Editing Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden:Volume 6 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 3===

“''Sheltis, are you awake? Will you answer me, Sheltis?''“

His comrade’s voice suddenly came from the communications device attached to the ceiling.

“……Fue? Kagura?”

He poked just his head out of the sheets from atop his bed. He shook his sleepy brain and looked at the clock even while rubbing his vacant eyes.

“Please at least let me sleep until it’s time for training. ……Eyriey and Yuto were here not too long ago.”

“''Don’t talk in your sleep and get up. I’ll be coming to your room in five minutes so wash your face and get changed before then please.''“

“Eh, wai……wait, Kagura, at least fifteen minutes ── h-huh? Kagura? Kagura?”

“''…………''“

The communications device clicked and went silent.

“……What was that?”

Raising his upper body off the body, Sheltis supported his head.

“Good morning, and what a nice morning it is.”

“Morning. ……Though it’s still really early.”

3:27. Not even ten minutes had passed since Eyriey and Yuto had left. Thanks to that, even his plan of sleeping right up until it was time to train at four was coming to nothing.

“At any rate, it’s something requiring immediate attention.”

Kagura with the machine helmet worn low over her eyes was as usual, without a hint of sleepiness.

“……Kagura, weren’t you not a morning person?”

“That’s right. But I became wide awake after seeing that.”

“That?”

“Yes, and I’ll be borrowing your work desk for a bit.”

Without waiting for an answer, she took up a position at his desk. Just when he wondered what she was doing, she reached out to the monitor and computer and started typing something quickly.

“That?”

“Yes, the famous agency terminal that’s useless to us Guards.”

Kagura typed in her own login ID and opened window after window. Even as he looked on from behind, he had no idea what was coming because he didn’t recognize any of the windows.

“Sheltis, what I’m about to show you is an anonymous message left on the General Affairs Bureau and Tower Management Bureau’s digital bulletin boards.

“What about it?”

Her fingers that were typing at a high speed stopped for an instant.

“I’ll say this ahead of time……please be prepared.”

Clack.

The instant she pushed the last key, all of the windows on the monitor vanished. In it’s place appeared a single article upon a blue background.

 

“''To all of {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}──''“

 

“……It’s addressed to everybody in {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}?”

He looked down lower with disinterest.

 

 

 

 

“''To all of {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}──''

''I shall teach you a valuable secret.''

''A Yuugenshu has changed its form to that of a person and disguised itself as one of your Guards. In order to draw it out, I recommend exposing all the tower’s Guards to the Priestesses’ baptism spells.''“

 

 

 

 

An absurd amount of time was required for him to process what the message meant.

……It can’t be that the Guard this message is indicating.

He could tell that his fingertips were shaking.

“…………What……this kind of tasteless message.”

Straining his voice, that was all he could say.

……Is this about me?

……Just who did this……who’s trying to agitate the tower’s unease?

“That’s why I told you to prepare yourself.”

Kagura nodded while lounging back on the chair.

“It was sent simultaneously to every one of these agency terminals. Right about now, the executives of the tower should be thinking it’s a prank but they might change their minds.”

“''Hmm, can I ask something? I should have realized it as well if they sent it to the agency terminals. Especially if it’s related to the Guards, I regularly perform keyword checks.''“

{{furigana|Machine crystal|Ilis}} blinked while not able to understand that one thing.

That was a given as {{furigana|machine crystal|Ilis}}’ sensors spread out to cover the entire electrical system. It would be strange for {{furigana|machine crystal|Ilis}} not to notice something that Kagura did.

“By the way, it seems the Guard Regulations Institute……in other words, the Guard Control Bureau received this message late. If we consider that the Environmental Bureau and the Mechanical Bureau and the others received it at the same time, the chance that sending it to the Guard Control Bureau was delayed is high.”

“''……I get it. My searches prioritize the Guard Regulations Institute first of all so I was late in discovering it because of that.''”

“Yes. In my case, I also hold the title of a computer researcher of the Tower Management Bureau. Thanks to logging in with my ID from there, I managed to be one of the first to read this message.”

Kagura sighed after removing her machine helmet.

“I don’t think there’s any need to explain who this is talking about.”

“…………Yeah.”

He didn’t know who was behind it, but it was a sly tactic.

While asserting that it had changed forms to that of a Guard, it agitated their unease without revealing the Guard’s name. Saying that they should expose everybody to the Priestesses’ baptism spells was also of the same type of method. This was basically saying to expose who this was in front of the surrounding Guards and Instructors.

“I’d just like to ask but what will happen if this actually gets implemented?”

“……It’s not something I’d like to think much about.”

Shinryoku was like deadly poison to his body which was afflicted with mateki.

If it was a Priestess-level baptism spell, even if Elbert Resonance did not occur, light wounds similar to burns would be received.

“As a silver lining, the tower’s executives are also pretty much disregarding this message. There have been numerous messages received in the past that aimed to fan up the unease of the tower.”

“……Is it okay if I have faith in that?”

“The basis for that is in who this message was addressed to.”

Kagura nodded. She temporarily removed the window being displayed and continued on to open several windows at the same time.

“See, even if I search for it, it’s only spits out red errors. Nobody within the tower or the Living Districts sent this.”

“''It came from outside {{furigana|the floating continent|Orbie Clar}}; in other words, it’s was sent remotely from somewhere in the {{furigana|floating archipelago|Lagoon}}.''“

“That’s what it means. It would still carry credibility if it were from someone within the tower. However, how would somebody from outside {{furigana|the floating continent|Orbie Clar}} know information like there being a Yuugenshu who changed forms into a Guard when nobody within the tower knows? ── The executives are also thinking that; well, it is the appropriate conclusion.”

“……From outside {{furigana|the floating continent|Orbie Clar}}, huh.”

That would have to be how it is. There should be no way somebody from the 
{{furigana|floating archipelago|Lagoon}} which lay outside of {{furigana|the floating continent|Orbie Clar}} would know that secret which only a handful of people knew. Anybody would think that way.

……Then that’s even more reason.

……Who is it that knows my secret despite not being on {{furigana|the floating continent|Orbie Clar}}?

“Kagura and Ilis, do either of you know where in the {{furigana|floating archipelago|Lagoon}} this was sent from?”

“''……I’m trying my best but narrowing the scope to a certain extent is the utmost I can manage.''“

“Same here. It looks like it will be a harsh challenge. Of course the sender’s name was also blank; basically, they’re anonymous.”

If that was what these two said, then he wouldn’t receive a favorable response no matter who he asked.

“……Thank you, Kagura, it really helped me that you told me about this.”

“Yes. But what will you do from now on? We have early morning training scheduled for today but will you fabricate some excuse and investigate?”

“No.”

He shook his head at Kagura’s idea and stood from his chair.

“It would be like asking people to doubt me if I took a break immediately after this. I’ll train normally and think about this after that’s over.”

“''That would be the most natural. I will be keeping track of all the executives’ movements so I’ll inform you if something happens.''“

“I see. Understood……however, one thing.”

He could feel Kagura’s gaze through the eyeshade of her machine helmet.

“What is it?”

“You can ignore this case. I have a feeling that Monica will come to suspect your mateki someday. I believe it would be best if you think about what you will say to her at that time.”

“…………”

He averted his eyes from the steady gaze of the Nell girl.

“……I’ll think about that at a different time. I have to focus on training and this case for now.”

It took his utmost to say just that.