Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 32 - Chapter 6

Mission Rewards

Sunday, May 15th

It wasn’t until after the skirmish with the mobile weapon in the woods that Koutarou and the others got a chance to reconnect with Professor Brown. They’d secured the area and were presently waiting for his family to arrive. And once he got a chance to talk to Koutarou, the professor gave him a small smile.

“You’re the man I spoke with at the restaurant, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I’m Satomi Koutarou. Sorry for all the secrecy,” Koutarou said with a wry smile and a bow.

He knew, even though the circumstances necessitated it, that he’d been rude and short with the professor. But the professor refused to hear an apology for it and shook his head.

“That goes both ways. We didn’t know if we could trust each other yet at the time.”

“And what about now?”

“I trust you. Your princess was rather charming, and you’re even more knightly than I’d imagined based on her description.”

“Oh, you mean this?” Koutarou asked, looking down at his armor. “The design’s just her personal taste. There are supposedly far more optimal gear setups, but she won’t hear of it.”

“Women can be pretty fussy over appearances, after all.”

The professor sighed with a shrug. His wife had always been like that. Every anniversary, they’d have a small party together and she’d go out of her way to make sure every little detail was arranged perfectly.

“But that’s just a sign of her love for you, you know? This is how she sees you.”

“Yeah, I don’t really get it...”

“Hahaha! You will one day. I didn’t myself until very recently.”

The anniversary parties were important to his wife, but Professor Brown knew they weren’t as important as what they represented—their love. Granted, he didn’t want to upset his wife by saying that, so he simply kept his opinion to himself. And in a very similar sense, that was the professor’s own way of showing his love. He felt that Koutarou putting up with Theia’s choice of armor was more or less the same thing. It would be better if Koutarou could just accept that and enjoy it, but he was still young. He had time yet to learn that for himself.

“When you have children of your own and you get to see the love grow every day, it’ll all make sense.”

“Is that why you were so desperate?”

“As exhausting as it was, yes.”

“Hahaha... Well, professor, it seems your family’s here now.”

No sooner than Koutarou said something, a car pulled up to the area where they were waiting. It was the large van that the Sun Rangers used and it was carrying several people inside, including the professor’s family.

“Claire! Emily!”

Upon spotting his wife and daughter as they emerged from the van, the professor took off running like nothing else mattered. His gait was tired and awkward, but he ran as fast as his weary legs would carry him to his family without a care in the world for how he looked.

“To think someone so careful and upright would end up in this kind of situation... At least everything’s okay now.”

Claire and Emily started running as soon as they saw the professor too, and the family of three was reunited in one big embrace. There were no words exchanged between them, just hugs, kisses, and tears. Seeing it, Koutarou couldn’t help feeling a little jealous.

“Koutarou, do you have a moment?”

It was there that Kiriha walked up. She’d been in the van with Emily and Claire, essentially acting as a bodyguard. Clan and Ruth were with them as well.

“I don’t mind. We just got our happy ending... So, how did it go?”

“They escaped. The only men we managed to capture were from BTE security.”

“Sanae couldn’t catch them either?”

“I’m afraid not. Apparently the traces of their auras went cold too quickly, and the cave system they escaped into was too vast. We had to give up.”

Kiriha reported on the pursuit of Vandarion’s faction. The best way to figure out what was going on would be to capture one of their soldiers, which was why Kiriha had sent Sanae and Maki—both experts in tracking people—after them. The chase, however, hadn’t yielded any results. It was practically unthinkable considering Sanae and Maki’s combined powers.

“Sanae-sama said the way the trail disappeared was similar to the way the haniwas do,” Ruth reported.

“What? D-Does that mean...” Koutarou stammered.

“Spiritual energy technology, yes. They likely used Class II Stealth Mode,” Kiriha replied.

The haniwas were equipped with a stealth function that had both a standard and advanced mode. The advanced mode—Class II—reduced spiritual energy output to practically nothing and effectively made them undetectable. That was what Sanae was referring to when she said the trail disappeared like the haniwas’, which was what had tipped Kiriha and Koutarou off that spiritual energy technology was involved. That would explain why Sanae and Maki hadn’t been able to catch their targets.

“You don’t think they’ve come into contact with People of the Earth and stolen their technology, do you?!” Koutarou gasped.

“No, that’s not very likely. If they had, Sanae would have lost track of them much sooner. Whatever they’re using didn’t perfectly conceal their trail. Sanae only lost track of it because the cave system was too complex,” Kiriha explained.

