episode_0106

Everyone has their own story. There’s no grave without a reason, and everyone carries their own tale. However, how one accepts it depends on their individual interpretation.

For this reason, Violet’s story ignited a fierce reaction in the hearts of her two friends. Even for the two girls, who had their own life’s ups and downs, Violet’s experiences were beyond anything they could have imagined.

While the one recounting the tale felt little emotion, her friends felt as though their chests had been struck by a battering ram.

Irene mused on why Violet had become the type to fight without regard for her own body.

‘Could it be that she undervalues herself? Because of the experiments she endured in the lab.’

Unethical experiments and deplorable treatment might have diminished her sense of self-worth.

She recounted Violet’s past actions.

Then, she suddenly recalled a declaration Violet had made before her in the past. Back then, Violet had revealed the truth she’d learned about the academy, saying:

-I’m going to destroy the academy!

Having learned about the academy’s misdeeds and conspiracies, she intended to help Violet no matter what she did, but deep down, she also wondered if it wasn’t reckless.

However, after learning what Violet had gone through today, Irene’s thoughts changed. She finally understood why Violet had made such an absurd declaration.

‘So that’s why she said she’d destroy the academy…’

There was a girl who had suffered for months, even years, in a laboratory. By sheer coincidence, she succeeded in escaping and enrolled in the academy for a better future. However, the academy’s true identity was a giant laboratory.

How terrifying it must have been, to escape one cage only to find herself trapped in another. Yet she didn’t run away.

“I’m okay now. So don’t cry. Hehe.”

Sobbing…

Despite everything she’d been through, she, in turn, comforted others with a smile.

Watching the Violets gently patting Daphne, Irene felt a pang of pity.

She considered a possibility. Perhaps Violet…

‘Does she want to save others?’

At that moment, Irene felt she understood the true meaning of ‘destroying the academy’.

Overcoming such pain and simply living is remarkable enough, but Violet goes even further, seeking to pursue justice.

Her exact intentions were unknown. It could be that she disliked seeing others suffer as she did, or it might simply be her goal to eliminate what she perceived as evil.

Whatever her reason, she intends to bravely fight against injustice.

Irene now felt awe towards Violet. Her friend might be even more profound than she’d imagined.

Meanwhile, Daphne’s gaze was fixed elsewhere.

‘I wondered why she was in pain every night… So it was because of her life in the lab…’

“I’m okay!”

Even now, she said as much, but Daphne knew.

Violet suffered from nightmares every night, constantly losing sleep. This was evident from Daphne’s perspective, having shared the same room every night. Because of this, she had expected her friend had gone through something difficult, but she never imagined such a story.

‘Even now she’s smiling, but she’s trying hard to hide it. The memories of suffering in the lab still linger.’

Daphne could no longer see Violet’s smiling face as it truly was.

Her usual somewhat clumsy actions, impulsive behavior, self-destructive tendencies, and disregard for pain might all be evidence of how broken Violet truly was.

All of it was deeply regrettable, yet she felt proud of Violet’s earnest efforts to live on.

‘Violet, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt anymore!’

Even while sobbing among the Violets, she resolved. She would strive to ensure her friend wouldn’t suffer any more pain.

***

A long while later, Daphne finally calmed down. She looked at me with reddened eyes and offered an embarrassed smile.

“I’m sorry. I was so startled… I’ve only caused trouble, visiting my friend’s house.”

“No. It’s okay! I should have told you beforehand. It’s my fault, really.”

I felt someone hug me tightly from behind. It was Irene.

“You had your own path all along. I had no idea.”

“Huh?”

Why was Irene acting like that? I was bewildered.

“Kalia.”

“Uh, umm? Why?”

Daphne suddenly spoke to Kalia, who had been sitting there, simply observing.

“You said you were in the same research lab, right? Thank you for helping Violet.”

“Thank you for helping? No, there’s no need to say that. If anything, I received more help from Violet.”

“Yeah! I got her out!”

