Chapter 152: Conrad Williams, Chief Independent Investigator of the International Order Alliance

Countries with a certain level of national power generally have both shown cards and hidden cards in their military strength.

There are no fools who fully expose their country’s military power. Information is power.

Sometimes they exaggerate and boast that 10,000 troops are 20,000, or claim to have only 10,000 troops while secretly moving an elite secret force of 500 behind the scenes.

One of the methods carried out as part of such military information manipulation is hiding Transcendents.

They conceal the existence of Transcendents born in their country and operate them secretly.

Since the existence of Transcendents is very useful as a deterrent, the mainstream approach is that if there are two or more Transcendents, use one as a shown card and the other as a hidden card.

For example, Britain is famous for having Transcendents whose names and faces are unknown secretly working for the country, and they get constantly criticized with “If they’re secretly active, why are they famous!”

It may be that information leaks have exposed them, or that they’re deliberately leaking information, or that they’re pretending to have hidden Transcendents when they actually don’t have any.

Just stepping onto the information warfare arena is exhausting—Britain is Britain through and through.

There are credible rumors circulating in Japan about an ultra-secret Transcendent unit too, and China, America, and the True Korean Republic are never short of such rumors.

There are also rumors about secretly operated Transcendents in India. Since it’s rarer for a country not to have such rumors, it’s natural that they exist.

The case that Hiyori received help for this time originated from the UN catching information that India was secretly moving Transcendents in violation of international law.

About 90 years have passed since magic spread throughout the world, and rules have been established for war and military development.

Excessively cruel magic is prohibited, and particularly powerful magic has usage restrictions. To give an easy example, intentional magical terrain creation is banned. That’s like land pollution.

And apparently India is violating such international rules, so the UN’s police department started investigating with a “Is that true~?” kind of attitude.

Conrad Williams is the investigator in charge of that investigation.

Originally, Williams was working on transporting magical communication devices to UN facilities in India, and after that job, he was scheduled to begin investigating India’s violations of international law.

Thanks to Yamashita Technical Research’s astonishing technology, it recently became possible to operate magical communication devices without using regular dodecahedron fractals, and UN facilities are being prioritized for communication device deployment for field testing.

Unlike the real deal using regular dodecahedron fractals that can communicate from the opposite side of the Earth, the new magic communication device developed by Yamashita Technical Research has a communication limit of about 5km.

Still, with pre-Yamashita Technical Research technology, the communication distance limit of communication devices without regular dodecahedron fractals was less than 1m, so this can be called explosive progress.

If communication is possible within a 5km range, theoretically a relay communication network circling the Earth could be created by placing about 8,000 devices at equal intervals. It’s simple elementary school-level calculation, so it probably won’t actually be that easy, but the revival of 19th-century-level communication networks is realistic.

When Williams transported and test-operated the communication device at a UN facility, Hiyori’s Kyanos reacted within the communication range. While suspicious, he answered the call and—surprise!—that’s how it went.

Kyanos is equipped with excellent high-performance communication functions capable of hacking magical communication devices. Hiyori was surprised by the suddenly connected old friend and talked for a while, receiving a “I’m in trouble, help me” request.

Hiyori explained the circumstances while constantly gauging my reaction, and repeated persistently.

“I swear this is purely to help a friend. I don’t feel anything for Conrad, he’s just a friend. But he is a friend, and if he asks for help, I want to respond.”

“Huh. Isn’t that fine…?”

For all the long story I was told, the content was thin and confusing.

Look at Tsubaki! She’s fallen asleep because the story was long and unnecessarily detailed.

Why was there any need to make such excuse-like, nitpicky explanations in such a jumbled manner?

You’d fly off immediately without asking reasons if Professor Oohinata was in trouble, right?

I’d go help immediately too if a friend was in trouble. Well, I do have experience of getting scolded for going to help (the Arataki group).

Does it matter what I think? Go, help. Of course I’ll accompany you if you say it’s necessary.

As I tilted my head, unable to understand the flow of the conversation at all, Hiyori made an indescribably frustrated face.

“You’re not jealous at all? I’m going to meet a male friend.”

“So just go meet him and help him. I’ll come along… Ah, you said you hated being suspected of cheating, was that what this was about? That worry? But you wouldn’t cheat. You said cheating is impossible. If you said cheating is impossible, then cheating is impossible, right? What am I supposed to be jealous about?”

If Hiyori had any intention of cheating, I’d be on pins and needles too.

Williams might be a more attractive man than me, and Hiyori might break up with me and start a new relationship with Williams. Just imagining it makes me feel like I’m going crazy.

However, Hiyori said she wouldn’t do that.

Then there’s no need to worry. There’s no reason to be jealous.

It should be a simple and clear story… Am I having some kind of communication disorder delusion again? I don’t see any logical flaws.

No matter how much I think about it, I don’t understand. As I began to get confused from overthinking, Hiyori smiled.

“I had forgotten, you were like that. You always believe my words straight. You’d believe me even if your heart was being manipulated.”

“Huh, maybe I shouldn’t believe…?”

