you?"

"Huh? Harley-senpai?"

The person who peeked out from inside the steam was Harley, and next to him was the figure of Kirik walking over while holding a cane.

"What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I should be asking you that."

As Harley and Kirik washed themselves, Layfon told him about everything.

"We're here because we've been shut inside the research lab for the whole week, so we came here to recuperate a little."

"This is a hobby for old people. You just need to sleep to get rid of fatigue."

Kirik stated this, but Harley didn't care at all.

In Zuellni's system, almost everyone who was not a Military Artist spent their first three years in General Studies, and then after becoming a fourth-year they would enter various specialized fields. But only the Alchemy Department could be entered through special exams. Harley had passed that exam and had joined the Alchemy Department as a first-year.

"The hot water here is good for the muscles and nerves. Kirik, maybe it can cure your legs."

"Hmph."

Kirik stared at the glass in front of him with a cold snort. Layfon looked at his face from the side. Though his skeletal features were masculine all over, it seemed like even with that he could quickly become a beautiful girl with clothes and cosmetic surgery.

But it was just his harsh face that was scary. His eyes, which looked like they were always displeased, kept others from approaching him.

Harley was the only one who could stand next to him with a calm expression.

"I hate soaking, so I'm getting out first."

He had only soaked in the hot spring for a brief period of time, but Kirik left the hot spring. As Kirik moved stiffly, holding his cane, Harley just leisurely responded to him without going to help.

"Is that alright?"

Layfon asked after Kirik vanished into the changing room.

"It's fine. If you accidentally try to take care of him too much, it'll just hurt his pride. Though Kirik says what he does, he comes here pretty often, so he probably doesn't hate it here."

Kirik had once been a Military Artist. Because of various incidents in the past, his Kei flow had been obstructed, and he had become paraplegic. Unable to continue being a Military Artist, he had entered the Alchemy Department and was trying to start his life again.

Though their origins were different, his fate happened to be similar to Layfon's.

Though he wanted to ask Kirik how he had decided on the path of Alchemy, Layfon felt hesitant. Was it really okay to ask such a thing so easily?

Layfon unconsciously thought that in those harsh eyes was something that wouldn't allow others to peer into his heart so easily.

So Harley was very amazing for being able to stand next to Kirik so casually.

After Layfon said this, Harley laughed.

"It's because a lot of things happened with Kirik. Though I think his personality is very hard to get along with, I'm already used to that kind of attitude from Nina."

"Huh? Used to it from the Captain?"

"Nina's the same. Well, though she feels really passionate now, she wasn't like that before. She was a sheltered daughter of a wealthy family when she was in Schneibel. She gave off a powerful 'don't talk to me' atmosphere, even though she didn't think that way."

"R....Really?"

"Yeah. My dad was a famous Dite technician in Schneibel, so he often went to Nina's home, and I became close to her through that connection. Honestly, she completely ignored me at the start. It took a lot of work before I could talk with her normally."

But now the relationship between the two of them had already become one where they could chat very normally.

Also, now he had become friends with Kirik.

"Harley-senpai, you're really amazing."

"That's not true, I'm just very honest about my interests. If I weren't able to talk about them, I might not have been able to become friends with either Nina or Kirik."

Harley simply smiled.

But Layfon couldn't do such a thing.

"Whew, I soaked for a bit too long. I'm starting to get dizzy."

The red-faced Harley unsteadily got out of the hot spring. Layfon felt like it was about time for him to leave, so he also stood up.

Just then, a strange cry reached him through the glass.

"Huh?"

"What?"

The two of them looked back together.

They could see the darkness of the thick forest through the glass, and there was a huge figure rushing over on the other side of the glass.

"Huh? Huh?"

"Senpai, get back!"

Layfon instantly stood in a position he could guard Harley and then took a stance.

The figure charged at them violently, as if completely failing to notice that this was a glass window.

A heavy sound boomed through the hot spring room, then there was a silence. The glass was dyed white by the large webbed cracks appearing over its surface.

"Wh....What?"

"Let's get out quickly."

