Her heart skipped a beat.
It couldn’t be.
How could Shanorotte have found her so quickly? It had happened so fast that Mismis wasn’t even ready yet.
“Hmm? What’s wrong? Why’d you suddenly go silent?”
“…”
“Oh, this? I caught him just earlier.”
Shanorotte held a man by his collar in one hand. He dangled in the air as she lifted him up.
He was a black-haired, middle-aged man with a mustache. He was slightly large, even for a man, and probably weighed twice as much as Mismis.
Even for an ex-commander, she had to have incredible strength to hold him up with one hand.
But who was she holding?
It was the Lord’s body double.
He was the Lord Yunmelngen who would show up on TV, in magazines, and in front of the Imperial people.
Shanorotte didn’t know who the real Lord was.
That must have been why she had attacked the body double and captured him.
“He’s a fake, isn’t he?”
“Guh.”
“Ah-ha-ha. You don’t need to hide it. Even I never believed the guy on the TV was the real Lord. I caught him so somebody would spit out the location of the real one. That’s all.”
Thud…
The body double fell to the ground at her feet.
Shanorotte didn’t even look at the man as she smiled and squinted.
“Since they’ve set up such a strong-looking man as the fake Lord, maybe the real one is a weak old man? Or maybe just a young kid? Also, Mis, you were promoted to Special Division I? Congrats.”
Mismis shuddered when she saw Shanorotte’s inhumanly cold smile.
“In other words, you know who the real Lord is, don’t you?”
“…”
“I’m so glad that we bumped into each other. I mean it. I’m not lying about how I feel. After all—”
Shanorotte placed a hand on her chest.
She bent forward as though to be at eye level with Mismis.
“I was prepared to die instantly at the hands of a Saint Disciple the moment I got in here, but instead I came across an idiot like you!”
“Huh!”
An intense sound rang out through the space as Shanorotte charged forward.
She rushed at Mismis with the force of a beast.
Mismis used everything in her power to leap back, but they had both taken action at the same time. Shanorotte’s larger physique meant she also had longer strides.
One of them charged and the other retreated.
For every step, the distance between them shrank by a meter.
“Ah-ha-ha. You’re so adorable, Mis! You think you can get away from me like—”
Shanorotte spun around.
She had felt a strange presence at the four-way intersection of the hall.
It was a bipedal mechanical soldier. It wore a massive armor covering, reminiscent of the Object, which could withstand multiple astral power attacks and bullets.
Over thirty of them stood in the hall.
“Oh? Looks like the security system is up to snuff here. But……”
Bzzt.
A flash of lightning appeared from Shanorotte’s right hand.
The moment Mismis realized what she was seeing, Shanorotte created dozens of lightning bolts thicker than a human torso and a laser beam concentrated at the center of the bolts that flashed as it shot off.
“Could you not get in my way?”
As she cleaved away parts of the hallway, she also slashed through the security cameras and astral energy sensors on the ceiling.
She blasted away every single one of the mechanical soldiers and scorched the back wall black.
“No way…”
Appalled, Mismis looked over the scene.
The lightning bolt had been bigger than what should have been possible.
The flash of light had filled the entire corridor. No one could have avoided being hit if they’d been in Shanorotte’s path.
“What do you think, Mismis? Impressive, right?”
Shanorotte turned around.
She held up her right hand as if showing it off as it continued to crackle.
“Oh, but I won’t use it on you, of course, Mis. I need to get the Lord’s location out of you, after all. I’ll torment you with little zaps one at a time.”
“Ah! Noro, please listen to me!”
She glared back at Shanorotte, who looked down on her.
She knew it.
Shanorotte really did look down on her. Shanorotte didn’t even see her as a threat. That was why she would listen to what Mismis said. She was so sure that Mismis could do nothing to her.
“There’s something I need to tell you, Noro…”
“Hunh. Okay, I’ll give you twenty seconds. But you only get to talk.”
“…”
She stared back at the eyes that looked down on her.
“Even I think it’s odd, but I still don’t think of you as an enemy, Noro…”
“Hmm?”
“So please stop! You are amazing right now, Noro…but the Empire isn’t so weak that your infiltrating the Lord’s office will actually hurt it! You’re throwing away your life, Noro! It’s difficult to watch!”
“…Hunh? Are you an idiot?”
The blond witch openly showed her disdain.
Deep wrinkles formed on her forehead.
“Look. You guys think I’m a witch, so that’s why I stole an ID from an Imperial forces member, snuck into the base, and came here for the Lord’s head. What’s the point of you trying to change my mind? Oh, I get it, this is your roundabout way of telling me to surrender.”
“But it’s not. That’s not true, Noro.”
“What isn’t true?”
“I just…can’t hate you, Noro…”
“Even though I loathe Imperials?”
“…”
She knew.
Shanorotte Gregory was born and raised in the Nebulis Sovereignty. She had trained as a spy under the Zoa household and had snuck into the Imperial forces knowing she might die.
She had done it for all her kindred.
She had done it all to destroy the Empire.
Mismis knew that the smiles they had shared since military school had all been fake.
“You hate Imperials, Noro?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“What about astral mages?”
“What about them?”
She blinked in surprise for a moment.
Then Shanorotte gave her a large, cheerful nod and a smile.
“The astral mages are my precious comrades. Unlike you.”
Of course.
Of course she would say that. To her, being an Imperial or an astral mage was mutually exclusive.
“Then…I’m one of your comrades, too!”
“What?”
There was no point in talking now.
Mismis just silently and quickly pulled off her jacket. With her shirt exposed, she used the momentum to tear off the self-adhesive bandage on her left shoulder.
Light overflowed from it.
The green astral crest on her shoulder was exposed.
“I’m the same as you, Noro! I’m an astral mage… I became one.”
“Wha?!”
Shanorotte’s face froze.
The truth that had been thrust before her was so unbelievable that her heart stopped for a moment.
“How…?” Shanorotte murmured.
To her, astral mages were born the way they were. She couldn’t fathom an Imperial like Mismis awakening as an astral mage.
But there was one exception.
“Oh, I get it now.”
She let out a sigh.
Irritation came over Shanorotte’s face.
“The vortex.”
“…Yes.”
“You didn’t jump in though, I bet. You must have slipped or tripped into the hole.”
“That’s why I wanted to tell you… I don’t think of you as an enemy, Noro.”
She held her left shoulder.
Even as she tried desperately to hide it, the light overflowed through the gaps in her fingers.
“Ever since I ended up in this position, I’ve come to understand a little of how you felt, Noro. I know how suffocating life in the Empire feels.”
The Empire was a place where witches weren’t allowed to live.
Astral energy sensors were everywhere, and if they reacted, Imperial soldiers would rush in.
Ever since this happened to me…
Even my home in the Imperial forces’ barracks feels like a cage for a witch.
She had no idea when the sensors might go off.
She had no idea when the Imperial units or her coworkers might find out about it. She had no idea how they would look at her. Just imagining it chilled her. It was as though all the blood in her body would freeze over.
“Once I realized that, I wondered what I would even do from that point on…”
As an Imperial forces member, the Sovereignty would despise her.
As an astral mage, the Empire would hate her.
She had ended up in such a position that she didn’t belong in either country.
“So as an Imperial soldier, and as someone who used to work with you! I can’t help but think of you, Noro, since you’re an astral mage!”
The closest person to have ever been in her position was Shanorotte.
“So please, Noro! I don’t want—”
“I take back my words.”