Chapter 71

Chapter 71

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 71After landing on a hill near Gunsan owned by Calione, Parnello and I immediately checked the map, then climbed onto a motorcycle that had been prepared nearby.

“I'll drive. Young Master, please ride behind me.”

Parnello sat in the front seat as though it were the most natural thing in the world and put on a helmet.

Come to think of it, I remembered that I didn't even have a license right now.

“...

Fine.”

Since I needed to organize my thoughts anyway, I sat behind Parnello without complaint.

The motorcycle was extremely quiet despite moving at tremendous speed, perhaps because it had been specially modified.

Judging by the looks of it, it seemed to be a motorcycle using a magic-stone engine like the ones I'd seen in the game.

“Parnello. Did Ratte send any additional information?”

“No. Other than her location and the villains pursuing her, no further information has arrived.”

“...

Really?”

Something was strange.

If this had been the game, Parnello would've undertaken this mission alone as always.

If so, he would've succeeded in rescuing Ratte and disposed of the other villains as well, completely eliminating any point of contact with the player.

But in the game, if you participated in the prison-break event, you could meet every escaped villain except Ratte.

In other words, no matter what happened, Parnello failed, Ratte died, and every villain successfully escaped.

“Parnello. What kind of person is Ratte?”

Who exactly was she that Father would personally send Parnello, and even me, to rescue her?

And why were the villains so desperate not to let Ratte escape?

To understand that, I first needed information about the villain called Ratte.

“...

Ratte, you mean?”

Perhaps he found my question unexpected, because Parnello spoke with a puzzled tone.

“Come to think of it, Young Master, you wouldn't have had many chances to meet Ratte.”

I hadn't had chances to meet her?

“...

Ratte is a member of the organization whom Calione has cared for since she was young.”...

What?

One of the villains who escaped this time had been raised by Calione since childhood?

“How did that happen...?”

“It is not a particularly remarkable story. The Don simply took in an orphan who was begging on the streets.”

“Father did?”

“Yes. As you know, Young Master, back then countless dungeons were forming and monsters were overflowing from them, causing many people to lose their lives. As a result, many orphans were created, and the Boss personally established an orphanage for those children.”

Everything Parnello was describing was something I had heard during my successor lessons.

“Ratte too was nothing more than an insignificant little child back then, but she awakened while in the orphanage and from that point onward received training as a member of the organization. That is how far back our connection goes.”

“...

So that's why you were trying to rescue Ratte. If she grew up in Calione, then she's truly family.”

“Yes. We've known her since she was young. Beyond that, she has driven away threats against Calione several times using her ability to control and communicate with rats.”

But if that explanation was true, there was something strange.

“Then why did you allow her to enter Niflheim?”

“That is... because Ratte was the most suitable person for a mission to infiltrate Niflheim.”

According to Parnello, the Villain Alliance had recently been acting strangely, so they dispatched an intelligence agent to Niflheim, where she could come into contact with them most often, in order to determine their movements.

After obtaining information, however, she failed to quietly slip away from them during the escape, which was why she was now being pursued.

“Then those guys don't even know that Ratte belongs to Calione yet?”

“They probably only think she's a spy from some other organization. Unless Ratte tells them herself, they won't know.”

Thinking about it that way, it was almost absurd.

Did those guys even realize they'd just made an enemy of Calione?

After reaching the area near the industrial complex, Parnello gradually slowed down and parked the motorcycle.

The abandoned factory complex gave off an eerie atmosphere beneath the orange streetlights.

We had only stepped off the motorcycle, yet I could already feel something suspicious.

“Looks like quite a few guests are waiting for us.”

“Yes. It's far too quiet for a place where someone on the run is hiding.”

If anyone was searching this vast place, we should have seen someone, sensed a presence, or heard some sound during the process, but the factory complex was laughably silent.

“It seems she has already been captured by the enemy.”

“Looks that way.”

If they intended to use her as bait or extract information, she was probably being held somewhere.

“I think it'd be best to assume a frontal battle.”

“In that case, I should take measures beforehand.”

Parnello got off the driver's seat, crouched in front of the motorcycle, and began adjusting something.

Whiiiiiiir──At that moment, a faint blue glow began spreading across the motorcycle's body.

“I've activated the jamming device, so there should be no concern about their communications leaking outside from this area.”...

I knew it wasn't an ordinary motorcycle, but I hadn't expected it to have a communications jammer installed.

“Range?”

“More than enough to cover the entire factory complex.”

“That's sufficient.”

Then as long as we cleaned up everyone in this zone, there'd be no concern that word would reach the Villain Alliance that Calione had come to rescue Ratte.

Before entering the factory complex, while I was putting [Midas's Gloves]

on both hands, Parnello scanned the surroundings and quietly murmured.

“One sniper in the warehouse on the second floor to the left. Four people waiting on the first floor to the right. Two snipers on the rooftop of the warehouse building straight ahead. Interesting.”

