Espin (3)

Espin (3)

Dog trainer…

I was chuckling to myself, repeating what Espin had said.

Espin crosses his arms and speaks to me.

“Anyway, what’s important is not this. It’s that Heaven God Cult place.”

At those words, I nodded, trying to shake off my distracting thoughts.

Espin looks at me with his arms still crossed.

“So I’m asking, do you have any plans to stop the large-scale human experiments?”

At that, I briefly recalled the content of the original novel.

[To avoid the eyes of inspectors or investigators, they buried a considerable number of corpses in the walls to hide the evidence. And because they had drawn in many high-ranking officials with money or threats, uncovering this was no easy task.]

In short, it was difficult to uncover, and it was also hard to expect help from others.

Recalling this, I spoke briefly.

“It’s not difficult. We just need to find their headquarters, burn it down, and destroy it.”

“… What?”

I explained a more detailed plan to the bewildered Espin.

“If we cause as much commotion as possible, the central government won’t be able to easily overlook it. So we can use that to steer things in the direction we want.”

“Wait a minute, are you talking about confronting them head-on right now?”

I nodded, and Espin urgently said to me.

“That’s impossible… Even though you’re currently hailed as a genius, at best you’re still at a student level. The opponents are criminals far beyond the ordinary scope, and you’re talking about confronting them head-on… No matter how I think about it, it seems like we can’t handle it.”

Judging by the length of the conversation, it seemed they were reluctant to go in together.

In a way, it was an expected reaction, so I chuckled and said.

“It’s fine. I was already expecting that much.”

“… Really?”

I nodded and got to the main point.

“Then let’s divide our roles. You gather information about the Heaven God Cult, for example, buildings where experiments are mainly conducted or places where key personnel are located. Collect these and report them to me.”

At those words, Espin’s lips twitched as if he wanted to stop me again, but soon he seemed to give up on persuading me and closed his mouth, nodding.

Confirming Espin’s reaction, I briefly continued.

“And I’ll take on the role of dealing with them alone.”

“By yourself?”

When I nodded, Espin pressed his head as if he had a headache, then spoke to me.

“That’s arrogance, you know.”

At those words, I chuckled and replied.

“Only if I fail to accomplish what I said.”

At my confident answer, Espin smiled as if he found it ridiculous and said to me.

“That’s true. If you can do it, it’s not arrogance but confidence. Well, alright, I’ll do my best to provide information support. Do as you wish.”

I nodded at Espin’s words and slowly went outside.

* * * * *

As I was about to sit down, opening the Magic Book that had returned to the classroom.

Delia, sitting next to me, spoke to me with a face trying to hold back laughter.

“Hey, hey, did you hear about that?”

From early morning, thinking he was an incredibly noisy fellow, I stared at Delia indifferently.

Delia glanced around briefly, then leaned close to my ear and spoke softly.

“I heard you’re being called by the nickname ‘puppy trainer’.”

“……”

It was the same story I had heard earlier from Espin.

I was trying hard to suppress a sigh at those words and ignore it.

Delia, seemingly unwilling to let this chance to tease me slip away, forcibly continues speaking.

“It’s not wrong though. At least I’m your faithful dog.”

Then, clinging to me, she whispers in a small voice.

“Woof woof.”

While I was seriously considering giving her a forehead flick.

Delia, apparently finding this prank amusing, starts to cross the line once more with a grin.

“I’m Deren’s faithful dog, woof woof. So teach me more dog tricks. Arf.”

As she was deliberately provoking me with a voice mixed with aegyo.

Unable to hold back any longer, I strongly flicked Delia’s forehead.

– Flick!

The sound of the forehead flick echoes loudly in the classroom.

Delia, seemingly not expecting me to actually hit her, covers her forehead with both hands and speaks as if protesting.

“Y-You could have just said something!”

“If you were the type to understand words, I would have used words.”

