*Unedited

His throat was dry. His consciousness was getting hazy. His heart was beating so fast that it hurt. His breathing was ragged and his legs were shaking. Even so, Ivan ran.

All for the sake of his Angel (Willia-chan)!

And when even that strong thought started fading, it happened. When he was somehow chasing after Jill Stuart, who turned around a corner, the sight that Ivan saw was, Willia-chan walking out of a horse carriage garage-like place with a smile.

” ..pant…pant…That’s….great… ”

The moment he knew Willia-Chan was safe, Ivan collapsed. It was his limit. But on his face, a blissful-like smile appeared. He was happy.

But Ivan had no idea that he was about to face despair.

” Yosh….. According to the readout, there are 16 people in here. Hmm…. 4 lookouts and 12 captured… ”

As I walked along the dimly lit bas.e.m.e.nt, I used mana detection to get a feel of the place. I was currently putting Zirco-san’s magic of erasing his footsteps that I stole into practical use. As for Grousil and his goons, they were tied up by ropes I conjured from my mana so no problem there.

As these thoughts ran through my mind as I walked, I heard noises ahead.

“《影》” [TN: Let’s play a game, shall we? Question: What magc is this?]

I mumbled and the magic activated. My figure then melted into the shadows….I think. I heard some mumbling about how I kept stealing other’s spells but I shall ignored it. This was not stealing, it’s learning.

As I moved on, I saw a worn-out wooden door in front. Yellow lights were shining from th e crevices. As I had send my detection mana ahead of time, it should be where the captured were imprisoned at. And, someone was standing right in front of the door.
Yep.

” Here we go!! ”

I jumped and did a flying-kick at the door. Hey, you there, it’s not a pun. Please don’t say it’s cold. A cracking noise rang out but I pay no heed to it. I was not doing anything wrong.

Eh? I aimed for this? How can it be? There was no way a young boy of 8, filled with a burning sense of justice, do such an cunning deed, right? I was really not thinking of killing two birds with one stone.

Going along with the flow, I punched, punched, punched the man who was the lookout. As he plop on the floor, the fight was over. Eh? It was too short? How am I to describe a fight that ended with a punch then?

I tied the moaning man up in ropes and smacked it tight for extra measures. The sound resounded within the dimly-lit jail …. not. Why were the people inside the cells trembling…?

” Ah. ”

I slapped my hands together as a light bulb lit up above my head. I see! I had forgotten all about it. The me right now was shrouded in shadows and soundproof. Anyone would be afraid if the lookout was punched and flew off by nothing. They must be confused. And maybe developed a fear of the shadows. They must had thought an invisible monster had came.

《解除》[TN: Are we still playing the game?]

Well, that was a pretty half-a.r.s.ed magic.
As I chanted it mentally, I became visible…. I think. And when I looked over at them, all of their mouths were opened wide.

” I came to help. ”

I smiled and tried to use the gentlest voice I could but they were still jumping left, right and center from surprise. I know how you guys feel but still, this hurt. Yes it do.

All those captured were around my age and were mostly beastmen. Seeing this made my chest hurt. As this country had a serious discrimination against beastmen, they had a good deal kidnapping as no one would seriously search for beastmen. They were really not being seen as people.

Che, it’s your loss for not understanding the importance of those flurry ears.

Looking at the cell, it was a magic tool that was strengthen and could obstruct magic from activating. It was an intricate and complicated piece of tool. General Grousil sure was using the military technology as he liked. Although it had a ma.s.sive amount of mana stones embedded in order to amplified the effectiveness, it was no use! Hahahahahah!!

” 《切断》! ” [TN: Hmm. Fine. I guess complains are flooding in around now. Setsudan, sever ]

As the chyuunibyo-like painful laughter rang inside my mind, I chanted it out loud. I need to distract myself with something with all these eyes watching. And also to let them know that I was using magic. As they were surprised by the chant, the severed metal poles fell onto the floor, clanking loudly.

” Come on, let’s get out of this damp and humid place as soon as possible. ”

As I called out to them through the squarish hole I made, everyone jumped and back away.

……It hurt. It hurt but I am not giving up! I will crushed them with my smile!

After taking a while to digest all that had happened, tiny cheers started raising up. Oh, thank goodness. My persistence won. As I nodded with a smile, I led everyone out.

” Over here~ ”

I said, as I spread my mana detection magic out. I could feel a presence. Hm. The only one skillful enough to hide the flow of mana till this extend could only be Zirco-san. There was another one behind him but…. judging from his movement, Zirco-san can easily defeat him with one shot.

