- And now, onto today's top story!
- The massive earthquake that shook all of Magiterra last night! Did you feel it too, citizens? Yes, I mean that exact moment when your desks were shaking, cups were shattering, and your boss said, "We still have to keep working, though!"
- The Magiterra City Stabilization Bureau announced that this earthquake was a 'controllable temporary reaction'!
- While they haven't explained why everyone had to dive under their desks if it was controllable, if the City Stabilization Bureau says so, then that must be it!
Along with a beep, the sound of a video playing echoed out.
- According to the official announcement, the earthquake was due to a pressure imbalance in mana piping that occurred in certain sectors of the Underground Level!
- A completely ordinary event! Seeing as how only seventeen fairly prominent corporate buildings went into emergency defense mode!
- Ordinary! Perfectly ordinary! Just as ordinary as your salary not increasing for six straight years!
The host paused for a beat, then lowered his voice.
- But dear citizens.
- Magiterra's proud conspiracy theorists are already telling a different story....
Click.
Kael switched off the old radio.
Once the host's static-laced voice cut off, silence returned to the room.
Underground Level 20, Room 1409.
Kael leaned back in his chair and looked down at his hands to check his condition, but the trembling in his fingertips had not yet fully subsided.
The inside of his circuits wasn't normal either. He was paying the price for destroying Tier 4 ACUs one after another last night. Having forced a spark into his dried-up Magic Circuit, it would have been stranger if he were completely fine.
'I thought I was controlling my output reasonably well.'
Kael let out a short sigh.
Since it was magic he hadn't used in a long time, he must have gotten a little carried away.
For the first time since the Demon King's subjugation, his circuits had responded to his own will. Even though it had relied on a fleeting spark from destroying someone else's ACU, and the flow of mana hadn't lasted more than a few seconds.
Yet that sensation still lingered vividly in his hands.
That was probably why he had overdone it a bit.
Kael looked at the Tier 6 ACU resting on the desk.
It was the device he had stripped from Pale; though some circuits were singed from overloading, the core was intact.
Perhaps it could be the key needed to reawaken his Magic Circuit.
Kael tapped the ACU's casing lightly with his fingertips as that thought crossed his mind.
'It seems to have caused quite a stir on the Surface Level.'
If it had even reached the ears of a low-grade broadcasting station, it meant the corporations on the upper levels were already aware of it.
What he had done would not end as a mere commotion.
At that thought, Kael closed and opened his eyes.
"...Phew."
What was done was done, so he just needed to be careful moving forward.
What was more important was the intelligence gained from this battle.
Kael carefully wrapped the Tier 6 ACU in cloth and turned his head.
"Hey, Rin."
A faint noise came from inside the bathroom.
"Are you finished getting ready?"
A moment later, Rin appeared from behind the worn cloth hung up like a curtain.
"...Y-Yeah."
Rin was still wearing the worn coat Kael had given her.
"By the way, why are you even here?"
Leaning against the wall while checking an old shotgun, Harun glared at Kael.
"Where did you go yesterday?"
When Kael didn't answer, Harun narrowed his eyes.
"You only asked me to watch Rin for a bit. You didn't say a word about where you were going or what you were doing."
"I had urgent business."
"And didn't the Underground Level get turned upside down three times right after that urgent business?"
Harun spoke in a cautious tone.
"I'm talking about that mess the higher-ups have been kicking up a fuss over on the broadcast since this morning."
Even as he spoke with a grim expression, Kael remained nonchalant.
Harun clicked his tongue at his attitude and asked point-blank:
"Was that your doing?"
Kael fell silent for a moment before speaking.
"Who knows."
Harun chuckled in disbelief.
"You really have a knack for driving people crazy."
He didn't pry any further because he didn't want to know more. Or rather, he sensed that it was something he shouldn't know more about.
Those who survived for a long time in the Underground Level knew how to distinguish what they needed to know from what they shouldn't. Harun merely guessed that Kael had done something;
he didn't bother putting that fact into words.
He merely checked the chamber of his shotgun in silence.
Clack.
"So what is it this time?"
Kael pointed at Rin and replied,
"We've got company coming."
At that, Rin's shoulders flinched.
"Seraph...?"
