Chapter 116

Violet is plural.

If someone is focusing on weapon development while someone else organizes a special forces team for the academy city off the island. Others can handle their friends’ business.

The ability to do multiple tasks simultaneously gives us a peculiar sense of time that is different from ordinary people. It’s as if there’s no word that fits as well as “Violet” and “concurrency.”

So, here I am in the Central District.

On my way to the target location, I passed 12th Street in the Central District. It’s been about a day since the shooting incident occurred. The devastation from that day is still palpable.

Looking around, I see the floor shattered from an explosion and bullet marks scattered all over. Lifting my head reveals a completely charred penthouse, and looking down I can see police tape surrounding a 60-story building.

There are what appear to be forensic team members investigating the area for any suspicious evidence. In front of them, a reporter is broadcasting in front of a camera. They are surely covering yesterday’s incident.

“Whoever did this is really stupid. Having a shootout in broad daylight.”

“And they failed! Pathetic.”

Whoever started it ended up failing. Based on the level of Awakened Ones we turned to ashes or the mercenaries we hired, they must have lost quite a bit of money. It’s truly a sorrowful matter. With such excessive attention drawn, they wouldn’t be able to pull off something like this again for a while.

“I wonder what their objective was, assassination? Just looking at the destroyed penthouse makes it suspicious.”

After the incident, what we did was understand their purpose. So, I’ve replayed the situation from that day over and over again.

They created chaos to the point of the city becoming a disaster. However, looking at it from the perspective of someone who knows a bit about Awakened Ones, it really was just a simple brawl. They even tried to bind me with harpoons during the fight.

“Anyone could see they were trying to restrain me.”

Even though they were wiped out in broad daylight by me, their movements and equipment were elite-level. There’s no way they would have neglected to investigate their target.

I thought about it from their perspective. If I were an assassin, how would I act if I had properly investigated Irene?

“I would have planted a bigger and more powerful bomb in the penthouse. Focused on magical attacks!”

“Physical attacks alone won’t kill her. They would have unleashed a barrage with crossbow-using Awakened Ones and magic.”

It doesn’t make sense to engage in close combat with top-tier tanks.

So, why did they try to kidnap her? That remains a mystery.

“Well, I guess I need to meet and talk to her.”

So, I sat and waited near the Inspection Bureau building. The Scholarship Officer said Irene would be coming out today. Since her phone got smashed during the fight, she contacted me using an internal phone.

By rights, I should have brought her directly, but I felt a bit uneasy about going in. It wouldn’t do for me to run into the Scholarship Officer.

I thought of one worst-case scenario I could imagine.

-Wait, that eye color… that hair color… no way!

-N-No, I must have seen it wrong! Aaaaah!

Ugh, thinking about it really terrifies me. I need to be careful to prevent such a thing from happening.

As I waited, Irene came outside.

“I’ve been waiting! You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Yeah, I just overused my magical power for a short time, so I’m a little exhausted.”

As soon as I came outside, I exchanged a brief conversation with her.

“I talked to that person called the Scholarship Officer for a bit. He seems to have a lot of questions about this incident.”

“I see. Then he must want to know about us too…”

“I did as you said. I told him we’re from a security group called ‘Ariel Group.’ He looked suspicious but didn’t ask any further questions.”

After hearing Irene’s words, I felt somewhat relieved. A suddenly appearing unidentified armed group would definitely seem very suspicious to anyone. Though I’m sure I’ll investigate in the background, for now, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

“By the way, shouldn’t you have used a different alias? ‘Ariel’ is our underworld alias.”

“Well, when working in the underworld, I disguise myself. Or I might wear a mask.”

By now, Violet has become the head of a suspicious secret organization in the underworld, Ariel Group. Who knows, I might even end up forming an organization called ‘Violet Legion.’

“However, that Scholarship Officer seems a bit strange.”

As we walked, Irene spoke with a face that showed some suspicion. Her gaze seemed to be looking far away, as if she were reflecting on the events of yesterday.

“Despite it being our first meeting, somehow he knew my name, and the way he looked at me felt a bit odd.”

“Odd in what way?”

“It’s not that it was bad. It was more like… he kept looking at me as if feeling sorry for me.”

As soon as I heard Irene’s words, I became convinced. The Scholarship Officer must indeed have returned from the past. I could easily infer that with the description Irene provided. The problem is which time frame he came from.

“I hope he came from the time of Part 1, but what if it was from later or earlier?”

“That’s something we can’t control. We’ll just have to adapt to the situation.”

Quickly discussing in my mind, I finished the last sip of coffee left in my cup.

“He gave me his contact information, saying to let him know if there’s anything I need later. I can’t fully trust him yet, but…”

“Oh.”

