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Chapter 6
[Special Situation Occurred!]
[Special Situation Occurred!]
[Achievement – First Completion of “A Great Sacrifice for Others”!]
[Fervent Protection has been maximized!]*
[The unlock rate of National* ** Restraint** temporarily increases!]**
[National* ** Restraint** Unlock Rate: 20%]**
**[Synchronizing Loti *’s Foresight/Stealth Ability—]
[Please note that the duration will be extremely short in proportion to the low unlock rate!]
[You have obtained a clue through the achievement!]
You protected what is most precious to the protagonist.
He is also the key to the curse.
Clue Accumulation Rate: 2/5
***
“Ughhhh…”
I couldn’t regain my senses.
Even if every joint in my body had been torn apart and every blood vessel burst, it wouldn’t have hurt this much.
I’d experienced death numerous times in Astava, but this one ranked among the worst.
Being crushed helplessly beneath a collapsing building by countless falling boulders…
After forcing my uncooperative eyelids open and shut several times, my blurred vision slowly cleared.
I swept my eyes around in the darkness, but everything was pitch-black.
I was still trapped among the rubble.
Did I really revive right where I died?
Seriously?
Couldn’t I have respawned outside this mess? My corpse must’ve been in terrible shape, too.
My already mediocre ability kept malfunctioning as if it were bugged.
Fortunately, the boulder that had completely pinned me down was gone.
Maybe the system had shown some mercy. Otherwise, I could have revived only to die again.
All I could see were rocks and chunks of stone.
Rumble…
As I shifted slightly, debris scraped and rolled around me.
I was wondering how I should get out when—
“Uu…”
A small whimper came from beneath me.
“Loti!”
My dazed mind finally registered the child’s presence.
Loti was curled up in a hollow space between my body and the rubble, sniffling.
Even now, she was tightly clutching the edge of my apron.
“Loti, it’s okay. Come here.”
Slowly rolling over, I carefully reached down and pulled her up.
Even moving gently caused the surrounding stones to creak and shift.
At least there was enough room.
I placed her on my chest and looked at her.
Her tiny face, no bigger than my palm, was covered in soot and on the verge of tears.
“Were you scared? It’s okay. Really. How long have you been like this, Loti?”
The situation was dire, but I forced a smile and wiped at her eyes.
Unfortunately, my filthy hand only smeared more soot across her face.
…My hand is dirtier than hers.
After soothing her for a while, Loti gradually calmed down.
Even in the darkness, I could see her blinking.
“Our Loti is so brave, huh?”
I exaggerated my smile.
The little girl smiled back.
As expected, Loti was something special.
A born hero, maybe.
Every now and then she showed signs of being extraordinary.
No matter how calm I acted, most children would have been screaming in a situation like this.
Let’s just pretend I didn’t notice the tears and snot on her hands.
“Still… what exactly happened?”
Holding Loti, I slowly got to my feet.
If memory served, we were buried beneath the remains of the Center building.
This doesn’t feel like a Gate incident. It’s definitely terrorism.
But if things outside are quiet, maybe the attack has temporarily paused?
Should I go outside?
Or stay hidden?
I couldn’t decide.
No.
The truth was, I had to leave.
Staying inside a structure that might collapse at any moment was far more foolish.
My mind had recovered somewhat, and my body moved without issue.
But the moment I stepped outside, I might die.
The problem was that I had absolutely no idea what lay beyond the rubble.
Even if I die, what am I supposed to do about her?
After agonizing over it for a long time, I finally reached a decision.
Loti remained quietly nestled in my arms.
“Loti.”
“Uu.”
When I called her in a solemn tone, I felt her grip tighten on my collar.
“We’re going outside now. But before that, we’re going to play a game. Can you do that?”
“Uh!”
“You have to answer properly.”
“Yes!”
“Good. There’s only one rule.”
“If you make a sound, we both lose.”
“You absolutely cannot make any noise until big brother says it’s okay. Think you can do it?”
“Yes! I can do it!”
Did she even understand what she was agreeing to?
Still, lingering here wasn’t wise.
Especially since the ground had been trembling for some time.
Was the attack starting again?
Or was someone approaching?
“Urgh!?”
Suddenly, something struck my head.
A sharp sensation shot through my brain.
Before I could react, a flash exploded across my vision.
A scene I’d never seen before swept through my mind.
“We will recruit Babysitter Arsene Nero of Association Childcare Center No. 6 into the *** ***.”
“What nonsense is that?!”
“You can’t announce such an important matter like this!”
“*** is not under the Association’s authority. It’s an independent alliance of Rankers. Recruitment is ***’s exclusive authority—especially **’s. Do you have anything else to say?”
“Professor!”
Voices roared around a massive wooden table.
Two women.
Three men…
No, four?
I couldn’t tell.
The pain felt as though my brain were being scorched.
I wanted to see their faces, but couldn’t.
Only vague silhouettes remained.
Even concentrating on their distorted voices made my entire body tremble.
“Someone stop that woman! Does this make any sense?”
“Uh? Ah… well…”
“You’re saying that now? Are all of your brains just decorations? There’s a limit to shamelessness!”
The final thing I saw was a small, thin woman exploding in anger.
Then the pain abruptly faded.
Like a candle being snuffed out, the entire scene vanished.
When I opened my eyes, there was only Loti, myself, and the mountain of rubble before me.
“What the…”
I stared blankly.
What had that been?
Am I hallucinating now?
No… that was far too strange to be a hallucination.
I closed and opened my eyes again, hoping to see it once more.
Nothing.
Just darkness.
…Wait.
Hadn’t I heard that sharp female voice somewhere before?
“Big brother?”
