I could mimic a mechanical soldier's model.
It was surprising, but not an impossible ability, either.
'I can change my body's internal structure, so it'd be strange if I couldn't change the outside.'
[You can use the skill Form Mimicry.]
[To imprint a form, you must be in direct contact with the designated model.]
I placed my palm on top of the half-wrecked mechanical soldier.
[The Mana Core is imprinting the Iron Factory Mechanical Soldier's model.]
Magic Barrier, Weapon Form Conversion, and now Form Mimicry, too.
That was a whole lot of skills gained in one go.
It had been a far more rewarding fight than I'd expected.
"Good work. You're not hurt anywhere, right?"
"No. I made it through safely, thanks to you."
"You're a lot more reckless than I thought. And... a lot stronger than I thought, too."
[Progress – 68%]
The imprint was progressing faster than I'd expected.
"Are you interested in the parts or something? If there's a part you want, I'll pull it off for you."
Edith said that, having seen me keep my hand on the mechanical soldier.
"No, I'm fine."
There'd surely be something useful among the mechanical soldier's parts, but I didn't particularly plan on using any.
After checking the cargo, Edith rummaged through it as if shopping, in a tone that sounded a little disappointed.
[Progress – 100%]
[Mechanical model imprint complete.]
After finishing the imprint, I followed her and checked the cargo too.
Just as she'd said, there was nothing special besides iron processed at the factory.
"Was this the target of this diversion operation, by any chance?"
"We're grabbing anything useful while we're at it. The plan is to run a diversion to split up the factory's forces. It's also to hide the fact that our own strength has dropped."
In the end, it meant there wasn't much of a special reason.
Of course, there was no such thing as an unimportant mission.
Edith packed a few pieces of processed iron into the bundle she'd brought and pulled a few parts off the mechanical soldiers too.
Watching her, I quietly spoke up.
"The other comrades seem a little late, but isn't it well past the time they should have gotten here?"
"...You're not wrong. They should have gotten here well before now."
Edith stopped in the middle of gathering things, and her expression darkened.
"Let's wait a little longer. They'll be here soon."
But making her words ring hollow, even as time passed, there was no sign of anyone around.
"...Let's hurry back. I need to see if our comrades made it back safely."
***
Edith and I avoided the checkpoint through a secret passage and entered Adeban again.
"Let's go to the basement of the Portus Tavern. If they made it back safely, they'll all be there."
That place was one of the Resistance agents' main gathering spots.
Following her in through the tavern's back door, I soon made it down into the tavern's basement.
"Is everyone all right? What on earth happened—"
Having rushed into the basement, Edith saw the bloodstains on the floor and was left speechless.
In the basement, in a subdued atmosphere, a few people were standing or sitting around a table.
The owner of the blood soaking the floor was sweating as he received first aid from an orange-haired doctor.
They were all faces I knew.
When Edith appeared in that space, everyone's eyes turned to her, and to me behind her, in an instant.
"Ah, Edith. Did your end go smoothly?"
"I took care of my end just fine. What happened to everyone? And why is Mr. Paul in that state?"
"We were ambushed by them in the middle of the operation. Things were bad, so we couldn't spare anyone to back you up. I'm sorry, Edith."
The Resistance's leader, Henriks, who'd been sitting with his fingers laced, said that with his head hanging low.
He too had several small wounds on his face and shoulders.
"When we scouted it beforehand, it was definitely a place with lax surveillance. But the moment we got to the operation site, they came at us from all sides like they'd been waiting. And we didn't leave so much as a trace."
It was the man fiddling with bomb parts beside the table: Crock.
He was so stressed that the plan had gone wrong that his hands were very busy fiddling with the parts.
Not to mention the heavy dark circles under his eyes.
He was the spitting image of what I'd seen in the game.
"I did the best first aid I could, but you're not safe yet, so don't move around carelessly."
Belle the doctor was wrapping a bandage around the wound of Paul the knife-fighter.
As soon as the first aid was done, Paul got up and stabbed a knife into the table as he spoke.
"So, why doesn't somebody explain why the hell this happened? Before, at least, we were never shut down before a mission even started. But what about lately? Missions keep failing, comrades get hurt, and they even get dragged off. Something's definitely gone wrong somewhere."
At Paul's firm words, the mood in the basement settled hard and heavy.
"What are you trying to say, Paul?"
"I'm saying there's an informant. A traitor who's handing our information over to them."
An informant.
At that single word, everyone, Henriks included, froze.
'So this mess happens after all.'
Watching the situation from behind, I let out a small breath.
In the game Akris, too, there were events that triggered depending on quest progress.
Among them, the one that triggered when the story fell behind was the traitor hunt.
'You could pick the suspicious person yourself here.'
But if you picked the wrong person, you couldn't get that character's help until you learned the real spy's identity.
But there was no telling what would come of doing something like that here.
So at least in this situation, no one could be branded a traitor.
"Paul, I take it you know what those words could bring about. It's a matter that could destroy our trust in one another forever."
"Then can you explain why this is happening, Leader? None of us are clumsy enough to leave information behind by mistake."
Crock added to Paul's words.
"Honestly, I can't think of anything but that there's a traitor among us, either. There's no way our captured comrades could know the plan I put together recently."
Both men's opinions were reasonable and not wrong.
In fact, this situation had come about entirely because the traitor had passed information to the Iron Factory.
"...I truly don't want to believe there's a traitor among us. But in the current situation, it wouldn't make sense to say there isn't one. So is there anyone who'll come clean, even now?"
