"Who are you?!" The man that stood at the front shouted, his gun aimed straight at Hyoubu's head.
"Where is the princess?!"
All the intruders were alarmed, if she wasn't here that meant that she might be safe, and go through with the deal.
They had to find her and dispose of her while she was still in Pandra's hands, and then they could blame them as well.
"Oh the princess? She's somewhere in the city enjoying herself." Hyoubu said with a shrug.
"But that's none of you guys' concern, you know; you should worry more about yourself, because if you don't tell me who the leader is..."
He stopped for a moment, a grin on his face, as he stared at all the armed men in front of him.
"You guys are going to suffer a painful death."
Then massive explosions suddenly appeared all around them; the small warehouse was blown to pieces, while he calmly stood there with a smile on his face.
The armed men, on the other hand, had been wiped out in an instant; some were blown to pieces, while others were crushed under the collapsed warehouse.
"Heh, normals that think they can handle espers are so funny." Hyoubu stated as he took a seat on a piece of metal.
He took out his phone from his pocket and dialed Senzo's number casually.
"Yo Senzo, how's it going over there?"
"It's going fine; there has been no trouble whatsoever. And they're currently shopping for some new clothes."
"Heh, that's good. Make sure to keep an eye on both of them; we still haven't found the ringleader after all."
"I know, Major; if anyone pops up over here, I'll take care of it and let you know. Or tell the others—don't worry too much."
"Now that's what I like to hear. Sadly, I couldn't get any useful information from these scrubs. They were just members from an anti-esper organization. And because of that, it's rather obvious why they would target the princess."
One of the people lying on the ground was patiently waiting for an opportunity to shoot the monster in black clothes that was leisurely chatting on the phone.
Gripping his gun tightly, he glared at Hyoubu with pure hatred, and the moment Hyoubu had turned his back toward him, he discreetly lifted the gun. Aiming it at his head.
But Hyoubu just smirked, and without looking at the man, he snapped his finger and blew his whole body up.
"Hmm? What was that?" Senzo asked, hearing a faint explosion coming from the other side of the line.
"Don't worry about it." Hyoubu stated and got right back on topic.
"It's because Princess Sophie is friendly toward espers. And wants to use a portion of the national budget to help espers."
"I see. Well, thanks for the info, and I'll stay on the lookout."
"Mmh, sounds good. I'll let you know when those goons from Babel find out who the mastermind is."
After saying that, Hyoubu hung up, looking at the normals with disdain in his eyes; his mood immediately soured.
Clicking his tongue, he teleported away to keep an eye on the duo that was trying to find out who the true mastermind was.
***
Minamoto and Sakaki were walking around the city still looking for any clues they could find to rescue the princess, but now they were also searching for the mastermind.
"The one who planned the assassination of the princess is probably someone from the inside." Minamoto said, a serious look on his face.
"From the inside? Why do you think that, Minamoto?"
"Because of Hyoubu. His objective behind the kidnapping of the princess was probably to protect her life." Minamoto started his explanation after looking around, making sure no one was listening in on them.
"There's also the residual thoughts the assassin left in the ceremony hall. It would have been impossible to enter without the help of someone from the inside."
Sakaki frowned, hearing Minamoto's explanation. "So in order to protect her, they kidnapped her. But was there really no other way?"
"Well, you know Hyoubu; he is rather extreme in some cases. And with this he's basically sending a message to us at Babel: We can't leave these kinds of things to you."
"..."
"He sure knows how to piss people off." Sakaki replied, clenching his fist.
"Yeah."
Both were glaring straight in front of them; if Hyoubu had been close by, they would have loved to give him a good beating, but that was just unrealistic. He is one of the most powerful espers in the world, and most people in Pandra are like him—very powerful espers.
"So as long as we don't find the person who's targeting the princess, he won't release her, huh?" Sakaki muttered, staring in the air.
"Yeah, but that's the problem. How do we find the culprit? It's not that they want our help." Minamoto replied with a sigh.
"Well, about that, I think I have an idea." Sakaki said, looking at the large building where the ceremony was held.
Minamoto could only shake his head; his idea was probably some nonsense or had something to do with women, but he had no other or better ideas, so the duo briskly entered the large building.
Determined to execute his idea to the best of their abilities.
"Hi~ bonjour mademoiselle. I'm Shuuji; I'm not anyone suspicious."
Sakaki approached the lady sitting behind the reception desk with a confident smile as he tried to distract her from his colleague.
"You know, the moment I saw your beautiful visage, I simply could not ignore someone as beautiful as you. Oh, I might not look like it, but I'm a doctor, you know."
Then he unbuttoned two of his buttons from his shirt and flashed his well-built torso.
"So, how about a nice cup of tea while I examine your heart?"
And while Sakaki was doing this over-the-top distraction, Minamoto had slipped through, entering the chief's office.
He was still cringing from Sakaki's display, but it was the only thing they could think of, so he had ultimately decided to just let him do it.
"Hah... why am I always stuck with that womanizer?" He muttered while he was typing rapidly on the computer, trying to find any intel that would prove useful.
If I can just get any clue about whoever's targeting the princess. While he was deep in thought, he suddenly saw something strange appear on the computer screen.
"This is?!"
His eyes widened in shock; this was the clue he was looking for. He had finally found it, but in his moment of joy he didn't realize that multiple people had also entered the room after him.
While he was trying to absorb as much information as he could, the chief and his aide both took out their guns and approached him from behind.
"Budget documents and demographic changes from all ministries, top secret data from the Kingdom of Monarch, and even information about people in the security force and information on the employees of the royal family?"
"Don't you think that's enough? Investigator Minamoto."
The chief suddenly interrupted, putting his gun to the back of Minamoto's head with a grave expression on his face.
Minamoto froze in place, not daring to move a muscle in fear of what the chief might do if he made any sudden movements.
"You have just seen something you should not have."