Chapter 330 Operation Execution
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Around the time people had gone quiet in sleep, a little before Espera checked the bundle of papers Neil had translated in her room, Niya, Momoka, and Jott waited for the signal to begin the operation in the different space passage beneath the frontier settlement.
”Niya, not yet?”
”No word from Iko yet”
”Muu…”
”Don’t get so worked up, rushin’ ain’t gonna get us anywhere good”
”But we’ve been here forever, and all the dried meat I brought is gone”
Saying that, Momoka rustled the now-empty palm-sized hemp sack, and Jott pinched his nose.
”Idiot, cut it out! If you do that, the spice smell soaked into the bag’s gonna spread, y’know!?”
”Does it smell that much?”
”My nose is sensitive, alright? If I get a whiff of dried meat covered in spices, it feels like my nose is gonna get ripped off”
”You lot, even if it has not started yet, show at least some tension… hm?”
”! Is it here?”
”Wait a moment”
Niya stopped Momoka and fell silent, and Niya falling silent was proof that she was using telepathy. After that state continued for about thirty seconds, perhaps because the telepathy had ended, Niya opened her mouth.
”I received word from Iko, she says we may infiltrate”
”Finally”
”However, there is a caution. When Estesia-san probed for magic power, she said the Inquisitor has not moved for thirty minutes, but is still awake”
”Stayin’ up till this hour, what a diligent bastard. But if she’s awake, wouldn’t waitin’ until she sleeps be safer? There is even a chance she’ll come check on the Lycus she captured before goin’ to bed, right?”
”There is no need to worry on that point, apparently the Inquisitor is on the second floor, and they will contact us immediately if she leaves the room”
”Second floor, huh, then I guess we’re fine”
Jott accepted that, thinking that from the second floor, it would be easy enough to retreat into different space before she came down to the basement.
”Then I’ll open the entrance”
As if to say she had been waiting for this, Momoka took out from her breast pocket a wooden board carved with the formula for different space magic. This was separate from the one Neil kept, and was something Estesia had prepared after reading the magic book on different space magic.
When Momoka poured her own Origin into the formula for different space magic, an inky-black entrance appeared in the passage wall.
”Pitch-black”
”Well, yeah, it’s a basement, course it’s dark… whoa”
Jott stepped into the darkness without the slightest hesitation, and Momoka followed after him.
”Then I shall remain here as the relay. I leave it to you both”
”Mm, leave it to us”
”Yeah”
The entrance to the different space closed, and the two began moving in the darkness.
”Now then, is this the cell where that Lycus is caught? The lock is… yeah, course it’s locked. This is the peephole, huh, let’s see”
”It’s this dark, but you can see so well”
”Ain’t just my ears and nose, my night vision works too. Heeey, you awake?”
This was a sealed basement, and no one was on the first floor, so Jott figured it would be fine if he raised his voice a little as he called into the cell through the peephole.
”Heeey, Fo… what was it again? Fo, Fo… x?”
”…Getting someone’s name wrong is rude, you know”
A languid voice echoed from the darkness, followed by the sound of someone shifting with a rustle.
”Who are you people”
”The guys who came to help ya”
”Help? What are people who are not Lycus doing – wait, what are you? Why do you smell like my kind?”
At those words from Forutis, Jott openly showed his surprise.
”Seriously? Purebloods can tell race by smell?”
”Pureblood? Then that means you are…”
”My grandpa was a Lycus, y’see, and just a little bit of that blood shows in me. Though I ain’t got fangs or a tail, and compared to normal folks, my five senses are just a bit sharper, that’s all”
”Why is someone like that in the frontier settlement”
”…Lots of reasons, lots”
In response to Forutis’s question, after a momentary silence as if hesitating, Jott answered in a murmur, then turned only his head back to look at Momoka.
”By the way, the key’s really gonna be fine, right?”
