Chapter 31
Translator: Kell Editor: Weasalopes
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After the Attack
Roland…
Hikaru was taken aback, almost stopping in his tracks when the princess called him by that name . But he somehow managed to hide his discomposure .
Guards carrying magic lamps were running about . Hikaru walked past them at a brisk pace . He didn’t bother hiding himself . He’d already confirmed it a number of times that they wouldn’t be able to see him .
How does the princess know Roland? She wasn’t in his memories, either .
For Hikaru, it was his first time meeting the princess . No face popped up in his mind when he saw the name on her Soul Board .
I don’t even know what’s going on anymore . It’s pointless thinking about it . We won’t see each other ever again anyway .
He fulfilled his goal . Now East will not receive a death sentence . To be more accurate, there was still a possibility of that happening, but if that happens then there’s nothing more Hikaru can do . He could break the knight out of prison, but considering East’s earnest nature, he wouldn’t wish to escape .
I guess we can leave soon .
The next day, the princess summoned an inquisitor to her office . It was the man who was in charge of the investigation on Lavia’s whereabouts . His once slender face gave him an air of intelligence . Now he looked clearly haggard, his cheeks hollow and sunken .
「Are you okay?」the princess asked .
「I-I am!」
「I heard he had to give a report directly to His Majesty yesterday . Now Your Highness has called for him . I can see why he’s on the verge of breaking down . 」a high-ranking official, who was in the same room, told the princess .
「You must be exhausted . I apologize for calling you here . 」
「Y-You don’t need to apologize, Your Highness!」
The inquisitor felt ashamed that the princess apologized to him .
「Can you tell me exactly what you said to my father yesterday?」
「Yes, Your Highness . 」
The inquisitor pulled himself together and gave his report . It was pretty much the same from what Lawrence told her .
「What did His Majesty say when he heard your report?」
「He said I was useless . 」the inquisitor said with much pain in his voice .
The princess sympathized with him . She thought the amount of information he had gathered in that short time was impressive . But what the king was looking for were clues to the young lady’s whereabouts, and the inquisitor had nothing to report about that .
「Why does my father want that girl so bad?」
The king’s blatant actions made Kudyastoria think that this wasn’t just about the murder of a Count – that the girl held some sort of secret .
It must have something to do with the war . There’s no reason for me to pry deeper into this .
「I wanted to ask you something . 」the princess said .
「What might that be?」
「I believe the son of the late Viscount Zaracia was at Pond . Did you happen to see him?」
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「Viscount Zaracia…?」
The inquisitor was deep in thought, trying to remember . On the side was the high-ranking official, keeping a watchful eye on him . Princess Kudyastoria had just uttered a name that no one had brought up before . The official knew that Count Morgstad destroyed the Zaracia family . He had no idea what happened afterwards, however .
「I apologize . I don’t know anyone with that name . 」
「I see… Very well . Thank you for coming here . You may leave . 」
「Yes, Your Highness . 」the inquisitor said, and left .
「Princess, are you interested in this child of Viscount Zaracia?」
「Yes, a bit . Anyway, how did the imperial conference go today?」
The imperial conference was a meeting held at ten in the morning that the king attended . It was a chance to speak with the king directly and since people in important offices participated as well, government officers and generals brought up matters to discuss in this conference .
「It was a mess . 」
No surprises there, the princess thought . Today’s agenda was, of course, the captain’s defeat .
「What happened?」
「If I told you, would you tell me about Viscount Zaracia?」
「Sure, I’ll tell you anything I know . 」
「We have an agreement, then . 」
The high-ranking official was quite the ambitious fellow . He wanted to collect any information regarding nobles . Where should I start? he thought for a moment .
Kudyastoria didn’t attend the conference as her father and brother were there . She had never before wanted to participate as much as she did today . Lawrence suffered grave injuries in the knights’ own facility, after all . How did everyone react?
The princess actually returned to the castle secretly that night . As a member of the royal family, she knew several secret paths, and she was wearing a cloak to hide from people’s eyes .
「The meeting started with a report that the captain of the Order had been injured and wouldn’t be able to move about for a while . 」
「Oh, my!」
She acted surprised . The official had no idea that Kudyastoria was actually there when it happened .
「Apparently an enemy infiltrated the walls, and that the captain managed to drive him off . The fight was quite fierce as the knights’ training facility was destroyed . 」
「So what happened to the intruder?」
「He’s hiding in the nobles district . Security at the gate was immediately strengthened so he’s not going anywhere . The nobles district should be in an uproar right now as they search for the suspect . 」
No, Kudyastoria thought . That boy, who I called Roland by accident, is no longer in the nobles district .
In two consecutive days, he managed to sneak into the knights’ quarters easily and even made it near the castle . He wouldn’t wait around in the nobles district . Her mind was in turmoil whenever she thought about him . Who was he? Why did he save her? How did he find her when even Lawrence couldn’t see her? Now that I think about it, he can’t be Roland . His features, hair and eye color were different . Roland didn’t know who she was, though .
「Fortunately, the captain’s wounds healed immediately with healing magic . The king will send him to the front lines as originally planned . 」
「What?」
「Is something wrong?」
「Can the captain fight?」
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「Yes . His wounds were not that serious . I’m surprised anyone could actually injure him . 」
The wound wasn’t big, yes . It was just one cut, after all . But he lost a lot of blood . Healing magic couldn’t restore that .
