I Became the Cute One in the Troubleshooter Squad-Chapter 114: The Most Dangerous Among Good People (1)

At some point in life, everyone has experienced something like this.

You manage to get your hands on a limited-time-only item that you absolutely had to have—something you could never obtain again if you missed the opportunity.

But once you actually have it, you realize it doesn’t quite fit your environment or needs, turning it into nothing more than a useless burden.

It’s a surprisingly frustrating situation.

If you’re unlucky, you don’t just waste money—you lose time and opportunity costs as well.

The best-case scenario? You sell it secondhand or as an unopened item and try to recover some of your losses.

In a similar vein—

Early morning, the day after returning from the trip, I entered Raven’s closet like I always did, arms crossed, lost in thought.

“...Did I bring this back for nothing?”

In the darkness, where the only source of light was the faint rays seeping through the cracks of the door, my gaze fell upon a crescent moon-shaped metal object.

It wasn’t particularly ornate, nor did it seem to be made of valuable material. It wasn’t even large.

At a glance, it looked like the kind of cheap souvenir you’d find in a tourist shop at some rundown attraction.

But if you knew where this thing had come from, you’d immediately reassess its worth.

Because this crescent-shaped piece of metal was—

A fragment from the Great Mage’s Orb.

...Huh? The Orb belonged to Tamamo, so did I steal it?

Well... If I’m being completely honest, that was the original plan.

Unlike magic, telekinesis leaves no traces of mana, making it practically impossible to track.

Plus, I had Echo, which was specialized in information gathering and manipulation.

Logically speaking, it was more than feasible.

And considering the Orb was related to the Invaders, I had every reason to take it.

But as luck would have it, I didn’t have to go through all that trouble.

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Because while I was secretly planning my move—

Tamamo approached me first.

—"Yuria-chan, hello! What are you doing here all alone?"

—"...?"

—"Nihyahahat! I heard all about you. They say you’re like a precious little sister to Alice, right? That means you’re my little sister too! Want to exchange terminal numbers?"

Tilting my head slightly, I listened to her words.

It was obvious—she was interested in me.

And it made sense.

For Tamamo, Alice was the most precious friend in her life.

So, if her closest friend was keeping me close, how could she not be curious?

This was great for me.

With a direct connection established, I no longer needed to steal anything in secret.

After all—

No one else knew the true value of this fragment.

If I just shamelessly asked for it, that would be enough.

—"Uh, um? S-sorry, but can you gesture that one more time? I didn’t quite understand..."

—"...!"

—"Hmm? What does this mean... A sphere? A bead?"

—"...!!"

Of course, Tamamo had no idea what I was trying to say through gestures alone.

Communicating solely through body language was a hell of a challenge.

Alice and Raven would instantly pick up on my meaning even if I just jumped in place—

And at that moment, I gained a newfound appreciation for those two and their absurdly sharp intuition.

But after a long and exhausting struggle—

Tamamo finally understood what I was asking for and handed me the fragment from the Orb.

She figured, "It’s already broken, so I might as well just display it at home."

Which made sense—there wasn’t really any other practical use for it.

“Getting it without any effort was great, but...”

Obtaining the fragment in exchange for giving her my contact info had been an incredibly good deal.

But there was one problem—

No matter what I did, it refused to react.

It was undoubtedly connected to the Invaders—Tesseract had confirmed as much.

But when I tried communicating with it, it didn’t respond at all.

At this point, it felt completely pointless to have it.

Why the hell was this happening?

When I asked Tesseract and Echo, they gave me the following responses—

[ Mama, I’m pretty sure it’s sleeping. ]

[ I agree. The most likely cause is a lack of energy. ]

"Sleeping"...?

Did that mean it was in the same state as Tesseract when its energy had been drained?

If that was the case, the solution was simple—

I just needed to feed it energy from the Rift until it woke up.

But—

That was easier said than done.

Using precious energy on some unknown fragment was not an option.

Especially since both Tesseract and Echo were already low on power thanks to everything that happened during the Saint Maria incident.

"You never know when you’ll need that energy... Who the hell could’ve predicted we’d run into Morte during that trip?"

Think about it—

If I hadn’t had Tesseract, could I have even put up a fight against Akashmir or Morte?

No.

Not a chance.

So recharging Tesseract was priority number one, no questions asked.

And while Echo was mostly used for its pranks, it was also specialized in hacking, manipulating information, and disrupting enemy plans.

It was just as vital as Tesseract when it came to turning the tide in difficult situations.

And yet, instead of prioritizing Tesseract or Echo, I was supposed to waste energy on waking up this mystery fragment?

