Chapter Planned Accident (1)
Elysia and Rhea waited for a few minutes in the waiting room. It was just a semi-open pavilion near a traditional j.a.panese garden.
"Here"s tea for you." The girl in white robes served a gla.s.s of tea to the customers. She then stood next to the table, silently waiting like a maid.
"Mm, thank you." Elysia responded with sheer politeness, but she didn"t touch her tea at all.
"Elysia, there is a partic.i.p.ant here. Do you want to eliminate that person? However, that person doesn"t reek of blood like the other evil partic.i.p.ants." Sora materialized herself as a small arrow to point in a direction.
Afterwards, she turned back into an invisible gust of wind and hid on Elysia"s shoulder.
"Is it? So, that guy... We"ll take his chess piece and be done with it." Elysia glanced at the man in the next courtyard. She could only see the person partly from the window, but that was enough to confirm that person was just a pa.s.sive partic.i.p.ant.
Since the other party hadn"t committed any blood crimes, she shrugged her shoulders and glanced at Rhea.
"Understood. Allow me to excuse myself." Rhea got up from her seat and immediately left the room.
"Anoo..." The girl in a white robe was a little unsure what to do.
"It"s okay. My companion just has a little business to do. She knows where to go." Elysia raised her palm to rea.s.sure the employee on duty to accompany her.
"All right. My senior is processing your order. Please wait a few more minutes." The white-robed girl nodded in understanding. She a.s.sumed the little girl wanted to go to the toilet in the next corridor.
"Okay. We"re not in a rush either." Elysia put her hands on the table and closed her eyes. She monitors her surroundings with her advanced perception.
Rhea had just arrived at the courtyard next door. She entered the room casually as if she were that place"s owner.
A young man was conducting an alchemy experiment in his room, but an unexpected person came into his room uninvited. "What? Who-"
Unfortunately, Rhea didn"t want to wait for anything and just tossed a leaf. It was stuck to the young man"s forehead.
The young man couldn"t move or speak. He just stared at the masked girl with trepidation.
"My apologies, you won"t remember this or that game." Rhea put her hand on the young man"s chest. A ripple of water was formed, and her hand went in to gently take the chess piece of power.
"..." Rhea checked the chess pieces between her fingers before flicking the young man"s forehead. The leaf vanished, and the young man went pensive because his memory of the past month had been erased.
Satisfied with that, Rhea left from there to return to Elysia"s side.
"Wow, her move is so elegant and smooth. Come politely, take it kindly, and leave in silence. If that young man reeks of blood, our Rhea probably won"t be merciful. Ely, we also better not be merciful to the evil like the five criminals we left behind on that hill." Elena muttered in admiration and used that as a reference for Elysia.
"Yeah, I understand. That"s a mistake on my merciful side. However, those five people were already annihilated by that Reaper G.o.d, right? He came to the hill to silence his p.a.w.ns because they were already eliminated." Elysia heaved a subtle sigh. She was sensitive enough to realize that, but the facts were valid based on Elena"s observations.
"You know about it? I didn"t want to tell you on purpose, but I guess our mind sync can"t keep a secret for long. Those five ninjas were exterminated because the Reaper G.o.d was afraid his p.a.w.ns would be used as a medium to track him down. But, we already took their chess pieces. He may also want to take revenge on whoever hunted his p.a.w.ns. Nevertheless, he was caught because of it." Elena explained the situation openly.
"Worry not. I"m no stranger to that kind of thing. We now have a king piece and a p.a.w.n... This will make our experiment more accurate. I wonder if we can purify the energy stored in these chess pieces and use it to level up." Elysia rested her head on her arm.
"That"s possible. It was an artificial artifact from a glimmer of proliferating cursed energy and came from a Ruvoid G.o.d. If we"re lucky, we can refine it into pure energy to recover and level up a little." Elena voiced her conjecture confidently, though she couldn"t prove it yet.
"Hmm." Elysia raised her head again when Rhea returned to the room.
"Mission accomplished." Rhea handed the chess piece to Elysia secretly under the table.
"Thanks for the swift and clean work." Elysia immediately put the chess piece into the darkness pouch. She then gave Rhea a head pat.
"Hehe~" Rhea stroked a lock of her disguised black hair. She immensely enjoyed her role as a little sister, but being a daughter was still the best.
