This was beneficial not only to Laura, but also to the man. He was willing to become a beastly soldier or even a witch's servant if it meant he could make good use of his superpower. Thus a man who was worried about his uselessness became Laura's servant, her "familiar."

  As a matter of fact, this man is not the only one who has been doctored by Laura. The number of FAIR members stands at less than a hundred. Much like a street gang, their numbers are constantly fluctuating, so not even Dean, the leader, knows their exact numbers for certain.

  Of these, only about a third are actual combat-level magicians. The remaining sixty or so have some magical talent, but are unable to use magic on a practical level — this man who became "possessed by a wolf spirit14" is one of those.

  Of the remaining sixty or so, more than twenty of them were chosen by Laura to be empowered.

  14 A synonym to "Úlfhedin" in this case; Meaning "warrior/berserker in wolfskin".

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  The characteristic feature of the Ancient Magic "witchcraft," is the interference of phenomena encompassing human beings. Rather than affecting natural phenomena, it focuses on altering the consciousness and emotions of human beings, as well as the disposition of their physical bodies. Many people often associate "witches" primarily with the [art of flight], an art which is different from Modern Magic. In "witchcraft,"

  however, the [art of flight] is not mainstream, but rather an exception.

  As such, FAIR has made use of Laura's "witchcraft" to procure strength from low-level magicians, who weren't previously of use to them.

  Half of the members of the excavation team were chosen from such people. And the man who attacked Ryousuke isn't the only one who has had the [Úlfhedin] magic used on them.

  Laura brought her mouth to the ear of a 20-year-old or so young man stationed next to her and whispered to him in a foreign language. With a superpower similar to Physical Boost, this young man is another low-level magician compatible with [Úlfhedin].

  Laura brought her lips away from the ear of the man she was whispering to.

  Madness filled the young man's eyes.

  A feral cry erupted from the young man's mouth as he joined the attack and lunged at Ryousuke's back.

  He wrapped his arms around Ryousuke's neck in an attempt to strangle him.

  However, the young man's arms couldn't touch Ryousuke's neck.

  There is a gap of about five centimeters.

  It is protected by his [Reactive Armor].

  Ryousuke elbowed the young man behind him to break free.

  His elbow connected.

  The young man, whose mind had become like that of a beast, couldn't ignore the pain that shot through his bones. He stumbled backwards off of Ryousuke's back.

  The man who initially attacked Ryousuke grabbed him.

  Ryousuke, who had already recovered his stance, met the man with a straight fist.

  His fist, covered with the anti-object barrier of his individual armor magic, has a hardness that surpasses steel.

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  No matter how much his body has been strengthened, there was no way he could endure it.

  Ryousuke's fist hit the man's solar plexus, knocking him unconscious regardless of what Laura's magic had done to him.

  Turning around, Ryousuke delivered a front kick to the young man who tried to strangle him.

  His body bent like a broken stick and crumbled to the ground.

  In no time, Ryouysuke neutralized the both of them.

  He surveyed his surroundings, looking out for the next enemy.

  He caught sight of Louis struggling in the lower part of his field of vision.

  Knives and stones fly via Movement Magic. Fireballs made from phosphorus and taser sparks magnified into small-scale lightning strikes were unleashed.

  Louis was not in close combat, but he was under a magical crossfire.

  Seeing this, Ryousuke jumped down the cliff.

  He had to abandon his attack on Laura, since saving Louis is the priority at the moment.

  Ryousuke stood at the foot of the stream acting as a shield against the knives and stones.

  Neither the fireballs nor the lightning strikes could break through Ryousuke's magical armor.

  —But this was a bad move.

  Ryousuke has no ranged magic attacks. His only means of attack is to hurl himself into hand-to-hand combat with his unbreakable armor.

  Now that he was back down by the stream, Ryousuke could do nothing but shield Louis.

  It is the same for Louis, who could not afford to use [Doppelgänger].

  They are stuck in a predicament.

  In the midst of all this, Ryousuke suddenly felt an unprecedented surge of Psion Waves.

  The magic he was dealing with now was, to put it mildly, second-rate.

  Ryousuke had yet to witness Tatsuya and Miyuki's magic. But he has seen Mayumi's magic up close.

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  The magic being used by FAIR in this crossfire is nothing in comparison to Mayumi's, nor is it even on the level of the magic used by those from the New Humanity Front that had attacked him a while back.

  But now, the waves coming from the top of the cliff are not at all inferior to the ones from Mayumi.

  The source of the waves was Laura.

  She is probably planning to pull off a big move to put a stop to this.

  (…I can withstand it myself.)

  (But Louis…)

  The Tookami's — the "Toogami's" [Reactive Armor] is an individual magic.

  It can only protect its user.

  (…If only I could use [Phalanx]…)

  With the magic of the "Juumonji," which is still one of the "Numbers" and not an "Extra,"

  he would be able to get them out of this predicament. He would be able to break out from this with ease, while also protecting Louis.

  For the first time in his life, Ryousuke felt frustrated for being an "Extra."

  —At that moment.

  —A goddess of salvation descended.

