EP.193 Say You Want to Live - 9
To deceive Wolfpen, I had to face him until the very end. The problem was that it was the kind of light that seeped in even when I closed my eyes.
Thanks to that, my overstimulated eyes declared a strike. Afterimages flickered as my vision was dyed gray. Just like Wolfpen, I couldn't see anything either and staggered uselessly.
I can steal others' vision, but without vision to steal, I'm no different from a blind person. Since no one nearby was looking this way, I couldn't even know where I was.
Yeah, it's fine. I can use a cane.
Probing the ground with a magic cane I had made in advance, I somehow managed to get inside the building I had scouted earlier.
Phew. Good thing I made the cane in advance. Without experiencing being visually impaired, I would have lost my way too.
Anyway, having escaped to the residential area without being caught by anyone, I carefully climbed the stairs. On the way up, I heard crashing, crunching, and smashing sounds from outside, but that wasn't my concern right now.
Thank goodness the stairs were of uniform specifications. Once I planted my foot properly, I could reach the top by repeating the same motion. Even without being able to see ahead...
"Waah!"
Ah, I misstepped at the end not knowing the stairs had finished! I almost fell!
Anyway, climbing the stairs half-blind, I found myself on the rooftop. Meanwhile, my vision slowly recovered. Feeling grateful that I could see again, I stepped out through the rooftop door.
The rooftop came into view. The concrete-colored rooftop greeted me with a narrow, angular horizon. Water tanks and pipes intertwined like vines, and cleaning equipment waited under thick cloth for its day of use. Crossing the ordinary rooftop of the residential area, I reached the edge.
Looking down, Wolfpen was lying subdued by Historia.
Against the backdrop of a moonlit night, I bid my final farewell to the fallen Wolfpen.
Goodbye, Wolfpen. You may regret the process, but you'll accept the outcome. Because you're dying at the hands of someone stronger than you.
Having lived by the sword, Wolfpen didn't fear death. However, he feared powerlessness.
Hating himself for being trampled hollowly by an irregularly strong opponent, and frustrated that he couldn't become any stronger than this. Already twisted as he was, he had devised a plan to reign over the weak.
Hah. So really. It's not that the strong survive, but the survivors are strong. Why do they always have to stir up trouble like thugs? Live a quiet slow life like me.
"Now. Anyway. The question is how to escape from here."
Can I escape from here? Just grab any room and hide inside?
Hmm. I don't think that'll work. If it's the military nation, it wouldn't be strange for them to search every single room.
What should I do.
Captain Abby might not reveal my identity. But... the problem is that she also knows my identity.
And she has both the will and ability to chase me to the ends of the earth.
"Checkmate."
Phew. Can I survive from here? I don't know if I can escape the signal soldiers' surveillance and flee the military nation. My mana is already depleted, and my body is a wreck.
They might not know about Captain Abby, but other signal soldiers don't know me, so if they discover my existence, they might immediately pursue me.
Magician, in a crisis of life and death.
Should I put on the escape show of the century without any preparation? It's too difficult.
It was then.
The black knight appeared from beneath my shadow.
It was a form I hadn't seen in a while. Like shadow gathered together, a knight in pitch-black armor watched me quietly.
Why are you coming out here? His appearance was so sudden I had nothing to say, and stupidly asked back.
"What is this, you black grunt."
The black grunt seemed to have been hiding in my shadow from the start. Until now, it was hidden by the darkness cast on the streets, but coming up to the rooftop, the only prominent darkness was my shadow, so it must have been revealed.
"Huh. Excuse me? Are you Tir, by any chance?"
I waved my hand, but there was no reaction from the black knight. Either it wasn't focusing on this side, or it seemed quite far away.
Then why did Tir scatter the black knights... While I was thinking hard.
Below, a conversation was in full swing.
"If you didn't summon me, then who did?"
"Magician... Kuh. In the end, Bon was played by you until the very end..."
It wasn't an answer to the Commander's question. Still, Wolfpen's muttering served as an answer for the Commander.
"Magician?"
The Commander, who had been thinking deeply, suddenly discovered something and walked toward it. On the main road, at one edge, a single card lay face down. Nimbly, she flicked the card up with her toe and caught it.
Ace of Clovers, the medium of my magic with a faint glow seeping through.
"Hah."
The Commander scoffed loudly enough to be heard even from the rooftop.
"Right. There's no one else but you. The person who would do something like this."
Ah, that.
Medium magic has the medium bear the cost of magic instead. So the card that had just generated that tremendous light still had firefly-like afterimages gathered on it.
Should I have picked it up? But it's single-use, and carrying a card that leaks light and mana in the middle of the night is the same as saying "please catch me." That's why I deliberately flipped it over and shoved it in a corner.
I've been caught.
"This is usually your method, Huey. As expected, you didn't die back then."
As if she had expected it, the Commander laughed hollowly and immediately drew her gun, aiming at the sky.
Baaaaang.
This gunshot was different from before. A blank cartridge that only scattered energy from the muzzle, shooting nothing but air.