Layfon spoke up to urge on Harley, who was dumbstruck and unable to move from surprise, and then moved to the changing room.

After he changed and walked outside, there were already people gathered there. They were the students who had used the recuperation spot along with the students who had been sent here by the Student Council as management.

The group of less than ten people checked object that had crashed into the glass.

The object that was illuminated by their electric lights was a khufu.

"How...."

To think such a docile animal had suddenly done something like that at night.... Though they were surprised, everyone checked the identification tag hung around its neck.

This time Layfon went speechless.

The khufu fallen in front of him was the vice-leader of the group Layfon had been in charge of.

◇

The Aquaculture Department students at the pasture quickly took the khufu away, moving it to a medical room in the underground below the pasture. Though the khufu had already died, they had to inspect it since it had done something so violent as jumping out of the pen and charging into the glass of the recuperation area despite the gentle personality it ought to have as pasture livestock.

The Aquaculture Department senpais' faces were grave, and Layfon and the others, shaken by their demeanors, were also surrounded by the heavy atmosphere.

(The Captain....)

Layfon felt a twinge of pain in his chest when he thought of the fallen khufu. Of course, he realized that the khufu wasn't actually Nina. But the khufu that had made Layfon feel like maybe the pasture work suited him had become like this. The pain that Layfon felt in his chest was genuine.

Not long afterwards, a weary-faced senpai appeared. The senpai was studying veterinary science in the Aquaculture Department, and he had been called here for that purpose.

"The cause of death was cervical damage, and I can't tell the reason it went out of control. But...."

That senpai furrowed his brow.

"Hole-shaped wounds that couldn't have been caused by the impact have appeared on its belly and viscera. Though the reason might be parasites, I can't find any signs of those parasites. But there are certainly traces of something on the organs."

"We have regular inspections for parasites."

"I understand. I'd also like you to reveal those records. But there are certainly wounds that couldn't be produced by anything other than parasites or such on it. That's the only possibility if it was an external reason that made it go out of control."

"Hey. Hold on. In that case--"

The Aquaculture Department senpai groaned in lamentation.

"....We have to suspend the shipment until we figure out the cause, and at worse we'll be prohibited from breeding them."

This time the senpais clearly groaned.

"Hey!"

"This isn't a joke, we've come this far!"

"But if we don't figure out the cause, things will turn out that way no matter what. Do you understand? If there are parasites there, they're eating the khufus' organs. You can't guarantee that they won't eat human organs."

The veterinarian's remark made a commotion rise up among the workers standing behind and listening. They were probably imagining themselves eating something like that during the taste-testing.

But the prohibition part was more shocking to Layfon than the taste-testing. The reason that these khufu were being raised was for food, so it was long since decided that their lives were to be used as food for humans. But the prohibition changed things.

The khufu that had made Layfon feel such a strong sense of closeness would be killed without being able to complete their mission.

"But it's still not certain that there are parasites, right?"

One senpai's words made the veterinarian nod his head.

"Yeah. But I can't be sure that there aren't parasites. After all, the possibility is just there. If there are parasites, we'll have to find them and take countermeasures. If there aren't, we'll have to find proof that there aren't parasites. In any case, we'll have to inspect the other khufu."

"Ah, can you hold on a bit?"

As the senpais' faces darkened, that voice broke in between them.

"Harley-senpai?"

Layfon turned around. The people who appeared there were Harley, Kirik, and one other person.

"You guys are?"

"Alchemy Department third year Harley Sutton. I want to inspect the corpse, may I?"

"What does that mean?"

"When I saw the corpse from the recuperation area, there was something that felt strange to me."

"Senpai....?"

After Layfon spoke up, Harley waved at him with a smile no different from normal.

"Sorry, sorry, it took some time for me to get others to bring equipment here."

"Why don't you put yourself in the shoes of the guy who had to bike all the way over here."

The other student said with a weary expression. Maybe he was someone in the same research lab as Harley.

"Hey, you guys...."

"We said that we wanted to inspect the corpse just now because its cause of death was probably caused by humans."

