“Y-yeah…um, maybe. So?”
“Well, they’re pretty strong, I think. If you underestimate them, it could get you in a lot of trouble. Like, you could wind up paying big-time for it.”
“I—I’ll keep that in mind…”
She had already paid big-time. In another few seconds, she would’ve been bald…on top of everything else.
“So, yeah, just wanted to warn you about that. Don’t play around in the city for too long, all right? Get back to the academy soon.”
“O-oh… Thank you.”
Earnest was barely able to speak. She could tell that he was worried about her…and that he saw all this as “playing around.” Wow.
“Oh, where did that guy just now go?” asked Blade.
“I—I don’t know,” Earnest managed to reply.
I was right… He didn’t even notice…
“That guy just now” was the same one who had beaten everyone here to a pulp…and Blade had knocked him out with a single backhanded blow.
“You know, he was pretty strong, wasn’t he?” said Blade. “At least semi-champion in level, I bet. Was he joining you on the hunt? Or helping you or something?”
No, we were fighting him… Not that it matters now…
Earnest looked past Blade. “That guy” was now embedded about ten feet into a stone wall, and getting him out was probably going to be a chore. He might have prepared for every potential “misfortune” that could come his way, but not even he was a match for this super-being. All the technique in the world couldn’t have saved him. Running into a super-being went beyond misfortune—it was like getting stomped repeatedly by some oversized monster. Luck wasn’t even a factor.
“Anyway, see ya!” Blade waved a hand and turned his back to her.
“Blade?” Earnest said, stopping him. Then she willed all her emotions into a single pair of words: “Thank you.”
“…Huh? Didn’t you already say that?”
And then Blade left, looking like he had no idea what was going on.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was a lot of cleanup to do after the fight.
First, they contacted the Capital Defense Force to report the criminal they’d captured. When the commander showed up, his face was a sight to behold. He was probably ready to die of frustration now that Rosewood Academy’s students had captured the culprit.
After that, they treated the injured. Yessica and Claire were discharged relatively quickly under the care of the academy’s doctor, and in two more days, they were back in class. Sophie was physically unhurt, but the mental damage she’d suffered required hospitalization. She was back attending lectures about the same time as Yessica and the rest.
Earnest had lost her extremities, and she’d assumed some of that damage was going to be permanent… But after attempting a return to her normal form, she found that everything grew back! Her friends all looked at her like she was some sort of lizard, but she didn’t care. She had her hands and feet again, and that was all that really mattered. Hee-hee!
Iona also repaired herself autonomously. Normally, returning to full strength after being torn apart required half a day of self-repair, but the recoil from berserker mode added two and a half more days to that timeline. Cú and Asmodeus had merely been sealed away, however, and ten minutes after the battle, when the spheres faded, they were both freed.
That brought them to today, when the suspect was to be interrogated.
“So, this is your so-called ‘laboratory’?”
The man was using a little abandoned space in the warehouse district as his hideout. Earnest and the others had obtained a release order allowing them to escort him from jail to the place he called home for questioning. As usual, the Capital Defense Force guards looked like they wanted to kill the students, but they had an order with a royal seal on it, so none of their officials could say no. The man had to wear restraints, of course, which blocked him from using spirit or magic, and some chains made of divine metal were clapped onto him as well. Still, after the painful experience everyone had gone through, Earnest and the others remained on guard around him.
Holding the other end of his chains was General Dione. “Lovely day for a walk, isn’t it?” she said, as though she was enjoying every moment. Something about the easygoing attitude all champions seemed to share was, at times, hard for Earnest to accept.
It turned out the man’s name was James. Judging from all the bandages, everyone had assumed he’d be horribly disfigured underneath—you know, blood oozing, skin peeled off, the works. Instead, he turned out to be quite good looking. Some of the girls even squealed, but Earnest knew better. If looks were all that mattered, well, Leonard was a hottie, too.
Both the bandages and that white lab coat were items he’d invented himself. Like Eliza, he seemed to have been exposed early on to the lost art of “science.” That semi-champion-level strength was something he naturally possessed, and he’d added to it his own philosophy of “never counting on luck”—a credo probably based off his personal experiences. His fighting style relied on fierce, fact-based reality, and between that and his “scientific” inventions, he truly was a powerhouse.
“Oh-ho. Oh-ho-ho. My, you’ve got some pretty good equipment. I see you have a Kartzman Type III cultivation tank over there. And is that an inorganic amplification-type refining unit?” Eliza was freely commenting as she looked over the hideout’s machinery.
“Oh… You can tell?” asked James, a new tone to his voice. He seemed pleased to discover a kindred spirit. “But that’s already been made obsolete by the Type IV. We’ve given up on inorganic refining, too. The dry vacuum version is definitely a step ahead in terms of purity and precision.”
“Type IV? Dry vacuum? I’ve never heard of that.”
“As expected. I’ve yet to announce either officially.”
As the suspect seemed like something of a mad scientist, it had felt only natural to bring Eliza along. Already, they were talking about things impossible for regular people to comprehend.
“So, what kind of evil research were you doing in here?” asked Earnest. “What were you gonna do with all that hair?”
“My research is not evil. In fact, it’s sacred.”
“That’s what evil people usually say. Now answer the question. Or would you prefer I stretch the bounds of the royal charter’s provisions regarding inhumane torture?”
The man shook his head and pointed toward a corner of his lab, at a bookshelf. “Third row from the bottom, seventh book from the right.”
Claire took out the book in question.
“Um… The Care and Manufacture of Homunculi?”
“That magic tome contains a method for manufacturing advanced synthetic life-forms to one’s ideal specifications in terms of personality and appearance. Out of the raw materials it requires, the most important…is female hair. You need enough to match the weight of the finished homunculus…in other words, I required at least one hundred and ten pounds of it. That was my only motive.”
“Homunculus? Synthetic life-forms? Ideal specifications? Um… What does all that mean?” Earnest looked around at everyone else, seeking some guidance.
“Essentially,” said Eliza, “he wanted to create an imaginary wife.”
“Huh? Imaginary? Like a pretend bride? What…?”
“In other words,” added Yessica, “this man had trouble getting attention from the opposite sex, so he tried to use forbidden science to create an ideal mate.”
“Huh? A mate? What? Why?”
Earnest looked at James. He really was attractive. Couldn’t he have found a girl the normal way, without all this forbidden science?
“I’m not proud of it, but I’ve never had anyone take much of a liking to me. Especially women.”
“Oh. So you are a freak.”
Now the man’s words made sense. Earnest nodded, but her reaction seemed to come as a blow to James. He slumped to the ground in a daze.
“Get it now?” said the others.
They all huddled together, discussing their findings in secret.
“Oh, I know his type. He’s a guy with a major case of , and he’s like, ‘Oh, I won’t go out with anyone unless they have and ’”
“Um, Yessica? I’m really not sure what and and mean,” said Earnest. “Could you censor yourself a little less, please?”
“Well, good looks don’t necessarily mean you’re gonna be popular, right? Look at Clay, for example. He’s a hottie, and he’s never had a single girlfriend!”
“Actually, um, I think he’s never had a girlfriend because…um…”