”It’s fine, looks like she’s going to get the key now”
”It’s in progress right now…? No, I guess if she’d stolen the key in advance, that’d cause more trouble”
If Espera noticed the key had been stolen, there was a possibility she would immediately become wary of those trying to make Forutis escape and take some kind of countermeasure. In that case, even if it was a little forceful, stealing the key right beforehand and rescuing Forutis before they were found out would probably still have a better chance of success.
”It sounds like a very slapdash operation”
”Well, yeah. Me, I only got told about this at noon today. Hell, I only learned you existed then too”
”Really, why is someone like that in the underground dungeon?”
At the same question as before, though with a slightly changed nuance, Jott scratched his head in trouble.
”If ya ask me why, all I can say is I got dragged into it. I don’t know you, and I ain’t ever met this stepsister of yours either. If I had to say, it’s because the folks I’m close to said they were gonna help you, so I’m cooperatin’”
”…Why are those people trying to help me?”
”For your stepsister and the Prodigy of Atmiras, I guess. That guy is way too much of a soft touch. He can’t leave troubled folks or sufferin’ folks alone. Since they were saved like that, maybe they came to want to save somebody else the same way”
”……”
The inside of the cell was pitch-black, and from the peephole with its limited field of view, even with Jott’s night vision, he could not see how Forutis was reacting. As Jott waited for Forutis’s response in the silence, Momoka called out to him.
”Jott”
”Hang on, I get that you’re impatient, but let me talk a bit more. The key ain’t here yet anyway, so it’s fine, right?”
”No, that’s not it, the door, it’s already open”
”Oh, is that right, then we’ll continue this after we get out of… here? Huh? Nnnnnnngh!?”
Unable to keep up with Momoka’s words, Jott let out a strange cry, then after a beat, gave a wry smile.
”Hey, hey, makin’ a joke like that, were you tryin’ to lighten the mood? You don’t gotta go outta your way to be that considerate-“
-Clank
”…Huh?”
Thinking there was no way, he reflexively put his hand on the cell door and tried opening it. There was the dull, heavy resistance unique to an iron door, but there was no resistance like the lock catching, and when he pushed the door forward as it was, the door opened all too easily.
”Huh? Why”
Although Estesia was watching for them, Jott was not so careless as to drop his guard completely. He had been paying at least some attention to his surroundings, and if someone had entered the basement, he should have noticed. Even if he had failed to notice that, Jott had been stuck to the door, so if someone had unlocked it at his side, there was no way he should have missed it. Yet in reality, without even Jott noticing, the door had been unlocked, and the jail meant to confine Forutis had become unable to fulfill its role.
(For some reason I didn’t notice it, but there’s a new smell from someone I don’t know. Is this smell a woman? I feel like I’ve smelled it somewhere before, but…)
”Jott, the door is open too, so hurry”
”Hm? Ah, yeah, you’re right. This takes priority right now”
Pushing his doubts into a corner of his mind, Jott stepped into the cell. Forutis, who was inside, stiffened and took a stance. Though she showed the will to resist, Forutis’s body would not obey her because of the Magic Tool fitted around her neck, and she was barely in a state where she could stand.
”Knock it off. You ain’t in any shape to move properly, right? We came here to help you in the first place, y’know?”
”If it means being helped by that man’s lackeys, then I will stay here…!”
”Hnn? That man’s lackeys, you got some grudge against the Prodigy of Atmiras or somethin’?”
”Gh…!”
(Hmm, from that reaction, it feels less like a grudge and more like she’s bein’ stubborn about somethin’)
”Jott”
”I know, I know. I ain’t plannin’ on dawdlin’ here when the door’s open. Talkin’ comes later. Momoka, lend me that empty bag from earlier”
”Wait, what are you… mghh!?”
Jott approached Forutis, caught Forutis as she tried to back away, shoved the hemp sack into her mouth and made her bite it so she could not speak, then hoisted her up.
”Alright, we’re escapin’”
”Roger”
”Mmmm!”