Kirik glared at the Aquaculture Department students with a sharp look from his wheelchair.

"It's also possible that it's a crime. If you'd like the city police to be here to witness it, you'd better hurry up and contact them."

It seemed like there were people who felt opposed to Kirik's remark, but the veterinarian was the first to back off and avoid starting a dispute.

Layfon could only stare blankly at the changing situation while he watched Harley and the others vanish into the medical room.

Before Harley and the others came out from the medical room, Formed and the others from the city police, whom the senpai had contacted, arrived on the scene.

After noting that Layfon was here, Formed and the Aquaculture Department senpai vanished into the medical room together.

"How's the situation?"

Layfon asked Naruki, who had come as well.

"There's been trouble recently with thievery of Aquaculture and Agriculture new product intellectual property."

"Ah...."

Those words made Layfon think of Formed's complaint from before that many problems had been going on.

"It seems like we've had a lot of problems with new products entering the markets early. It would be normal if it were only one or two incidents, but this time there are too many cases. So we've been constantly investigating the situation."

After Naruki said this, Harley, Formed, and the others walked out.

"As for the incident this time, there's an extremely high chance that it's a case of information theft."

Those words made the Aquaculture Department senpais put on bitter expressions. Though it was a relief that the khufus they had raised weren't diseased, it made them sad to think there might be people using sinister means to steal their genetic information.

historical

"Starting now, we're going to conduct and resolve this matter as a case of information theft."

After proclaiming this, Formed instructed his subordinates to leave the pasture.

"Senpai!"

Layfon chased after them.

"What, do you want to help?"

"Yeah, I'm very mad about this case."

After Layfon said this, Formed raised his brows and put on a very surprised expression.

"Well, it's possible that we'll immediately make an arrest this time, with someone like you so determined."

"Senpai, do you have any suspects?"

"When information theft happens, the city police will first check the list of people who used the living quarters. That's the theory behind handling these cases."

Formed said this with a cold snort.

"There are a few people who are very suspicious. The biggest problem this time is that we can't use any clear evidence that they're stealing, but we almost have some clues. After that we just need to find the ones who fit those clues and question them."

"But the means of committing the crime...."

"Psychokinesis flakes."

"Huh?"

Harley and the others caught up.

"The culprits put extremely small Psychokinesis flakes inside bugs or small creatures and control them that way. When we inspected the organs of that livestock and others that were sent to the Alchemy Department because of strange deaths, we ended up noticing that there was still Psychokinesis in them, although the amounts were very miniscule. Though we're just inferring the suspect from that, it's probably not wrong."

"You can do that?"

"I'm not a Psychokinesist myself, so I can't say anything about whether anyone can do such a thing. But I don't think it's impossible to use Psychokinesis lightning to drive muscle current. Or they're not controlling the muscle, but rather using current to manipulate the brain. We've thought of a lot of ways, and if we can think of these it means that there might be people already doing them."

"I see."

Harley and the others had made this conclusion after their alchemical inspections, so Formed could find suspects based off of that conclusion.

In that case, the culprit was him.

"Leave it to me, I'll definitely capture him."

"....Well, keep it reasonable."

Formed looked at the motivated Layfon in surprise.

When he reached the residence, Layfon received the instruction to stand by.

Come to think of it, Layfon hadn't brought his Dite here. He had just planned on working at the pasture, and the school regulations said to avoid carrying a Dite during holidays.

"Harley-senpai, is there anything I can use?"

After explaining the story, Harley and Kirik put on speechless expressions.

"Do you have any self-awareness as a Military Artist?"

"There aren't many people who follow the rules so diligently. Uh, do we have anything?"

"There should be some unrefined materials in the toolbox. Hold on."

Harley, Kirik, and another person started working.

"We'll use a city police baton as the base material. Hey, bring it over."

"There's no Sapphire in the toolbox, we only have enough Ruby."

"The settings will become pretty arbitrary. What kind of weapon would be best to finish work on in five minutes?"

The three of them debated as they broke down the Dite they had gotten from a city police Military Artist, adding new materials to it and then restructuring it.

