Nuh...!　Lorenza, are you okay?

Yes, it's not a problem, but...

　Alessandro and Lorenza looked around the room, which was a pile of rubble, and were also stunned by the situation with the dark castle of the water margin itself tilted.
　Not only did they not expect that the other party would make such a spectacular move, but they also realized how much the people with abilities sent by the institution were capable of hiding from the current situation.
　And then........gradually their bodies begin to tremble with anger.

''You'll do it........ Does this mean that the agency is willing to go to war with this country? In that case, we'll have to respond accordingly!

'You ... look at them. They were sent by the agency....

　Alessandro looked surprised when Lorenza pulled the crystal up out of the rubble and showed it to Alessandro.

'This!　Isn't it the little Orleanian girl!　Nah, lickety-split........ But stupid!

What can I do?　You

''As long as the little sacrificial lass is here, I don't mind the Dark Night Leopard as a pawn!　Let's demonize everything and capture the girl!　What does Abasi do?　I'll have him explain the situation and send all the Dark Night Leopards to the little girl.

　Alessandro picks up the communicator from inside the tilted room and contacts Abasi, who has been entrusted with the command.
　But........there is no response.
　Alessandro is getting frustrated, but this is the situation. The command center must be confused as well.
　The idea of hiding for a moment in Alessandro, who became calm for a moment here, comes to mind.
　Indeed, the sacrifices that could make them achieve their own longed-for desires right now have come all the way here, all the way in front of them. However, the people who have been hitting them with great feats of skill so relentlessly must have been quite prepared for it.　I can't speak for others, but they came to another country and even destroyed a top-secret state facility. It shows the seriousness of the agency.
　The agency must know that we aimed at Marion, and considering that they even dispatched the Marion because of that, we could imagine that they are preparing their forces even more than we thought.

(There must be more than just those guys who have appeared here. If that's the case, we can use the Dark Night's Leopard as a shield and hide for now.......and take some time to rebuild after they leave? As expected, they can't stay here forever. (The plan is to play for speed.)

　Until now, Alessandro has been able to get by with this prudence.
　Alessandro is never overconfident.
　The alchemist and apothecary Alessandro, the fortune-teller and spellcaster Lorenza, is very high in ability.
　However, as an actual combat ability, they are not as good as the high-ranking people who can specialize in combat. Knowing this, he used small officials like Zhang Lin to get the backing of the great power China.
　Moreover, over time and effort, they gradually put down roots in this country until they had people in various parts of the country who would be their handmaidens.

(No pressure here, this country will soon be mine. ) The country will soon be mine. He can be easily controlled by Abo. If he gets in the way we can send someone else to do the job. (We have time.)

　There is a way to brainwash people, but Alessandro and his friends are not good at those things because of their abilities against ordinary people. You can brainwash people with drugs, but the result is a person with an unstable ego, like a puppet.
　That's a tough job for a politician to do, because he has to keep telling people what to do, one after the other.
　In addition, that recognition slip is an item limited to those with spiritual and magical abilities and cannot be used by ordinary people who do not possess them.
　It's not like Lokiarm, the Sword of Surt, that Alessandro and the others can't directly send their magic power into the brains of ordinary people to control them.
　That's why they have been increasing their pawns by experiencing candy and fear. It takes some time, but they know that it's enough to control them.

'Lorenza, shall we pull back for a moment...?

'Well ... hmph, that's fine too. It's fun to take a long time ... to harass an institution. I'll keep giving you endless hours of restfulness....

'I thought about making Azi Dahak-sama manifest here and having Azi Dahak-sama himself eat the little girl, but we only have a few minutes. If they are able to stall for time, it's conceivable that they could end up killing a few of the agency's abilities. It's painful that the contracted outsiders who came to explore earlier have learned of our intentions, but we have time. And now that we know that, we won't be able to set up in this country so many times.

'Yes, it is inherently unbecoming of a vassal to ask Master Azzi Dahak to go that far. We would do well to make up the perfect arrangements and circumstances to invite you in. However, the only thing we need to take care of is the Chinese branch of the World Ability Agency in Shanghai.

'Well let's hurry up with that plan. The new recognition slips that are about to be completed will have a destabilizing effect on the S-ranked and higher abilities. We must use this to get the powers in the Chinese branch to work for us. But with that the New Dark Night Leopard will rise up. ''Kukku, if we can get it right, we'll be able to take both the Royal Family and the Huang Family as pawns...''

'Yes ... and if that works, so does the agency itself.

''Then release the yoke of every dark night leopard. Let it rampage to the end of its life, to buy us a few moments to hide!

Okay so...

　Lorenza takes out a recognition slip that is connected to 42 chains.
　And then, a black magic power overflowed from Lorenza's entire body.
　
　Alessandro stops Lorenza with his eyes.
　There was no need to get in touch with Abasi, who would be bewitched now, but in order to effectively hide, Alessandro put his ear to the communicator to hear about the situation outside.

'Abasi or what's the situation outside?'

....

Hey, do you hear me?

...Are you the Count?

What...?　Who the hell are you?　Who are you talking to!　What happened to Abasi!

　Immediately realizing that it wasn't Abasi, Alessandro shouted at the voice of a young man with an irreverent tone towards him, the master of this dark castle of the Water Margin.

'Wait for me I'm coming over there now.

"....!　Are you the agency's gifted one?

　Lorenza's eyes widened at Alessandro's words and immediately began to inject magic power into the recognition slip.

''Well that's different. I'm a bit different to you guys than being an agency's gifted person.''

What the...?

　Alessandro didn't understand what the young man, who was probably capable of this agency, was saying.

'I'm ... a curse. The very curse that was placed on you.''

　The voice is indifferent, and it's not an attempt to have a conversation.
　It's just a one-sided message to Alessandro.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make your life easier and more fun.

'A curse that will never be broken by you guys goes that way. So.........wait for it.

　Then the transmission was cut off.

You...!

You...?

Apparently, some rogue agency incompetent is on his way to the command center. Hurry up, Lorenza. I want those bewitched people over here!

Yeah, well...

What's going on?

　Lorenza looks impatient at Alessandro's instructions.

'None of the Dark Night's leopards are responding. My magic power hasn't reached them.''

"...What?　What does that mean?!

I don't know if... no, no, that's ridiculous...

What's going on?

''The only weaknesses of this recognition slip are that it is less effective on those who have too much spiritual and magical power and that if it is applied to Senki, the technique will go awry. As I've told you before, the little boy who fought the dead bird is an elixir user. And that little boy was here.

''Nonsense... there's no way we can defeat all the Dark Night Leopards in such a short time!　Moreover, you said that the little boy was seriously wounded in the fight with the dead bird!

'Yes!　But that's the only way to screw up the perceptions.

....!

　Alessandro felt a chill and quickly rushed to the switch in the wall beside him. He didn't know if he was still alive, but it was the switch that activated his emergency defense system.
　There are multiple layers of thick alloy doors closing in the corridor leading up to this room so that they can escape themselves in case of an emergency.
　As Alessandro rapped on the switch, a bass sound could be heard from outside the room as the special door closed.
　The sound made Alessandro look slightly relieved.
　Then the heavy bookcase, which hadn't even fallen over, slides sideways, even though the building itself is tilted at an angle.
　When the slide ended, a hidden staircase appeared where the bookcase had been.

'Lorenza, let's go!'

Yes!

　The bookshelf returns to its original position as Alessandro and Lorenza jump into the staircase where they appeared.
　A dozen seconds after the two of them started hurrying down the stairs, which were difficult to pass because of the slanting angle... a roaring sound rang out from behind them, as if the thick alloy door they had had specially made had been blown off.