[150]
Chris sorted out two seemingly identical sheets from the papers Yuri was holding.
He spread them side by side on the drafting board and carefully ran his hands over them.
‘Indeed, the texture is different.’
At first, he wasn’t sure. But when sunlight hit them, despite having the same thickness, the degree of light passing through was different.
The weight would also be slightly different.
Raising his head, Chris said with a confident voice,
“They’re not the same paper.”
“Really? Let me see.”
Reaching out, Yuri tore off corners of each paper, then took out a lighter and set them on fire.
The burning speed was quite different. Not only that, but the smell was different too.
“Indeed… it seems they processed drug ingredients into paper here.”
Yuri muttered, waving the paper fragments to extinguish the flames.
He felt both relief and displeasure at finding what they were looking for.
He had fought quite an exhausting battle. And these ruins were a space where the enemy had continuously produced soldiers.
Yet facing one of the enemy’s main bases, he felt empty.
Would he have been more satisfied if it had looked more presentable?
In this space that was once filled with the smell of freshly printed publications, only the scent of moldy furniture, moss, and dust remained.
The evil he had vaguely imagined had a more plausible appearance.
Researchers in white coats. Complex equipment with purposes difficult to guess, and money piled up like mountains.
But this place was just abandoned, collapsed ruins.
While Yuri was absorbed in his observations, Chris was slightly disturbed.
‘Someone’s coming.’
With that assessment, Chris pushed Yuri toward the wall.
There was a cabinet in that direction. Like most things here that were barely intact, this cabinet was missing its doors.
Thanks to that, though a bit cramped, the two could fit inside. Chris pushed Yuri deeper in and covered him from the outside.
He used telekinesis to move a cloth hanging by the window and let it drape naturally.
Yuri’s eyes, which had widened at the sudden movement, quickly regained composure.
Over Chris’s shoulder, the long curtain was swaying slowly, as if wind was blowing.
If only the white cloth was fluttering, it would certainly arouse suspicion. But Chris had ‘created’ wind.
Even the usually impassive Yuri couldn’t help but admire it.
‘Did he move the air with telekinesis?’
For a solution thought up in an instant, it was quite good.
Who would suspect that an S-class Esper and his Guide were hiding in this narrow cabinet? Especially that the Esper would create wind with his ability to obstruct the view?
Nature-type Espers with wind abilities were extremely rare. The few that existed were all deployed in inter-continental airship operations.
Moreover, mimicking wind like this when not even being a nature-type Esper was inefficient.
Without looking back at Yuri, Chris held up two fingers. It meant there were two people approaching.
“…Good. No one’s here.”
Just then, one of the people who entered spoke. It was a woman with a rather husky voice.
“Who would come to this abandoned place?”
What followed was a somewhat thinner voice.
“Let’s finish the job quickly.”
‘What job are they finishing?’
There was a sound of a sack being dragged. And the sound of some liquid being poured.
‘Petroleum!’
Chris met Yuri’s eyes.
He too seemed to have recognized the identity of that acrid smell, frowning.
The finger resting on Chris’s shoulder moved thoughtfully, tapping.
At Yuri’s movement, Chris tensed up.
Having reached a conclusion, Yuri made a fist, then opened it to signal, and showed three fingers.
‘Attack after counting to three.’
When Chris nodded, Yuri’s fingers reduced to two.
Suddenly, Chris thought that he was too close to Yuri.
Even though it was he who had pulled Yuri into this narrow space, he became conscious of it.
As he felt anxious about the warmth that felt somewhat inappropriate, the fingers reduced to one.
Creating a cold smile by lifting the corner of his mouth, the man pointed beyond.
“Go ask them, Chris.”
Chris gladly obeyed his master’s command.
“Who are you!”
He opened his mouth as if to identify the outsiders, but before Chris could speak, flames spread toward them.
However, the fire that opened its mouth wide as if to devour Chris, flicking its tongue, split in half. Chris immediately kicked off the ground and rushed forward.
Moving faster than the speed at which the fire was being pushed away, the hem of his clothes was singed, but he paid no attention.
Reaching the Esper, Chris gave no time to think twice and broke the opponent’s neck.
As the flames subsided, his enemy collapsed to the floor without even uttering a scream.
Though there was a thudding sound of someone falling behind him, Chris didn’t look back. He was already targeting his next prey.
He fiercely knocked away the lighter the other was holding using telekinesis. He pushed the oil they had spread on the floor to one side.