He located the enemies simply by sweeping his gaze around.

“I'll enter from the front and break through their traps. Young Master, would you secure Ratte in the meantime?”

“I will.”

“Reassuring.”

At my answer, Parnello smiled coldly, taking a knife in one hand and a pistol in the other.

“Then, I'll see you later, Young Master.”

At the same time, his figure disappeared from before my eyes.

Not long afterward, fear sharply increased inside the second-floor warehouse where the sniper had been, then vanished as though it had never existed.

One person had lost their life at Parnello's hands.

“...

I don't need to worry about that side.”

Parnello would've been more than capable of surviving even if he'd come alone.

What mattered was my role.

I also began moving, avoiding the enemies as I entered the factory complex.

The factory complex, illuminated only by streetlights and moonlight, let out nothing but the faint sound of wind, like the breathing of a sleeping child.

“It'll be difficult to locate her using fear alone.”

I decided to think of another method for identifying Ratte's location.

If the place Parnello headed toward was a trap, then she had to be somewhere not too far from it.

If we'd brought a spatial mage along, we could've found her quickly, but unregistered spatial mages were extremely rare.

Since only the two of us had come, we had no choice but to locate Ratte ourselves.

Fortunately, even without a spatial mage, I'd recently learned a method I could use.

“He said to spread the aura, right?”

I wasn't sure about compressing aura, but spreading it was something I was confident in, so I slowly began dispersing it.

Because I was facing enemies of the organization, my overall abilities had increased by 1.5 times due to the trait 【Enforcer】.

On top of that, who knew how many people were hiding throughout this factory complex?

[Bloodline: Calione] was already exerting its power.

“I think I just need to focus a little more.”

I slowly scattered aura into the air.

Like dust dissolving into moonlight, like cotton candy melting in water, I drew out the red aura thinly and spread it across as wide an area as possible.

Then the surrounding terrain gradually began forming inside my head.[The effect of Smart Lens activates.][A map within the range touched by aura is displayed.]

A message appeared in the pitch-black darkness with my eyes closed.

When I slowly opened them, a map of the factory complex spread out before me.

Like ink being splattered across paper, the shape of each area touched by my aura gradually appeared.

It was practically no different from a map hack.

Perhaps because of that, a new message appeared before me.[You acquire 「Skill: Aura Sonar」.]

“Ha, I finally got one.”

It was the first skill I'd obtained since arriving in this world.

I'd thought I'd used special techniques before too, but maybe the things I'd done until now lacked enough refinement to be completed as skills, which was why no notification had appeared?

Come to think of it, I'd fought rather crudely until now, so that might've been natural.

「Aura Sonar」 detected a total of fifteen enemies.

Since there were also a few that the aura didn't reach properly, it seemed villains were mixed among them.

And among them, three were wandering around one person...

That movement pattern?

“──Found her.”

I immediately activated the skill Abyssal Mysterious Prison Wool

embedded in the suit [DisPater]

that Maestro had given me.

Sssssss─My entire body was instantly dyed black as though being devoured by darkness.

Not only the color, but even my presence itself felt as though it had completely faded.

‘This is beyond what I expected.’

I hid in the shadows untouched by moonlight and slowly moved forward.

Since it was a technique meant to conceal oneself in darkness, I saw no movement suggesting anyone had detected me.

At the same time, from the factory Parnello had headed toward in the distance, smoke began rising along with an enormous explosion.

Looks like a real battle had begun over there too.

With the enemies' attention turned in that direction, I had to move quickly.

The target presumed to be Ratte was inside a two-story office building.

“Just in case, I should go all out.”[Al Capone's Tommy]

I attached a suppressor to it.

It was a reward I'd received from completing a quest at the Academy in the past, with the effect of greatly reducing gunfire noise.

The suppressor was genuinely quiet, producing only a sharp sound like something from a movie.

It's a shame for the nickname Chicago Typewriter... but it can't be helped for the mission.

Creeak─After finishing my preparations and quietly entering, I suddenly felt something was off.

Come to think of it, why had there been an explosion from Parnello's direction?

Parnello hadn't brought any bombs with him.

Paying closer attention, I slowly climbed the stairs and spotted a thin fishing line stretched across them.

“You really prepared every little thing.”

To think they'd rigged something like this from the entrance.

Moving carefully, I stood in front of the door and activated 「Skill: Aura Sonar」 once again to check the situation inside.

Everyone except one person was standing.

Then as expected, the instant I kicked the door open, I should seize the initiative─────────!!

In that moment, something exploded and the door shattered, sending my body flying backward.

“Oh my? I thought we'd already caught all the rats, but there was another little rat here?!”

A sharp-featured woman burst through the door.

Straight white hair, piercing eyes, and sharp claws on both hands.

“Hello, little boy?”

The villain Blanca.

It was my first encounter with her.