“So you think they have an inferior version of it or something?”

“I do. I expect they got their hands on it much the same way the Sun Rangers did.”

Sanae hadn’t managed to find her targets, but it wasn’t because she couldn’t track their auras. Even without that, Maki still had their footprints to go off of. The real problem was that the targets escaped into a cave system composed of winding, interconnected tunnels. Sanae and Maki had simply lost track of them. And once they realized that much, they gave up on their pursuit and returned to the group. It was smarter than wasting any more time and energy on a fruitless chase.

But as Kiriha had pointed out, if Vandarion’s faction had really gotten their hands on the People of the Earth’s technology, Sanae would’ve lost track of them much sooner. When the haniwas were in Class II Stealth Mode, she could only see them when she was in extremely close proximity. That was just how good the People of the Earth’s spiritual technology was these days. So whatever Vandarion’s faction had their hands on—it wasn’t that. The Sun Rangers had pieced together bits of spiritual energy technology by reverse engineering parts they’d recovered from underground dwellers that came to the surface decades ago as part of the dismantlement movement. Kiriha believed that Vandarion’s faction had done something similar.

“Still, I can’t help but wonder where they got their hands on it...” Koutarou sighed.

“I don’t know, but the important takeaway for now is that they do indeed have it,” Kiriha replied.

“Maybe this was their real goal for today...” Clan mumbled.

She’d stayed out of the conversation so far, silently listening in from the sidelines. But now that she did speak up, her voice and expression were both profoundly serious.

“What do you mean?” Koutarou asked.

“Even if Vandarion’s faction has somehow managed to get their hands on old People of the Earth technology, they still wouldn’t use it right away in an important mission, would they?”

“That’s true. If it turned out to be ineffective, that could be fatal for them.”

“Precisely. So they’d test it out on a smaller scale first. I bet that’s when they caught on to our plan.”

“You’re saying they just casually helped BTE to test out their new toys?!”

“I think so. I think that’s why it was such a small force and they specifically used the new technology to escape. They had to have investigated that cave system ahead of time, and it was a perfect testing ground. It would still be easy enough for them to escape if the tech failed. In fact, thinking about it, testing the People of the Earth tech was the only reason they sent people at all.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true... The whole operation could’ve been unmanned otherwise.”

Koutarou could understand what Clan was saying. The enemy’s plan was just too peculiar. Their goal today clearly hadn’t been to do any real damage to Koutarou and company, though that would have been a nice bonus. But their real fighting force consisted of automated weapons; there was no need to bring soldiers to the mission grounds at all. So why had they done it? Clan’s theory seemed sound. They were testing out their new technology on a small scale before deploying it in a serious operation.

“So all in all, they were a step ahead of us this time. We’ll have to be more vigilant in the future.”

Kiriha crossed her arms with a serious look on her face, a rare showing for someone always so cool and confident.

“Our enemy is formidable, Kiriha-san. This might be even harder than fighting Vandarion himself.”

“That’s true. Vandarion’s ways were despicable, but he was a relatively straightforward opponent. Our enemy this time is more prudent. They may not attack openly like Vandarion did, but the real damage could be far worse by the time we realize it.”

When Koutarou returned to Earth, the fight at hand changed. Unlike the clear and ever-present enemy they’d fought in Forthorthe, this one was slippery and hard to find. Moreover, Koutarou had more to protect here at home. It wasn’t just the military at stake. A loss here could mean destroying the future between Earth and Forthorthe. The battle was already a tense one, but the gauge on the pressure pot was steadily rising.

By the time Koutarou and company returned to school, the sports festival was long over. They’d all ended up bowing out from the obstacle marathon, cutting their last sports festival as high school students short.

Everybody had known what they were signing up for, so nobody voiced a complaint... But that didn’t mean they weren’t at least a little sad about it. Maki and Clan, who were only participating in the marathon for the first time, were especially heartbroken.

“Cheer up, you two,” Koutarou offered to console them.

“In the end, I didn’t even get to finish...”

“Wh-Who cares about a stupid marathon anyway? I certainly don’t!”

Maki was honest about her feelings while Clan was as stubborn as ever. They were saying the opposite things, but Koutarou knew they felt the same way deep down. He’d watched them both diligently—Maki openly and Clan secretly—train for the race in anticipation. Having to miss out on it was a shame, and Koutarou felt like he had to do something about that.

“Aika-san, why don’t we all sign up for another marathon or a triathlon or something?”

“Really?!”

