Episode 11 — Absolute Solution 4

Watching the team members come downstairs, the Professor lowered his head.

How had things ended up like this? But what was done was done.

He'd just finished stretching out his neck, twisting it side to side, and was about to gather everyone in the parlor to discuss the team when the doorbell rang again.

"Again?"

Thinking the Masquerade people were more persistent than he'd expected, he opened the door — only for a small figure to come flying straight at him!

"What—?!"

"Professooooor!"

"...!"

It was none other than the getaway driver he'd worked with before — Whis-Kiss.

"Wait, why are you here?!"

"I heard everything! It's already all over the server!"

"Heard what?!" "That you formed a team!"

"Guh—?!"

Something was wrong. There was no way word could've spread this fast. He'd estimated it would take days for information to leak from the Masquerade side, but this — discovered on the very same day the team had been formally established?

"Something's gone seriously wrong."

Prying Whis-Kiss off of him, the Professor immediately switched the parlor screen over to a news channel.

[Surprising news — the man who's always operated solo suddenly forming a team, and at this particular timing.]

[This must mean he's planning to show his face for official-match contracts too, wouldn't you think?]

[Ho-ho, that could significantly shift the balance of power across the conflict-zone server going forward.]

[Would it, though? Official matches are—]

"...Who the hell leaked this?"

His grinding teeth, laced with mechanical distortion, rang out with an unsettling edge. Sister Grave shrank back, then cautiously raised her hand.

"...Where exactly did you leak this to—"

"Well, not me — well, I mean, probably Mary's Children, I'd guess."

"...!"

Mary's Children had apparently taken matters into their own hands. Around the same time they'd released Sister Grave, they must have deliberately spread the rumor that she'd teamed up with the Professor — likely hoping to throw off Masquerade's pursuit that way. But she'd been chased down anyway, and the end result was that the false information had become true, thanks entirely to her actually teaming up with the Professor.

"...I've been played."

"Sorry. I don't think they meant it maliciously — I think they were just trying to protect me..."

"So — when do you plan on going back?"

"...!"

He asked it coldly, as though her return were already a settled matter. The Professor had assumed from the start that she'd treated this as merely a temporary refuge.

"I'd appreciate it if you left as soon as possible. I find having too many people around this estate cumbersome."

"Ngh—!"

Sister Grave thought it over for a moment, then shook her head.

"Sorry, but I've got nowhere to go back to."

"........."

"I told you yesterday, didn't I? I made my peace with this. I'm sure Mary's Children understands and let me go for that reason."

"Do you really believe that?"

"...I'll have to find out either way, whether I like it or not."

Her voice carried conviction, but there was a faint tremor underneath it. She had no real desire to become an adversary of Mary's Children — the people she owed her life to. But the Professor and his team operated as complete, mechanically neutral freelancers. Nothing guaranteed Mary's Children couldn't become a target, even now.

"That's true enough. When that time comes, we'll find out if your resolve was genuine."

"........."

Sister suddenly turned to look at Shadow.

"Shadow. Are you prepared for this too?"

"I'm a dark gamer. Doesn't exactly leave me with many fond memories of the Roaring Dragon Society either."

At her surprisingly casual answer, Sister bit her lip, lost in thought.

"Wait a second!"

Whis-Kiss, who'd been listening nearby, suddenly plopped herself down on the sofa.

"Take me too!"

"........."

The Professor shook his head without a word.

"This team has no need for a driver like you."

"No way! I might turn out to be necessary!"

"That won't happen."

"Argh!"

Puffing her cheeks, she reached toward his helmet — only to have her hand slapped away with practiced ease.

"Owww?!"

"Don't touch the helmet. It could lead to something irreversible."

"Then just take me on!"

"Refused."

While the Professor stood firm in his refusal, Sister decided to chime in.

"Why not? I think having her around wouldn't be a bad thing."

"Reason?"

"You know as well as I do how much ammo I burn through. If it ever comes down to a real full-scale engagement, supply lines matter."

"........."

"Come to think of it, Professor — how do you usually travel long distances across the server?"

At Shadow's question, the Professor answered without a moment's hesitation, in his usual dry, mechanical monotone.

"...Public transit."

"........."

"........."

"Ha-ha-ha..."

The women's expressions turned cold, learning that the Professor — an object of admiration among mercenaries and PK specialists for his style and skill, built partly on an air of secrecy — took public transit like an ordinary commuter. Only Cuticle, already familiar with his habits, laughed it off awkwardly.

"Well, guess we do need Whis-Kiss after all."

"Right?"

"Definitely..."

"Hey. Who said you get to decide this on your own. As the founder, I should—"

Sensing the conversation heading in a strange direction, the Professor tried to interject, but—

"You said it yourself, didn't you, Professor? That while the team's formed, it's ultimately made up of independent business relationships."

"Ngh—!"

"Right. Which means, going by your own logic, we each have equal authority — and in a case like this, that means a majority vote."

"H-hold on, wait—!"

The Professor reached out to stop the two women's unilateral push for a vote, but—

"All right then — Whis-Kiss is necessary for the team! Raise your hand if you agree!"

