Encountering A Clue

“Eek-! łŀœßØĿĦÐ-!”

Along with a shrill scream, a young voice shouted something. It seemed to be Nubean. He wondered whether he should have found an interpreter after all, and when he went to the source of the sound, there was a girl who looked about ten years old, with pink hair, hanging there with the scruff of her neck caught as she flailed.

“She’s a child?”

“What shall we do?”

“Put her down on the floor for now.”

At that order, she was immediately placed standing on the floor and released, and the girl went scurrying! into the corner of the room. Since Ian was standing firmly in front of the only door leading in, she apparently had no choice but to flee into the corner.

‘Who is she? Is she a child connected to this orphanage?’

He glanced over her clothes, and they were not very clean. Children in this country generally seemed poorly dressed, but the child before him looked especially worn-out and dirty. She seemed to be a child living outside.

‘Did she break in here because she needed somewhere to sleep?’

If that was the case, this meeting could be useless. But that did not mean he intended to simply let her go like this. She might know something. Who knew? She could have been from this orphanage and fled after secretly seeing something frightening.

‘In dramas, there was always a witness who ran away at times like this. This child could be that.’

For a moment, he hesitated over what to do. First, if he wanted to learn something, he had to cast Mental Manipulation on her. Doing that to such a young girl weighed on his mind a little. Of course, there was also the excuse that he had no choice if he wanted to find those bastards. His hesitation lasted long, and in the end, he had no choice but to decide.

‘I’ll just lightly cast Mental Manipulation and find out who this child is.’

He hardened his heart. As he smoothly raised his hand, the girl who had fled into the corner looked at Ian with eyes full of wariness and fear. Ian immediately began Mental Manipulation on that girl. As he cast [Affinity Increase] and [Trust Increase], he immediately removed her mental barriers.

‘Next is scanning her memories.’

As he scanned her memories, illusions appeared for an instant. Amid images that seemed to pass by quickly in brief flashes, those memories showed how difficult the years this young girl had lived through had been.

They said there was no person in the world without their own circumstances, and this girl too had spent an unfortunate childhood and was still living with hardship now.

‘Hm? I found it.’

At that moment, he was able to find the image he wanted. This child had belonged to “Loreline Orphanage.” Her name was “Sara,” and just as he had guessed earlier, she had seen something, became frightened, and fled the orphanage.

‘By coincidence, that happened right when our intelligence bureau, as well as the intelligence bureaus of many countries, were conducting an investigation into this orphanage, so she wasn’t caught.’

He thought that if it had not been for such a situation, she would have been caught and dragged away long ago. In the meantime, it seemed she had survived over the past half year by begging with difficulty in this city’s slums. Naturally, there had been dangerous moments for a young girl, but perhaps because she was lucky, she had escaped those situations.

‘Is she a child with a lot of luck?’

No, if she had a lot of luck, she would not have lived such a life. He thought circumstances had merely flowed that way through overlapping coincidences. In any case, he was able to learn a new clue through this child. Among the words the child had overheard, he learned that the mayor was deeply involved.

‘It is Nubean, but the meaning gets through.’

He did not know Nubean at all, but through Mental Manipulation like this, he could clearly understand the meaning. In any case, he felt delighted to have gained this clue. He immediately freed her from the Mental Manipulation. He could see her eyes, which had looked dazed at some point, become clear again.

“œłĸłŀŁ?”

“I do not know what you are saying.”

The child’s tone had softened compared to earlier, probably because he had raised her affinity and trust through Mental Manipulation. That fact made him feel slightly bitter. Of course, he had done far too many things by now to keep worrying about something like this, so he quickly managed his expression.

Meanwhile, Sara felt strangely familiar with the finely dressed gentleman before her. Even though this was the first time she had seen this person, she wondered why he felt so familiar. Though she had never really seen one, she wondered if this was the kind of feeling one would have toward a person called a father.

