Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume14 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 4===

"&mdash;No reaction?"

"Yeah, looks she's not nearby."

Running along a passage, led by the shadow spirit, Kamito focused his awareness on his right hand's seal.

His link with Est was still not restored.

At the very least, she did not seem to be in the vicinity.

(...Or perhaps, Est is locked away behind an isolation barrier too.)

Were that the case, then he would not be able to sense her location until they were extremely close.

Kamito erased his presence to avoid getting detected by guards, using blind spots in the passages to move around.

Although his escape had yet to be discovered, that would only be a matter of time.

"How about here?"

Discovering what appeared to be a storeroom, Kamito stopped.

The shadow spirit slithered into the keyhole and quickly unlocked it.

"Nothing less expected from a former special operative knight belonging to Umbra. This kind of stuff is easy as pie for you."

"Oh? You noticed?"

Freya's shadow spirit sounded surprised to hear Kamito's comment.

"I can tell from your movements. I've already fought those people a number of times."

"The Empire's special operative knights? What kind of life did you lead exactly?"

"...It's a long story."

Shrugging, Kamito entered the storeroom.

Taking and activating a spirit crystal hanging on the wall that was meant for illumination, he shone it inside, only to see many bottles on the ground. They looked like they were used to preserve pickled meat or the like.

No signs of Est. Not this place, apparently.

"Damn it, if we don't hurry&mdash;"

Kamito was just about to exit the storeroom when&mdash;

Hearing loud footsteps and yelling outside, he stopped.

"The male elementalist has escaped!" "Catch him, dead or alive!"

"...Tsk, they found out already."

It was sooner than expected. Compared to the guards he had taken out just now, the enemies were well-trained spirit knights. It would be tough, even for someone like Kamito, to fight them unarmed without an elemental waffe.

(...But the situation actually isn't that bad.)

With the Imperial Knights' attention focused on Kamito alone, suppose he managed to create an opening, then Claire and the others might have a chance to escape their imprisonment.

"Freya-sensei, Claire and the others should be somewhere inside this facility too. Can you go rescue them first?"

"Sure, but what is your plan?"

"I'll find Est on my own. Once I get Est back, I'll always find a way."

"How very confident. I don't suppose you intend to fight all the spirit knights stationed at this facility?"

"Give me a break&mdash;"

Kamito grimaced.

"I'll draw the Knights' attention in the meantime. After you help Claire and the others escape, tell them to go to ''that spring'' in the Spirit Forest and we'll meet up there&mdash;"

"That spring?"

"Claire will understand."

"...Very well. Don't overdo it."

Leaving behind this reminder, the shadow spirit left Kamito's shadow and silently disappeared into the darkness of the passage.

After watching it leave, Kamito went:

"&mdash;Oh well, infiltration and causing disturbances was my original line of work."

Kamito muttered quietly and began to move.

The voices and footsteps of knights searching for Kamito grew more and more.

However, these sounds ended up telling Kamito about the knights' positions.

(&mdash;Looks like they're splitting up to find me.)

Kamito determined this from the sound of their footsteps.

Spirit knights in the army would usually take action in units of two or three. This allowed them to compensate for the elemental weaknesses in one another's contracted spirits, thereby allowing them to fight at maximum power.

For example, a fire elementalist, whose weakness was water, would partner up with an earth elementalist, who held an advantage against water.

However, knowing that Kamito was currently unable to use his contracted spirit, the knights had chosen to prioritize search efficiency. Indeed, it was a very reasonable decision.

(&mdash;Too bad for you lot, your opponent was trained in the Instructional School.)

Kamito chanted a spell of Weapon Works, producing a dagger in each hand.

Divide and conquer was a basic tactic used by Instructional School combatants. Even without the use of an elemental waffe, it was sufficient for the purpose of causing a commotion.

No sooner had he thought that than a knight appeared opposite him in the passage.

"&mdash;Found you, male elementalist!"

Seeing Kamito with weapons in both hands, the knight released the spirit magic of Fireball without hesitation. Instantly, the scorching flames exploded.

&mdash;However, Kamito was no longer there. Kicking a wall, he jumped and dodged the flames in the nick of time and took advantage of the flames' explosion to throw his magic daggers.

(&mdash;Great, let's see how much of a ruckus I can make.)