Giving up on persuading her, the two forcibly recovered Forutis and returned to the underground passage of different space, where Niya greeted them with a frown.
”We’re back… wait, why’re you makin’ that face?”
”If you want the reason, ask Momoka”
”Hm? Did somethin’ happen?”
”She’s mad because I didn’t come back right away when Espera came down to the first floor”
”Hah!? The Inquisitor came down!? Hey, I didn’t hear about that. What the hell happened?”
”It seems the Inquisitor had a visitor, and she went down to the first floor to deal with them. I told Momoka to withdraw for the time being just in case, but…”
”Because if her goal wasn’t to come to the basement, I thought it would be okay”
”What were you going to do if she had headed straight to the basement on those feet? There was a high chance that by the time Estesia-san told me, and I told Momoka, it would not be in time, you know?”
”Muu… but it was okay”
”Just because the result was good does not mean… hah, I suppose this is no time to argue here. We will move her to a safe place before the escape is discovered – wait”
”What’s wrong, Niya?”
”What’s wrong is my line, why is that woman unconscious?”
””Huh?””
At Niya’s words, the two looked at Forutis, who was being carried, and there Forutis was, eyes rolled back, unconscious.
”Jott, don’t tell me you pushed the bag all the way down her throat”
”No, I didn’t shove it that deep!? She shoulda been able to breathe through her nose even if her mouth was blocked”
As he said that, Jott pulled the cloth out of Forutis’s mouth, put his hand to her mouth, and felt air hit his palm.
”Good, she’s breathin’, and it doesn’t look like she suffocated. Then why did she pass out?”
”Did you choke her while carrying her?”
”I didn’t choke her. All I did was stuff this empty bag in her mouth and – ah”
There Jott realized. What would happen if he shoved this bag, soaked with the smell of dried meat that had been heavily spiced, into the mouth of a Lycus whose nose was probably even better than his own? Even for him, just smelling it nearby had made it feel like his nose would be ripped off, so it would not be strange if a Lycus fainted just from smelling it.
”……Well, it’s easier to carry her if she’s unconscious, so let’s call it good”
”Even if that is good now, will it not be trouble after she wakes up?”
”We’ll think about later later”
Jott turned his eyes away from reality at Niya’s calm jab. Thus, carrying the unconscious Forutis, the three moved to the meeting point with Estesia and the others. When they opened an entrance in different space and went outside, they were in the forest in the southern part of the frontier settlement.
”You finally came, I was getting tired of waiting”
”Yahoo, good work, all three of you”
”Thanks for keepin’ watch on your end too. Where’re we movin’ from here?”
”There is another different space farther south from here. We plan to hide her in a hut inside that different space until things cool down”
”Got it. But is that place far? I gotta ask you to spare me a long-distance move while carryin’ someone”
”Relax, from here Momoka will carry you”
”I see, then that’s a relie – hm? You??”
Immediately after Jott voiced his question, Momoka, her hair dyed Crimson, came out from behind him carrying a hemp sack packed with Gioniium.
”Sia, ready”
”I see, then I will cling to your back, so please take that man and her”
”Roger”
”Hey, wait, I got a bad feelin’ about this… wait, why are you carryin’ me under your arm too!?”
”Jott, don’t flail your arms and legs too much, they might tear off”
”Tear off!?”
”Hehehe, then Momoka, full speed to the destination, if you please!”
”Why do you sound so happy about th”Roger”iiiiiiiiiiis!?”
”Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
Immediately after Momoka took one step forward, Jott’s scream of terror and Estesia’s delighted shriek echoed through the forest. For the several dozen seconds until Momoka reached their destination, the two continued screaming until their voices nearly gave out, in completely opposite ways but at about the same volume.
Incidentally, the two screams reached the ears of some people who had gone out hunting in the night forest, and in the frontier settlement, a rumor would spread that “in the night forest, there appears a monster that lets out a strange roar that sounds like both a man and a woman, and both terrifying and joyful.”
