"Yes, that's confirmed. Please come this way, both of you."
The guild headquarters on the outskirts of Laican. Ran and Moor handed over the letter of recommendation the Order had obtained for them from the Imperial Army.
Once the check was done, the receptionist showed Ran and Moor to the second floor.
The three of them entered the largest room on that floor, where a great many people had gathered.
"Welcome, paladins. I've heard a great deal about you. I'm Russell, guildmaster of Trier."
At the center of the room, a middle-aged man rose from the widest sofa. He walked over to Ran and Moor and offered his hand.
"A pleasure. I'm Moor, of the Order. This is my partner, Ran."
Moor took the hand Russell offered and shook it as he introduced himself and his partner.
After that, Moor was given brief introductions to everyone present. Most were adventurers of Trier Guild; two were of the Imperial Army, and two more were retainers of the Laican Domain.
Word of last night's scene at the restaurant seemed to have spread already, because some of the guild members were regarding Ran and Moor with distinctly sour looks.
"Four organizations carrying out a joint operation like this — it hasn't happened since the Great War fifty years ago, has it? Truly a historic day."
Sensing the mood, Russell kept his tone bright as he moved things along.
With the guildmaster setting the tone, the other members dialed their hostility back without complaint. The unfriendly looks, however, remained.
Moor found those looks a little uncomfortable and tried not to mind them; Ran gave them no thought whatsoever.
In truth, packing a single operation with this many people and organizations is not an especially good thing.
The reason is that dividing the credit becomes difficult — and earning credit isn't a simple matter of killing the most enemies.
The larger the operation, the more varied the manpower fed into it: intelligence gathering, planning, rear support, and the rest.
On the central table where they had gathered lay a map.
Using it, a woman who introduced herself as an Imperial Army captain explained the coming raid.
"First, we ask Trier Guild to strike the mine and the other outposts — everything except the enemy's central base. With the enemy thus split, our Imperial Army and the Laican Domain's forces will hit the main camp."
The captain pointed out several positions with a long rod as she spoke.
"Very good. Our movements will read as reclaiming what was taken from us, so the deception will be easy enough — but how do you intend to solve the fundamental problem?"
Most of the outposts marked in the plan had originally been run by Trier Guild or by guilds allied with it. So there was no objection on that score — but with no fundamental solution in the plan, the guildmaster put the question to the captain.
"Exactly. Set the mysterious enhancement potion aside; the real problem is the weapon-nullifying phenomenon from last time. A few clashes in a fight and the weapon you're holding shatters. It makes a proper battle impossible."
When the guildmaster spoke up, a man standing behind him added his agreement.
"It's precisely to address that point that we've brought in the paladins here."
The captain explaining the plan gestured toward Ran and Moor with one hand.
"Yes, that's right. I'll strengthen the weapons of everyone taking part in the operation. The effect lasts about a day, so it should hold comfortably for the duration."
At the captain's gesture, Moor raised a hand and explained. The others heard him out and looked satisfied, every face saying they agreed.
"That said, there are rather a lot of you — I doubt I can manage it alone. Might I be assigned support personnel? People who can share mana, or who understand how the formula for the sorcery is constructed, would do."
"Don't trouble yourself over that. We'll provide them."
When Moor raised the matter of support, the man from the Laican Domain raised a hand. A good number of students with a talent for sorcery hope to take posts in state institutions or to become a lord's retainers — which is why the Laican Domain held a considerable number of sorcerers of its own.
"Then the weapons are settled. Which leaves — what do we do about the telekinetic?"
Russell looked between Moor and the retainer from Laican with visible delight. Then he asked his follow-up.
"Frankly, there's no good answer to that part. What I can say is that if he leaves the main camp and appears on your side, we will certainly be able to take the camp. So if he appears — report his position without hesitation and run."
When the Imperial Army captain offered that, groans went up around the room.
"Is that a serious suggestion? Our opponent is a telekinetic. A highly capable one at that. If he's moving as an individual rather than with a unit, he'll shift position in an instant by teleport. What would be the point?"
"Correct. Our investigation says he uses sorcery of at least Depth 6. Against a telekinetic of that level, distance is meaningless. Not unless someone pins him down and buys time."
"And that's the question — who buys time against a sorcerer like that, and how?"
"Right. He'd wipe out the people at the outposts and stroll back to the main camp at his leisure."
Everyone had a line to add, and the meeting room began to grow loud.
"If we take the base and prepare our sorcery in advance, we can certainly win."
"I'm saying that isn't easy. We're to sweep up an enemy armed with rare metal and a special potion, quickly, and then set up sorcery inside their own camp — while praying that telekinetic doesn't come straight back?"
