A shockwave hit Croy as he ran toward the man. Croy was thrown to the ground but didn't have time to be shocked. He jumped up as quickly as he could.
What was a civilian doing here?
Panic surged. Was the man dead?
Smoke filled the air, so he couldn't see anything. He was about to rush in when he heard someone coughing.
The same man emerged from the smoke, waving his arm and coughing. He had long, tied-back brown hair and wore simple civilian clothes.
Croy looked at him in shock, hesitating. He scanned the man for injuries, but not even his clothes seemed damaged.
The man caught his breath, and the smoke behind him began to dissipate. He looked at Croy and said:
"Trying to kill me, kid?"
It took Croy a moment to find his voice again.
"I... No, it was an accident. Are you alright?" he asked, incredulous.
The man brushed his clothes to shake off the dust, sighed, and then looked at Croy closely. His brow furrowed for a moment before his expression returned to normal.
"You're a student? What are you doing this far from the Academy?"
"We're in the middle of an exercise," Croy replied, but as his shock faded, his thoughts began to regroup.
So far, no student had survived one of Ben's explosive traps unscathed. This man wasn't just a lost civilian.
"An exercise, you say?" the man sounded surprised.
Croy nodded.
"This is Academy property," he added, a bit skeptically. "Who are you?"
The man tilted his head, as if he didn't understand the question.
"Are you interrogating me?"
Croy didn't respond. Something about the way the man spoke and moved didn't sit right with him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
The man held Croy's probing gaze for a few moments, then shrugged and pulled something out of a jacket pocket. It was an Academy ID card, but not a student's.
"I'm just a humble employee of the Academy. Name's Hisama. What's yours?"
"Croy."
"Well, Croy," Hisama said, glancing around a bit, "this is the old Academy archive, right?"
The old archive? Then why were some of the doors locked? But everything should be digitized by now, which must be why it was called the old archive.
Croy shrugged.
"No idea. But if it were that important, we wouldn't be allowed to do exercises here."
Hisama smirked and walked toward Croy.
"Doesn't matter much anymore, so don't worry about it. Sorry for interrupting your exercise, I'll just finish my business here."
The man named Hisama was about to walk past Croy when Croy extended his hand, blocking his way.
For a brief moment, Croy thought he saw an almost instinctive reaction from Hisama's body.
'An Academy employee, huh?'
"May I ask what brings you here, Mr. Hisama?" Croy asked politely, though his voice hinted at skepticism.
Hisama looked at him out of the corner of his eye.
"You don't have the right to stop or question me, but I'll tell you anyway. You're a good student to be so vigilant. I was instructed to retrieve an old document from this dusty place."
His words sounded honest.
"There should've been other students on their way here. Didn't you see them?"
Hisama looked up briefly.
"Ah, of course. I asked them to wait a moment. After all, I'm an Academy employee, which makes me your superior, Croy."
Those last words were clear. He was telling Croy to let him get on with his work... whatever it really was.
Slowly, Croy lowered his arm.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
Hisama casually walked past him. Croy watched him briefly before heading to the building's entrance to look outside. There was no sign of the two teams Portis had reported.
Turning around, Croy saw Hisama standing in front of a door in the hallway, looking thoughtful. Croy slowly realized what bothered him about this man, beyond the fact that he had shrugged off an explosion from a rune spell like it was nothing.
'He doesn't leave any openings.'
The man wasn't even in a combat stance, yet Croy wouldn't have felt comfortable launching a surprise attack on him right now.
Subconsciously, Croy had developed a habit over his years in the war: assessing everyone he met in this way. No matter where he was or what he was doing, he was always aware of his surroundings and the people in them.
And now he realized that this man wasn't just an ordinary person.
Hisama glanced briefly at Croy, smiled, then reached for the door in front of him. But the door didn't open — it was one of the locked rooms.
Hisama tried again. Croy raised an eyebrow.
"Trouble?" he asked aloud.
Hisama slowly let go of the handle and smiled at Croy.
"Seems like someone forgot to unlock it. Shame — it was necessary for my assignment. You don't happen to have a key, do you, Croy?"
Croy shook his head.
Maybe the man was telling the truth and really just needed to retrieve an old document. And maybe someone genuinely forgot to unlock the door or give Hisama a key.
'Or maybe he can't break it open because I'm here.'
"Looks like you'll have to call your supervisor," Croy said calmly, though his hand drifted toward the hilt of the Spellsword at his hip. He tried to make it as natural as possible.
Hisama followed his movements with his eyes, but showed no reaction and kept smiling.
"Looks like it. Unfortunately, my supervisor is a very busy person. I guess I'll just have to come back later."
'Right, in ten minutes, when we're gone and you can break down the door…'
Croy was aware that his suspicions might seem a bit extreme. Everything Hisama had said could very well be true. In fact, it was far more likely than anything else.
Except for one contradiction.
Hisama walked slowly toward the exit. But before he could leave, Croy called out to him.
"Mr. Hisama, may I share something with you?"
Hisama paused, turning his head slightly.
"Yes?"
"I used to be a soldier."
Hisama's 'surprised' reaction came a moment too late to be genuine.
"Oh, a young soldier, huh? Weren't you afraid in the war?"
Croy shook his head.
