Thinking about the last day made his heart race. A smile naturally formed on his face.
Gotouta’s suffering was beautiful. His eyes stained with despair were funny.
His intent to resist was also nice, but most importantly, the way he struggled against resigning himself gave Kuroitsu life.
“Mister Kuroitsu looks happy.”
“Yes. Something nice happened yesterday.”
It was the Special Division of the Seeker Surveillance Agency, more specifically, Kiroitsu’s team’s room. He responded to his subordinate Eimi Miyatsuka, hiding nothing.
Eimi compiled a report on her computer, typing away the expenses of items such as the small bottle Yuuka used. Eimi and Kuroitsu were the two in this team that could do such office work. The other three were not suited to be seated in front of a computer.
Eimi tried to teach them, but they just watched videos and wasted time.
And since Kuroitsu disappeared once his job was done, the rest of the office work fell on Eimi.
“By the way Eimi, did we receive a report on those brothers?”
“…We did.”
“I see. Capturing them could be a good start to crushing the church… Is that possible?”
“Yes. Hum, apparently they figured out where they are. The Flame Princess and War Demon parties are going to attack.”
“That is a problem, they might kill the targets. Is it possible for us to join this operation?”
“I don’t think so. It will be soon, and only you and Souji could move out.”
“Oh? What about you, Eimi?”
“I have work to do…”
She said while looking at the many documents on the desk. She grabbed some, and silently handed them to Kuroitsu.
Kuroitsu awkwardly sipped his coffee.
His good mood seemed to quickly disappear.
“I will go negotiate a little.”
Kuroitsu felt awkward with Eimi, and quickly left.
She was quite naive when he first scouted her, but it seemed the positions were inverting.
He scouted her when he noticed her skill, and she just happened to have quit her job as a nurse.
It felt nostalgic to him, as his footsteps echoed down the hall.
His footsteps were normally silent, but he purposefully made noise to make it known that Kuroitsu was present.
The point of the noise was to put seekers on edge, to avoid needless fighting. Other seekers changed their usual routes or passed by offices so as not to get involved with him.
But along the way, someone unexpected waited in front.
Someone dressed as a receptionist who would normally be standing by in front of the elevator.
Everyone was fooled by this person’s beauty at first sight, but he was a man.
“Oh, this is rare. Is there a reason why you have come here, Rio?”
Rio the receptionist bowed and handed Kuroitsu an envelope.
“From the chief. It seems he wants you to make your way there as soon as you read it.”
“Something sudden again… They escaped?”
He checked the envelope, and saw his targets, the Niijima brothers, had escaped.
The summary of the failure was included, and it seemed someone hasty ignored the plan and charged in, leading them to notice it.
The older brother could use darkness magic to escape, leaving them with no clues of their whereabouts.
The one who charged in was beaten back, but not mortally so. However, he showed signs of being manipulated, and upon searching the area, traps that caused spiritual abnormalities were found.
These traps were made with alchemy, and some looked like treasure chests.
But it was shameful. Two people escaped from more than double that who encircled them.
They should have had enough to cover all bases.
And they were left with no clues.
He put the report and participation request back in the envelope, and turned back.
“I am going to have to ask Eimi.”
She was busy, but he needed her help.
She would not be happy about it, but he looked forward to seeing her expression a little.
◇ ◇ ◇
“It looks like they are headed to the dungeon.”
“Well, we predicted that.”
“Fuh, they’re not gonna escape me.”
Upon investigating a room in the apartment where the Niijima brothers laid low and tracing their steps, Eimi reached a conclusion.
After doing a U-turn, Kuroitsu took Eimi there almost forcibly. The constant calls for him to help with paperwork when they got back made for some nice BGM, and he was a little satisfied.
Souji Dounen did not look busy as he filmed, so he was forced to take part.
Eimi’s Track skill meant they could chase them if it was within an hour. But if too much time passed, it would be hard to follow tracks. More than ten hours, and it would be impossible.
