Frank Franklin slammed his fist onto his desk with such force that the entire right side disintegrated in a shower of splinters. The hooded mage who reported to him cowered, staring nervously at the ominous aura that now emanated from the supposed swordsman.

"…it seemed that someone from the military cast a Strategic-scale spell and annihilated all three thousand monsters before they could reach the fortress."

"How is that possible!? There is no one in the Northern Fortress capable of casting a Strategic-scale spell!"

Frank was practically frothing at his mouth from fury as he bellowed. The hooded mage merely shook his head.

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"I don't know, my lord. I am merely reporting to you as things are. Our…contacts from inside the military should be able to provide some information soon."

"Soon?" Frank repeated menacingly. "I want the intelligence right away! Tell them that if they don't get back to me by tonight, I'll rip off their heads myself."

"Yes, sir." The hooded mage bowed and hastily left, relieved that he no longer had to bear the brunt of Frank's anger.

"Well, looks like this time the plan is a failure."

Lounging on a couch in his father's office, Fred commented dryly.

"So much for ninety percent chance of success, huh?"

"You shut up!" Frank snapped at his son, in no mood to hear his taunts. "How could this be? Even the most powerful mage at the Northern Fortress, General Jiang Jun, shouldn't be capable of casting a Strategic-scale spell! There's just no way…!"

"Perhaps it wasn't General Jiang who cast it?" Fred suggested. Frank stopped and glared at him threateningly.

"Do you know something I don't, Fred?"

"Not at all, Father." Fred sat up and raised both his hands in surrender. "I'm just stating a possibility, that's all."

"Maybe I should put you in charge of the investigation." Frank knitted his hands together as he thought things over. "It's better than leaving everything to those imbeciles."

"As you wish, Father." Fred rose to his feet and did a short bow. "I'll begin immediately."

Frank watched his son leave his office, his brow still furrowed deeply. As soon as Fred vanished, he let out a snort.

"Don't think I don't know what you're planning, Son," he growled under his breath. "Be very careful. You'll find that it won't be easy for you to take my place."

He let out a bitter smile.

"After all, the Dark Church already has several replacements lined up the moment I fall…and they have no intention of considering you among them."

*

"EH!?"

Both Alicia and Kureha gaped at Vincent Violet.

"Really?! The three thousand monsters have already been wiped out?!"

"Yes. I just received a report regarding the Northern Fortress. The horde of monsters were destroyed before the soldiers in the base could engage them in combat."

"…how?" Kureha gasped. "It's three thousand monsters!? What could have annihilated them so quickly?"

"Apparently someone cast a Strategic-scale spell to obliterate them in one fell swoop," Vincent replied, his expression disbelieving. "But General Jiang shouldn't have such capabilities. None of the soldiers under his command do."

"Strategic-scale spell…" Alicia repeated, blinking. Then she brightened up as she exchanged a glance with Kureha, for whom the pieces were gradually falling in place. "Richard!"

"That's not surprising," Kureha agreed. "He literally nuked an entire mountain range into oblivion with his Strategic-scale spell."

"Richard? You mean Richard Huang?" Vincent frowned in bewilderment. "Ah, yes…I seem to recall that he does indeed have a Strategic-scale spell, which he used to destroy those three rank B Crastrates. But what is he doing in the Northern Fortress?"

"Uh…long story…" Alicia muttered. "And to be honest, I don't know the details."

"It's my fault." Kureha raised her hand. "I hired him for a mission, and he got hurt. We ended up bringing him to the medical center in the northern military camp, and he has been resting there ever since."

"Ever since? Ever since when?"

"About a week ago," Kureha admitted. Vincent tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"A week? The military personnel just let him stay in the camp for a week? Wouldn't they normally send him straight to the hospital, with better medical facilities and healers? Why the h.e.l.l would they keep him in their camp for a week?!"

Both Alicia and Kureha looked at each other. It had never occurred to them there was something amiss about the situation.

"Uh…for plot purposes?" Alicia asked. That's my girl. She had gained the ability to break the fourth wall as well.

