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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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Chapter 211
Weekend of Rosenstark.
The campus was unusually quiet.
It was because all the children had gone to nearby towns and cities to carry out their assignments.
The professors were not visible either.
They were assigned as guardians to suitable tasks according to their teaching specialties and fields… and left.
‘Of course, even though they’re guardians, they don’t interfere with the assignments at all.’
They decided to observe from a distance and intervene when a crisis arose.
No matter how safe the area was and even if the assignments were screened, it was a precaution to have minimal safety measures.
From the professors’ perspective, it might have been troublesome, but what could they do?
It was their responsibility…
‘Yussi mentioned directly reflecting on performance.’
Thanks to that, professors with relatively poor performance voluntarily rushed to leave.
Of course, the Hero who received top rankings in all evaluations was spending his time in the pleasant research lab.
Of course, it wasn’t all fun… He was accompanied by sharp-eyed assistant and piles of documents.
Thud-
Pia approached, staggering slightly, raising the stack of documents even higher.
“Professor. I’ll leave today’s 23 requests from the cooperation mercenary groups here.”
The Hero stopped what he was doing and looked at the new documents.
“Thank you. Are there any pending requests?”
“Yes, shall I contact them to see what they’re requesting…?”
“Most likely, they’ll want me to take on the most obscure tasks. It’s not urgent, so let’s start with your work.”
“Okay.”
The Hero was in charge of overseeing this new practical training.
Therefore, the requests transferred to the academy from the mercenary groups first passed through his hands.
He played the role of the first filter to screen out unsuitable requests.
Considering factors such as the risk, rationality, and feasibility of the assignments.
There were many factors to consider, so even he, with excellent insight, inevitably had to expend considerable mental effort.
‘…Even today, there are 23 requests. They’re increasing steadily.’
The Hero’s temples throbbed.
The mercenary groups were taking this collaboration quite seriously.
Their intentions were obvious.
Since there was currently a shortage of manpower and they couldn’t focus on requests from the central and western regions, they must have decided to at least earn some fees.
With a sigh, the Hero began sorting the requests by type.
His hands, which were moving busily, stopped when he realized something was amiss.
‘This one is for suppression, this one for item retrieval, this one for tracking, another item retrieval… and another?’
The Hero’s head tilted slightly.
“Pia, please bring the requests we classified yesterday.”
Pia quickly brought the documents.
“Is there a problem? Among yesterday’s requests, some have already been accepted by the children….”
“It’s not a problem but…”
At least not yet.
As the Hero searched through the requests, his eyes narrowed gradually.
‘It’s strange. Why didn’t I notice this earlier?’
He asked Pia again.
“Who is currently stationed as the guardian in the trading city of Laman?”
“Uh… Professor Pierre.”
“Kasim…?”
Pia nodded lightly with a smile.
“Yes, I heard he had some issues with his evaluation. He left in a huff.”
“…Contact Kasim and ask him to scrutinize the children more closely.”
“Okay.”
Since it wasn’t certain yet, this measure should be sufficient for now.
The Hero turned his attention back to the documents on his desk.
Square-
But a lingering unease finally made his pen stop.
“Pia.”
The Hero sighed as he put down his pen.
“Contact the nearby territories and gather a list of valuable items reported lost in the past month.”
“Okay!”
“Sorry for the inconvenience amidst your busy schedule.”
Pia replied without a hint of displeasure, as usual.
“No problem!”
.
.
.
The Hero realized that it was a good thing he didn’t overlook something at that moment, and this became apparent not long after.
* * *
Trading city Laman.
Residential area.
The children looked around the house where the suspect had been living, paying rent.
Aooooo-
The howling of Shadow tied outside pierced through the thin outer wall and echoed inside the house.
There seemed to be quite a bit of whimpering mixed in with the howling, indicating it was rather bored.
But there was no choice.
The place was too narrow for the creature to enter.
Uuung-
Ban’s mouth opened as he extended his senses to thoroughly scan the interior.
“…Nothing unusual.”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm, I was hoping for more since the guards left everything as it was.”
The dispersed mana returned to the boy’s body.
Ban seemed disappointed as he tapped the floor with his toe.
Thunk-
A ringing sound.
Considering they had lived here for three months, it didn’t feel much like a home.
It felt more like they were ready to leave at any moment.
“Did he never intend to stay long from the beginning?”
“Hmm, he might have come here with the intention of stealing relics from the start.”
The children exchanged various speculations.
But with the clues gathered so far, there was nothing they could be sure of.
They had to apprehend the suspect first.
“…Shall we leave now?”
“Yes, we’ve collected everything we need.”
Ban and Gerald, who had thoroughly inspected the area, headed outside.
The first to leave was the one that was comforting the whimpering shadow.
Ban approached them, holding the suspect’s clothes.
The hand that was patting Shadow’s head stopped.
“…Is it over?”
A short black coat, just like Shadow’s fur.
Ban thought they made quite a good pair.
In terms of color as well.
There was something about it that emitted a lonely and desolate feeling.
“Yeah, it’s over.”
Ban placed the suspect’s clothes under Shadow’s nose.
He then spoke to Nyhill.
“I never expected you to join us. It’s surprising.”
“…I’ll try not to be a hindrance.”
“Huh? No, that’s not what I meant at all.”
Ban quickly waved his hand.
Nyhill wasn’t particularly lively to begin with, but for some reason, she seemed even more subdued than usual.
‘She’s different from when I last saw her at Dream Haven.’
