Chapter 95: Interloper

“Lily! What are you talking about?” Freya rushed over to me.

“We’re being followed,” I replied, gesturing to the exiles to get into the warehouse.

“Huh? By who? My mana radar and mana sense detected nothing.”

“There. At the ocean. You’ll see,” I answered flatly. “They’ll arrive in about twenty minutes.”

“You’re telling me a rank D dark MG has better detection ability than an A-rank magical girl?” Freya frowned at her familiar.

“I was just lucky,” I replied half-heartedly. I wasn’t lying. If it had been anyone other than Lexus, I wouldn’t have been able to detect them.

“Hurry up!” I motioned the exiles.

“What’s going on? Are we under attack?” The exiles turned toward Freya, glancing around anxiously. All eyes were on the familiar guardian. They seemed to ignore me, but I didn’t care. I had the boat—they’d have to follow me if they wanted to get out of here.

Well, Freya could always buy a new boat. In that case, they’d be captured by Lexus and his men, but I didn’t care. As long as I wasn’t captured, Shirayuki wouldn’t be implicated.

While the exiles were still complaining, Freya trusted me. And as expected, thirty minutes later, a ship emerged on the dock. Through my mana eyes, I saw Lexus disembarked.

“Lexus!” Freya exclaimed. “What is he doing here?”

“Maybe he was exiled together with us!” one exile said, spouting nonsense I ignored. Their time in prison might’ve scrambled their brains.

The exiles whispered among themselves, wondering what Lexus wanted with a guardian. But I knew what he sought. They were trying to catch us red-handed. After that, they’d report us to the Zenith, hoping it would earn them a promotion.

However, I had to say—if that was their plan, it was sloppy. Was it because neither Freya nor I had told them which oil rig we planned to use to drop the exiles off at?

I thought hard. How did they find us? Did he bribe one of the guild officials to leak the location where the exiles would be placed?

Such questions popped into my head. When I turned to Felicia, she said that many people in Guardian Command knew where the exiles were being sent. It was technically classified, but it was not vital information.

I activated the mana eyes linked to Lexus. Yellow Bee shouldn’t be able to detect them unless she saw them. Through Lexus, I listened in on their conversation.

“Why are we here…” the yellow magical guardian, Yellow Bee, sighed at Lexus.

“I heard rumors there are traitors. Guardians trying to sneak exiles back into sanctuary cities. We have to prevent them from disobeying the verdict.”

“The verdict came from the Zenith, right? Not that I care. Are there even Guardians who’d disobey them?” another Guardian asked.

“Freya’s hell-bent on saving her father. You guys know this, right? I heard she got help from other Guardians.” Lexus said.

I gritted my teeth. He lied as easily as he breathed—what a snake. It disgusted me.

“Recorded. This will be included in the report,” Felicia muttered.

“You better report it. Try to frame that guy as evil as possible.”

“That would make the report biased.”

“…Yeah. You’re right.” I sighed, trying to calm myself down.

“Bee, when will your signature be active again?”

“About two or three hours, boss.”

“Oh well, since we’re already here, we should wait for a while,” Lexus said. “This is the darklands. Wow! I heard rumors, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I thought there would be monsters crawling all over the place.”

“Hm? I sense mana over there…” Bee said. He turned his head toward us.

“Ah… I screwed up. I shouldn’t have activated the mana eyes and eavesdropped on them.”

“It’s common for high-ranking Guardians to invest in one or two detection skills,” Felicia said. “Detection skills are relatively easy to come by, but stealth skills are harder. Yellow Bee is a rank B Guardian. The other two with Lexus are C-rank.”

“Ugh…” I groaned. “They saw us.”

“Yeah. I could sense they cast a mana radar on us.”

“We need to hide the exiles. They’re here to capture you,” I said.

“But that’s Lexus! He promised he’d do his best to get our jobs back,” the exile—an ex-member of Enra—said.

“Freya, maybe we should try talking to them. Who knows, maybe they’re here to help.”

“I will not meet with them,”

“However, it will be incredibly difficult to escape once they’ve noticed us. Once mana sense picks something up, it becomes easier to lock onto our position—especially when combined with mana radar,” Felicia warned.

“Ugh… Very well. Let’s meet them,” I said. I hadn’t expected them to catch us here. I thought they’d set an ambush somewhere at the oil rigs. “However, it would be best if the exiles didn’t meet them. Remember, Guardians are righteous. They might not take kindly to the exiles.”

“Oiii! Lexus!” one exile—a former NewStar Company employee—ran toward Lexus, completely ignoring our warnings. I widened my eyes at their recklessness.

“That’s Norn. A distant relative of Jonathan,” Felicia said.

“Hello, Norn! How are you?” Lexus shouted back, smiling. Yellow Bee shot him glares, but after Lexus whispered something to him, he nodded, seemingly understanding the situation.

“Hah… I’m leaving,” I said. Lexus was trying to extract information from Norn. I will not go anywhere near him. He must not see me, otherwise Shirayuki might get implicated.

“But Lily…” Freya said.

“I think you can ask them for a ride. I’ll go home by myself. This operation was supposed to be top secret. If others get involved, I’m out,”

Too much was at stake. If I were caught with the exiles, Shirayuki’s name would be dragged through the mud—all because of Lexus’ scheme.