Around the time Jott and Estesia were racing through the forest on Momoka’s homemade roller coaster, one girl was running through the streets of the frontier settlement as if fleeing.
”Hahii! I, I can’t anymore! This is so hard… cough, cough”
Perhaps she had run all the way here at full speed, because she dropped to her knees on the spot, gasping for breath as she tried to steady it.
(Uuuugh, I can’t believe I was asked to take the key from the pocket of the Theocracy’s Inquisitor I had only heard rumors about. They were scary people exactly like the rumors said, and even if I am a Mors, I don’t have enough lives for thiiis!)
The one screaming from her soul inside her mind was Liana, employee of the Harvest Hoe, manager of the frontier settlement’s inn, and Golarf’s adopted daughter.
Momoka, who knew that Liana had the ability to make it so others could not recognize her existence, had asked her to steal the cell key from Espera’s pocket. At first, Liana had accepted too easily, saying, “That sort of thing is my specialty, so leave it to me and consider yourself on a big ship!” but once she actually saw the rumored Inquisitor, she shrank back before the Inquisitor’s aura, which was clearly different from an ordinary person’s.
Even so, she somehow picked the key without being exposed, and just as she felt relieved that she had gotten past the biggest hurdle, it happened.
”……?”
Espera, who had been looking down at the wooden box in her hands until then, suddenly raised her face and began looking around.
”My imagination?”
”Gh!!”
It was not that she had noticed Liana’s existence. To go further, at that moment Espera did not even have the idea in her head that there was an intruder. Merely the tiniest slight sense of wrongness made Espera direct her attention to her surroundings.
Liana’s ability as a Mors was extremely powerful, but multiple methods existed to see through it, and the simplest was to be conscious of a person’s presence. By consciously considering whether someone unrecognizable might be there, one could break through a Mors’s recognition obstruction. If a watcher had not visited Espera midway at that time, Espera would have brought the existence of an intruder into her awareness from that faint wrongness, and would have recognized Liana’s existence.
Incidentally, the reason Liana returned the key to the outer pocket rather than the inner pocket was that when she returned after unlocking the cell, the watcher and Espera were speaking with an atmosphere that felt ready to explode, and in a situation where they were both wary of one another, she simply did not have the courage to stick her hand into Espera’s breast pocket again.
(No matter how much Momoka-chan asks me, I am never sneaking into the Clinic again! )
”Hah… I’m tired today. Next time, I need to have Momoka-chan treat me to a meal”
Thus, the greatest contributor to this rescue operation returned home without anyone knowing, thinking about the meal she would make Momoka treat her to.
—
Summary:
Moving under cover of night, Niya, Momoka, and Jott begin the rescue operation and extract Forutis from the basement cell. The door turns out to have been unlocked by Liana, whose Mors ability lets her slip past recognition, though Espera nearly senses her anyway. Momoka then carries the group through the forest at terrifying speed, creating a new local monster rumor. Liana escapes exhausted after returning the key, but Espera’s near-detection remains an unresolved variable.
—
Trivia:
