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After leaning against the wall for a moment to catch my breath, I rummaged through the corpses of the dead terrorists.

I discarded the shotgun. The ammo was depleted, and the stock was in tatters. Instead, I managed to seize a revolver from one of the terrorists.

I searched through the bodies and was able to gather a somewhat functional radio (at least it still worked), a couple of lighters, cigarettes with what looked like Arabic scribbles on them, a notepad, and several pencils. Of course, I also made sure to grab the knife I had missed earlier. It’s my personal property after all.

Stuffing the gathered items into my pockets, I fashioned a makeshift tourniquet out of the pencil, a tie, and the terrorists’ clothes to apply pressure to my wounds.

“Ugh….”

No matter how much I rinsed my eyes, there wasn’t a single unscathed spot. I felt like a mobile emergency room.

Honestly, I wanted to just throw on some clothes and collapse into sleep, but if I fell asleep here, I might never wake up. If I wanted to live, I had to run.

I leaned on the railing and opened the emergency staircase door.

I didn’t even have the strength to pull the handle. I squeezed my body through the slightly ajar gap and managed to escape.

Gunshots had been fired, so my location was likely compromised. I needed to leave this place. I had to go somewhere, that much was clear.

– Swooosh.

A knife pressed against my neck. A glimmering silver blade was positioned right in front of my throat.

“….”

Realizing the situation late, I froze, unable to even draw a breath. In the meantime, the mysterious thug smoothly snatched the revolver I had been holding.

“Turn around. Slowly.”

I carefully unbuckled my belt, wrapping it around my hand, and, following the thug’s instructions, turned around at a snail’s pace. My mind was already filled with thoughts of killing the terrorist. Before the blade could pierce my skin, I could stab him in the neck with the knife.

However.

Upon seeing the face of the person holding the knife to my throat, I had no choice but to let go of my tightly gripped belt.

“…Administrator?”

“Oh, it’s you.”

The woman with her purple hair tightly pulled back withdrew the knife and flashed a bright smile. Between the soft folds of her eyes, her familiar violet irises glittered under the dazzling light.

“Why are you here…?”

It was Francesca.

—

Episode 8 – Say Hello To My Little Friend

After taking down one in the employee hallway and six in the emergency stairway, I finally managed to catch my breath.

However, the threat still loomed, and I had no means of communication with the outside.

I planned to wander around the department store to search for Lucia and Francesca, and to check if Camila was safe, while also tending to my injuries.

Just as I finished reorganizing and stepped out of the emergency staircase, I came face to face with Francesca.

She was holding what looked like a rapier for the first time.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes. For now…”

“That’s a relief.”

Francesca lowered the blade she had been pointing at my neck. I stared at her blankly, my mouth moving wordlessly in surprise.

“Where did you get that sword…?”

“Oh, this?”

Francesca glanced at the sword she held for a moment before replying.

“I bought one. Things seemed serious.”

“Even amid all this…?”

“I was planning to get one for practice anyway. By the way, I heard gunshots and came to check if someone was in danger. What happened?”

“I fought with terrorists. Around six of them.”

“By yourself?”

“Yes.”

I raised my uninjured right arm to point towards the emergency staircase. Francesca slightly opened the reinforced door, furrowed her brow, and slammed it shut.

“No need to see more closely. Did you handle them all?”

“Well, yes.”

“Impressive.”

“That’s my job.”

Francesca, knowing my identity, nodded as if there was nothing more to ask. She returned the revolver she had taken from me.

I gripped the fully loaded revolver in my right hand and began to assess my surroundings.

“The terrorists are believed to have come from No Man’s Land and have taken over the department store. Their objective and scale are unknown. As of now, I have neutralized seven of them, and there are at least two more terrorists remaining.”

This was based on the stories of the beastman terrorist and the one I had communicated with via radio. There were at least two terrorists still in the department store.

“I couldn’t discern detailed plans, but I suspect the remaining terrorists are attempting to hold civilians hostage. And due to an unusual barrier, all external access and communication have been cut off, while the terrorists are moving cargo into the department store. I have no idea what that is either.”

“I am somewhat aware of the situation based on what the hero told me.”

“The hero…?”

Wasn’t that Camila?

I hastily grabbed Francesca’s shoulder and asked.

“Have you met Camila?”

“Yes. She is currently with Saint Lucia.”

A wave of tension instantly dissipated.

It was a relief to know all three of them were safe.

