Black Badger

Chapter 354: Protocol (1)

A cozy corner of the rehabilitation center’s lobby.

There, a senior who had been hunched over a handheld game console looked up and greeted me warmly.

“Hilde.”

She smiled faintly.

She looks like she’s in a good mood.

“Thank you so much for coming to visit.”

“I’m sorry I came so late.”

I lifted the box of strawberry cream puffs Ami had recommended, saying Shu liked them.

Shu’s eyes widened the moment she saw the brand on the box.

Just like Ami said—it seemed to be her favorite.

After taking the box, she looked up at me with bright eyes.

“I really love these.”

I burst out laughing.

“I’m glad.”

“Let’s eat together.”

She set her wheelchair in motion.

I stepped closer to help, but there was no need. She handled the electric wheelchair with ease.

She opened the box on the lobby table and even brewed coffee for me.

After mixing her own milk tea, the senior rolled up to the table and picked up a cream puff.

Only after finishing one did she start talking.

“I heard you weren’t feeling well. Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m resting properly.”

I answered after swallowing a mouthful of cream puff.

Thankfully, the strawberry on top wasn’t sour.

“You’re not still thinking about cutting off your leg, are you?”

“I’m considering it.”

“Senior.”

As long as the two archmages were still alive, there was still a chance of recovery.

If there was even the slightest possibility, then not cutting off the leg was the right choice. I explained as much while sipping my iced Americano. I would capture a mage alive. I didn’t know how long it would take, and I couldn’t promise that waiting would fix anything—but still, I asked her to wait just a little longer.

After finishing three cream puffs, Shu nodded.

“Okay.”

“Are you changing your mind?”

“It’s you saying it.”

She set down her milk tea and said,

“Thank you for saving me back then.”

If only I’d stopped her from being kidnapped by Kyle in the first place.

I thought I’d responded with a smile, but the bitterness must have shown on my face.

Shu handed me a strawberry cream puff and emphasized how fine she was.

“I’m doing well, catching up on games. Thanks to Senior Jin, I’m not lonely either. Dad comes almost every day.”

“How is Jin?”

“No.”

...No?

Shu took a big bite of her fourth cream puff.

“I think he knows his reputation isn’t great. The Personnel Director stopped him, so he’s still officially on sick leave, but he might take a leave of absence soon.”

“Ah... a leave of absence might not be bad.”

“That’s what I think too. But physically, he’s fine. He’s living with an arm-assist robot on his shoulder and says he’s fully adapted.”

Shu briefly explained what kinds of treatment she and Jin were receiving, and how they were adjusting.

She also told me who had come to visit.

None of the names were surprising—but hearing that Kairos had stopped by several times was.

It must have been while I was visiting Core 15.

“He taught me how to use a wheelchair.”

How does he even know that?

“He /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ said he’d been in a wheelchair himself before.”

“...What?”

“He said he got into an accident on the track.”

The two-tone-haired senior pulled up a video and showed it to me as I stared at her, mouth agape.

“Thankfully, it was just both legs broken.”

I clutched my head and watched the “Jack Black accident video.”

Even knowing he was fine now, it was a stomach-churning clip. A racing car skids, slams into a wall, and erupts into fierce flames.

Spectators gasp. Staff sprint toward it.

A body is dragged out of the fire by responders...

It’s a damn good thing he switched careers and became a Black Badger.

If I keep him near me, I can at least bring him back from the brink.

Seriously—how does someone manage to make people’s hearts drop like this, whether in the Empire or now?

While brooding over the image of Kairos’s one eye that had once stopped functioning altogether, I changed the subject.

“Have you felt anything strange about the portals lately?”

I’d only thrown out the question to forget the accident video.

But Shu’s face darkened instantly.

My heart jumped.

“Is it strange? Lately?”

“Yes. No... to be precise, it’s been like that for a while.”

The short-haired senior muttered in an unusually gloomy voice.

“It’s been so constant that I wondered if I’d become oversensitive after the accident. Nothing’s actually happened since then... so maybe my senses are just off.”