“You betcha. I’d be happy to do it if that’d cheer you up some.”

“Thank you, Satomi-kun! I’d love to!”

Maki was exalted at Koutarou’s suggestion. Clan, however? Not so much.

“...”

She was staring at Koutarou, her mouth gaping like she was trying to say something. But in the end, no words came. She was completely silent. Seeing this, Koutarou called out to her instead.

“What about you, Clan?”

“L-Like I said, I’m not interested in marathons.”

Clan reflexively responded in the usual fashion, but instantly felt the sting of regret. It was a shame that all of her training for this day would go to waste. She really had wanted to participate with everyone.

How bullheaded can you be? But... I still owe her for today.

Koutarou had known Clan for a long time now. He had a pretty good idea of how her mind worked, and moreover, he felt like he owed her a favor. So he held back the urge to tease her for now. Instead...

“Let me rephrase: You just shut up and come along.”

“...”

Clan’s cheeks turned bright red when she heard that, though her expression relaxed. Her relief and joy were fighting her inner stubbornness. She didn’t want to let her happiness show, but she couldn’t help the color of her cheeks.

“What are you blushing for all of a sudden?”

“I-It’s nothing!”

Koutarou had understood what Clan really wanted, and he didn’t even give her a hard time about it this time. That made Clan happy—so happy she felt like she could break out into a dance. She was almost as overjoyed as that time Koutarou had bought her cute exercise clothes as a gift. But alas, obstinate Clan didn’t dare let it show. Not here with so many people around.

“Good for you, Clan-san.”

“There’s nothing good about this!”

Little did Clan know her secret wasn’t much of a secret. The eight friends she had standing around her already knew what kind of a girl she was. But because they considered her a good friend, they pretended not to notice. Instead, they happily watched over her. The warmth she received was second only to the coldness a certain someone else was receiving right about now...

“C-Calm down, Kotori!”

“Then give me a real answer, Nii-san!”

“Enough, Kotori! That stick hurts!”

The moment Kotori laid eyes on Kenji, she was at his throat. Sensing real danger, Nalfa clung to her friend to try to stop her, ignoring the safety of her precious camera. But try as she might, not even sweet Nalfa could abate Kotori’s fury.

Kotori and Nalfa had done well for themselves in the marathon but failed to place. The last obstacle was the traditional scavenger hunt, where the girls had drawn “the person I respect” and “glasses.” The first people to pop into both of their minds were Koutarou and Kenji. Figuring the boys would arrive at the obstacle eventually, Kotori and Nalfa hung around for a while. Koutarou and Kenji were nowhere to be seen, however, no matter how long the girls waited. They eventually gave up and went to find their homeroom teacher and a different friend instead. But now that she had him in front of her, Kotori demanded an explanation from her brother, who had ultimately cost her the race.

“Nii-san, is it true that you ran off with that transfer student in the middle of the marathon?!”

Kotori had heard people talking. There was a restroom between the sixth and seventh obstacles, and Kenji and Emily had disappeared there. It sent rumors spreading like wildfire.

“But there’s a good reason for that!”

“What good reason could there possibly be for that?!”

“I told you before that I was helping Kou, right? That’s why I had to sneak Emily-chan out of the race!”

“Is that true, Kou-niisan?!”

Kotori turned her deadly glare on Koutarou. And even he, the Blue Knight who backed down before no enemy, flinched a little.

“Y-Yeah. The truth is that Aika-san and I were disguised as Mackenzie and Emily-san back there... We’re the ones who ran off at the bathrooms. Mackenzie and Emily-san were already gone.”

So far, the only thing they’d told Kotori was that Kenji was helping Koutarou out with something. They hadn’t wanted to drag her and Nalfa into it. But considering the situation, Koutarou now decided it would be best to let them in on what had happened.

“Listen. Emily-san was being used as a hostage to keep her dad in line, so we were in a really tight spot...”

Once Koutarou finished explaining, Kotori’s fury died down. Her brother had acted nobly in order to save the professor’s daughter... so the rumors were only half true. Kotori could forgive him for that. It wasn’t like she wanted to be mad at Kenji.

“I’m sorry, Nii-san. I lost my temper a bit there...”

“I’m just glad you understand, Kotori. It was my fault for not filling you in sooner.”

With Kotori calmed down, Kenji could finally relax a little too. Kotori had high standards, and ever since enrolling at Harukaze High with her brother... there had been several such, well, discrepancies. Kenji had managed to survive this misunderstanding, at least. He was safe for the day.

