Take Me Along in the Laning Phase

Jadette was a person of many contradictions.

On one hand, she found “too many fawning servants” to be a nuisance.

On the other, she believed that “not being surrounded by servants would make her seem unimpressive.”

As a result, going out incognito was always a dilemma for her.

However, in order to find Corvus before anyone else, she pressed on.

She covered her hair, which she described as spun from glass fibers, with a hat.

She hid her eyes, which she claimed were clear enough to reflect the entire world, behind sunglasses.

She concealed her nose, which she likened to a budding flower, and her luscious lips behind a mask.

To top it all off, she wore a thick, padded cotton coat that looked like it belonged in the frigid northeast—an outfit far too stuffy for the early autumn weather.

Fortunately, the clever, lovely, and worldly-wise Jadette always carried portable compressed liquid nitrogen.

Whenever she felt hot, a little spray was all it took.

This time, she had come under the guise of an “ordinary foreign mercenary,” having only informed a few of the guild’s managers.

The first thing she did upon arriving in the main hall was to seek out the administrator in charge of personnel records.

If Corvus had come to the Sandra Great Abyss, he would have had some dealings with the guild, which meant he must have left a trail—

“Kos Blavin! You’ve got some nerve, don’t you?!”

“Eek!!!”

‘Hm?’

A sharp rebuke from one of the reception windows caught Jadette’s attention.

“Sleeping on the job, are we? Huh?”

“Uh, let me explain…”

“Explain my ass!”

A portly female supervisor was furiously berating a male receptionist for slacking off.

The former was seething, while the latter still looked half-asleep.

“Your work efficiency used to be acceptable. How have you gotten so much worse these past two days!?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Consider your bonus for this month gone. You’re lucky I don’t fire you!”

“Yes… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

The male receptionist bowed and scraped as he saw the grumbling supervisor off, a perfect picture of a spineless low-level employee—hardly someone worth a second glance.

His appearance was average, neither handsome nor unattractive.

His build was ordinary, and he wore the standard-issue white shirt of an office worker.

He was the type to vanish the moment he stepped into a crowd.

But for some reason, Jadette was… intrigued.

“Ahem, excuse me, Mr. Receptionist. Do you have a moment?”

“Excuse me, Mr. Receptionist. Do you have a moment?”

A clear, bright voice, tinged with an air of authority, sounded from above.

“Yes, how may I help you, ma’am… Hm?”

I lazily lifted my head—

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…Sir?”

“Ah… One moment, please. Ahem…”

I pried my eyelids open, poured the last half of my iced soy milk into my eyes to give them a thorough rinse, then took a toothbrush from my drawer and scrubbed my corneas.

Only after polishing my eyes to a crystalline gleam did I look at the person before me again.

She wore a short trench coat, revealing a pair of long legs wrapped in sheer stockings.

On her head was a wide-brimmed hat, and her face was obscured by sunglasses and a large mask that covered half her face.

She looked like a half-baked celebrity from a gag manga, trying to hide her identity but only managing to look ridiculous and draw more attention.

It almost made me laugh.

…If only I could f*cking laugh!

In that single instant, the entire evolutionary history of life, spanning billions of years—from the cyanobacteria of the Proterozoic to the trilobites of the Ordovician, the placoderms of the Devonian, the sauropods of the Jurassic, and the mammoths of the Cenozoic—flashed through my mind.

The emergence of intelligent life was but a fleeting moment in the vast river of time.

Perhaps everything in this world was an illusion, our most precious treasures merely the dregs left behind by the tides of ages.

What is life? What is the universe? What is the mind? What is the soul?

If, one day, we could truly understand it all—

“—then maybe housing prices would finally come down, right?”

“?? What are you talking about?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. How may I help you?”

I immediately put on a smile of 1000% pure innocence.

The most important thing for a person is to remain calm enough to scroll through lewd pictures on Twitter even as Mount Tai crumbles before them.

As for my inner thoughts…

‘Holy shit, Jadette!? Jadette?! It’s really her! Especially that disguise—calm as a dog on the surface but an absolute disaster in practice. It’s so her! Why is she here? Just because I laughed at her shoddy Gundam model? Or is she still holding a grudge because the Mazinger Z figure I gave her turned out to be a bootleg? And how did she find me? Did my cover get blown? Did Aimira call her? Impossible. She couldn’t have gotten here so fast without the Third Apostle’s spatial jump—wait, is that actually possible!? If Orokin is also here to hunt people down, this is going to be a real problem!’

“Sir? I have an inquiry for you.”

She leaned closer to the window as she spoke.

“And what might that be, miss?” I asked calmly.

‘Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! Don’t come any closer! Even though I maintain my disguise while I sleep—this is Jadette, with her goddamn eagle eyes! Who knows how long my little trick will hold up! And where’s Orokin? If he’s really here, where could he be? Knowing the Tyrant’s style—shit! We have some serious history. The moment I slip up, he could just crush me with a dimensional collapse! Even I’d have a hard time recovering if I got flattened into a one-dimensional line!’

“It’s mainly about the guild’s personnel flow.”

“The mercenary traffic register?”

“Yes, but… it would be even better if you could show me the Abyss visitation records of the guild’s staff.”