I explained again what I had done.

“You broke through the lab’s security by yourself using your unique ability?”

Irene was impressed.

“That’s our power!”

“That’s right! That’s right!”

“Hey! I told you to speak one at a time! My ears are hurting!”

As the Violets chattered, the barracks quickly grew boisterous.

Once everyone recovered from the shock, we had time to talk and look around the house.

As I was guiding them through the Violet barracks, Daphne, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.

“Um, I’ll stay here for one more day.”

“Why? Is there a problem?”

She pointed her finger inside the factory. Untidy trash, snacks, and food wrappers were strewn in the corner.

“I’ll help you clean up the house. No matter how many people live here, what is all that? It’s not a pigsty!”

“You’re right, Violet. Didn’t you clean today?”

“Well, I was going to. I was just busy.”

“Let’s do it now!”

“Ack!”

I was scolded as if by my parents.

***

Irene, busy with personal matters, left our house first.

While Kalia and Daphne stayed to make dinner, Violet 457 and Violet 213 headed to the dormitory and the broker’s office.

“I’ll go see the kids in the dormitory for a bit.”

As far as I know, they also live in the dormitory. I should ask for their room numbers, then get their belongings and let them in.

By the way, I checked the TV and internet, but there was no special mention of yesterday’s dungeon collapse. At most, there were only a few short articles stating the dungeon had collapsed and been suppressed.

Did the clan block the press coverage?

As I entered the office, a woman in a suit was organizing documents. She was the manager’s subordinate. When I first met her, she was dressed as a bartender, but now she looked like a regular office worker.

“Aren’t you working as a bartender anymore?”

Aina replied.

“Back then, it was a disguise for making contact. Now, there’s no need for that.”

As I sat on the sofa waiting, Manager Leslie entered.

“I came because of your text message. Explain.”

“First, an appointment has been made for two days from now. We have a chance to reconnect with someone we used to deal with. He’s called Armas. The location is near the harbor in the Eastern District.”

The Eastern District… I haven’t set foot there since escaping the Raplaxia Research Institute. It’ll be my first time in a while.

“That’s a bit far. So, what kind of person is he? Can he be trusted?”

“Armas is a fairly well-connected individual. He even has connections with the Federal Army. He has a fastidious personality, canceling deals if payment is even a minute late, but he always keeps his promises once made.”

Good, the appointment is finally set. I need to bring in the weapons quickly.

Crashing a truck full of bombs is certainly effective, but to catch guys who run as fast as cars and use magic, it’s probably better to use a mix of various methods.

While I was conversing in my head, Aina came with the finished documents.

“And, the requested materials are here.”

A mountain of documents appeared on the table. There was too much to look through all of it here.

“The detailed contents are in the documents, but first, I’ll summarize the key points.”

First, a fierce-looking blonde woman and a delinquent blonde boy were at the front of the documents.

“Are these the students?”

“Yes!”

Martina and her younger brother’s whereabouts were revealed.

“Their exact location isn’t determined, but they were last seen near a certain dungeon in the Southern District. They seem to be moving around constantly instead of staying in one place. Should we continue tracking them?”

I just ordered it out of curiosity, but I didn’t expect them to actually find them. Why would these guys hide in such a place? It smelled suspicious.

“No, I’ll look for them from here.”

Well, it’s not urgent, so there’s no need to look into it now.

My instruction to investigate him was purely out of curiosity. It was exasperating that he had suddenly disappeared from school after the duel. I still had revenge left to take, and he dared to run away.

I thought about going and hitting him once, but there was more to do. Now, I needed to focus on important matters.

Afterwards, the manager’s explanation moved to the next section.

“No, how did you find all this?”

“I just did my job. Take a look.”

Surprisingly, this person performed almost perfectly what I had instructed.

The Polaris Academy’s board of directors’ list, the names, addresses, family relations, frequently visited places, and various characteristics of the administrative staff were densely written down. They even came with an unrequested summary. The director was too important a person to investigate, but they even investigated the various relationships between the Magnabys Clan and the academy’s board of directors.

