Her eyes glistened as she looked at the evening sky...

...

Olaf stepped back, almost stepping on my foot.

I went back inside the room and opened the curtains.

As I opened the window, I heard Olaf speak, "You want to run? Let's just fight! They're no match for us!"

I put my arm out but it didn't go all the way.

Something invisible touched my fingers.

A magical barrier. Leaving through the window is impossible.

I replied to him, "There's something wrong with them. They're not doing this because they want to, but because something is forcing them to."

Olaf still had an irritated expression as he turned around to look back at them.

They were about to reach the door.

Air Barrier.

I blocked the corridor with two air barriers, blocking both sides from reaching us.

Leaving the room, I told Olaf, "I'll push them away with my air barrier, then lock them all inside one of the rooms."

And so, I did, moving in the direction of the stairs that led back to the bottom floor.

They were still snarling and screaming at us, but the barrier muffled their noise.

Pushing them all inside one of the open rooms and leaving the barrier at its entrance, I went downstairs. Olaf followed me.

Going down, I saw a group of people. Some of them seemed to be taking notes.

Hearing our footsteps, they all looked in our direction.

Their outfit reminds me of mom's lab uniform.

"Oh, two subjects remained unaffected." one of them spoke.

"But how is this possible? Unless..." another asked.

Then, a tall woman got up from her chair and approached us.

Olaf was still irritated as he spoke loudly, "Who are you people? Do you know who we are!?"

The woman spoke with a deep voice, "Did you two eat anything yesterday?"

I replied, "Not from this place."

She looked at me, saying, "My apologies for involving you two in this, but I'm afraid I can't let you leave now."

Olaf was furious, "How dare you!? I'm Olaf Spearhand! You will all kneel to me right this instant!"

The woman looked at Olaf. Her eyes glowed purple.

Suddenly, Olaf fell towards the ground, but I caught him before he hit the floor.

Poison attribute. No wonder the air felt strange to my senses.

As an Air attribute mage, I could feel the air had multiple kinds of gases mixed within.

She could lead the poisonous ones straight at me if she wanted.

As I laid him on the floor, I asked, "I understand that the experiment matters more than anything else for you people. Is there any way we can leave without trouble?"

The woman looked at me. She was expressionless this whole time.

She spoke, "You weren't violent with the other subjects, as if you knew there was something wrong with them."

I replied, "My mom is a scientist. She told me that if something weird ever happens around me, assume it's an experiment and don't ruin it."

"She is wise. Who is your mother?"

"Laura Brawler."

The woman then introduced herself, "I'm Orca."

That was it. None of the scientists reacted to my mom's name.

That's weird. They don't know mom... That means their lab is not associated with the Institute.

Every lab associated with the Institute would know her since she's the Chief of Inspection.

She looked back at Olaf, saying, "Your friend threatened us with his identity. For the sake of not harming the son of a fellow scientist, we won't do anything to you. But he must forget about today."

I asked, "How do you plan to achieve this?"

One of the male scientists exclaimed with excitement, "Brainwashing! Finally, I've been craving for this!"

That's their first idea? Olaf is a member of the royal family.

Orca stared at him and replied, "No, we must not get in trouble with the royal family. If they find symptoms of brainwashing in one of their young, it will lead to an investigation."

I asked them, "You don't have anyone with the Mind attribute?"

She replied, "No. Do you know one?"

I quickly replied, "No."

Another scientist suggested, "A controlled hit on the head could work..."

Orca shut that idea down, "It could lead to a bad case of amnesia."

I asked them, "Did you not have anything planned in the case of something going wrong with the experiment?"

One of them replied, "We checked this whole area beforehand. Your arrival was unexpected."

Unexpec-

The more I hear, the more suspicious this whole situation sounds.

What kind of lab doesn't have a plan for everything?

Then, I decided to ask, "Whatever poison you created, it can affect the mind. Consider it a welcome challenge to come up with a poison that erases memories."

Everyone suddenly looked at me, then back at Orca.

She replied, "Are you going to order from us a poison that can erase memories?"

Order? Oh.

Only dark labs accept 'orders'.

All labs do research either for their investors or for the Institution.

But there's also the dark labs, which take on 'orders', offering their 'products' which are generally illegal and dangerous.

If they mentioned an 'order', that means they should already have a 'product'.

Using Sight Voyage, I checked all of them. Checking Orca's pockets, I found multiple glass vials.

One of them caught my attention. It had 'Liquid Amnesia' written on it.

So they already had a solution, but they want me to pay for it.

They know I probably can't pay right now, so they'll put me in debt.

Instead of solving this situation already and letting me go, they would rather make a profit off of me.

I replied, "Sorry, I don't have money on me at the moment."

She replied, "It is fine. We can send a letter of debt to your mother-"

"I refuse." I interrupted her.

As I thought. Advanced Wind Blade.

One of the scientists suddenly changed their expression, as if they had noticed something was wrong with the air.

It was too late, though. A large slash wound suddenly appeared on all of their chests.

Air Gauntlets.

I strenghtened my arms with Air Gauntlets.

