Chapter 12: Illegal Alien (10)
—"LL-23. Target with mana signature disposed of."
A short report came over the radio, but Pale did not bother to answer.
Accompanied by guards in black protective suits, he walked down the metal stairs.
—"LL-22. Two Tier 1 targets confirmed. Disposed of as unrecoverable."
—"LL-21. Three illegal ACU users neutralized. No remaining signatures."
Low-tier mages hiding in the Lower Levels were disappearing one by one.
With agents on the line who were Tier 4 at minimum, Pale expected the sweep to go smoothly.
However, to him at that moment, only one thing mattered.
Confirming whether she was dead or alive.
Dead was preferable.
If she was still breathing, he would kill her himself.
The Lower Levels regularly doubled as a disposal site for MegaCorp—no one down in the grime was going to stand in their way, no matter how loud things got.
—"Sir."
At the incoming transmission, Pale broke his silence.
"Speak."
—"A faint mana signature was detected on LL-19."
He stopped in his tracks.
—"The signature is unstable. It is a bit different from an ACU signal, but the location is estimated to be inside the scrap market."
"Send the coordinates."
—"Yes, sir."
As soon as the order was given, Pale checked the coordinates that appeared on his wrist terminal.
The corners of his mouth slowly curled up.
"She hid herself surprisingly well."
He raised his hand and gave a signal.
"Move out."
* * *
The LL-19 Scrap Market was eerily quiet.
The usual crowd had completely vanished.
Driven by pure instinct, the regulars had scattered into dark, narrow crevices like insects fleeing the light—all because people from the surface had descended.
To the denizens of the Lower Level, surface dwellers were that kind of threat.
"This way, sir."
A subordinate leading the way pointed to an old stall located at the edge of the market.
"…"
On the outside, it looked like an ordinary scrap stall—the kind of place that repaired and sold discarded junk.
But among the wares on display, a faint trace of mana leaked from a few pieces of magitech.
Surely the signal wasn't coming from this junk…
A signal leaking from junk of this grade could technically trigger the scanner, but something felt off.
The stall owner looked calmly at Pale standing in front of him.
"We're closed."
"Oh?"
Quite the nerve.
Most people groveled the second he stepped in front of them.
It was extremely rare for someone to answer him so calmly.
"If you need something, come back tomorrow. We don't have much here that suits the fine folks from above."
Pale ignored the old man's words and shifted his gaze inside the stall.
"The bastard in there."
He spoke in a low voice.
"Come out."
The old man's eye twitched.
"There's nobody inside. Just junk and dust."
"Is that so?"
At his words, Pale tilted his head slightly.
"Does dust breathe?"
His men stepped forward, leveling their barrels directly at the shopkeeper's chest and head.
In response, the old man lazily went through the motions of throwing his hands up.
"Boy, you guys sure are impatient."
"I said get the fuck out!"
One of the subordinates shouted.
"You heard him! Don't make him say it a third time!"
After a moment of silence, a young man with black hair and black eyes stepped out from within, pulling back the canvas cover.
He looked like a greenhorn dropped into the Lower Level.
But feeling a strange chill, Pale raised his wrist terminal and scanned the youth.
[Biological signature confirmed.]
[No citizen registration record.]
[ACU not detected.]
[Mana signature: Faint.]
[Circuit unidentifiable.]
Pale fell into thought for a moment.
The youth displayed a mana signature without an ACU.
But no such case had ever been reported in Magiterra.
Which meant…
Is the scanner broken?
Pale took a step toward the youth and pointed a finger at him.
"You."
The youth looked at him without a word.
"Are you a mage?"
At Pale's single question, the atmosphere froze over.
The youth looked at Pale for a moment, then calmly answered him.
"What if I am?"
The old man's face twisted into a deep grimace, letting out a heavy sigh.
He stared at the youth as if unable to fathom whether the guy was a crazy bastard or just a total oddball.
In an instant, the men in black raised their gun barrels a little higher.
Pale silently looked at the youth.
At most, he is Tier 1. Either the scanner is broken, or he is someone who handles magic of the lowest output even among Tier 1.
Sensing the contradiction in his own reasoning, Pale paused to think.
Even at the lowest output, how can an ACU go undetected?
There had never been such a case in all reported records.
It was simply impossible.
"…"
[ACU not detected.]
[Mana signature: Faint.]
[Circuit unidentifiable.]
Pale looked down at the text displayed on his wrist terminal, then looked back at the youth.
His gaze slowly shifted as he looked around the stall.
Is it a residual mana trace stuck on him from touching junk?
Those who had an ACU implanted passed the compatibility test, and were assigned a circuit tier.
Registered or illegal, only humans with an ACU implanted in their bodies were called mages.
Yet no ACU was detected from this youth, his mana signature was faint, and his circuits could not be identified.
So the answer was obvious.