“Sorry, boss. I knew you wouldn’t leave me to die,” Norn said.

“Norn, Of course not! We are a family. Ah! I heard you got a ticket out of here and into the Sanctuary Cities. Is that true?”

“Yes! Freya said we’re going to Oil Rig 17, owned by Shirayuki,” Norn said. Behind him, Freya’s father and the rest of the exiles followed. None of them trusted me. None believed Lexus would betray them.

“Lily…” Freya looked at me.

“I won’t be going with them.” I turned away and slipped out through the window. Freya… didn’t follow me. She chose to stay with her father.

“Freya… why are you saving these exiles?” Yellow Bee asked. His words weren’t a question—more like a confirmation. “Are you going to go against the verdict from the Zenith?”

“I’m not going against the verdict. The oil rigs are technically outside the Sanctuary Cities, so they’ll still be exiles.”

“I see. I didn’t think about that at all. If you think about it, you’re right, Freya.”

“Lexus, you can’t be serious,” Yellow Bee frowned.

“Why are you complaining? Guardians shouldn’t hold grudges or seek revenge. We don’t feed Anathema, and these exiles won’t be living inside the Sanctuary Cities for the rest of their lives. Isn’t this a wonderful solution?” Lexus said.

“Well… if you put it that way…” Yellow Bee said. There was some resistance, but Lexus’s words had convinced him.

I rolled my eyes at how gullible Yellow Bee was. So that’s all it took to twist their hateful gaze into something resembling understanding?

“Felicia…” I muttered, trying to convince myself that what I was hearing wasn’t real.

“Hm… It depended on trust. Yellow Bee trust Lexus similar to how you trust me,” Felicia said gently. “We tend to choose those with a strong sense of kindness and justice, in accordance with the virtues of the Guardians. If they ever lost those traits, it would be hard for them to pick up quests inside the city. Intellect or wisdom was not one of the qualification to become a guardian.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” If it were that easy, there wouldn’t have been a riot in Eden. All Guardians would line up to support the exiles. Yellow Bee was supposed to have the sharpest senses—he detected my mana eyes, after all—but he was the most blind out of all the Guardians I knew… well, maybe except for Shining Arrow. But Sapphire might get duped too…

At that moment, I knew I was the outlier.

“Only you know the full picture. You knew Lexus was two-faced. But Yellow Bee and Freya didn’t. That makes them easy to persuade,” Felicia said calmly.

“So… are they on our side now? What about Lexus’ scheme to trap Shirayuki?”

“I don’t know. Lexus might’ve given up. Or he might not,” Felicia replied.

“I don’t even know what to trust anymore. These companies are insane. All of them are filled with liars.”

“Agreed. This will also be included in the report.” Felicia nodded.

After some deliberation, I realized just how cunning Lexus was.

“Do you think he planned all of this?”

“Hm? After analyzing his behavior, I think he’s just an opportunist. Like a general who surveys the battlefield and makes quick, calculated decisions in real time.”

“You figured him out already?”

“People like him are a dime a dozen. It’s a common personality type, and we welcomed it. But what we can’t afford is betrayal. Not when we’re facing an endless, nearly unbeatable enemy like the Anathema. There’s no room for backstabbing just to gain advantage for their own self.”

“This report should be enough for NewStar. Next, we’ll determine whether Freya’s father shares the same tendencies. Then the mission can be considered complete. Ah, and if you want a perfect clear, you might want to investigate whether Lexus makes a habit of feigning ignorance like this. As the idiom goes: ‘Foolish people go to heaven.’”

“There’s no such idiom… and I refuse to believe it.”

“My apologies. That was certainly poor humor on my part,” Felicia said, bowing.

“Now, what should I do? They’re leaving,” I asked Felicia.

“We should leave as well. The oil rigs are far—more than a four-day ride. If we are close to them, we can notify Guardian Command when we arrived at the rig,”

“I see. Oil Rig 17 isn’t close to Eden. It’s somewhere between Valhalla and Elysium…” I nodded.

“Ah, I must remind you—your mana eyes only function within a ten-kilometer radius. They’ll deactivate if they go beyond that. However, if you connect to the Guardian Command’s magical network, you might be able to link to them once they’re near the oil rig.”

“Lily! There’s no need to worry! Lexus and Yellow Bee are on our side now! Let’s go together!” Freya called through a telepathic link. That gave me an idea.

“No. I’ll follow them from behind—just far enough to stay outside their range,” I said to Felicia. Then I replied to Freya, “No. I’ll stay somewhere far away. I don’t like crowds.”

“Lily says she’s shy,” Freya told Lexus and Yellow Bee.

“Of course. She’s a Dark. Does she have a boat? She does? Good. Let’s go,” Yellow Bee said.

Thanks to the stigma around Dark Magical Girls, no one questioned my decision to stay behind. But Lexus frowned. He had seen me communicate just fine—unlike the usual withdrawn demeanor typical of Darks.

“There’s a chance they’ll notice you,” Felicia warned.

“That’s fine. I need to listen in. I hope Lexus hasn’t realized I planted bugs on him—that’s our only source of intel now. Ugh… I forgot to plant mana eyes on Freya’s father.”

I groaned. I’d completely failed as a spy. How could I make such a basic mistake?

With a heavy sigh, I took out my boat and set off in pursuit of Lexus and Freya.