At those words, Delia seems to feel a bit guilty and doesn’t argue back, instead just pouting her lips and starting to grumble.

I decided to ignore the bothersome Delia and slowly turned my gaze away.

‘By the way, it feels like Rumi’s seat is closer than usual.’

While I was thinking about whether there had been a change in her feelings, as the distance had noticeably shortened compared to before.

The bell signaling the start of the lecture began to ring.

I decided to put aside these trivial matters for now and focus on the lecture.

*

When the lecture ended, Delia, still looking sulky, spoke to me.

“Dad says he’s preparing to hold a banquet soon.”

Attending the banquet was one of the conditions I had agreed to in order to manipulate Delia.

To be honest, it was extremely bothersome.

But since investing just one day would give me the authority to treat Delia like a slave, I nodded, thinking it was worth investing that much time.

Delia looked at me and pouted her lips again, then immediately slumped over her desk.

Thinking she wasn’t a child and wondering how long she would stay sulky, I reluctantly decided to throw her a carrot.

“Delia. I have something I want to talk about regarding modifications. Do you have a moment?”

I just said it casually.

Delia’s eyes lit up like a dog smelling food and she started staring at me.

Thinking how easy she was to manipulate, I continued speaking.

“I’ve thought of some ways to improve the magic modifications I helped with before. After the next lecture, I’ll fix that part for you.”

At those words, Delia nodded her head quickly as if she had never been angry, and said to me.

“… I really love you!”

I pushed away Delia, who was trying to cling to me, with mana and spoke.

“Then keep that in mind.”

“Okay!”

Because Delia nods her head too quickly, the gazes around us gather in our direction.

I sighed while holding my throbbing head, hearing words like ‘So that rumor was true after all…’ coming from the corner.

* * *

Three days after that day.

Espin came to find me carrying a huge pile of magic books.

“I’ve found out everything, from start to finish. If you have any questions, just ask me.”

Judging by her confidence, it seems she’s dug quite deeply.

Looking at Espin like that, I felt quite satisfied inside and nodded.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Not really. I’m used to this kind of thing anyway.”

If you’re going to say that, I wish you’d erase those dark circles under your eyes before speaking.

Thinking her bravado was quite amusing, I picked up the magic book on top.

[Trends and Analysis of the Heaven God Cult.]

As it was quite an interesting topic, when I opened it, I could understand why Espin was so confident.

‘Indeed, she didn’t become the youngest inspector for nothing.’

Her father’s role as a high-ranking administrator must have played a big part too.

Thinking that her individual abilities were also insanely outstanding, I was reading through it when.

Espin, watching me, gave an explanation about it.

“As you can see there, the Heaven God Cult is currently gathering corpses at an inn called Sunset in the street where night frays. The reason they’re collecting bodies there is because the underground waterway is directly connected to that inn, making transportation convenient.”

I nodded, and Espin continued speaking to me in a somewhat excited voice.

“Of course, that’s not the only reason. Due to the nature of inns being places where many people gather, it’s also easy to kidnap suitable-looking people on their own. It’s also convenient to disguise kidnappings as if the victims were drunk, so the Heaven God Cult uses this to set up in inns…”

It’s all good, but the explanation is excessively long.

I listened halfway through, but gradually grew tired and ignored it, summarizing the contents written in the magic book.

‘There are two places I need to raid.’

The underground sewers and the inn.

These two places are the most important bases and where many people gather, so if I take care of these two, it should work out somehow.

I made that judgment and decided to visit this place this evening, then spoke to Espin.

“You’re noisy.”

“……”

At those words, Espin suppressed his excited expression, looked at me, and then returned to his usual cynical face as he spoke to me.

“If there’s any information you’re lacking, let me know. I can add more.”

“This is enough.”

It wasn’t just enough; it was overflowing with high-quality information.

If I praised him, he might get carried away, so I deliberately didn’t compliment him and unilaterally ended the conversation.