“…It’s nothing. Really.”
I absentmindedly patted Loti’s head.
I couldn’t afford to lose focus.
If I fell apart here, who would protect her?
Shaking the thoughts away, I tightened my hold on the child.
“Alright then.”
“The game starts now!”
The moment I spoke, I scanned my surroundings.
A faint light filtered in from above.
At least I wasn’t buried all the way to the bottom.
There was definitely a way out.
Everyone has to be safe…
Pushing aside the faces flashing through my mind, I carefully reached upward.
Pebbles and dust rained down over my head.
***
BOOOOM!
RUMBLE—
“…This is insane.”
How long had I spent cautiously searching for an opening?
After finally escaping the rubble, all I could do was mutter in disbelief.
“What the hell happened here?”
Everything around me was ruined.
Standing atop the collapsed building felt like standing in the middle of an ash-covered wasteland.
Gray.
Everywhere.
The devastation was beyond comprehension.
Did everyone die?
I immediately shook off the horrifying thought.
Even if the sitters weren’t particularly strong, most were ability users.
They had been selected precisely for emergencies like this.
Surely they could take care of themselves.
And yet…
The sight before me made my heart sink.
Only moments before, the Center had been peaceful.
Now it was gone.
The large white building and the beautiful scenery surrounding it had vanished.
In their place were mountains of dust and debris so thick that I could barely see a few feet ahead.
The smoke-filled air made breathing difficult.
My eyes stung.
A cough rose in my throat.
Quickly, I wrapped my apron around Loti’s face to protect her.
Maybe I should’ve stayed hidden.
The regret lasted only a moment.
I immediately began searching for a way to survive.
As expected, this wasn’t a Gate outbreak.
If a Gate had opened, I would’ve encountered monsters by now.
Those creatures could track the scent of humans with terrifying accuracy.
No.
This was terrorism.
The nightmare scenario the Center had always feared.
“Loti, hold on tight.”
In the distance, pillars of fire shot into the sky through the smoke and ashes.
Explosions and tremors still echoed.
The attack wasn’t over.
This area was merely experiencing a brief lull.
I need to find a shelter.
The Center had numerous hidden shelters.
The Director had once explained during orientation:
The shelters had been designed by a genius of the Association.
Unless someone was S-Rank, breaking into one quickly was supposedly impossible.
Two beneath the main building, one in the annex, and two near the coast… wasn’t it?
Places where people could survive until reinforcements arrived.
Right now, that was my only hope.
Just as I climbed down from the ruins—
“…!”
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!
A presence approached from ahead.
I instinctively retreated.
Lowering my body, I hid Loti deeper in my arms.
Running wasn’t an option.
I could barely see anything.
Whoever it was—
Come on, you bastard—
“Arsene!”
“…Ms. Helga?”
It was Helga.
The tension drained from my body.
Holding a young boy in her arms, she limped toward me.
Since physical enhancement was her ability, it seemed she’d managed to protect the child as well.
“Arsene and Loti are safe too. Where have you been?”
“Buried beneath the building. We only just escaped.”
Helga’s face was deathly pale.
Judging by the blood soaking her thigh, she was injured.
“Forget greetings. We need to find somewhere safer. Give him to me.”
I took Marban from her arms.
Normally, children could only be handled by their assigned sitter.
But given the circumstances, Helga handed him over without objection.
Carrying two children was burdensome, but it was better than making an injured person do it.
“Is Marban asleep?”
“He kept crying, so I gave him a sedative according to protocol. Didn’t you give one to Loti?”
“…Loti never cried. For now, I’m keeping her with me.”
Only then did I remember the two small pills in my apron pocket.
Everything had happened so suddenly, and Loti had remained so quiet, that it never crossed my mind.
When I answered, Helga shook her head while struggling to breathe.
“You should give it to her.”
“Absolutely… absolutely don’t let them catch you.”
“They’re searching everywhere.”
Fear dominated her face.
I needed to know what she had seen.
Was it connected to the meteor-like object I’d witnessed before dying?
“What exactly happened?”
“I think I died when the building collapsed. How much time has passed since this started?”
“Two hours? Three? I don’t know…”
She looked lost.
“Sophia died right in front of me.”
“A steel beam fell from the sky and… crushed her head…”
Even while speaking, she seemed unable to believe it.
Sophia was the sitter who lived next door to Helga.
The two often visited each other’s rooms.
So she’d died during the chaos.
If even Sophia, another physical-enhancement user, had died so helplessly…
“Where are all the Rankers?”
“And the Director?”
“With this much destruction, shouldn’t they be fighting?”
“I was too busy running… Ah!”
“I saw Rowina moving the children.”
“But I didn’t see Cove, the Director, or the Administrator.”
“Where did they go?”
“Don’t tell me they were all killed too?”
That was exactly what I wanted to know.
The entire reason Rankers were stationed at the Center was to handle disasters like this.
Yet none of them were here.
How could that be?
Had they really all been taken out?
“Arsene.”
We were moving cautiously toward the annex shelter when Helga suddenly stopped.
Despite dragging her injured leg, she’d remained alert the entire time.
“Come to think of it… Amanda mentioned something before bedtime.”
“…What?”
“She said the Director had been drinking with the Administrator and got completely drunk.”
“She wondered if the General Team Leader would scold him if he got caught.”
…The Administrator?
Helga turned toward me with trembling eyes.
My head spun.
The Director—an elite Ranker—had been dead drunk right before the terrorist attack?
My face twisted in disbelief.
“What kind of nonsense is that?! The Director would never—!”
“He doesn’t drink.”
“That’s what everyone says.”
Helga’s eyes trembled.
“He always refuses alcohol.”
To be continued…
