章 71: The Moonwind Swordsman’s Perspective (3)
Harmony had split the plan into stages: Scouting, Recon, Scanning, Predicting, then Infiltration.
I asked why there were so many steps before actually getting inside the residence before us. It was only a normal mansion similar to Angelica's that was, for some odd reason, located outside the village. I had visited quite a few times myself!
And the answer I got was with a slap to the head:
"Are you an idiot? If Fire Specialists are temperamental by nature, then Dark Specialists are secretive and cunning. From what I've seen while I was with you: No matter how they try to hide their thoughts, it can't hide their guarded mindsets."
"That doesn't explain anything."
"It DOES. Do you think there aren't any defensive measures put up? The servants she had walking around even have Intrinsic Arts." These words made cold sweat role down my back in anxiety.
"How many?"
"Eight of them in total."
"Your brother's words seem to make more sense now." I remembered back to what he said at dawn.
That faceless monstrosity that called itself a 'God' seemed really eager in calling out my 'destiny'.
I'm destined for death? Yeah right! There's no way I'd die after becoming so much stronger than I was a month ago. The spike in my overall battle prowess isn't something that can be ignored!
I am confident that no matter what abilities Dorothy pulls out, I'll be able to deal with it even while struggling, but dealing with EIGHT people with Intrinsic Arts...? THAT is a recipe for death!
"Your right. Have fun passing on."
"Aren't you at least going to deny it...?!"
"You're the one bringing it up. You wimp. What do you think I was doing this whole month?"
"Training with me to get stronger?"
"A good fifth of my consciousness was sent out to do other things while I was training with you."
"You mean..." My face paled when I realised that meant Harmony's reaction time was stunted by a tiny margin that made a world's worth of difference in an actual fight. This was a little awkward...
Why was Harmony so good at close combat anyway? What were her limits? I wonder...
"So I have to scout first?" Moving on, I decided to get ready to do the kind of scouting I'm used to.
As a Wind Specialist, it was normal for the person with the fastest feet to check ahead of my team.
"Sit the heck down!" Harmony's firm tone made me stop everything I was about to do and be obedient.
"Scouting is for those who have mastery of espionage in these kinds of situations. You might have fast feet but you're nowhere near the level of avoiding detection of Dark Specialists." Now that I thought about it, her words made a lot of sense.
"But you aren't adept in Shadowlight Mana as well..." Even as a Beast, she hadn't been born for long. At least I could now superimpose Moonlight Mana onto my Windlight Mana for better stealth.
"..." She gave me a look as if I was an idiot.
"...What?"
"..." Her silence continued as she looked to the sky as if asking why I wasn't born more intelligent.
Hey! I can practically read your thoughts, ya know!
"What do you think I am?"
"It doesn't matter if you're a Shadow Clone."
"Bob." She looked into my eyes and put her finger on her lips, then said in an almost teasing tone:
"A 'Shadow' is best hidden in the moonlight." As those words entered my ears, she disappeared.
Like a puff of smoke, she vanished into thin air. The only thing left behind was a shadow that quickly melded into the surroundings and no longer appeared in my sights. It was hard for me to figure out that she was heading towards the mansion.
'Are you already close?' I asked through our 'link'.
'Of course, looks like there's are a lot of traps on the premises. Don't worry, I am disarming them.'
'You live up to your name as the Bullet Goddess!'
"Do not talk to me about that. That jerk COULD have made my gun my proof of Divinity, but he had to make it the bullet instead...!' There was a lot of reluctance in her tone as she scoffed angrily.
'It feels like you are making a big deal. Who cares if it is the bullet or the gun?' From the information she sent me, it doesn't seem that bad. The bullet is a projectile while the 'gun' is just a contraption.
'How am I supposed to use my Divine Arts using a mere bullet? At the gun could let shoot stuff.' I had to agree with this part though, these 'guns' did seem pretty great. From what I heard in a pub, the development of these kinds of weapons had stopped in ancient times thanks to people seeing no future in projectile weapons like bayonets.
Even F Rank Magical Talents knew how to shoot projectiles just like 'bullets', so the focus of the nation focused more on bigger and larger artillery instead. Swordsmen were valued because of this.
But after seeing the memories she in her 'original world' where artillery was hundreds of times more advanced than our own, I started to feel that I would be holding a gun right now if they hadn't given up in developing firearms even further.
Did she ever tell me about this beforehand? Well even if she did, I probably wasn't paying attention.
After all, everything about Harmony went against common sense. It was best to not think about the things I couldn't see... Anyway, I too can't wrap my head around that weird monstrosity called Enigma.
'Is that guy REALLY your brother?'
'Why ask?'
'You look nothing alike.'
'...He has no face for you to judge.'
'That is my point exactly. You look nothing alike.'
'I am sure I had already about him being a Eclipse God. Why bring it up when I have sent the details?'
'...' I didn't know I'd I should tell her this. What I'm thinking of is just a wild theory, a conjecture.
'Tell me what is on your mind.' Since I had a lot of time as I waited for her to finish scouting, I spoke:
'The Will of the Divine Swords.'
'Pardon?'
'They had the Will to destroy and protect, right? It must have been a mirrored situation for both Druids and Fiends at the time. There Divine Swords were a symbol of protection and destruction.'
'Get to the point.'
