— — — — — —
"Alright, Lucy, tell me—what's the meaning of infiltration?"
As Kazuma spoke, a sleek handgun materialized in his hand. Before the nearby guard could even react, he fired. The man dropped instantly.
"The meaning?" Lucy blinked. "Obviously, it's sneaking in quietly, staying out of sight, gathering intel without anyone noticing, and leaving with what you came for. Silent, subtle, invisible—that's infiltration!"
She frowned at him. "And we're only here to find a book. You didn't have to shoot someone!"
She stared, wide-eyed, as Kazuma calmly lowered his gun. He looked so casual it was almost chilling.
"Is this really an infiltration mission?" she thought, horrified. "If you hadn't told me the goal, I'd think you were here to massacre the entire estate!"
Who does infiltration like this?!
"Relax," Kazuma said evenly. "That wasn't a real bullet—it was a tranquilizer. He'll be out cold for at least twelve hours."
He glanced over his shoulder. "And you've got the wrong idea about infiltration. Even if you sneak past everyone and steal the item, what happens afterward? They'll still notice it's missing, right?"
As he talked, he fired twice more, dropping two more guards before they could even turn their heads.
Thanks to his Observation Haki future vision, their movements were already mapped out in his mind. Before any of them even saw him, they were already unconscious.
"Sure, they'd notice eventually," Lucy said cautiously. "But… what's your point?"
Kazuma walked calmly through the hall like he owned the place. "My point is, since they'll figure out something happened anyway, what really matters is whether they can identify us."
He gestured around. "Think about it. We move through, take them down before they even see our faces, grab the book, and leave. When they wake up twelve hours later, all they'll know is someone broke in—but not who."
He smiled faintly. "In the end, that's no different from a traditional infiltration, right? Forget the surface details—look at the essence. The result's the same."
Lucy stared at him blankly. "That… actually makes sense?"
Her brain froze for a second. Something about his logic felt wrong—but she couldn't figure out what.
He wasn't wrong that the end result was the same. And yet…
"No, no, no—this has to be nonsense," she told herself. "But why does it sound so convincing?!"
Trying to catch him out, Lucy began carefully watching his every move.
"Wait a sec…" she whispered. "All these guards—he takes them down before they even look our way. Even the ones hidden behind walls or furniture—he spots them like he's got x-ray vision!"
"And when new guards come running at the sound of gunfire, he's already moved into their blind spot before they arrive… like he knows exactly what they'll do."
One by one, he dispatched them—without ever being seen.
Lucy was stunned. "No way… is this luck? Or did he plan all of this?"
He'd kicked the door in like some reckless maniac, but now she saw every move had precision behind it. He wasn't being reckless—he was showing off.
Even if she had a hundred tries, she couldn't pull off something like this.
She studied him for a long time, trying to find a flaw in his ridiculous "infiltration theory," but all she found was a headache.
"Great," she thought miserably. "He's the genius and I'm the useless sidekick. My only real skill here is cheering him on."
Then her eyes suddenly widened. "Wait—x-ray vision?!"
Lucy instinctively crossed her arms and glared at him.
"Why do people always react like that?" Kazuma sighed. "I told you, I can't see through clothes. And even if I could, I wouldn't! What am I, some kind of repressed pervert? And no, I can't read minds either."
He sounded genuinely exasperated. Mira had done the exact same thing to him earlier—now Lucy too? What did everyone have against "super senses"?
"I didn't even say anything yet!" Lucy shot back. "How did you know what I was about to ask? Wait… are you the one with mind-reading magic?!"
She stared at him in horror. "That's the only way you could've known!"
Kazuma rubbed his forehead. "Your emotions are written all over your face, Lucy. You're easy to read. I don't need magic for that."
"Hmph! Every word out of a man's mouth is a lie," she said coldly. "You expect me to believe that? Even Happy wouldn't buy that excuse!"
Kazuma gave up trying to explain. "Whatever. Think what you want."
They continued deeper into the mansion, easily knocking out every guard that crossed their path.
At one point, two mercenaries appeared—both were down before they could even raise their weapons.
Kazuma glanced at their unconscious bodies. "Come on, it's the modern age. Who still fights hand-to-hand? Not using your gear when you've got it… that's just barbaric."
"Kazuma, you're amazing!" Lucy cheered automatically. "So strong! So cool!"
She'd long since accepted her role as the useless one. But even a salted fish could still cheer for the big boss carrying her.
So that's what she did. Enthusiastically.
While Kazuma searched for the requested book—titled DAYBREAK—a trapdoor in the floor suddenly burst open. A chubby man lunged out.
Bang.
Kazuma had already foreseen it. He shot the man, then knelt down and began searching the body with practiced ease.
"Uh, shouldn't we not be… looting people?" Lucy asked weakly, even as she started grabbing armfuls of pretty-looking books from the shelves, her eyes sparkling with greed.
"Put those down," Kazuma said flatly. "They're all stolen goods. If you get caught with that stuff, I'm not bailing you out."
Ignoring her pout, he finished checking the unconscious man and pulled something from his coat—a golden Celestial Spirit key: the Gate of the Maiden, one of the twelve Zodiac keys, Virgo.
He then took out a small box from the system storage. Inside were dozens of Celestial Spirit keys.
Lucy's jaw dropped. "That's… that's so many! I've only managed to find six so far!"
Most were silver keys, but still—seeing that many in one place was unreal.
She could only stare, equal parts awe and envy, as Kazuma calmly tucked the new key inside with the others.
.
.
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