The faint smile she occasionally made was nowhere to be found.
She seemed to have lost even more weight now.
Her angular face looked even sharper.
She appeared to have a great burden on her shoulders.
Like himself from a few months ago.
“……”
Nyhill cast her gaze downward at an angle.
It was then that Gerald, who had been watching their interaction, intervened.
“Come on, let’s get going. It seems like Shadow has imprinted the scent.”
“Yeah.”
Team Extreme 3 followed the wagging tail of Shadow energetically.
.
.
.
The children surprisingly arrived at their destination without walking much.
Panting-
Shadow stopped.
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
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——————
The creature, which had been sniffing around, soon began to wander around in confusion.
“Hmm, is this it?”
Laman Commercial District.
It was where Shadow led them.
More precisely, it was somewhere in the middle of the commercial district.
It was an area near the lodging where peddlers mostly stayed.
At this time, it was the busiest area in Laman, with the highest population flow.
Even if it was a rune wolf with senses close to magic, it would be impossible to pinpoint an exact location under these conditions.
However, the expression of the team leader, Gerald, remained steadfastly unwavering.
“Come on, let’s avoid the sunlight for now.”
The children stood in the shade of a building.
Gerald tapped Ban’s shoulder.
“It seems certain that the suspect hasn’t left this city yet, right?”
“Yeah, but why the commercial district of all places?”
“Perhaps it’s busier due to the upcoming harvest festival. There are so many people.”
“Maybe he calculated this too.”
“…The probability of organized crime is increasing.”
“So, what’s our plan?”
Gerald pointed his index finger at Ban.
“It’s your turn to shine, Ban!”
“Ugh…”
With that, they climbed to the rooftop of the tallest nearby building.
Gerald asked Ban to search for the suspect using Skynet.
“Since the search area has been narrowed down from the entire Laman to part of the commercial district, it should be possible, right!?”
“We’ll have to give it a try, but… I can’t promise anything.”
Ban swallowed the rest of his words.
…People naturally emit their own unique aura.
Just as everyone has a different scent.
That’s why simple disguises don’t easily fool experts.
The ability of the polymorph to replicate even that aura was remarkable.
Anyway.
When a person stays in a space for a long time, their unique aura permeates the place.
Ban had gathered enough information about the suspect’s whereabouts from his residence.
All they had to do was match it with the magic that composed the Skynet.
Then the mana net would spread out densely.
The moment it met the input aura, it would trigger a strong magical reaction.
Tracking that would solve everything!
…That was the theory.
But with the bustling streets below, Ban couldn’t help but feel uncertain.
‘There are too many people. The success rate might not even be half.’
Rows of tightly packed heads like bean sprouts.
Beads of sweat streamed down Ban’s face.
Gerald suddenly blurted out something unexpected.
“Ban, I remember the conversation we had at Dream Haven’s drinking party very clearly.”
“What conversation at a drinking party? What are you talking about?”
…What’s going on?
Seeing Gerald’s twitching face, Ban became increasingly uneasy.
As if possessed by a spirit, the guy was mumbling with sealed lips.
“It’s about the magic you learned from Beatrice during the vacation. Don’t you remember?”
“Ah, no, I don’t?”
Ban stuttered for the first time in a while.
Gerald chuckled.
“It’s strange. There’s no way you don’t remember.”
“What, what is it?”
“When you feel excited, the output of magic becomes extremely high… Do you really not remember that funny, no, I mean cool story?!”
…Just as Ban was about to retort.
Something popped out from Gerald’s embrace.
“Ta-da!”
Ban doubted his eyes for a moment.
Gerald triumphantly held up “something.”
“Yeah, it’s a ‘self-portrait’ directly brought from Leciel’s studio!”
…A self-portrait?
No, it looked like a living image.
Deep eyes, a face made of graceful curves.
Sunlight gently illuminated the red hair cascading over the delicate neckline.
For a moment, Ban forgot his embarrassment and his mouth fell open.
‘That expression….’
The faintly revealed lips held a smile.
Even though they had spent a semester together, he had never seen it before.
It was clear that the smile was for the painting.
That awkward feeling maximized the girl’s loveliness.
In summary, it was beautiful, elegant… It was as if Leciel herself was right in front of him, full of vitality.
…Kwaaaaah!
The Skynet surged like an explosion, pinpointing the suspect’s location.
“Good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
Ban said nonchalantly.
Though his ears were burning red, Gerald pretended not to notice.
“Naturally, we should start with the good news.”
“I roughly pinpointed the suspect’s location. It’s closer than we thought.”
“Oh, that’s great news, isn’t it? What’s the bad news then?”
“I can’t sense the aura of the relic.”
At that, Gerald’s face stiffened.
“Damn, we anticipated it, but… to think it’s really gone.”
“Since it’s hard to carry around, did he hide it somewhere? Or did he sell it?”
While the completion of the mission also required the suspect’s arrest, the retrieval of the relic was the main focus.
The mission bore the name of their master.
They couldn’t afford to fail.
Ban’s pupils lit up with determination once again.
“…Whatever the answer may be, we have to catch the suspect first to find out.”
It was then that Nyhill, who had been silently observing them, approached.
Crack-
A map of the Laman Commercial District unfolded from her hand.
“Where is it?”
Ban hastily marked the location.
It was the best lodging in the Laman Commercial District.
“Here.”
“Let’s go.”
Swish-
Without hesitation, Nyhill leaped outside the railing.
Ban and Gerald hurriedly followed behind her.
——————
HEL SCANS
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
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