Chapter 1
MIRA AND SCORPION had successfully saved the wife and daughter of Johan. All that remained was to snatch the alchemist himself from Chimera’s clutches—but when they returned to his mansion in Irene, the capital of Roslein, the man was nowhere to be found; all Mira and Scorpion found within the mansion was a ransacked basement.
The two also discovered what seemed to be his blood. After they gathered the haphazardly scattered documents, they leafed through them. They quickly realized that all documents relating to transactions with Melville Commerce were gone.
Mira glanced at the pile of documents and furrowed her brow unhappily. “They must’ve caught on to us.”
“But how?” Scorpion glanced at the spirit Wasranvel, considering his cheat code-like abilities. “He can trick human senses and cutting-edge mana-sensing devices. I don’t know how they could’ve sensed us or eavesdropped on us.”
The spirit of stealth was very powerful. They had taken great care to contact and negotiate with Johan only under total concealment, so there should’ve been no chance of leaks. It was always possible that Johan had betrayed them and reported it himself…but he hadn’t lied when he’d said that his wife and daughter were being confined. That was proof that he was trustworthy. It seemed unlikely that he would betray his family’s rescuers.
Yet…he and his documents were gone now.
“For now, let’s search the mansion,” Mira suggested. “There may be some clues.”
“Yeah, good idea. Let’s go!”
The chances of finding anything were slim, but it was better than doing nothing. Thus, they began to search the property. They searched the entire first floor, lighting the way with Mira’s Ethereal Arts: Illumination—after all, there were no guards watching anymore. But they found no obvious clues. Angelique, accompanying them, simply gazed at the interior of her home nostalgically.
On the second floor, they proceeded to the laboratory where they’d first met Johan. At a glance, it didn’t seem any different from when they’d left it just hours ago. He must have gone directly to look for the documents after their departure, and was presumably kidnapped in the process.
A search of the laboratory failed to turn up any stand-out clues. As Mira and Scorpion completed their investigation, Angelique stared at the shelf full of memories and cried. Next to her, Mira squeezed and mashed the sheep plushie in her hands to ensure that there were no eavesdropping devices hidden within. Such was a common cliché, in her opinion. After a good smooshing, she concluded that there was no magical tool inside.
The gang exited the laboratory and headed toward the remaining room on the second floor. They passed through the door, but as Mira and Scorpion approached the end of the hallway, they stopped in their tracks. When they’d first visited the mansion, they had found a suit of armor here, standing like an eerie spirit in the darkness.
Now it was utterly gone.
“There was armor here before…right?” With stilted motions and a nervous grin, Scorpion turned to Mira. Surely, this was where that full suit of armor had stood. Scorpion’s tail stood on end in terror, and her eyes began to dart all around. “Where’d it go…? Do you think it started moving and…?”
“I wonder… Though it is clear that it’s gone somewhere.” Mira squatted down and examined the ground where it had stood. Some dust had accumulated around the armor’s footprints.
“Excuse me? Did you say armor? Was there a suit of armor here before?” Angelique asked as she peered down from overhead. There had been no armor here when she’d lived in the mansion. It must have been placed in the hall after the abduction of Johan’s family.
“Perhaps there was some device inside…”
“Yeah, maybe,” Scorpion agreed. “They’ve got masks with location magic, so I’m sure they’ve got magic and magical tools that can watch people.”
They could even put multiple devices inside a full suit of armor, which meant that something would always be keeping watch on Johan. They needed to monitor the inside of the mansion more than the outside, after all.
After frowning at this unexpected development, Mira and the others quickly searched the remaining room. Though they hadn’t expected Johan to disappear, they used what remained of their time limit on Wasranvel’s total concealment to take Angelique and Anne to the King’s Hideout to shelter.
***
A short time later, the group arrived at Ebatess Commerce’s home office, a four-story building of stone and timber, without being found or followed. A 300-meter-long redbrick wall surrounded the property’s perimeter.
The street facing it was still busy even at this hour, but the shop itself was closed and empty—save for a drunk lying out front. Except for a few open restaurants, most of the surrounding buildings seemed to be in a similar state.
Scorpion led the group along the wall and into an alley that led toward the back of the building. They clung close to the wall, which towered above their heads, until they reached a back gate.
“We don’t know where people might be looking. Can we keep Angelique and Anne hidden?” Scorpion asked.
“Good idea,” Mira replied. “If nobody knows that they’re being sheltered here, then we won’t have to worry about being followed.”
Mira and Scorpion agreed it would be safest if nobody saw them being transported here, and kept the two in total concealment while they entered the building. The fewer people who knew about their whereabouts, the easier it would be to keep their secrets.
Scorpion knocked on the gate and greeted the gatekeeper with some sort of medallion. That seemed to be their ticket in—the gatekeeper opened the gate and said, “Thank you for your work.” Mira and Scorpion let their concealed guests in ahead of them and followed through the gate. As they passed, none among them seemed to notice the gatekeeper staring at Mira’s lustrous, silky hair.
Lamps were spaced at regular intervals around the stone-paved grounds of the property, bathing the building in a gentle light. It was almost like a miniature city, with a passage wide enough for people and carriages to pass side by side. On the sides were normal homes, giving it a very residential feel. According to Scorpion, the residences were for employees—perhaps they were company dorms.
There was a restaurant-like building as well. Supposedly, it served cheap but delicious food. Only employees were allowed to eat there, making it effectively the company cafeteria.
In this miniature city, two buildings stood out in the darkness. One was a shop selling medicines and magical tools, while the other was a bigger, sturdier-looking building made of stone. Scorpion led the group to the latter.