"Hey, why don't we try out this test product on the side?"

"I think the rate of Kei loss is too severe."

"It's fine, it's fine, it's no problem for Layfon's maximum instantaneous release amount. Let's try it."

"Huh, what is it? Please wait."

"It’s alright, it's alright, we'll make something very interesting, so just hold on."

"No, I should be the one telling you to hold on."

"There's no time now, and we'll be able to directly apply a program if we use this thing. Also, you'll be able to use it immediately with just some slight adjustments."

"Let's just gather some experimental data on the side."

The three of them didn't care to listen to Layfon at all. Harley's hands typed on a keyboard with frightening speed as he entered data.

As the three of them busied themselves, there was movement from the residence.

"Retreat, retreat!"

Formed's shout came from the residence, and a sense of tension shot through the Military Artists on standby.

"Here, Layfon."

Layfon didn't have any time to protest, no matter what exactly they had made. Layfon accepted the object they gave him and started running.

The object in his hand was a strangely-shaped Dite. It didn't have a covering, so all of its machinery was exposed outside. Wiring crawled on the black base material like blood vessels, and a red-colored ore was installed on its point.

Formed and the negotiators spilled out from the residence exit that Layfon headed to. This time they hadn't gotten any perfect evidence, so Formed had said he would negotiate with the criminal himself and make him confess.

He had probably succeeded.

An irritating sound came from behind Formed and the others as they stumbled out, and countless bugs also appeared.

They weren't just bugs. There were also birds flying in the air and large rats crawling over the ground. The criminal couldn't have transported such a large quantity of bugs and animals through a roaming bus, so he had probably used animals from Zuellni.

Also, Harley's alchemical speculation had hit the mark.

The bugs spread outwards like moving sensors, attacking all the police surrounding the residence.

"I can't let you get away, criminal."

Layfon murmured the restoration keyword, infusing the Dite with Kei....

"....Huh?"

The Dite absorbed a large quantity of Kei that gave Layfon goosebumps.

The Dite didn't explode or become heavier.

It ignored the changes that ought to happen, and released a huge flow of energy from the ruby tip.

"W-W-Wha...."

The Dite gripped in his hand maintained its form, but a beam of red energy with no fixed shape appeared at the ruby tip.

"Ohh, it's out, it's out. It looks pretty stable."

"Hmm - well, that's about right."

Kirik and the other muttered these words, but they still reached the internal-Kei-strengthened ears of Layfon.

"Layfon~ This is a Dite that directly turns Kei energy into a weapon, like the compound Dites that Karen Kei users usually use. That's how it is, so good luck."

That voice came from Harley. He didn't particularly raise his voice, anticipating that Layfon would be able to hear him talk.

"I'm not good at using Karen Kei!"

Though Harley and the others didn't hear, Layfon still returned those words. Layfon moved his focus to the unsightly beam of energy.

The key to Karen Kei was to make Kei take form based on one's imagination. Layfon imagined a sword. Though the shape was ugly, it still managed to turn into the form of a sword.

Right now, Layfon was standing between Formed and the bugs. Layfon used the shockwave from his movement to send the rampaging bugs trying to engulf Formed and the others flying from the area.

He swung his sword, using the heat of the red beam to burn the bugs to a crisp.

"It's really hard to use!"

Layfon shouted this after defending against the onslaught of bugs. If it were a normal weapon, a Military Artist using internal Kei should be able to use the shockwaves produced from every movement to blow away the bugs. At this kind of time, it would be most effective to make the shockwaves released from the Kei infused into the weapon as powerful as possible.

But the Kei he was flowing into the Dite right now was all being used to maintain the blade, so it didn't create any shockwaves.

Even so, the shockwaves produced from his movement alone were being put to effective use. But that level of power could just at most keep the bugs from getting close to him, and didn't help much otherwise. Layfon couldn't push the bugs back to the Psychokinesist that controlled them.

Naruki and the city police Military Artists had been stopped by the group of bugs, unable to move even if they wanted to.

