âBut then âŚâŚ what the hell are these guys âŚâŚ?â
âThatâs the thing.â
Nakamoto said, walking up to one of the men who was tying him up and rolling up his black pants to expose his calves.
âI knew it.â
âIs this a tattoo?â
The man Nakamoto-san exposed had an eyeball-like tattoo on his calf or around both ankles.
âYeah. If Iâm right âŚâŚ.â
Nakamoto-san muttered, and turned up the pants of the remaining seven, confirming that the calves of each of their legs also had something similar drawn on them.
âThat confirms it. These guys are an organized crime group named Dragonâs Eyes.â
âDragonâs Eyes. How did you notice that?â
âWell. I caught a glimpse of it when we were fighting, and Iâve fought Dragonâs Eyes once before.â
âŚâŚI see. What?
âWait a minute. These guys and Nakamoto-san have met before!â
âHmm, yeah. We once destroyed the Dragonâs Eyes hideout in cooperation with the police. We also caught some members of the Dragonâs Eyes. They broke our siege, and the boss and some executives escaped before we could see the bossâs face.â
âSeriously?â
Is that even possible? According to Nakamoto-sanâs story, the boss and some executive-level people got away too. That sounds nasty.
So is that guy who looked like the leader the boss? Or is he an executive? Either way, this is not a good situation.
âThen why is Dragonâs Eyes in a high school?â
âI donât know. Iâm not going to wake up, and ask what they wanted, but I canât do anything if theyâre passed out. Well, the worst that can happen is that all the executioners like these guys are fallen explorers, so I can force them to wake up.â
Thatâs right. It would be strange to have 500 or 1,000 levels if they werenât all ex-explorers.
Former explorers became fallen explorers because theyâve disqualified from being an explorer because of some incident or crime.
At any age, a certain number of people become violent because of their power. And there are always a certain number of people in any year.
Why are they need students about 18 years old? Wait, 18-year-old students?
âŚâŚYeah, 18 is the age when status manifests itself, right?
âŚâŚNo wayâŚâŚ!
âNakamoto-san!â
âOh, oh, whatâs with you?â
âI-Iâm sorry. No, thatâs not the case!â
I approach Nakamoto-san so that the students and teachers canât hear me.
âNakamoto-san, did the Dragonâs Eyes ever get involved in human trafficking or something like that?â
âLetâs see âŚâŚ how was it? âŚâŚ Oh, ah! As I recall, we decided to round them up because we got evidence of human trafficking and found out where their lair is.â
Damn! Now thatâs for sure.
âExcuse me! Nakamoto-san! Please protect everyone until the police arrive! Iâm going after those guys!â
âAlone? Then Iâll go too!â
âNo, Nakamoto-san and the others, please escort the students and teachers here. If you are still on the school grounds, itâs easier for me to move alone with my [Stealth] skills than with multiple people!â
âNo, but âŚâŚ I understand. But donât overdo it. If you get in danger, come back immediately!â
I said, and Nakamoto-san backed off reluctantly.
âI understand! Iâm off then!â
âOh! Iâm counting on you!â
After leaving the gymnasium with Nakamoto-san seeing me off, I headed toward the school building and applied my [Enemy Search] skill to see if those guys were still on the school grounds.
ââŚâŚ There they are!â
Thank goodness. The Dragonâs Eyes were still inside the school.
I looked at the parking lot and saw several black wagons parked there that hadnât been there before I arrived.
I see. The Dragonâs Eyes came all the way here in those cars.
Today is the briefing session, and thanks to all the students and teachers gathered in the gymnasium, I can understand it right away.
The multiple reactions captured by the [Enemy Search] skill seem to be in the classroom at the end of the fourth floor, which is the top floor of the school building.
However, it seems unlikely that I can use the stairs because there are two guards on each of the two staircases in the school building, one on each floor, blocking the way to the stairs.
Iâm judging the stairs by where the signs are, so I was wondering if thereâs another unmonitored staircase somewhere else.
âDunno if itâs.â
The school buildings were built up across a courtyard, with a cross hallway to go between the two buildings.
I couldnât use the crossing corridor because it was well-monitored and blocked off like the stairs.
âI had no choice. I guess Iâll have to take some risks.â
If none of the existing routes worked, Iâd have to explore on my own like an explorer.
Fortunately, this school was built on a large plot of land, so there are quite a few blind spots in the bushes and other places, and you can use the [Stealth] skill to find a route without being noticed.
âOkay, letâs do this.â
Well then, Iâve decided on a policy. Letâs get to work.
After that, because there is a [Enemy Search] skill holder, I will kill any signs as much as possible in conjunction with the [Stealth]. And stay out of the schoolyard to quickly grasp the structure of the school building.
âOkay! That is perfect.â
After completing the structure of the school building near the classroom where there are signs, I thought of a route to reach the fourth floor.
The structure of the school building is
No exterior stairs.
A window balcony.
That was all I could figure out, but it was enough.
All that was left was to put it into action.
âIf the inside doesnât work, start from the outside.â
I used [Stealth] skill to bounce around the balcony toward the classroom next to the one where I felt the presence. Then grabbed the edge of the balcony and headed up and up and up.
With my current status, I can get up there without that much trouble. Worst case scenario (for my body), if I fall, no problem!
âYotto!â
And when I reach the balcony on the same floor as the desired classroom, I stop.
I have to be very careful from here on.
But they havenât checked from the window means they havenât spotted my [Stealth] skills.
âSince I decide to do that, then.â
I move to the balcony of the next classroom so as not to make any noise. I look out of there for a bit to check on the situation.
Or rather, no matter the situation, I want to use my [Lock-On] skill so I can get a head start against the dragonâs eyes. The priority, however, is to confirm the students are safe rather than the dragonâs eyes.
They had moved the desk to the back, and the students were in front of it.
I checked the number of people and faces, and it looks like no one is missing.
When this happened, I couldnât figure out what those guys were up to.
At first, I thought they were trying to sell the status-holding 18-year-olds to some different country. But, from what I see now, that doesnât seem to be the case.
If they are trying to take an 18-year-old with status to another country, it is a little strange that they havenât taken them yet.
And since we called the police, itâs not surprising that the associationâs explorers have already arrived, but they donât seem as if theyâre in a hurry What does that mean?
Even if those guys donât know that we called the police, itâs strange that they donât seem to be in any hurry.
ââŚâŚ No, weâve got to get control of it first.â
I wonât get any answers by sitting here thinking about it.
I donât know what those guys are up to or what theyâre trying to do, but now that Iâve decided to do it, letâs get it over with.
Well, let me make a preemptive strike before they do anything else.