Tokyo Area 39, Fairy Tail

“Guild master.”

Kayo entered with a stack of documents in her hands. Noah who was working on the second draft of the security detailed documentation lifted his head with a helpless look.

“Kayo, we’ve talked about this. You need to knock before you enter someone’s house, did you enter by sneaking in again?”

“It’s a trivial matter, I am sure the guild master wouldn’t mind it.”

Kayo nonchalantly said. She also ignored Noah who mumbled ‘Wait, what do you mean trivial matter?’. She placed the stack of papers on his office table.

“Guild master, the analysis result from the sniping incident came back.”

Noah started flipping through the documents.

“According to the results, the 50 Browning retrieved were consistent with your report. The sniper was using a high-rise building as a sniping vantage point. The distance was about 991 meters away from the highway where an attempt on Seitenshi’s life was made.”

Kayo started giving her summary as Noah started reading the report.

But, when she reported the findings, she couldn’t help but reveal her hesitation.

“But, guild master, are you sure the attacker was sniping from that high-rise building?”

Noah noticed her doubt and he asked her.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing much. I am just very shocked.”

Kayo shook her head.

“Guild master, I am sure you know how taxing it is for a sniper to snipe a target at such a long-range. The environmental requirements and the skill needed to pull off such a shot, that’s just uncanny.”

Noah recalled the information he took from hundreds of books written on this subject and he nodded.

There are a lot of factors that can affect the accuracy of a sniper in any given sniping situation.

Temperature, humidity, angle, the weather, spindrift, and the likes, all of these factors add up to affect the final result of the shot, a hit or a miss.

Shooting from a higher elevation than the target will require the shooter to adjust for wind and air pressure differences between different heights.

The shooter’s heartbeat, breathing, and trigger-pulling action can also affect the final result. In any case, the longer the distance, the more unlikely a shot is to land no matter the shooter’s skill and preparedness.

For instance, if the difficulty for sniping at a distance of 100 meters is quantified as a single unit, and that every increase of 100 meters makes it two times harder to land a shot, after 500 meters, the difficulty when compared to making a shot at 100 meters is orders of magnitude higher.

At almost 1 kilometer, this is where a sniper would have to pray more for luck than the accuracy of their math. One accurate shot is a brag-worthy event, two in a row is just plain luck, three-in-a-row? That’s simply the god of luck blessing this godly sniper.

“According to your report, I calculated the chance of mortality as 100% had Guild master not intervened. The second shot would have taken her life as well if the guild master didn’t shoot the bullet down.”

Kayo tilted her head. She had an uncertain look that marred her cute face.

“A person that can shoot with nigh-100% accuracy, are you sure this sniper is a human?”

Noah thought about it for a short while before he posed his question to her.

“Supposing the shooter was a cursed child, would that explain the ridiculous mastery displayed by the sniper?”

“Personally, this would make the mystery bigger instead.”

Kayo looked into Noah’s eyes.

“I have never heard of an animal-type mutation that can enhance a sniper’s ability to such an impossibly high degree.”

“You might be right.”

Noah bitterly laughed. He closed his eyes and he placed an index finger to his forehead.

“Right, do we have any news from Sougen’s side?”

“Saitake Sougen?”

Kayo caught onto Noah’s intent, her eyes lit up.

“Guild master, you think the sniper was sent by Sougen?”

“I don’t think, I know he did.”

Noah pursed his lips.

“That old villain made a statement to Seitenshi about how he wanted to take over every land starting from the Areas within what was formerly Japan.”

She was very tactful as she immediately followed up with another question.

“Are we going to increase surveillance on Sougen’s side?”

“No need.”

Noah raised a hand to reject her suggestion.

“He already said his piece. I am sure he knew he would be suspected no matter the outcome. With that, further surveillance would be a waste of time as he would have already made preparations for that.”

“Then, guild master…”

Kayo raised her head to look at Noah.

“What do we do now?”

“Hmm…”

Noah supported his chin as he looked into the distance. His gaze was piercing, it’s like he can see the ones who are moving behind the scene. He started grinning.

“Although his true target isn’t me, now that I can see his movements, I should pay him back for his generous actions. Someone needs to show him his plan is built on unstable ground.”

Kayo wasn’t sure what Noah was referring to. She kept mum as Noah obviously knew what he had to do. She started tidying up the documents on the office table.

A vibrant ringtone came from Noah’s handphone.

Noah picked up the phone but he was slightly taken aback by the caller ID he saw.

“Guild master?”

Kayo tugged on his sleeve.

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Noah rubbed her head as he answered the phone.

A soft and lazy voice came from the other side.

“Onii-san?”

Everyone in Fairy Tail called Noah with the Guild master title.

Aside from that, external parties referred to him as Noah. Of course, there are eccentric individuals who added nickanmes on their own like a certain girl named Miori who added hubby or similar terms.

As far as his knowledge served him, there was only one girl who referred to him like that.

“Tina?”

Noah said.

“It’s me, Onii-san.”

Her small tone couldn’t hide her happiness.

“This is great, Onii-san answered my call. I thought Onii-san would cut me off or pretend to feign ignorance.”

“Why would I do that?”

Noah felt a bit helpless.

“Ne, Onii-san.”

Tina ignored Noah’s question. She continued.

“I am going window-shopping later.”

“And?”

“By myself.”

“And?”

“I’m a still a kid.”

“…”

“I am just a little girl who might not be able to resist the brutes with a specialized interest in underaged girls.”

“…”

“I am also a little girl who can’t tell a green light from a red light so I might cross the street when there are many heavy trucks moving around at high speed, I might even get run over as a result.”

“…”

“I’m…”

“Fine.”

Noah cut her short.

“You want me to go with you, right?”

“I never said that.”

Tina said.

“If Onii-san insists on doing that, I can’t do anything about that. I can only obediently listen to Onii-san’s word because I am just a kid.”

“Okay, I get it.”

Noah sighed.

“Tell me where we should meet up.”

He could hear a very pleased snort coming from the other side of the phone. Noah felt his energy level going down but there was nothing he could do. His soft spot was tickled by this caller.

Noah also didn’t notice Kayo who was watching with gleaming eyes.