Then, I carried Olaf as I ran towards them, in the direction of the entrance that led outside.

"He attacked us!"

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"Heal me! Heal me!"

"Ahh, the pain is unbearable!"

Orca was kneeling on the ground, holding her wound.

Suddenly, the air began to feel weird again.

Orca had begun to release poison in the air.

Air Barrier.

A barrier made of air kept the breathable air in my surrounding area.

No poison could get in.

Orca looked back at my running figure. She seemed to be struggling with her spell.

She tried to push through my barrier, but it was useless.

My magic power was stronger than hers.

As I reached the entrance, I discovered that there was a magical barrier blocking my escape.

Sight Voyage.

I saw it. There was an artifact installed on the roof of the building.

Sight Voyage could see it, but my Wind Blade couldn't reach it.

Olaf was still asleep. He was heavy even with Air Gauntlets.

I turned around and looked at the stairs that led to the second floor.

Suddenly, a blade made of ice was about to reach me.

Air Blast.

I sent my body forward by making the air behind me explode outward, dodging the ice blade.

One of the scientists was in front of me as I flew. I put Olaf's body in front of me.

"AHH-"

The scientist had his scream interrupted as Olaf's sturdy back hit his face.

I fell on the ground, rolling.

Air Barrier!

I put another air barrier around Olaf, who was now out of my reach as he also rolled away.

That way, he wouldn't breath in the poisonous air.

She can control the poisonous gas freely. No wonder the other scientists are fine.

As I was getting up, I picked up a thought.

"L...ght... B...m...!"

Light Beam?

I quickly leaped to the side, before a beam of light came out of one of the scientist's palms, burning whatever it touched.

Advanced Wind Blade.

"AHH!"

The light mage fell on the ground after receiving a sudden slash wound on his knee.

Orca finally spoke, "Why did you suddenly attack us?"

I ignored her and ran to pick up Olaf.

"E...th...q...ke...!"

Earthquake!?

One of the scientists was crazy enough to cast an Earthquake spell inside the building.

Soon, everything began to shake. I picked up Olaf and carried him towards the stairs.

Objects were falling around them as the ground trembled.

Some of the scientists fell on the ground while they were running towards me.

Orca ordered the earth mage, "Stop it immediately! The building will crumble if you continue and the experiment will be ruined!"

"Sorry!" the earth mage quickly stopped the spell.

By then, I was already on the second floor.

"Raaah!" muffled screams could be heard from one of the rooms and also from the end of the corridor.

My air barriers were still there, blocking them.

I was about to climb the next set of stairs before one of the scientists managed to reach me.

My walk was slowed down from having to carry Olaf.

Whatever poison she used, it doesn't look like he'll be waking up anytime soon.

The scientist grabbed my leg. His arm had turned metallic.

He was about to apply strength to his grip.

I apologized quickly, "Sorry, you forced me."

Advanced Wind Blade.

"AAHHH! MY ARM!" he screamed.

His arm had disconnected from his body.

The grip on my leg loosened as the metallic arm had turned normal again.

I ran upstairs while the scientist held his wound.

The healer scientist that was busy taking care of the others noticed what had happened to her colleague on the stairs.

She ran up and quickly approached him. She took his arm and reattached it to his body with a healing spell.

Healing attribute. More common than a healer from the Water attribute.

More scientists were coming up. Still, I was getting closer to the roof as I kept running up.

Suddenly, a beam of light pierced through the stairs as I was running.

It almost hit me, but I kept track of the direction of the light mage's palm with Sight Voyage.

Wherever his palm aimed, I moved away from it.

Since he was getting closer, I could reach him with a spell.

Advanced Wind Blade.

"Ahh!" a scream could be heard from downstairs.

Their healer deserves a raise. She healed the guy's knee so quickly.

Eventually, I reached the roof's entrance.

Air Blast.

The door handle exploded forward, forcefully opening the door.

Finally having arrived on the roof, I saw the artifact that was producing the barrier.

Advanced Wind Blade.

The artifact split in half, turning off the barrier.

I approached the roof's edge. It was a long fall.

With Sight Voyage, I noticed the scientists were about to reach the roof.

Air Barrier.

A scientist hit his face against the barrier I put at the roof's entrance. He fell backwards.

I thought about how to leave.

Remembering I was wearing the floater shoes, I amplified their potency with my Air attribute.

Then, as the earth mage blew up the walls around my Air Barrier in order to access the roof, I jumped.

As I was falling down, multiple attack spells had flown over my head, almost hitting me and Olaf.

The shoes slowed my fall until I reached the ground.

I ran. The streets were empty, which was strange since it was afternoon already.

Looking back at the building's roof with Sight Voyage, I saw the dark scientists looking at me from above.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel's roof.

One of the scientists asked Orca, "Do you think he noticed? He said he was a scientist's son."

Orca spoke, "Maybe. Still, I didn't expect he would attack first."

"That boy was probably a bodyguard. No way they'd leave a royal kid unprotected." one of them spoke.

"Weren't we supposed to kidnap them? We were going to be rich after forcing the concubine to pay ransom!"

Orca replied, "They're gone. It was my fault. I kept up the scientist act."

