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　Even within Alpha, there is a distance between the middle class and the wealthy, known as the civic center.
　This is because land prices soar as you get closer to the Tower of Babel.

　In other words, it's an unorganized area. There are only a few roads and transition gates in place.
　It can be said to be the greenest place in the human living area. The human race, which has recovered to some extent from the drastic decline of the population, mainly by just having a square and so on, has recently started to cut it down. However, there are many opposition movements and it is true that the area is untouched.

　To call it a sea of trees would be an exaggeration. Nevertheless, the greenery grew thickly on the low mountains. It could be said to be the only place that resembled the outside world.

　Such a place deep in the mountains, the only place far from the road that led from the middle class to the wealthy. The mountains cast a shadow over it, making it impossible to find it, even in the daytime.
　There was a supposedly discarded research facility that stood quietly there.
　The stain of the past - many things that should be avoided - remain there. In the past, at the dawn of time, when humanity was reduced to survival, the military dabbled in various inhumane researches, when they were eager to research magic.

　Of course not all of them, but it goes without saying that the majority of them will not escape pursuit if they are exposed.
　Today, the building is in ruins, but its interior is a husk of shed skin.

　Although the four-story facility had fallen into disrepair, the solidly built rebar exposed through the gaps in the crumbling exterior walls indicated that the possibility of collapse was low.

　Even if the surveyors and others found this place, there was nothing suspicious about the outside without camouflage. However, about three floors underground, the person was there.

'So you really were there, Ars Regin.

　The man who looked up at him raised his glasses and put his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. He had the air of a researcher. His beard was unkempt and his graying hair was just tied back in a shaggy, messy bun.
　Gudma Verhong. The one who was offered this place as a safe house after his human experiments were exposed and he escaped.

　The five experimental subjects are laid on their backs on pedestals and hooked up to various devices like inpatients.

　The experimental body that had caused the attack on the academy had returned and projected what it saw from its eyes onto the screen as information. There, the battle with the silver-haired girl was recorded and the focus was on the two students behind it.
　He enlarged the screen, increased the resolution and stared at their faces.

'I guess that means the rumors were true...'

　I didn't realize that the most powerful man in all the mages was such a kid...I thought he was a fake when he hacked into the military's classified documents before.
　And it was only recently that I heard rumors that he had left the military and turned into a student.

　His physique also matches the suspicious man the three men encountered while experimenting in the city. Analysis of the images showed a 99% fit rate.

'We've got a nasty one here. The military's tame guard dogs.

　He glares at her evasively, but there's a spare smile on his mouth.

'You mean there was something to be gained?'

　Despite having five images on the screen, this researcher in a lab coat didn't give the other four a second thought.
　We've already preserved them.
　Most of the returned subjects were seriously injured. Among them, the one that had been sent to Arus was already exhausted.

　Gudma approached one of them. The face is a gentle one that suggests compassion, and she runs her fingers through the brown hair of the mutilated experiment and puts her hand on the exposed, dirty cheek.
　But contrary to the charity, a cold word was released from Gudma's mouth.

'I am sorry, but I shall discard it. But don't worry, there are so many replacements for you guys.

　Behind Gudma, countless experimental bodies lie in an orderly fashion.

　The pedestal on which these discarded bodies are mounted can be remote-controlled. But Gudma pushed them one by one by hand.
　There is a large hole in the destination, and when you open the lid, you will see a mouth full of darkness.

　I put the pedestal in front of me and pushed in a button that emitted a pale green light from one of the multiple buttons provided on the side with my finger.
　Then one side of the pedestal lifts up and the angle increases.
　The experimental body was thrown into the hole as if it were tumbling down, rolling its body into the hole.

　The experimental body, which was still conscious, was also subject to disposal. The gaze of the experimental body was not on Gudma, but directly in front of it, fixed from the beginning on the ceiling. His emotions could not be seen, and he did not move slightly like a threadbare doll. Even if they blinked, there was no life in them, no matter how alive they were. It's such a faint movement, as if it were deliberately manipulated like a mechanical doll.

　And just after the fifth and final body was buried in the hole, the call that received the communication line rang out quietly. As usual, there was no contact from Gudma on the secret line.
　I press the call button as if I've done a job on it.

'What's up, Inove?'
"The raid is going to happen tomorrow as planned. I hope it's okay.

　There was nothing on the other side of the screen, only the call line was open. The voice was muffled, and all I could make out was that it was barely a man. Gudma calls this man Inove.

'We've helped you to this point. Make sure you bring back the results.

　Gudma doesn't know anything about this Inove person's identity. Not only has he been hunted by the military and provided with an escape route, but he has also been given all sorts of assistance so that he can continue his research.
　That's probably the only reason why there is no need to pry. It didn't matter to Gudma, whose only desire was simply to see his research come to fruition.

'I know,'
I'll meet you at the foot of the Anders.

　It is located along the border between the two countries north of Alpha. In other words, it's on the opposite side of the border from Alpha.

　As we continue our research, we will have to show results. Attacking humans in the city was a start.

　Gudma's research was up to the standard this patron was looking for. But Gudma was not satisfied.
　He knew that this was not complete. It should have been good up to the point where he overruled the superior elemental factor to use light system magic.

　However, he couldn't actually use light lineage magic. The cause of this was the ego.
　As long as there is an acquired lineage where experience accumulates, it is because it is repulsive to the overridden elements.
　Gudma resolved this by filling it with elemental factors so that all magic information was erased. It was convenient that his ego collapsed as a result.

