Chapter 81: Clues

Her mother’s words were thought-provoking, and the matters involved had long since exceeded the scope of what Ephnel had been exposed to.

“Soon, our commander will be transferred back to the central province. The Federation has sent someone else to take her place, and they will also dispatch Agents to support us.”

Ephnel carefully chose her words and looked at her mother.

“Mom, do you think this is normal?”

“I’m not so sure,” Yanase Kaoru sighed.

“But there’s one thing you need to understand, and that is ‘factions.’ Such things do exist. Your commander’s name is Masaki Hinaki, right? I haven’t met her, but seeing the way Seikyo City is developing now, I believe she’s a good girl… But some things cannot be changed by one person’s power alone. For the Federation to send a new commander at a time like this, it’s either genuinely just to investigate the matter of the ‘Apostles,’ or they intend to interfere in Seikyo City’s affairs, preparing to pull Seikyo City into their faction’s global layout. At this point, you’ll need to discern which it is.”

Ephnel nodded, pondering silently.

‘Actually, Masaki Hinaki herself was also a transferred commander.’

‘Back then, I had just become an Agent not long ago.’

‘The previous commander died in battle, and the promise he made with me was sealed away in the archives.’

‘At that time, what kind of position did Masaki Hinaki hold when she came here?’

‘Why didn’t she expose my secret? Or Yukina’s identity?’

‘Was she observing from the sidelines?’

‘Or something else?’

It had been too long, and many details had already settled deep within her memory, beyond reach.

Ephnel thought for a moment, then brushed the thoughts aside.

“But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, it’s good to seek shade under a large tree.”

Yanase Kaoru added.

“The new commander might bring opportunities for development, and the newly assigned Agents will become your comrades-in-arms. This will greatly increase the safety of your missions. Regardless of what the higher-ups in the Federation are doing, as military officers governing a region and as Agents fighting on the front lines, their initial intentions are always positive.”

“I hope everything goes smoothly…”

“Indeed… Actually, your father and I came here to investigate these things with the intention of avoiding the shackles of factional strife, and also to do one more thing…”

Yanase Kaoru looked at Ephnel seriously.

“Do not speak of what I’m about to say to anyone.”

Ephnel was taken aback for a moment, then nodded gravely.

“I won’t tell.”

“Good, I trust you…”

There was no one else nearby.

Yanase Kaoru glanced around and took a deep breath.

“What we are pursuing is the technology used by the Apostles. Through a large amount of supporting data, we speculate that the source of the technology used by the Apostles is very likely ruins, and moreover, ruins that have not yet been confirmed or developed by the Human Federation… Naoto, you should know what a ruin represents. The ‘Beacon System’ used by you Agents is a product of ruin technology. We humans have only been able to decipher one percent of ruin technology, yet it has already given birth to the ‘Boundary Monument’ and the ‘Beacon System,’ two technologies that have completely overturned the scientific world. Who can imagine what kind of world we humans would enter if all of ruin technology were fully deciphered? What White Hole Erosion, what Erosion Organisms, they would be utterly vulnerable before the true power of the ruins. But…”

Yanase Kaoru took a deep breath, her gaze directed somewhere unknown.

“But, the ruins do not only bring hope for a new era… A stone, some may carve it into steps leading upwards, while others may forge it into a weapon. Your father and I once conducted a study, trying to turn those who had become Remnants back to their original forms. But obviously, we failed. The results of our research uncontrollably headed in an unmanageable direction, and the final product was something far beyond what we humans could handle. We intended to destroy the experimental results, but those bastards used us for their own purposes, took away our flawed experimental results, and then started a new line of research based on that flawed foundation. They discovered the hidden potential within and then began human experimentation.”

“Human experimentation?”

“Yes, the ‘Numbered Ones’—that’s what those people used as experimental subjects. A group of pitiful people abandoned by society, drifting along, who were considered to become Remnants at any moment. But no matter what, they were still living people. They had their own lives, their own families. They lay on those people’s operating tables with the hope of being cured. But to those deranged researchers, the ‘Numbered Ones’ were just convenient experimental tools that had lost their potential as human beings. They sent people outside the Boundary to capture escaped Numbered Ones, and under the banner of ‘treatment experiments,’ they gathered these people from various cities, all for the sake of their inflated desire for control.”

Yanase Kaoru’s expression was blank as she spoke in a low voice, “Your father and I want to save those who have not yet been harmed. This is what we owe them. And then we must make those bastards pay the price they deserve. For this step, a new bargaining chip is essential. We believe the Apostles that appeared here might be an opportunity. We cannot search for traces of the Apostles alone; that would undoubtedly be suicide. But we can collect the fluctuations of the ‘medium’ used by the Apostles during their activities, which will facilitate our subsequent work. Simply put, it’s the ‘traces’ left behind by the Apostles.”

Yanase Kaoru explained.

“This thing is like the fluctuations you Agents trigger when you enter Sync. Agents, Beacons, or even Boundary Monuments, each has its own unique fluctuation signal. And this signal is very covert, completely different from the sound waves or light we can perceive. It’s a different expression of energy, like a magnetic field. The ancients could feel its existence but didn’t know what it was, so they couldn’t analyze the phenomena it caused. And your dad and I are very likely the first to be able to observe and explain it. Right now, many researchers are looking for a way to identify the unique fluctuations of the Apostles, in order to quickly find the location of that ruin. And your dad and I are ahead of them. We just need to retrieve this data, and things will be much more convenient afterwards.”

Ephnel remained silent throughout, listening intently as her mother described the research and the work she and her father were undertaking.

Only then did she gradually realize what a massive project her parents were engaged in, and what kind of difficulties they were facing.

But this had already exceeded the domain she, as an Agent, could be involved in.

Agents were warriors born to fight Erosion Organisms.

And researchers were another group of people who worked to strengthen humanity’s armor and weapons, contributing to the foundation of human society.

Their worlds were closely related, yet they did not intersect, but in essence, there was no difference at all.

Ephnel suddenly remembered a key point.

“By the way, Mom, I’m going to the Special Disaster Division today. The captured Apostle is being held there, and I need to retrieve her interrogation records and data. I was thinking, since you are investigating the Apostles, is there anything I can do to help?”

…