#33. Depletion

Since deciding to save the people.

After walking quite a bit, the castle’s main gate was, at last, visible to the naked eye.

“I suppose waltzing through the front gate isn’t exactly an option, huh?”

[Correct.]

The firm voice deflated my spirits a little.

If not the main gate, then how? Things just became more complicated.

“…”

For a moment, the thought occurred to me.

Wouldn’t it be better to just turn back and alert the Empire to their location?

But that’s the wrong answer.

Who knows what might happen in the meantime?

It wouldn’t be long before the Mind faction realized I’d escaped.

Unless they were a collection of imbeciles, they’d move their base or prepare.

Having already escaped, *now* is the time to rescue them, if I’m going to do it at all.

“Wait.”

Come to think of it, a staggering number of Mained had come to the Academy.

Even if not ‘all,’ ‘most’ would be gone from here.

“How many are inside?”

[ If you’re talking about Mained, exactly twenty. ]

Could I manage this?

If it’s just twenty, couldn’t I handle it somehow, alone?

I made up my mind.

“Let’s go.”

I start walking confidently toward the front gate.

Walk a bit, then veer off. And hop the wall located far from the gate.

Followed by a stable landing.

“Whew,”

As expected, I could manage it.

With just twenty, I could get in without being detected.

“Fighting’s not really my thing anyway.”

Of course, I have my large and beautiful magitech anti-gravity shotgun, but the opponents are criminals.

One versus twenty is a bit much.

As expected, a barred window.

I examined the inside of the window, confirmed no one was there, then destroyed the bars with the shotgun’s output lowered.

I vault through the window and into the room… I succeeded in infiltrating.

Barely escaped and I’m already going back in, what kind of situation is this, but there’s no other way.

It’s the best I can do for now.

“Looks like someone’s room.”

A snuffed-out candle and a small bed are visible. Does this organization provide room and board? Imagining Mained eating and sleeping here made me chuckle a little.

I carefully opened the door a crack and peered outside.

“……”

Someone was walking around.

A plain white mask. Looking closely, it was the guy I saw earlier.

Why is he here?

“Gotta get some sleep soon…”

I heard him mutter.

Could he really be eating and sleeping here?

…In a room like this?

I felt a pang of pity.

But that was fleeting.

[ He’s coming this way? ]

“Damn it…”

I adjust the shotgun’s power output to maximum. Load a safety round, then aim at the closed door.

The moment that door opens, I’m firing.

My heart pounded hard. A sign of tension.

“······?”

The sound of a door opening. Right next door.

“······.”

Lowering my gun, I left the room.

I glanced at the adjacent room for a moment before starting to search for the stairs.

The stairwell wasn’t hard to find. Just went to the end of the corridor, and there it was.

The peculiar structure of a small castle. Stairs designed to spiral upwards, stretching above my head.

And then a sound.

Thump-thump-thump.

[ This is it for real, Rain. ]

The sound of someone rushing down the stairs. Faint, ragged breaths could be heard as well.

As if some urgent matter had arisen.

If there was a ‘urgent matter’ that just happened, it would be only one thing.

My escape had been discovered.

Caught faster than I thought. I assumed they weren’t bothering with surveillance…

I held my breath and stood behind the stairwell entrance.

The sound grew closer, and I finished my preparations.

Slam.

The door flew open roughly.

A ‘Mine’ burst out.

Swinging the rifle butt with all my strength.

Thwack.

I twisted the Mine’s jaw with the rifle butt.

A small noise – a muffled *ukk* – and the Mine collapsed, unconscious.

“This one doesn’t have a mask.”

[ The guys with the masks are the higher-ups. ]

“The other one too, from earlier?”

[ Probably. ]

“Then this guy must be the one on watch.”

I felt like I understood the situation.

The commanding officer, having explained everything, was overcome with exhaustion and went to sleep, while the subordinate, saddled with the chore of surveillance, discovered my disappearance and rushed to report it. Since magic couldn’t be used in this place, there was no way to communicate remotely, and the only means of transport was the stairs, so he ran on foot, and ran into me.

Something like that.

“Well, did a good deed, I guess.”

He must have been really tired from running.

He needs a rest.

I wedged the unconscious Mine into a corner of the stairwell.

I didn’t have anything to tie him up with, and I didn’t feel like killing him.

Therefore, a time limit had been set. I had to rescue the two kidnapped people before this guy woke up.

“What floor are the kidnapped people on?”