You did pull off the dark scientist act brilliantly, kidnapper.

One of the scientists berated her, "Well, not only did you not make a profit, you also made us fail our mission!"

Orca turned around and asked them, "Does anyone know who Laura Brawler is?"

"Probably some guard girl from the palace. The point is, this was a huge opportunity and we wasted it. Our cred is gonna be at rock bottom after this."

Orca ignored his comment and spoke, "One of you, leave and find out who the boy is. Also, they haven't left Maroon District yet. The rest of you is to go after them. Bring them back alive."

"Yes, boss!" the 'scientists' replied, then ran back down the stairs.

Orca looked in the direction Olaf and I left from with a cold expression.

...

In an alley, at Maroon District.

Putting Olaf on the ground, I sat by a tree.

Kidnappers. But they only seemed to know Olaf's identity.

Something that bothered me was how empty the streets were.

I looked inside the buildings with Sight Voyage.

There was no one.

That seemed to be the case all the way to the district's edge.

The people at the edge seemed to 'disappear' once they crossed through an invisible barrier.

Dimension or Space attribute magic-

No, in that case, they would take such a mage with them on their mission.

It's an artifact.

We were a long distance away from the edge. Leaving would take a while.

Olaf was still unconscious, so I would be slowed down and take even longer to leave.

My best bet would be to find the artifact.

And so, I searched.

Many minutes later, I still hadn't found the artifact.

The 'scientists' were getting closer to my location.

They had someone with the Mapping attribute with them, but it seems the person could only scan their surroundings.

It wasn't a Tracker, who could track anyone as long as they knew their identity.

I picked up Olaf, who was still unconscious, and ran.

I hid inside a bar and kept searching for the artifact with Sight Voyage.

Whenever their Mapping attribute mage got too close, I ran to another location.

It went on for hours. The sun would set soon.

...

On the roof of a building, at Maroon District.

"Did you find them?" asked Orca.

"Not yet, boss." one of the 'scientists' replied.

Orca spoke, "The sun is setting and we still haven't found them? Are you slacking off?"

"Not at all, boss. No matter how many times the mapper scans the place, we can't find the boy anywhere."

She commented, "It doesn't look like they have left the area yet. They're not that fast-"

Suddenly, people filled the streets, along with vehicles on the road and birds in the skies.

The 'scientists' were all stunned.

Orca looked at the people below.

She felt speechless.

"Boss!" someone called her.

Orca asked them, "What is going on? Why is everyone back?"

"Something happened to the artifact! The barrier is gone!"

She replied, "What? How is that..."

A thinking expression appeared on her face.

She looked at the sky, muttering, "He found our artifact."

One of the 'scientists' heard her, asking, "He found it, boss? How is that possible? We hid it under a bed inside the centermost house! We chose the location so carefully!"

Another tried to deduce, "Maybe the boy went around destroying everything until they found the artifact by luck?"

After a while, more and more 'scientists' arrived. They were grouped on top of the building's roof.

Orca asked them, "News?"

A 'scientist' replied, "Nothing, boss. We couldn't find them. When we checked the artifact..."

He grabbed two objects from his pocket. It was a statue that had been split in half.

It depicted a hooded figure holding a crystal ball.

Orca stared coldly at the broken artifact.

"Uh!?"

"T-The air!"

The 'scientists' began to fall on the roof's floor. Some were holding their noses.

"M-Mercy!"

"W-We're sorry for failing, boss! Please don't kill us!" one of them begged.

The broken artifact fell on the floor since the one holding it had dropped it so they could use their hands to block their nose.

Orca spoke, "You couldn't find them. Yet, they could find our artifact, which we had hidden so carefully."

One of them spoke in irritation, "It's all your fault! If you had just knocked the boy out back then, we could have grabbed them both! But your stupid plan to fool them-"

Their voice stopped. A needle appeared on their neck.

They fell on the ground.

The other 'scientists' looked at their fallen colleague, who had stopped breathing.

Orca asked, "Does anyone else have any complaints?"

They all quickly shook their heads.

She spoke, "We couldn't get them today. But next time, we'll be better prepared."

Orca looked at one of them, "Have you discovered the boy's identity?"

They stood up tremblingly, replying, "Y-Yes, boss. The boy is the son of a royal battlemage from the palace. I didn't manage to discover his name, but everyone calls him Sloth."

"Sloth?" Orca was speechless.

She had a befuddled expression for some reason, muttering, "I, an Orca, failed to hunt a mere Sloth... And the Sloth was protecting a Boar..."

"Boss?" one of them looked at her with a worried expression.

Orca laughed, "Hahaha!"

Her eyes were closed, having turned into crescents as she continued laughing.

The 'scientists' looked at her in confusion.

She took a deep breath and spoke to them, "I want every single one of you to prepare. We will look for another opportunity to catch the concubine's son. However, you must keep an eye on the Sloth. I want to know his every movement!"

"Yes, boss!" they all replied simultaneously.

Orca turned around and gazed at the horizon.

"Sloth. I will remember it." she spoke with a smile.

Her eyes glistened as she looked at the evening sky...