Chapter 154 – I Shall Never, Ever Let Go–!

"I will personally seize the control room, where the entire facility's data and operations are concentrated."

In the shadow of the supply containers, Priscilla calmly announced a change to the plan.

"Mr. Grain, Miss Letaria, please move to the lower section where the data management room is located. If I can take control of the control room, I should be able to send you the exact location of the data and support your route over comms."

"Directly hijack the control room...? Are you in your right mind?"

Grain asked, exasperated, but Priscilla paid it no mind and smiled softly.

"I am used to a bit of rough work, so please don't worry. ...But if I should fail, please prioritize retreating without hesitation."

Leaving those words behind, Priscilla, with a light movement as though melting into shadow, vanished alone toward the facility's upper floors.

◆◆◆

The two left behind, Grain and Letaria, followed Priscilla's words and advanced toward the lower section where the data management room was located.

In the vast interior of "Pick D4," automated patrol drones and heavily armed guards came and went for defense. But before Letaria's magical detection, even that defensive net was meaningless.

Two at that corner ... and one more up on the scaffolding ...

Letaria honed the magic within her body and picked up, in vivid detail, the "telltale beginnings of movement" and the guards' breathing, lurking beyond the walls. She instantly worked out a safe route and advanced through the blind spots, linking one patch of cover and darkness to the next.

"...That power of yours is dependable."

Grain murmured quietly, impressed. Thanks to Letaria's flawless guidance, the two continued to push deeper into the facility smoothly, without being caught by surveillance even once.

-- But along the way, in one corridor, Letaria's magical senses caught a single small presence.

That faint, almost-breaking breathing...!

It was the presence she had been feeling since yesterday -- the ash-gray-haired girl, Rofi. She was moving through a nearby, separate corridor, accompanied by someone.

Letaria's feet stopped dead.

"What is it, Letaria?"

Noticing the change, Grain turned around. Letaria bit her lip for an instant as if in conflict, but she soon resolved herself and looked at Grain.

"Grain, there is a place I must go."

Letaria said it, looking in the direction of the breathing.

"Is the girl from before here?"

Grain, understanding, asked her. Letaria closed her eyes for a moment.

"I cannot say for certain. But... I must find out."

Hearing Letaria's words, Grain sighed.

"You do understand, Letaria, this is enemy territory. There are no allies around. Are you prepared for that?"

At Grain's words, Letaria looked straight at him. And nodded firmly.

"...Understood. I'll take Milea's scolding with you."

"I am in your debt."

With that, Letaria broke into a run.

◆◆◆

Slipping into a shadowed spot where pipelines crisscrossed intricately, she looked down on a wide connecting passage on the lower level.

There she saw Rofi, walking with her small back hunched. Plain clothes that did not suit her thin body, downcast eyes. Surrounding her as they walked were several heavily armed guards and yesterday's ponytailed woman -- Carol.

It really is Rofi...! But there are too many people to approach carelessly...

Letaria held her breath and skillfully trailed after them from cover to cover, reading the tells in their breathing.

Every time she saw Rofi, her sister Rutiel's shadow, back in her original world, overlapped in Letaria's mind. She did not know why, but--

Before long, Rofi's group reached a section closed off by a heavy armored door. When the door slid open, a gentlemanly man in finely tailored clothes was waiting inside -- Findlay, an executive of Argria.

Just as Rofi was about to be handed over to Findlay--

"--You there. What are you doing? An intruder, I take it."

A clear voice suddenly called out from behind her.

Letaria spun around with a start. Standing there was a young man about her own age, with short-cut, vivid dark-green hair and a sharp, resolute face. Keen light dwelled in his eyes.

"What--?!"

She had been so focused on Rofi that she hadn't noticed. His step was so natural and efficient. At Letaria's startled voice, Carol, who had been reporting to Findlay up ahead, spun around quickly.

"What is it, Marei--"

Carol's eyes went wide in shock. For in the direction of the dark-green-haired young man -- Marei -- she had spotted a blond girl standing in the shadows.

"You... from the other day...?!"

And Rofi, who was beside Carol, slowly lifted her face as well. The instant her pale blue eyes caught sight of Letaria, Rofi's face, which until then had held no emotion, shook with an upheaval Letaria had never seen.

"Ria...?!"

Rofi's astonished voice fell from her in a murmur.

"A rat has slipped in. Seize her."

Findlay, grasping the situation, said coldly. Those words were the trigger: Marei and the guards all kicked off the ground at once and rushed furiously at Letaria.

I will not hesitate...!

Letaria turned her back on the men charging at her -- no. Instead, she kicked off the ground as if flung, straight into the middle of the enemy, toward the center where Rofi waited.

"What--are you insane?!"

Reading the trajectory of Marei's charging attack in advance with her magic, she dodged it by a hair with a minimal sway. Leaving the astonished Marei behind, she slid into the guard standing in her straight path and forcibly sent him flying.

The guards toppled before Letaria's powerful physique, which did not match her appearance.

All that conditioning with the Vigilante Corps had paid off!

She had merely learned how to move her body; she had not realized that the physical ability itself was something Letaria had possessed from the start. But precisely because of that, she was able to commit without holding back.

Letaria headed in a straight line for the ash-gray-haired girl.

"Rofi--!"

"Ria... look ou--"

Closing in at once on the crying-out Rofi, Letaria seized her slender arm firmly and, without hesitation, swept the small body up securely in both arms.

"Catch her! Don't let her get away!"

Carol's shout and the footsteps of Marei in pursuit closed in behind her. But Letaria, feeling Rofi's warmth in her hands and sensing her heartbeat, felt no fear.

"I shall never, ever let go--!"

Feeling the weight of Rofi in her arms against her chest, Letaria dove with all her strength down the passage ahead, leaving her pursuers behind as she ran.