Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 35 - Chapter 5

The Gamble’s Winner

Sunday, June 19th

Koutarou and the girls investigated the rest of the base after Ralgwin’s disappearance and discovered several things. First was that only the soldiers at the dock had disappeared with Ralgwin. Fasta’s sniping team as well as the men moving supplies and research material were still there—about two or three hundred soldiers in all. Once Ralgwin was gone, they readily surrendered. They couldn’t keep fighting without their commander. Moreover, all of their supplies and research materials at the dock had disappeared with him.

Based on this, Koutarou and the girls surmised that Ralgwin had managed to retreat somehow. The waterway had been destroyed, but Ralgwin clearly had something else up his sleeve... Something clever enough that he could extract his men along with his cargo. It was hard to imagine that was just an accident.

“The question is how they escaped...”

Once all was said and done, Koutarou and the girls returned to room 106 with a puzzled feeling. Some time later, Nefilforan contacted them after conducting a thorough investigation. Kiriha reported her findings to the rest of the group, but she still didn’t know how Ralgwin had disappeared. She was deep in thought with a serious expression on her face.

“It’s gotta be magic, right?” asked Shizuka as she served everyone tea.

The soldiers and supplies had up and vanished while everyone’s vision and radar was useless. To her untrained eyes, that was magic.

“But if someone had used a spell, I should have been able to sense it. Yet the only traces of magic there were from the spells we cast,” Maki countered.

The group had swept the base methodically after Ralgwin disappeared, Maki and Yurika with magic, Clan and Ruth with technology, and Sanae and Kiriha with spiritual energy. Yet no matter the methods they used, the girls were unable to turn up any clues about how Ralgwin had escaped. Like Maki said, there wasn’t a trace.

“Yeah, it would be super hard to conceal magic from me and Maki-chan,” volunteered Yurika.

Casting spells normally produced residual mana, which could be analyzed to determine what kind of magic had been used. There were spells to camouflage such traces, but they too left residual mana of their own. An archwizard like Yurika would’ve had no trouble detecting even something that subtle... yet there was nothing at all. That should have been impossible if they’d used magic to make their escape.

“If it wasn’t magic, then maybe it’s just like Sanae said. It was that gray spinning thing. The, uh, whirlpool of chaos, right?” Koutarou asked.

He and the girls had encountered it several times before. In Dark Purple’s case it had been summoned by magic, but in Tayuma’s case it was attracted by spiritual energy technology. And in Vandarion’s, it had overlapped with the Elder Dragon Type Two. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to how it manifested, but one thing was clear: it fed not on science, spiritual energy, or mana, but rather on the human mind. Koutarou and the girls still didn’t fully understand it.

“I think so too. It didn’t feel like spiritual energy, but it was a really bad feeling,” Sanae agreed, nodding.

After the battle was over and the group examined the base, Sanae couldn’t sense any sign spiritual energy had been used either... but something felt strange about the dock itself. Uncertain exactly what it was, the only way Sanae could describe it was to say that it gave her a bad feeling. It was potentially a sign of the whirlpool of chaos.

“Also... Hmm...”

There, Sanae stopped to think. Something else was bothering her, but she wasn’t sure she should say it when she wasn’t quite sure how to say it. It was a testament to how much she’d matured, as she no longer said anything and everything that came to mind.

“What is it, Sanae? Don’t hold back,” Koutarou encouraged her.

“I’ve felt it before... but there’s a presence similar to yours inside the spinning thing.”

“Similar to me?”

“Yeah. But after sensing it this time, it’s similar... but, like, it’s someone different. You’re softer and not as harsh.”

She’d felt an aura similar to Koutarou’s within the whirlpool before. When she felt it this time, however, she became certain it was different. She’d been paying extra attention to it.

“Harsh? What are you talking about? Besides, you know I’m me.”

“I know, I know. I just said it was someone different.”

“I guess people can look alike when it comes to auras too, huh?”

“Huh, yeah... I guess you’re right.”

Once she started thinking of it as another person, Sanae quickly lost interest. Her only fascination with it was its resemblance to Koutarou. If it was someone else entirely, it was no different from any other stranger to her.

