Chapter 96: Oil Rig

“Lexus, did you really come here to save me?” Freya’s father whispered to him.

“Of course. This is an opportunity. If we can accuse Guardian Command and Shirayuki, NewStar could rise to the top.”

“I see. You’re planning to double-cross them, huh? Do Freya and Yellow Bee know?”

“Of course not. That’s why we have to keep this a secret. When we get to Oil Rig 17, Yellow Bee will be our witness. If they find proof that Guardian command was helping the exiles, they’ll pin the blame on them. Then Shirayuki and Guardian Command’s names will be dragged through the mud,” Lexus answered.

“What about me? I will be cast back into the darklands!”

“If I can get someone to replace General Armstrong, they can create fake identities for you.”

“Can you somehow reverse the verdict? What about Ling Shi?”

“I can’t promise anything. Since its inception, the exile verdict has only ever been repealed once. But while Ling Shi might be the CEO, you and Freya are still major shareholders, right? If you transfer your rights to me—or to Freya—we can effectively control your company.”

“Lexus is lying again…” I muttered as I eavesdropped on their conversation. Lexus was double-crossing Freya’s father, too. He had dealings with Ling Shi.

“Indeed.” Felicia nodded, saying nothing more.

“Record this,” I said.

I was glad Lexus and Freya’s father had isolated themselves at the back of the boat while Yellow Bee manned the helm. Otherwise, my spy cam might have been found. Felicia had said my mana eyes could be detected by mana sense, but it seemed Freya didn’t notice them.

“Is Freya not sensing my mana eyes? She seems oblivious, even though you said she should be able to detect them. You record them, right?”

“I am recording all of this. As for mana sense and radar, you don’t get visual pings. Mana sense is akin to feeling the wind on your skin. It takes skill, even among experienced Guardians. Mana radar is similar. You don’t get visual pings—only auditory cues. With a familiar’s cooperation, they can pinpoint distance and direction. Your mana eyes emit only a trace amount of mana. It should feel like a faint breeze, barely a breath, if she crosses the link,” Felicia explained.

As we talked about skills, Freya’s father cursed, interrupting our discussion.

“I see. Damn it. Well, I guess that’s it for now. I really fucked up during the hearing.”

“Just bad luck, buddy,” Lexus said.

As the two shady CEOs concocted their scheme, Yellow Bee was partying with Freya and the other exiles. He brought out beer and snacks from his dimensional pocket. He let his familiar to control the autopilot his yacht had.

“I want that! Thank you, Bumblebee!”

“It’s Yellow Bee, Norn! Freya?”

“Ah, I brought lunch for everyone. Here! Eat up,” Freya said, taking out MREs from her dimensional pocket and sharing them with everyone.

“Pwahh! Beer! Didn’t have that in prison! Finally! Boss, Freya, will we have beer on the oil rigs?”

“I’m not sure. General Armstrong said you’ll be treated as normal clerks. So… maybe once in a while?” Freya replied, uncertain. She knew about the plan, but she hadn’t thought that far ahead. She wanted to save them—not spoil them.

“Thank you, Freya.” Freya’s father and Lexus accepted the rations gratefully. At least on the surface. Unlike their henchmen, they knew restraint and were more shrewd.

“You’re welcome, Dad. And you too, Lexus. What were you two talking about? You’ve been sitting at the back of the boat, whispering to each other.”

“We were just talking about how to approach this. Wondering whether we should move your father to my rigs instead. You see, NewStar and Shirayuki have some… issues.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Jonathan had his eye on Yuri, but Shirayuki unilaterally canceled their engagement. We don’t know why. I guess they’re not confident about marrying one of their daughters to other conglomerates. Shirayuki is an isolationist conglomerate, you see.”

“Maybe they saw Jonathan’s true nature? He’s a womanizer, right?” Freya said. I nodded at her conjecture. I am glad that she was not blind to the Jonathan’s depravity.

“Hahaha. Well, you’re right about that. But Freya, women need to be more flexible. Playing around doesn’t mean being unfaithful. As long as both sides do their duty, it’s fine to loosen up once in a while. Marriage doesn’t have to be that rigid. Jonathan’s women played with other guys too, so he’s fair. He has principles.”

I rolled my eyes at their idle talk. “Record this. I’ll send this clip to Kageyama…”

“I’ve recorded the whole thing in 360 degrees ever since they departed, Lily. Just tell me which part you’d like clipped later.”

I knew that. But I couldn’t help but feel enraged.

“Can I call Guardian Command? I need to tell General Armstrong to cancel the plan.”

“No. We can only call Eden once we’re within a 20-kilometer radius. Since we’re going to Oil Rig 17, we won’t be passing through Eden or any other sanctuary cities with relays. We can call Guardian Command once we’re within twenty kilometers of Oil Rig 17.”

“That’s bad. Should I break off and head to Eden?”

“Erm… I’m afraid not. Freya’s been eyeing you for a bit now. It’s rather hard to hide this white boat within a 10-kilometer distance in open seas.”

“Ugh… But my family…”

“Don’t worry. General Armstrong has made a very elaborate plan. It can be canceled at any moment. Even if they arrive at their doorstep before you report, all General Armstrong and Kageyama need to do is call the person in charge and deny entry. Then Lexus’s entire scheme will fall apart,” Felicia said.