  Suddenly, a glowing figure appeared out of thin air.

  Emanating from her came a wave of soft light that brought peace.

  The crossfire ceased.

  Everyone present but Laura had appeased expressions as if all their anxieties had been cast away.

  Even Laura, for her part, had stopped constructing her magic.

  Perhaps her magic requires "negative emotions" as its energy input.

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  It must have been disrupted by the wave of tranquility emanating from the "goddess."

  "Milady…"

  Ryousuke muttered, overwhelmed with emotion.

  The "goddess" was Lena.

  It was Lena's magic that neutralized the other ten magicians belonging to FAIR, except for the two that Ryousuke had knocked out, while also hindering Laura.

  Mental-Interference Type Magic [Euphoria].

  It's a magic that transmits Pushion Waves along with Psionic Waves to induce a euphoric state of stupor. Its maximum target range is around 90 meters in radius. The maximum number of targets that can be affected is around 30 people.

  And this is not Lena's greatest magic.

  All the way from Vancouver, reaching Mt. Shasta approximately 1,000 kilometers away.

  She can send her astral body across such a distance, incapacitate ten people, and obstruct the "witch's" magic.

  Yet, this was still far from Lena's limits.

  [Ryousuke, Louis, it's now or never.]

  "Milady, my deepest gratitude!"

  "Thank you very much."

  Ryousuke and Louis verbally thanked her and started to move.

  Ryousuke didn't miss a beat and picked up his discarded rucksack.

  Ryousuke and Louis made their way down the stream.

  Until they were out of sight, Lena's astral body kept the members of FAIR, Laura Simon included, riveted in place.

  As Lena's astral body disappeared, [Euphoria]'s effect wore off.

  "—Son of a bitch!"

  113

  Glaring at the space where Lena's astral body had been floating, Laura spat out a curse.

  114

  Chapter 5

  [Return Home / Homecoming]

  After Ryousuke and Louis hopped in the self-propelled car that awaited them at the foot of Mt. Shasta, they boarded a light aircraft at an airstrip that could not even be called an airport in the nearest town.

  It was midnight by the time they arrived back in Vancouver.

  It being so late, Ryousuke planned to report his return the next morning, but Charlotte mentioned to him while he was in the self-propelled car, that Lena was still awake, so instead of going back to the hotel, he tagged along with her to FEHR headquarters.

  "Milady, I have just returned."

  "I'm sorry for the worry."

  After Ryousuke greeted Lena, Louis offered his apologies accompanied by a deep bow of his head.

  "Louis, thank you for your hard work. Seeing that you're safe is what matters…"

  Lena didn't blame Louis for his reckless action. Instead, she showed appreciation for his efforts with a tearful smile.

  "Ryousuke, thank you for your assistance. Truly, thank you so much."

  Lena then took Ryousuke's hand in hers with a deeply touched expression.

  With his right hand wrapped between hers, Ryousuke lost both his words and his sense of reason.

  After a few mumbled tries of "Ah," "Well,"

  "…Er, no, it's all thanks to Milady's help."

  He managed to squeeze out a coherent sentence.

  "I should thank you also for putting yourself in harm's way."

  Once he broke away from the lip service, his sincere words of gratitude overflowed.

  115

  "I don't think I could've gotten us out of that situation with my powers alone. It was thanks to you, Milady, that Louis and I were able to come back without any serious injuries."

  "I had to do something after you courageously jumped into harm's way."

  With an embarrassed expression, Lena withdrew her hands.

  Rather than being disappointed, Ryousuke's attention was consumed by thoughts of how "cute" she was.

  And then he immediately chastised himself for having the audacity to even think such a thing.

  "—Louis, the thing."

  In order to avoid further inexcusable thoughts, in a businesslike manner, Ryousuke turned his attention to more pressing matters.

  Louis nodded, "Right," and lifted up the rucksack sitting on the floor. Inside was the white stone tablet. Ryousuke left the rucksack in his hands, thinking that, since it was Louis who had taken the stone tablet, he should be the one to report on it.

  "…What is this?"

  Lena asked out of curiosity, understandably so, when she saw the stone tablet.

  The form is strikingly different from the Relics disclosed to the public so far. At first glance, it looked like a plain slab of marble.

  However, she soon realized that it is not marble. The surface is almost completely white, something hardly seen with natural stones. But not the uniform white of an industrially processed veneer slab. Under a bright light, minute differences in luster can be seen in an intricate interplay.

  "This is a stone tablet that FAIR dug out of a cave in Mt. Shasta."

  "…It's quite beautiful. It doesn't seem to have any noticeable wear from being buried underground."

  "Yes, I think it's more than an ordinary stone tablet. It may be a relic or a similar artifact."

  Lena stared at the stone tablet once again with renewed interest.

  "So, this is the artifact that FAIR was trying to get…?"

  116

  "No… I believe that FAIR's main interest was in another stone tablet that was unearthed along with this one."

  Apologetic, Louis answered Lena's musings.

  "There was another that is identical to this one?"

  "Yes, albeit different. The other one was a black stone tablet."

  "Is that so…"

  After pondering for a moment, her eyes became downcast.