As the tension eased, fatigue washed over me, and the pain I had forgotten began to surface.

Gripping Francesca’s shoulder, I stumbled, and she leaned her shoulder against me for support.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Honestly, if it were just blood, I’d consider myself lucky… Where are Camila and Lucia right now…?”

“Just lean on me. I’ll help you.”

With Francesca’s shoulder to rely on, I moved forward, limping. Wherever the two were, it was undoubtedly the safest place.

I brushed the strands of purple hair that were tickling my neck aside and sneaked a glance at Francesca’s face.

Unlike her usual relaxed demeanor, she bore a distinctly troubled expression.

“Are you feeling uneasy?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing. A few terrorists pale in comparison to a spy….”

“The terrorism is not the problem.”

“Huh?”

The alchemist from the Magic Tower, supporting me, spoke in a firm voice as she scanned the surroundings.

“This terrorism. It is not a simple act of terror.”

“What on earth…?”

“I sense the presence of dark magic.”

—

A terrorist incident has occurred.

Armed thugs have occupied the department store, taking civilians hostage.

The motives are unknown, the scale is unknown, and the plans are unclear.

However, based on the terrorists’ belongings and various circumstances, it can be inferred that they came from No Man’s Land.

Unlike other terrorist organizations that intelligence agencies are keeping an eye on, the forces from No Man’s Land have an unclear identity.

This is because the No Man’s Land faction is more akin to a group of survivors rather than a proper organization.

Thus, they lack the political or religious ideologies that terrorist or paramilitary groups typically possess, making it difficult to predict their actions and scale. Additionally, intelligence agencies have minimal information networks in No Man’s Land, resulting in a lack of awareness of where and what groups might be active.

I have concluded that their terrorism can be understood as a struggle for survival.

But dark magic is involved, it seems.

There are no certainties. I am neither a counter-terrorism specialist nor knowledgeable about magic, so I couldn’t tell if the terrorists were actually using dark magic.

However, unfortunately, I am an information officer. Someone who collects intelligence, analyzes it, and produces information.

To validate the intelligence, I needed to find an expert.

“I’ve arrived.”

“Oh, you made it.”

The place I arrived at was a secluded infirmary located within the depths of the department store.

In that rarely visited place, I met Lucia.

“I was looking for the Colonel, but it seems you’ve been injured. Saint, please treat your wounds first.”

“Come on in!”

Lucia swung open the infirmary door. Francesca hurried her steps while clutching my arm draped over her shoulder. The moment we stepped into the infirmary, Lucia firmly locked the door behind us.

As I lay down on the infirmary bed with Francesca’s assistance, Camila, who had been sitting in a chair, rushed over to my side.

“What happened?!”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s just a little scrape.”

“Were you shot?! No matter how you look at it, that’s a gunshot wound… Blood is gushing out of your leg!”

At Camila’s words, I glanced down and saw indeed that blood was flowing from my leg. To be precise, it was oozing through the tie strapped around my right thigh. The tie had become a bloody mess long ago. I had been saving that.

While being surrounded by Camila and Francesca, who were bombarding me with questions, Lucia approached and checked the lock. She swiftly scanned my body and frowned her delicate brows.

“The wound is deep. And there’s quite a bit of bleeding.”

“I’ve managed to stop the bleeding for now.”

“I’ll deal with the bleeding first. We can handle the infection later with proper antibiotics once you’re admitted.”

Without a hint of hesitation, Lucia gathered various medical supplies and tools scattered around the infirmary and laid them out beside the bed. Watching her put on latex gloves so casually, I almost felt like she was a doctor instead of a saint.

But right now, treatment wasn’t the priority. I grabbed Lucia’s wrist as she started to disinfect the tools.

“Saint Lucia! I heard there’s dark magic lingering at the department store! What does that even mean?”

“Is that really the important thing right now?!”

“Oh, then what is?! What’s more important than that?!”

BANG!

Lucia slammed her fist on the table next to the bed. With a thunderous sound, the tools and supplies on the tray bounced up. I jumped in surprise, and Francesca and Camila stared at Lucia in shock.

I had thought a saint would be calm and gentle, but now I realized she was more like a thug. Lucia wiped away her gentle expression and yelled like a nurse in an emergency room suppressing a rowdy patient.

“Shut up and lie down!”

“Uh, yes ma’am.”

I grasped the situation. I decided to obediently follow Lucia’s orders.