“Still, that might be significant,” Harumi added as all eyes fell on her. Everyone knew from experience that whenever she opened her mouth, it was something important. “Perhaps they’re using the whirlpool for something...”

Whether their aura was similar to Koutarou’s or not, it was now clear that there was someone behind the whirlpool. Sanae had sensed them several times, so writing off their existence would have been a careless mistake.

“Ah, of course! So that’s why we keep encountering it!” Kiriha suddenly exclaimed.

She’d wondered all this time why the whirlpool of chaos seemed to follow them. Thinking about it categorically, the whirlpool was a truly paranormal phenomenon. It wasn’t magical or spiritual; it seemed to appear out of thin air. But, realistically speaking, how could such a paranormal phenomenon be so common? That question had dogged Kiriha, but if someone was guiding it, then it all made sense. That was much more likely than it appearing before them by chance.

“Which means... this person is the one who took Ralgwin and his men away. It was more convenient for them that way,” mused Theia.

“I can’t say for certain since this is pure speculation... but it’s possible,” said Kiriha with a nod.

With that, room 106 fell silent. If Sanae, Harumi, Theia, and Kiriha were all right, then there was a powerful player about with an unknown agenda. All Koutarou and the girls knew for certain was that they were involved with the whirlpool of chaos somehow. Their imaginations were running wild with all kinds of uncanny conjecture.

“All right, that’s enough shop talk!” Koutarou suddenly declared, clapping his hands together loudly.

He gave Clan, who was sitting next to him, quite a start. But she wasn’t the only one surprised—all the girls were.

“Veltlion?”

“I’m hungry, so let’s eat. What’s for dinner tonight, Ruth-san?”

Forcefully bringing the conversation to an end, Koutarou turned to the subject of food. The girls weren’t sure what to make of it at first, but came to understand his angle after they gave it some thought.

Thus Ruth replied with a smile, “Anything you wish, Master.”

It was essentially a non-answer, but Ruth believed it was exactly what he wanted to hear—or rather, what he wanted to see. The other girls caught on and smiled at him in turn.

“...”

When he bashfully turned away from them all, they knew it had been the right answer.

“Actually, now that you mention it, I’m hungry too,” Yurika eventually piped up.

“The only thing I could make quickly would be yakisoba or something similar,” Ruth offered.

“I’m pro-yakisoba! And anti-green pepper!” shouted Sanae.

“And I’m anti-carrot!” added Theia.

“Then it would only be meat and cabbage...” Ruth mumbled.

“They say simple yakisoba with nothing but meat and cabbage is the ultimate test of a chef’s skill,” Shizuka commented.

“Really? I remember making that a lot back in my Darkness Rainbow days...” Maki hummed.

“Then how about you make dinner tonight, Maki-san?” asked Shizuka. “I’ll help.”

Thus the girls began discussing the evening’s menu, and the gloomy air that hung over the room was dispelled just like that.

“Satomi Koutarou, it seems Maki will be making yakisoba... Does that suit you?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

“Of course. Then allow me to say on behalf of all of us... we love you.”

“Th-That’s not what we were talking about...”

“If you say so. Heehee.”

“A-Anyway! Nalfa-san, we’ll be having dinner soon!”

“Okay!”

“Ran away, did he?” scoffed Theia.

“Let’s let him be. A good woman is always understanding of a man’s feelings.”

“We’ll get him back with Maki-chan’s lovingly cooked dinner!” shouted Yurika.

“I’ll do my best!” Maki agreed.

What happened to Vandarion’s faction didn’t come up again in room 106 that day. Continuing to stew over it wouldn’t be of help to any of them. For now, it was more important for them to get their minds off of such things while they rested and recovered.

Koutarou happily watched over the girls as they chatted away like everything was normal. Though he would never admit it, he’d lately come to feel most at ease at times like this. The girls had more or less caught on, but they chose not to say anything. There was no need to ruin such a perfect moment, as they too felt most at ease like this.

After being surrounded by the gray mist, Ralgwin and his unit were whisked away to a different location. No one was more surprised than Ralgwin himself at this development. He would’ve been far less shocked if this were some trick of the Blue Knight’s, but that couldn’t be it. He’d already lost the battle, then the gray mist came suddenly... And the next thing Ralgwin knew, he was somewhere else entirely. It was so disorienting that his first suspicion was that he’d passed on to the afterlife.

