Chapter 161 Footprints of the witch
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Translator: “Pink Tea”
「『Witch-dono, thank you for your counsel so far. However, regarding『Ukei Kato』. We cannot follow instructions from you, who concealed the missing person that returned from another world. It is good that I had【High Speed Regal】tailing you just in case. Fortunately, the appointed day is tomorrow. Then, Witch-dono, let us meet again at the intersection of focal points of the world’s lines.』」
「Those damn pigs… Getting all witty where no one asked them!!」
（To think they would learn about him after getting this far.）
『Transference Applicants』
A bunch of dumb guys I incited to use as a cover for my research, I made them run a lot of various tasks when I could not rely on Onishi.
I knew that they had wild delusions and exploiting that I used them a lot. I never thought that they would tail me and even less that merely because they saw reporter『Kawakami Kumiko』meet with『Ukei Kaito』they would investigate his background so thoughtfully.
「What a blunder, to think they would outplay me…」
I grinded my teeth loudly.
To make sure they won’t do anything unnecessary, the plan was to get rid of those pigs by instigating Yuuto and his associates with photos, showing that bunch dismantle corpses, and only then retrieve 『Ukei Kaito』.
If I knew it would turn like this, I would’ve executed the plan and got rid of them earlier. Even though I knew just how useless they are from the moment, when they brought me the dead specimen, when I ordered abduction.
「…In this case, there is no choice but to make Onishi carry out the plan tomorrow. If Ukei Kaito is not on campus they most likely will do something dumb, like demanding from police to hand him over.」
Even if it turns like that, there is no way the police will hand over a hostage.
But in that case, the world will learn about him and of course, police will mark him even harder. In the worst case scenario, there is a chance he will be killed in some fake accident like that explosion at the police station a few days ago.
In other words, there is a need to abduct him before that happens or situation will only keep deteriorating.
（It seems that even she ended up participating in the plan, in that case『Ukei Kaito』is home alone. A bit forced, but collection should be possible.）
Onishi is a miser, so most likely, he will rack up the price, but he can have as much money as he wants. As long as I can achieve my final goal I don’t care about anything else.
If I become the world’s greatest magus then I will be able to have as much money as I want.
「Tch, they really did it, those idiots…」
Sitting at the driver seat of the parked car I checked the video on the phone and the name『Ukei Kaito』was perfectly showing there.
Videos on news sites seemed to be edited, but it had no meaning at all, since original was available on other media sites.
「Executing plan earlier was a good call after all. It seems that bringing him out was harder than expected but if we get him in the car, then there are no ways left to fail anymore.」
Checking from inside the car situation at school, which turned into a siege, I reckon it’s about time to send substitute doll to the exchange site.
A lump of earth, plenty of animal lifeblood and meat, wooden frame and blood of a magician you want it to imitate. With those ingredients I can make a doll that looks exactly like me, it can follow orders or can be remotely controlled by concentrating on it, extremely useful instrument.
In this world, with its weak magic, it’s the sorcery that I’m using the most frequently.
Because by using it I can easily create a perfect alibi and it is also possible to interact with dangerous opponents from safety.
Upon activation, it can maintain its appearance for only one day after which it becomes a pile of white sand and it also requires a great deal of concentration to control remotely. Apart from that, there is no magic more convenient.
I close my eyes, concentrate and assume direct control over the substitute doll that I prepared in advance.
Advancing through the forest I aim for the exchange site located at a certain section of an abandoned factory.
（Phew, I might be able to reach the destination faster than I thought.）
It was when I thought that.
「『Excuse me, do you have a moment? I am from the evening TV…』」
(…?! Damn it!?）
As if aiming on purpose for that lapse in concentration, the voice that came from the opened window made me unintentionally cancel control over substitute doll.
While it was very aggravating, I could not afford to make a scene here, so I made a friendly smile that I was so good at and with random responses got rid of the woman, that called herself a reporter, and then reconnected with the substitute doll. However, it seems that after remote control was cut substitute doll made an unfortunate grand fall in the middle of the forest and now was wriggling with a broken leg.
「Tch, no choice, huh… Cancel!」
I dispelled the broken substitute doll and turned it into the pile of white sand.
I have spare substitute doll prepared but if I send it there now it won’t make it in time for exchange.
Since I had no other option, sighing, I sent Onishi an email describing the gist of the situation and moved another substitute doll via remote control.
Shortly after that, a number of meters, that I brought into the car started to react.
「Oh, so those two already started.」
Research so far, proved, that even those without affinity can cause an influence on surrounding magic fabric when their emotions heighten far enough.
That also was the reason why I sent substitute doll to the exchange site and remained near the school myself. I was hoping that rage, anger and various other emotions of the two perpetrators mixed with terror of『Transference Applicants』might produce some kind of reaction at the school where transference already occurred once.
Since substitute doll has no physical senses, to cover for the fluctuations in magic power that meters still cannot pick up, there is no other option but to come here in the real body.
「First let’s get in a shade…」
In order not to repeat the same mistake I put it on stand by in tree’s shade before releasing remote control.
After collecting some data, let’s head to the exchange site where Onishi must be waiting already.
「Anyway… Yeah, that’s amazing. This place seems to be quite special after all, sorcery-like effects seem to grow stronger in the surroundings… Looks like these two are doing great.」
From the response of the equipment that I have prepared, even though they are not using any drugs or potions, they are still producing numbers on par with those that I was able to get in the laboratory.
Even though I understand, that the situation would not allow it, thinking about how much my research would have advanced if I conducted experiments here, instead of laboratory, fills me with regret.
