A three-p.r.o.nged grappling hook was thrown over the top of the wall.

When the sharp p.r.o.ngs caught hold, Bando, Stark and Shouji pulled themselves up, followed by Doldo who, having tied the rope around himself, was pulled up by Shouji's strength.

Bowing down on the wall, they gazed at the expansive metal jungle.

The factory did not appear to be in operation, but it was not at a complete standstill.

The alarm equipment was obviously in operation, and so was the air conditioning and the systems monitoring the temperature of the chemical liquids. Below their eyes, dots of red and yellow light from the machinery operation terminals lit the darkness like stars in the sky.

The roads also stood out. Lights were placed at regular intervals, so that area was as bright as day.

At present, there were three obstacles the four of them had to pay attention to.

The magical eyes, sending their vision to the defense magician, were floating around in the air.

The armed security, who seemed to have forgotten their sense of nervousness, walked down the middle of the road while yawning.

And lastly the excessively detailed alarm system.

"In two hours the service engineer will walk the premises to do maintenance on the magical machinery according to his check sheet. I want to avoid running into him by accident. There pre-decided plan for the guards' patrol routes, but we can expect there to be guards in every area.

"We're five minutes past our expected time. Everybody has the interior map memorized, right?"

As Bando reminded them in a concealed voice, Shouji acknowledged him with a single word. The two of them had experience in campaigns so their awareness of the plan was in another dimension compared to the other two.

Doldo looked up with a worried look, and Stark showed an expression of 'I will follow the two of you'. It did not appear that the two of them had completely grasped the map.

Shouji and Bando exchanged looks. We have to go, we have to do it, we can no longer turn back. Reaching the conclusion of their conversation through eye contact, they let the rope fall to the ground and began their descent.

Their first mission was to shut off the network, stopping the magical machinery's operation.

Their burglary plan commenced. Wearing headwear that only showed their eyes, noses and mouthes the four men began acting. They could not allow their faces to be seen.

In a line they skillfully advanced through the gaps between the gigantic buildings.

At times they hid behind the plumbing bolted to the ground, and other times they walked in the thin shadows of the pa.s.sages fastened in the air.

Without ever invading areas influenced by the powerful outside lighting, they ascertained their position.

Unfl.u.s.tered, unhurried and without talking, Shouji gave his stop-and-go commands with waves of his fingers.

They were doing well in their approach of the destination, but sudden Shouji stopped up and held out his palm behind him. Slanting two fingers he made the sign demanding caution, and Bando, who caught on to his intentions, cautiously walked forwards.

"『Manipulation Thread』"

From the magician, Bando's, fingers a magical thread sprung forth.

A white, seemingly undependable, thread, that looked like it would be taken away by the wind at any moment, flowed up into the air.

Its aim was the floating magic eye, an eyeball about twenty centimeters in diameter.

The magical thread drew near the orb from its backside. As if invading a pore in the blackish brown skin that wrapped around the eyeball, the thread entered its target.

The pupil of the eye became hazy and the magic eye lost the ability to recognize the existence of Shouji and the others.

"This trick won't hold out for more than five minutes."

Continuing his work, Bando let out some abusive language in a low, and slightly short of breath, voice.

They had only pa.s.sed two such eyes, but it appeared that handling them caused quite a bit of mental strain.

Through Bando's hard work they reached the first step of their plan, the magic power converter station.

This was the center of the magic power lines. In Stark's words, the 'heart'.

"Let's go."

Unexpectedly, the square-shaped building was only about the size of a private house. With a tool similar to a compa.s.s, a hole was made in the entry hall's gla.s.s door. Poking an arm through the hole the door was easily opened.

Walking just a few meters through the unadorned concrete insides of the building, they came to an iron door.

Bando brought his lock picking tools forward, but seeing that there were three keyholes he had no choice but to give up.

"It looks like we will need the master-key."

"Wh, what's the master-key?"

Doldo reacted to Bando's mutterings, but Shouji stepped forward in front of the iron door.

He put a test tube containing a power potion to his lips. The effect should be plenty sufficient. Congested with blood, his eyes became red, and his entire body gave off scorching heat. Putting the flask away in his ammunition belt, his newly formed fist released conspicuous creaking sounds.

With his body bent, he put one leg forward and took his stance.

