Espers... Organization

(Free chapter)

After Lin Xue had settled down, I got straight to the point. "All right, now you can tell me why you came. I don't believe you came all this way just to apologize."

Though she was furious inside, Lin Xue still forced a smile onto her face. It was about as ugly as a smile could get. "I did mainly come to apologize. But there's also something I need to confirm with you..."

Seeing Lin Xue's forced smile, I hurriedly waved my hands. "All right, all right... You can confirm whatever you want. Just stop smiling. It's creepy."

Lin Xue seemed to have given up on beating around the bush. She immediately dropped the smile and said coldly, "Fine, I'll be direct—you and your sister, do you have some kind of special abilities?"

"Hm?" Although I had vaguely guessed her reason for coming, I was still a little surprised. I had no idea when this girl had started paying attention to Pandora and me. It seemed she had mistaken us for people with supernatural powers.

Well, strictly speaking, my ability to use mental control to command the Shilin Mother Planet's ultra-long-range fire support and the nearby Shilin Army did count as an Esper ability. As for Pandora... as an unidentified life-form who could transform herself into all sorts of weapons of mass destruction, if she didn't count as an Esper, then this world had no Espers at all...

Of course, there was no way I could reveal Pandora's and my identities to this Lin Xue of unknown origins. More accurately, our identities had to remain secret from any Earthling. The question now was whether I should admit that I had Esper abilities.

Seeing me remain silent, Lin Xue knew what I was worried about. She reached into a pocket and took out a small card. "Take a look at this... I work for an organization, and just like you, I'm also an Esper."

...So it really was the legendary National Espers Bureau?

My outstretched right hand froze in midair as I asked in surprise, "You're from the National Espers Bureau?"

"Have you been reading too many novels?" Lin Xue scolded me without any courtesy. "Espers do exist in reality, but how many have abilities powerful enough and suitable for carrying out missions? Our organization has barely more than twenty Espers in total. Since there are so few of us, and most Espers have rather unusual personalities, we're actually an independent organization similar to a special operations team. We aren't under government jurisdiction, but we've always secretly helped the country—for example, by handling incidents that only Espers can resolve."

So this beautiful woman called Lin Xue was actually quite an important figure?

"You want us to join?" It was easy enough to guess Lin Xue's purpose. An independent Esper team secretly serving the country? That sounded pretty awesome.

"You aren't surprised?" Lin Xue looked at me strangely. "Most people would find it unbelievable to suddenly learn that our organization exists." How could she know that after everything so bizarre I had experienced, my nerves had become thick enough to accept anything?

"All right, since you're both people with special abilities, it's understandable that you aren't too surprised... So, what do you think?" Lin Xue looked expectantly at Pandora and me. Though these two had caused her so much trouble, if they could join...

"About that..." I hesitated. Joining an organization I had never even heard of so rashly made me uneasy. Besides, I had always been afraid of trouble. If I joined them, I probably would never know peace again.

At that moment, Pandora's voice came through the Spiritual Connection, carrying a faint trace of excitement. "Brother, you can agree to her request."

"Hm?" I was extremely curious. Why was Pandora, who had always ignored everything happening in the outside world, so interested in this?

"According to Imperial law, once Brother, as the Shilin Emperor, joins an organization involving political sensitivities, it can be determined that the target civilization has issued a declaration of conquest against the Empire..."

...You just wanted to say that if I joined this organization, you'd have an excuse to start a war, didn't you? You tiny little war maniac!

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head. "I don't think I'm suited to join your organization. Of course, if you need my help in the future, I'd still be happy to assist."

Thank me, thank me. I had just saved all humanity from a catastrophic disaster!

Unfortunately, Lin Xue had no idea that the person standing before her had just saved the entire world...

She was feeling utterly depressed. She had come all this way and humbled herself to apologize, even exposing her identity, yet this guy had rejected her so bluntly. The long speech she had prepared was completely useless. More importantly, he now knew the organization's secret. Did she really have to bring in that annoying man from the organization who could erase memories? Leaving aside the fact that she had never gotten along with him, whether his ability would even work on these two powerful Espers was still unknown.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't leak your secret," I said, roughly guessing what Lin Xue was thinking from her expression. "And like I said, if there's ever a place where you need my help, I'd be happy to lend a hand."

"Can't you reconsider?" Lin Xue still held onto a sliver of hope. She didn't want to return in defeat and let those people in the organization laugh at her.

"Well... for all sorts of reasons, I can't join..."

All sorts of reasons... Did humanity's survival count as a fairly important one?

"What about you?" Lin Xue shifted her attention to Pandora. "What are your plans? Having such powerful abilities isn't necessarily a good thing. You could easily find yourselves in trouble because of them. Joining us would mean finding someone to rely on. And wouldn't it be a good thing if your powers could contribute to the country?"

As far as Pandora was concerned, not a single word you said hit the mark...

Sure enough, Pandora shook her head and said coldly, "No interest."

I had been worried that this little girl might deliberately agree to Lin Xue's offer. Fortunately, it seemed she still knew to follow my wishes.

"All right..." Seeing how firm we were, Lin Xue knew she could not persuade us today, at least. As for erasing our memories to prevent the organization's secrets from being leaked, she thought it over and gave up on the idea. If it failed, not only would it accomplish nothing, it would also offend two powerful Espers. That would be more trouble than it was worth.

"Let's stay in touch," Lin Xue said dejectedly as she stood up. "Even if we can't become companions, at least we aren't enemies. I hope we can cooperate if the opportunity arises."

Cooperate... At least from my perspective, if even an Imperial Expeditionary Force couldn't solve a problem, then more than twenty Espers wouldn't be able to do much either. Looking at it that way, Lin Xue was getting a huge bargain from me!

After Lin Xue left, Pandora and I began discussing the information we had learned today.

"I never thought an organization from a novel like that really existed." That was my impression.

"A small organization with no threat. Though those humans who possess special powers can already contend with elite Shilin Regular Soldiers, their numbers are too small and they cannot form a complete combat team. Even together, they cannot fight a Pandora Carrier Mecha Soldier in full combat mode." That was Pandora's analysis.

Hearing Pandora's merciless evaluation, I said helplessly, "Please, don't compare human Espers to an Empire that once ruled the entire universe, okay? Leaving everything else aside, your life-forms already hold an absolute advantage over humans."

Even so, the Shilin Army's strength was clearly no joke. Espers who could be considered superhuman among mankind were only equivalent to regular soldiers among them?

Come to think of it, that made sense. Just considering the Anti-Ship Psionic Cannon Pandora had used that day, it was easy to imagine how absurdly overpowered Shilin weapons were...

Whatever. Why was I thinking so much about this? With so many Shilin Commanders around, a human Esper team could not have much impact. As for those Shilin Commanders with serious warlike tendencies, there was even less to worry about. Without my permission, the Shilin Apostles, who obeyed orders completely, would never act recklessly...

I turned to look at Pandora, whose expression was utterly calm.

Uh, provided I kept an eye on one particular little Loli suffering from war-mania syndrome...