"Why on earth...!"
I quickly covered Edith's mouth with my hand.
Then she seemed to come to her senses too, and covered her own mouth.
"What did you summon me for? I'm sure I told you we have to be careful, since their side has noticed there's a traitor."
"That's how important this mission is. Carry out just this one order properly, and you won't need to do spy work anymore."
The mission, of course, could only be one thing.
"Find out whether a doll has been wandering around this area lately. The valued guest who arrived today is looking for that doll."
"...A doll?"
At the word "doll," Belle made a face as if someone had come to mind.
But she didn't think for long. After all, there was only one being who could come to mind.
"Now that you mention it, an agent who recently joined the Resistance has a body made of machinery. Going by the circumstances, that person seems to be the doll you're looking for."
"Is that so? Then where is that doll now?"
"Seeing that he was with Miss Edith when I first saw him, I'd guess Miss Edith is protecting him."
Since I'd already revealed what I was in front of them, there was no helping that the information about me being here would leak.
Back then, I hadn't thought anyone would come to catch me.
Edith, who'd been eavesdropping on the conversation with me, spoke in a low voice.
"...So they already knew I'm in the Resistance."
I could see her pupils trembling.
"Then there's a high chance he's hiding in that woman Edith's shop. That's a bit of a nuisance. That woman's weapons are quite useful, you see. I'd like to take her alive if possible and use her as a weapon maker."
That was the reason Edith hadn't been dragged off even though her identity had been discovered.
For similar reasons, Henriks had been put on hold because he was Adeban's former council chairman, and they feared a backlash from the crowd.
Paul's residence wasn't known, and Crock's house was always full of bombs, so the risk was high.
There were plenty of holes here and there from patching up the game's lore, but for now, they were actually a help.
"Understood, for now. When you get the chance, seduce it or do whatever it takes, and lure the doll out alone. I'll give you backup. Once we take the doll anyway, the guest will deal with the rest of the Resistance for us."
Just as I thought, Victor planned to use Gloren to deal with the Resistance.
Gloren was the type who enjoyed her own role as a butcher anyway, so she wouldn't refuse either.
'He's a smart bastard in a lot of ways. But.'
I had no intention of falling for such petty tricks.
"Let's slip into Belle's residence and lie in wait. We catch her before she does anything else."
"Shouldn't we tell our comrades the truth first? We might just end up misunderstood for nothing."
"That's why I'm only asking you to tell me the location. Meanwhile, please convince the other comrades, Miss Edith."
"All right. But for now... don't kill her. Everyone will have a lot to say to her."
It was time to deal with the enemy in front of us first.
***
With my light body, I crossed the rooftops and reached the front of Belle's house.
[Currently attaching the Boots of Flexibility.]
[Currently switched to the 'Nimbleness' form.]
With my light body, I set my foot right on a third-floor window frame of the building.
'This is Belle's room, she said.'
In the game, too, there was an event where you raided her house to catch her, the traitor.
Back then, though, you'd opened the door and walked in, but this time, the other way around, I'd come in through the window.
Normally you had to disarm or dodge the traps inside the building to get in, but this time I managed to get in easily without having to.
'She should be arriving about now.'
As expected, footsteps soon came from beyond the door.
After checking for any traps with Magic Sight, just in case, I pressed myself against the wall beside the door.
Creak.
I closed the distance from behind to take Belle as she opened the door and came in, but instead, her quick hand flew at my throat.
But I'd already expected Belle to fight back, so I ducked the other way and drove my fist into her stomach.
"Keugh—"
With a short groan, Belle clutched her solar plexus and slumped to the floor.
"Mr. Enon...? What on earth is this? Don't tell me you think I'm the traitor?"
"You've got that right. So stay put. Or I'll put a hole in your head with this."
When she saw the pulse gun on my hand, Belle's face stiffened for a moment, then she burst into a hollow laugh.
"Ah, ahaha! You really think I'm the traitor? Then where's your proof? If you pull something like this without proof, do you think the other comrades will believe you?"
"Belle Anthony, born in Adeban's slums. Ran away at age seven on a wagon because of hard circumstances."
As I recited it, the face of Belle, who'd been happily sneering at me, did a full 180.
"How do you know about my past... I never told anyone."
"The reason for running: to escape the creditors over a debt her parents had been unjustly saddled with. Believes both parents were also killed by the creditors."
"Tell me! How do you know about me!"
On Belle's face as she screamed at me, there was no trace left of how she'd been before.
Whatever she did, I kept reciting her past.
"Grew up safely in an orphanage outside and became a doctor, and came back to Adeban just before coming of age. But the slum was torn down and gone right after you left."
Soon, Belle's face went white as a sheet.
"Tried to trace the creditors to avenge your parents, but failed. In the end, that anger turned on this city, which hadn't saved you."
"You, what the hell are you?"
"And right then, a man named Victor showed up, saw your anger, and started swallowing the city by using you as an informant. Recruiting you with the lie that he'd get your revenge for you."
"Stop, stop talking."
"It's really strange. The people you wanted revenge on are already gone, and yet you want a city that's nothing but a husk to fall. What on earth makes you go that far to bring down your Resistance comrades?"