He controlled his exhalation. Breathing out deeply, he pulled back his fist. Then his fist was thrown out like shot from a cannon.

As the thunder-clap like sound of an explosion rang out, a shockwave rippled through the air. The iron door, he had struck, was pitifully bent out of shape.

After shaking his fist, as if getting rid of dust, Shouji stuck his hand into the gap of the deformed door and ripped the smashed wreckage aside.

"… That's the master-key."

Doldo was astonished.

They entered the magic power conversion stations operation room.

The magic power furnace covered in double layers of bulky metal, released pulses of very deep sounds, as if it really was a heart, like Stark called it.

Through the observation window in the inner wall, they could see rod-shaped magic fuel stones. Dissolved in a proprietary solvent, the stones vomited ma.s.sive amounts of the origin of all existence, magic power, into the alchemical factory.

Bando approached the box-shaped device regulating the amount of magic power sent to each facility. The precisely placed magic power circuitry gathered together on a single board, which was similar to a locker you would find in a regular locker room.

Opening the locker, in front of the enormous number of cables connected to the machinery, Bando took out an insulated cutter knife from his linen sack.

In a dramatic fas.h.i.+on he looked towards his partners.

"Everyone, are you ready? The fun adventure begins now." 1

Holly was made to write introspective letters.

Her booth was in the corner of the office s.p.a.ce, surrounded by a simple screen. It was a very confined s.p.a.ce. Apart from her daily routine of writing research papers, she never spent any extra time there.

She did write in the mostly ruined duty journal, but n.o.body cared what she put in there so it had become her personal ill.u.s.trated diary.

Her superior, the magicians' a.s.sociation which was attached to the adventurers' guild, accepted payment for the work she did, but they cared little about her actual duties. They only did the duties required of their establishment by law.

"Hehe… Today I will eat chicken foie gras."

Comforting herself, Holly continued to dejectedly write apology letters concerning the business disturbance that she had been part in.

Apparently what those men had been guarding was a cargo of an experimental product of 'Sloop Magic chemicals'. It was custom-made goods to be presented to a client, and was treated with great sensitivity.

The sermon Holly had received for getting in their way had gone on and on until her ears hurt.

It ended up with her having to write ten letters in the meaning of 'I will never make this kind of mistake again'. They had to be written in hand and on ma.n.u.script paper.

"Blue berry sauce… I am going to use the fragrant berries from the Myurun locality…"

Holly's mental balance had started crumbling when she started on the seventh letter.

The light left her eyes, her mouth was half-opened and her upper body was slanted.

What brought back her sanity was the noise of the alarms.

It was a sound similar to someone crazily striking a bell with a hammer. The amazing loudness of the sound made Holly want to block her ears. The person in the office looked at the alarm device on the wall and Holly heard him wearily mutter 'Fire in the sand filtration building'.

Fire at the waterside. There was very little sense of danger, as the situation seemed unlikely.

There were no combustible materials in that place, the possibility of the alarm being caused by faulty contacts between instruments was high.

With a communication stone he sent a group of workers and security to deal with the situation. Even after the orders were given the alarm's noise continued resounding.

The night s.h.i.+ft group, who had been napping, appeared with sleepy and angry faces.

It was bothersome, but she had to endure it.

She made a great effort to move around the feather pen for five minutes.

Suddenly the inside of the facility turned pitch black, and then became bright again. The light stones inserted in the ceiling had lost light for just an instant.

"Momentary interruption?"

"What's going on? It seemed like the facility's power supply stopped. What about the monitoring room? Is the backup supply working?"

"G.o.d d.a.m.nit, the outside lights were knocked out by what happened. Worn-out piece of s.h.i.+t."

In a foul-mouthed abusive voice, the sleepy section chief a.s.signed the operators to their positions.

The first places they should go were the cold storage facility housing the production materials and the potion-making fermentation and filtration plants that were in operation even during the night.

Magic power seemed to have been cut off from those locations, and they went about their restoration work hectically.

Sooner or later all signs of life left the office room. The alarm was also stopped. Silence returned and there were no sounds of footsteps.

In the still environment, Holly muttered.

"… Hmm. Lulu, what do you think?"

The slime hiding under her desk bounced lightly and looked at her in curiosity.

