Does Spring Come Even for a Dying Esper

“By former Lieutenant General Logan’s misconduct… Are you referring to the scandal from a few years ago?”

“That’s right. It was when I was serving in the Special Investigation Team for Ability-related Crimes.”

Deep sadness filled Iberis’s silver-gray eyes as he recalled the beloved faces in his memory. The time in the Special Investigation Team was the second happiest period in Iberis’s life, but it ended tragically.

As it became somewhat possible to control rifts, criminals called “villains” appeared. They used their abilities for personal desires rather than world protection. Some even formed organizations to commit crimes collectively or carried out terrorism worldwide.

It was so bad that people started saying villains were scarier than rifts.

Thus, the World Defense Force created the Special Investigation Team for Ability-related Crimes to effectively respond to the growing villain organizations. The aim was to eliminate villains who had become a global nuisance and to root out spies infiltrating the Defense Force and traitors leaking internal information.

Iberis, who had been active as an esper since age 15 and showed outstanding performance in rift operations, was assigned to the investigation team in the fall when he was 19. There, he met colleagues he could call family.

“Major Jackson, who was the operations team leader of the investigation team, was the first to sense something was off. When you set targets and plan operations, you end up investigating various things.”

Operations Team Leader Major Ryan Jackson was the guide with the best compatibility and highest matching rate with Iberis until he met Lucas. He cared deeply for Iberis, saying he was about the same age as his nephew.

Perhaps for this reason, Ryan strongly disliked Livio, the Lieutenant General of the Defense Force and Director of the Special Bureau for Ability-related Crimes, assigning missions to deal with villains and traitors to Iberis, who had just come of age. He believed it was too cruel to make someone so young commit murder, preferring him to kill monsters instead. It was perhaps inevitable that he discovered suspicious points in Livio’s orders.

‘No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.’

‘What is?’

‘Sigh… I’m not sure if I should tell you this. I think there might be innocent people among those we’ve captured and killed as villains.’

‘What? What do you mean? Are you saying we’ve caught innocent people?’

To plan operations, you need to find out as much as possible about the target. Ryan tended to plan operations to minimize the number of people Iberis had to kill. As a result, he thoroughly investigated and studied the targets, and in the process, he accidentally uncovered Livio’s misconduct.

‘Yes, the more I investigate, the more suspicious things I find.’

‘What’s strange about it?’

‘Hmm, where should I start explaining this. You know… Remember that lieutenant we caught recently who sold military information to a defense contractor and deserted? Do you remember what he said, Iberis?’

‘Let me think… If I remember correctly, I think he said he was being used…’

‘That’s right. The spy we dealt with two months ago said something similar.’

‘I remember that too. But don’t criminals always claim innocence? Denying it’s their fault?’

‘That’s true. But when I re-investigated their activities, I found points of contact with the Lieutenant General…’

‘What?’

‘There were circumstances suggesting they had multiple contacts with Lieutenant General Logan in the past. That’s not all. Among the people we’ve assassinated, many were politically opposed to or had conflicts with the Director.’

Ryan told Iberis everything he had found out. After hearing his story, Iberis couldn’t help but feel serious about how bizarre Livio’s actions were.

‘Hearing what you’re saying, it does feel unsettling. So what do we do now?’

‘Well, it’s just suspicions for now, so we need to investigate more.’

‘Hmm.’

‘Iberis. This is an issue we need to approach carefully. If Lieutenant General Logan has been using us to eliminate his potential weak points and remove competitors…’

Ryan trailed off, shuddering as if the thought alone was horrifying.

‘If we’re not careful, we could all take the fall.’

‘Take the fall?’

‘We could be framed as criminals, like the people we’ve dealt with so far. Even if not… if my suspicions are true, we’d become murderers who killed innocent people.’

‘Ah…’

‘Kid. Don’t make that face. Nothing’s certain yet.’

‘But…’

‘For now, just pretend you don’t know anything. I’ll investigate separately with the others.’

‘I want to help too, Team Leader.’

‘What?’

‘You said the Director might frame us, right? Then this isn’t just your problem. It’s mine too.’

‘You could be in danger, Iberis.’

‘It’s okay. We live in danger every day anyway, don’t we?’

‘Hmm… My conscience won’t let me involve you…’

Ryan was reluctant when Iberis volunteered to help him.

‘What conscience are you talking about now? You’ve been bossing me around just fine until now…’

‘When you put it like that, I sound like a terribly wicked superior.’

‘Anyway, let me lend a hand. I want to investigate with you, Team Leader.’

Iberis insisted on helping Ryan. He wanted to repay him a little for all the help he had received so far.

‘Alright, alright. Yes, let’s do it together.’

After some deliberation, Ryan finally nodded. And he earnestly cautioned:

‘Lieutenant General Logan is very sharp, so we need to be careful about everything to avoid suspicion. He might already be watching us.’

‘…I understand. I’ll be extra careful.’

Following Ryan’s advice, Iberis spent time only at the central headquarters and official residence except when on missions. The calculation was that there would be no situation to arouse suspicion if he didn’t do anything noticeable to Livio’s eyes.

“In fact, Major Jackson uncovered that former Lieutenant General Logan was using people to monitor our investigation team… Once we knew that, it became even harder to visit Viscount Blake. He might get caught up in trouble by meeting with me.”

“I see.”

Learning about Iberis’s circumstances at the time, Lucas felt his mood plummet. At 20 or 21 years old, he remembered exactly what he had been doing then. He also had an idea about the news Iberis had seen.

As Viscount Blake, Lucas had established and was still actively running a medical device and pharmaceutical company related to ability users. Of course, the Lucas Lowell Blake currently in England was a stand-in he had set up long ago.

The reason Lucas created the company was because of his younger sister, Regina. On the day they lost their parents, she awakened as a healing esper to save her dying brother, pouring all her power into saving him. And due to not receiving proper guiding in time, she was left with permanent disabilities.

Accidents caused by newly awakened ability users not properly handling mana were surprisingly common. Problems arise when they use their abilities until mana depletion or overflow occurs. In severe cases, they could lose their lives.

Regina was originally destined for such a fate, but thanks to Lucas awakening as a guide and providing guiding, she survived. However, that was all – she could never walk alone again, so it was as if she hadn’t truly lived.

Of course, she didn’t despair over her disability and was living more earnestly than anyone, but her brother Lucas’s heart couldn’t accept it. That’s why he became a doctor.

Although he had dreamed of becoming a doctor since childhood, admiring his father Armand, after Regina’s incident, it became a must-have profession.

Fortunately, Lucas was so brilliant he was called a genius, and through repeated grade skipping, he became a medical student at a young age. Even as an undergraduate, he published several papers and developed some medicines and medical devices. This was possible thanks to inheriting vast wealth from his parents’ estate and Winfried’s full support.

“The reason Lucas established a pharmaceutical company was because of his younger sister.”

“Huh? His sister?”

“Yes. Regina is very ill.”

“Because of that accident…?”

Lucas nodded instead of answering. His brilliantly shining golden eyes sank into darkness. Regina was his only family, his lifesaver, and his sore spot.

“Is Miss Regina an ability user by any chance?”

Iberis vaguely recalled that the pharmaceutical company run by Viscount Blake was related to ability users.

“Yes. I’m sorry, but I can’t say more than that.”

Lucas drew a firm line, as if to say this was as far as he could go. Even saying this much to Iberis was already a dangerous act.

“Well, I don’t intend to pry further.”

Iberis wasn’t offended by Lucas’s behavior. Rather, he smiled faintly with a face of understanding. There was something he could guess.