*

Holding my breath as I lay back on the bed, Lucia started snipping away at the rags with scissors dripping with disinfectant.

After putting the scissors down, Lucia shone a light on my wounds, wearing a serious expression.

“…The wound is deep. You’ve got a gunshot wound in your thigh. Now, let me see your left arm.”

“Here.”

“It’s a cut. The shoulder wound is quite deep—did you get stabbed there as well?”

“That one was a stab.”

“Very well done.”

After teasing me once, Lucia calmly began to examine my wounds one by one. After a careful look, she concluded that, fortunately, I had avoided any dangerous areas like arteries.

“If the bullet had gone just a little to the right, you would have ruptured an artery. It seems divine intervention was on your side.”

“Are there any fragments left?”

“I don’t see any visible fragments. It looks like the bullet went straight through.”

“Can you really tell that?”

“I’ve seen many patients with gunshot wounds in the Empire.”

Since she was a healing priestess who had served in conflict zones, I believed her. After spending months on humanitarian efforts at the Magic Tower, it would not be an exaggeration to say Lucia’s healing skills had reached a high level.

Of course, when I was poisoned by the cult, she couldn’t fully utilize her powers. But that was an exceptionally special case. It was a toxin developed by the Information Agency.

To be precise, during the war between the Magic Tower and the cult, various countries’ Information Agencies researched definitive ways to incapacitate priests and magicians. In fact, aside from poison, they developed many other things, but it seems the Imperial Guard HQ saw the most significant results in the field of nerve toxins, delving deeper than other agencies.

As Lucia illuminated my wounds with the light, she poured her divine power one by one, gradually healing them.

Just as I had seen at the Magic Tower, as her divine power touched me, new skin began to sprout, and the wounds started to heal. After a few more strokes of her hand, the wounds were gone, leaving only dried bloodstains behind.

I scratched at the bloodstain left on my thigh with my finger. It was fascinating to see the blood that had flowed moments ago crumble, yet I felt a shiver at the unfamiliar texture of my own skin.

“It’s amazing every time I see it.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

I suppose it could be possible. Lucia nodded slightly and focused on treating the wounds. With her gloved hands gripping the healing areas, she began to relay her cautions to me.

“Your blood pressure is low. That’s only natural since you’ve lost a lot of blood. Normally, you would have a transfusion, but there’s no blood here, so you’ll need to receive some IV fluids.”

“Uh, okay.”

“You might not realize it, but your skin is very damp. It seems like you’re in shock. After the treatment, you should get IV fluids and keep your legs elevated. You mustn’t get up. If you experience any dizziness, you might bump your head when you fall.”

Lucia repeatedly cautioned me. Don’t do this, do that, don’t eat food, just drink water, etc.

Perhaps because she served as a healing priestess, Lucia took care of my wounds with the skill of a qualified doctor. After treating even the minor wounds, Lucia threw down her gloves and let out a sigh as if releasing a pent-up breath.

“I’ve healed all the urgent wounds. However, there are still pain and infection issues, and above all, since you’ve lost a lot of blood, you absolutely must not push yourself. Otherwise, your wounds could rupture.”

“…So my wounds might burst open?”

“New skin has formed, but it needs time to fully settle. The divine isn’t omnipotent, you know.”

What kind of priestess is this? Isn’t this a fantasy world?

Feeling a bit cheeky, I stared at her, and Lucia leaned against a chair, continuing her speech with an irritated expression.

“The divine did not create humans perfectly. Humans can fall into temptation and sin. That is why there’s nothing omnipotent in this land.”

“What a kind god.”

I poked at my healed skin with my finger. I was worried that if I said something irreverent, Lucia might whack my head, but fortunately, she remained silent as she organized her tools.

The sensation of skin newly sprouted from divine healing was fascinating. It felt like skin laid over flesh.

After a while of poking at what didn’t feel like mine, I hesitantly asked Lucia with a puzzled tone.

“Um, Saint Lucia.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have a medical license, do you? Is this procedure even legal?”

Lucia blinked for a moment, seemingly not understanding my words. Blink blink.

After staring blankly for a while, Lucia suddenly sprang up from her seat and pinched my side hard.

“OW…! That hurts…! I’m the patient…!”

“After all that treatment, are you spewing such nonsense?!”

“Ow…!”

I realized she wasn’t as mild-mannered as I thought. This was a new fact I had discovered.

 

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