[ Top floor. ]

“······Understood.”

It strikes me anew, not being able to use magic is incredibly inconvenient.

I started climbing the stairs, one step at a time.

It was a damn slog, but nothing else happened.

Almost tripped a couple of times though······. Still, I made it to the top floor unscathed.

“Whether to call this good or not······.”

Like I said before, most of the personnel are concentrated at the Academy. Reduced surveillance was inevitable.

The only reason I can be here at this time is because I was kidnapped during the Academy’s attack.

Meaning, if I hadn’t been kidnapped, I wouldn’t have been able to save anyone.

“······.”

It’s ambiguous, as always.

Is it a good thing, or a bad thing?

I don’t know.

“First, let’s save the people.”

[That would be for the best. See the door at the end? Let’s hurry, since we’re two together.]

Following Akasha’s words, I started walking straight ahead.

And then.

The door right next to me burst open.

Revealing a woman wearing a mask.

Wait a minute.

Isn’t that one of the executives?

“Shit, I’m screwed······.”

“You, you are······.”

“Let’s get you some sleep first.”

Without even thinking, I fired the shotgun.

It was a kind of instinct, to get out of the situation.

*Boom.*

The shot hit the woman’s torso, sending her flying into the wall.

She slumped down, seemingly unconscious.

“Huh?! That woman’s missing an arm?!”

[You didn’t cut it off.]

“Well, yeah, I guess not. I shot her, after all.”

Something about that doesn’t quite make sense, but whatever.

“Ugh······.”

The sight of her unconscious and missing an arm was pretty grotesque.

Of course, she’s a demon, so it’s not my problem. I closed the door again and ran towards where the people were being held.

The door was, of course, locked, with no less than three padlocks on it.

The lengths they went to imprison them almost made me laugh.

Needless to say, with a shotgun, padlocks are nothing to me.

The shotgun blast to the doorknob pulverizes the locks in one go.

Satisfied, I grin and push the door open, revealing two individuals in a truly wretched state.

“H-Heep!”

“W-We’ll get right to work! We’re so sorry for slacking off…!!”

Terrified folk.

I could guess well enough what sort of treatment they’d been subjected to.

“Relax. I’m here to rescue you.”

I reassured them, then questioned Akasha.

‘There’s a place here specifically for using magic, right?’

[Oh? How’d you figure that out?]

‘They attacked from the sky. There’s no way that many people flew here, they must’ve used spatial jump magic, no?’

[Sharp.]

If I could find that place, escape would be a cinch.

I could just use spatial jump magic to get out.

[Except, you can’t use spatial jump magic.]

“Huh?”

Akasha put a damper on things.

“…Why can’t I?”

[Not enough total mana. You’d need about three more of you to use spatial jump magic.]

“Professor was throwing it around like nothing.”

[That’s just because Rachel is a freak.]

“…”

This is a problem.

How do I get out of here?

“U-Um… Are you really here to rescue us?”

The man with glasses asked.

I plastered on the most affable smile I could manage and answered.

“Of course. Now, relax and follow me.”

The man’s expression soured.

Why?

“Y-Your expression is far too suspicious…”

“…”

Is there a mirror around here?

I can’t see my own face, so I have no idea what’s going on.

“Well, either way, you don’t exactly have anyone else to trust, do you?”

I drew my magic sword and rested it on my shoulder.

“Come along peacefully, and there won’t be any bloodshed.”

If they don’t trust me, I’ll just have to resort to threats. I never was good at persuasion.

“Heeek…!!”

The woman in the back was watching quietly, but this man seemed even more terrified than before, and backed away.

“Honestly, if I tell you to follow, just follow nice and quiet…”

“Behind, behind you!!”

“Behind us?”

He glanced where the man was pointing.

There, at the stairwell entrance, stood a masked Demon, surrounded by dozens of his underlings, all staring right at them.

Ah, busted.

“…”

Should have just kept walking.

Nothing goes right, nothing ever goes right.

Activating the magic sword, I started walking towards the Demons.

“You messed with the wrong guy. You know that?”

Scary.

Dozens of criminals! How could a regular guy like me not be scared?

But I had powerful backup.

In my left hand, an anti-gravity shotgun.

In my right, the magic sword.

No one could stop me.

*Click.*

*Tick.*

*Tssshhh….*

And then the magic sword stopped working.

“Uh.”

The shotgun, same deal.

“This…”

Out of Mana Stones.