  "…Even if that's the case, this stone tablet must be of some value if Laura Simon went through all that trouble to try and recover it."

  Lena said this as she made eye contact with Louis.

  "And, at the very least, the stone tablet has value as evidence. Thank you very much for your efforts, Louis."

  "…Yes."

  Lena's words were meant to comfort him, but he did not find them comforting.

  Louis did feel a sense of relief though after understanding that they weren't meant to just merely comfort him.

  Watching the exchange, Ryousuke thought, "That's Milady for you," feeling a bit enamored if not downright zealous.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  Laura reported to Dean the following morning.

  She arrived back in San Francisco in the middle of the night, and at that hour, they would be sharing a bed. Dean, who has a penchant for sadism, would have taken the opportunity to berate the exhausted Laura if he had seen her. That would be troublesome.

  "Laura, first of all, thank you for your service."

  "No, anything for you, my lord."

  After responding to Dean's words with a reverent bow, Laura presented the black stone tablet.

  "So this is the fruit of your labor."

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  Dean inspected the stone tablet, turning it around two, three times, and then asked Laura, "What's this?"

  "It's called the 'Guru's Stone Tablet' among us witches."

  "The 'Guru's Stone Tablet,' huh? And what good is this thing?"

  "The 'Guru's Stone Tablet' is a grimoire. It grants a powerful secret art to whoever possesses it."

  "Oh, a secret art?"

  "Yes. However, since this is the first time I have seen one in person, I would appreciate some time to investigate its usage and what kind of secret art it contains."

  Laura bowed deeply before Dean.

  "Let me know as soon as you find out."

  Dean said this while holding out the stone tablet back to her.

  "Thank you very much. I will ensure that I do not disappoint you, my lord."

  Dean nodded with an "Of course," and then, as if suddenly remembering, added, "Oh, right."

  "I heard there was another one of those stone tablets."

  It was probably the members of the excavation team who got a jump on Laura and blurted it out. They probably were trying to curry favor with Dean by using the subject matter of Lena's scoring against them, rather than the fact that the stone tablet had been taken from them. It is an open secret within FAIR that Dean has a strong rivalry with Lena.

  Laura, however, was unperturbed.

  "The other one was not a 'Guru's Stone Tablet.'"

  "But it could still have some value, couldn't it?"

  "I have sensed that there are still more than a dozen of the same type of the white stone tablets buried in the cave in question. If you will allow me, I would like to order them dug out as well."

  The corners of Dean's mouth lifted. His eyes flashed with greed.

  "You have my permission. Arrange it as soon as possible."

  "As you wish, my lord."

  118

  Laura stepped away from Dean, holding the "Guru's Stone Tablet" clutched to her chest.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  July 2nd, 11:00 A.M. local time, Vancouver International Airport.

  The three of them, Mayumi, Mari, and Ryousuke, were to return to Japan on the noon flight. Having concluded the business entrusted by Tatsuya four days ago, their original plans would have them advance their return flight, but they were unable to do so due to the questioning regarding the attack in the restaurant parking lot.

  "Mayumi, it's a shame to see you go."

  "Please come to Japan sometime, Lena."

  In the departure lobby, Mayumi and Lena, who had become good friends, bid farewells to each other.

  "Excuse me, Miss Saegusa. Can I borrow Mr. Tookami for a moment?"

  Interrupting their conversation, Charlotte spoke to Mayumi.

  "Yes, that's fine. We've already finished the flight check-in."

  Distracted by her conversation with Lena, Mayumi agreed without further consideration.

  Mari looked a touch skeptical, but her job is to escort Mayumi. As for Ryousuke, he is outside of her purview. Thus, she did not interfere.

  Ryousuke felt a bit disgruntled after being pulled away from Lena, but he obediently followed Charlotte. They came to a stop at a corner of the lobby, where Charlotte connected an earpiece to her terminal and held out the whole device to Ryousuke.

  With a quizzical look on his face, Ryousuke plugged the earpiece in his ear. Then, as instructed by her gesture, he played the paused video file.

  [Ryousuke, thank you so much for the other day.]

  Ryousuke almost shouted out, but he stopped himself from blurting anything out. The voice on the recording was none other than Lena.

  [And it really pains me to have to ask you for another favor after what you have gone through…]

  Her expression and tone matched the content of the sentence.

  119

  (No need for reservations. Please, ask me anything!) Ryousuke professed in his mind.

  Considering the amount of passion he worked up, it may be commendable that he didn't raise his voice.

  [In fact, it appears that the Mt. Shasta matter is still in progress. We turned over the stone tablet that you and Louis brought and the video taken by the private detective to the San Francisco Police Department and a copy of the video to the Siskiyou County Police, but so far there has been no noticeable action from either one. All the while, FAIR

  is still continuing their illegal digging operation.]

  Ryousuke couldn't help but to click his tongue at the mention.

  [We can't leave FAIR unattended on this matter. If we let them do as they please, something terrible will happen… That's how I feel. So, Ryousuke, when you return to Japan, could you please arrange for Mr. Shiba to have a meeting with me?]