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It was one day before the mission would start. The three members of the infiltration group were spending time on their own.
Mira used the pretext of perking herself up to wander around the city, looking through stores. Ever since she had arrived to this world, checking what had changed in thirty years became one of her biggest pastimes, noticing how items that used to be rare and expensive in the game had become mundane and cheap, or the other way around in some cases.
Kagura was still conferring in secret with the various platoons, amending and improving on their strategy. They were mainly deciding what Emera’s group would do after joining with the Fifty Bells’ main forces.
Sero was out in the wastelands, fighting monster after monster, getting acquainted with the Anti-Demon Silver sword he had just received so he could use it to its fullest. If anyone saw him, they would think he was a master of his craft, but he himself found he was still lacking training.
The day continued like that until the sun set. Then very early at dawn, the day the mission would get carried out…
「Grandpa, wake up! Quick, it’s timeee!」
「Hrnh… why so noisy.」
Mira had gone through her usual routine, taking a bath, eating dinner, and going to bed as early as she could. But she had barely caught a nod, when Kagura shook her awake.
「Our mission! We have to go now!」
「W-What did you say..?!」
According to Kagura, the chief of the Fifty Bells’ main forces, Alioth, had just contacted her to inform that someone, presumably the Sky Denizen, had suddenly appeared and attacked the village.
「I still have to inform the other platoons, so please hurry and get Sero.」
Barely a moment later, Kagura began using her onmyoji skills to contact the rest. Being pressed so much, Mira just said 「Got it」 and ran out of the room to Sero’s place.
「Serooo, are you awake? It’s me!」
There was a luxurious corridor connecting the suites of the inn. Mira stood there, in the middle of the night, hurriedly knocking on one of the doors while speaking loudly.
「What happened..? Are we going already?」
He did not seem to have slept yet, opening the door almost instantly. Seeing Mira’s attitude, he deduced most of what happened.
「Yes, precisely. He-」
「Wait, wait Mira. I think you should take a look at yourself before we go anywhere.」
Kagura had pressed Mira to hurry up, so she tried to explain the situation as fast as she could, but Sero promptly interrupted her and took his coat off, placing it on Mira’s shoulders.
「Hm..? Ohh! I forgot about that!」
Looking down, Mira noticed she was only wearing underwear, her sleeping attire. But she felt no embarrassment about it, laughing the matter off and explaining that the Sky Denizen had just started his attack.
「I see, we should hurry then.」
Sero was already fully prepared, so he just left his room when Mira was done explaining. They returned to Kagura’s room, who had just finished contacting the other platoons. She turned around and frowned the moment she saw Mira.
「…Why are you wearing that?」
Kagura glared at Mira, wearing a coat that was clearly too large for her, white skin peeking through the folds. It looked needlessly seductive.
「You hurried me so much…」
「Oh god… just get changed already.」
Not even the dumbest of idiots would get up in underwear like that. Kagura swallowed those words, instead picking up the clothes placed beside the bed and handing them to Mira. Mira gave a resentful nod before she began changing into her usual clothes. At some point leading to that, Sero had left the room.
When Mira was done, Sero returned to the room, and Kagura gave more details.
According to the report she had received, the Sky Denizen had attacked, throwing the entire town into disarray as they had expected. So she had ordered the troops there to attack and join the confusion.
「So, we have to act too. Mira, do you have everything?」
「Yes, I’m fully ready!」
「Alrighty, let’s go then.」
Saying that, Kagura headed towards the door. 「You won’t ask Sero too?」 Mira asked behind her.
「He’s not the kind of person to forget to get clothed, there’s no need to ask him.」
「Hrngh…」
There was no way for Mira to say anything back, so she just pouted dissatisfied. Sero grinned and followed the two. The three darted out of the inn, running like the wind as they headed to the state institution where they had discovered a hidden entrance to Chimera Clauzen’s main base.
There was no need for them to conceal their presence with Worthramble this time. They charged straight through the main gates, entering the building, running down corridors, Kagura throwing paper charms to any office workers they passed by, putting them to sleep with onmyoji hypnosis. A separate platoon to aid the main base infiltration would arrive later, so that was done to ease their infiltration as well.
They continued that way, until they reached a restricted section of the building. There was a door further inside there, which led to the secret tunnels. The lock was a dial contraption, similar to that of old-fashioned safes. Mira took out a note, which she closely followed to enter the correct combination.
Soon after they crossed through the door, they were in a large tunnel, like those used against floods. But they were seemingly using the power of spirits of light, as there was no source of light yet the tunnel was brightly lit as far as they could see.
「This place is brighter than I expected.」
Sero squinted as if he was looking directly at the sun.
「I’d assume they’re using spirits of light. Only Chimera would step so low as to use them for something so mundane.」
Mira seemed to snarl as she glared further into the tunnel. Kagura just looked at her, with an expression seeming to say ‘You’re not one to talk.’
The main base was around thirty kilometers away, in a straight line. There were a fair number of curves in the tunnel, but no other obstacles, so the three could use their movement uninterrupted to its fullest.
They all darted ahead at an overwhelming speed.
Unlike the people in the front institution, anyone in the tunnel was directly connected to Chimera Clauzen, so there was no need for them to hold back their force either. They encountered multiple of Chimera Clauzen’s workers in the tunnel, which they almost instantly restrained and left against the tunnel’s wall. All of them were considerably strong to be granted a position in such a vital place, but they could not hold a candle against two wisemen, and the leader of the top ranking guild, falling unconscious before they could even see anyone coming.
