It was now the eleventh day since infiltration had begun, and the fifth training session of this camp, and first of today, was, uh……getting a bit delayed.

  "This is beneath me. Why should I have to participate in your whimsical training program, Sicario?" Growled Hacte, as he glared at the Elite Squad candidates.

  "Because I outrank you, and I say so. Not to mention that Lord Valaque approved of this idea, it will slowly but surely help us strengthen our overall strength."

  "Tch, and you expect me to refrain from injuring these lowly lapdogs? I do not show mercy to-!"

  "It has nothing to do with mercy, it's a damn training exercise, get that stick out of your ass! Get started, Hacte, and if you deliberately injure the candidates out of spite, you will have to fight me. And I will not go easy on you," Sicario snapped threateningly.

  So, they clearly didn't get along……come to think of it, when I met Rion and mentioned Hacte, his expression soured. Interesting, so number four doesn't get along well with the others, I'll have to keep that in mind……

  "Tch……! Fine, line up, lapdogs! Attack me one by one," He growled irritably, his eyebrow twitching.

  Huh, so he doesn't fancy his chances against Sicario……he had flinched for a second there. As we lined up, I made sure to stay around the back, so that I'd get to see a few others take him on before I do and get an idea of what he was capable of.

  He wasn't as fast as Sicario, but he was more agile and his reaction time was insane, and……I think he uses Wind Magic. At times, he appeared to use Flight to lengthen his leaps and dashes, his movements appearing too fluid and smooth to be natural.

  He seemed fully focused on dodging, keeping his hands in his pockets, with a grimace on his face and gritted teeth. He was seriously not happy about sparring with lapdogs and holding back, he was clearly itching to strike back.

  He took the hierarchical system way too seriously, unlike Sicario and Rion, who downright ignored it at times. In fact, yesterday during Rion's training session, he had been so friendly and cheerful towards us that some of the other the lapdogs looked genuinely confused on how to act around him, but it was clear that they appreciated it, when they bowed and thanked him after the training was over, it felt a lot more genuine than the usual robotic bows they give the Retribution Tier members.

  Anyway, it was eventually my turn to attack Hacte.

  No one had hit him yet. Let's see if I can land one. I'll at least try to make him use more of his Wind Magic, that surely can't be the extent of it.

  I activated Lightning Boost at x2.5 and shot towards him, firing a barrage of bullets at him, which he evaded with a series of incredibly agile jumps and flips.

  I then reloaded my guns, began charging up lightning in my mouth, which forced me to deactivate Lightning Boost, before I sprinted around him, firing bullets at him while continuing to charge up the lightning in my mouth. Using minimal foot movement and watching the bullets closely, he dodged them, even though I was circling him at a radius of no more than ten meters.

  Alright, I can't charge this up anymore. I reloaded my guns, stopped, and fired all of the bullets in them at his face, somewhat obscuring his vision. In that same instant, I dropped to the ground on my front, and fired the lightning charged up in my mouth at his legs.

  He dodged the bullets, his eyes widening frantically as he lost sight of me, before spotting me staying low and beginning to shuffle away, but my lightning attack solidly zapped his left leg just above his ankle.

  "You little……!" He snarled, rapidly sprinting towards me, taking his hands out of his pockets.

  I was still on the ground, I quickly reactivated Lightning Boost and focused in on my eyes……I could just about follow his movements……wait for it……now!

  The moment he neared me and began to swipe down at me, I planted my right hand on the ground, put my weight on it, and used my core to swing my feet across and up at him as hard as I could.

  Right before I could nail the side of his face, he halted and ducked backwards in the blink of an eye, my sole grazing his chin.

  "You……you dare lay you foot on my face, lowly-!"

  "That's enough of this bout," Sicario intervened, appearing between us before Hacte could attack me again.

  Whew, looks like it's over. And I managed to get him to use more of his Wind Magic, he had formed wind in the shape of claws around his fingers in that last move, but……it wasn't that impressive, his Wind Magic must be pretty weak. Guess that means his physical abilities were what he mainly relied on.

  "Get out of my way, Sica-!" He growled in reply, advancing threateningly, before a flash of black burst out and he vanished from my sight……

  huh?

  What just……?

