After watching Lena until she had completely disappeared, Ryousuke picked up his rucksack, packed with essentials such as medicine and rations, and ran headlong in the direction she had pointed.

  Not a sliver of starlight could reach him once he stepped into the dense, overgrown forest.

  But there was no hesitation in Ryousuke's steps.

  He never slowed his pace as he ran. Be it in a city, surrounded by inorganic objects, or in a mountain forest, where the only obstacles are natural objects, and he didn't encounter any impediments unless when he was in complete darkness. This is because he can see the spiritual energy, the "ki,"13 that is emitted by the trees and rocks around him.

  Ryousuke, who is inherently an unbalanced magician, is not endowed with the perceptive ability to "see" Information Bodies like that of Tatsuya or even Minoru.

  Instead, in lieu of mastering magic, with his martial arts training, he has honed his senses to be able to perceive the "ki" of things instead of "seeing" the Psion Information Bodies. For him, rather than places surrounded by man-made objects such as cities and industrial plants, it's places filled with "ki" such as these mountainous forests where he is now, that are his home ground.

  While also sensing the "ki" of the surrounding natural objects, Ryousuke ran and searched for any "signs" he could find. He regrettably doesn't possess the supernatural ability to sense the presence of a person more than one kilometer away from him. He can, however, sense the presence of anyone who gets within about 50 meters of himself.

  And if he were to get half that close, he would even be able to distinguish whether he knows them or not.

  13 気 : Ki; It is an energy that is in everything around us, including nature and our own bodies.

  100

  While in a city, he tends to shut these senses so as not to be overwhelmed by the presence of others. However, because of where he is right now, there is no need to do so right now.

  (Huh?)

  Ryousuke stopped when his senses caught the presence of someone. Once he hid his body behind a thick tree trunk from the direction of the presence, he resumed moving, careful not to make a sound.

  He has now gotten close enough to discern the presence.

  His caution paid off, as it was not Louis. It's not entirely impossible that it was a third party. But he was almost certain it was FAIR. Their erratic pacing is characteristic of an inexperienced hunter in search of prey.

  (It appears to be them.)

  Louis is being chased around by FAIR. Ryousuke became convinced of this once again.

  (Should I take them out? No…)

  Ryousuke sensed that it was a duo.

  They did not seem to notice Ryousuke. If he were to ambush them now, he would surely be able to defeat them.

  But they are heading in a different direction from where Lena pointed.

  Ryousuke moved away from the duo who appeared to be a part of FAIR. His priority is to meet up with Louis.

  About a hundred meters later, Lena's astral body re-emerged and guided him to a revised route.

  After having run for about 10 minutes,

  "Louis!"

  Ryousuke had finally found Louis.

  When he met up with Ryousuke, Louis was drained to the brink of exhaustion. He must have strained his nerves fleeing alone in the dark mountains.

  There was no sign of visible bleeding. He did not appear to have sprained his foot, nor was he limping. He did however appear to have a few bruises here and there, perhaps from having taken a fall.

  101

  There was no visible bleeding. nor did he appear to have sprained his foot or limped around. Still, there were a few bruises here from a probable fall.

  "Ryousuke… why are you here?"

  Louis tensed up for a moment, but he must have picked up that it was Ryousuke by his voice before even seeing him. There was no wariness in his voice, just surprise and doubt.

  "I'm here at Milady's orders."

  Although it's a "favor" per se, it's no different than an "order" as far as Ryousuke is concerned. Rather, he was willing to be ordered around by Lena. Perhaps it was due to this that their interpretations were swapped.

  "Milady's orders…?"

  Louis has known Lena the longest. He knows that she is not the kind of person who would throw her members into this kind of dangerous situation with "orders." This is why he felt a strong discomfort with what Ryousuke said…

  "And you came here to help me?"

  But he reminded himself that now was not the time to dwell on that.

  "That's right."

  "Thanks. But I gotta say sorry, I don't think I'm gonna be able to run anymore. Take this back with you."