At her words, Kael nodded and roughly explained the current situation.
After Pale died, the tracking chip remaining inside Rin's body had begun operating again.
Up until then, Pale had been jamming the signal using his Security Office clearance.
What did Pale's death mean?
It meant the tracking chip implanted in Rin's body had automatically begun transmitting her location to the main corporate network.
A signal that Rin was alive.
A signal that the granddaughter of a high-ranking Seraph Industry executive was in the Underground Level.
That meant Seraph's people were coming here.
"I hope they're people we can actually reason with this time."
***
Seraph Industry.
A Megacorp that ranked among the very best, even in the upper levels of Magiterra.
From ACUs to magitechnological medical equipment and bio-circuit compatibility enhancement technology, Seraph Industry stood at the heart of the city in every field.
And at the pinnacle of that corporation stood a single man.
Adrian Arkwright.
Representative of Seraph Industry and current Patriarch of the Arkwright family.
The man who had led Seraph for decades.
Countless executives, politicians, and researchers in the upper levels of the city bowed their heads at his single word. He was a man boundlessly generous to allies and utterly ruthless in crushing his enemies.
That same Adrian had been unable to sleep for days.
There was only one reason.
Because Rin Arkwright, his granddaughter, had disappeared.
When the initial report came in, Adrian hadn't thought it was a kidnapping.
That was because the person who had disappeared with Rin was Pale.
Seraph's Head of Security and a Tier 6 ACU user.
He was a man Adrian had personally selected and kept by his side.
Pale had worked for Seraph for a long time. Adrian had entrusted him with dangerous missions, tasked him with dirty work, and even placed his own life in his hands multiple times.
That was how completely he trusted him, and why he had assigned him to Rin's side.
She was a child carrying the blood of the Arkwright family, someone who might one day inherit the Seraph name. Therefore, his granddaughter would always live exposed to danger.
He had assigned Pale to shield her from that very danger, yet...
Adrian stood in the center of the Chairman's office, staring at the large screen on the wall.
[Rin Arkwright Tracking Signal: Lost]
[Head of Security Pale Authentication Signal: Inactive]
[Last Confirmed Location: Near Upper Level 7th Transport Pipeline]
He stared at the screen for a long while without saying a word. Sensing his palpable rage, the secretarial staff was careful even with their breathing.
Adrian finally spoke.
"What about Pale?"
His voice was raspy.
"Still no response?"
The secretary answered his question immediately.
"Yes. His personal terminal, the Security Office dedicated network, and the emergency authentication channel are all unresponsive."
"And Rin's signal?"
"The tracking chip's response has also gone completely dead. After the last transmission, it appears external jamming was initiated."
Adrian slowly began tapping his finger against the armrest of his chair.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
"External jamming."
He muttered to himself.
"How many people have the clearance to block Rin's tracking chip?"
The secretary hesitated briefly before answering, fearing that the wrong word might provoke his fury.
"You, Representative, the Security Executive Board of Directors' authentication, and...."
"Pale."
"...Yes."
Adrian dragged both hands down his face.
Fury.
Everyone present could tell that something was slowly simmering within him.
"Put the entire Security Office on standby."
"Yes."
"Sever all lines directly tied to Pale. Account clearances, armory access, operational log viewing permissions. Leave nothing behind."
"Understood."
"Assign the Audit Team as well. Every external account Pale contacted over the past year, unauthorized communication logs, financial transfers—all of it."
The secretary bowed his head.
"I will handle it immediately."
Adrian looked back toward the screen displaying Rin's photograph.
White hair and blue eyes. Truly a beautiful child. She looked so much like his daughter, it was as if she were her reincarnation.
His granddaughter had been headstrong ever since she was little.
Once curiosity took hold of her, she would pursue it relentlessly. Adrian liked that about her. He thought it befitting a child bearing Arkwright blood.
That was why he strove to teach her even more, and Rin absorbed knowledge like a sponge.
How corporations operated, how people lied, or what each small sentence in a contract truly meant.
He taught her things like that.
But the Underground Level was the one thing he never taught Rin. No, he never intended to teach her about it. Absolutely not.
..
..
And several days had passed since the tracking signal went dark.