"No. After all, as a soldier, I always had my barrier spell ready. Were you a soldier too?"
That would be the only explanation for why the man's clothes hadn't even been touched by the explosion. A regular Academy employee with a barrier spell? Hardly.
Now Croy saw a definite twitch in Hisama's facial muscles, and he narrowed his eyes. Hisama must have decided not to hide it any longer after noticing Croy's reaction.
"Yes, but that was over a year ago."
Hisama smiled at Croy and continued, "So, we were brothers on the battlefield."
Croy nodded slowly, offering a faint smile of his own.
"Yes. Which company did you serve with?"
"With Marshal Blank's Twelfth Infantry," Hisama replied without hesitation.
'So he was in the war, and with Marshal Blank no less — or at least he knows the name.'
Croy grinned.
"I served under Major Maddox."
Hisama's eyes widened slightly.
"Major Maddox?"
"Yes," Croy said. "The company that delivered the final blow to the barbarian rebels."
He hadn't actually been there when it happened, but that didn't matter at the moment.
Hisama was silent for a moment, then nodded approvingly.
"It's incredible that you've seen so much at your age. Even if you weren't on the front lines, being in the war must have been hard."
There was no pity in his words.
Croy smiled.
"Not on the front lines? Mr. Hisama, don't let my age mislead you. I was very much in the thick of battle. I was part of the vanguard."
Hisama's eyes narrowed.
"You?"
"Yes… maybe you even know my former team leader. I believe the rebels called them the Blue Phantom."
That was Spider's second codename — the one the rebels had given him. It was a name that inspired both hatred and respect. But Croy hadn't mentioned his leader's name just for fun.
He was watching for any reaction from Hisama. But the mysterious man remained silent for a few seconds, then smiled again — though to Croy, it looked less polite than before. More dangerous.
"Sorry, the name doesn't ring a bell. He must have been a good man."
'Did I say he was a man?'
Whoever this Hisama was, Croy didn't trust him. He was definitely a soldier — but Croy wasn't sure if that was the whole truth.
Why would an Academy employee be given an assignment to retrieve a document from a building in the middle of a student competition? Why did Croy feel something lurking behind that smile?
Was it just a bizarre coincidence?
Croy didn't want to believe that.
Suddenly, the door to the adjacent room opened, and Ben peeked out.
"Croy, Portis said he doesn't sense any other presences—"
He stopped mid-sentence as he noticed Hisama. The man glanced at him sharply but then relaxed.
"Well, sorry to interrupt — good luck with your exercise."
Ben stared at him in confusion as Hisama opened the exit door to leave. Before closing it, he turned back to Croy.
"A shame they sent you to the battlefield so young. Children deserve a better fate."
"I chose it myself."
"Is that so?"
With that, Hisama closed the door, and silence fell again. Croy exhaled. His heart still pounded, warning him of danger. He looked at Ben.
'Ben was unprotected…'
He'd intended to question or provoke the man further, but Ben's appearance had changed his mind.
"Who was that?" Ben asked.
Croy shook his head.
"Just an employee who got lost. Don't worry about it."
Now Portis emerged, looking toward the exit.
"Sorry, I didn't even pick up his presence with my sensor spell. Guess he wasn't a spellcaster."
He was, though. The man was a spellcaster — a skilled one if he really had served with Marshal Blank. And one who could completely conceal his presence.
In the military, they had a term for soldiers like that. Silencers.
"Oh, but the rune! I thought an enemy had activated it!" Ben exclaimed suddenly.
"No worries, I managed to get him out just in time," Croy lied to reassure his teammates.
A few minutes later, Croy received a notification on his Smartwatch. The terminal was secured. And this time again, no team had even tried to challenge them.
Ben and Portis were clearly relieved. The terminal's location had been awkward, and a multi-team battle could have turned out difficult.
But Croy's mind was racing. The teams hadn't shown up, even though they were on their way. Instead, a single man appeared, claiming he was here on ordinary business.
Everything about this encounter felt wrong to Croy. It was as if he had just met someone who hadn't wanted to be seen.
He would ask Spider if there really had been a soldier named Hisama in Marshal Blank's company, and he'd also ask Professor Aerav if she knew him.
If it turned out to be just Croy's paranoia, his subconscious wariness from his time in the military, he'd make sure to apologize thoroughly to Hisama. But he'd learned in those three years always to stay vigilant, even in his own camp.
Forgetfully leaving the only key for a mission behind was not a trait of a soldier of his caliber. Being able to conceal a barrier spell and his presence, however, were both traits of a deadly spellcaster. Croy had spent enough time among such people to know what they all had in common.
Better safe than sorry.
"Let's move on," Ben said enthusiastically.
"We're on a lucky streak."
Portis agreed.
After a moment, Croy relented, but not before he made a request to Ben.
"Do you know any rune spells that alert you if someone breaks in somewhere?"
Ben thought for a moment and slowly nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
"Could you place one on that door?"
Portis and Ben both looked at him in confusion.
"Sure, but why?"
"Just a feeling. I'll bring you the house special from the pizzeria next week. One for you too, Portis, if you wait."
The two boys glanced at each other, puzzled, but shrugged.
"Sure thing. I'd do anything for that pizza."