“Where am I?!” he asked, looking around.

The only source of light was from the display screen of his armor, but it appeared as though he was now in some kind of cave.

“Ralgwin-sama, just what happened to us?!” Fasta asked in turn.

Because of her line of work, Fasta was equipped with a night vision scope that she’d used to locate Ralgwin. She seemed to be equally confused, however. Her ordinarily cool expression was riddled with panic.

“That’s what I’d like to know! Did you do something?!”

“No, nothing!”

“Then what’s the meaning of this?! Where are we?!”

By now, Ralgwin had abandoned the afterlife theory. It was clear that something had happened; he just had no idea what. It was hard to imagine the Blue Knight would pull such a stunt after he’d agreed to surrender. The idea that someone on his side had used an emergency transport gate to flee crossed Ralgwin’s mind, but that would’ve transferred everyone on the dock regardless of their affiliation. It was almost like they’d been saved... It was just too unreal to believe.

“Calm down, Ralgwin,” a calm, quiet voice called from the darkness.

That only agitated Ralgwin further, however. He whipped around and stared in the direction the voice had come from with stern eyes... but the figure he spotted there was unfamiliar.

“Who the hell are you?!”

Only members of Vandarion’s faction were present, most of whom wore standard army uniforms. Special units like Fasta were exceptions, but they still bore either imperial insignias or the crest of Vandarion’s knights. Yet this hooded figure donned an unmarked cloak that hid his face and most of what he was wearing. The clanking of metal when he walked, however, sounded like armor.

“That’s pretty complicated. I’ll tell you over time. Besides, it’s not all that important.”

“Then let me change my question. Are you the one who saved us? What are you after?!”

“That’s more like it, Ralgwin.”

The hooded figure seemed to be smiling, which grated on Ralgwin’s nerves even more. Should Vandarion have been in this same situation, he would’ve cut the hooded figure down in a furious rage already.

“Enough nonsense! Answer me!”

“I am indeed the one who saved you. And I did it for my own goals, hoping that you and I could cooperate for a while. In short, I’m after your strength.”

“That’s unfortunate. As we are now, I have no strength to spare you.”

Ralgwin had lost his base and factory, not to mention over half of his forces. He’d avoided the worst case scenario by escaping with at least minimal supplies and personnel, but recovering from this would be no mean feat. It was an incredible setback that undoubtedly put him beneath the mysterious hooded figure’s expectations.

“You lost because you’ve only uncovered half of the mysteries shrouding the Blue Knight. It wasn’t a failing of military strength.”

“Like I don’t know that already! It was a terrible gamble, but one I had to take!”

Ralgwin was enraged at having the obvious thrown in his face after such a bitter defeat, but the hooded figure raised an assuring hand. When he did, Ralgwin caught a glimpse of what was underneath the cloak—a dull gray gauntlet. As he’d suspected, the mysterious figure was wearing armor.

“Like I said, Ralgwin, calm down. That’s why I came to you.”

“What is that supposed to mean...?”

“Come with me and I’ll give you the other half of the answers you seek.”

“What?!”

“I’ll tell you what you need to close the gap in strength, and the rest will be up to you.”

“...Just who the hell are you?”

He knew what Ralgwin was after—moreover, he had it in his possession. Ralgwin was desperate. He knew this path was treacherous. That he would likely be used and cast aside. There was also the nagging aggravation he’d felt since this mysterious figure had appeared... It felt like a warning. Like his instincts were telling him this figure was dangerous.

“What’s there to think about? If you continue fighting like this, it’ll be the end of you. But if that’s not what you want, you’re free to follow me.”

As much as it vexed him, Ralgwin knew this man was telling the truth. The Blue Knight had an overwhelming advantage now that Ralgwin was so weakened. He might very well meet his end before he fully recovered—and to avoid that, he’d need the resolve to press onward, however perilous the way might be.

“Very well,” he said. “Lead us wherever you may.”

And so Ralgwin took a dangerous step forward, agreeing to work with this mysterious figure in order to kill the Blue Knight and overthrow the royal families. It wasn’t yet clear whether what he’d get in return was worth the risk, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to give up everything he’d worked for all this time.