I don't want to be an elf!

If you get closer, you can see that what is projected on the white screen is the information about nightmares that Sakaguchi Ango got from Eyepatch San yesterday.

The document contains several photos of nightmares taken from different angles, the principle of infiltrating the shadows, the effects of the City of Time, and detailed descriptions of the abilities of Bullets 1 through 10.

At this moment, most of the members of the Armed Detective Agency were gathered here, sitting on either side of the table, silently looking at the intelligence displayed on the documents.

"This is the latest intelligence sent by the Special Abilities Agency."

At the head of the table sat a middle-aged man with messy white hair like wolf fur, wearing a dark green traditional kimono, a black feather robe draped over his shoulders, and a face as resolute as steel.

The person sitting in the main seat is naturally the president of the Armed Detective Agency, Fukuzawa Yukichi.

His gaze swept across the faces of each member, and his deep, steady voice rang out: "What are your thoughts, gentlemen?"

"President, is this information really reliable?" Kunikida Doppo couldn't help but ask. "Ten time-related abilities, plus a domain that forces people into sleep and an ability to manipulate shadows—how could such ability users possibly exist?"

"Judging whether this information is reliable or not is the task assigned to us by the Special Abilities Agency," Fukuzawa Yukichi said. "This information was obtained by Mr. Sakaguchi of the Special Abilities Agency yesterday at noon. It was given to him by a girl who called herself 'Tokisaki Shozo.' As for the identity of this girl, Director Sakaguchi only knows that she is related to the Port Mafia and Nightmare, and knows nothing else."

"I'm sorry, President, I need to do some more investigation before I can draw a conclusion," Kunikida Doppo said somewhat apologetically.

"Where are the others?" Fukuzawa Yukichi asked, looking at the remaining company members.

Osamu Dazai, Atsushi Nakajima, and Jun'ichirō Tanizaki all shook their heads.

Seeing that his detectives were almost all wiped out, Fukuzawa Yukichi was not disappointed. He simply nodded slightly to show his understanding.

After all, a detective is just a detective, not a fortune teller.

With such few clues, no normal detective could arrive at a reliable conclusion.

Fukuzawa Yukichi's gaze fell on the man in the corner: "Ranpo, what about you?"

Since normal detectives can't reach a conclusion, the pressure naturally falls on abnormal detectives.

And coincidentally, there is such an eccentric detective in the Armed Detective Agency.

Edogawa Ranpo.

His superpower is "Super Deduction," which allows him to deduce the truth of a matter from the smallest clues. Cases that would require several days of investigation by an ordinary detective can be solved by this man with just one glance at the scene.

Although he claimed to be the most outstanding detective of this century, Edogawa Ranpo certainly had the ability to compete for that title. At only twenty-six years old, he had already helped the police solve countless strange and unsolved cases. Within the detective agency, if he claimed to be second, no one would dare to claim to be first.

Even Dazai Osamu wouldn't do.

In the corner, Edogawa Ranpo, who seemed to be dozing, heard the president call his name and reluctantly took off the detective hat covering his face, then sighed heavily.

"Is this intelligence reliable? Of course it is. After all, it was personally provided by Nightmare's clone. How could it not be reliable?"

"A clone?" Everyone's expression changed, some doubtful, some surprised.

“That’s right, that guy named Tokisaki Shozo has an absolutely nightmare-like clone.” Edogawa Ranpo pointed to a line in the intelligence report, “that is, the clone created using the Eighth Bullet, as recorded in the data.”

After Edogawa Ranpo's explanation, a sense of understanding appeared in everyone's eyes.

But then, more problems arose.

"Is it possible for a Nightmare's clone to betray its original body?" Kunikida Doppo asked, frowning and half-believing.

“Don’t we have a perfect example in our company?” Edogawa Ranpo smiled inexplicably.

Everyone looked puzzled.

