Chapter 58 (continued)

... To be honest, he's never been this nervous when answering questions from reporters before.

"Um... it might be... the previous firefight damaged the transmitter," Reynold said dryly. "The signal is blocked, we can't contact them."

Mel and I nodded.

"We should... have already entered the enemy base..." Reynold looked around, continuing in a stiff voice, "Should we... go deeper?"

What else?

We're not here for tourism!

Although Lusien and the others didn't come in together, we can take care of our own business first—the tracking spell shows that Moli and Anna are not far from us in a straight line.

And... may all the benevolent gods protect her, but Moli is still so full... I knew all along that she tends to overeat when she's stressed. Why is she so stressed, and why is it getting worse? The day she was kidnapped, my observation only showed she was a little full, but now I'm starting to worry that my stomach medicine won't be enough—what is she so stressed about? I didn't sense her being tortured by the kidnappers!

Mel suddenly asked Reynold, "What do you think we should do?"

Reynold was startled. He looked like a pitiful little animal constantly on guard against a large predator. I always thought Reynold's expression was particularly like an alpaca... Logically speaking, a mage's Transformation Spell shouldn't have the side effect of affecting the recipient's mind, so... I could only rub my face, convinced that it was just a side effect of my own...

Alpaca babies are so adorable...

"Ask me?" He seemed... flattered, his eyes turning to me with the same innocent and pitiful look he had when he was still an alpaca—the same look he had when everyone surrounded him to pet him. So, was Reynold asking me for help?

I could only shrug. "We need some, well, political opinions from politicians."

Mel further explained, "In other words, can you determine the faction to which this private military enterprise belongs? Can you take it down? Can we simply and directly storm in?"

Hmm... Mel more thoughtful than I am. Some private military enterprises have complex backing, and we really can't just kill them all without considering the consequences.

My only thought was that we're here to rescue hostages, and it would be troublesome if the international community condemned the Federation lawyers for their cruelty and disregard for human rights. Having known Reynold for a while, I know how capable politicians are of spouting nonsense. For example:

A few years ago, a group of goblins, whose brains must have been damaged somewhere, hijacked a Federation energy transport airship. Internationally, there's a special "Magical Creatures Protection Act" for goblins—creatures that jump around and whose thought processes seem blocked by slime—so the Federation couldn't directly use force to take it back. Three of the ambassadors sent to negotiate were hospitalized from the stress. Later, Reynold got angry too. Without batting an eye, he ordered the council mages to bombard the goblin city-state. Then, at the press conference, I watched Reynold weep uncontrollably, kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down his face, lamenting that the Federation's military mage capabilities had declined, making such a foolish mistake during training and accidentally injuring their "lovable goblin brothers and sisters."

So, I looked at Reynold with expectant eyes—

The easiest and quickest way is to just storm in—as long as this military enterprise doesn't have any powerful backers that are difficult to touch—we believe that afterward, we can leave the press conference to Reynold, who can portray us as great heroes descending from the heavens wielding the scepter of justice, rescuing innocent girls from dire straits... Well, although I think this description is just too exaggerated, it's not entirely nonsense either. The only difference between this description and the facts is that we descended from the heavens wielding an evil curse, and it's not that dramatic.

But I still have some "teacher syndrome". The Federation sent two dark mages to slaughter a private military enterprise, which is similar to how Mel killed the orcs back then. Although it was a good deed, the video still needs to be censored to be suitable for all ages when it is uploaded online. I am still worried that overly exaggerated Black Magic will cause public resentment.

After hearing our explanation, Reynold looked a little dazed. He nodded blankly, indicating that there was nothing to worry about. So Mel and I were satisfied and connected our Mind Link to each other, ready to start cleaning up the base, just like we did in the prison last time.

Because this base is very large, with many corridors, side passages, and rooms, we must speed up our efforts to find Moli and the others as quickly as possible and prevent them from being moved by the fleeing enemy.

Then everything was ready, Mel said, "I'll take him with me."

Reynold froze.

"Mel..." I said helplessly, "Let's not bother him anymore today?"

Reynold gasped, while Mel blushed quickly, his little scheme exposed. I helplessly reached out and hugged his waist, kissing his cheek as consolation. "Mel, you've really worn him out today. You almost made him bald."

Mel hugged me back, gently nuzzling my nose with his own. His warm breath tickled my chin.

So I couldn't resist, I grabbed his hair and kissed his lips. Mel quickly responded, cupping my face in his hands and pressing my back hard with his other hand. Our chests were pressed together, and I could even hear only one heartbeat. At the same time, he relentlessly nibbled at my lips. I tried to stick out my tongue to tease him, but he held it in his mouth and sucked on it carefully.

So much so that we were both a little out of breath when we parted.

"Alright then..." Mel finally listened to me obediently, "Then you can take him with you."

Whew, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was worried that Mel might be with Reynold and, in his excitement, might kill Reynold as well, which would have been troublesome.

We monks have countless ways to make someone's death look like a simple accident.

Mel chose a direction and disappeared down the corridor. I turned to look at Reynold. He was now as docile as Moli, which made me feel very relieved—except for the obvious embarrassment, the twisted expression, and a hint of relief at surviving the ordeal written all over his face, and his vacant stare, as if he were out of his mind. It was all too clear. As a politician, Reynold rarely showed such obvious emotions.

I conjured a chain with magic, tied it around his waist, and cast a levitation spell on him. Then I fastened the chain to my wrist, so that I wouldn't lose it.

"Wait! Ciprins, I can do it myself--a..."

The moment I flew off, Reynold screamed, so I quickly slowed down. He then shut his mouth, his lips turning purple, his hands gripping the rope around his waist. His violent reaction worried me, so I stopped and asked him:

"Are you still not used to Flight Spell? This base is huge; it'll take you ages to find someone if you try to find your way around."

Reynold, gripping the rope, answered me tremblingly, "Slow... slow down... it's too fast..."

I remained silent.

... What's the difference between flying slowly and leisurely and walking?

But there was nothing I could do. Seeing his frail state as he was about to faint, I had to slow down. I felt like I couldn't even keep up with a motorcycle at my current speed. Through the Mind Link, Mel quickly dealt with some of the cyborgs that rushed at me. There seemed to be fewer cyborgs on my side; I probably flew into the experimental and office areas.

Each office looked like an ordinary company in an office building, and the employees inside didn't seem to have any fighting ability, so I just used my mental pressure to knock them unconscious. I only used evil spirits and Hellfire when the cyborgs pounced on me and tried to kill me.

The location was getting closer, but Mel was running into some trouble. He seemed to have entered some important area, heavily guarded and teeming with Electronic Demon. Fortunately, Mel was handling it with ease. Now that he didn't have any vase to protect, Mel's spells were fast and accurate, making me want to cheer. Through our Mind Link, Mel told me he had decided to venture deeper into the area to see what was going on. So I warned him to be careful and then sped up the search for our apprentice.