"Let organize it logically. The place is currently in chaos. Was this really caused by degradation or mistaken use of the magic power circuits? Of course, that happens every now and then. About once every half a year in frequency. Therefore that wouldn't be strange."

Lulu, who had climbed her legs and was now lying in her lap showed an expression of great delight.

Compared to Lulu, Holly's expression turned more and more sullen.

"While that may be, for all of the outside lights to go out is unusual. Let's go out for a stroll in the darkness.We will search for an unexpected rendezvous. That would surely be a beautiful rendezvous that will send hearts dancing."

The four of them ran. It was a sprint through the ink dripping darkness.

It was a fight against time. That the cause of the situation was man-made would be obvious to anyone who saw the traces they had left behind.

They had to get their tasks over with before that happened. Tools they no longer needed were left behind. All for the sake of moving faster.

Their eyes had become accustomed to the darkness, but on the way to their destination, the storage warehouse of the ultimate magic water, Doldo tripped on a thick growth of plants.

All of them came to a halt, waiting for Doldo to get up.

"You good-for-nothing laggard b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

"So, sorry."

Bando yelled at him with a deep red face.

Shouji fleetingly watched on, but did not interfere. More importantly, inside the freighting warehouse in front of them, light was visible.

In the darkness, someone was walking around with the light.

To inform the three behind him, Shouji put up his opened palm behind him.

Moving his forefinger around he let them know about the lights, and then he brought his thumb across his throat in a cutting motion. He would go deal with it, the others should wait.

Shouji clung to the building's wall. By sound he searched for the opponent’s position. Cutting off his breathing he grabbed the doork.n.o.b. Paying the utmost attention to absolutely not making a sound, he pushed open the door. This was a cold storage room. The cool air became an airflow and pa.s.sed by the back of his neck.

Lowering his body he slid beneath the obstacles. In the darkness were drums and wooden boxes on stacked pallets. He noticed that both large and small barrels were placed here. He approached the blockhead security guard from behind. He seemed to be killing time without motivation. His movements were sluggish.

Shouji threw a quick punch to the back of his head. A Rabbit Punch. The security guard fainted. As he pitched forward, Shouji grabbed him.

He placed him slowly and quietly on the ground.

From the communication stone the guard had carried came a voice.

"Hey Keak. What happened?"

"Sorry, I gotta go to the toilet."

He answered in a low voice as if he was ill and then crushed the communication stone in his hand. Richly colored pebbles scattered on the floor.

The three entered from the door. As expected there was a wheelbarrow for transport. The four gathered around to lift the first drum of ultimate magic water onto the transport.

The hermetically sealed cast iron drums had yet to appear on the market in Errorknife so there were few of them, but they were easily noticed. Furthermore the white paint and the molding on the side gave the feeling of high-cla.s.s. After confirming the contents from the markings and explanatory writings they all prepared to lift it.

What they found out was that the drum far heavier than expected, so Shouji had to reluctantly drink a power potion and use his super human strength.

His remaining potions numbered three.

Two speed potions. One perfect potion.

Afterall he had no money. Without money he could not enhance himself to the degree he wanted.

Blessedly, the transport cart was at the front of the storage, moving the drum to it did not take long.

It was made similar to ski lifts with tracks running in the sky. As long as magic power was poured into it, it would run, so Bando wrung out what power he could.

From here the team would temporarily split up. Stark and Bando would undertake the task of transporting the drums to their point of invasion.

Since the drums were heavy, when they reached the prescribed point they intended to destroy coupling between the rails and the cart and take the cart with them.

The main objective was accomplished. They needed to pursue the other objective, but it had already been ten minutes since the alarms were activated. Too much time had pa.s.sed.

Hesitation was born in their eyes, but Shouji made the decision.

"We need the cash. We will go and get it done."

"Shouji, don't overdo it."

"Don't worry."

Exchanging short farewells, Shouji and Doldo swiftly ran off towards the main building.

Doldo, who was tasked with carrying the load, was covered in sweat and the meat of his stomach shook as he groaned painfully while following Shouji, who did not lower the pace. He felt sorry but they had no time to give. They could not waste even a minute.

En route they met security guards. By accident they almost ran straight into the two patrolling guards.

"Who the f.u.c.k are you guys?!"

"And what the h.e.l.l are you doing?!"

