As I proceeded onward while evading the patrols, an extraordinary facility came into sight.

And the Burix family crest was attached on the wall.

I approached closer to see the situation. Of course, its heavily guarded..

Its only natural. Someone who theyd brought from the slums had just escaped.

The black sword Greed, through mind reading skill, spoke to me

Now then, what to do? It wont be easy sneaking inside with this kind of security

[I can see that too. In that case, all I need to do is enter by using that method.]

Boing boing, boing boing, like a rabbit. No, or is it frogribbit ribbit

[Shut up]

Really now.a distraction! I wish he did that less often in the future.

Matching my timing, I approached the highly secured building. Then I kicked the ground with lots of momentum.

Since the height did not even come close to that of the the wall surrounding the military district, its a piece of cake to do.

The building exterior that I saw while jumping had no seams nor scratches, just like a smooth mirror. As Greed said before, it must be created by Gallian lost technology. In lieu of the atmosphere it invoked, I felt somewhat nostalgic.

[Whoopsie, got there!]

There seems to be no security here.

[Yeah, they are all busy at the bottom.]

The wind on the rooftop was, stronger than I thought. It felt like I was standing over a huge ventilation, because heat is being expelled from the interior of the facility. Even though its winter, up in here it was as hot as midsummer.

Since Im wearing thick winter clothes, sweat started to pour out from my forehead just by standing here.

[Hey, Greed. Just what is that thing inside of the building that causes wind like this?]

Its just a propeller. A rotating mechanism that spin. Nowadays even such simple thing has been lost

Is it really that simple.doesnt seem like it to me. How do you turn such a thing without using your own hand, I simply had no idea.

Anyways, I found a route to go inside.

[Alright then, lets get down there]

hahahaahahaa, you want to go down through there. Interesting

I cut down the fall prevention net installed on the ventilation. Just up to the extent that a human sized object could pass through.

After that, we can only got down there by matching the timing with the high speed propeller to avoid being scratched by it. But before that I activated Night Vision because its really dark inside.

It seems easy, but its actually not. The current Fate, even if the propeller paddle hit you, you should be just fine. However, itll cause the propeller to be disjointed. Thats all.

[We are here to sneak inside, arent we?]

You dont say. Then, let this me witness to how well you plan to do that.

[As always.]

Thats right. Whatever it is, this me is just a weapon after all, hahahaa

Greeds laughter was drowned under the noise from the ventilation shaft. The spinning sound coming from inside became louder. The wind actually got stronger, to the point that I think I almost floated in air thanks to it.

I checked the movement of the propeller once more.

[Now!]

Kicking the wall, I stormed in. My head almost hit the propeller, but my whole body managed to pass through, and my leg very nearly got smashed.

Fuu~.that was really close.

But if I compare this to Myne and her black axe, this was nothing.

After passing through the huge propeller, the wind pressure dropped down and my falling speed increased. Lets see how deep this thing go.

The sister from the slum told me, the people gathered seemed to be brought downstairs after they arrived at the facility. Therefore, basement is the place that I need to find.

So, what is inside anyways..I tried to check out.

[The more we go down the more it becomes a mess. This place..]

Its a big facility. So its only natural that the ventilation system is also more complex. Lets try to find the one with wider space. Otherwise itll be harder to reach the basement.

[I know that already.]

Following Greeds advice, I found a wider ventilation shaft and proceeded through it. And then, my nose caught a certain smell. Its somewhat..fishy and discomforting smell.

Like the smell when I hunted goblins.

[..the smell of death.]

Fate, were arriving there soon.

I finally landed at the lowest layer of the vent, on some kind of wire net, through where it seems the air from indoor could be released to the outside.

Under that, was a rather large room with running water from one sides to the other. The water illuminated by light seemingly colored red, as if it was blood.

Since there are bridges on standby along the running water, I simply cut the wire mesh, and got down.

[My, this is truly a horrid place.]

[What with you, acting unusual?]

Is that soanyways, we better go ahead and hurry

Whilst wondering why Greed acted unusual, I proceeded ahead to what seemed like the exit of the room.

There is something that seemed to be a door that Ive never seen before, and I cant open it.

It didnt have any doorknob, and did not move when I pushed it.

Seeing me having some difficulty, Greed then spoke to me via Mind Reading .

Its an automatic door. Someone with authorization needs to touch that plate in order to open the door.

[Well, seriously since Im not even an authorized personnel, then I wont be able to open it. We also cant afford to forcefully break it..]

Now, what to do then. If I headed back after only this much, Ill end up being Greeds laughingstock later on.

Try putting me on that plate over there.

[Ee, but why?]

Hush now, quickly.

Prompted by the confidence Greed, I tried to put him over the plate as I was told.

And the automatic door,

[It open up!?]

How about thatSomething like this, is too simple for this me

It was supposedly an automatic door that only allows authorized people to open it, yet Greed intervene in some way and actually unlocked it. I suppose Greed-sama really had his uses.

The system is too simple for this me. This me will open the door, so go

[Somehow, I feel like youve suddenly become dependable]

Hah!? You are always prone to make such mistake. Correct yourself

Behind the opened automatic door, I peeked to see if there was anyone else there. Its strangely very quiet in this place.

[Yosh, lets go]

Oi, are you listening?

[Yeah yeah, Im listening. Greed is dependable. Always been dependable.]

Remember that in your head. Remember that

After a while, I walked into an aisle. The light fixtures were placed really high in the ceiling, but that doesnt make the room to be dim. Those thing are definitely not candle.

Well, not only the lighting, the wall was also made of a material that was neither metal nor stone. Automatic doors that wont open without permission, all of those were quite different from the world that I knew..

Its like I was sent to another world.

[Hey, Greed. All these technology are originated from Gallia, right?]

Thats right. There is no other reasoning

[Gallia is, a very weird country. Even with all these technology, I wonder how they got destroyed?]

They ignored ethics and have gone too far. I suppose it wasnt only that but

Greed suddenly became quiet. However, even while being silent like that, the automatic door which I passed through kept opening.

Just then, I sensed the presence of someone else, and thus stopped walking.

Sneakily peeped in, I saw people carrying large metal container box out of a carriage, before entering the automatic door.

I wonder what that box is..It actually need about 5 grown men to move that metal box

After confirming that everyone has gone, I approached the remaining batch of boxes.

Looking closely, there was a bit of dark black stuff stuck on the box lid. Something familiar quickly crossed my mind,

[This is..no way..there is, no way.]

Fate, cut it out

Without asking Greed first, I opened the boxs lid. Those people lifted it with such an empty expression. Thats why, at first I didnt put too much thought on it.

Now I wish that its not what I thought it is.

[Its a lie..right, Greed?]

Holding my trembling right hand with my left, I put the boxs lid back.

=====