“It never hurts to be cautious. Does the leadership know about this?”

“Doctor Han probably reported it.”

After answering, Shu swallowed her fifth cream puff.

She drained her milk tea, then quietly added,

“But, you know... Dad’s been dreaming about that person again lately.”

My eyes widened.

I recalled what I’d once heard from Simon Diamond. The woman he met while wandering inside a portal. A being that couldn’t die, that couldn’t communicate.

The woman he described looked exactly like the Cecil I remembered.

Is there a connection between Cecil and the flowers?

Or is there a connection between the instability Shu feels in the portals and Cecil?

I hadn’t thought deeply about Cecil until now. The reason was simple—there was nothing I could fix just by moving.

When it wasn’t even clear whether the woman Simon met was truly Cecil, something that only looked like her, or merely a memory of her.

After pondering the new information for a moment, I asked,

“You mean the woman you told me about last time.”

“Yes. It could just be a coincidence.”

Shu muttered in a tone that made it clear she didn’t believe it was a coincidence.

“He says those memories from back then keep resurfacing.”

“Have there been any new details you remember?”

“There’s something Dad drew from his memories. Want to see it?”

Shu said something I hadn’t expected.

When I blinked in surprise, the senior immediately started sending me photos.

I stared wide-eyed as image after image arrived.

Ink drawings without hesitation.

Fragments of memory rendered in black and yellow.

“...He’s an incredible artist.”

That was what I finally said after looking through them.

Cecil, in the drawings.

She looked unbearably lonely.

Eyes like someone who had lost her way.

***

I shared what I’d learned about Cecil with the others of my kind.

There were no major discoveries. Which made sense—she had been both an exceptional mage and Kysis’s exclusive bodyguard, so she’d had almost no overlap with Deltei, Igor, or Yoow.

Rose didn’t even know what she looked like.

Kairos knew a little more about Cecil than the rest, but even he didn’t know much more than I did.

“What do you mean, inside a portal in the first place?” Deltei asked, looking confused.

“There’s an inside to a portal? And it’s still unclear whether that’s Cecil’s memory, Cecil herself, or something shaped like Cecil?”

“That’s right.”

I sighed, thinking about the mystery that showed no sign of unraveling.

“Just keep in mind that there’s a story like this. I still don’t have a clue what’s going on either, but I thought it’d be better to share it.”

“That’s a face I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Kairos muttered, eyes fixed on the photo.

“I’d completely forgotten. She was a child of the World Tree too.”

That was true.

Though I didn’t know how she’d come to be one. Neither Cecil nor Kysis had ever explained it. Cecil, to begin with, was a woman of few words. She only spoke to Kysis and obeyed only his orders.

She wasn’t someone who refused conversation—but she was never easy to approach.

“If she’s alive and we can save her, that’d be good.”

Hearing Deltei murmur that, I looked at the photo and replied,

“Yeah.”

“I’ll keep this in mind and look into it whenever I can.”

“Thanks.”

“But wasn’t this woman an archmage? It’s strange enough that an archmage can’t get out of a portal. Could it be something like a dream-voice?”

“That’s possible too.”

“Hilde. Are you angry at me?”

While the others murmured among themselves about Cecil, Kairos said something out of the blue.

“Ever since you went to see Senior Shu, something about how you treat me feels off.”

Sharp bastard.

I’d tried not to show it, but apparently not well enough.

Since I’d been found out, I didn’t bother hiding it. I told him that watching footage of his past accident had reminded me of the countless disasters he’d caused.

Including the time he hid his severed meridian.

But my irritation had little effect.

Kairos just widened his eyes and asked, “Did I really cause you that much trouble?”

I told you—he’s got a real talent for flipping people’s insides upside down.

“...Forget it. Go do your job.”

After sending off a flustered Kairos who kept asking if I was really angry, I rolled around on the bed with Milk.

That was how I spent the physical evaluation week.

Neither peaceful nor busy.

***

On the last day, when the physical evaluations ended, I received good news and bad news at the same time.

The bad news.

The drinking appointment with Ju was still on.

