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The girl halted her steps at the sudden loud noise. Without anyone saying a word, she instinctively looked up and scanned the area ahead multiple times.

“…Gunshots?”

The sound that buried the gentle breeze of the park and the fluttering of birds was undoubtedly gunfire. It was rather indiscriminate shooting.

Amidst the cacophony, the shrill scream of a fallen citizen pierced through. The strident screech of brakes and the friction of tires filled the road.

Citizens were fleeing, while police dashed off somewhere. The girl, observing the fleeing crowds and the responding officers, soon heard a few more gunshots and let out a faint sigh.

“…Bloody hell.”

Roughly tightening her shoelaces, Camila turned her sneakers around to loosen her joints.

“What on earth is happening…?”

The British girl, visibly bewildered, began to run calmly in the direction from which the gunfire was echoing.

—

Episode 20 – Who Threatened with a Knife?

If someone were to ask Camila what her favorite movie was, she would undoubtedly respond, “The 007 series.”

On the third day of its release, having gone to the theater with her family, she became entranced by Daniel Craig’s performance and resolutely decided to become a pirate. No, a spy! The girl possessed quite an extraordinary mindset.

After navigating through Cambridge’s conflict studies department, she interned in the SIS and then spent the summer interning at a private intelligence consulting firm.

She had a short but substantial experience in the information industry.

Thus, despite the unexpected gunfire, she went calmly into judgment mode.

“…….”

In a terror attack targeting a ‘Soft Target’ like a public place, the first to perceive the situation is usually the civilian.

Right after the assault begins, it’s typically the ordinary people who encounter the terrorists that initially react.

However, if some time has passed since the incident, the ability of civilians to respond significantly diminishes.

People fleeing in confusion without grasping the situation, and the rumors constantly amplified and reproduced by those obsessed with likes and retweets.

As time passes, it becomes increasingly difficult to ascertain the perpetrators of the attack and the exact situation of victims from publicly available information or data collected from the civilian sector. This has been confirmed with events such as the ‘hero tale’ from the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and the ‘Tajik citizen involvement theory’ from the 2024 Moscow theater attack.

In that sense, the focus should not be on civilians but on the military and police, the counter-terrorism agencies.

“Shots fired near the fountain! Everyone move toward the fountain!”

“Support from the guardians is on the way!”

“Block the road! We need to keep them from escaping the park!”

Voices calling for reinforcements and reporting the situation echoed from all directions.

Morality police were checking people right from the edge of the park.

Camila glanced at the citizens rushing out and the morality police trying to stop them, before following the police dashing towards the fountain.

If Alexandra Petrovna the Duke had witnessed this scene, she might have clicked her tongue, thinking, ‘Even the child isn’t going mad by being a magician!’

But she wasn’t going mad; instead, she was moving with rational judgment.

“…Wow!”

Jumping over the collapsing crowd with a magical leap, Camila flailed her arms and nearly lost her balance.

“What kind of trouble have they caused to be shot at…!”

As a wannabe spy and information officer, she judged that Colonel Frederick was definitely in the location where the gunfire erupted.

An information agency employee had encountered a suspicious woman. The place was right in the heart of the enemy nation’s capital.

Though she hadn’t heard the specific backstory, she roughly knew the reason he had come here today. It was likely due to the letter the professor had conveyed. And Camila figured that the person who sent the letter to Frederick was very likely the Priest.

Why would a political-religious leader of an enemy nation contact an information agent? Camila couldn’t explain that part, but one thing she surely could assert was that the freshly fired gunshots, Frederick, and the suspicious woman he had met were undoubtedly connected.

-Over there!

While speeding through the park, a sudden shout caught her attention, and soon, a grown woman and two children captured her gaze.

Undoubtedly a mother and her children, the three women were panting heavily as they hurried away somewhere. Just as she thought it felt like they were fleeing from a pursuer, morality police wearing gray armbands suddenly appeared, shouting, “Stop!”

“Ahhh…!”

Camila urgently stopped running and began to chase after the mother and her children. There was no reason; she simply acted on instinct.

The morality police questioned the suddenly appeared newcomer, “Who are you?!”

But Camila didn’t even look back and audaciously replied, “Why don’t you chase after them!”

That bold and brazen remark appeared intimidating at first glance.

