EP.115 How to Take Down a Criminal Organization (6)
Meanwhile, Shine and Vine were showing slight disappointment at how easily everything had ended.
"Aw man, we got all worked up for nothing! What a letdown."
"If we had needed to step in, it would have meant things went wrong. We should be grateful."
"I guess so? Hehe, but now that they've caught the kidnappers, the lockdown should be lifted, right? It's been such a pain waiting so long for deliveries."
"Well, I don't think that'll happen just yet. We still haven't rescued one of them."
We absolutely had to rescue the child we couldn't save.
The fact that it was Nairel who remained uncaptured made it especially irritating.
"We've found out where the other child is!"
Just then.
The knight who had gone in to conduct the interrogation came back with good news.
"What, already?"
"How long has it even been since they went in?"
We thought our enemies would be more tight-lipped given their hostility toward us, but they broke surprisingly quickly.
"Their skills were pathetic, and apparently so was their resilience."
"That's illegal awakeners for you... tsk tsk!"
"Can we trust this information?"
"Yes, they definitely weren't lying. It's all thanks to Miss Fran's help."
Fran?
It seems Fran made quite an impressive showing in there.
"Fran?"
The kids were taken aback when the knight mentioned Fran.
"What did she do?"
"But Fran's so nice..."
A side of Fran the kids didn't know about.
The knight who had witnessed it firsthand was brimming with excitement.
"She was absolutely incredible. That overwhelming pressure, the way she made them tremble in fear... ah, she's exactly my type."
The knight kept letting out sighs of admiration.
His face showed he was genuinely impressed by Fran's abilities.
"She's still a student, you know?"
Suddenly, the knight's behavior became very irritating.
Particularly the way he was running his mouth about a student being his type - it made me want to sew his lips shut.
"Ah! My apologies. I got carried away. Ahem! Anyway, if she weren't a student, she'd be exactly the kind of talent I'd want to recruit right away. As soon as Miss Fran stepped in, those criminals who were mocking us started trembling like scared puppies and begged to tell us everything, even asking us to kill them instead."
"...What exactly did she do in there?"
"Something definitely happened, but maybe we're better off not knowing...."
"Look at the knight's sleeve."
There was something dark brown stained on the knight's sleeve.
Everyone present knew those were dried bloodstains.
"Where is Fran now?"
Ariane asked the knight worriedly.
"She's washing up because she got quite a bit of blood on her."
"She got so much blood on her that she needs to wash up? In such a short time?"
"Haha, let's say it was a rather... intense session? We were in a hurry and might have gone a bit overboard."
What could this seemingly righteous knight have done in there?
A chill ran down his arms.
The fact that the knight wanted to recruit someone after witnessing Fran's madness suggested he wasn't exactly normal either.
"Fran almost got recruited by someone like that? I haven't done anything wrong to Fran lately, have I?"
Ariane trembled anxiously.
"Well, I'm not sure, but didn't you give her grief about how easily she cleared level 11 last time?"
Shine delivered this cold reality check to Ariane.
The color drained from Ariane's face.
He had belatedly realized she was someone he shouldn't have messed with.
"So this is why they say you shouldn't mess with the quiet ones."
"I'm suddenly scared."
While the kids were trembling.
Fran appeared, her hair and clothes still damp from washing up.
She came to where we were gathered and gave a gentle smile.
"Is something wrong?"
"Oh? No. We heard you found out where they are?"
"Yes. We got lucky. I'm so glad they repented quickly."
"What... happened to the criminals?"
Ariane asked nervously, probably wondering if she had killed them, and Fran answered kindly.
"They're all resting peacefully now."
"P-peacefully in heaven?!"
The knight answered instead of letting Ariane's shocked exclamation hang.
"Haha, how could that be when Miss Fran helped them? Though they didn't deserve such treatment, she even healed them cleanly. It's almost disappointing they received such undeserved mercy."
"They worked hard for us, after all. I wanted to reward them with a moment of peace, even if it's brief."
Despite Fran's merciful and bright expression, her clothes were in terrible condition.
"Is this after washing up? The bloodstains are still there..."
"Well, I was wearing white clothes, you see. I couldn't pay much attention to my clothing. Blood is so hard to get out, this is troublesome. I shouldn't keep ruining clothes like this..."
"...???"
If Fran's clothes were in this state just from healing them, there must have been even more blood inside.
But Fran, who must have witnessed quite a horrific scene, didn't seem shocked at all.
If anything, she looked somewhat satisfied, as if relieved of stress and at peace?