  It took a moment to figure out what happened. Right as Hacte began to snap, Sicario blasted him with a bolt of black lightning, sending him flying several meters away.

  "He's so much trouble to deal with, it's too bad he's such a valuable asset to us," Sigh Sicario with a frown, before turning his attention to me, "As for you……I have noticed this throughout this training camp, you make excellent use of surprise attacks, quite impressive. Keep it up."

  Talk about familiar. He had definitely said that to me before in our old world too……man, this feels weird……

  So, Hacte's training session was brought to an abrupt close when he stormed off after recovering from the bolt that struck him. A frustrated Sicario took over the rest of his session, sparring with the remaining candidates.

  And then……the final member of the Retribution Tier finally arrived, rank number five, Kuua Quels.

  She had long, downward spiky dark green hair, dark green eyes, sharp teeth, reptilian eyes and a long, scaly dark gray tail, with scales of the same hue on her forearms and on her legs from her knees onwards. Her feet were also scaly, and she was barefoot. Based on the size of the tail, maybe a saltwater croc Anima?

  She wore a tight black sleeveless top that showed off her midriff under her shirt, which wasn't buttoned, the ends were tied like people do at the beach. Her sleeves were ripped off, as were most of her trouser legs, she had torn them off from a couple of inches above her knees. She wore the white coat over the shirt, those sleeves also ripped off.

  "'Kay, Sicario, I'm here like you asked, so what's up?" She inquired with a bored expression, staring at her fingernails.

  "I already told you, Kuua."

  "Yeah, I wasn't listening."

  "……fine, whatever. I'm running a training camp for the current batch of candidates for the Lapdog Elite Squad here, each of the six of us of the Retribution Tier conduct a five hour training session. Yours is the last one, so."

  "Hehehe, now we're talking, I'll crush them all-!"

  "No, you won't. These are some of our best lapdogs, it would be a waste."

  "Tch, you're such a fucking buzzkill. Hm, how can I have fun without making things bloody……? Oh, I know! I'll extend out a bunch of water whips, and the candidates take turns dodging them, and I'll slowly begin swinging the whips faster and faster. They keep going till they get wet, and whoever lasts the longest wins! What do you think?"

  "Hm, interesting……fine, but do not make the whips sharp or move them at a speed that would cause serious injury. I shall intervene if you do, understood?"

  "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Alright, who wants to go first?" She exclaimed with a smirk, as she moved her hands in front of herself and extending out six large water whips out, they were about fifty meters in length, and……the water was black.

  One of the other lapdogs went first. He dodged for about twenty seconds, before his leg got hit by one of the whips. They kept count of the time by using a mechanical stopwatch, I hadn't seen anything like it before in this world, so it was likely that they had invented it in The Empire.

  In a little under fifteen minutes, thirteen of the candidates had gone through it, none had lasted longer than seventy seconds.

  Alright, I'll go next, this actually looks kinda fun.

  As the timer began, I swiftly activated Lighting Boost and began dodging, having no trouble at all for the first minute or so. She then began increasing the speed of the whips, I ducked under one and flattened myself to avoid another, before springing up off all fours to jump over another.

  I landed and ducked back to avoid one that came swinging at my chest, before backflipping to evade one that swung straight down at me. Dodging alone won't be enough to keep this up for much longer, in that case……I began charging up lightning in my hands.

  I then jumped off to the left, rolled forward, jumped up, reacting as fast as I could to keep dodging them.

  I sprang up to avoid two that were whizzing towards me from either side, feeling the immense force whizz past my feet as I just about got enough height to avoid them. While I was airborne, two more came zipping down towards me. I raised my arms and fired the lightning I had been charging up in my hands all this time, blasting onto the whips and vaporizing them.

  I landed on my back and rolled backwards to avoid another. Three whips then zipped towards me……I can't dodged all of them, looks like it's over. I jumped as high as I could, but one of them whipped across my foot.

  The force almost dislocated my ankle, but it just about stayed in place. That was harder that it looked, but it definitely was pretty fun……wait, crap, she's still attacking!

  I sprang forward to avoid one that whipped towards me from behind, staying low, when two more came barreling towards me. Shit, shit, shit-!

  Suddenly, the thick, snaking black water whips dissipated, and I fell onto the ground, quickly springing back up onto my feet and jumping back to get some distance.