I turned around suddenly. I heard that a human beautiful young girl was captured as well….. hmm….. there was no human race among them. Only beastman. But everyone were still very cute.

….Someone must had mistaken a beastman for a human I guess.

We reached the first floor. The huge wooden door that I saw when I was blind-folded appeared in front of us. Right ahead must be where the garage was. It was too late to be acting like a kid so I just pushed the door opened without any difficulty.

The kids pa.s.sed through it in succession. Somehow, I felt like I saw this in DragXX QuXXt before. Grinning at that thought, Mr.Emotionless was standing there, waiting.

The mana I felt following behind was….ah, he fell. Ah, he fainted. That person fainted with a smile on his face. What happened to him? Noticing my surprised gaze, Zirco-san glanced at the fainted man and smiled slightly.

Ooh! How rare! The smile of the Noh Mask Ninja! Dear fans, a secret collection shot right here! In my excitement, I even pretended to hold a camera as I press down on the shutter b.u.t.ton continuously. Zirco-san looked at me, stunned.

” Will-dono, what are you doing? ”
” Ah, no, yes, it’s nothing. ”

This was the type of situation where smiling can tide it over. Tehe~ I smiled and averted my eyes. Zirco-san tilted his head a little before returning back to the topic.

” He is a Hattuo soldier…. former soldier. He was the one at the checkpoint this morning. ”
” OOH! ”

I had thought he looked familiar! To ran all the way here so desperately just for me….so different from the rumors! I was touched! I knelt down to in the heat of that moment looked at him, before realizing something.

” ……But the mastermind behind the illegal kidnappings is Fet Ale Grousil General, isn’t it? ”
” …..Will-dono should be grateful to him. Because when the Captain he had always been following stopped him, he quit his job just to find you. ”

…..Really?

To ran that desperately till he drop, what a strong sense of justice! He must had been really worried. Well, anyone would be worried when they heard that an 8 year old girl had been kidnapped and was about to sold.
…..Somehow, I had a feeling I did a bad thing. No, it was not me! The one who’s  wrong was Grousil!

As if waiting for me to finish my inner show, Zirco-san continued the conversation at the perfect timing.

” In addition, here’s the report regarding the infiltration into the military base. It looked like Fet Ale Grousil was fired at the previous meeting with the Emperor. ”

Our eyes met. Yeah, I won’t tsukomi that he did his job way too fast. I wanted to believe that this was the standard of Elzmu. Just like Zirco, just like Father.

But fired. Which means….

” I see. He was fired because he became useless. ”

I had a small smile while Zirco-san smiled wryly. A flightless bird is useless. I was dragged into the useless general scheme of making easy money.

” Hahaha…. ”

I must keep my smile. This was a disaster. I was screaming in my heart as the wind blow and the earth shook in my heart.

Embarra.s.sing! How super duper embarra.s.sing!!

Wah…. I want to dig a hole and jump right in….
Shiro was… doing his work properly. Really, if I knew the report beforehand I would had finished this quickly. It was already too late but I kinda stood out now. I should had know the longer a thing is dragged, the more troublesome it would be.

Even if I were to escape, I couldn’t possibly leave those captured kids alone. And with that, I would have contact with General Grousil, which would then, of course, had some link with the military. If the [Shadows] were in this country, they would know it sooner or later.
….Although I still had no idea about the methods they used to find their targets.

Hm.

A plan that kills two birds with one stone. A very rational plan. As expected of Zirco-san to come up with this fantastic plan. [TN: They are planning to use this chance to lure the Shadows out?]
…..And what should I do with this embarra.s.sment of mine? This was really troubling.

Before I knew it, Buu-san and Shiro were back. I need to thank the fainted guy for not making it too hard for Buu-san too. Or rather, was that guy going to be all right? Half of the reason for him losing his job was because of me.

Shiro drew close to me.

” The way Master jumps to conclusions…. ”

He quietly snickered.
I can punch him, can’t I? He was telling me to punch him, wasn’t he? I was pretty sure that was the hidden meaning. And I could somehow hear laughter from the ‘….’ ….. I wonder if that was my inferior complex acting up.

Anyway.

” I KNOWWW!! ”

I jumped and started hitting Shiro’s head with a paper fan. I will be forgiven if it’s just that, right?

Eh? Where did the paper fan came from? Ah, it’s from my locket pendant.

It must be my imagination that someone said that I was abusing my magic tool.