'What I am trying to say is: Did he inherit the Will to protect Druids and Fiends, or to protect them?' I could feel a spine tingling horror from Harmony's heart as I ended my sentence, but she stayed silent. The cold wind breezed past in the night.
'That is just a theory. You should not think of conjectures that might make others jump to conclusions. What would Enigma get from trying to kill both races? He is more sentient now.' She defended him while ending this subject abruptly.
'There is other things to think about now. I have disarmed a certain portion of the tracks on the roof I am going to send you. Follow those coordinates and meet up with someone I had hired temporarily.'
'What will you do in the meantime?'
'I saw someone interesting. He seems to know a lot about the biology of Beasts. I will meet up with you later.' I nodded my head to these words and didn't question who it was she had hired for this job.
Putting aside that she wasn't born with money, I don't think she has the connections to hire someone? Instead of asking her, I decided to go see who she was talking about myself. I followed the instructions she gave to get to a certain place.
I wasn't inside the mansion, but outside in the blindside where there wasn't any windows. There where Harmony had marked, a Darkwind Specialist who I was vaguely familiar with was waiting for me.
"It's great to see you again!" The man who attacked me before I met Angelica after so many years whispered politely. Alfred Boulevard, this person who was a full-fledged member of Cerberus, why was he helping us out?
"Why are you here?"
"Didn't your vassal tell you? I'm now officially putting myself in your 'Overlord Faction'."
"..." I feel like there is a lot I've missed out.
"Let's get down to business, shall we? We don't have time to catch up, so I will be quick and concise. The ones you have to watch out for after entering the mansion are the eight Lavender Octuplet sisters. They are under Mistress Dorothy's faction and are capable of sensing what happens to each other. I'm unsure of the nature of their Intrinsic Art but it is said that they are on par with Dark Ones in terms of survivability." As Alfred said these words, Harmony sent me more details.
I never knew there would be a day where I would be able to get filled in on context for things with such ease. That 'Harmonisation' ability of hers was practically cheating now that I see it fully in action.
Alfred shushed at me as he lead me through the mansion carefully. As both of us had similar Affinities to each other, we could find it easier to move in tandem without alerting those around us.
"Boulevard." I suddenly covered myself in Moonlight Mana and hid in the shadows made by the windows above me. I closed my eyes and let myself sink into the darkness as I eavesdropped:
"What are you doing here?" Despite Alfred himself not hiding, the servant didn't seem alerted.
"I felt like I saw a shadow."
"It is already nighttime, ya punk! You think there won't be shadows?" The man scoffed in response.
"...That wasn't what I meant." Even though Alfred said this, he seemed to have expected this outcome. This sly guy seemed to be a butler of Dorothy's 'Household' and a good opportunist.
"Stop messing around here and follow me."
"Is there anything happening tonight?" This sly guy seemed taken aback by the sudden request.
"The Mistress is finally ready to become the Shadow Overlord. As long as this experiment succeeds, then we can all hope to become the servants of Cerberus's new Fifth Head."
"Then lead the way." Alfred acted naturally and I followed along from above them in silence.
'Wait.' Harmony spoke through our connection.
'Anything wrong?'
'They have started to move in my direction.'
'What do you see?'
'Promise not to freak out.'
'I will not freak-'
'Just promise me already!' The graveness of her tone made him realise she wasn't messing around.
'I promise.' I patted my chest.
'Firstly, Dorothy is seemingly also a Dark One.' She was a Dark One as well? I thought only Angelica was a Head... This explains why even a random servant like the one I just saw gives off a suffocating feeling like he was extremely powerful.
This was surprising but not too much of a miscalculation that I would give up my daughter.
'Secondly, there seems to be a ritual going on that is being supervised by a man named Jordan Darby.'
'What kind of ritual is it?'
'They seem to have a corpse of a Fiend and are trying to pump its bone marrow into a Human in order to create an artificial Moon Specialist. I am dead sure that she is trying to become the Shadow Head that is supposed to be leading Cerberus.'
'Is being a Moon Specialist really important?'
'Those of Cerberus have been trained to unconditionally listen to and loyally protect the individual who surpasses the the ranks of a Dark One in order to become a Lunar One. If she is able to gain a Moon Affinity, she could one day become the next individual to become one with the moonlight.' She spoke in a wary tone of voice.
'Does that even matter?'
'She can overpower her sister in influence and hunt you down to give you another kid.' She warned.
'We must stop her!' That's NOT going to happen!
'With Alfred by our side, we can probably stop her from experimenting this procedure on-' Harmony suddenly stopped talking as if she said something she shouldn't have. This made me curious.
'On who?'
'Promise not to panic.'
'I already made a similar promise...'
'Just give me your word!' I could feel that she would probably be shaking my collar right now.
'I promise.' I said to her in a reliable tone.
'To continue on from before: Thirdly, your daughter is being restrained to a surgical table...'
クリエイターの想い 
FlowingWaves
FlowingWaves I’m going to take updating a little slower from now on as I realised the quality of my chapters have dropped lately due to the schedule I put up. I’ll still be updating, just at a slower rate to get this Arc done properly. Expect massive changes like last time at the end of this Arc and a change in location.
My advice for those wondering about where this story’s ‘plot’ is: Read it for characters. If not, you won’t enjoy this one bit. It’s written in a slice-of-life-ish way.