I, the Heir of Heroes

Mari whispered a dangerous proposal, but Mayumi hurriedly stopped her.

"Relax. I am confident that I will not leave any scars, only pain."

"That's not what I meant!...Molly, do you want to take a break?"

"...That's right, let's do it."

It seems that she is more or less aware that her thoughts have been working for too long, and she has become dull.

Mari waved at Mayumi, and walked towards Bell who sat on the bench and opened the map.

The ground in front of the bench where Suzune was sitting was now reflecting a precise map screen enlarged to three meters in length and four meters in width.

It was Suzune who used the terminal device to call up the map, and then Honoka refracted the light to project it.

It is their current location, a detailed map of the coastal area from the thesis competition venue to the destination reception site.

At this time, images of boats, crowds and street scenes are additionally projected.

"Oh, it's pretty awesome."

"Ah, Watanabe-senpai."

The image projected on the road was out of focus, but immediately returned to a sharp image.

The Street View image rotated and completely coincided with the map.

Suzune's fingers were busy dancing on the keyboard of the fully opened notebook terminal.With the final snap of the enter key, Suzune looked up.

"Did you ask anything?"

"Unfortunately, not at all."

Molly responded to Suzune's question by shaking her head with a bitter expression, and then immediately returned to a deeply bored expression.

"It seems that there are results here."

"Yes. Thanks to Mitsui-senpai, I have roughly grasped the enemy's current strength and movements... Mitsui-senpai, it's alright."

Suzune's compliment made Honoka show a shy smile and nodded in response.

The road map disappeared at the same time.

"As far as the magic of controlling light is concerned, it's rare to be able to control it so precisely?"

"Yes. In my impression, I don't remember that just refracting light can create a low-altitude reconnaissance plane-level vivid image. This should be regarded as a different type of magic from ordinary light refraction magic."

Suzune's flat compliment made Honoka blush.

"Don't say that... compared to Tatsuya-san or Miyuki, my magic is nothing special..."

"Mitsui, there is no need to be so humble. The magic of the two of them is indeed very powerful, but at certain times, intelligence can influence the battle situation more than attack power."

"That's right, Mitsui-senpai. It's very important to be able to grasp the current situation from a bird's-eye view like this. We don't have communication methods like drones or tropospheric monitors. Only this magic that you can use is extremely helpful. .”

"Thank you, senpai!"

Honoka blushed and saluted vigorously, and the two third-year students looked at her with knowing smiles.

Usually only the thick-skinned juniors get the most attention, so their jerky response is a novelty.

But now everyone doesn't have enough time to adjust the atmosphere. It is necessary to study the battle situation on the route and choose the best landing place for the upcoming rescue helicopter.

Suzune uses Honoka's magic to obtain an overhead video of the enemy's troops, and realizes that the enemy's troops are smaller than expected.

"However, I feel like the battle lines have been stretched too far."

"There's no such thing as a battle line right now."

Suzune responded to Molly's question with this blunt sentence.

"The fighting inland was sporadic. Infiltrated guerrillas disrupted traffic and communications, and landing forces went straight to suppress targets... I think this is the basic enemy tactic."

"Since Bell-chan said so, it should be correct...but if this is the case, what is the enemy's goal?"

Mayumi asked in bewilderment, and Suzune also thought about it for a while.

"...One of the targets is the Kanto branch of the Magic Association that Mayumi speculates. This should be confirmed. The other target seems to be citizens trying to escape by sea. I think the enemy army is probably trying to take hostages."

"hostage?"

Mayumi responded reflexively, and Suzune responded with a cautious tone.

"I don't think their purpose is to kill citizens. If that is the case, the enemy army will not send landing ships, but artillery ships to invade. It may be to exchange hostages or demand ransom... But the ultimate purpose is unknown."

"Since this is the case, it means that the danger of sudden shelling or missile attack is not high."

Molly's presumption of the ringtone is correct, so let's analyze the current situation.

"It should be... But if the purpose is to take hostages, this place is also likely to be the target."

After finishing speaking, Lingyin turned to look at the crowd gathered in the hall in front of the ticket gate.

"According to what Ms. Xiangzi said just now, the reinforcements should be arriving soon. Considering the route of travel, the order should be to protect the citizens gathered at the pier, and then use the surplus troops to wipe out the enemy."

"Yes, I think so too."

Suzune nodded in response to Mayumi's prediction.