Fake-taxi kidnappers.
According to the information they had secured so far, there was a high possibility that they were targeting young women, whose missing-person reports had recently been surging.
The Special Unit intended to use that fact against them.
“…The problem is that we don’t have enough women.”
Han muttered.
The plan was to board the taxis while posing as passengers if possible.
If everything went smoothly, the bastards would lead them straight to their base on their own.
That meant they needed young women whom the kidnappers would see as potential targets, but there were only three women between the two teams.
If anything, Rubin’s team was in the better position since they at least had two.
Han’s team only had Lara.
‘On top of that, Lara can’t cast while moving, so there’s a risk involved.’
‘At this rate, we’ll have fewer pieces of bait we can put out in the first place.’
‘We need at least one more.’
Han looked over his team members while lost in thought.
Then his gaze stopped on Samuel.
A modest, rather petite height.
A thin frame with little muscle.
A soft, delicate voice that would be easy to alter.
‘This’ll work.’
Han reached his conclusion.
“Samuel. It looks like you’ll have to dress as a woman.”
“……What?”
“We have women’s Skin Suits prepared too. The size should roughly fit you. We’ll just need to get you some clothes.”
“W-Wait a second.”
“Pfft.”
Lara openly struggled to hold back her laughter.
Fabian turned his head away to suppress the laughter threatening to escape.
Samuel was the only one panicking.
“T-Team Leader. Even so, won’t they notice if I dress as a woman? I-I mean… I don’t think I’d even look like someone they’d target.”
“Hmm. I’m not so sure. I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
“…What exactly do you mean by that?”
Han once again assessed Samuel’s suitability with a cool gaze.
Yeah. No matter how many times he ran the calculations, Samuel wouldn’t be found out. There was no need to draw on years of experience. Violet alone was proof enough—hadn’t everyone failed to realize she was disguised as a man?
Skin Suit technology had advanced considerably these days, even altering the wearer’s voice naturally, so there was even less reason for suspicion.
“Wow. Guess sniping isn’t your only talent.”
Lara grinned.
Samuel did not want to accept his current reality, but Han seemed to have already made up his mind.
The strength drained from Samuel’s slender shoulders.
“My first field assignment…. My first step into the field…….”
Fabian walked over to Samuel and patted him on the shoulder.
“Do not be too discouraged. Even to my eyes, you seem capable of becoming quite an attractive woman.”
“……That doesn’t comfort me at all.”
Around the same time, Rubin’s team also decided who would dress as a woman.
The person on that side did not seem particularly pleased about it either, but either way, the number of points each team would cover had now been decided.
Rubin’s team would handle three points.
Han’s team would handle two.
Accordingly, Han split his team into two groups.
[Team 1]
Han Augustus
Lara
[Team 2]
Ross Fabian
West Samuel
Once the rough details of the plan had been settled, they immediately headed toward their respective points.
Their transportation was an ordinary-looking vehicle of a design seen everywhere. Personnel from the Support Division handled the driving to the target districts.
They were the grateful people who meticulously supported the Special Unit from positions unknown to the public.
“Ah, it’s kind of a shame I didn’t get to see Samuel dressed as a woman. I bet he’d look pretty.”
Lara imagined Samuel dressed as a woman. The smile would not leave her lips.
Han watched her for a moment before asking,
“You seem unusually cheerful today.”
“Do I?”
“You haven’t stopped smiling.”
“Samuel’s reaction was so funny… Actually, now that I think about it, I guess that’s not the only reason.”
Lara recalled the previous night.
The corners of her mouth, which had been raised high, slowly settled.
She thought she understood why she had been smiling.
‘“You’re doing well, so you don’t need to worry”…. How long has it been since anyone said something like that to me?’
The title of the youngest.
A crippling flaw that did not suit it.
The gap between those two things had weighed heavily on Lara’s heart for a long time.
Lara had always been surrounded by mages. Naturally, no one had ever told a half-baked mage like her that she was doing well.
No matter how hard she tried to stay strong, her confidence had already been shaken.
Under those circumstances, even if the words had come from a team leader who was not even a mage and whom she had only known for a short time, the sheer confidence with which he had spoken them had given her some strength.
Hadn’t she gone back to her quarters afterward and practiced with more drive than she had shown in a long time?
Lara put that complicated feeling into words in her own way.