[Today at 8 p.m., the bar Yellow Tape across from headquarters.]

I’d hoped he’d forgotten.

If it had just quietly passed, I’d planned to bathe Milk tonight.

Realizing he hadn’t forgotten was devastating.

While clutching my head in despair, another message arrived. The moment I opened it, my face lit up.

[Ami: I turned him down.]

At that single short sentence, I hugged my phone and stared up at the ceiling, struggling to contain the rush of emotion.

I only snapped back to my senses when Igor asked, “You okay, Captain?”

Thank you, gods.

[I think that was a truly wise choice.]

[Ami: Yeah.]

The round-faced senior replied almost immediately.

[Ami: I thought about it, and Mr. Ju just isn’t my type.]

Oh. A matter of taste?

[Ami: I told him I was sorry and turned him down properly. Mr. Ju said he understood.]

Refreshing.

It felt like something heavy had been lifted off my chest.

Smiling broadly, I headed out to the drinking party.

Maybe it was thanks to resting an extra week—my condition felt better. And knowing there was nothing between Ju and Ami anymore made my mood lighter too. Thinking I should drink in moderation, I stepped into the bar.

With the faint doubt of whether Ro would even remember this appointment.

But surprisingly, Ro was already there.

He looked over at me blinking in surprise, then chugged his beer.

“Oh, you came?”

He jerked his chin toward the seat beside him.

“Sit.”

Looks like he’d already started drinking.

As I sat down on his right and ordered a drink, Ju arrived shortly after.

Should I comfort him?

That was my first thought when I saw how drained he looked.

But as if he’d read my mind, Ju shook his head with a bitter smile.

“I’m fine.”

The Personnel Director sat beside me and immediately ordered alcohol.

“Let’s go all out tonight. It’s been ages since I’ve been to something like this.”

He smiled gently as he watched Ro chugging straight from the bottle and me taking my beer glass.

After getting his own drink, he raised it and said,

“Let’s really drink easy tonight. No work talk.”

And that was exactly how the night went.

It was even more meaningless than I’d expected.

We didn’t talk about Ju’s failed romance business. We didn’t even have normal conversation. No talk about John Mühlen’s stamina, or the physical tests that had gone on all week.

Instead, we talked about nonsense like this.

“Hey, Kumde. You know.”

It was what Ro said after his tenth bottle of beer.

“All the Breath collapses and everyone dies.”

“...Pardon?”

What is he talking about?

Ignoring my flustered blinking, the senior continued.

“So it’s just you and one other guy left, and you’ve gotta raise a kid.”

“No, Senior. Why would you even assume that—”

“Then which is better? Tree or Griffith?”

“Tree and Griffith...? Are those Senior Mühlen and someone else?”

“No, Trin and that guy, you know—the naggy one!”

“...Jason Trevain and Richard Green?”

“Yeah, those two. Which one’s better?”

“...Why those two...?”

“You’ve gotta raise a kid.”

Ro put force into his voice.

“You have to raise a kid. No matter what. Hurry up and answer.”

I... chose Richard.

And then I fell into a strange spiral of self-loathing. Only I answered, and I never heard Ro’s or Ju’s replies, which made it feel even worse.

Why am I even doing this here?

That thought only deepened as I watched Ju mix increasingly flamboyant drinks.

Throughout the night, Ju demonstrated brewing skills I hadn’t seen even in over a hundred years of life. Smiling brightly, saying, “I’ll mix you something~,” he made every kind of drink imaginable. Cocktails. Fruit soju. This liquor. That liquor...

At some point, Ro slammed his head onto the table and fell asleep.

Left alone, I obediently accepted every drink Ju handed me.

I’d told him beforehand that I wouldn’t drink maesilju, and he was indeed avoiding it, so it should be fine.

I’d never gotten drunk on normal alcohol before.

Ju’s tolerance was frightening, but he didn’t seem particularly shaken about being turned down by Ami, and I figured if we drank like this, we’d probably wrap things up once it got late enough...

That was what I thought.

***

That was my last memory.