A half-wit who deludes himself into thinking he is special. That must be it. The Lower Level is full of all kinds of crazy bastards.
Pale sneered at the youth.
"You think you're a mage… without an ACU?"
Yet at his threat, the youth did not even blink an eye.
"Why don't you test me and find out?"
Tension flared high as the gun barrels rose once again.
Pale stared quietly at the youth, scanning his every facial expression and movement.
He's not bluffing.
On top of that, this bastard was deliberately provoking him.
Realizing that fact, Pale did not fall for his trick.
Instead, he felt a spark of curiosity.
How come? Is he hiding something in the stall? Or does he have backing that could prove troublesome?
Pale's eyes narrowed.
What is giving him such confidence?
Normally, he would have broken the youth's fingers one by one until that curiosity was satisfied.
However, the timing was bad.
—"Sir."
The radio crackled.
Pale answered without taking his eyes off the youth.
"Speak."
—"At the LL-18 Wastewater Junction, a residual trace similar to the target's unique wavelength has been detected."
The look in his eyes changed.
"Are you certain?"
—"It is not an exact match. However, it is similar to Seraph's unique circuit residue. The longer we wait, the fainter it will likely become."
"…"
Knowing that time was tight, Pale clicked his tongue inwardly.
It was clear that both the youth in front of him and the stall owner were hiding something.
However, he judged that they were not targets worth digging into at the moment.
Especially since the target's residual trace would fade over time.
And once a trail got tangled up in the underground transport routes, tracking it down again was nearly impossible.
Above all, he didn't have the luxury of playing with an interesting toy.
Pale raised his hand, and his men lowered their barrels slightly.
He stepped closer to the youth.
"Consider yourself lucky."
He spat out a final word as he backed away.
"Half-wit."
Instead of answering, the youth merely shrugged.
The attitude grated on Pale's nerves all over again.
Anyone else would have been kissing the pavement in gratitude just to walk away breathing, yet the youth acted as if he had expected this outcome all along.
Pale paused for a moment.
"…Fuck."
He barked a short command to his subordinates.
"Move out."
"Yes, sir."
The men in black protective suits turned around in unison.
Before leaving, Pale looked at the youth one last time.
"If we meet again…"
His gaze locked onto the youth, etching the face of his prey into memory.
"…let's see if you can still shrug like that."
The youth replied calmly.
"I look forward to it."
* * *
Kael pushed aside the canvas flap and stepped into the back of the stall.
Rin was huddled in the far corner, shaking violently.
Her hood was pulled low, both hands clamped tight over her mouth.
Kael looked down at her for a moment.
"…It's okay now."
Rin did not answer.
"They left."
"…"
Kael let out a short sigh.
Only then did Rin slowly raise her head.
Visible above her mask, her blue eyes were trembling.
"A-are they really all gone?"
"Yeah."
"Really…?"
"Why would I lie to you?"
Kael dropped into the chair beside the workbench and casually kicked a foot up onto the edge.
Harune would have chewed him out for putting his feet up, but the old man was out front keeping watch.
Kael looked at Rin with a serious expression.
"I don't particularly care to pry, but—"
At his words, Rin's shoulders stiffened.
Tapping the circuit board on the workbench with his fingertips, Kael threw a question at Rin.
"The thing those guys are looking for. It's you, right?"
Rin flinched.
That reaction alone was answer enough.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"I knew it."
"…"
Rin lowered her head and tucked her fingertips into her sleeves.
She looked even more terrified at this question than when Kael was intentionally stalling for time in front of Pale earlier.
However, Kael did not push her.
He simply continued in a calm voice.
"If I'm going to protect you, I need to at least have a rough idea of what's going on."
"…"
"Information is important. Enough to turn the tide of a war beyond small-scale skirmishes."
Rin slowly met his gaze, but Kael continued calmly without paying her any mind.
"It's just the basics."
At those words, Rin's eyes flickered.
But she said nothing for a long while.
Kael did not rush her and waited until Rin spoke on her own.
"I-I…"
Finally, the girl spoke in a soft, trembling voice.
"I-I'm the granddaughter… of a high-ranking executive at Seraph Industries."
Kael's finger, which had been tapping repeatedly out of habit, froze.
Seraph Industries.
Medical tech, bio-circuitry, circuit stabilizers, synthetic organs, high-tier treatment facilities.
Combined with the tissue-preservation component Harune had shown him—the pieces instantly locked into place.
"Go on."
Rin clutched the edge of her mask.
"Those people… were my bodyguards."
"Were?"
She nodded.
"To be precise, they were people pretending to be bodyguards."
Her voice grew even quieter.
"They weren't assigned to protect me…"
Rin paused to take a breath and spoke in a small whisper.
"They're assassins assigned to kill me."
Get the latest chapter and best reading experience at www.novatls.com
Comments