“Because you’re funny, Team Leader. Telling a mage who can’t cast while moving that she’s doing well. Who would ever say something like that unless they were teasing her?”
“…I wasn’t trying to tease you.”
“I know. I’m saying that’s how it would be among mages. You’re not a mage, Team Leader.”
“That’s true.”
And reading the emotions of a seventeen-year-old girl was far too easy for Han.
Good. At least I helped a little.
The book had been right. Firm encouragement from a superior kept subordinates from wavering.
‘I’ll need to buy more books on leadership.’
Han resolved to head straight to a bookstore once this mission was over.
“…….”
Meanwhile, Lara hesitated for a moment.
She seemed to be debating whether she should say something, but eventually decided, ‘Ah, I should just ask him directly,’ and continued.
“Since the timing seems right, I’ll ask you directly. What did you mean when you said that to me yesterday?”
“What do you mean?”
“When I first heard it, I thought you’d just said it to encourage me. That’s what I assumed, you know? But Fabian said you’re not the kind of person who’d say something like that without any basis.”
“…I see.”
Han’s palms began to sweat.
It was not as though he had no basis at all, but he had not sufficiently examined whether that basis was truly sound.
As Lara had said, in truth, it had not been all that different from simple encouragement, so he grew nervous.
‘If I admit now that I only said it to encourage her, it’ll be difficult to earn Lara’s trust from now on.’
‘Trying to regain trust once it’s lost is like trying to scoop up spilled water.’
‘The book said that too.’
Phew—.
Han silently exhaled to push away his tension.
He had been thinking they needed to have a deeper conversation eventually, but this had come far too suddenly. He had not even made a concrete plan yet.
‘Stay calm. I need to answer this properly.’
Han mentally prepared himself.
Lara had no idea what was going through his mind.
In the end, she asked him.
“So I became curious. Did you really have a reason for saying it? And if you did, what was that reason?”
‘I’ve spent all this time thinking and trying, but I still couldn’t find a solution. Did Team Leader notice something I couldn’t?’
Lara swallowed the rest of the thought.
But a faint hope showed in her eyes, and Han read it with ease.
At last, Han, a master at hiding his expression, erased every trace of nervousness and concern from his behavior before opening his mouth.
Right. He had intended to tell her eventually anyway.
“My tier is one.”
“W-What? One…?”
It was an answer she could not understand. Lara’s brow furrowed on its own.
A member of the Special Unit. Not only that, but a team leader, and he was First Tier?
That was the level of a child who had only just begun learning magic.
Even if he was not Third Tier, the threshold for being considered a full-fledged mage, shouldn’t he at least be Second Tier…? Wasn’t one of the requirements for joining the Special Unit being Second Tier in the first place?
After all, even without constructing a formula, using Mobility Gear consumed a fair amount of mana.
But Han was not lying.
“They’ll accept you into the Special Unit even if you’re First Tier, as long as you graduate at the top of the training institute.”
“…….”
“Was it shocking enough to make you freeze like that?”
“…Of course it was. I’ve never heard of or seen anyone who stayed at First Tier after beginning magic.”
“Then now you’ve heard of and seen one. Right in front of you, no less.”
“…….”
Even people with absolutely no talent for magic could reach Second Tier once they learned even a little.
Furthermore, considering how inaccessible the study of magic was, stopping at First Tier made no sense.
Setting Pest aside, barring an exceptional eccentric, who would finally get their hands on a discipline monopolized by a tiny minority only to give it up immediately?
After running through a tangle of thoughts, Lara asked,
“Then with Mobility Gear… how can you produce that kind of performance? You shouldn’t have nearly enough mana reserves or operating time….”
“I suppose I’ll have to answer that together with your first question.”
“Yes?”
“I quickly accepted the fact that I had no talent for magic. Then I worked to find another way somehow.”
“…Worked.”
Han had once been in circumstances that might have resembled Lara’s own.
Perhaps that was why she empathized with him. Lara focused on Han without even blinking.
“In the end, the answer I found was extreme efficiency.”
“Efficiency?”
“Using only the bare minimum amount of mana necessary at every single moment while handling Mobility Gear. In other words, I made sure I got the greatest possible return from every bit of mana.”
“……Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped Lara before she realized it.
Using only the bare minimum amount of mana?