“You!”
The remaining woman roared at her companion’s death. When she kicked the floor, there was a sound of tiles being crushed.
This Esper’s ability seemed to be super strength.
Her body was quite agile too, as a fist flew toward Chris. Narrowly avoiding it, Chris raised his hand.
She struggled at the sensation of being choked, though no skin was touching her.
‘No, this isn’t choking.’
He was gripping her neck and lifting her up.
Just before her tiptoes left the ground, the woman crouched as much as possible, kicked the ground, and used that rebound to shoot upward.
Since Chris’s force was pulling her up, it was relatively easy to break free from his power.
The Esper, who had skillfully twisted her body toward the lighting she had already spotted, hung from it like riding a swing, then swung her body and hurled herself toward the ventilation fan on the side. The woman, who had used her strength to open the cover that was blocking the fan, threw it at Chris.
Using telekinesis to prevent the fragments from touching Yuri or himself, Chris grabbed the Esper’s ankle and pulled her down.
However, as if she had anticipated this, she grabbed the ventilation fan blade. It wasn’t ordinary strength.
As the connected wires came out in succession, the Esper used those electric wires to strangle Chris.
“Die! Die!”
At the opponent’s vicious curse, Chris lifted one corner of his mouth as if imitating Yuri.
Snap, crack.
As if touched by a sharp knife, the thick electrical wires were being cut.
It was at that moment the Esper threw her body backward.
Released from the restraint, Chris tilted his head and raised his hand.
The electrical wires that had been binding Chris until just now moved like snakes, wrapping around her ankles and binding her arms to her body.
“It’s better to stay still.”
Chris, wondering if his explanation was insufficient, added,
“Otherwise, I’ll have to crush all the bones in your body to prevent resistance.”
The Esper, who had tried to attack but was instead captured, gritted her teeth.
“Why did you kill my companion but keep me alive?”
It was still an unyielding, aggressive gaze.
“For questioning. That one seemed to have pyrokinesis… It would be troublesome if fires were set everywhere visible.”
The woman was left speechless at the face discussing efficiency even after killing someone.
“Who are you to handle people so roughly?”
In fact, the Esper already knew the answer.
A blonde handsome man appearing at an abandoned factory where no one comes.
It’s difficult to be certain with just that. But she had just been tossed around by an invisible force and been beaten.
It didn’t seem like she had any chance of winning even if she continued fighting.
A telekinetic of that level with platinum blonde hair—there was only one such person.
Chris Danil of the Winter Continent.
‘They said he might come to the Spring Continent.’
“You attacked first.”
Chris spoke in a flat tone.
“When wandering in dangerous areas, if you hear someone approaching, you can’t help but be on edge. Isn’t that right?”
As Chris was about to refute that, it happened.
“Thorns Order.”
Yuri, who appeared behind Chris, spoke in a whisper-like voice.
“We came knowing everything, so there’s no need to pretend.”
Yuri was holding the sack that this special visitor had dragged in.
With a flick of his hand, Chris took out a knife from his pocket and handed it to Yuri.
“It’s not Christmas, but a gift makes me excited.”
Though his voice was impassive, his gaze was clear.
Twirling the knife once, Yuri cut the string binding the sack and opened its entrance.
Inside was a man with eyes closed as if dead.
His chest was rising and falling, but the pace was slow.
“Did you drug him to make him sleep?”
Yuri muttered.
Neither an Esper nor a Guide.
Yet someone the Thorns Order brought to such a remote area to kill.
‘Interesting.’
Yuri turned his gaze to the pale Esper.
She was a person who had been quite bold, looking only for the next opportunity even when being choked by Chris.
But seeing her so pale now, it seemed that the person in this sack was quite an important figure.
“I’d like to hear… who this person is and why he almost got burned alive.”
It was a rather gentle tone.
But those violet eyes looking at her were chilling.
‘If there’s a man with purple eyes who has Chris Danil by his side and acts so politely… then that person is…’
Yuri Sobolev.
Without hesitation, the Esper used her tongue to push out a poison pill she kept in her teeth.
‘I’d rather bite this and die…!’
“Guh!”
At the moment of her decision, strength suddenly drained from her body. It felt as if power was being squeezed out of her body, almost to the point of going berserk.
The woman was confused by this sensation she had never experienced before.
Without moving a finger, Yuri blocked the opponent’s movement with reverse guiding and whispered.
“I’m sorry, but it would be inconvenient if you died now.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