「As expected from the place where the walls between worlds have already crumbled twice. Oops, my bad, a lot more time have passed than I thought…」
Before I realized it I already spent a lot of time staring at readings on meters.
I became too immersed thinking about possible developments to various theories and experiments. Only after getting to the point where I settled upon first experiments that I will perform using 『Ukei Kaito』was I finally able to come back to reality.
「I have to hurry up substitute doll, eh, what are these numbers?!」
As if they were waiting for this moments, meters, one after another, started showing abnormal values.
「Malfunction…? Such numbers, I have never seen…」
Reconstructed from the documents left by ancestors and improved by me with modern engineering to make response from it easier to understand, the devices meant to measure a level of miracle caused by sorcery, and now they were showing clearly anomalous values.
「Eh, and they are still rising?! This is… Such… In materials, such numbers were drafted for a great magic, solely from a theoretical standpoint… It’s… Impossible. Using such advanced magic in a world with such scarce magical power…」
Moreover, before surprise would wear off the numbers jumped once again… It is not a malfunction, there is no denying it, a great sorcery was unfolding right in front of my eyes.
「AAAAAAAAH, Ah, eh?」「HIIeeh, eh, what, outside?」「Eeeeeeeelp me, eh, Eh?」
Onlookers surrounding the school started to raise a noise.
Can’t blame them. From their standpoint, it most likely looked like tied up teachers and students just appeared in the school’s courtyard out of the thin air, without any premotion.
「Teleportation… Spell…?」
Thinking comes to a halt.
Even though after spending several days on it and making large-scale preparations I could at most move an eraser for measly few centimeters.
「Haha, amazing, amazing, so sorcery’s potential was actually this great…」
I could feel my blood boiling.
I was excited. I want to study, I want to study, I want to study it!!!
But as soon as excitement settled down a few incomprehensible points came up.
「…No, wait… Wait, wait, wait. Who used this spell?」
Among the people there, no one should possess knowledge that would allow them to use sorcery.
「Who on earth could that be…?」
There was no one to answer that question.
☆
「…Shit, why I can’t reach him?!」
After once again receiving a notice that a number is currently not available as the reply to my call, I threw my phone on the sofa in my room.
Three days have passed after the hostage situation at the school.
However, the incident was still a hot topic, even more so than when it was happening.
When police force rushed inside a short time later, there was no one inside of the school already.
The only thing that was left is mutilated corpses at the principal office from where『Transference Applicants』streamed their demands.
It was clear that they were massacred with malice, but police actually didn’t disclose that in order to reduce the number of factors that might draw additional attention to the incident. However, the video where man and woman with faces hidden by mosaic were mass murdering『Transference Applicants』responsible for the incident already was circulating on the net, so it was not going as police had hoped.
News on television kept talking about nothing but that incident every day.
「Each and every one of them… Onishi is one thing, I can’t even reach Kanazaki Yuuto or Mai…」
Although, midway through it, he was saying that abduction of『Ukei Kaito』was going well. When substitute doll reached the exchange site, no one was there. No matter for how long I waited, Onishi didn’t show up, nor could I contact him.
Even when I went to check the situation at Ukei’s house, no signs of life could be found there.
When I heard the actual situation from TV, I racked my brains on how different it turned from my scenario.
I was the one who created the scheme as『Kawakami Kumiko』to dispose of the『Transference Applicants』. And I also was the one who made them turn deaths of『Transference Applicants』into deterrent without actually telling them to do so, making it as if they came up with that idea on their own.
Making sure that it could not be traced back to me I was planning to upload the video on the site, where hidden from the public’s eyes,『Transference Applicants』gathered.
So the two who had to carry out the plan won’t get caught, it was never meant to get this big, with so much unnecessary attention.
However, right after the incident, all contacts were cut and I was left in complete darkness without any information on what is going on.
Yes, I was panicking.
「Aah, so irritating, I can’t advance my study without the body. School also was sealed so I can’t enter to investigate it. Why it doesn’t go as intended at…」
「You want to go to the school? Then you are in luck.」
Then, I heard a horrifying voice that sent shivers down my spine.
「Who?!」
When I turned around I saw a lone man standing there.
Wearing a leather armor and black mantle he looked like he jumped out of some fantasy world.
「U, Ukei-kun? Why are you dressed like that? Or rather, what are you doing in my room?」
I reflexively switched to the way I was always acting in front of him.
「…Hmmm. Taking another look at you, this is quite good. That’s some thick skin you have there.」
「Eh, Eehm, what do you… Augh?!」
When I started looking around to grasp the situation, I was shocked, in the literal sense of the word.
「A fusion of modern technology and magical pseudo-engineering? …Damn, why it had to be you. If it was someone else I could at least return to another world without a bad aftertaste.」
「…Gah, …Guhu.」
「Even though I thought that you were a good friend of Mai. Why is it always like this.」
As my sight blurred for a second, the next thing I felt was the coldness of the floor.
A feeling similar to that after sitting in seiza [1. TL Note: “Seiza” is the Japanese term for one of the traditional formal ways of sitting in Japan. Literally “proper sitting”. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Geiko_Kimiha.jpg/800px-Geiko_Kimiha.jpg ] for a long time, but amplified several times, was assaulting my whole body, even simply breathing was hard.
「Satomi-chan, to be honest, I hate you hard enough to be unable to leave you to the two of them, and it’s all because you hurt my little sister. 」
And as I was paralyzed with paresthesia I heard my real name for the first time in a while.
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