Just as in the original event, Henriks's last thread of hope slipped out.
But no one in the basement raised their hand.
A development no different from the original.
"...Then, Paul. Who do you suspect?"
At Henriks's question, Paul hesitated to answer for a moment.
He was prickly and blunt even at the best of times, but turning a comrade into an enemy with his own mouth had to be hard.
"...I suspect Edith."
"Wait, me?"
Maybe she hadn't expected her name to be called, because Edith's voice wavered.
"Calm down and listen. In this diversion mission, you were the only one who took on a different task, Edith."
"We all discussed that and decided it together. It's not like I deliberately tried to get out of the decoy operation."
"...And I heard that bastard Victor paid your repair shop a visit this morning. This very morning, of all times."
"...He spouted some nonsense about whether I'd join the Iron Factory, so I turned him down on the spot and sent him away. I absolutely did not tell that bastard Victor our plans."
Edith's voice was heated and agitated.
"Can I say something more?"
Just then, Crock got up from his seat and spoke.
"One of the reasons I suspect Edith is... that guy behind her."
The one Crock was talking about was none other than me.
That made sense, since everyone here but Edith was meeting me for the first time.
Only Henriks had heard about me; to the other agents, I was a complete stranger.
'Bad timing.'
It wasn't the situation I wanted, but my presence had ended up casting suspicion on Edith.
"He's someone I was going to introduce after today's mission. His name is Mr. Enon, and he's someone who underwent body modification at the Iron Factory and escaped. Someone like that can't possibly be a traitor."
She was defending me sincerely.
Even if that explanation had my lie mixed into it.
But the other Resistance members didn't look like they had any intention of dropping their suspicion of me.
"How do we prove that story's true, either? We don't have enough evidence to believe it. By that logic, everyone here is someone who's been hurt by those Iron Factory bastards."
At Crock's words, a shadow passed over everyone's faces, as if each were recalling their own memories.
"We have no choice but to put you on the list of suspects too, Edith, since you brought that guy in as a comrade. Going by the circumstances alone, the only two who look like traitors are you and him, Edith."
"...Do you all really suspect me?"
At her words, no one rushed to say anything.
And the meaning of that silence reached Edith just as it was.
"Fine. If you really think so, lock me up. And my weapon, here. Mr. Enon too, if you suspect him."
Resigned, Edith placed her sniper rifle on the table.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Enon. Because of me—"
"It's all right. I know you're not the traitor, Miss Edith."
I moved Edith back behind me and stood before the Resistance agents.
In the game, too, these were the guys who'd suspect people at will and destroy themselves if you just left them alone.
"Then if I show proof that I'm not a traitor, you'll believe the two of us aren't traitors, right?"
It wasn't that they were stupid; it was a setup the system had made so the protagonist could shine.
But right now, the protagonist was absent.
It was time for me to play the protagonist's role in their place.
"Yes. As long as you show proper proof, I'll believe you."
In Akris, the protagonist received a letter of recommendation from the chief of the first village.
And that letter served as the protagonist's certificate of innocence, so they never became a traitor candidate in the first place.
But I had no letter of recommendation, and the game system wasn't helping me either.
So I'd have to prove my innocence myself.
"What are you doing...."
"You told me to prove my innocence, didn't you?"
I promptly stripped off my shirt and bared my body.
It was a skinny body, far from muscular.
"Surely you're not suddenly stepping up to show off your body."
Ignoring Paul's suspicious remark, I turned my head toward Edith, who wore a worried expression behind me.
'...Are you serious?'
"Yes. Please, like last time."
Understanding what I meant, Edith soon opened the panel on my back like last time.
I sent a signal to the Mana Core in time with her.
[The Mana Core is activating.]
[Switching body form to the clockwork form.]
Soon, as fine lines showed clearly on my body, the people around me reacted.
Shock, then confusion.
Those expressions doubled when I turned my back to them.
"Is this enough to make you believe my story is true?"
It wasn't intentional, but as I grew closer to the doll form, a voice that sounded as if it were caught on a spring came out.
It felt like I'd become a cyborg.
Paul and Crock couldn't easily open their mouths, whether from surprise or shock.
Instead, Henriks, having composed himself from the shock, answered.
"Yes. For now, I can see that you are at least not on their side."
"At least."
"At least."
Despite his words, there was no suspicion on Henriks's face.
Because he, too, knew about the plight of the dolls inside the factory.
And so did the others.
The emergency meeting that followed wrapped up quickly.
"Let us end the talk of the traitor here for now. Until the next meeting, all of you are forbidden to take any outside action without permission."
At Henriks's words, the other Resistance members all left the basement.
"Enon, was it? You and Edith, stay behind a moment."
Soon only three people, including me, remained in the basement.
"First, Edith, and Enon. For suspecting the two of you, even briefly, I sincerely apologize."
"Does this mean you've decided to truly trust me?"
"About halfway. The other half is because of Edith."
Well, at least he was honest about it.
"...Leader, do you really think there's a traitor among us?"
Edith still didn't seem over the shock; her voice trembled faintly.
"I do not want to believe it either, but given the current situation, I have no choice. I hope that once the facts are clear, it will all end as nothing but needless suspicion."
It was a hopeful thing to say, but that wasn't going to happen.
Because there definitely was a traitor among them.
And I intended to root out that traitor myself.
"Mr. Henriks, would you hear me out?"
It was time to put the broken quest back on track for real.