"Don't lie. You know the consequences. And don't move unless you want to find out."
The two nodded, terrified. It felt like Akeru had guns to their heads.
Which, honestly, wasn't far from the truth.
"Tell me about this man and your interaction with him around five years ago," Akeru said, showing them a photo.
"I don't know this man."
"Me neither."
"Try to remember. He was looking for his brother and asked you for help."
The other two didn't know that this encounter was secretly recorded by some members of the intelligence bureau and stored in the document as well.
But that intel came from civilians—not a direct source. Akeru wanted details.
Realization flashed across one of their eyes.
"I remember, he didn't have any lead and was saying something preposterous about the church kidnapping his brother. We... were drunk at that time and didn't pay attention to his heretical talks," He said without meeting Akeru's eyes.
"Anything else?"
"Nothing."
"What about grimoire? Did he have a grimoire at that time?"
"No," The other man, who had been silent till now, suddenly spoke.
Akeru met his gaze, "And how are you sure that he didn't have a grimoire? Weren't you intoxicated at that time?"
The man's face paled as he realized that he had dug himself into a trap.
It wasn't the lie that made him nervous—Akeru would've already killed him for that.
It was what came next.
"So?"
"Well... He had gotten angry after we said something, I don't remember what exactly, but it was not anything good as we were drunk. So, he tried to punch us, but before he could, we kicked him... which was a bit too much for him. He tried to get up, but we put him down, said some more things... and then left."
By this point, two of them were sweating.
They didn't dare to meet Akeru's eyes.
"I see. Thank you for the information."
They turned their head up and realized Akeru wasn't anywhere in sight.
They let out a breath that they didn't know they were holding.
"Oh, I forgot to mention something,"
The familiar voice from behind startled them, making them straighten up.
"Your captain was very curious about you two and told me to inform you to return to your squad headquarters as soon as possible."
---
Time- The next day.
Akeru was scouting through the nearby grimoire towers and inquiring about Noel.
Though he did know that there was a high chance that it would be futile, there was still a sliver of chance that his search would be fruitful.
The other chance of finding his clue... is something that Akeru wants to keep as the last resort.
Moreover, that was not the only thing he was doing.
"How far have you gone with the creation of that spell?"
"The only thing remaining is the 'tracking' part, which is the most problematic part."
On the other side of the communicator, it was none other than Finral.
"Describe your issue in detail, I might have some ideas to help."
Both of them were talking with each other through video transmission, which is projected through holograms.
"Well, I can't figure out how to track anyone from my memory. Initially, I hoped to finish that part by grimoire itself due to its complexity, but now..." Finral looked apologetic.
It wasn't his fault as he didn't expect to be forced to speed up the progress of his spell.
Akeru had a calculating gleam in his eyes as he measured his following words.
"The only person who could track him is you. Other than that, we don't have any other methods."
"Ho-how can that be? Even people with prophetic abilities weren't able to. How can I do that?" Finral let out a self-depreciating laugh unintentionally.
"That is due to his knowledge of mana. Normally, any tracking spell would have been the same against whatever preventive measure he has, however, his mastery of spatial magic is not that much, which gives me the confidence that if anybody could track Noel, it is none other than you."
Finral, he opened his mouth in protest, however, he was cut off.
"I would ask somebody to let you get in touch with mages specializing in tracking spells. Don't worry about being impolite or anything, this matter is of national security and you are our best bet."
Without waiting for his senpai's reply, Akeru cut off the transmission.
His indifferent eyes changed... to become more like human eyes.
However, those eyes had a lot of conflicting emotions going through them.
"Just why?"
"I am not like that, am I?"
"It should just be an illusion, just a freaking illusion."
His breathing started to become erratic, his heart beating so fast that Akeru for a second even entertained that it was trying to exit his body.
Realization soon kicked in.
He was hyperventilating.
"Shit. Not again."
Then something shifted. His expression drained blank.
The indifferent look in his eyes returned.
His breathing soon returned to normal, and his heartbeat also started dropping back.
Akeru's gaze went to a stopwatch on his right arm.
"6 minutes, 9 seconds."
He took out a notebook and logged that number in it.
If one looked at the previous contents, they would see similar time logs.
5 minutes 30 seconds.
3 minutes 35 seconds.
3 minutes 24.
3 minutes 15....
Akeru had been working to steady his mind—and had made solid progress.
He then put the things in his hands back in his bag and then made his way towards the next Grimoire tower on his list.
---
Slurp.
An old man with silver-whitish hair sipped tea in a dimly lit room.
Nothing would have been wrong with just that scene.
However, it wasn't just that.
"Hehehe" A perverted grip escaped his mouth as the old man looked, flipping the page of the book he was reading.
He took another sip of his tea from a glass.
The glass was transparent and had a capacity of around half a litre, completely filled with brown liquid.
"Meiko-chan had grown so much. No one would believe that she is 42 years old this year." Though he was wearing black glasses, the glasses did nothing to hide his lecherous grin.
Creaak.
A loud creaking noise coming from the door startled the old man.
Thump.
The book he was holding fell on the ground, its contents of various ladies in lewd clothing, now visible to the visitor
"Y-YOU!" A lot of thoughts clashed in the old man's head, all thinking of ways to navigate the situation.
The visitor, a black-haired boy with average features, possessing barely any mana, spared the book a glance before looking at the old man.
'Wait, no mana?' The old man retracked his thinking process, recognizing the abnormality.
The boy in front of him could barely be said to be a living being, as the mana he possessed was so less that most of the sensors won't be able to actively sense him.
The old man's eyes widened as he realized that the mana he sensed was also extinguished.
'Wait... No way!' He instantly realized that the visitor in front of him had intentionally done that.
He was in complete control of his mana.
The old man, in his long life, could count the number of people who came on level of the boy's control on one hand.
The number would be 1, and the skill gap in mana control between that person and the boy in front of him is quite large.
The boy glanced back, specifically at the sky, before looking back at him.
His lips morphed into a smirk.
"It's barely noon and you're already jerking off—in public, no less. No shame?"
All the appreciation about the boy's ability evaporated from his mind.
"WH-WHAT DID Y-YOU SAID? WOULD YOU REPEAT THAT?" The old man's face turned red due to the anger.
"Hehe, I was just kidding. Don't get angry. Having your Blood Pressure this high is detrimental to your health. Maybe you would spit blood due to it."
The boy said each statement with a step.
He then sat on the chair in front of the old man, looking quite nonchalant.
His words had the opposite effect of what they meant.
It only served to increase the old man's anger.
'Maybe his face will turn orange.' Akeru wondered in curiosity.
He almost said it aloud, but held back—didn't want the guy to stroke out.
"YOU-" The old man took a deep breath.
Then another one.
Another one.
Before he knew it, he regained his cool.
"Come on, I'm in my twilight years. Gotta enjoy the fun before I check out."
His mood shift made Akeru do a double take.
"Can that thing even get hard at your age?"
***
Latest Chapter on Patreon: 134. D—Date?
***
A/n- I changed the cover. How is it?
Guess, why I did that *cat-smirk*.
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100 Powerstones before Sunday's reset and you get a bonus chapter.
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