But Eimi had another special ability.”
“…Yes, I will avenge you.”
Eimi could see things.
This ability led to repeated eccentric behavior when she was a nurse, and drew disapproval that made it hard to stay there.
More understanding people tried to keep her there, but she quit, not wanting to cause more problems.
The Communication skill she acquired as her first skill made it so she could communicate with beings not of that world, and its power grew.
And Eimi spoke to something in the corner of the room.
“Is someone there?”
“…Yes. An abducted girl.”
“Unforgivable!”
“Calm down, Souji. Eimi, put it in your report later. We need to go after them.”
Eimi nodded, and left after Kuroitsu.
With a determination to take revenge for her, she prayed for the victimized girl to be happy in the world beyond.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Kuroitsu…”
“What is it?”
Souji Dounen spoke with a husky voice. It was rare for him to initiate a conversation with Kuroitsu.
Even as they went to work together, he liked silent characters, so he would practically not speak unless spoken to.
He did speak to himself a lot, but his team accepted it as it being how he was.
“Why are we after them?”
“…You’re starting there?”
He sighed, as it was clear Souji knew nothing, although he had been explaining for some time.
The Niijima brothers were highly suspected of leaking information from the Special Division of the Seeker Surveillance Agency to the Church of Minsule, and harming civilians. They were to be purged.
But that was not all…
“There are signs they will demonize.”
“Demonize… That’s bad…”
“Souji, if you don’t know, you should say so.”
“Okay, I don’t know.”
Souji immediately confirmed what Eimi said.
He was the youngest in the team, having joined it a year prior. He was scouted by Kuroitsu as he spent a lot of time in the dungeon after graduating from university.
“To put it in simple terms, demonize means turning into a human monster. Basically, a demon. Do you understand?”
“Fuh, it is simple. Once fallen into the dark side, people cannot come back.”
“Star Wars?”
As Eimi thought that dealing with him was a pain, she understood Yuuka’s hardship over having to work with him.
Kuroitsu ignored Souji’s answer and continued.
“Killing people in the dungeon. I don’t know the process that leads people to demonize by killing others, but it is said that the stronger, the more, and the longer they were friends, the closer one can become to being a demon. And the Niijima brothers killed their partners after the fortieth floor.
“…Ooh… That’s heavy.”
Souji was from the countryside.
“Some warning signs may have gone overlooked, but they continued killing people in the dungeon. They could turn at any point, and if possible, they are wanted alive. The request came to us because while there is a need to capture them, they are to be disposed of in the dungeon if necessary. And I can avoid becoming a demon.”
“S-so what we gotta do?”
Souji asked after gulping. He thought maybe they were not needed there.
He knew how strong Kuroitsu was, and he had a skill that could be called cheating in battle. He assumed said skill was what prevented demonization.
“Of course, we will capture them alive. We might be able to crush the church.”
Kuroitsu’s goal never wavered.
◇ ◇ ◇
Upon reaching the dungeon, he tasked Eimi with figuring out what floor they jumped to.
Being on the run meant there was a good chance it was the fortieth, but they could go from the thirtieth.
“I think… The thirtieth. Sorry, I can’t see very well when teleportation magic is involved.”
“It’s enough. Let us proceed.”
They jumped to the thirtieth floor, and Eimi investigated again. But contrary to what they expected, they went backwards.
For what purpose? They had a bad feeling.
What if they went there not to run, but to kill relatively strong seekers?
Acting to accelerate their demonization was the worst outcome for Kuroitsu.
They crossed the door onto the field, and heard fighting somewhat far.
“Let’s hurry.”
They ran, and found dead seekers along the way.
It was easy to imagine what happened.
Bad luck. That was all, if they were seekers.
Eimi stopped and put her hands together, but Kuroitsu hurried ahead.
What he saw was Tanaka, about to end the Niijima brothers.
“Excuse me, can you wait a second?”
He used Shukuchi to get between them, and blocked the battleaxe with the gauntlet in his arm.
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