Leave a comment

Enjoying herself like never before, Sasori gave Mira a signal, which Mira passed onto Worthramble and Complete Suppression was undone.

「Huh?」

Hebi’s mind struggled to understand what had just happened. Even though she was relaxing in her bed, as one of the Fifty Bells’ elite members she always was alert to her surroundings. So for someone to sneak up right next to her was essentially impossible.

Still, someone had suddenly appeared there. In truth Sasori had simply been shoved to a corner of Hebi’s recognition, making her virtually invisible, and then made visible again, but anyone would get shocked seeing someone wearing a weird mask showing up like that. Hebi was obviously startled, maybe more than a regular person considering how sharp her senses already were.

An instant after Hebi saw the mask, she shrieked in a very girly voice and fell off the bed. Meanwhile Sasori was laughing loudly seeing her prank be successful. That did not last long however, as her face froze over when fireballs emitting a pale blue light floated inside the room.

(Ohh?! Isn’t this the necromancers’ Dark Fire?)

Mira had seen those blue flames before and she looked impressed by the number of fireballs.

Dark Fire was a highly versatile skill used by necromancers, which could be used both to attack and defend. But its true worth came as a different use, as a catalyst to cast higher level necromancer skills. It was their equivalent of a Rosario Summoning Circle.

A moment later the Dark Fire began taking a red hue. That meant it was ready to transform into a powerful spell. At the same time, Hebi began forming multiple magic circles from the corner she hid in.

Seeing that, Sasori desperately tore the mask off and threw it away, before raising and waving her hands trying to look less threatening and shouting 「It’s me! Sasori!」
From the shape of the magic circles Mira also noticed something big was coming, so she jumped to Sasori’s side, mimicking her actions while saying 「I’m here too!」

「I’m sorry.」
「My bad.」
「Apologies for that.」

Sitting in the center of the somewhat small room, Sasori, Mira, and Worthramble apologized one after another. Mira and Sasori’s little dance had worked, making Hebi stop her spells before they activated.

Though Hebi still looked extremely annoyed, as opposed to her usual emotionless self. Even her cheeks were flushed red. In a way, she was more embarrassed than mad at that moment.

「No problem. But please explain the situation.」

Hebi spoke, her eyes sharp as she mainly glared at Sasori, then looked at the captured woman behind the three of them. Her sharp senses led her to deduce Sasori had encountered some trouble, and that the woman had to be somewhat important to get captured like that. Though her face still looked agitated.

「I’ll explain that.」

Mira was not even supposed to be in that country, so she felt responsible for explaining the matters. She started with the reason for her presence there, then the powers of Worthramble as a spirit of stillness, the Graveyard of War Memorials, and finished with the woman they had captured inside those ruins.

「I understand.」

Calming down after that time, Hebi looked almost the same as usual, her face not letting any emotion through.

「Well, let’s get her to talk already.」

Sasori looked relieved seeing Hebi act like normal, then stood up and took out a small white ball of unknown properties from her bag.

「Ta-daa! This is a secret energizing drug unique to my village-」
「Okay, just use it.」
「Yes ma’am…」

Sasori began getting carried away, but Hebi interrupted her showing the explanation was not needed. Hebi’s mood was still not fully recovered. Or rather, she still held a slight grudge against Sasori, the main perpetrator of the prank.

Drooping her shoulders, Sasori opened the restrained woman’s mouth and threw the white ball inside. Some time later the drug activated.

「Hnnnnngghaaa!」

The bound woman’s eyes snapped open and began making loud noises. She also began wriggling her body and squirming around, her voice unable to form any full words. It almost looked like she had been gravely poisoned.

「Did you really only feed her an energizing pill?」

Seeing the woman act like that, Mira took a few steps back and questioned Sasori. 「Yeah, it’s just an energizer,」 said Sasori, seemingly unbothered by what she had caused.

「She should start talking properly soon enough.」

Sasori said that with a smile, watching the woman convulsing at her feet. Hebi was also unfazed, or rather, she looked slightly miffed, as if she thought of the woman as a tool, and was lost as to what to do with her once they were done questioning her. Seeing both their reactions, Mira figured that was a common side effect of whatever drug Sasori learned to make in her secret village. Still, Mira had to swallow hard seeing the work of a professional spy from up close for the first time.

Eventually the drug’s effect wore off, and now the woman raised confused moans as she tried to understand where she was. From her eyes, she had been inside the Graveyard of War Memorials, suddenly fell asleep, then woken up by being fed a pill like some animal while unknown people looked down at her. Not to mention all those people held dangerous weapons. The only people who would not freak out in that situation could be described with a word that started with a big M.

Once the woman was conscious enough to hold a conversation, Mira ordered Worthramble to isolate the entire room, just like they had arranged while they waited.

「Alright, no matter how loud you shout no one will hear you now.」

Once Mira gave the OK signal, Sasori spoke in a low menacing tone while taking off the woman’s gag.

「Please don’t kill meee!」

As soon as her mouth was free, the woman broke into tears. Rather than asking, why, who, or where, she begged for her life. The way she shook while crying, without regard to pride or shame, was a bit anticlimactic for everyone.

「If you tell me the truth, I’ll let you live.」

Sasori unsheathed her dagger and placed the blade against the woman’s neck. If any third party watched that, they would definitely think Sasori was the villain there.

「I’ll talk! I’ll say anything you want!」

She twisted and bent her body, turning her head away in an attempt to stay away from the blade. At the same time, while her cheeks became wet with tears, her underwear was also getting drenched.

That frightened attitude was not normal, and seemed unfitting for a high ranking member of Chimera. Seeing that unexpected reaction, Sasori and Hebi exchanged looks. Either the woman was acting and trying to lower their guard, or this was the first time she had experienced something like that.

Mira on the other hand, only had eyes for the woman’s wet underwear, her mind opened to yet another door.

Even if they wanted to interrogate the woman, it would be impossible to do in her current state, so Mira and Sasori took her to the dressing room while Hebi cleaned the floor. After the dressing room, they took her to the bathroom.

「Nooo! I don’t want to die drowning! I’ll do anything for youuu!」

Seeing the bathtub filled with water, the woman began crying violently again. If that really was a ploy by the enemy, it was starting to make Mira feel actual pity for her, and then she felt something was off.

「Wait, you are a member of Chimera Clauzen, yes?」

Trying to confirm her doubt, Mira made the woman lay on the bathroom floor and slowly asked that question while looking into her eyes. The woman looked stunned for a moment, and then…

「I’m Mylene! You have the wrong person!」

She shook her head time and time again as she cried her answer.