　It was because he was able to create a puppet that obeyed orders.
　The drawback was that he could only use one light system magic due to the lack of elemental factors to override it.
　This was also compensated for by the enhancement program brought by Inove, which created a physically enhanced human being. It was a bit different from where Gudma had reached, but it would still be enough of an achievement.
　I have no resistance to putting a blade in my body.
　Rather, it was the elation of being able to build up a mage no less than three figures by doing so.

''I'll kick the army out and head for the battlefield with ease.
Don't be alarmed. Alpha's got a number one.
I'm aware of that. But this is a human being, not a 200-strong test subject.
I hope so.
"Don't worry, whoever you are, you won't regret it. "Don't worry, whoever you are, you won't regret it. They are setting the stage for us.

　Ars Reagin, as far as his communications partner, Inove, is concerned, is also the information this man brings to the table.
　Still, based on estimates I got from the combat information in the city, if you throw in 30 or so experimental bodies, you'll have no problem.
　Even if you don't think it's a mere child, there's insult contained there.
　There is a section of him that is euphoric about his own research findings, but Gudma doesn't notice it.

'If you follow the escape route, it will be in four days.
All right, as long as you get it back. Good luck.

　The communication was cut off at the end of the word, which was stated blandly.
　I should say that they were very well prepared. They did not inform Gudma of any information. They did not inform Gudma of any information, because it would not be traced.

　Gudma had no interest in this, but he had an idea.
　That seven countries located in the north from the designated location and enhancement experiments were related to one country [Hydrangee] or [Balmes].
　It was Hydrangee who was most diligent in researching the creation of enhanced humans, and Balmes was the one who was on the verge of breaking through the defensive line twice even after Babel's protective wall was put up, while each country was fighting off the demons. It's due to the overall lack of mages, and the last few years have lacked an absolute powerhouse to call a single mage.
　It was quite possible that it was an anti-magic organization of some kind, but the amount of funding only made it certain that a considerable amount of power, or even a conglomerate, was involved.
　Gudma, who had been looking at the interrupted communication for a while, gradually shifted his eyes again to the battle history screen.

　It was because she knew what was missing from the experimental body.

'Ahhhhh Alice I want you. If only you were here, I'm sure it would be complete.

　He touched his hand to Alice's face, which was projected and magnified.
　Even though she had grown up without seeing it for a few years, she still retained enough of the face of that time that there was no way she could mistake it for anything else.
　I stared at her with euphoric eyes that seemed to be impatient with love.

　Of course, the fact that he was able to extract the elemental factor was a coincidence. Gudma knew that as well. But it was also true that there was no other way to solve the problem except to seek new factors.

'It's a pity that I have to give up an elemental factor as good as yours.

　The raid on the academy was designed to test the combativeness of the experiment. This allowed them to show enough success to help Inove escape.
　It didn't deliver the expected blow, but it made it clear that there was still room for improvement as a sample.
　In the meantime, Gudma had ordered Alice's abduction. The blunder was good as far as the location of the girls' dormitory, but they were not at their intended location and were instead forced to fight off the dark-haired female student.

　Alice was with Ars Regin. Of course, they couldn't be a partner in one piece, and they couldn't secure it and returned.
　Was it wrong to decide that the first place shouldn't even be enrolled in the academy?

　That was my only regret.

''I'll be able to erase all of your emotions so that you won't disappear from my presence at the dawn of the day when you're in my possession.......''

　Gudma's eyes narrowed as she looked forward to the day.

　I have no more use for this country. It's more than enough reason to give up on a country that doesn't understand your noble research.
　So I'll kill a few mages and go into exile. That's what Inove and others want, too.
　All information is saved and erased. All the research data is stored in a stick-shaped memory in his hand.

　Behind Gudma are two hundred test subjects, three of which have been crouched down and biting their nails ever since they returned from their experiments in the city.
　Deprived of emotion and unable to move without instruction, the dolls tremble as if in withdrawal if you don't give them anything. It can't sit still.　

　He walked up to one of these unfinished dolls.

'Kikli, you guys did well, it was just a bad match.

　There was no response. He may have heard me, but he didn't even respond.

'Of course you guys aren't going to discard it just because it failed once. But you can't show the other kids that you are too sloppy. Do you understand?

　The monologue continued, and Gudma sat back down at the same eye level and removed the hood she had left on with both hands from her head.

　Her dark brown hair was exposed. The woman's laboratory body was red and bleeding from biting off her lip.
　She was one of the people who had confronted Ars in the city.

'You guys are special...'

　Gudma's mouth arched.
　She crawled a finger across her bloodied lips and pressed her fingernail against the wound. That didn't cause the girls and their experimenters to move a single eyebrow.

　Standing up, she pulled a remote control out of her lab coat pocket and did a few things.

　The lights came on one by one and all the subjects slowly opened their eyelids at the same time.

'Come on, get up.'

　He clapped his hands together and raised his voice to a high pitch. As if to wake up a child........

　At the front of the line, there was one experimental body that jutted out to disrupt the line.

''You know your role, don't you?''

　The experimental body popped on her shoulder and had the outline of a woman, despite her short hair. Even from the top of the robe, you can see the fullness of the chest.
　The only difference between it and other individuals is the color of its eyes. It's not a moist eyeball, it's a light reminiscent of dry ceramic.

　The feminine lips slowly open.

Run ... home.

　The only mechanical sound of the voice repeated.