The blue energy from the muzzle shattered like glass. The deafening gunshot tore through the dark night and echoed far and wide.
With ears muffled as if submerged in water, the Commander's ecstatic scream reached me.
"Come out right now! Huey, you damn bastard---!!!"
My plan succeeded.
Exposure magazine, black cat. I leaked information to a magazine containing gossip that even the military nation was monitoring.
Huey, who never lost the top spot in the entire school. I dangled a name that those who still remembered would never let slide as bait. Thanks to that, the military nation deployed frantically.
But I almost died because the military nation arrived a little later than expected. Why were they so slow to move?
I was put in danger...
Besides the main shadow. I mean, against the Six-Star General.
Tch. If I were strong enough to wipe out all the shadows by myself, I wouldn't need to use a friend's favor.
While I muttered that, the Commander shouted at the golem.
"Signal soldiers! Begin control!"
『Signal soldier, Captain Abby speaking. Awaiting orders.』
Now there was no room for drunkenness or lethargy. With her eyes full of passion and fury, the Commander rapidly issued orders.
"Catch the Pied Piper of Hamelin! Lock down the entire district and place supplies along the routes! Send me the personal records of everyone in the vicinity! And tell the military police to contact me to come to my side once they're done with their reports!"
『The Pied Piper...』
The captain, who paused for a moment, soon straightened her posture and spoke.
『Understood. Director, will you equip the general-level flag?』
"Too late! Instead, gather all the golems! We don't know what methods that guy will use!!"
It was an order from a Six-Star General. When the Commander spoke to the golem, the military nation moved. Even though I couldn't see far in the middle of the night, the dark city seemed to writhe like a crouching monster.
From the perspective of the hunted, the hunter's orders were terror itself. I blankly muttered.
"Haa. Time to pay off my karma. I did take too much."
Having fought Wolfpen, having my identity exposed was a matter of course. I didn't know they'd figure it out this quickly, but she sure has a great nose.
This is all because of Wolfpen and the military nation. If Wolfpen hadn't suddenly come looking for me, and if the military nation had deployed on time, I wouldn't have had to step up.
What should I do? Against Historia, there's one method. Just once. There is a way to shake her off once. The problem is I can't shake off the other pursuers.
Is this the end?
At that moment, something turned its neck near the rooftop railing. Startled, I quietly examined what it was.
It was a golem. With only a head, purely for surveillance.
It's here too? Wow. Just how many did the military nation hide?
I need to run right now...
『Sir. This is headquarters.』
"Captain Abby?"
『Affirmative. While this headquarters is synchronized with this golem, other signal soldiers cannot synchronize. Therefore, please temporarily halt your escape.』
I, who was about to flee immediately, stopped walking. The golem, having explained concisely, fixed its gaze on me and spoke.
『Sir. Given the urgency of the situation, I will ask only one thing. Is the Huey that Director Historia is looking for you?』
"Ah. Yes."
『Then are you the Pied Piper of Hamelin?』
"Hahaha. That's, affirmative. Actually, I played a whistle rather than a pipe, though."
Anyway, I did play it... As I readily agreed, the golem trailed off as if wondering what to do.
Meanwhile, chaos was erupting below. The captain spoke urgently, pressed for time.
『...This headquarters... might not have witnessed you. However, even taking that into account, I judge the possibility of you successfully escaping Director's pursuit to be very low.』
"Unless something falls from the sky, I think so too."
"Therefore, I request. Sir, would you not surrender?"
Surrender? A military nation captain, asking the worst ideological criminal in history?
Even through the golem, the captain's worry was conveyed. Wow, she's worrying about a criminal even after I drugged her a bit. How pure can a person be?
But, I'm grateful for the sentiment.
"The military nation won't let me go. Because I'm the Pied Piper."
It's unfair. Just because I blew a whistle in front of them, I took the blame for everything. That's why I had to play dead, even giving up my middle school rank 1 specs, washing my identity as Huez, and coming up to the capital.
If I surrender now, they won't just say "okay, do better from now on." 161 students - a rather minor loss nationally... but at the same time, a tremendously shocking incident.
『...If that's the case. This headquarters will—』
"Hahaha. So just live well, Captain Abby. It seems like it's time for me to leave. Those who know when to go should only show their backs."
Squeezing out my depleted mana, I transformed the Diamond 2 card.
Multi-purpose hook. I attached it to a rope and spun it around. The target was the building across the street. I'd connect the rope there and throw myself down.
『...Understood. If it's you, you'll probably be able to escape somehow.』
"I'm not certain. But anyway, I have to struggle to survive."
『I wish you luck.』
"I had quite a bit of fun too. I'll leave the rest to you. Captain Abby, please give my regards to Sephi too."
I threw the spinning hook. Clank, with a cold metallic sound, the hook caught firmly on the opposite railing.
Meanwhile, the captain's gentle voice was heard.
『...If you're going to escape, go east. There might be someone who can help you.』
With those final words, the light faded from the golem's eyes. Immediately after.
"Found you."
Historia muttered like a hunter who found her prey.