"Damn!"

His state of being unable to move forward constantly increased his feeling of impatience.

The enemy of his captain was right on the other side of this group of bugs. He couldn't let any other Military Artists do it. Layfon was the one who would take revenge for his captain (khufu).

(What techniques are there in Karen Kei?)

Layfon fended off the bugs as he dug through his memories. Though there were Heaven's Blade successors who used Karen Kei, the system of moves was far too different from his, so Layfon hadn't observed them that carefully. Even the imagination had to be controlled along with the flow of Kei, so even Layfon had trouble stealing those kinds of techniques.

There was only one technique he could think of quickly.

It was a big technique, one whose difficulty of imagining was about the same as the sword he was using right now, and it seemed like he could use his steel thread techniques to control it.

But the problem was...."

"Whatever! I'll do it!"

An extravagant, idiotic man who liked beauty. Layfon thought of the Heaven's Blade successor Troyatte Gabanest Firandin, grimacing as he used that move.

External-type Kei, Karen Variant - Seven Fangs.

The sword-shaped mass of energy around the ruby explosively increased in size, gradually taking form.

Just that much power blew away the surrounding bugs.

A surprised sound came from around him.

Seven giant snakes appeared there. Bodies as thick as grown men supported serpentine heads and towered arrogantly over the surroundings.

The seven snakes' bodies were connected to the Dite in Layfon's hand.

"Go."

At the same time as Layfon spoke, the seven huge serpents sped towards the residence. Just from being hit by the bodies, the bugs were sucked into the heat of the Kei and burned up one by one.

Layfon sprinted behind the charging serpents.

"There are other people in there!"

Formed's lamenting cry reached his ears from behind.

Even so, Layfon didn't reduce his speed.

Because he saw it.

He saw the figure of a man show his face as he escaped through the back door of the residence.

"So it was youuuuuuuuu!"

"Aaah!"

That man fell on his rear upon hearing Layfon's voice and seeing first-hand the serpents speeding towards him.

"Enemy of my captain (khufu)!"

The serpents bared their fangs, reacting to Layfon's cry. The seeking bodies of erupting energy rushed towards the man.

During that time....

Bang.

"Ah, it reached its limits."

Harley let out a stunned voice from afar.

What Layfon had been worried about, whether the hastily-constructed Dite was able to endure a large amount of Kei....

It ended up being unable to endure.

Bearing the brunt of the explosion of energy, Layfon lost consciousness as he rapidly flew forward.... and like that, crashed into the man.

◇

Afterwards, the culprit was arrested without trouble.

The self-destructed Layfon managed to get away with light injuries, but he couldn't go to work the next day.

That night, the Aquaculture Department living quarters held the planned khufu taste-testing.... in other words, a barbeque. Of course, it wasn't just khufu - they also used the meat of other livestock that the Aquaculture Department took pride in.

Layfon also took part.

Word of the arrest over at the residence had made it here, and Layfon was warmly welcomed for clearing the khufu of suspicion. Layfon also worked in the kitchen, and his food was well-liked.

(I really should go to the Aquaculture Department after becoming a fourth-year.)

Layfon who thought this had also asked the senpais about the Aquaculture Department.

Though he had looked rather shameful at the end of the arrest, he had still succeeded in enacting revenge for his captain (khufu), so Layfon was able to attend this party with the best of moods.

Full from eating, Layfon headed to the pens where the khufu were kept in order to report his successful revenge.

"....Huh?"

After finding the group he had been in charge of, Layfon tilted his head and put on a confused expression.

"There's no me (khufu)."

Felli (khufu) and Sharnid (khufu), and the other khufus were all there, but Layfon wasn't.

Layfon thought about what was going on....

"........Ah."

He turned around, seeing the crimson flames scorching the grills over by the living quarters.

He saw the animal placed on that grill.

Layfon held his stomach.

"Eeeeuuuurrrrgh."

Maybe he still needed to think more deeply about going to the Aquaculture Division.

Yeah, Layfon thought so.

Layfon's path still hadn't appeared.