“No, Dairi, please stay as you are. It’s just that all my worries were unfounded.”

Hiyori suddenly committed an indecent act of kissing my cheek even though it was still daytime, then woke up the sleeping Tsubaki and began packing to meet her friend.

I don’t really get it, but Hiyori looks happy, so good!

I’ll leave the mystery of what Hiyori was anxious about as a task for the future…

Hiyori’s friend, Williams, was waiting in the building of the UN Regional Development Bureau in Wangoit, the town next to Impal where we were.

“Hey, long time no see, Blue Witch. I’m glad to meet you again.”

The one who greeted us with a refreshing smile in a tropical-style reception room was a man of about twenty years old.

Blonde and blue-eyed, with an extremely handsome face. The kind of high facial deviation value that defines what a beautiful man should be. His facial features have delicate lines, yet you can tell he has toned muscles even through his clothes, and his bearing has dignity.

He seems strong. And he has elf ears. Plus 10 points!

But somehow he reminds me of Iruma. Minus 100 points!

“Ah, it’s been about a year? Let me introduce you—this burning one is Tsubaki. She’s a demon.”

“Mimi, hello. Big brother seems strong.”

“Yes, hello. Good for you, being able to give a proper greeting.”

“I’m amazing! Eheh!”

“And this is Dairi. I’ve talked about him extensively, so you know him, but this is your first time meeting directly, right?”

“O, Dairi here… hello…”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Conrad Williams, Chief Independent Investigator of the International Order Alliance. I’ve heard the rumors. I’d be happy if you could call me Conrad casually.”

“Y-yes…”

I managed to accomplish the emergency handshake mission despite being intimidated by Williams, who showed his white teeth with a soft smile and extended his hand.

This guy is scary. His overwhelming extrovert aura is trying to strip away my cloak of darkness. He seems like the type to call friends over for a barbecue party in his backyard on weekends (prejudice). Incompatible.

As I retreated behind Tsubaki to use her as a shield against the waves of light, Hiyori cleared her throat and spoke to Williams in a pressuring manner.

“In short, that’s how it is. As you can see, Dairi came back to life. We are currently in a relationship.”

“…Yeah. Congratulations, that means I can see your wonderful smile again, right? There’s nothing that makes me happier.”

“It’s a relationship with marriage as the premise.”

“…Yeah.”

Williams nodded softly after a long silence, while Hiyori showed the sparkling engagement ring on her left ring finger.

Then he opened his mouth looking straight into my eyes, so I reflexively tried to avert my gaze, but there was a strange pressure and our eyes met with a snap. What? Scary.

“Great Sage Dairi. I’m counting on you with the Blue Witch. Please make her happy.”

“Uh, yes…”

“As a friend, I sincerely wish for the Blue Witch’s happiness. You were chosen by the Blue Witch. I know this may sound condescending, but please let me say this. Please make her feel that she was right to entrust herself to you.”

Williams said this with a smile so kind you’d want to frame and display it. And yet, I felt intimidated, sensing something hidden beyond that smile.

Hmm? Well, if they’ve known each other since the Demon King subjugation, that’s an 80-year friendship. If an old friend of that long standing introduces her boyfriend, they must have some thoughts about it. Not that I’d know.

“Listening to this, could it be that Williams and Hiyori are quite close? More than friends? About best friends? The kind of relationship where we should invite you to the wedding if Hiyori and I get married?”

“…Yeah.”

Williams nodded with a smile after quite a long silence, gripping his chest with his hand. Hmm, what a refreshing model-like smile.

This guy really has a good face. I bet girls other than Hiyori squeal over him. If facial attractiveness could be converted to attack power, he could probably blow away one or two houses.

While admiring his facial attack power, Hiyori tapped my shoulder with a wry smile.

“Dairi, don’t bully him too much. Conrad’s heart can’t take much more.”

“Huh! Does he have heart disease? Should he sit down? No wait, that can’t be, it’s a metaphor? Did I unconsciously attack him mentally? What? Which? Which words were bad? Sorry Williams, I’m still learning about this stuff, if I hurt you, I apologize…”

Apparently today is a day for bad communication.

Troubling. I’ll just stay quiet. Williams isn’t someone fun to talk to anyway.

When I zipped my mouth shut, Williams took a deep breath to compose himself, and urged us to sit on the sofa. He sat down too, and gestured to a basket filled with snacks.

“Make yourselves comfortable. I heard Dairi dislikes small talk with people he’s not close to, and Tsubaki probably isn’t good at complicated talk either, right? Let’s save enjoying conversation with new friends for another time, and talk business now.”

“Wait, I can’t let that slide—did you just call me a friend? Huh? What are you? Do you have communication issues?”

“Dairi, be quiet. The conversation isn’t progressing. Tsubaki, cover his mouth.”

“Mi.”

With Tsubaki covering my mouth with her hand, I could no longer speak and had no choice but to listen obediently to Williams.

While I was making muffled sounds of protest, Williams began talking about this time’s suspicion of India’s violation of international law.