  The presence of an ally may have caused him to finally relax from his tension. The color drained from his face as the fatigue set in and Louis handed the stone tablet to Ryousuke.

  "What's this?"

  "It's something FAIR unearthed from the cave behind a waterfall."

  "So you succeeded in taking it away from them?"

  Louis shook his head at Ryousuke's words of praise.

  "Not quite… there's no doubt their main prize is the black stone tablet that is with Laura Simon right now. I couldn't take that one. The best I could do was take this white stone tablet from one of her men."

  "Still, it's an important piece of evidence. All right, I'll hold onto this."

  102

  Ryousuke lowered his rucksack and tucked the stone tablet into the empty space, then he offered Louis some of the water and rations he had inside.

  "For now, drink. Eat if you can as well."

  Louis promptly downed the water and swallowed the jelly-type ration.

  As Louis slipped the empty containers into his pocket, in front of him, Ryousuke crouched down, holding his rucksack in front of his chest.

  Louis looked quizzically at him.

  "What are you waiting for? Get on."

  "Wa-…!"

  Louis almost shouted out involuntarily, but covered his mouth in time.

  "Are you planning on carrying me on your back?

  Then he restated in a whisper.

  "In your current condition, this is faster."

  "Don't be stupid! There's no way we can escape like this."

  "You are the stupid one here. This is not something you should've dealt with alone."

  Ryousuke asserted this in a strong tone of voice.

  Louis was utterly stunned by how serious he was.

  "Milady's orders are to bring you back safely. I'll absolutely fulfill her orders. No exceptions."

  After seeing Ryousuke's blind devotion, Louis gave up trying to persuade him.

  He obediently climbed onto Ryousuke's back.

  Louis is 176 cm tall. Ryousuke is 180 cm tall. They both weigh about the same. Although he shouldn't be much of a burden to him, Ryousuke started to run down the stream faster than Louis did when he was alone.

  And he did this without a flashlight to see in front of himself.

  "He-Hey!"

  Louis, unable to contain his shock, involuntarily called out to Ryousuke."

  "Shut up, man. You'll bite your tongue."

  103

  Louis became silent. Not as much in concern over biting his tongue, but more to avoid interrupting Ryousuke's focus.

  The stony path along the stream was not as silent as one would expect. The sound of the stones scraping against each other followed in percussion with Ryousuke's steps as he raced down toward the foot of the mountain.

  However, his steady march lasted only for less than 15 minutes.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  White smoke wafted out of Laura's mouth as she stood amidst the trees.

  She had a stone tablet tucked under her left arm and a long, thin pipe in her right hand.

  The shape closely resembles that of a Japanese tobacco "kiseru" pipe.

  However, what Laura was exhaling was not cigarette smoke.

  It is the smoke of a narcotic she herself has concocted — the smoke of a "Witches' Elixir".

  She puffed on her pipe, inhaling deeply before slowly exhaling the smoke.

  Laura had been staring at the smoke with unfocused eyes, when suddenly she blinked rapidly and pulled the pipe away from her mouth.

  "I see a narrow trickle of water. FEHR's thieving cat is moving down a stream."

  She had been seeking the whereabouts of Louis Roux, the person who had stolen the white stone tablet from them, with her witchcraft.

  "Where is this stream, ma'am?"

  A female subordinate inquired in response to Laura's words.

  "That way."

  Laura didn't seem to take offense, and just pointed her pipe to her right.

  "We will head over at once, ma'am."

  Having received Laura's answer, the subordinate pressed a switch on her earpiece and began to run in the direction the pipe was pointing.

  The other members present followed behind her.

  Last of all, Laura started walking at a slow pace.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  104

  Ryousuke was surrounded.

  At first, they were only chasing him from behind. Noticing the enemy in the rear, Ryousuke prioritized escaping in part because of having Louis on his back.

  And that was a mistake.

