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“That’s great to hear,” said Kou, “though I thought much more evidence could’ve been revealed. This didn’t really play out the way I thought it would.”
Regardless, I heaved a sigh of relief at seeing that she did not notice the doubt that was occupying my mind.
“It can’t be helped - significant clues are usually absent at the scene for cases involving magic, especially those tied to mysterious creatures. Moreover, it’s a creature of an unknown species we’re dealing with at the moment. Without sufficient intel on them, it’s much harder for us to perform precise deductions,” I explained.
I had encountered far too many similar cases in the past to be frustrated by this.
There was once a high-ranked mysterious creature in Glace which was capable of disguising its magicae attribute. It took me a solid three months of pursuit to successfully identify its attribute and identity in the brief gap when it let its guard down. So, compared to that time, we should be grateful that we at least had some sort of lead in hand at the beginning of the investigation.
“Is that so? Then I guess we can only go with the flow for now. But how exactly are we going to keep up with the investigation with only this much evidence in hand?” Her worries lingered.
She’s actually right to be worried - we’re never gonna find out the truth at this rate. With the investigation’s progress fizzling out already, I can barely imagine how we’re gonna give Mr. Chong a proper explanation in the end.
“When it comes to the best kind of clue one can obtain, nothing beats a first-hand verification.” Speaking with confidence, I retrieved a magical pen from my jacket.
“And what does that mean?” She did not seem to comprehend my implication.
I smiled and bent down to write a string of words which did not belong to this realm using the pen in the area where dark power was discovered. The fluorescent text flashed like a laser, almost like a light trail streaking through the night sky. After I finished writing, it disappeared into thin air.
“What did you just do, Sakura?” Kou asked, puzzled by my act.
“The spell I just wrote is called ‘Track Record’. The magic forms a marking that can only be detected by me. I can use it to memorise the precise location, which could come in handy for future investigations.” A spherical light bullet formed in my palm as I stood back up. When its growth reached a certain threshold, I swung my arm and threw the bullet with force a short distance. It was smashed into the ground before vanishing into nothingness. “And this is my way of luring them out.”
“What’s so special about that light bullet?” Kou tilted her head, unsure why I attacked empty ground.
“The light bullet, carrying my aura, is a form of provocation. It sends a message to the ‘vampires’ that someone of the magicae attribute opposite to theirs has visited the place and bears the intent to be their opponent. If they get impatient and want to fight me while my presence can be sensed they will definitely show up,” I explained patiently. “Since they’re unknown creatures, the best way to extract more clues is to lure them out for a ‘meetup’, don’t you think?”
“So that means…”
“Oh, yeah, we should make some progress around midnight tonight,” I affirmed.
“Hurray! I can finally meet a ‘vampire’!” Kou’s uncertainty immediately turned to excitement at the thought of her dream soon reaching fruition.
“Calm down buddy, you don’t have to get so excited…” I know for a fact that she’s passionate about the supernatural, but isn’t this a little over the top?
“But I get to verify the mysterious creatures with my own two eyes…I mean isn’t this just wonderful?” She seemed infatuated with the thought.
I do admit that it’s quite worth the hype, but it’s ‘vampires’ we’re talking about here. Does she not fear that they might charge at her and suck her blood dry? Normal human beings would wet their pants to even meet them, right?
…ah, I almost forgot. The prerequisite for that is that she IS a normal human being in the first place.
“Let’s head home for now and set off around 11:00 PM. It’s their pattern to show up at night, isn’t it? If that’s the case, the probability of them showing up would be highest at midnight, as that’s the time of the day when the magical power of the dark attribute performs best,” I suggested.
“Yep, that settles it,” Kou agreed with a nod.
“Oh, and I wanted to ask you something,” Kou suddenly halted and asked when I was about to turn around and return, “do you usually speak some special lines when you’re about to launch an attack on your opponents during work?”
Special lines? I guess she means some kind of declaration, right?
“Let me see…sometimes I say ‘Creature of the dark, I now call upon your obedience under my mageka beam!’ But mostly I go for ‘I, Mageka Luminosa, am hired to complete a request. It’s not my intent to be your enemy, but if you’re in my way, don’t blame me for getting rough!’...what’s the matter?”
She’s asking about this…I suppose?
“Hmm, too mediocre.” Not only did she shake her head after listening, she also made the comment in distaste.
“Huh, did I ask for your opinion? And I’d better have the luxury to think of some special lines to spill in a battle!” I said, irritated.
Is it really a must to talk that much when I’m on duty? Those words I use are all formal warnings, ‘cause what matters most is that I deliver. Who cares if my speech is mediocre or not?
“Do you know that in this realm, every mageka speaks some catchy lines when they’re about to engage in a combat?” Arms crossed, she gave a few firm nods.
“What? Is there such a rule? How come I’ve never heard of it from you?”
Why would there be such a rule in a realm where mageka is a rare existence?
“That’s because you’ve never actually ‘gone off to war’.” Her reply sounded logical enough.
“Alright then, show me an example.”
Let’s give it a shot, since she insists so much about it.
“Okay, but you have to promise me that you'll use the lines when in tonight’s battle against the ‘vampires’, alright?” Kou brought up an odd request alongside her response.
“I’ll have to hear them first.”I had learned the hard way to let Kou’s bizarre ideas unfold instead of blindly falling into her tricks.
“I, Mageka Luminosa, as a mageka of light, am now here to punish you in the name of the Moon!” Kou even struck a weird cross-armed pose while uttering the lines out loud.
“...”
Her performance left me at a loss for words.
“What kind of crappy lines are those?”36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZU9qyAsivn