“Kenji-kun!”

There, a teacher came running over from the faculty office. It was one of the new teachers, Matsuzaka Kenichi, who Kenji had been shocked to learn was actually a government secret agent. He’d been in on the rescue operation for the day.

“What is it, Matsuzaka-sensei?”

“I took Emily-san to her family and she asked me to deliver a message to you. She said, ‘I’m looking forward to you keeping your promise next week.’ Lucky you, huh? Well, I’ve done my duty, so I’ll see you at school the day after tomorrow!”

Kenichi gave Kenji a big smile and stout nod before turning to go. He then walked off with light, bounding steps and was out of sight before too long.

“Oooh, Nii-saaan...”

“Urk!”

It seemed the proclamation of Kenji’s safety had come too soon. He wasn’t out of the woods yet. Kotori had only just calmed down, and there was still plenty of fire left smoldering under the surface. If looks could kill, Kenji would have been dead on the spot.

“Calm down, Kotori, okay?!”

Kenji slowly backed away, trying his best to calm his sister.

“I trusted you... and I was stupid for it!”

“Resist, Kotori!”

Nalfa too was trying to soothe Kotori, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Kotori inched closer to Kenji, dragging Nalfa with her every step of the way. Once Kenji realized that there would be no appeasing Kotori a second time, he made his escape at lightning speed.

“You’re not getting away!”

Of course, Kotori immediately gave chase. The two siblings ran at unbelievable speeds. No one would’ve known they’d already run a marathon today.

“Mackenzie, you really need to work on your timing... Even if you wanted to invite Emily-san on a date, there was no reason to do it today of all days.”

“Help me, Kou!”

“Sorry, Kenji. I’m on Kin-chan’s side this time.”

“You idiot! I helped you out, didn’t I?!”

“Hey, who’s the idiot here?”

The Matsudaira siblings tore across the campus, quickly leaving Koutarou’s line of sight. Considering the difference in fitness between them, Kotori normally wouldn’t stand a chance of catching her brother. But today there was something extra driving her. Seeing that Kenji’s days were numbered, Koutarou folded his hands and said a little prayer for his best friend.

Kenji’s attempted escape lasted 3 minutes and 28 seconds. After that, Kotori spent the next ten minutes lecturing him. And once he was finally free, Kenji slumped down on the ground. He was mentally and physically exhausted. The only silver lining in all of this was that there was a cute girl sitting next to him who was equally exhausted.

“Nijino-san, is this what people mean when they say no good deed goes unpunished?”

“I’m used to it. Things are always like this for me...”

Kenji’s unlucky compatriot was none other than Yurika, the magical girl of love and courage who’d contributed a great deal to the rescue of the Brown family. But despite her good work as a magical girl, she was about to lose her part-time job at the glass factory. It was no one’s fault, really. But that didn’t make her feel better about it. She was perfectly content to sit moping with Kenji.

“What even is justice...?”

“Justice? I’m still trying to figure out love. I don’t get it anymore...”

Yurika and Kenji stared into the evening sky together, the orange light of the setting sun stinging their eyes a lot more than usual. But as they sat and stared into that dazzling vista, someone called out to Yurika.

“Yurika, Yurika!”

“...Hmm? Sanae-chan?”

Yurika turned her head, but both her tone and her eyes betrayed her absolute lack of energy. She couldn’t even muster the strength in her limbs to get up if she wanted to. She looked like a puppet without a puppeteer.

“Koutarou made some phone calls so your workplace wouldn’t get shut down! He even said that he’d give you some spending money because of how hard you worked today!”

“Really?! I always knew Satomi-san was a good person! I knew it the moment I met him!”

The instant Yurika heard the good news from Sanae, life returned to her. Her expression brightened in the blink of an eye, and she leaped up from the ground before practically skipping over to Sanae.

“What? So it’s just me, then?”

In the end, Kenji was left alone. He stayed there sitting outside the school until dark, but no one came to get him.

Koutarou had defeated Lord Marswell Daora Vandarion in Forthorthe, and it was his nephew—Lord Ralgwin Vester Vandarion—that was now causing problems on Earth. He had taken up the role of leading the remnants of Vandarion’s faction, vowing to take revenge for his fallen uncle and finish what he’d started. In other words, his goal was to eliminate the Blue Knight and take over Forthorthe.

“Ralgwin-sama, it appears that they’ve managed to elude their pursuers.”

“Then it seems the stealth capability of this aura device of yours is good enough to ensure escape so long as there’s a path.”