1. Estesia can monitor Espera’s magic power and relay movements through Niya and Momoka.
2. Jott has partial Lycus blood from his grandfather, granting sharper senses and night vision but no fangs or tail.
3. Pureblood Lycus can apparently identify kin by scent.
4. Forutis resists rescue because she believes the rescuers are tied to the Prodigy of Atmiras.
5. The cell door was not opened by the main rescue pair, but by Liana acting unseen.
6. The spice-soaked dried meat bag knocks Forutis unconscious because Lycus noses are extremely sensitive.
7. Momoka’s Crimson hair and Gioniium supply signal her high-speed transport mode.
8. Jott and Estesia’s screams become the source of a frontier settlement monster rumor.
9. Liana works at the Harvest Hoe, manages the frontier settlement inn, and is Golarf’s adopted daughter.
10. Mors recognition obstruction can be broken by consciously suspecting an unseen person is present.
11. Espera almost noticed Liana from only a tiny inconsistency, showing how dangerous she is.
12. The author note says the story will shift viewpoints chronologically before returning to Neil.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Espera – A crisp-tongued, brutally honest middle-rank Pentis Inquisitor in black vestments who serves the Theocracy in a frontier town. Though she charges high fees to fund aid and holds individual discretionary power, she is currently hiding a captured Lycus. The object of Forutis’s hatred, she quietly assesses Bearty before departing, and once gave Neil a police notebook and memo pad for translation.
• Momoka – A quiet, expressive outworlder and the strongest associate of Ms. Niya, this young woman possesses Azure power and serves as a translator alongside Neil. She approaches historical texts with a casual, modern perspective and shares a close bond with Neil, observing his hidden emotions with deep concern. Aware of his ihomono status, she absorbed the MC’s Crimson and suggests a hidden helper for the rescue.
• Jott – A cynical hunter and member of Harmon’s group, Jott first appears in Chapter 221. He utilizes sharp senses from his Lycus ancestry for reconnaissance and communication, while serving as Iko’s grounded foil. Though cynical, he contributes to combat and defense with decent fighting skills and limited magic abilities.
• Neil – An analytical Empire noble, outworlder, and “Prodigy of Atmiras,” this young man hides his ihomono identity while serving as a translator with unique space magic. Balancing managing a frontier settlement with decoding records of Masayoshi Sudo and Seiji via modern knowledge, he works alongside Lady Niya and Momoka to navigate social divides and uncover the sinister reality of the summoning system.
• Niya – An elegant, skeptical elf and former captain, Niya leads the Ihomono group beyond the frontier. Using telepathy and sensory-sharing limited to fellow outworlders, she maintains a stern, protective focus on security. She carefully monitors Seiji’s records, provides formal oversight and care intervention for Neil, and harbors deep structural suspicion regarding Frau’s past.
• Iko – An outworlder loli with light purple hair and part of the ‘Ihomono’ group, she uses gravity manipulation to scout from above. Pragmatic and observant, she notes the settlement’s weak security but remains unconcerned due to self-reliance, prioritizing daily comforts like requesting a bath. She casually pulls Jott into her plans.
• Estesia – Also called Sia; a calculating Pordhail tactician who leads rescue planning and wields a flame blade.
• Forutis – Female Lycus beastman with grey hair, arrow‑fast movement, animal ears and a hidden tail under a heavy robe. She possesses superhuman sight, hearing and a keen sense of smell, and protects Bearty as a younger sister, currently tracking a scent from a letter he sent while searching for her missing sister.
• Foru – Foru-tis is a female Lycus beastman with grey hair, animal ears, and a hidden tail under a heavy robe. Possessing superhuman senses and arrow-fast movement, she fiercely protects her sister-in-law, Betty. While tracking a scent from Betty’s letter to find her missing sister, Foru-tis was captured by Espera and is currently held in the clinic’s basement.
• Atmiras – The Atmiras family name, a high-ranking lineage of Counts currently headed by Dirac and featuring the heir Neil.
• Sia – A guard with unparalleled mana-sensing abilities. She wears a sheer negligee and displays exhibitionist tendencies. She is obsessed with Neil and enjoys the risk of being caught during intimate acts.
• Mors – Female. A girl being mentored by Golarf. She struggles to control her powers, similar to her ancestors. Golarf is deeply invested in her well-being and development.
• Liana – Gibbett’s habitually late employee, assigned to manage a non-stock store in the settlement. Appearance, short wavy brown hair, bright green eyes, flushed cheeks, gray tunic with firm emblem, dark trousers, boots. Bonds with Gaadhir’s family, has four siblings, shares camaraderie with Gaadhir after surviving Glayna’s teasing.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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