Upon seeing the note Irene showed me, my eyes widened in surprise. With this, even if direct contact might be difficult, I could provide information related to the academy.

After finishing all the small talk, I stood up.

“Anyway, this is good news. But Irene, since your house burned down, do you have somewhere to stay?”

“Ah, that’s…”

Irene’s complexion darkened. I became curious as to why. I soon found out her situation. She said it herself.

“My account has been completely frozen. I have hardly any money left.”

“Didn’t you live near the school? What about the rented place?”

My poor friend whose house was blown up over night shook her head.

“I can’t go. The guys who attacked this time placed bombs in our house. It used to have thick security, so normally no one could easily get in. But they must have tampered with that house too.”

I thought her words made sense.

“Then why not live at my house? Just like Lucian’s kids?”

“Is that really okay?”

“Not just okay, it’s the only option! Come to my house. If there’s another raid, I can support you right away, so no need to worry.”

She hesitated. The golden color of Irene’s eyes revealed her embarrassment and the guilt she felt.

“If you come to my house, I’ll give you free meals and money! Since it’s right next door, we can even practice every day.”

“…Thinking about it, that’s true.”

As I persisted, Irene burst into a chuckle. This certainly meant she was agreeing. I immediately took my friend and headed to the factory.

“Everyone, attention! Irene is on the move. There’s an empty room in the dorm, right? Hurry and clean it up!”

“Ugh! What a hassle.”

While the escort team took Irene home, Violet went and cleaned up an unused room in the factory dorm. Finishing the task and gathering the cleaning tools, I ran into Lucian outside the room.

“What’s up? Why are you cleaning all of a sudden?”

“Well, we have a new neighbor. Irene is moving in!”

Lucian looked at me as if confused and asked bluntly.

“What? Why is she suddenly coming here?”

“Ah! It’s… nothing. It’s not a big deal!”

“…?”

He stared at me with a face full of questions but I ignored it. Shortly after, Irene arrived, and I welcomed the new tenant.

“Today is a party!”

First of all, I need to throw a housewarming party. There are many questions I want to ask and things I want to dig into, but for now, she looks really worn out!

“But what about the academy?”

“When I asked, he said he’d give details tomorrow.”

Hmm, I have a lot to say about the academy anyway.

The purpose of Violet dividing and doing her tasks everywhere is to bring down the academy. More precisely, it’s to smash the heads of those involved in the academy’s experiments and then burn down their facilities.

However, based on the data acquired by sending out Brokers and the firsthand experiences I collected, this is not something that can be resolved by just beating a couple of them to death. The head of the School Board of Directors is the Chairman, and the Chairman is connected to the Four Major Clans. Seeing that a clan’s airship and elite troops were roaming around last time, it seems that although he’s just a ceremonial figure, his influence still exists.

The more you peel back the layers, the more something keeps coming out like an onion. If we want to bring down the academy, it seems likely we will have friction with the Magnavis Clan.

What we can do is only prepare thoroughly.

“Okay, what about the deployment of Hibernating Violet?”

“It was successful. Unless they tear down the walls, there’s no way they’ll find out.”

Since I discovered the research laboratory under the school for the first time, the scientists inside have been conducting suspicious experiments continuously.

There was once a plan to kidnap these guys, but it was canceled. It seemed reckless. My thoughts have changed now. We have grown significantly, and our numbers have increased. Now it is quite feasible.

-Oh man! What the heck! The power is out again!

-Did anyone see the documents that were here?

There were many tasks to do before that. I constantly disrupted their research with some minor pranks. Shorting out electricity was basic, switching off lights, stealthily crawling into blind spots to steal documents, or unplugging computer plugs. I even stuffed tissues into the drain to cause a backup.

The best response I got was when I stuffed a basket of rotten fish into the ventilation duct. The reactions were absolutely hilarious.

“I feel like throwing up!”

“What is this smell?”

Of course, I hid the fish immediately because I was worried about getting caught. So, I continued to disrupt their research every day, looking for weaknesses throughout the laboratory.

First, I understood the structure of the particle accelerator in the basement. I looked to see where I could destroy in order to make it irreparable later. Meanwhile, I re-drew the internal map and located the paths leading to the surface.

To kidnap dozens of researchers at once, these tasks are necessary. If things go according to plan, we’ll kill those we need to kill and decide the fate of those we need to spare.

“Done. Deployment complete.”

To ensure that the heavily armed Violet squad can enter at any time, I set up Hibernating Violets in the empty spaces between the ceiling, floor, and walls of the underground laboratory. It’s a kind of teleport beacon.

I don’t know when it will be, but when that day comes, everything will burn and disappear!