Ralgwin and his flunkies were currently on Earth to try to find out the secrets of Koutarou’s strength, and that included the strengths of his allies. Ralgwin was convinced they were the reason for Vandarion’s defeat, so he was ready to dig in on Earth until he got to the bottom of it. Without a way to fight against the powers the Blue Knight had, defeating him would be a pipe dream. And if Ralgwin could get his hands on the Blue Knight’s powers, that would be all the better for conquering Forthorthe. That was why, at present, all of his resources were invested in figuring out exactly what those powers were.

“Well? Do you believe us now?”

Ralgwin and his men were holed up in a secret base in Kisshouharukaze City. It was made in a Forthorthian style, as were their matching uniforms. That made the one man standing among them in a business suit stick out like a sore thumb. But this man was notable for more than just his suit—he was the one who’d brought spiritual energy technology to Ralgwin.

“Yes, you’ve proven your point. I believe we’ll both be able to see profit from this.”

“I’m grateful we were able to come to a mutual understanding. You see, when no one believes in the technology, it’s hard to make advancements.”

“I see now. If no one believes in it, how would research progress? I suppose people will just have to learn the hard way like we did.”

The man in the business suit was from the dismantlement faction of the People of the Earth, and he was singlehandedly responsible for supplying Vandarion’s faction with spiritual energy technology now. He was an imprudent man who was using this opportunity to improve his struggling financial situation.

But because of how advanced spiritual energy technology was and how different it was from anything people had ever seen before, analysis and research on it were slow going. Unlike the Sun Rangers who had the advantage of being a government-sponsored organization, banks and investors treated this man like some kind of con artist with a scam rather than a visionary with breakthrough technology. Because of that, his supply of it had simply been collecting dust in a warehouse without a buyer. That was, until the day he met Ralgwin.

“But I’m still confused... How did you find me, Ralgwin-sama?”

“That part was simple. We threw an automated reconnaissance craft—what you’d call a drone—in with the fragments that you collected from the spaceship.”

That was really what had happened to the missing parts. Ralgwin had blown up one of his ships to discover Earthlings willing to cross a dangerous bridge in order to get their hands on Forthorthian technology. By including tracking devices in with the parts, they could easily locate them later. But not everyone was a suitable mark. There was no point in making contact with careless or poor people, for example.

Those tracking devices—the reconnaissance crafts—were also how Ralgwin had gotten information on Bell-Tesla Electronics. BTE, however, was just careless enough that he hadn’t bothered contacting them at first. It wasn’t until they were on a course to connect with Koutarou and the others that he’d thought they might be useful pawns. As for the rest, it was exactly as Kiriha and Clan suspected.

“And that’s how we arrived at you.”

“So you weren’t after this technology from the start?”

“That was just fortunate happenstance. At best we were hoping to track that kind of information down in the future. We never imagined we’d happen upon it with our eighth contact. Our primary focus for the time being was simply to establish a solid foundation to build upon.”

Ralgwin was prepared to play the long game when it came to discovering the true nature of Koutarou’s powers. He was going up against a legendary knight and his allies, after all. But he was also shorthanded on supplies now that he’d been cut off from Forthorthe. So in order to amass resources and intelligence, Ralgwin was preparing himself for the long haul. He never dreamed that he’d hit such a big lead almost immediately. He’d thought this would be years down the road.

“...I’m relieved to hear that.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“Just as you were evaluating us, we were evaluating you. And from what I hear, you’re exactly the kind of trading partner we’re looking for. You could say your views align with ours.”

“You’re a shrewd man. But... I can’t say I disapprove. If we’re going to tread dangerous ground together, we can’t have one another being a hindrance. You have a right to evaluate us as well.”

Ralgwin appeared to be quite pleased over such a serendipitous development. Despite hearing that his new contact had also put him under a microscope and scrutinized him, he showed no sign of hostility. Pride wasn’t going to get him anywhere, and he knew that. Ralgwin was the kind of calm man who would do whatever it took to win.

“My, my... I must say, you’re a rather frightening man. This is almost like striking a deal with the devil himself.”

“Hahaha, don’t worry. I promise you I have far more to offer than the devil. As long as you live up to our expectations, that is.”

And so Ralgwin continued to grow his network on Earth without Koutarou and the girls being any the wiser. The battle was quietly unfolding under their noses, and they would be at a serious disadvantage if things continued like this. Just as Koutarou feared, the fight had changed. This was the kind of battle where everything could be over before he even knew what was happening.