The building was an office that also served as a storage facility, with a very plain interior. It had no foyer, only a reception counter that was placed directly in front of the entrance. Directly beyond it was a staircase leading up, while to the left and right were stairs leading down to who knows where. There were doors to various departments here and there as well. Despite the late hour, the building was well-lit, and not a few employees were still working.
Scorpion stepped up to the counter and greeted the tidy-looking man there. “Good evening, Lenos.” Unsurprisingly, he looked a little sleepy.
“Welcome, Miss Scorpion!” His sleepiness disappeared at once—perhaps his fatigue had been caused by worry—as he jumped up and looked at her and Mira with an expectant grin.
“I’m here to borrow a room again,” Scorpion said, offering her medallion. She then introduced Mira, adding, “She’s on our side.”
“Ah, then you must be fighting great evil! How wonderful! Oh…” Lenos controlled himself, dialing his excitement down a notch as he grinned sheepishly at Mira. “Unfortunately, though, rules are rules. May I see some identification?”
Mira presumed her adventurer’s license would be good enough. She took out her cute card case and held out her license to the man at the counter.
“C-rank, really? It’s simply amazing how you combine both beauty and valor! Those who stand against great evil really are made of sterner stuff!” Leno’s face lit up with enthusiasm again, and he snatched Mira’s hand and squeezed it tight, adding with a huge smile, “I’m cheering you on!”
Mira was a little taken aback by Lenos’s forwardness, but she accepted his praise with good grace and replied, perhaps a little too smugly, “Please. Standing against evil is the natural thing to do.”
Once Lenos had finally released her—apparently satisfied after pumping her hand up and down several times—a medallion like Scorpion’s remained in her palm.
“That is your special overnight stay permit. Make sure you don’t lose it, okay? Oh, but it has Ethereal Arts cast on it to identify the owner, so you don’t have to worry about it being used for any nefarious purposes if you do lose it,” Lenos explained casually as he jotted Mira’s name down in the reception ledger. It seemed he’d cast that magic on the medal while he shook Mira’s hand.
“How convenient,” she mused.
The magic was clearly quite effective. When Mira tried handing it to Scorpion, the silver medal suddenly flashed red. When she took it back again, it returned to a silver shine. Mira was once again astounded by the progress of the Ethereal Arts in this world.
***
The secret base that they were renting in Ebatess Commerce was an underground floor, somewhat like an emergency evacuation shelter.
Once they’d finished their business at the reception desk, they ascended the stairs directly behind the desk. Along the way, Scorpion laughingly filled Mira in on Lenos. It turned out that his full name was Lenos Ebatess, and he was the grandson of the current CEO. According to Scorpion, he was a huge fan of heroic legends—the Divine Generals of the Three Great Kingdoms, the Forty-Eight Nameless Generals of Atlantis, the Twelve Apostles of Nirvana, and of course…the Nine Wise Men of Alcait. He seemed quite convinced that the Isuzu Alliance, who stood against the great evil that was Chimera Clausen, would make their mark as a new heroic legend. Mira was very pleased to hear the names of the Nine Wise Men listed alongside the most prominent heroes, but when she glanced to the side, the dark window reflected a young woman’s slender figure. She sighed at the reminder that she no longer resembled that legendary hero.
Mira and Scorpion climbed the stairs as they chatted, until they arrived at the third-floor hallway. There, a question suddenly occurred to Mira. “Why are we on the third floor? Didn’t you say it was underground?” she asked Scorpion, who walked ahead through the hallway with employees working here and there.
“It is, but it’s kinda special. You can only get there from a third-floor staircase, and the entrance is hidden too. That makes it even better for sheltering people.”
“I see. Very secure, indeed,” Mira said. She now directed her interest toward the building and its interior, which seemed to be the result of an interesting history. Eventually, they arrived at the secret staircase and began their descent. Despite being entirely constructed of stone, this building’s interior seemed to radiate a sense of warmth. The furnishings on each landing of the staircase gave glimpses of the decorator’s immaculate taste.
Melville Commerce might be on top now, but that was only the result of their underhanded play in backing Chimera Clausen. This building was dripping with a dignity that proved that Ebatess Commerce was the true king.
When they reached the bottom of the staircase, they arrived at a single door. They opened it and found that the room beyond was full of shelves of magical tools and medicines. It was hard to tell at a glance, but according to Scorpion, these were all prototypes and failed experiments. It was rather eerie, like a chemistry lab at night. Uneasy, Angelique leaned against Wasranvel, who still carried Anne on his back.
The group passed through the labyrinthine arrangement of shelves. When they came to the back of the room, Scorpion stood in front of a particular shelf and beckoned Mira over.
“Watch carefully, Mira,” she said. She reached out her hand and selected a box among those failed experiments. She opened it, then spun it around backward, closed the lid, and spun it once more. Immediately after the incomprehensible act, there was a small thud. The shelf then slid smoothly to the side, revealing a hidden door behind it.
“Ooh!” Mira was really excited now; this was a real-deal hidden base. Whether it came to ladies’ clothes or hidden doors, the thought of the mystery concealed behind them always tickled her boyish side.
The open door revealed yet another staircase leading lower. Mira naturally ran in first. Once everyone was inside, Scorpion closed the door again, and there was another dull thud—the sound of the shelf returning to its original position.
The air held that chill particular to underground spaces. Plain stone walls and floors continued downward, faintly illuminated by lights here and there. But the heights of the stairs were irregular, which made their footing uncertain. Scorpion claimed that this was a measure against intruders.
They descended the hundred-meter-long staircase and finally reached an underground passage leading yet further into the gloom.
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