‘Does he not know our country’s language?’

This gentleman seemed to have come from a foreign country. More importantly, what was going to happen now? Could she leave like this? She worried that maybe he would drag her away too, like the bad people who had taken the children back then.

‘Hm, what should I do?’

Ian wondered what he should do with this girl named Sara. For now, he did feel a slight prick of conscience. Of course, he did not think that simply giving her a large amount of money out of apology would be the right answer. If a young girl like this had money, there would be people who would try to take it from her.

‘I should give her only a small denomination from the Nubean currency I exchanged after leaving the station.’

He thought that giving her just enough to buy food for about three days would keep her from starving. If it was a moderate amount, neither too large nor too small, she would be able to live comfortably for a while.

‘Good. Let’s do that.’

He took out his wallet from inside his clothes. Then, as he took out some bills, he saw the girl’s eyes waver at the sight of them. Ian chose a few bills and held them out to the girl as if handing them over. When she looked at him as if puzzled, he spoke as though telling her to take them.

“Take it. It is the price for the information.”

“ijßØĦßØĸ(You are giving that money to me?)”

“I do not know what you are saying, but take it for now. Otherwise, I’ll take it back?”

When he took a posture as if he would not give it to her again, he saw her hesitantly and carefully approaching. At that sight, Ian shook the bills as if telling her to hurry and take them, and in the end, when she came right in front of him, she carefully grabbed the bills and pulled her body back.

“Do not go that far back. Go on. And do not come to places like this from now on.”

When Ian stepped aside from the door he had been blocking and gestured as if telling her to go, Sara, only then realizing that he was letting her leave, could not help but feel flustered. Who was this gentleman, giving her money and then just letting her go? She was curious, but because the life she had lived had not been easy, she realized this was an opportunity and hurriedly ran out.

Tap-tap-tap!

Watching the girl disappear with the sound of her running down the corridor, Ian moved his steps as if there was somewhere he had to stop by first. The direction he went was precisely where the pantry was located. The place the girl named Sara had witnessed something at dawn could be said to be the pantry.

‘She was unable to endure her hunger, secretly left her room at dawn, and witnessed it.’

Holy Knight Hans followed Ian as he moved, and they were soon able to arrive at the orphanage’s pantry. The room was empty. It seemed that, while searching thoroughly for something earlier, all the items here had been removed. There were even many places where the walls had been broken in an attempt to find a secret door.

‘Even after doing that, they couldn’t find it.’

There was no mechanical device installed here. The secret door could be opened and closed through a method that used a kind of magic. Furthermore, the secret door was quite thick. There was definitely a door where the broken section was, but a much larger portion had not been broken.

‘If they had dug just a little more, they would have found it, but that is actually fortunate for me.’

If someone else had found it first, he might not have found the clue. Thinking that he would examine the clues here and then go see the mayor, he immediately waved his hand. Zzzzt— the power of telekinesis was applied to the secret door in an instant. At that moment, a crunching, twisting sound rang out, and then a certain section of the wall began to push out with a grrrr! sound.

‘If it cannot be opened with magic, I just have to open it by force like this.’

Of course, those inside would have realized that he had entered. But he thought that did not really matter. Behind the broken wall, he could see smooth metal at least one meter thick being dragged out with it. At this rate, he thought even the weight alone seemed like it would be dozens of tons.

‘A staircase going down.’

“Hans, go down.”

He thought that this was exactly when a subordinate was meant to be used. At that, Holy Knight Hans began going down into the staircase. Had five seconds passed after he descended like that? At that moment, a boom—!! rang out with an impact sound. In that instant, he saw Hans being flung back out.

Of course, he soon stepped against the wall and lightly landed on the floor. Seeing him pat his clothes, he did not appear to have taken any damage at all.

“What attacked you?”

“I do not know.”

“It does not seem to be a bomb. Then is it magic?”

