“Wow, you’re really good now?”
The sprawl on the outskirts of the city.
In an abandoned building with only its concrete framework left, Diesel was receiving praise from the half-dragon.
“I’ve followed my dad around magic towers since I was little, so I’ve seen quite a lot of mages, but you’re the first person I’ve seen master Leowol this quickly. Somehow, it feels like you’re even better at mana control than I am.”
“Well, I’ve still got a long way to go.”
Diesel, having woken from meditation, awkwardly changed the subject.
But Betty Barosi paid no mind and continued her praise.
“And you learned Mana Meditation less than a month ago, yet you’ve already stacked up a star! Maybe you really could become an Archmage—no, maybe someone even higher than that! Then what should I call you? King Archmage?”
“Ahem. That’s enough Leowol for now. Let’s do what we planned for today.”
Noticing Diesel’s unusual reaction compared to usual, Betty flicked her thin tail back and forth.
“What’s this. Diesel, don’t tell me you’re…… embarrassed right now?”
“…….”
Then, like a child who had found something amusing, she burst into giggles.
“Haha! What is this, really! Last time, you grabbed my hand by the chin and said…… ‘See for yourself, my vessel.’ You did that, and now you’re embarrassed?”
Watching Betty put on an exaggerated performance in an oily tone, Diesel frowned.
“When did I ever do that?”
“You did! Do you know how surprised I was then? You suddenly took my hand and put it…… on your, y-your chest……! I was really shocked……!”
Whether she had truly been shocked or not, she rambled and trailed off.
“I-it was my first time…… touching something like that…….”
This time she acted shy, twisting her head around.
‘What’s gotten into her all of a sudden?’
Whenever he talked with this half-dragon, it was impossible to predict where the conversation would go.
Somehow, the topic changed with every single sentence, so if he didn’t keep his head straight, he would often end up chatting aimlessly without context for hours.
“Enough. I think it’s about time we started.”
“……Right! Where did we leave off last time…….”
For some time now, Diesel had been receiving instruction in magic formulas from Betty Barosi.
Magic combinations that had become possible with the creation of mana stars.
That new technique drastically increased the number of spells Diesel could use.
However, there was one problem: he couldn’t just combine any spells at random.
‘That would be the same as creating a new spell.’
Unless one reached the level of an Archmage, such applications were impossible.
Moreover, spell combination applications were advanced-stage magic, so they were rarely found even in the deeper layers of the Electrosphere.
That was precisely why he had sought out the mage named Betty Barosi, even at the cost of enduring pointless small talk.
By all appearances, she was a mage of fairly high rank within the Brain Dragon Magic Tower.
‘I’m really glad she’s favorably disposed toward me.’
For some reason he didn’t know, Betty was extremely proactive in helping Diesel.
Just teaching him Leowol, the mana meditation of the Brain Dragon Magic Tower, was already an incredible thing, yet she had also readily offered to teach him the tower’s numerous magic formulas and their methods of combination that she knew.
‘Works out great for me.’
Was this a trait unique to dragons as a race?
Once they opened their hearts to someone, they tended to grant boundless trust and faith.
Of course, when that trust was betrayed, they would also unleash a correspondingly thorough retribution.
“Alright! Like I said last time, you can think of all the Brain Dragon Magic Tower’s combination methods as starting from the ‘Sphere of the Brain Dragon.’”
Time passed as he received secret knowledge that couldn’t be found in the Electrosphere.
Then, after more than two hours of theoretical explanation had ended, just as Diesel was personally demonstrating the newly learned magic formula combinations—
Betty cautiously brought up another topic.
“But, Diesel, you know…….”
“What.”
“Have you heard that rumor that’s been going around lately?”
“Rumor?”
“The one about fixers fighting among themselves.”
“Hm…….”
After the job at the Great Port where they stole the Concrete Golem core, the attacks aimed at Fixer River had been growing even bolder.
To the point where it felt like a war might break out.
At the tavern Count Zero in the Underground Great Hall, rumors were already circulating that fixers had split into factions.
“Actually, you know. This is a secret, but…….”
“……?”
“Haa……. Is it okay to tell you this, Diesel? My sister said it was a secret…….”
“Who, Little Sister?”
“Ah! How did you know that? Don’t tell me you heard it from my sister too?”
“No. If you say ‘my sister,’ who else would it be but Sis.”
“Oh, I see……. Whew……. So, this is really a secret, but…….”
Diesel spoke to Betty, who was hesitating and lost in thought.
“If Sis told you, then it’s probably fine to say it.”
“Huh? Why is that?”
“That meticulous woman would never spill a secret that absolutely couldn’t be told.”
“Mm……. Is that so…….”
Seemingly a little convinced, she nodded repeatedly to herself.
“Yeah. That makes sense. Maybe she told me on purpose so I’d tell you.”
“So what is it?”
“Well, you see.”
What Betty revealed was unexpected information.
“My sister’s planning to make a clan.”
“A clan?”
“Yeah. She’s been thinking about it for a long time, but with all these recent rumors, I guess she finally made up her mind.”
A clan created by Little Sister.
‘This…… sounds like things are getting bigger than I thought.’
Sis was already almost in an alliance-level relationship with Madam Isabel, the owner of the Underground Great Hall.
But she hadn’t organized a clan, because she had been conscious of the fact that if she did, alliance clans between fixers and Ghostcatchers would start forming elsewhere as well.
In these backstreets, fixers had to belong to no clan at all.