Only Dazai Osamu's eyes flashed with an unusual light as he murmured to himself, "It's her..."

"Bingo!" Edogawa Ranpo agreed. "That girl you rescued a few days ago, the one with more bandages than Dazai, isn't she a clone of Nightmare?"

"She's a clone of the nightmare?!"

Atsushi Nakajima, who had remained silent throughout the meeting, stared wide-eyed and asked incredulously, "Something must be wrong here, right? She doesn't resemble Nightmare at all..."

But as he spoke, his voice gradually lowered, as if he had thought of something.

“Yes, judging by personality and temperament alone, that child does not resemble Nightmare at all,” Dazai Osamu said thoughtfully. “But the intelligence reports that the clones were summoned from different timelines. Perhaps that child came from a long time ago, when Nightmare was not yet Nightmare.”

Atsushi Nakajima stared at the photos on the projector.

Comparing the two images of Tokisaki in my mind, their faces overlapped perfectly without any difficulty.

It must be admitted that, setting aside personality, temperament, and clothing style, the two have completely identical faces.

“She really is the alter ego of the nightmare…” Atsushi Nakajima was still somewhat unwilling to believe it. “But why would she come to our detective agency?”

"Hey, newbie, don't get it wrong," Edogawa Ranpo corrected. "It wasn't that she wanted to come to our club; you guys tricked her into coming, didn't you?"

A few days ago, although Edogawa Ranpo was busy with other cases and did not participate in the confrontation with Nightmare or the rescue of Bandage Three, he later learned what had happened.

Osamu Dazai, Atsushi Nakajima, Doppo Kunikida, and Jun'ichirō Tanizaki rescued Bandage Three from the clutches of the nightmare and provided Yosano Akiko with treatment for the dying Tokisaki.

After recovering, Bandage Three wanted to leave the Armed Detective Agency, but was stopped by the others.

Because her identity is a mystery and she is being hunted by nightmares, they cannot allow such an unstable factor to wander around Yokohama.

Therefore, Dazai Osamu went to great lengths, using both threats and inducements, to persuade Bandage Three to voluntarily stay with the Armed Detective Agency.

These days, the detectives are also doing their best to get information out of her and are secretly investigating her identity.

But that guy was very tight-lipped, and whenever it came to anything related to her, he would clearly show his unwillingness.

They wouldn't even tell them their names.

So many days have passed, and the detectives have made no progress.

"I never expected to find out her identity by chance."

Dazai Osamu smiled helplessly.

"Mr. Ranpo is right. There is indeed a perfect example in our company of a clone betraying the original body."

Chapter 69 Ranpo's Deduction

With Edogawa Ranpo's explanation, everything makes sense.

Whether it was Dazai Osamu, who was only a little bit away from the truth, or Nakajima Atsushi, who had no clue from the beginning, they both understood the true identity of Bandage Three at this moment.

And the fundamental reason why she is being hunted by nightmares.

Bandage Three, a clone created by Nightmare using the Eighth Bullet, betrayed its original form for reasons unknown.

To eliminate any future trouble and prevent the betrayed Bandage Three from causing any more problems, Nightmare, as the true form of Nightmare, immediately began hunting her down after learning of her betrayal.

What followed is well-known.

"But why did Atsushi and I have to meet her and Nightmare by such a coincidence?"

The conspiracy theories he developed in the Port Mafia made Dazai Osamu keenly aware of something fishy: "Now it seems that the battle between Nightmare and her was a carefully crafted performance staged specifically for me and Atsushi, which perfectly explains why it was so easy to rescue her."

"Did Nightmare deliberately let us rescue her?"

Kunikida Doppo was startled, his mood turning heavy: "But what is the purpose? To dismantle the detective agency from within?"

"Pfft, hahaha, what a joke. Do you think a monster of this caliber would need to use any tricks to deal with our detective agency?" Edogawa Ranpo sneered. "Not to mention her stealth ability is impossible to guard against. If she's determined to destroy the Armed Detective Agency, it would be an incredibly simple matter for her."