At the Imperial Army captain's proposal, the guild members sighed as though it were absurd. The captain, with no good answer to that, was left flustered, and the room ran hotter still.
"I'll do it."
Ran, who had said nothing until now, tossed the words out.
"What? You'll do what?"
That single line quieted the uproar, if only a little. Then one guild member glared at Ran and asked.
"That telekinetic, or whatever he is. I'm saying I'll catch him."
Ran said it as though it were nothing at all, and a few of them smiled while others scowled.
"Listen, little paladin, the courage is admirable — but do you know how many people that man has killed? Learn when to speak and when to keep out of it."
Ran was already poorly regarded here, and a big man in heavy armor snapped it at him.
"How strong is he, exactly, that you're all cowering over one lousy telekinetic?"
"Ran, that's enough."
Moor moved to stop him.
Far too late. The mood turned uglier still.
"That's not something I can let pass either. Dozens of our comrades lost their lives to that man."
Another imperial officer, who had been standing quietly beside the captain throughout the briefing, opened his mouth with a glare at Ran.
Voices rose all over the room, telling them to cut the little shit out of the operation.
"Ah, everyone, please calm down. Tying down the telekinetic will be handled by us — the paladins."
With the mood gone bad, Moor stepped in quickly to salvage it.
"If you'll say so, we're grateful. In truth, I'd been waiting for you to say it, Moor. All right, everyone, that's enough."
"Sir? What does that mean, Guildmaster?"
Russell spoke fast, as though he had been waiting for Moor's answer, and pressed the others to stand down. That left his own guild members flustered.
"I've heard the rumors, Moor. One of the strongest among the paladins."
"There's some exaggeration in that, I think."
To settle the situation, Russell answered his guild member's question by addressing Moor instead.
And Moor answered him with a slight smile.
"I've heard that rumor as well. That you are nearly a Sage-class sorcerer... But even so, during the operation you will have to strengthen every participant's weapon with the Benediction Arts. Even with the support sorcerers we provide, it seems a great deal to ask."
The retainer from the Laican Domain, who had been watching the situation, added his piece. He too knew the rumors about Moor well. That was why he had supported bringing paladins into this operation — and why Ran and Moor were standing here at all.
"Well, don't worry about that part. I have this fellow with me."
"What? Without additional manpower? So in the end you're relying on that kid? Guildmaster, is this really acceptable? Our members' lives are on the line!"
When Moor answered the retainer's question, one guild member's temper snapped. He turned to look at Russell. Reading the man's plea to do something — anything — Russell thought for a moment.
"Everyone here is right. We are all staking our lives on this."
Russell spoke first to settle things down. But he, too, could offer no clear opinion.
"If there is another way, I'll follow it. But if there isn't, I ask you to trust us this once."
The others were voicing their dissatisfaction, but none of them could produce an alternative. Moor used that mood, speaking more courteously still.
"You, perhaps. But an operation built on placing complete trust in that boy is hard to agree to. We have no clear alternative either... yet that does not mean we can simply consent."
A guild member in one corner of the room spoke calmly. Between Moor's courtesy and the man's measured way of stating his objection, the room seemed to settle a little.
"We're not saying we'll catch the telekinetic. We're saying we'll tie him down."
Moor spoke with genuine gratitude toward the man.
"Give us the coordinates and we'll go there and buy as much time as we can. You take the place as fast as you can and prepare the sorcery to intercept him."
Two days later.
The party moved together to a wide-open site to carry out the operation's preliminary work: the weapon strengthening.
Ran sat on a bench a little way off, watching Moor confer with the sorcerers from the Laican Domain.
"Hey, kid!"
Ran turned his head toward the men coming at him with obvious aggression.
A group of guild members was walking his way. One look was enough to know their purpose was anything but friendly.
"What's this? No guardian around, so you're getting scared now?"
When Ran only looked at them without a word, one of the six stood over him where he sat and spoke.
"Right... this had to happen once."
Ran grumbled it like a man resigning himself, and rose from the bench.
Moor and the several sorcerers deep in discussion about the formula turned their heads at the loud noise that erupted.
"Ah..."
The sigh came out of Moor the moment he saw Ran, at a distance, beating down the other adventurers. The other sorcerers watched the fight with interest — Ran's movement, to be precise.
"Are you all right?"
The sorcerers asked with concern as Moor clutched his head, apparently against an oncoming headache.
"I'm fine. Let's carry on."
Moor put it out of his mind and turned his focus back to the work in front of him.