This building was the center of the Hydra’s research pursuits.
They had constructed the facility to investigate methods of kicking off a fourth energy revolution by taking the astral energy that surged from the planet’s core and using it in place of gas and electricity.
“Or at least, that’s how it looks from the outside.”
Salinger was across the street from the institute.
Standing atop the edge of the roof of a large building, he stared at the front gate of the facility.
It was surrounded by a concrete wall that was much too thick. The guards standing at either side of the entrance gate were also armed to the teeth. They carried riot shields that no other facilities had.
“That must actually be where the Hydra gather their personal guards.”
The Zoa and the Lou had their own personal troops, too.
Each royal family had their own legitimate agents who were publicly known to carry out their missions.
However…
The Hydra had been rapidly building up their private army.
And they hadn’t recruited agents but military troops.
“They must be scheming something.”
Salinger had chosen this location because he had heard that bigwigs were frequenting Snow and Sun.
“If that’s true, then I just need to wait…”
Twilight turned to night. Then the night deepened.
As the wind whipped around him, Salinger watched the gate of Snow and Sun.
In this darkness, one would think the guards would be unable to spot him, but that wasn’t necessarily true, due to astral power.
……They could have high-perception astral power that’s more precise than any security camera.
……Or astral power that can detect sound.
Or possibly both.
He held his breath as he bore through the freezing wind.
“Ngh. That man is…”
A man in a suit had approached the front gate.
When the light spilled over the man and revealed the identity of the VIP, Salinger let out a slight gasp.
“…Janess, the palace Astral Guard?”
Salinger caught a glimpse of the old scar on Janess’s right eye.
Everyone in the Sovereignty knew him.
He was the right-hand man and guard of Arken, the current head of the Hydra family. What was he doing out here in the middle of the night, when he should have been at his master’s side? And why was he alone?
A man in his position couldn’t simply act on his own.
“The head of house must have ordered him to come here…”
Salinger suspected as much because of the black bag in the man’s possession.
The bag blended into the darkness; the man must have come here at night on purpose.
Salinger was on to something.
The moment that thought occurred to him, he leaped off the roof of the building.
“O Wind…”
The astral crests on his palms glowed.
The Wind astral technique he had stolen enveloped Salinger like a cocoon and slowed his descent, guiding him to the correct point to land.
He dropped right over Janess’s head.
He used the momentum to bring his foot down on the man, aiming for the crown of Janess’s head.
“Huh?!”
At that moment, Janess swung his head up.
He had noticed.
Perhaps the sound of the wind as Salinger had dived off the building had alerted the man, or perhaps he had an astral power that allowed him to detect other astral powers being activated in his vicinity. However…
“Is this your first time on a stage?” As Salinger fell, he sneered at Janess, who looked up at him. “A bit player will never know what it’s like to be in the spotlight.”
“Ugh?!”
As the light burned into his retinas, the Astral Guard let out a strangled cry and flinched.
The light was intense. The glow of the skyscrapers and streetlamps had blinded him as he had looked up.
It was all going according to plan.
That was why Salinger had chosen to wait on the roof. Even if his would-be victims noticed him during his descent, they would be momentarily blinded by the light of the building if they looked up.
He had adjusted his fall perfectly to account for that.
“It seems the royal family and their guards are dull.”
Salinger’s heel made contact with Janess’s shoulder.
“Ah!”
His shoulder made a muffled noise.
Janess collapsed from acute pain, and Salinger took this opportunity to bring down his fist.
“Good night.”
“Uh… Ah…?!” Janess cried out too late.
After Salinger’s fist connected with the back of the man’s head, the Astral Guard stumbled forward and collapsed. He also let go of the black bag he was carrying.
Do I steal his astral power?
Should I look inside the bag?
He was in an urban area right in front of Snow and Sun.
He didn’t have time to do both.
After a moment of hesitation, Salinger reached for the bag on the ground.
“It’ll be exciting if there are classified documents in here. Let’s see…”
He used a low-intensity Ballistic astral power to destroy the lock.
The suitcase opened with disappointing ease. The inside was covered with some sort of cushioning material to protect its contents from damage. All it held was a brooch in the shape of the sun.
As he picked it up, he heard a quiet, crisp rattling sound come from it.
“Oh? What’s inside here?”
It seemed it wasn’t just any brooch.
If it contained the royal family’s confidential information, the Hydra would likely come after him in full force.
“Put another way, I’ll never lack for opponents.”
He put the brooch in his pocket and leisurely strolled away.
Someone shouted from behind him.
The guards must have discovered Janess, but Salinger had gotten a great distance away from Snow and Sun.
……It’s possible the security cameras caught my face.
……I don’t look forward to being pursued by a crowd.
He left the inner city and walked toward a woodland path. The nighttime road was completely devoid of people. No one saw him as he used the light of the streetlamps to guide himself.
“…”
Just then, however, he noticed a small silhouette.
He could make out a petite person in a raincoat off in the distance, toward where he was headed. Had they come walking from the opposite direction as him?
Both individuals walked on the road between the fields—just two meters across—and passed by each other.
“…”
“…”
As they passed, they both slowed down.
“I smell blood.”
“I smell it on you, too.”
Suddenly, Salinger couldn’t help but laugh.
The woman appeared to have no intention of hiding how suspicious she looked.
Beneath the cloudless night sky, she was hiding her body and face with a hooded raincoat. Had the girl not said anything, he never would have known her gender.
Who was she?
“Are you…?!” Salinger’s voice was lost in a severe change in wind pressure.
The girl in the raincoat jumped up wordlessly. She was frighteningly quick.
She made an impressive display of acrobatics as she leaped to the height of Salinger’s head and spun like a top to roundhouse kick him.
“…Huh!”
Salinger bent back instantly, and the tip of his bangs were sheared away.
He had seen the quick glint of a knife.
The woman had hidden a sharp, thin razor-like blade at the end of her shoe. If he had tried to stop her foot with his hands, his fingers would have been bleeding by now.
As he leaped back, Salinger roared into the night, “Lady!”
The smell of blood.
He hadn’t been mistaken about the whiff of iron he had caught as they passed each other.
“What are you hiding under that ridiculous getup?!”
He used an astral power that glowed with red flames.
The fireball he threw at the girl landed on her raincoat. Like a sparkler, bright red sparks showered down on her and burst into flames.
“What?!” he yelled.
The flames had disappeared.
They had extinguished unnaturally, as though the atmosphere itself had smothered them. It must have been the work of this girl’s astral power.
“You…”
“You’re the one who called me out here,” she said.
✦ ✦ ✦
