Chapter 29
Translator: Kell Editor: Weasalopes
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Stealth vs . Master Swordsman (Prelude)
Hikaru stifled a yawn . Before him was breakfast served by the inn . Freshly-baked brown bread in a basket, a slice of cheese that smelled just a bit too strong on a plate, and orange-colored fruits the size of baseballs . In his mug was warm milk . It wasn’t cow milk, but it had a distinct rich taste, and quite an aroma as well .
「More food coming . 」
「What?」
A plate with five sausages the size of bananas was placed on the table . I can’t eat all this in the morning, Hikaru thought . He glanced at the other tables and saw people gobbling down their food .
「Breakfast is the most important meal of the day . You won’t grow if you don’t eat . 」Lavia said in a patronizing tone as she took a sip of her fruit juice .
「I’m not a kid anymore . You should eat too . 」
「You want a lady to eat something this heavy so early in the morning? You’re an enemy to all women . 」
「I can’t eat all this by myself, you know . 」
「You don’t have to finish it . 」
It was their first time having a meal at an inn . As such, they had no idea how much food was actually served . But then again, more was better .
Incidentally, they managed to book a room for two . They didn’t need to present their identification cards . It was hard to tell if a soul card was fake or not, and with the royal capital being huge, they couldn’t find the time to check every single one of their guests .
However, they were required to touch a stone tablet to determine if they had a criminal record or not . Officially-licensed inns in the capital always had one .
Everything’s so different from Pond, Hikaru thought as he and Lavia touched the tablet . They didn’t have any records, of course . The room cost 500 gilans a night (breakfast included) . It was on the expensive side, but since it was close to the Second residential district, Hikaru had no reason not to stay here . He paid for three nights in advance .
Money left: 21,780 gilans (+100,000 gilans)
Hikaru concentrated on eating and left over half his food unfinished .
「You gotta eat more or you won’t grow big!」the innkeeper said, tapping his back, making him burp .
After that, he returned to their room to sleep until noon . He came back at dawn and only had one hour of sleep .
「I’m going to sleep as well . 」Lavia said, shuffling into the bed beside Hikaru .
Worried about Hikaru, Lavia apparently stayed up late to wait for his return . Hikaru thought there was another reason she was up late . She probably couldn’t stop herself from reading what’s going to happen next in the adventure novel she borrowed from the bookstore . This world’s bookstore mostly rented out their books instead of selling them .
And so the two of them slept until just before noon .
Last night, Hikaru attacked three commanders as planned . His number one goal was to “hide a tree in a forest” . In other words, to make people think twice about giving East the death penalty . If the squad commanders got beaten in the blink of an eye, it would make sense that East would lose to the assailant . Hikaru found it hard to believe that all of them including the commanders would get executed .
Hikaru didn’t mind breaking a few bones if it meant East would live . The commanders wouldn’t be able to save face, however .
He had two other objectives as well .
First, Hikaru wanted to see the security situation in the center of the royal capital . Surprisingly it wasn’t all that great . The gate separating the First residential district and the Nobles district was guarded constantly, even at night . Put it another way, that meant people could pass through anytime . The number of guards didn’t matter to Hikaru – he simply went through without stopping . It was the same for the knights’ quarters . People would go in and out twenty-four-seven so the place wasn’t locked . Hikaru basically had a free pass . Gloria’s small place would be harder to infiltrate .
Hikaru had some few difficulties sneaking in to Scott’s residence . The building next door was under construction so he first entered there, climbed up to the roof, then jumped to Scott’s place . From the roof, he used a rope to descend down to Scott’s room .
Scott probably thought the intruder jumped down the window and escaped, but Hikaru actually used the rope to climb back up to the roof . From there, he escaped through the building next door .
Hikaru found the three commanders’ addresses from the emergency contact network in the knights’ quarters . Not only were their address on there, but there was a map to each of their residence as well .