That was a kind of order Madam Isabel had built up over time.
If fixers became involved with a specific clan, monopolies would inevitably form, and the market itself would obviously rot away into factional conflict.
‘But now she’s trying to make a clan…….’
From Diesel’s perspective, it had to be one of two things.
Either she felt that her influence was gradually waning.
Or she had judged that such factions had already come into existence.
Either way, it was clearly not a good situation for Isabel and Sis.
“So, about that…….”
Betty cautiously brought up the main point.
“If that clan gets formed, Diesel, will you join too?”
It was a question that already assumed Betty herself would join.
At that, Diesel looked at the half-dragon with a slightly serious expression.
“Betty.”
“Uh, y-yeah?”
“Joining a clan isn’t something you decide that way.”
“…….”
“This isn’t like joining some middle school club.”
“T-th, that’s true, but……! It’s a clan my sister Sis is making! My sister is to me…….”
“I know. I know how devoted Sis is to you. And I also think pretty highly of Sis.”
“Right? Then you too, of course…….”
“But that and joining a clan are completely different matters.”
Public and private matters had to be strictly separated.
Especially in a situation that was heading toward such an extreme configuration.
Joining a clan was essentially the same as choosing a specific camp.
It also meant having to follow someone else’s words regardless of my own will.
“But it doesn’t seem like Sis even asked you whether you’d join, Betty.”
“Ah……. T-that’s…… true.”
So she really had been beating the drum and dancing to it all by herself.
Inside Betty’s head, it seemed the Ghostcatchers were already waging war against one another.
“Probably, that worst-case scenario you’re imagining won’t come.”
“Is that so…….”
“Yeah. So don’t worry too much.”
“Okay……. I get it.”
It probably would be that way.
At least for now.
“You really are very mature, Diesel.”
“…….”
“Are you really twenty-five? I guess the vessel of someone who’ll become an Archmage really is different.”
At some point, Betty’s expression had turned playful again.
“Come on, let me measure my vessel! Khh…….”
“Stop…….”
“I’m serious, you were totally cool, you know?”
“…….”
And so, the night passed in those ruins.
“You’re here.”
Northern Seoul, a quiet roadside late at night.
As Diesel approached the luxurious sedan parked there, Matafil stuck his head out from the driver’s seat.
“Nice car.”
“Violence Year 33, latest model.”
Matafil said as he thumped the door’s metal plating, thud, thud.
“Special armor plating that won’t even get scratched by most rounds, an oxygen purification system prepared for biochemical weapons, and even EMP shielding designed to counter electromagnetic attacks. To break this, you’d need to bring a tank.”
“A corporate vehicle?”
“Yeah. A little darling all the bigshots from various corporations drive around. They say Director Angelina specially arranged it for us or something.”
Climbing into the passenger seat and looking back, I saw Pinkbit chewing pink bubble gum.
The Baekto Tribe beastman glanced at Diesel and gave a slight nod, as if greeting him.
“Is your leg doing any better?”
【Yes】
As always, she responded by displaying a punk-style character emoticon instead of answering verbally.
“Then let’s head out right away. Heavyskull should already be there.”
Matafil smoothly pressed the accelerator and turned the wheel.
The job to steal the core of a Type-19 spirit.
Its beginning was on the road.
Today, the items Cheonrang was transporting to the new city Neo-Asadal were of two types.
Strategic weapons heading to the exhibition hall, and the core of a Type-19 lightning spirit heading to the power plant.
According to Heavyskull’s report, just as they had lured them during the preliminary operation, a significant portion of the security personnel seemed to be concentrated on the strategic weapons.
“Diesel, what do you think? I doubt they’ll go berserk as openly as last time.”
After the preliminary operation that involved Raja’s betrayal, Diesel had met with Matafil and Pinkbit and shared the information he’d obtained from Boss Kim.
These two were the only team members he could truly trust for this job.
“Either way, Heavyskull also wants this operation to succeed, so at least up to the point of stealing the spirit core, I think it’ll proceed without issues.”
“I hope so. We should pray the job ends on the road.”
With that hope, the vehicle they were riding in arrived at the meeting point.
A quiet roadside located at quite a high elevation.
It was a mountainside vantage point overlooking an empty boulevard below at a glance.
“Thanks for coming all this way, everyone!”
Heavyskull, who had been waiting in advance, brazenly greeted the three Ghostcatchers.
Since they had agreed beforehand to pretend they didn’t know this man’s true identity, no one openly acted hostile.
“How’s the situation?”
Matafil asked while looking down the slope.
“So far, it’s going according to plan without any issues. Probably.”
“Probably?”
At Diesel’s question, Heavyskull tapped the back of his hand, making a sharp sound.
“The moment they departed, they suddenly activated signal-blocking jammers, so we can’t assess the situation with reconnaissance drones. Still, it shouldn’t be all that different from what we confirmed at the dock.”
‘This feels uneasy…….’
Was it his tone?
An inexplicable sense of unease wrapped around my body.
It wasn’t just Diesel who felt it—Matafil’s brow furrowed slightly, and Pinkbit also tapped the ground lightly with the tip of one foot.
“We should be able to confirm it with our own eyes soon.”
Following Heavyskull’s finger, the three Ghostcatchers’ gazes converged.
And a short while later.
What appeared on the road was—
“…….”
“What is that……?”
“Well, well, it seems an unexpected situation has arisen.”
An escort composed of a full corporate armored battalion.