  Because three people lurked ahead in an ambush. Upon taking notice, Ryousuke decided to bulldoze his way through. However, as he was advancing, the three ambushers fell back at the same pace as he was moving forward.

  The pursuers and the ambushers were keeping a constant distance from each other. By the time the natural suspicion set in, he was also pinned on both sides. At the top of the low cliff, there were enemy figures.

  Front, back, left, and right, three in each direction. An encirclement of twelve people in total.

  "Louis, can you move?"

  Ryousuke stopped to speak to Louis on his back.

  "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks to you, I'm better now."

  Louis got off of Ryousuke's back as he said this.

  "But, Ryousuke…"

  His unspoken question being, "What are we going to do?"

  "We'll force our way through. It's the only way."

  Ryousuke answered succinctly as he slung his rucksack back on his back.

  Perhaps they heard his answer, for the twelve people surrounding him burst out in hostility and signs of magic being activated ensued from them.

  A flashpoint.

  Yet the setting briefly remained in status quo as a new character appeared on the stage.

  Laura Simon, dressed in clothing not quite suitable for mountain hiking, appeared at one side of the cliff.

  She is wearing a long black dress as dark, if not darker than the night.

  Underneath, where there should be mountaineering boots or even sneakers peaking through, were her bare feet in sandals.

  105

  In her right hand she is holding a long, thin pipe, similar to a Japanese tobacco kiseru pipe, and under her left arm is a black stone tablet.

  "Good evening, my thieving cats. Why if it isn't Louis Roux, the sub-leader of FEHR, and you must be… Ryousuke Tookami, am I right?"

  "Oh, you know me? If it's not the lover of the lord of the rats?"

  Laura raised her eyebrows. She puffed on her pipe to compose herself, then exhaled the smoke with a mighty huff at Ryousuke.

  He was at a distance where her breath and the smoke could not reach.

  But about ten centimeters from Ryousuke's body, a psionic light flashed.

  "Heh… so it looks like it can block that much."

  Laura muttered in admiration and mockery at the same time.

  The current phenomenon was caused by Ryousuke's [Reactive Armor] reacting to the curse Laura launched at him.

  Originally, the individual armor magic [Reactive Armor] was expected by the military to be able to block physical attacks. Therefore the former Tenth Institute did not provide Reactive Armor with the ability to defend against Mental-Interference Type Magic.

  However, having spent a long period of time in the company of Lena, who excels in powerful Mental-Interference Type Magic, Ryousuke has adapted to this type of magic.

  He can distinguish between the harmful and non-harmful Mental-Interference Type Magic and block them accordingly. In this way, his [Reactive Armor] has evolved.

  Yet, even if he had prevented the attack, Ryousuke doesn't have a moment to spare.

  Laura didn't use a CAD, nor was there any trace of her having focused her attention on him. All she did was exhale smoke.

  And the fact that she had cast magic in such a way slightly shocked Ryousuke.

  (Is this woman some kind of psychic? Nevertheless…) What Ryousuke had heard about Laura Simon of FAIR, was that she is a witch — an Ancient Magician to be exact.

  In general, Ancient Magicians are at a disadvantage when it comes to the speed in which they can activate magic. Ryousuke has been considering his tactics with this in mind.

  106

  But in the case of psychics, they are the exact opposite in this regard. In a match between a magician and a psychic, their speed is their greatest weapon. Making the countermeasure fundamentally different.

  Besides, even a psychic would need time to focus their mind. That earlier attack by Laura didn't even have that extra time.

  (…There's no point in worrying about it now. There wouldn't be much I could do anyway.)

  After a short deliberation, Ryousuke took up his stance.

  He lowered his waist slightly. It was for the sake of easing blood flow, but unbeknownst to him, he had assumed a fighting stance.

  "Tookami of FEHR. I have no desire for your blood tonight."

  But Ryousuke was taken aback when Laura spoke to him in a diplomatic tone.