His second objective was to find out how strong the squad commanders were . Fortunately, he didn’t need to fight them . Scott’s Soul Board went like this:
【Soul Board】Scott F . Lands
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Age: 26 Rank: 22
【Vitality】
. . 【Natural Recovery】4
. . 【Stamina】7
. . 【Immunity】
… . 【Magic Resistance】1
. . 【Perception】
… . 【Sight】1
… . 【Taste】1
【Magical Power】
. . 【Mana】5
. . 【Spirit Affinity】
… . 【Air】2
【Physical Strength】
. . 【Strength】3
. . 【Weapon Mastery】
… . 【Sword】4
… . 【Short Sword】1
… . 【Long Spear】2
… . 【Bow】1
… . 【Shield】1
… . 【Armor】3
【Willpower】
. . 【Mental Strength】1
. . 【Faith】
… . 【Holy】2
He probably trained hard enough that he used up all his points . The other knights had zero points left as well, or at the most had three points left . If they wanted to develop their strengths, they would certainly hit a wall .
Squad commanders with four points on Sword Mastery were no match for Hikaru if they were unarmed . If they had platemails on though, he would not stand a chance with only two points in Throwing and a point on Strength .
「Time to go . 」
After notifying Lavia, Hikaru made his way to the royal castle . The knights in town worked in threes, obviously to prevent being attacked . However, the guards at the residential district gates didn’t seem to be on alert . It seemed they weren’t informed of the knights’ squad commanders getting attacked .
Hmm… there’s really not a lot of them .
There were approximately five hundred names on the contact network he found in the knights’ quarters, but the knights he saw there numbered a lot fewer – around forty to fifty . There could be men like Scott who had his own place . Still, there were a lot of empty rooms .
Must be the war .
There should have been three more company commanders in the knights’ quarters . It was safe to assume that the rest were already sent to the front lines . Hikaru didn’t care about the current status of the war . With fewer knights and soldiers around, he wouldn’t have to worry much about authorities getting in the way of his plans .
It was already dark by the time Hikaru went through the Nobles district’s gate . Bonfires were lit, their light reflecting on the tip of the gatekeeper’s spear . Hikaru didn’t care, though . He simply went in .
The captain’s bedroom wasn’t in the knights’ quarters . Hikaru headed to his private residence in the Nobles district, but it was closed and nobody seemed to be around . No one answered his knocks, either .
The castle, then? There’s no way . Wait, what if…
Hikaru had a hunch . He headed to the knights’ indoor training facility . It was a building made of wood as big as a grade school gymnasium . It was also the biggest facility around . The floor was bare, with wooden walls and roofs . It looked like a barn more than anything with eight pillars that supported the ceiling . There was a catwalk and one could overlook the training ground from the second floor .
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Four torches were lit inside, not enough to light up the whole place . Hikaru welcomed the faint light from the night that slipped into the place through the four opened double doors .
In the middle of the training ground sat a huge figure, wearing only the minimum protective gear . A sword as long as Hikaru’s height stuck to the ground beside him .
The captain…!!
The man’s presence was so overwhelming that Hikaru knew who the man was right away . Hikaru should be safe thanks to his Stealth and job class, but the aura emitting from the man was too much for him . It was as if he was walking underwater .
The captain was clearly on a whole different level than the commanders he attacked last night . To make things worse, he was ready for Hikaru .
The man didn’t notice Hikaru standing in front of him . Yet he desperately searched for the shadows to hide himself . From there, he crept closer and closer until he was within the five-meter range where he could see the captain’s Soul Board .
【Soul Board】Lawrence D . Falcon
Age: 38 Rank: 48
0
【Vitality】
. . 【Natural Recovery】8
. . 【Stamina】11
. . 【Immunity】
… . 【Magic Resistance】2
… . 【Disease Immunity】2
… . 【Toxic Immunity】1
. . 【Perception】
… . 【Sight】2
… . 【Hearing】1
… . 【Taste】1
【Physical Strength】
. . 【Strength】16
. . 【Weapon Mastery】
… . 【Sword】3
… . 【Great Sword】6
……【Heaven Sword】1
… . 【Long Spear】1
… . 【Shield】5
… . 【Armor】5
【Willpower】
. . 【Mental Strength】4
. . 【Charisma】1
【Intuition】
. . 【Instinct】6
This guy’s a monster!
Hikaru ran back quickly to the walls . The captain had six points on his Great Sword which was on par with Unken’s six points on Short Sword . But his Strength was an order of magnitude higher . A whopping sixteen points . The max points one could allocate to it was thirty . Hikaru had never seen anyone with over ten points on Strength .