  "Hey, why did you stop me, that was starting to get really fun!"

  "……because you weren't following the rules that you yourself set for this training exercise," Sighed Sicario, letting her go.

  He had intervened and grabbed her wrists to stop her attack, and good thing too……any longer and those whips would have been moving fast enough to fracture my bones upon impact. I could feel the force behind them each time they swung past me, getting more intense with every swing.

  Oh, I wonder how long I kept that up?

  "Time is, er……three minutes and seven seconds," Called out the person keeping time.

  He was apparently the leader of the Lapdog Elite Squad. I hadn't bothered learning his name, he was about as strong as an average A-Ranked Adventurer, so not that big a threat.

  Well, that got a bit intense, but it was kinda fun. But maybe I should have let myself get hit after like two minutes or so.

  I quietly walked off the middle and into the sidelines where the other Elite Squad candidates were sitting. The next candidate walked out as the training resumed.

  About five minutes later, all eighteen candidates had each gone once, and as the guy who went first got ready to go again……

  "Alright, guess that's that! I'm off, peace out!" Declared Kuua, strolling away, before Sicario stopped her by grabbing the back of her collar.

  "Where do you think you're going? I said five hours, remember?"

  "……did you? I feel like I wouldn't have agreed to that. How much time have I completed so far?"

  "About twenty minutes or so. So you still have over four and a half hours left."

  "Four and a h-!?……yeah, not happening."

  "It is happening."

  "Nope, I said not happening."

  "It is-!"

  "……not happening!"

  "……"

  "……"

  "You."

  "Not happening!"

  That continued for a couple more minutes……and to my utter shock, Sicario was the first to give in. This was a first for me……I'd never seen him surrender like that before. Granted, I'd never seen him argue so animatedly before either.

  Guess she was more trouble than he was willing to put up with.

  And so, the training camp was brought to a slightly premature end. Sicario told us to check whether or not we made the final cut into the Lapdog Elite Squad during the evening the day after tomorrow, around 6 PM, in front of the gates leading into the Retribution Tier area.

  Alright……now what? I was told that I no longer needed to perform my lab assistant duties, so what should I do for the remaining three and a half days? It was currently evening on the eleventh day since infiltration began, and there was still plenty of time left……for now, I'll go back to my room and think about it, I need to take more risks now, I don't have nearly as much information as I'd like to, but I can't afford to do so without carefully planning it out first……

  "O-oh, master, you're back……you were gone for a while," Greeted Clari with a nervous bow.

  Huh, I'd totally forgot about her.

  "Oh, uh……indeed. Put my robe away," I stated, putting on an arrogant tone, taking off my robe and handing it to her.

  "Y-yes, right away, master."

  I then flopped down onto the bed and closed my eyes, going through my options. I still need to gather a lot more information. And I somehow doubt that sneaking into the Research Tier at night and looking for an unlocked and unoccupied lab was going to be very productive, that method was far to reliant on luck. Interrogating a researcher would be ideal……but how?

  The glass walls made ambushing a researcher in a lab at night too risky, even if the curtains were drawn, one good yell was all it'd take to alert anyone else around. Hm, I could try sneaking up to the upper floors of the Research Tier building, but lapdogs weren't allowed to go above the ground floor, so if I was seen there……wait a second……the invisibility spell I stole……

  Plus, I have a vial of truth serum, perfect for interrogation……

  And I also had a paralysis spell that could work as backup. Oh, and not to mention the intangiblility barrier spell, I should try that out to see how it works.

  Alright, yes……that works!

  But I shouldn't do it too soon, I'll save it for the night of day fourteen, it wouldn't do if I did it tonight or tomorrow night and ended up being forced to kill the researcher I interrogate, that would definitely result in security being tightened the following day, making it harder for me, and the others too, to leave.

  Alright, I'll save that for the night before the morning I leave.

  Should I try and screw up any of their operations before I leave? I could tamper with the potions and serums in some of the labs or something……no, that would likely have only a minor impact, so it's not worth the risk. The labs themselves, as well as that underground gun chamber, were major threats, but it's not like I could destroy them. I mean I technically could, but escaping after doing something so flashy that would be tough.

  No, when I leave, it has to be subtle and unnoticeable. So I'll have to rule the option of large-scale destruction out, tempting as it was.