No way.

What if it turned out to be completely useless?

Then I’d be so pissed off I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

"Ugh... but if I leave it like this, it’s pointless to have taken it in the first place."

At some point, I need to wake it up.

Who knows—maybe it had the power to break the curse that was keeping me from speaking.

And so, I debated.

And debated.

And debated.

Lying on my blanket inside the cramped closet, I rolled back and forth in deep thought.

And finally—

When my forehead smacked into the wall, bringing tears to my eyes, I made my decision.

I’d give it energy from the Rift, but at a minimal rate.

Tesseract would get 70%.

Echo would get 20%.

And the fragment? It could have the leftover 10%.

That should be good enough.

"Tesseract is the top priority—if I keep it well-fed, no enemy will scare me. Then comes Echo. And as for the fragment... it gets a tenth, since I have no idea what it even does. No rush."

Still—

It’d be nice if it had a power as game-changing as Tesseract’s.

With that faint hope in mind, I distributed the Rift’s energy according to my plan.

All I could do now was pray that no more unexpected trouble popped up anytime soon.

*

Draining every last drop of energy from the Rift, I finally crawled out of the closet—only to find Raven sprawled out in the office’s spacious lounge.

A sloppy pair of ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ pajamas.

An unkempt beard that clearly hadn’t been touched.

His entire existence screamed "I’m on vacation, and I do not intend to work today."

Well, even though we had returned from our trip, Night Week wasn’t over yet.

So even if he lounged around like a lazy sloth, no one could really say anything.

Not that I had any intention of calling him out on it.

‘What’s he watching today?’

Carefully keeping my footsteps silent, I crept closer and peeked over his shoulder—

Only to find him watching Keongryong Racing on the massive TV screen.

A racing event where massive, multi-meter-long drakes tore across the track in brutal competition—

Keongryong Racing.

Since injuries could be healed with magic, these behemoth-like creatures raced without fear, colliding and charging forward with reckless abandon.

According to Raven, that thrill—the sheer brutality of it—was what made Keongryong Racing the most popular sport of the era.

Even to a total outsider like me, it was admittedly fascinating to watch.

But personally?

If I watched the same thing every day, I’d get sick of it real fast.

Yet here he was, watching it religiously, day after day.

It was kind of impressive, in a way.

"..."

"Hngh... What? Is it lunchtime already?"

"...?"

Wanting to avoid disturbing him, I quietly sat on the couch beside him.

But, as expected, that wasn’t enough to escape his sharp senses.

Without even turning fully, Raven glanced at me and spoke.

It seemed he assumed I had come over because I was hungry.

Well, it was just past breakfast, edging into early lunchtime.

Still—what am I, a pet?

Then again, I was kind of hungry.

So I didn’t bother denying it and instead moved closer to his couch.

Seeing this, he shifted over slightly, making room for me.

...How considerate.

"Ah, I don’t think I stocked the fridge before we left for the trip... Should we just order something? How about pizza?"

"...!"

"Let’s see... About four boxes should be enough? You usually eat a whole one yourself, right?"

"..."

Four. Whole. Pizzas.

For two people.

I was momentarily speechless at the absurd math.

And then it hit me—no wonder the office was always broke.

How much do these people eat?

Scratching my neck, I eventually nodded in agreement.

I wasn’t a picky eater, and pizza was right up my alley.

It was an easy win.

Tapping away at his terminal, Raven quickly placed the order.

Estimated delivery time: twenty minutes or less.

The speed almost made me forget I wasn’t in my previous life anymore.

"Alright, done. Nothing to do while we wait... Wanna watch the race with me? Today's event is actually pretty interesting."

"...!"

"This is a special Night Week exhibition match. That guy over there—yeah, the one that looks like a T-rex? That’s Brutalis...."

And so, I ended up watching Keongryong Racing with him.

Having Raven explain the racers and backstories actually made it a lot more engaging than I expected.

And sure enough—

The 20-minute delivery estimate was no exaggeration.

We had barely gotten into the race when the office doorbell rang.

Fast.

Really fast.

The cheese probably hadn’t even cooled yet.

Excited, I bolted toward the door to grab the pizza—

And yanked it open.

But—

It wasn’t the pizza guy standing there.

Instead, I was greeted by a tall, striking woman with long, snow-white hair cascading down to her waist.

An all-too-familiar face—

Even though I had never actually met her in person before.

"Oh my, aren’t you... Yuria?"

"..."

Sakuragi Lily.

The single sharp horn protruding above her eye only further emphasized her unmistakable presence.