  "Give us what that man has taken from us. Do that and we'll let you be on your way."

  "…The thing was never yours to begin with."

  "If it weren't for us digging it up, it would have remained dormant in the ground.

  Possibly for all eternity."

  "But that doesn't mean it's yours to take."

  "The same is true for you. You also have no grounds to take it to your organization."

  "Unlike you, I follow the law. I'll take it to the proper authorities."

  "Because you believe that this is government-owned land? If so, you're very wrong, Tookami. This land has not always been owned by the government. This land doesn't belong to anyone. The same goes for the stone tablet you have right now, it doesn't belong to this country which has only existed for slightly more than 300 years. Only the people who left it behind can claim ownership."

  Ryousuke couldn't come up with the words to refute what Laura was saying on the spur of the moment. What Laura is talking about is a categorical denial of the current social system. It is not something that those who live and enjoy the privileges of society should be able to wave around.

  However, her weak argument that "this land doesn't belong to anyone" resonated strangely in Ryousuke's heart.

  "—In that case you can't claim ownership of the stone tablet either, can you?!"

  107

  With Ryousuke at a loss for words, it was Louis who objected instead.

  "Don't let her get to you, Ryousuke! There's no way they're acting for any righteous purpose!"

  Louis' words brought Ryousuke back from his hesitation.

  Purpose.

  Use.

  It's precisely because he doesn't know what this stone tablet is or what kind of power it holds.

  Surely that is the question to be asked.

  "—Is it safe to say that negotiations have failed?"

  The tone of Laura's voice dropped.

  Perhaps this is a cue for her to order her subordinates to attack.

  Faster than she could have said it, however.

  Ryousuke threw down his rucksack and kicked off from the ground.

  His body soared toward the top of the cliff. Despite having difficulty with magic besides

  [Reactive Armor], Ryousuke can at least still use a simple [Leap].

  The opponent he is leaping towards is Laura. The standard practice when outnumbered is to neutralize the commander.

  However, this being the standard practice, the opponent would also be wary.

  The man who is standing next to Laura shielded her from Ryousuke's flying kick.

  His reaction speed looked almost abnormal. Even though he doesn't appear to have a well-developed physique, his legs felt as if they had just kicked a tire.

  "Grr!"

  The man growled like a beast, baring his teeth as he swung a punch at Ryousuke. No, it wasn't a clenched fist, but a nail-clenched hand that he lashed out at him with. He moved almost like a large, combat dog. Though he didn't have the appearance of one, which would make him almost like…

  "A werewolf…?"

  Ryousuke's voiced impression was not far off the mark.

  108

  This man was originally a superpower user with the [Physical Boost] ability that only enhances his physical strength. However, without his muscular strength or his perception speed being amplified, all it does is simply make him sturdier. It only means that he is less susceptible to injury, so it isn't like he is any better at performing simple manual or physical labor, let alone at fighting.

  But this is why Laura took notice of him. As an Ancient Magician, a witch to be exact, she knows of a technique called [Úlfhedin]. It removes the limits on the human body, allowing for the individual to overcome their animal instincts — heightening their survival instincts. While it's possible to mentally influence someone towards that effect, it can be achieved with certain types of drugs, doing such things like forcing a person to forcibly unleash his or her physical potential is one of the unique characteristics of the magic.

  An ordinary person using this [Úlfhedin] would be forced to reach a power and speed beyond anything they would use on a daily basis, thus quickly exhausting their body. It might result in minor injuries such as inflammation of muscles, but usually it will result in torn tendons or broken bones, rendering their body unable to move.

  But for a person who has [Physical Boost], which enhances their physical strength, this would allow for their body to be able to withstand even the most extreme power and speed. Not only can [Úlfhedin] bring out the limits of the body's potential, it is also a step or two less demanding than having [Physical Boost] bring out one's power and speed that exceeds the limits of the human body. Even if only one's physical strength is enhanced, the full performance of [Úlfhedin] can be demonstrated.