“Ah, and about some of the students you asked me to investigate…”

The manager, who had been explaining articulately, stammered.

“Is there a problem?”

“It’s about the person known as the student council president and the two under him. We’ve grasped the basics, but there are no records.”

“What?”

Puzzled, I urged the manager to explain further. Hearing what followed, I was dumbfounded.

“Their first records suddenly appeared between six and seven years ago. They have addresses and parents’ names, but upon investigation, other people were living there, and the names belonged to people who had already died. It’s all fake.”

“Then did they come from outside Rustroom?”

“I also inquired with contacts at customs and immigration. Nothing. Their entry and exit records are clean.”

If I just listened to this person, the student council president and his group seemed to have simply dropped from the sky.

“It’s possible the clan brought them, but if so, what I can find out…”

“It’s okay. This is enough. You’ve done well!”

I didn’t press further. It was already remarkable that the broker had found out this much.

However, the surprises didn’t end there.

“You found him?”

“I’ve only confirmed where he passed through. His exact location hasn’t been determined.”

The name ‘Osprey Rodriguez’ was written in the documents.

He is Kalia’s maternal uncle and the leader of the Osprey Brotherhood. After he disappeared, the Osprey Brotherhood transformed from a healthy local vigilante group into a vicious violent gang.

But it’s surprising. Kalia’s maternal uncle was said to have gone missing in the main story and was never found. Yet they found him.

“We received several reports recently of someone with a similar appearance and personality. We were lucky.”

According to his explanation, a person similar to the one I described had moved to a human trafficking organization’s hideout.

Although there are several suspected locations, it’s difficult to confirm from there, he said. There’s a high possibility he moved to another place from there as well.

However, a clue has been found. This much is enough to find him.

I took out a thick envelope from my pocket and handed it over. The manager received the envelope without showing any change in expression.

“This is too much to read all here. I’ll read it later.”

After gathering the documents, I immediately sent them to the barracks’ temporary command post. There was a lot of material to read.

「Hey, what kind of student has no records at all?」

「Did they come from another world?」

The student council president, vice-president, and general affairs secretary — these three are truly strange. There were almost no records. As the Violets talked among themselves, an interesting theory emerged.

「Are they like us?」

That’s possible. They might have been orphans, just like us.

「Could they be secretly trained agents?」

A special unit that captured talented children and trained them? That was certainly plausible in this world. I, for one, was dragged here without parents and subjected to experiments!

But the student council and board of directors issues weren’t what I needed to deal with now. One urgent matter had come up.

According to the data, Kalia’s maternal uncle was dragged to a location in the Western District. It’s said to be a human trafficking organization’s hideout, and rumors suggest this organization also has ties to pharmaceutical companies or clans.

Alright, first, let’s approach that organization, then find out if it’s the person I’m looking for, and where he was taken. It’s just a suspicion for now, not certain. Even if it is true, I need to approach cautiously.

It’s highly likely that some suspicious pharmaceutical company or clan is involved. Given the location, it’s not Raplaxia, so which place could be involved?

「We’ll find out when we look. Kids, let’s move!」

「Let’s start the operation right away.」

***

That night, somewhere in the Western District.

“Hey! Talk!”

“Aaaaaargh! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you! Mom! Mommmmy!”

A heavily armed squad of Killer Violets raided the hideout of the human trafficking gang, the Water Pigs. After some trivial conversation and communication led by hammers, we secured a clue.

「Found him.」

「Let’s tell Kalia!」

According to the testimony, the person believed to be Osprey Rodriguez was said to be in a hospital in the downtown area of a small city in the Western District.

“So, it’s a hospital, but not a hospital?”

“I don’t know either! They probably do experiments or something! We just delivered them!”

“Shut up!”

I struck the whining human trafficker’s head with a hammer. He became silent forever.

「A lab, it’s been a while?」

「What kind of place is this…?」