In life, you can see plenty of people like this in the real world too.
That traitor had been given lore that was close to real life.
And what Belle had in common with people like that was that, no matter how you thought about it, you couldn't understand or sympathize with how they thought.
A clear-cut villain character.
"Hahaha, they said the guest at the factory was looking for you, and you really are a suspicious doll. So tell me. What are you!"
Worked up, Belle kept screaming at me.
But I caught her hand twitching behind her.
FWOOM!
"...Kkeueugh!"
A broken signal device fell from Belle's hand.
She'd been planning to send an emergency signal in the meantime.
Clutching the torn back of her hand, she pressed her head to the floor.
I'd turned the power down, so it wasn't a fatal wound, but she'd feel the pain in full.
"Your comrades will be here soon, so get yourself treated. Though I don't know if they'll do it, now that you're an enemy."
Soon, as I passed the time watching over the now docile Belle, it wasn't long before Edith showed up with the other comrades.
"...What's going on here?"
"She resisted, so I subdued her. It's not enough to kill her, so don't worry."
I then showed the broken signal device to the surprised Resistance members.
"She tried to press the signal device to send a distress signal to Victor. If you trace the signal's location, you'll see that what I'm saying is true."
"...No. There is no need even for that. It seems I was right to ask you for this mission."
"...The new guy really pulled it off."
Paul murmured quietly and glanced at me.
There was no more distrust in his eyes.
"I never dreamed Belle was the traitor. I almost went on believing Edith was the traitor to the very end. I sincerely apologize."
Crock bowed his head deeply to Edith, his voice sincere.
"And you too, mechanical doll. Sorry for distrusting you just because we'd only just met."
"It's all right."
The mood seemed to be gradually easing, but when the Resistance agents saw how changed Belle looked, their expressions hardened again.
"...Mr. Enon, let's step outside for a bit."
At Edith's words, I followed her out of the building.
"Are you sure you don't need to go in, Miss Edith?"
"...Honestly, I don't want to be in there anymore. I still haven't pulled myself together."
Edith wasn't someone who smoked.
But right now, she looked like she wanted to put something in her mouth.
Whether she leaned on a cigarette for a while or not, her heart would settle as time passed.
I had no talent for comforting people, so I just quietly stood a little apart from Edith, keeping her company.
I looked up at the sky over the quiet streets of Adeban.
'Not a single cloud.'
It was a view no different from what I used to see in reality.
***
The next day, the moment I opened my eyes in the repair shop's basement, I had to get moving in a hurry.
"Now that my identity's out, I'd better clear this place out for a while."
...Following Edith's decision, I too decided to pack things into boxes and move them secretly to a new hideout.
Clearing the basement, which began at the crack of dawn, was nearly finished only right before sunrise.
"This is the last one. Once we're done, let's think about what to do from here."
The complicated expression from last night was gone; her face was full of energy from the work she hadn't done in a while.
For reference, Belle had been locked in a room in a corner of the tavern's basement.
Cleanly ending her life might have been better, but they probably couldn't bring themselves to cruelly punish someone who'd been their comrade just yesterday.
'There's still the biggest problem to solve.'
The only thing I hadn't gotten during my previous infiltration of the Iron Factory was an entry route.
If it were just me, I could disguise myself as a mechanical soldier and get in like last time, but taking on the Iron Factory alone was another story.
On top of that, right now there was even something as powerful as Gloren waiting there.
'I'd rather avoid a fight if at all possible, though.'
If possible, I had to focus on bringing down the Iron Factory and set our course so that we never ran into Gloren.
Because the variable in this plan was none other than Gloren.
It happened while I was heading for the door to move the last box, my head busy mulling over the plan.
Creak.
An ominous creak of the door echoed through the repair shop.
It was just like what I'd experienced on the first day.
But unlike then, a tremendous sense of fear and pressure bore down on my body.
"The door's open, but you're not open yet?"
It was a voice I'd already heard before at the Iron Factory.
Thump.
"Oops, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."
Gloren's apology, unsuited to her nickname of the Butcher, held no particular emotion.
It was really just something she'd said without a thought.
For some reason, I lifted my head and ended up looking Gloren in the face.
'Why on earth did she come here?'
With every thought in the world crowding my head, I couldn't move a muscle.
"What are you staring at? I said sorry. Got a problem with that?"
"I'm sorry. He's still a trainee here. What brings you in?"
"Eh, I was just wandering the streets and felt like coming in."
Thanks to Edith's quick response, Gloren's attention moved off me.
"If you're curious, feel free to look around at the goods. Souvenirs are displayed on the right."
"Not interested in souvenirs. Don't you have a cute little rat doll? No, wait, there's no way a place like this would have one that big."
It was surely something she'd said without much thought, but it was enough to make my Mana Core drop with a thud.
[The Mana Core begins to tremble violently.]
First, let's get out of here fast. At least Gloren doesn't know who Edith is, so she'll be fine.
Grab.
"Wait, you there."
Gloren's mechanical hand blocked the repair shop's door.
"You. Are you actually a person?"