Chapter 65: Attack Who?
The woman was dressed in an all-black uniform that consisted of a black cap, a partially torn coat with a red armband, pants and boots, along with a pair of black latex gloves.
She had long brown hair, piercing red eyes, and a small smile on her face as she stood over the bodies of the other half of their group with her arms folded calmly behind her back.
Beatrice slowly widened her eyes as she steadily let herself down to the ground.
"What’s the meaning of this..." She muttered under her breath, staring at the scene before her.
She scanned the woman again, then subconsciously compared her to the description she had gotten from Roxy after she returned.
’Black clothes, brown hair, red eyes, and gloves... she matches the description to the letter!’
Was this the woman Roxy described?
Beatrice gulped.
Unlike everyone else here, who was present for the registration and had the opportunity to witness Hilda introduce herself, Beatrice was led through a private route to register.
This meant she didn’t have the opportunity to meet or interact with the woman at all. But she was certain, without a doubt, that the person before them was the representative of the LRM, Hilda Hertel.
’But why is she here...? Isn’t she meant to be in that muscle man’s group? Shouldn’t she be at the warehouse east from here?’ Beatrice wondered, looking back at the people lying on the ground.
They didn’t look dead; in fact, they looked like they were asleep — given how their chests were rising rhythmically...
’But regardless.’
Why did she attack their people?
She then paused.
’Wait, is it because of yesterday? Is this girl really going after us, because she felt antagonised?!’
No way, right? Roxy said they left on positive terms!
’... If they really left on positive terms, how could that explain the fact she obviously knocked out our people!’
This must be the type of people her father warned her about; people who backstab others to get themselves closer to their goals.
He informed her that these types of people were usually manipulative and scheming, and that they couldn’t be trusted!
Beatrice gritted her teeth.
’I didn’t expect much from someone that works in the LRM.’
She turned to the person beside her and reached inside their satchel before pulling out a stack of oddly-coloured paperslips. Then, in a tone loud enough for her group to hear, she whispered:
"Get ready to fight, you guys."
Hilda, who had noticed their presence by now, looked over at them curiously — watching as they spoke amongst each other. She didn’t pay them much mind and glanced back at the people at her feet.
Thirty minutes ago, she had chosen to go after this group instead of Beatrice’s. They’re not dead, but she did knock them out with a Spell.
There wasn’t much thought behind her decision, besides the assumption that Beatrice was rather close to Roxy, given how she spoke of her earlier with Elias.
She then glanced at the massive bonfire roaring behind her, which so happened to be burning something shaped like a Scoundrel — well, vaguely shaped.
After she had knocked out the other half of Beatrice’s group, she started putting together a sculpture of a Predicament with nearby objects, which was more difficult than she had expected.
Hilda hadn’t had much experience with things like sculpting until today, but it was enjoyable nonetheless, despite the result turning out rather unsatisfactory — looking more like a jumbled mess than anything.
’Not like it matters all too much,’ She thought, gazing at her charred creation.
After she had set it on fire, the sculpture had blackened and charred to the point where no one could really tell it apart from an actual Scoundrel and a crude sculpture.
Well, unless you were an experienced veteran, which the examinees definitely were not.
But anyway, what really mattered wasn’t how good the sculpture looked, but rather the thing Hilda had wrapped it in.
Thin layers of metal.
By using the metal rods she stored inside her inventory, she flattened them out to form metal sheets, which she stuck onto the sculpture — causing it to resemble a certain Predicament that followed Elias on his hunts.
Hilda snickered mischievously inside.
There was a reason she followed Elias around, and that was so she could use him as an excuse to swoop in like a hero.
It was the whole reason why she had made the area around them look so torn and rough.
All so she could give the impression that she had saved the other half of Beatrice’s from being killed by a greedy rat and his Predicament.
’People tend to let down their guard around heroes, und I’m sure they won’t be any different.’
Hilda smirked inside as she turned to Beatrice’s group, who were giving her frantic glances. They weren’t quite the looks she was expecting, but that didn’t matter.
For she knew everything was going as planned—
"A-attack her? A-are you crazy!?"
’Huh? Attack her?’
Hilda blinked repeatedly with a blank look on her face.
She then tilted her head slightly in confusion.
What were they talking about?
’Who are they attacking?’ Hilda raised an eyebrow before widening her eyes in realisation. ’Wait, are they talking about me? They’re going to attack me?!’
Seeing as they continued to speak amongst each other, Hilda decided to further eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Who the hell are you calling crazy!?" Beatrice hissed. "Don’t you see those people around her? They’re ours! She obviously has something against us, and now that she’s seen us, what do you think is going to happen!?"
"B-but there’s no way we can possibly win!"
"We don’t have to. We just need to tire her out enough so that we can escape! And I bet, after dealing with the other half of our group, she must be down half of her Vitality."
Beatrice then subtly glanced at Hilda.
In her mind, even if Hilda was strong, she shouldn’t be someone above a single Stripe in rank. It wouldn’t make sense for her to be any higher than that, anyway.
Because if she was, she shouldn’t even need to partake in this exam with her strength!
’The fact she was able to beat Roxy and get past her Power Wall should place her between blue or red Stripe...’
But with Hilda’s background, she was certain it was red, or bordering red.
Beatrice then carefully slipped out one of the paperslips from its bundle and began to concentrate her Vitality into it.
"She has her limits, as long as we can overwhelm her and find an opportunity to escape with the rest of our group, that would mean we win."
"But—"
"No buts! Just do as I say and buy me time to prepare my Spell!"
Hilda, who listened in on their conversation, couldn’t help but feel deeply wronged. The two of them hadn’t even met before, and yet she had somehow given a bad impression.
’I hadn’t even said anything to them yet...’ She then looked down at herself.
Was it because of the way she was standing? Did she appear too intimidating? If so, she really wasn’t intending to appear as such...
Watching as Beatrice’s group appeared to prepare themselves for battle, she scratched the side of her cheek with a crooked and wry expression.
’I should really clear up the misunderstanding...’
There wasn’t any point in fighting, after all.
’And with my sculpture, that should be enough "evidence" to pin the blame on Elias for all of this...’
She should definitely speak up.
"..."
And yet she didn’t.
Hilda glanced over at Beatrice and noticed her deeply focused on the Talisman she held between her index and middle finger. When she discovered this, a wave of surprise washed over the German.
Could it be that Beatrice had already reached this level in Spiritualism?
’It’s definitely possible with her father’s network...’ Hilda held her chin.
With the resources the Johnson family had at hand, she did have her suspicions that the Johnson family could’ve hired someone to train Beatrice.
’But to find a Vitalist who could teach her Vitalism... und Spells at that. How unexpected...’
Hilda slowly raised her hand over the lower half of her mouth to hide her manic grin.
Maybe there was a point in fighting, after all.
Seeing as they were now prepared to face off against her, Hilda decided to play around with them.
’I’ll hold out on clearing up the misunderstanding for later...’ She thought before shifting into a half-hearted stance.