There was one more thing on Hikaru’s mind . The Heaven Sword . It was clearly a Skill derived from Weapon Mastery . The captain had a total of 83 points that he all used up . He couldn’t use magic, but it didn’t seem like he needed to learn either . Whereas Hikaru only had a total of 32 points – less than half that of the captain’s .
【Soul Board】Hikaru
Age: 15 Rank: 17
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1
【Vitality】
【Magical Power】
【Physical Strength】
. . 【Strength】1
. . 【Weapon Mastery】
… . 【Throwing】2
【Agility】
. . 【Power Burst】1
. . 【Stealth】
… . 【Life Obfuscation】3
… . 【Mana Obfuscation】3
… . 【Imperceptibility】5 (MAX)
…… . . 【Assassination】3 (MAX)
…… . . 【Group Obfuscation】3
【Intuition】
. . 【Detection】
… . 【Life Detection】1
… . 【Mana Detection】1
There was one more thing bothering him . The six points the captain had on Instinct . Even Unken only had four points on his .
「So you finally came for me . 」
The captain knew Hikaru was here .
The captain’s no pushover . As one would expect from the kingdom’s strongest Master Swordsman… Wait, he is the strongest, right? What if he wasn’t? This guy looks like he can take down a few hundred men on his own .
「Where are you? Show yourself! Ah, right . Your method is attacking people without showing yourself . 」
Slowly, the captain stood up . He glared at his surroundings . His kind and gentle eyes turned fierce in an instant, completely wary of everything .
「I know what you’re after . 」the captain continued .
What? For real?
Hikaru felt a chill go down his spine . Does he know that I’m trying to save East? Does he know about Lavia too? But how—?
「You want to test your abilities . Am I right?」
Hikaru almost dropped to the ground .
What? No! You got it all wrong! Well, I thought it might look that way .
The captain didn’t stop from eyeing his surroundings . While he noticed Hikaru’s arrival with his Instinct, he didn’t know exactly where he was .
「Rejoice . I am Lawrence, captain of the Order of the Knights, and this kingdom’s strongest man . 」
Hikaru wasn’t sure how much of that was true, but it wasn’t far off from what he expected .
If people like him were all over the place, this world’s wars must be some kind of a great monster battle .
「Would you be so kind as to show yourself?」
Lawrence’s tone changed . He was more composed .
「From what I’ve heard, you’re very young . So young and yet so strong . You have a promising future . I want to recruit you to the Order . 」
Is this guy serious? I sullied the reputation of the Order .
Hikaru thought about what Lawrence’s plan was .
First, he was serious about recruiting him .
Second, make Hikaru drop his guard and cut him down once he saw an opening .
Third…
Waiting for reinforcements?
There was a possibility that a high-level spell was in place that could pierce his Stealth . Hikaru activated both his Life and Mana Detection . They hindered his vision, so he usually had them off .
Hmm .
His reinforcement was actually already here . Someone was hiding in the corner of the second floor’s catwalk . He didn’t notice the person with Life Detection, but Mana Detection worked . They must be using some sort of magic tool to conceal their life force . Using a ladder, Hikaru climbed up to the second floor .
「What do you say? It’s not a bad deal . 」
Lawrence kept on talking on the first floor . Hikaru made it next to the person hiding in no time . A woman . No, a young lady . She didn’t look like she was chanting some sort of high-level detection spell . In fact, she was just sitting there .
She was using a magic tool that made her invisible to the naked eye . But Hikaru could clearly see her mana, and she had a lot .
【Soul Board】Kudyastoria G . Ponsonia
Age: 17 Rank: 4
0
【Magical Power】
. . 【Mana】5
. . 【Spirit Affinity】
… . 【Fire】1
… . 【Air】1
… . 【Earth】1
… . 【Water】1
【Willpower】
. . 【Charisma】3
. . 【Appeal】1
【Intuition】
. . 【Insight】
… . 【Arts】1
. . 【Intelligence】
… . 【Arithmetic】1
G . Ponsonia . Hikaru knew from Roland’s memories what kind of person had that name . A member of the royal family .
What’s a member of the royal family doing here?
Hikaru was confused . He didn’t expect this .