“Do it as soon as we’re in range. Don’t forget to notify me, Felicia,” I said, gritting my teeth at the frustration bubbling within me.

“Roger.”

“Sorry for ordering you around like that… I just…” I suddenly realized I was taking my anger out on Felicia, even though she had done nothing wrong.

“Don’t worry. We familiars are created to support you. Our reason for existence is to serve you, Lily,” Felicia yawned.

The group didn’t discuss anything noteworthy after that. As dawn soon turned to dusk, I summoned my clones and had them replace me while I rested.

“Lily, do I need to come over? The boat will run out of fuel soon, right?”

“No need. I have gasoline,” I replied. Freya might be a good girl, but her family isn’t.

Freya and I were the same. We are both magical girls. We both had rotten parents. When I looked at her, I wondered.

“Felicia, do you think I’ll end up like Freya?”

“I don’t think so. You and Freya are completely different people,” Felicia answered.

“Are you just saying that to support me? We’re both magical girls. We both have rotten parents. What makes you think I won’t end up with the same fate as Freya?”

“If you were in Freya’s shoes, would you help your parents? The first thing you desired was freedom, right? Why would you wish for that?”

“I don’t know… Do you think Freya would’ve asked for something different?”

“Yes. You see, Origin doesn’t simply assign Guardians random skills. They’re based on their primary emotions. Freya is pink—pink signifies love. You can see that Freya loves her father. To spread hope and love, that’s what pink magical girls are for. That’s why we chose her.”

“My origin is dark… Ambivalent. What does that mean?” I looked over at my status.

“Ambivalent means conflicting emotions. On one side, you hate your parents. Don’t you? You don’t want to meet them.”

Felicia’s words stabbed like a knife. What she said was true. I didn’t like my parents. I didn’t like my family.

“You should have chosen hatred instead. Were there any Dark Guardians with that aspect?”

“I’m not sure about other Guardians, especially Dark ones. But as I said before, ambivalent means conflicting emotions. It means that while you hate your family, you also care for them. Freya might have chosen to blindly save her father out of love. But I don’t think you’d go out of your way for that. If you did, you’d probably live with them in the Darklands, never returning to the sanctuary cities.”

“I see.”

“Another call from Freya. Will you answer? She’s asking whether she should come over to switch,” Felicia asked.

“Tell her I’m sleeping and the clones are manning the helm,” I replied, and Felicia nodded.

“That’s what she said,” Freya relayed to Yellow Bee and the other exiles.

“Wow. Having clones is really convenient, isn’t it? Autopilot is good, but clones are something else. Maybe I can ask them to do my homework! I wonder if there are any like that in the Vault,” Yellow Bee commented. “There is? Wow! Tag me to the Vault tree.”

“Yellow Bee, are you tired? We should switch,” Freya said.

“Yeah. As long as familiars guide us, we can handle the boat as well,” the other exiles started chiming in.

“Alright. I’m getting tired too. Good night, everyone.” Yellow Bee yawned and left the helm.

The night passed, and dawn arrived. The sound of waves hit the boat. Four days later, just before we arrived at Oil Rig 17, a siren from the rig was received by my familiar.

“Oil Rig 17 has been hit by floating rifts. They’ve sent a distress signal.”

“Floating rifts?”

“Floating rifts are usurpation rifts in the sky. Anathema coming out of them have either flying or gliding ability.”

“That’s new,” I said. “We shall help. But don’t forget to send the message to Kageyama and General Armstrong.”

“Message sent.” Felicia confirmed my message had been sent. She also began explaining the rift.

“More types of Anathema will begin appearing. The Anathema will now start analyzing the human world’s combat patterns and begin creating suitable combat forms for this world. Most of them will end up failing, but they only need to succeed once before that type becomes mainstream,” Felicia said.

“Lily! We’ve received an emergency signal from Oil Rig 17. We’re moving in to help,” Freya called me through comms, repeating what Felicia had just said.

“Understood. I’ll help as well.” I nodded to Freya. We sped up our boat toward the rig. The speedboat Guardian Command had provided us was faster than the slightly larger boat Lexus had, so I gradually caught up to them.

“That’s them?” I asked Felicia. Atop the oil rig was a black hole, and several pteranodon-like Anathema were rushing out of it. Along with them, balloon-like Anathema also popped out of the rift.

“Yes. Dread Pterodactyls—a common flying Anathema. Along with them are Floating Dreads, a flying carrier Anathema. It’s weaker than even the Pterodactyls, but each can carry up to 20 Fomorian Hounds or higher-level Anathema of similar volume. Killing them takes priority.”

“So many…” I muttered.

A clone was one step ahead of me and took out my sniper rifle from storage.

“It’s a bit far. I don’t know if I can hit it,” she said. A gunshot rang from her rifle. The bullet traced a straight line, grazing one of the slow-moving balloons from several kilometers away.

“The shot didn’t kill it. We’ll get closer. You can guard the boat. I’ll go with Freya to the oil rig.”

“Yes.”

The battle for the oil rig began.