During those days, Adrian ate almost nothing.
He reduced meetings to the bare minimum and canceled all external engagements.
Rumors even circulated within Seraph Industry that the Representative was in failing health.
Strictly speaking, that wasn't entirely wrong.
After all, he was tormented alternately by rage and gnawing anxiety.
And finally.
A report came in stating that Rin Arkwright might be dead. A report saying that, while unconfirmed, the possibility was high.
Below the upper-level transport pipeline, a signal resembling Rin's vitals had cut out, and traces of Seraph's unique circuit resonance had reportedly been detected in a drainage pipe leading to the Underground Level.
The Underground Level.
The moment that word appeared in the report, Adrian fell silent for a long time.
That night, he brought out liquor he normally wouldn't even touch.
Something he had kept locked away in a display cabinet ever since receiving it as a gift.
Sitting alone in the Chairman's office, Adrian poured liquor into a glass.
A burning sensation ran down his throat as he drank, but he could taste nothing.
A childhood photo of Rin was displayed on the screen. A tiny child sitting in a conference room chair, holding a data pad larger than herself.
- Grandfather, why is this person smiling while lying?
Back then, Adrian had answered Rin's question like this:
- You must be all the more careful around people like that.
He was the one who had taught her those words....
Yet the realization that he himself had placed the person she needed to beware of most by Rin's side was driving him insane.
"Pale."
Adrian muttered to himself.
"If you did this."
His voice was slightly raspy, whether from the alcohol or from the fury.
"Death won't be the end of it for you."
It was then.
The door swung open urgently, and an employee from the Security Analysis Team rushed in, gasping for breath.
"Representative!"
Adrian slowly raised his head.
"What is it?"
The employee's breathing was still rough.
"Coordinates have begun transmitting from Lady Rin Arkwright's tracking chip!"
At his words, the glass Adrian was tipping came to a halt. His eyes trembled violently.
"Say that again."
"The tracking chip has reactivated. It is currently transmitting coordinates. Vitals have also been confirmed, albeit faint."
Adrian bolted up from his seat. The chair scraped across the floor as it was shoved back, but he didn't care.
"Location."
As the employee operated his wrist terminal, the screen in the center of the Chairman's office shifted.
From the city map to the upper level.
From the upper level, past the checkpoint to the lower level.
And further down.
A single red dot was blinking.
[Signal Coordinates Confirmed]
[Magiterra Lower District 7th Industrial District D-12 Block]
[Near Underground Level 20, Room 1409]
"Underground Level 20."
"Yes."
The employee also appeared puzzled by that fact, but he calmly continued his report.
"The coordinates are being transmitted from the Underground Level."
Adrian stared at the screen.
The Underground Level.
It was a place where Rin should never be.
It was neither a place Rin could go on her own, nor a place where survival came easy.
Which meant someone had taken her there.
"...."
Kidnapping, protection, transaction.
One of the three, or perhaps all of them.
Adrian's eyes darkened.
"What about Pale's signal?"
"Still nothing."
"The Security Office?"
"Following your orders, Representative, everyone directly subordinate to Pale has been quarantined. We are currently reorganizing a provisional security team."
"Do not use existing Security Office personnel."
He spoke resolutely.
"Not a single person connected to Pale is to be taken along."
"Yes."
"Form the new team exclusively with personnel who have cleared the Audit Team's vetting. Two from the Security Analysis Team, one from the Medical Team, one circuit stabilization technician. And two Tier 5 or higher."
The employee jotted it down swiftly.
"I will make the preparations."
"No."
Adrian picked up his coat.
"I am going personally."
At those words, the subordinate raised his head in dismay and tried to dissuade him.
"You are going in person, Representative? That is far too...."
"Rin is alive."
Adrian set down his glass.
"So as her guardian, I am going."
"But it is the Underground Level. There is no certainty that your safety can be guaranteed...."
The moment Adrian's gaze met his, the subordinate clamped his mouth shut.
"Safety?"
A frigid voice.
"My granddaughter has been down there for days."
Turning his head away, he took slow, measured steps forward.
"And you worry about my safety now?"
The employee could only lower his head.
"I apologize."
"Prepare for departure."
"Yes."