The morality police no longer inquired about Camila’s identity; instead, they replied, “Ah, understood—!” in a loud voice.

The chase continued for a long time.

Leaping over bushes and low terrains…

They raced along the winding trail, navigating the ups and downs of the hill.

The three daughters were desperately fleeing as if barely escaping capture, with Camila and the police hot on their heels.

The sight of people continuously sprinting through the vast park was nothing short of a spectacle. It was comparable to a dramatic chase scene from a movie set weeks later.

However, despite their endurance, it didn’t last as long as the enthusiastic performances of extras in films.

“Gah… huff…”

Camila, gasping for breath at the brink of collapsing, glanced sideways to gauge the positions of the moral police.

The aggressive police who had been shouting and bearing down on them had already begun to drop off one by one. Initially, some moral police had sprinted ahead in an attempt to catch the three daughters, but now, not a single person followed Camila anymore.

She wondered if they had formed a perimeter outside the park. Yet, a sudden glance at her surroundings made Camila realize that she had long since exited the park.

That’s why an unfair scream burst from her lips.

“No way, where did they go after calling me…! Who were those women?!”

Racing down an alley of unknown origin, she raised her voice in frustration.

She had been enjoying herself! But here she was, chasing after a bunch of peculiar women while Frederick was nowhere in sight!

What if, in chasing the women, she happened to run into Frederick? It was on that hopeful thought she continued to sprint. But that insufferable colleague hadn’t even managed to contact her!

“Gyaaaak…”

Seeing a woman fleeing with children, possibly a former national athlete, Camila began to think maybe using magic wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

Of course, if she used magic and got charged as a spy, that would undoubtedly be a breach of the Nastasiya Treaty. But since this was an alley with no spectators, what did it matter?

Just as the woman ahead was about to reach the light of the alley—

Flames began to swirl around Camila’s alabaster hands, encircling her upper body.

“Peek-a-boo!”

The air, once calm, started to ripple, and Camila emerged, weaving through the chaotic sparks.

“…Huh?!”

The woman fleeing with her child opened her eyes wide like a startled rabbit, letting out a shriek of near terror.

Turning sharply and clutching her child tightly, the woman confronted the incoming Camila, who was actually prepared to tackle them like a football player but instead let out a surprised, “Huh?”

At that moment, as the woman kissed the ground with a loud smack, she narrowly dodged the charging magician, her face embodying sheer confusion as she crouched down.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t dodge on purpose, I was just too surprised…!”

“……”

The mother, continuously bowing with an anxious look, trembled her hands back and forth. It was a gesture saying, “Please, don’t worry about it.”

Honestly, it would be nice if they just surrendered. But sadly, the trio didn’t seem inclined to comply.

Continuing to bow nervously, the woman walked out of the alley, children in tow, as if trying to avoid being seen. Camila pleaded, “Please don’t go…!” but her voice fell on deaf ears.

Of course, Camila wasn’t in the wrong. It was those three daughters who hadn’t heard her plea.

Likewise, the three daughters had done nothing wrong.

The weak cry had never reached their ears in the first place.

—Brrrrrmmm!

The low rumble of a heavy engine could be heard distinctly even at the end of the alley, with the jarring sound of sudden deceleration accompanying it.

As the door of the loudly arriving van swung open, people kneeling on one knee on the ground dashed toward the curb.

“Wh-Who are you?!”

“…Kyaaaak!”

“Mom! Let go of our mom!”

“Stop it! Help, someone please… ugh…!”

The thugs gripping the mother’s wrists and the daughters’ shoulders forcibly separated them. They pulled at their wrists to restrain them and covered their heads with ear protection and hoods.

Camila, sprawled on the ground, witnessed the whole scene unfold.

Uncertain of what was happening, she felt the urgent need to intervene.

“…Yikes!”

Wobbling as she rose to her feet, she quickly prepared her magic.

And then—

-Wham!

A thug who had jumped out of the van grabbed Camila’s wrist and slammed her against the wall.

At that exact moment, the magical flames she had been nurturing suddenly dispersed.

Camila tried to punch the guy in the face, but her fist was easily blocked.

“……”

At that instant, their gazes intertwined in the air.

With her restrained fist straining against his grip, Camila glared fiercely and demanded, “…Who are you?”

—Boommm…!

A yellow-tinged barrier resonated with her blue magic in one powerful pulse.

 

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