"?!"

"Hah!"

Sister and Shadow both shot their hands up as if they'd been waiting for exactly this cue, with Whis-Kiss right behind them. When even Cuticle sheepishly raised a hand a moment later, the Professor found himself rubbing his helmet in exasperation.

"...Fine. Whis-Kiss joins the team. But! No more additions beyond this."

"...Got it."

"Well, that settles that, I guess."

"Yay! I finally get to work with the Professor!"

A month passed.

The women had, more or less, settled into life at the Professor's estate. The rule of maintaining dry, minimally-intrusive relationships without prying into each other's private lives seemed like it would be difficult to adjust to, but they'd taken to it with surprising ease.

One new discovery was just how much larger the estate actually was than it appeared. The three above-ground floors were sizable enough at a glance, but the basement was even more extensive. As far as anyone had confirmed, there were three underground floors, together spanning roughly twice the floor area of the estate itself. The firing range where Shadow had practiced was just one part of it. On top of that, the first basement level housed a mid-sized hangar, large enough to accommodate tanks or fighter jets.

Whis-Kiss's beloved vehicle now had a spot in that hangar, and the team members had gathered, after some time apart, in the briefing room set up on B1.

Team Absolute Solution.

That was the name the Professor had given the team — meaning exactly what it said, an absolute solution built entirely around a 100% success rate.

Today, the Roaring Dragon Society had, after a long absence, submitted a contract for the entire team, and they'd gathered for the briefing.

"...The target being Gaia Legion of all things has me a little worried."

"Hmph. No reason to get timid with a lineup like this, Shadow."

"But still..."

The Gaia Legion. A massive faction centered around users from the old Russian region, renowned throughout official matches for their devastating mass-firepower tactics — no small threat by any measure. With the Roaring Dragon Society now embroiled in friction with them, they'd made the rare decision to contract the Professor's team.

"Even so, isn't stealing mechanized equipment a bit much to ask?"

The job the Roaring Dragon Society had contracted the Professor's team for was the theft of a prototype next-gen armored vehicle, currently being mass-produced and transported by Gaia Legion in preparation for the next official-match season. With Whis-Kiss as their only driver, it seemed like a tall order for the team as it stood.

"No need to worry about that part."

The Professor stated it flatly and pulled up a hologram showing the current state of the vehicle in transit.

"This is—!"

"Gaia Legion's military supply train—!"

"That's right. We're not stealing the armored vehicle. We're seizing the entire train, and redirecting it toward Roaring Dragon Society territory railway."

"...!"

Ignoring the women, their mouths hanging open at a plan far bolder than they'd expected, the Professor spread out a wide map and pinpointed the exact junction between the train's current railway line and the line leading into Roaring Dragon Society territory.

"This is the critical point. Gaia Legion users will swarm in like a hornet's nest — brace yourselves."

"They're not going to start firing self-propelled artillery at us or something, are they?"

Gaia Legion was infamous for its ruthless combat style, willing to deploy mechanized artillery even in ordinary field skirmishes or PK situations. If a train loaded with new-model armored vehicles and supplies was about to be stolen wholesale, Gaia Legion's users would very likely try to blow the train up themselves just to stop it.

"That's exactly why this job hinges on you two — Sister Grave and Whis-Kiss."

"Me?"

"Huh?"

Both women stared blankly, singled out by the Professor.

"That's right. There's a turret mounting rim on the upper rear seat of Whis-Kiss's vehicle, correct?"

"Yeah."

"I've prepared a 40mm grenade autocannon to mount there. Sister Grave will use it to engage and suppress any mechanized equipment capable of shelling the rail line."

"That's... quite the daring plan!"

Whis-Kiss's eyes went wide despite having had nothing to drink, clapping in astonishment. She hadn't expected the operation to be this large in scale.

The Professor gave a short laugh.

"No one on this server has ever seen us operate as a full team before."

"That's true. Up until now, everyone's taken their contracts separately and worked separately."

"Exactly. Which means no one has any idea what kind of destructive power we're capable of when we're all together."

"...!"

"Shadow and I will handle the train hijacking. I'll take the controls, so the security forces inside are your responsibility. Can you manage?"

At the Professor's provocative question, Shadow nodded with total confidence. Over the past month, not one of them had failed a single contract — a 100% success rate, achieved by women more than worthy of the name Absolute Solution.

"Then everyone check your equipment. If anything's missing, talk to Cuticle first."

"Leave it to me!"

Whis-Kiss and Cuticle headed straight for the hangar, while Shadow and Sister retreated to their rooms. The Professor remained alone in the briefing room, running simulations and analyzing every conceivable variable that might arise.

He'd taken the contract confident it was achievable — but this was, without question, the riskiest job he'd ever attempted. It was exactly this kind of burden he'd always insisted on operating alone to avoid. But now, with things having reached this point, there was no avoiding it.

"...If it's dangerous, then all that's left is to analyze every threat lying in wait and dismantle it, one by one. That's the kind of work befitting the codename 'Professional,' after all."

—To be continued—