Side Character Who Became the Pseudo-Protagonist

Chapter 50: Waste Material

After a few hours, the authorities finally managed to secure the scene.

Cecilia was quickly treated for her injuries while the police questioned several civilians about what had happened and how the incident occurred.

The driver himself had been rushed to the nearest hospital, but I had a feeling his testimony would be the most important.

Still, with the incident happening so close to the Academy, Claire and her friend, another senior named Airy, had come down to see what happened.

Well, she was a senior...I think.

Airy had pastel purple hair tied neatly into low twin tails that rested against her chest. Yet, it was her height that led me to the assumption.

Even with her back straight, she only reached my stomach. Sure, I was relatively tall, but between her appearance and her choice of clothing—that being a sleeveless summer dress and baseball cap—one could mistake her for a middle schooler.

"From the company logo that’s on the truck itself, or rather, what was left of it...It seems this truck was supposed to be a transport for materials," Claire muttered softly.

"Monster materials?"

"Mmm." Airy nodded. "Processing facilities can only make use of certain parts. Everything else is treated as waste and either turned into fertilizer or repurposed into other products."

"That’s all well and good, but whoever sorted out what was waste and what was clearly an alive monster needs to be fired," I sighed into my hand.

Yet, before I could continue on, I felt a tentative tug against my shirt’s sleeve, causing me to turn around.

Lucy was standing behind me, fidgeting awkwardly as she didn’t know how to enter our conversation.

The moment she saw Lucy’s blindfold, recognition flashed across her face. Despite clearly realizing how sensitive the subject was, she couldn’t stop the words from slipping out.

"You have—"

"Yes," Lucy answered before she could finish. "I do..."

"Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare."

"It’s fine." Lucy lowered her head. "Everyone does."

Turning toward the corpse of the Behemoth, her mouth moved once more. "That monster...wasn’t actually alive."

...

"What?"

Everyone’s attention shifted toward her.

"Its core was active," she clarified, "but the rest of its body had already started breaking down. Something else was forcing it to move against its will."

Lucy continued on. " I wasn’t able to pinpoint what it was, as it left the monster’s body too fast, but it felt kind of...organic, in a sense."

The more I listened to her, the more a memory started to surface in my head.

A creature, that was presumably dead, coming back to life and moving against its will in ways it couldn’t before...

It was the exact thing that happened with the Ironmane Alpha.

’Shit...is White Noise on the move again?’

Yet before I could bring the topic up, a black limousine suddenly arrived at the scene. And out came a man with slicked-back maroon hair and sunglasses.

"Alright everyone," the man spoke out in a casual and confident tone. "Wrap it up, you guys can go home. We’ll take over from here."

’Who the fuck is this?’

Though part of the answer arrived in my head a bit later. His hair was the signature and recognizable color of one of the Nine Houses—

House Muspel.

"Is he—?"

"Hyde Muspel," Claire answered before I could finish asking. "He’s the younger brother of the patriarch."

A few of the officers exchanged uncertain looks. "Sir, we’re still reviewing testimonies and collecting evidence."

"And you’ve done a wonderful job," Hyde flashed them a lazy smile before producing a folded document. "But you see, this truck was supposed to arrive at one of the dump sites in Muspel. I’ve even got the paperwork for it."

He lightly waved the piece of paper between two fingers.

"It was just an accident, that’s all."

"Yeah, and one that could’ve ended in disaster had cadets of Asgard Academy not been there," Claire muttered under her breath.

It was very clear that she did not like this guy one bit.

Even before any of the officers could exchange words with each other, another truck arrived on the scene a few seconds later.

Workers in dark uniforms poured out of the back and immediately began surrounding the wreckage. Some cordoned off the Half Behemoth’s corpse, while others started gathering everything that had spilled from the transport truck.

All anyone could do really, was watch.

"Come on," Claire said begrudgingly. "Let’s go. It looks like they’ve got everything handled."

After giving our statements, everyone eventually returned to the dorms to rest.

Well, everyone except Claire and me, who decided to stick around for a little while later. Both of us plopped ourselves on the nearby wooden bench, right under a streetlight.

"Seems like a long way for someone like Hyde to travel to Asgard? Couldn’t we have done something there?"

"Well, I definitely could’ve..." Claire hesitated. "But you know how it is with Muspel. Getting involved with them only leads dispute between two of the Nines, and I’m busy enough as is."

What she said definitely was correct, yet something about the entire situation kept irking me.

The connection between the Half Behemoth and the Ironmane Alpha was just too apparent to ignore.

And Lucy had already been right once about the core moving. There wasn’t any reason for me to doubt what she had sensed,

After all, I pretty much confirmed it with my own two eyes.

I turned towards Claire.

"You don’t mind if I investigate the situation on my own, right?"

"Nah," she sighed before leaning into the wooden bench. "Just make sure you do your job as part of Strategic Division as well as Asgard’s Root."

"That’s the part I was going to ask you about. Is Mimir...?"

"It’s functional, yeah," Claire answered quickly. "Though it’s currently on automatic safe mode after the incident. So even if you wanted to use it, you probably can’t."

"Ah, shame..."

’Damn it...so the best intelligence system in the world was off-limits for now.’

I really was banking on using it to figure out any potential leads for the next arc of the game. With that out of the equation, I had to turn to a second reliable source.

Being a Midgard did have its perks, and one of them was the many connections the House had cultivated over the years.

It ranged from actual partnerships to just people trying to curry favor with us. But among them, a single person stood out for her extraordinary ability to gather intel.

Though good things don’t come for free, as the slippery nature of a mercenary as well as an intelligence broker was always a deterrent.

Still, it was the only thing I could rely on.

And whilst I was under the night sky, my thoughts seemingly became more clear.

During my duel with Kai and that subsequent incident inside the café, I had realized one single thing:

That I was still too damn weak.

Without [Overload], I was reduced to work my brain continuously and reveal my entire hand. And even so, I could only fire off three or four of them before my brain went into ECS.

’Something’s gotta change.’

For that, I picked up my phone to make two separate calls that would determine the rest of my week.

The first was to acquire information and establishing a connection with the broker.

And the second—

Was to find someone capable of beating my weaknesses out of me.

Somehow, I had a feeling the latter would be much more painful.