It sounded simple when put into words, but it was a concept that was practically possible only in theory.
In other words, not only when activating the equipment, but with every single step he took and every instant he expelled steam, he had reduced mana consumption to the absolute limit.
“I don’t think even a calculation android could do that.”
“Isn’t that only a rumor?”
“Anyway.”
Lara could only marvel at the amount of time and effort Han must have poured into it.
Han, meanwhile, recalled his conversation with Rubin.
Before they entered the conference room, Rubin had said this to him.
—Perhaps overcoming it isn’t the only solution. The point is simply that it doesn’t interfere with the mission.
‘…Rubin. Asking you for help really was the right decision.’
Originally, Han had viewed Lara’s efforts and her refusal to give up as the basis for telling her that she was doing well.
But now, he felt he could give her a slightly better answer.
“Lara. I’m not you, so I can only guess at the time you’ve spent struggling with this. But if every single day has felt too precious to waste, I believe you’ll reach the answer somehow. I did too.”
“…….”
Lara could not seem to look away from him.
Countless thoughts appeared to be racing through her mind.
Han then tried to rephrase what Rubin had told him and pass it on to her.
“Even so, if I were to add one thing, it would be that before you’re a mage, you’re now a member of the Special Unit. As long as you can carry out your missions, there’s no need to remain bound by the existing rules… Ah, this was Ru—”
“—Oh, Team Leader. You sound really grown-up right now.”
Lara’s mouth fell open in pure admiration.
Thanks to that, Han’s attempt to explain that the advice had actually come from Rubin was cut off.
“There’s no need to remain bound by the existing rules…. That definitely…. makes sense. I feel like I might be able to apply that somehow. Hmm……. Ah, anyway, thank you for the good advice. To be honest, the earlier stuff was a little vague, but that last bit really hit home.”
“……Ah, right.”
Han responded with a complicated expression.
Lara had meant no harm, but what she had effectively said was that Han’s original advice had been mediocre while Rubin’s advice alone had been good.
Would it be right to tell her now that the final addition had actually come from Rubin?
In the end, Han chose bitter silence.
‘…Being a team leader really is difficult.’
Han looked away from the slightly excited Lara and turned toward the window.
Whether the window itself was pitch-black or Han’s heart had been bruised black, the scenery outside looked bleak.
***
A few hours after Han’s heart had taken that bruise.
District 15, where Han’s and Rubin’s teams were headed.
Lea, one of Violet’s employees, was there on an errand for her.
‘Young Lady, honestly. More Mana Stones again.’
‘It’s admirable how hard she works at magic, but her university studies must already be exhausting enough.’
‘And lately, she’s even been trying to track down some criminal named Andrei Chikatilo.’
‘I hope she doesn’t collapse at this rate.’
Lea found Han irritating.
Violet had begun searching for the criminal behind the scenes only after exchanging personal conversation with a man named Han from the Special Unit.
It was impossible not to know what had caused it.
If Lea had her way, she wanted to confront him and demand to know why he was dumping Special Unit work onto her young lady.
‘Well… I don’t know what kind of history the two of them have, so I’m not exactly in a position to say anything.’
On the day Han had escorted Violet all the way to the front of the mansion, Lea had eagerly waited for Violet to return home and asked her all sorts of questions.
But Violet had refused to explain the details.
‘Young Lady is keeping secrets even from me. Could they have gone beyond merely having feelings for each other and actually started dating…? Surely not?’
Lea continued indulging in all sorts of fantasies.
After stuffing the Mana Stones she had bought in bulk into her bag, she left the shop.
If this had been an ordinary errand, a private car from the Bradin Conglomerate would have been waiting for Lea.
But this errand could not be discovered by anyone else, so she had come alone.
“Looking for a taxi?”
As she glanced around, a taxi happened to stop right in front of her.
Lea met the driver’s eyes through the gap in the window. She knew she should not judge someone by appearances, but he looked rather frightening.
“Yes. I’m trying to get to Capital Hospital. Do you go that far?”
“I do. Get in.”
The driver jerked his chin toward the back seat.
But his menacing appearance made her hesitate to get in.
The driver urged Lea again.
“Aren’t you getting in?”
“Ah, n-no! Of course I am.”
In the end, Lea climbed into the taxi.
The door closed, and the taxi pulled away while belching steam.