I took off my outer garment and placed it on Fran's shoulders.
"Ah? Mister?"
"At least wear this."
She had apparently tried to wipe off the bloodstains as there was moisture on the fabric, but since it was white clothing, her skin was visible underneath.
"Thank you."
Fran smiled shyly.
A blush appeared on her fair cheeks.
Looking at Fran's pretty and innocent expression, it's hard to imagine her hidden side.
But that too was part of who Fran was.
Just because the kids were uncomfortable, I couldn't show any distance.
"So, are we leaving right away?"
My attention, which had been captured by Fran, was drawn elsewhere by Shine's shout.
Shine and Vine were showing their enthusiasm with sparkling eyes.
"Were you that disappointed about not getting to do anything earlier?"
"Seeing you makes me want to do more. You were so cool! Pretending to be a hostage to infiltrate and then rescuing the hostages!"
Ariane smiled broadly at Shine's words.
He must have thought he looked pretty cool himself.
While the kids were whispering and playing around,
Rebecca approached us.
"This time it looks like it's going to be quite an intense battle."
"You're not telling us to back out now, are you? Please! All I've done since coming here is breathe."
"sigh Can't you try to understand my position? You think it's easy asking students for help?"
Rebecca's position was completely understandable.
In response to her grumbling, Shine said,
"But Ariane helped you too! Let's say we insisted like Ariane did! It's somewhat true anyway. We really want to help. If you don't let us join, we'll follow you secretly."
"I was feeling down thinking we'd go back without doing anything. I don't want to miss this good opportunity to test ourselves. Plus, with this, I'm confident we can win against anyone."
Vine continued after Shine's words.
Vine was holding a magic wand in her hand.
The magic wand emitting a mysterious aura looked expensive at first glance.
"You guys..."
Suddenly, Rebecca's gaze fell on Ariane's dagger, Shine's bow, and Vine's magic wand.
Then, after checking her own high heels last, she turned her gaze to me.
'What's this about?'
'Ahem.'
She seemed to have immediately realized where those weapons came from.
'I guess I'll have to enhance Rebecca's high heels too after this is over.'
The exchange of glances was brief.
Rebecca let out a small sigh and said,
"You don't need to go that far. We're short on people anyway, so we needed your help."
"Yes!"
"You made the right choice. We won't let you regret it."
While the kids were rejoicing,
A knight who had been busily moving around came up to us and said,
"Let's depart right away. From what the criminals said, there's a high chance they're still there."
"Alright. You guys get ready too."
"Okay~!"
At the knight's urging, everyone stopped their thoughts and prepared to move together.
However, the knight suddenly looked at me and asked,
"Um... is this person coming with us?"
"You mean me?"
"Yes, I heard you're a non-awakened. While this time might be fine, following from here on would be dangerous."
I was obviously planning to go along, but I didn't expect to be challenged like this.
Officially, I was a non-awakened.
I'd come this far because they needed an adult to supervise the kids, but isn't the situation different now?
This was a mission where the kids would be 100% involved in combat.
They seemed to think it would be dangerous to bring me, a non-awakened, to such a dangerous place.
"For your safety, wouldn't it be better to head back?"
The knight spoke as if genuinely concerned for me.
But since the kids knew I was an awakened, they countered the knight's concerns.
"I'll protect the boss, so don't worry."
"That's right, we'll protect him!"
"Besides, the boss is the only one who knows what Nairel looks like."
"Ah...! That's true."
By the way, Haeshi wasn't brought here.
Though she insisted on coming along, she was sent back to the dormitory, firmly held by her homeroom teacher.
Since they planned to keep her under 24-hour surveillance, Haeshi wouldn't be able to do anything rash.
So I was the only one who knew Nairel's face, and even though I was non-awakened, bringing me along was advantageous for the knights.
"Are you really sure about this? It could be dangerous."
"Nairel is a really good kid. We've built up quite a bond. If I can be of help, this level of danger isn't much of an issue."
"Thank you so much."
The knight, seemingly moved by my words, gave me a formal bow of gratitude.
Thanks to Ariane's sensible excuse, I was able to come along without any problems.
I gave Ariane a thumbs up, praising her sensibility.
"Pretty clever, right?"
"Yeah, I almost couldn't come along. Well done."
"Then how about that +12 enhancement..."
"Hey now, I told you that's not up to me!"
"But you easily gave Fran +11..."
Ariane briefly shows her lingering attachment to enhancement.
Seeing how Ariane, who spent the most money on enhancements, still hasn't achieved +12, maybe having a lot of money isn't the most important thing.