices. There were some places that caught fire, but in those cases, I swung my hammer with all my might to put out the fires by force.

So while making a mess inside, I was scattering mana powerfully.

And I need that mana to fly.

If more mana is added to an already overheated circuit—

“…”

We fell silent.

Outside the house, sirens were blaring loudly.

[You are surrounded!]

Now that clichéd broadcast was really playing.

[Disarm yourselves immediately and—]

I let the sound go in one ear and out the other as I spoke.

“So you’re saying we need to escape without flying or using teleportation?”

I looked at Iris as I spoke.

“What about you? Can you send us somewhere else? You know how to use warp. How about shooting Hayun and me with that rifle?”

I pointed at the rifle.

“First we escape somewhere, then we decide on a place to meet again. Once we’re out of here, we can figure something out.”

“No, wait a moment.”

James interrupted again.

“The mana going into the circuit both destabilizes it and holds it together. If they really wanted it to explode, they would have designed it so that when the mana disappears, the control device stops working too. So the circuit will probably explode the moment you disappear from here.”

James was explaining the situation relatively calmly, but he couldn’t completely hide the agitation in his voice.

“If anyone could use that rifle to warp, it might not matter. If it explodes ‘after’ you’ve disappeared, there’s no problem. You wouldn’t be here when it explodes. However…”

I rubbed my forehead with my hand.

That’s right. Even if the rifle had such a function, “I” couldn’t use it. The types of mana are different.

Obviously, it’s impossible to face all the Kaijin with just my mana. No matter how useful my mana is, I’ve been fighting with magic for less than three months.

My efficiency is naturally lower compared to those girls who have been fighting for years. Besides, if we all share my mana, we might not be able to use it when it really matters.

So when moving for battle, we naturally give the magical girls the circuits they’ve been using. It’s impossible to track for a few minutes. Plus, James has been constantly tampering with the tracking devices to delay them further.

…It’s meaningless if I’m the only one left at the end. No matter how I try to escape, the bomb will explode.

“…What’s the blast radius?”

I recalled the moment my circuit exploded. It wasn’t that big of an explosion. Well, I saw it explode when I was a Combatant, so it was from a time when my output was small, and it’s different from the circuit I use now or the one under my feet.

“I can’t be precise,”

James seemed lost in thought for a moment.

“But I’d estimate a radius of about 50 meters.”

A radius of 50 meters.

50 meters might not seem that large, but in this area where houses are packed tightly together, it’s a different story.

The diameter would be 100 meters, and everything within that circle might be blown away.

If it had been buried at the boundary between the house and the garden, it might not have been a big problem. It might have ended with just this mansion and part of the road being blown away.

But this is buried under the “mansion.”

Even at the smallest estimate, the neighboring house is less than 50 meters away.

Moreover, being in the heart of Seoul, there’s city gas, which makes it even more problematic. Bombs don’t just explode widely to the front, back, left, and right. They also explode upward and downward.

“…The police?”

“The last time I checked, they were surrounding this entire area. Yes, they were definitely at the front gate too. At least a few of them would be caught in the explosion. If they come inside and fight with you.”

“If I don’t use mana—”

“Your mana is affected by your emotions. Have you forgotten?”

“Are you saying I need to think positive thoughts right now?”

“What did you just hear? The circuit will explode if the mana flowing into it disappears.”

What am I supposed to do then!

…Right, they must have set up this damn device anticipating this kind of situation.

Coming here was a mistake. Rather than failing to foresee the future, this place was probably useless to the chairman, so they did this.

They wouldn’t miss it even if it were blown away.

Besides, an “explosion” is very good material. Even if all the surrounding civilians were evacuated, if people are harmed by this explosion, public opinion about me would worsen again, and it would be easier to label me a terrorist.

Any positive reactions to the broadcast I spread would all be nullified. Damn it.

“Can we get the police to withdraw?”

“…Would people who came to arrest you withdraw?”

“What if we tell them there’s a bomb?”

“Are you going to waste all that effort you put into that broadcast?”

…Is he picking a fight?

No, calm down. If my temper explodes, the bomb might explode too.

“…Um.”

As I was talking with James, Hayun raised her hand slightly and spoke.

“Can I… suggest one idea?”

There’s no need to be so worried when speaking. The situation is concerning, but in times like these, even somewhat outlandish thoughts are important.

We can try to modify them into something plausible.

“First, could we break the floor and take out the circuit?”

“That should be possible.”

“Then, what about fixing the circuit?”

“…That’s also possible, but…”

James spoke with a sigh in his voice.

“I can’t guarantee the bomb will remain intact. If we’re not careful, it could explode while we’re extracting it, or while I’m disassembling it.”

Right. It’s unstable.

It’s like trying to remove parts from a computer without unplugging the power cord. There’s a risk of electric shock, and the parts could be damaged. At least a computer wouldn’t explode, but this circuit is a completely different story.

“What if we called in another expert?”

“…The company is unlikely to help.”

Hayun looked toward Iris.

“Ju-a. You said the company’s circuits are structurally very similar to what we use, right?”

“…It’s not exactly the same in the details… but yes, they both use ’emotions.’ They’re similar in how they operate. If someone had more specialized knowledge than me… Oh.”

Iris looked at Hayun as if she had realized something.

Hayun nodded and looked at James.

“Then, I have one person to recommend. Like you, they’re a Squeakean, and they have excellent knowledge of circuits.”

“Is it someone from the Federation?”

“Yes.”

“How about you two escape first? I’ll figure something out with the bomb.”

“No.”

Hayun firmly rejected my suggestion.

“Ju-a, you go back first.”

Then she turned to Iris and said the same thing I had.

“Why should I do that?”

Iris asked with an extremely bewildered expression.

Then, with a determined look, she said firmly:

“Let’s go with Blossom’s idea instead. Let’s get the people around us to withdraw and call Cherry. Above all, if I leave, that’s one less person who can help.”

“…”

They really don’t listen to a word I say.

I sighed deeply and rubbed my face.