"Ranpo, do you mean that if the Detective Agency clashes with Nightmare, we have no chance of winning?" Fukuzawa Yukichi asked in a deep voice.

"If one day we really clash with Nightmare, my suggestion is to evacuate everyone from Yokohama and hand the matter over to the government."

"What if the government can't intervene?"

"Then let's have a party!"

Why are we having a party?

"Hey, since the government can't help, at least let's die with a full stomach, right?"

"Ranpo." Fukuzawa Yukichi frowned. "This is a serious matter."

"President, I'm not joking with you."

Edogawa Ranpo dropped his nonchalant demeanor, opened his narrowed eyes, and his emerald green pupils were filled with solemnity: "With abilities like these, which can reverse time, accelerate, stop time, summon clones, foresee the future, and so on—twelve time-related abilities in total—our detective agency is utterly powerless against such a superhuman who poses a threat to national security."

"Twelve? But this intelligence report only says there are ten?" Atsushi Nakajima noticed the blind spot and asked, puzzled.

"It's related to time. The names of her abilities are Bullets 1 through 10. There are twelve moments on a clock, so the most reasonable guess is that she has twelve abilities, right?"

"So, that clone who called himself Tokisaki Shozo deliberately concealed two abilities...?"

"Ha, maybe she's being considerate of us mortals and deliberately concealed the fact that her ability to travel to the past or the future is too astonishing."

Edogawa Ranpo closed his eyes, resuming his casual attitude: "After all, if she really possesses both of these abilities, then she is a true transcendent, and we alone cannot possibly contend with her."

The concept of "Transcendent One" is known only to a few among those with superpowers.

Superhumans are people who can use superpowers. Even if they have abilities that ordinary people cannot understand, they are still classified as 'human'.

But those who transcend, those who stand at the pinnacle of superpowered beings, are so powerful that they cannot be encompassed by human concepts.

Every superpower has its own superpower, or rather, only a nation that possesses a superpower as its fighting force can become a superpower in this world.

Superpowers also regard their superpowers as treasures. Their existence not only determines the international status of the countries they serve, but also has extraordinary strategic significance, even more so than nuclear weapons.

Japan, however, has no one to surpass it.

Even the strongest fighter on the surface, Chuuya Nakahara, is not qualified to be called a transcendent.

If the intelligence obtained by the supernatural agents is true, then Nightmare has, to some extent, the qualifications to become a transcendent being.

If, like Edogawa Ranpo's deduction, she even possesses the ability to travel through time, then she has undoubtedly officially entered the realm of the transcendent, a monster that even the entire nation of Japan cannot defeat.

"If the nightmare is so terrifying, why couldn't she even deal with one of her clones?" Kunikida Doppo asked.

"It's not that it's unsolvable, but weren't we interrupted while we were trying to solve it?"

"But, just as Mr. Ranpo said, if Nightmare has the ability to defeat the entire Detective Agency, wouldn't it be an easy thing to kill that child from my, the newcomer, Dazai, and Tanizaki's subordinates?"

"Yes, it is indeed a very easy thing."

"If that's the case, why doesn't she do it?"

"Because that girl was indeed deliberately let in by the nightmare."

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Ranpo, I'm having trouble keeping up."

Atsushi Nakajima, whose brain was working at full capacity, raised his hand and said with a troubled expression, "You mean, the girl we took in is a clone of Nightmare, and the battle between Nightmare and her was a staged performance to get the Detective Agency to rescue her? But what's the point of keeping her in the Detective Agency? If Nightmare is capable of defeating the Detective Agency without inside help, why would she let her infiltrate the agency?"

"Ugh, this is so troublesome! I've explained it so much, don't you understand?!"

Edogawa Ranpo looked impatient and waved his hand, saying, "Dazai, you must already understand, right? Explain it for me."