He wondered whether a being called a wizard might exist underground here. At that thought, Ian felt curiosity and excitement. A wizard belonging to a secret organization—he certainly seemed to be a wizard with quite outstanding skills.

“I will go again.”

Woooooo—!

Seeing him raise a great amount of holy power (fake holy power), his momentum came alive as if he had firmly prepared himself this time. When Ian nodded at that sight, he saw Hans immediately dig back inside. In the back as he disappeared in an instant, he saw the energy of electricity raging with a crackle!

‘There really is a wizard.’

Once he thought that, the first thought that naturally came to him was that he absolutely had to capture him alive. A being like that had a high chance of knowing a great many things. More importantly, had he been living underground here for the past half year? It seemed he had been preparing in advance for the moment something like this would happen. Just as he thought that, booms rang out with a kukung! and bang!

‘Since the sound is coming from farther inside, Hans must have dug in deeper.’

At that, thinking he would enter slowly, he went down the stairs. Then he saw a new metal door that had been heavily destroyed. As he went farther inside, he saw fist marks left intact on the floor and walls. Seeing that, he wondered whether he should give Hans some kind of blunt weapon like the mace he had used before.

Kukukung! Kung-kung! Kwaung—!

Quite loud explosions were ringing out one after another. From that, he thought the wizard’s resistance was quite strong. More importantly, he thought the wizard was holding out remarkably well against Hans, who had closed in for melee combat. Judging from the sound, there did not seem to be anyone helping him at all. It seemed the wizard was alone.

‘They said wizards are beings who prepare. Is he holding out because this place has been prepared?’

Still, there had to be a limit. It would be one thing if there were people helping him, but if he was alone, then even a wizard had no choice but to be subdued. Thinking so and going farther inside, Ian saw glass bottles that had been thoroughly smashed and broken. And he saw the lumps that had been inside them rolling around on the floor.

When Ian saw those lumps, he flinched, and curses could not help but come out of his mouth.

“These fucking insane bastards…”

The identity of the lumps was the faces of young children. At this bizarre sight, even curses he normally did not utter came out, and Ian could not help but become filled with anger. He knew there were many lunatics in the world, but to think he would see a sight like this.

‘I have seen a sight I will never forget for the rest of my life.’

Thinking that, he could not help but feel like killing that wizard bastard at once in agony. But because opportunities like this were rare, he had no choice but to endure it. Rustle, avoiding the broken glass shards and heads as he moved, Ian was able to reach a somewhat wider space.

It seemed to be a place where various experimental facilities were located. Naturally, this place had become a complete mess from the clash between the two beings. Within his field of vision, he saw Hans clenching his fist and swinging it, and he saw the wizard blocking that attack with shield magic.

Around the being who looked like a wizard wearing a black robe were blue magic circles. Geometric patterns, which he guessed were magic circles located on the surface of this cavern, were also emitting blue light. It had the appearance of the magic circles arranged in this space lending power to the wizard.

He could have let him run wild a little longer, but Ian, who did not feel any particular need to do so, immediately used telekinesis. In an instant, the staff held in the wizard’s hand moved as if it were about to fall from his grip. Shocked, he tried to hold on by force, but when an irresistible force pulled at it, he had no choice but to have it taken away.

The staff flew away as it was and embedded itself deeply into the wall with a crunch! And amid that sight, Ian used telekinesis with the intent to subdue the wizard’s body as well. Zzzzt— a powerful invisible force pressed down on the wizard’s body. At that, he saw the greatly shocked wizard hurriedly muttering.

“Shut that mouth.”

Clack! As the wizard’s teeth struck together and his mouth was sealed shut, he appeared quite flustered. Even in a situation where not only his body but also his voice had been sealed, he stubbornly did not stop resisting. Magic circles were created in the air surrounding his body. This was magic realized through will.

‘It will be faster to suppress his mind.’

Before long, Ian’s Mental Manipulation ability was used.

And that, for the first time, toward a wizard.