Shouji did not answer the two who attempted intimidate him by pulling out their batons. Establis.h.i.+ng his aim, he performed a sliding tackle on one of the men. The man’s head struck the asphalt heavily, and then he lost consciousness.

Shouji quickly got up and moved on to finish off the other surprised guard.

He threw a punch at the guard's jaw, but it was unexpectedly blocked by his upper arm. Shouji was surprised at the practiced movements, but it was no problem. The effects of the power potion still remained. An enhanced middle kick was thrown in a flash. The body of the guard, who could not deal with the speed of the kick, was bent into the shape of the 'く' character.

The baton that had fallen from his grasp was then mercilessly struck against the crown of his head. His body stumbled and collapsed forwards.

As he turned around after completing the short battle, Shouji saw that Doldo had been attempting to get his breath under control with his hands on his knees the whole time.

"Are you okay?"

"Wh, who do you think you're talking to? This is so easy I might yawn."

Hearing his bluffing, Shouji faintly smiled. Doldo also answered with a laugh. The two men gathered themselves for just a bit before starting to run again.

The central surveillance building was lit up. If the magic power converter was the heart of the facility, then this was the brain.

Its concrete facade looked like a government office. The front door was left completely open. The building was either empty or close to it. On the other side of the windows there was no personnel at work.

As the path from the entrance to the safe was firmly memorized, their run through the pa.s.sages met with no obstacles.

After descending the bas.e.m.e.nt stairs at a run, moving past the boiler room, destroying the 'No Entry' marked door, they reached a room with shelves filled with research papers of secret recipes and data.

The desired safe was enshrined in the middle of the room. Shouji reflexively struck his hands together.

'It's almost like a bank's cash vault' leaked from Doldo's lips, and Shouji had also been thinking the same. For a potion factory it seemed to be mysteriously sizeable.

Upon reaching it, they realized that the thick lead-colored safe was beyond their abilities to destroy. Even if they quickly searched the numerous shelves and drawers, finding a hint for the dial combination was a task that would never end.

Deciding give destruction a try, they happened to luckily find a female office worker, hiding in the corner of the room, shaking in her boots.

Shouji punched a hole in the wall right next to the woman who had been there only because of working overtime. The first punch was a threat, the second punch would smash her skull to pieces. They received the combination quickly.

Inside the safe was cash and cheques. As well as five large bottles of unknown potions.

'Atomic Potion' was written on the label as well a 'Deadly Poison' warning.

Even Shouji who had drunk a vast variety of potions had not seen this type before. As if they had written 'suspicious' on the side, he decided to not give it a try. This was not the place to do something careless and become sick.

Without hesitation he placed them in the linen bag.

"Let's get going, we're done here."

"Right."

They each carried a linen bag as they started running to escape the building.

There might have been large numbers of guards, or military police who had received the report, at the entrance, but in defiance of their expectations the place was empty.

If they could weave their way through the buildings, reach the transport cart and escape, then the matter would have ended with great success… But before they reached the cart the two of them stopped moving.

In the darkness a figure could be seen.

For a security guard the figure was oddly calm, and around the figure were three strangely bouncing 'somethings'.

The figure was slender like a willow, and its hair was long.

Just then, moonlight broke through the cloud cover.

The revealed woman lifted her black-tea colored hair in a refined, elegant gesture.2

"Let me introduce myself in accordance to the etiquette of battle. My name is Holly Detromics. I am this facility's defense magician. Indeed, I am what stands in your way. Since I have received my wages, I must do the work required of me. After all, wages are what holds our lives together."

The lovely slimes changed their shapes into ferocious hunting dogs.

As they released howling sounds, slimy, yet sharp fangs appeared. Storing power in their limbs, their tails bristled.

They stooped down like three starving beasts waiting for their mistress' order.

Understanding that this was a difficult foe, Shouji handed his sack to Doldo.

"If you could, please tell me your names. Writing 'Here lies a petty thief' on your gravestones is something I would rather avoid."

Shouji took off the headwear and revealed his face.

"I'm glad." There had been a cruelly smiling face beneath the mask. "I love conceited women."

Translator notes

[1]:

Think of Bando talking in the enthusiastic voice of a female announcer at a j.a.panese superhero show for kids.Go back

[2]:

Her hair is brown as was described in the previous chapter, what they describe here is the color of tea made from black tea, which is brown in color. Go back