Vincent shook his head in disbelief and sighed. "Maybe I'll ask General Jiang about this…"

As it turned out, it was an oversight, and the doctor didn't bother to ask the military staff to move me because my injuries weren't critical and all I needed was sleep. And they kind of forgot all about me because I was asleep the entire time and didn't make a single sound. Well, that was how it was. Take it or leave it.

*

"Finally…"

Sighing in relief, I trudged toward Jing Tian City. Behind me, the military tonner that had given me a ride reversed and went in a different direction, probably to get supplies from elsewhere. Probably food or something.

It took a couple of hours to get the report done before they finally allowed me to return home. Good thing Dad was away on a mission, or he would have turned the city over and waged war on the underground organizations dwelling beneath our streets to find me. Okay, that was probably an exaggeration, but knowing Dad, that wasn't beyond is capabilities.

I also received an email from Troy, telling me of the Research Foundation Group, his brother's links to it, and his decision to hunt the b.a.s.t.a.r.d down. Tyrant had been burning entire cities and ma.s.sacring civilians for fun, which was why Troy took matters into his own hands and decided to put an end to his atrocities once and for all.

However, the evil f.u.c.ker was pretty thorough and cunning, leaving little to no clues behind. Now that Troy had gotten hold of his trail, no matter how intangible it was, he wasn't going to let go. He was going to track Tyrant down, no matter what, and hopefully find him in one of the Research Foundation Group's divisions.

…or something.

I recalled the words from the late prisoner we captured (before he got roasted by the dragon). Apparently Kureha's uncle, Frank Franklin, had created some weird Research Foundation Group to experiment on monsters or something. The words of the military doctor haunted me at the same time, reminding me that that horde of three thousand monsters were moving in a united formation toward a clear destination, all with a single purpose in mind. Almost as if they were being directed by someone.

Could their unnatural movements be related to the Research Foundation Group?

Gr…

My stomach rumbled. I was hungry. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't eaten anything in an entire week. I was starving, and too tired to cook. I had a craving for white, fragrant rice. Unable to endure it, I wandered into the nearest restaurant to grab some rice. At first, I wanted tofu, but because I was starving, I just went and ordered the first thing I saw on the menu, which was some chili chicken. Requesting for extra rice, I waited impatiently before attacking the dish ravenously once it arrived.

"Oh…that was a great meal. Haven't had such a good meal in a while."

Patting my stomach once I was finished, I then paid for the food and wandered out of the restaurant. As I did so, I almost collided with someone on the way out.

"Ah, sorry."

He was a handsome fellow, probably about a few years older than me, with light-colored hair that reached stylishly to his shoulders. The kind of hairstyle that reminded me of Taiwanese idols from the early 2000s. Oh, wow…considering that this was the 30th century, that was about nine hundred years ago now.

"No, it's my fault."

The guy apologized with a gentle smile. He glanced at the restaurant behind me. "Is the food there good?"

"Yeah. It's Szechuan style, so if you can't handle spicy food like me, make sure you ask for mild." I grimaced and ma.s.saged my stomach. "I made a mistake and even mild is a little much for me. Good thing they provided rice to go with it."

"Oh, that's cool." The guy glanced at the restaurant and nodded. "Any dish you would recommend?"

"Hmm…I particularly love the tofu. But they recommended me the chili chicken today. Maybe you should give that a try!"

"Sounds like a good idea. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

The handsome young man nodded, and then entered the shop. Turning away, I continued home. I was spent from casting Antares, writing a report, and that hearty meal from earlier made me feel sleepy. I just wanted to crawl into bed or laze around doing nothing (read: watch anime).

Behind me, Fred Franklin proceeded to a table and raised his hand to call a waiter over to make his order. After he did so, he leaned back in his chair with a smile.

"Jing Tian Academy, huh?" he mused to himself, remembering my uniform. "According to our spies, it was a Jing Tian Academy student who cast the Strategic-scale spell in the Northern Fortress. Maybe I should check it out tomorrow. It's a good place to start as any."

He then chuckled to himself as he glanced toward the entrance, where he nearly collided with me earlier.

"It'll be funny if that boy from earlier was the caster…"

Oh, he had no idea how crazily spot on the remark that he had intended as a joke was. He had absolutely no idea.