  Now, then, what to do about THAT……what should I do about King Goldway? Setting aside the fact that I owed him one, he was the only person in existence with Light Magic, he'd be a valuable asset if we could rescue him back……but how? He was kept in Lab 13, and that lab was unoccupied at night, but……it was locked. I suppose I could use the invisibility spell and pick the lock or sneak in using the intangibility barrier assuming that spell works the way I imagine it would……

  Hm, no doubt him disappearing would also result in increased security, maybe even a total lockdown……which means, if I was going to rescue him, it'd have to be on the same night I plan to interrogate one of the researchers. But where would I hide him till the next morning? He wasn't going to be very mobile, even if I healed him using Soul-Eater Mode, his body was going to be pretty weak after a year in captivity. Should I abandon the idea of rescuing him? No, I shouldn't give up so soon, let's think it through one more time……

  I certainly can't do it alone, maybe I could enlist one of the other three to help? No, better not involve them. Selesa was a lapdog assistant like I was, meaning that she was likely busy for most of the day. The other two were pawns, so any help I could get from them would be limited, in which case, it wasn't worth it.

  That's when it hit me……this could be seriously risky, but……

  "Hey, Clari, you said you're a former Goldway noble, right? Tell me, do you like you life here?"

  "Y-yes, master, o-of course I-!"

  "Calm down, I'm not gonna do anything, so just be honest."

  "W-well, I……I don't."

  "Mhm. And hypothetically speaking, if you got the chance to leave The Empire……?"

  "I……I would……take that chance."

  Alright, here goes……time to drop the act.

  "I see……and what if I was to say that……King Goldway is alive and-?"

  "My cousin is alive!?" She exclaimed, before shrinking back as I got a bit startled by her sudden yell.

  "Wait, you're the king's cousin? Your last name is different though."

  "Well, my father is Aurich's- I mean, King Goldway's- uncle. And Ramigoll is my mother's last name, I use it instead of Goldway because that draws too much attention. Aurich……he's really alive?" She asked, her voice trembling slightly as her eyes glistened.

  Her emotions were definitely real, I saw no signs of her faking it.

  "Yeah, he is," I replied, pausing hesitantly before making my decision, "Alright, Clari, listen closely……"

  I told her that I was a spy who had stolen the appearance of Imsret Seinomn, and I wanted to rescue King Goldway, and might be able to do so with her help. This was a huge gamble on my part, if she refused to help me……I'll have no choice but to kill her.

  "W-wait……this is a lot to take in……but now that I think about it……you certainly have seemed like a different person over the last few days. I was honestly quite baffled."

  "Yeah, I could tell that you were confused by my behavior," I replied, before asking curiously, "Tell me, what was the most suspicious part about my attempt at pretending to be this guy?"

  "Um……well, probably the fact that you didn't rape me……"

  Yikes.

  "……o-oh, uh……sorry, I shouldn't have asked, my bad."

  "No, it's fine. So, um……I would love to help you save my cousin, but I'm weak and unskilled……how can I possibly help you?"

  I explained to her what I had come up with……

  "So, what do you think? Can you do it? I know it's a bit risky, but if it works, both you and your cousin will be free."

  "I'll do it! If it means I'm free of this nightmare, and that my cousin will be free too, then yes, I'll help you."

  She didn't hesitate in replying. The look in her eyes……there was no mistaking the determination in them, she wasn't just saying that. Well, even if she did screw up her part in my plan, I wouldn't be affected by it, though it would mean that the rescue operation would fail. Oh, well, whatever happens, happens.

  "Alright, then till three days from now……feel free to relax and do whatever you want. Sorry that I kept up the asshole act, I was just trying to maintain my cover," I apologized sheepishly.

  "Compared to what I had to deal with before……the last ten or so days have been the most pleasant I've had in over a year, so I should be thanking you, um……"

  "It's Kuro."

  "Kuro……thank you so much, Kuro," She said with a smile and bow, this time one of gratitude instead of fear and intimidation.

  "O-oh, uh……it's fine, don't worry about it. And you don't need to bow or anything, I'm not your superior or anything, I'm just a random guy."

  And just like that, I had found myself an unexpected ally. A very unexpected ally, as I headed into the business end of my infiltration……

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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