A few moments later, an old man entered the room. The previous senior herbalist followed while carrying a rather large wooden box.
"Greetings to you. I am Tanabe Naruhiko, the person in charge of the Tokyo branch of the Alchemy a.s.sociation." Naruhiko took a seat in front of the customers.
He observed the two masked girls for a moment and nodded in understanding. These two disguised their ident.i.ties very well, but their lovely charm couldn"t lie. Not to mention, his hunch said that they were influential ability users.
"I see... No wonder you seem so familiar with us. It turns out that you are an ability user. May I know who I"m talking to?" Naruhiko points his hand forward.
"Good day to you, Tanabe Naruhiko-san. I am Elysia, and she is my little sister. We are a.s.sociated with the Minamoto Clan." Elysia introduced herself briefly.
"Oh, Minamoto Clan! No wonder you emit a unique and unusual charm. It turns out that you have the most powerful clan as your background. May I know what you need all these materials and resources for?" Naruhiko put a piece of paper on the table.
Elysia took back her shopping list. She then closed her eyes and replied as a big responsibility rested on her shoulders. "Hm, you"ll probably find the result in a day or two, but we"re experimenting with creating a cure for the pandemic, the mysterious disease. That pandemic needs to end before it gets too bad."
"What, what did you just say? The Minamoto Clan is working on that too? How are they progressing? Have you found any light? We, the Alchemy a.s.sociations worldwide, are also trying our best to create a cure for that mysterious disease, but still no satisfactory result." Naruhiko slammed the desk and stood up in excitement.
"Please calm yourself down, sir. We"ve found the light and will be doing the real experiment soon. I"m here to buy some materials that are lacking. Can I get them now? I"ll pay using an international bank card." Elysia raised her palm. She didn"t want to talk too much because she was just there to buy something.
"Oh, yeah. Just take it. Think of it as a token of goodwill from us. Really, are you an alchemist? Why don"t you have a membership card despite having such a mysterious power and charm? It will only bring good fortune and a lot of conveniences if you also join us, regardless of whatever background you have. Oh no, I"d better talk to the Minamoto Clan immediately to coordinate on this n.o.ble task." Naruhiko put the wooden box on the table and pushed it towards Elysia. He then rubbed his hands together and hurried out of the room as if he had urgent business.
"..." Elysia didn"t know what to say. That old man talked like a train and left like the wind. However, she already got what she needed, and the business was over.
Rhea checked the contents of the wooden box and nodded.
"Tanabe Naruhiko-sama seems to be in such a hurry, but we should return soon. Please convey our grat.i.tude to him for this gift." Elysia stood up and said goodbye to the herbalist and the employee. She didn"t need a reason to accept such a freebie like this in the current situation.
"Ah, un, I"ll pa.s.s it on to Naruhiko-sensei." The herbalist nodded slightly and gave way for the customers to leave. She glanced at the employee briefly and then immediately went after her master.
"Ely, did that old man misunderstand something? Hey, you"re playing with words again, fufu~" Elena chuckled happily.
"I"m not lying, though? We"re a.s.sociated with the Minamoto Clan because of Erina, and we"re really going to make a cure for that VIrus-22 disease, right? We"d better hurry back to our temporary base." Elysia took Rhea"s hand and left the Alchemy a.s.sociation headquarters. They took a taxi home.
"Hmm?" Rhea felt that someone was monitoring their movements closely. She looked around and glanced at Elysia. Sure enough, she could tell that Elysia had sensed something odd.
"Rhea, we are targetted by three espers in the front area. They are preparing to ambush us." Elysia informed while looking far ahead.
"Driver-san, can you please slow down and turn right at the intersection over there?" Elysia asked the driver to take a detour.
Yet, the driver remained silent. He stepped on the gas pedal, and the taxi was traveling at speed far beyond the warning speed.
The taxi pa.s.sed through the intersection as if the driver didn"t care about pedestrian safety. He then glanced at the rearview mirror briefly before jumping out, rolling on the street and then running away.
*Crash* *Crash*
The taxi was. .h.i.t by a large tanker truck from the front and flanked by a semi-truck from behind, leaving no chance for the pa.s.sengers to survive.
*Boom* *Boom!*
The taxi was crushed and exploded. The fire grew more prominent and devoured the two trucks, then caused a more enormous explosion.