“Ahaha, I’m afraid that’s beyond my authority.”

‘‘Guild staff’!? S-She—she’s really here for me!? She’s starting to suspect me? Is this a test? How many people did she bring? Are there other Apostles present? Even if there aren’t—what about my other so-called wives? They didn’t come too, did they!? The others would be fine, but if Valeria or Shirayuki are here, things will get complicated! And if Aisha showed up, it would turn into a full-blown apostle-versus-apostle showdown!’

“Beyond your authority?”

“Yes, that requires authorization from someone at the supervisor level.”

“I see…”

Jadette shrugged, a comical gesture in her bulky cotton coat.

Despite her imposing aura, she was barely 160 centimeters tall.

To hide her identity, she had bundled herself up like a rice dumpling… Her fashion sense was as hopeless as ever.

So cute—cute my ass!

“If you have no other requests, I’m sorry, but it’s working hours, and there are others who need assistance.”

“Mm… My apologies… However…”

Her amber eyes stared at me from behind the sunglasses.

Staring right at me.

“Somehow… you feel a little familiar.”

“…Are you sure you haven’t mistaken me for someone else?”

“Your voice, to be honest, also sounds a bit familiar.”

“…It must be your imagination.”

“Imagination… is it?”

She glared at me, and I met her gaze with the gentlest expression I could muster.

Don’t panic.

Stay calm.

I’ve used my abilities to completely alter my body—my facial features, my vocal cords, even my height.

There’s no way she can recognize me.

“…Alright. My apologies for the disturbance. Goodbye.”

“Mm, goodbye. Take care on your way out.”

She finally broke her gaze and turned to leave. But just as she did—

She spoke, as if in passing—

“Giving someone a bootleg Gundam is the worst, isn’t it?”

“It was Mazin—Ah!”

“Hm!?”

Ah, crap. My reflexes—

“You said ‘Mazi’? Mazi-what?”

She slammed her face against the window pane.

This glass was bulletproof and explosion-proof, but—it was no use. If she wanted to, she could melt it with a single breath!

“I’m asking you a question! Spit it out!”

“Mazi… Mazi…”

Mazinger Z—no way I could say that now!

“Mazi… Magical Girl Illya, transform!”

“Huh?”

“D-Don’t be fooled by my rugged exterior! Every night, I transform into a magical girl and meet with strange old men—ah, no, I mean I protect the peace in Gotham City!”

“…”

“Ehehe…”

“Hmph…”

Her eyes narrowed into thin slits.

As far as I knew, this was her expression for suspicion, excitement, and mild anger all rolled into one.

This is bad.

How do I get out of this?

Enough already—

I can’t keep this up—

“Ah!!!”

Just then, an overly shrill scream erupted from the guild entrance, drawing everyone’s attention—including hers and mine!

It was a young girl.

She looked no older than fifteen or sixteen.

Poised and elegant, she possessed a maturity beyond her years.

But now she was panting, drenched in sweat, with strands of hair plastered to her face.

She had clearly run all the way here, and in high heels, no less.

She took a deep breath and pointed toward us—toward Jadette, who stood right in front of me.

“Is that not the daughter of the First Apostle, the esteemed Lady Jadette!?”

…

…

…

“Jadette…?”

“Jadette Dochido!?”

“Wait, the legendary—?”

“No way—”

“The heiress to the Waldo Conglomerate!?”

“Oh my god—”

After Aimira shouted that sentence at the top of her lungs, everyone in the guild hall—mercenaries, soldiers, and staff alike—whipped their heads in our direction, their eyes fixed on Jadette!

“What—!?”

Jadette was a celebrity everywhere she went.

She had deliberately hidden her identity to avoid attracting attention and tipping her hand, but Aimira’s single shout had completely exposed her!

People began to look, to walk over, to crowd around her as if she were some rare zoo animal!

Jadette herself froze for a moment.

Her gaze shifted from me to the curious crowd closing in, her focus momentarily broken.

In that instant, Aimira seized the opportunity and shot me a quick wink.

She mouthed the words—“Go. Now.”

I hadn’t expected that move.

Her kindness touched me a little… okay, I was actually very touched.

But—it was useless.

“Silence!”

She ripped off her sunglasses, tore away her mask, and tossed aside the stuffy cotton coat, her calm voice now a low roar.

“Everyone, be quiet! Do not crowd around! I am here on official business!”

The excited onlookers fell silent at once.

No one dared to be disrespectful.

And so, she turned her head back and locked her eyes on me, giving this suspicious character no chance to slip away.

‘Damn it…’

Aimira’s expression soured.

It was no use.

Jadette Dochido wasn’t the type to be rattled by something so trivial.

She wasn’t some disguised movie star; she was a powerhouse, a child of destiny.

No one would dare cross her.

Using a petty trick like this to create chaos and give me an opening was never going to work—

“Um—Miss Dochido!”

Aimira called out to her again.

I was already numb. Just give it up. How could a young girl like you possibly distract the world’s number one heiress?

“What is it now, Miss Milala? You’re interfering with my work. If you have a problem, we can discuss it later—”

“Is it true you’re underdeveloped in the secondary sexual characteristics department?”

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Ba-dum-tss.