Expecting things to take some time, he made himself a cup of coffee and relaxed.
The first person to appear was Tatsuya, who had been contacted by the Yotsuba family.
"Tatsuya. I didn't expect you to see through it."
"You would say that... You deliberately set it up so that no one except me and the relevant parties could see it, didn't you? Anyway, is everything with Shina settled?"
"It's already taken care of. From here on, this also involves my own personal vendetta... Their preparations will take some time, so want a cup of coffee?"
"Sure. I'll have some."
Yugen handed Tatsuya a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Tatsuya accepted it politely and took a sip.
After letting out a small breath, he looked toward Yugen.
"This really is good. Hayama-san has made coffee for me at the main residence before, but this is every bit as good, if not better... No wonder Miyuki gets jealous."
"I did imitate some of Hayama-san's techniques after watching him. He was impressed when I tried making it, too."
"Even if that's true, I couldn't imitate it."
Tatsuya seemed to be implying that while copying magic itself was easy for him, reproducing something exactly the way another person did it was still difficult even for him.
Yugen replied that he was merely cheating a little, but Tatsuya still openly acknowledged Yugen's skill.
Once they had finished their coffee, a van-bodied truck approached.
Tatsuya seemed to recognize the young man riding in it, so Yugen immediately understood the situation and "let" the truck through the barrier.
A young man then stepped down from the driver's seat.
He looked rather young to be a butler of the Yotsuba family, but the fact that he addressed Tatsuya as "Tatsuya-sama" immediately made it clear that he was affiliated with the Yotsuba family.
"Hanabishi-san, you arrived earlier than scheduled."
"Yes. Everything had already been arranged. Nice to meet you, Kagurazaka-sama. I am Hyogo Hanabishi, eldest son of the Hanabishi family and second in rank among the Yotsuba family's butlers. I look forward to working with you."
"How very courteous. I am Yugen Kagurazaka, current head of the Kagurazaka family. I'm envious that the Yotsuba family has such a promising young butler."
"Thank you for your generous assessment."
The fact that Hyogo had been assigned to assist Tatsuya suggested that the Yotsuba family also intended for him to eventually serve as Tatsuya's right-hand man.
Even from the atmosphere he gave off, it was clear that he was more than qualified to support Tatsuya, who frequently operated alone.
After their introductions, they followed Hyogo into the cargo compartment.
Inside was a small laboratory, where Tatsuya's electric motorcycle, [Intrepid], which had been given to him, was stored alongside a next-generation Moval Suit tuned specifically for Tatsuya, the [Freed Suit].
"Since both pieces of equipment were developed by Kagurazaka-sama, the Yotsuba technicians were absolutely fascinated by them. Kagurazaka-sama, are you certain it was truly all right to provide Tatsuya-sama with equipment of this caliber?"
It wasn't difficult to understand why Hyogo was concerned.
Not only was Tatsuya's [Intrepid] here, but the [Freed Suit] was originally a provisional name given to an item designed after analyzing the [Moval Suit] in the original work.
Taking that name, Yugen had developed it into a one-of-a-kind model specifically for Tatsuya.
Giving it to Tatsuya also raised the concern that technology belonging to the National Defense Forces might leak to the Yotsuba family.
Hyogo's suspicion was understandable, but Yugen calmly replied.
"I don't mind. There would be a greater risk of suffering losses by handing it over to an organization that couldn't even properly manage [Antinite]. Besides, even the [Moval Suit] is something that nobody except Tatsuya and me can properly operate without power assistance."
"...There's something I'd like to ask, Yugen. It seems this suit has an unfamiliar function added to it. What exactly does it do?"
Perhaps Tatsuya had realized that if he let Yugen continue talking, the conversation would turn into an endless rant about the National Defense Forces.
Having "seen" the functions of the [Freed Suit], he asked the question.
Yugen coughed deliberately.
"Ahem."
Then he began explaining.
"Until now, the suit and the CAD haven't been linked in real time. I optimized this one for Tatsuya's abilities. It allows the enemy to be visualized through a virtual monitor."
Not only could it instantly determine the positions of allies and enemies, weapon possession, health conditions, and other information, but by visualizing the structure of the facility, it could process the optimized information Tatsuya required and feed it back into the CAD.
It used the functions of a thought-operated CAD to send and receive information through activation sequences, while the necessary variable inputs had already been prepared in advance.
As a result, the mage only needed to expend the required amount of interference power.
However, because it could not be used properly without an abnormally large quantity of psions, Yugen had incorporated into the Freed Suit a function that had been omitted from the next-generation Moval Suit.
"I even included a manual so you can use it right out of the box, Tatsuya. So don't worry."
"I see... How should we divide the work?"
"As requested, you rescue the US military mage. I'll help you, but after that, I'll take control of the detention facility. You can withdraw immediately afterward."
Tatsuya's assigned role was strictly to rescue the US military soldiers.
Yugen would take responsibility for everything that came afterward.
Perhaps sensing that he shouldn't interfere, Tatsuya simply nodded.
The battle scenes have been abbreviated, but when you're up against Leo and Erika, who can take down a First German mage with a single blow, along with Mikihiko, who can even invoke the [Dragon God], even the National Defense Army Intelligence Department is at a disadvantage. If they get serious, they can even take on armored vehicles and tanks.
Retaliating against the Toyama family would normally constitute a crime, such as property damage. However, an extremely long-range magical attack is impossible to detect in the first place, and since Tsukasa was the one who picked the fight first, the police are pretending not to notice.
And then...
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