Lawrence must’ve understated his report so as not to cause panic .
If he insisted he was fine, everyone would be at ease . All he had to do then was put up with it as he was sent to the front lines .
「Since the suspect is still in the nobles district, I expect we’ll be on high alert in the next few days . Please refrain from going outside the castle too, Your Highness . 」
「I know . Is that all that was discussed in the meeting? That doesn’t sound like a mess to me . 」
「By “mess”, I meant what happened afterwards . The nobles started quarreling among themselves about who sent the assassin . They were all like: “Count this has friends in a certain country . ” “Baron that wants his son to be among the Order’s top brass . ” “I’m absolutely loyal to His Highness . ”」
「………」
What an abhorrent scene that must have been . They were willing to put down others to curry favor with the king .
Kudyastoria felt dizzy . Now they really wouldn’t be able to find that boy . At first, she thought his goal was to test his abilities . But seeing how he acted, she thought that wasn’t entirely accurate .
If he simply wanted to test his abilities, he wouldn’t save her – a complete stranger . If he wanted to get famous, he would’ve given his name . If he wanted money, he would’ve snatched her jewelry .
His motives were unclear .
「Now, then . Please tell me about Viscount Zaracia, Princess . 」
「I don’t know a lot about him, though . I hope you’re okay with that . 」
Will I see him again? That thought was in one corner of her mind as she started talking about Roland . About how after his family was destroyed, he was supposed to be sent to the countryside . And that he was most likely in Pond during the time of Count Morgstad’s murder .
That was all . The official looked disappointed, thinking the information he got wasn’t all that promising .
「Let’s go back to work . 」
And so they went back to finishing the piles of paperwork .
In one room of the knights’ private hospital, Lawrence was wearing a frown . He was out of his bed and sitting on a chair with arms folded . His face was pale, his lips chapped from lack of blood .
「…Captain . 」
Sitting in front of him were eight knights . Among them were East and three commanders . Each one of them had their bones broken by Hikaru, but they’ve already healed thanks to healing magic .
「I lost as well . We’re ill-matched against the enemy . 」
「His methods are disgraceful! When I think about how he hurt your reputation by resorting to petty tactics, I—」
「You fool!」
Everyone gave a start .
「A loss is a loss . If you waste your time criticizing surprise attacks in the battlefield, you’ll die . 」
「Yes, Sir…」
The commanders hung their head low . They were that much affected from the captain’s admittance of defeat .
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Lawrence was optimistic, however . Healers and doctors declared him to be in critical condition from too much blood loss, but he was able to get up and move about after a night’s rest . He was so famished that he finished ten portions of food . His body was busy producing blood .
No . More like his body wanted to live . It couldn’t let itself die just yet and leave the score unsettled with that boy .
Oh, right . The princess was there last night, but she hasn’t gotten in touch with me . She probably wants me to keep my mouth shut .
「We must reflect upon our failure . That intruder… No, he’s more than that now . He excels in eluding people’s senses . We need something to detect him . And there’s one more thing . Does anyone have any idea what it is?」
East raised his hand .
「We need to make sure that our heavy gear is usable at all times . 」
「Yes, that’s roughly it . Modify the plate armors so they can be worn immediately, or develop a foldable shield that can be deployed from the hands . That man’s attacks are weak, perhaps because he specializes in stealth . 」
The commanders nodded in agreement .
「That man reminded me to be combat-ready at all times . 」
Lawrence staggered a bit as he stood up . One of them tried to help the captain, but he stopped him .
「This means I’m still lacking in training . Those who fought against him and lost have a duty to inform others of his threat . East . 」
「Sir!」
「I planned to push for your death sentence just because you lost to that man . Forgive me for being so thoughtless . 」
「You don’t have to apologize, Sir . 」East said, gritting his teeth, his voice trembling .
Tears streamed down his face, perhaps from the bitterness of losing against their assailant . Maybe they were tears of relief from having escaped death . Or perhaps envy that there was someone out there who could defeat the man he looked up to . It might be all of the above .
Lawrence saw his tears and nodded .
「Listen up . The next time we meet that man, we’ll make him regret that he ever went up against us . Until then we must grow and develop ourselves even more . 」
「Yes, Sir!」
「To the battlefield we go . 」
「Yes, Sir!」
Though he was in bad condition, Lawrence headed to the frontlines .
「Ugh… my whole body hurts . 」
「Are you okay?」
「I’ll be fine . I just have to think of it as some horrible muscle pain . 」
Hikaru was walking around the capital with Lavia . The place was so huge that if they didn’t pay attention, they would surely get lost . Blacksmiths were gathered in one place and so were the clothes stores . Shops that specialized in one particular kind of product were everywhere, so they had no choice but to walk all over the place .
Hikaru’s body ached from the fight with Lawrence . The full power of his Power Burst 2 was too much for him . He would need to put more points on Strength, Flexibility, Balance, or Stamina so his body could keep up .
Maybe I need to actually work out rather than rely on my Soul Board .
There was no harm in working out . He wasn’t planning to get ripped, though . A bit of muscle would be enough .
Hikaru might be in pain, but he learned a lot about his limits last night . Sure, he could’ve died, but the experience was worth it . It was a high-level battle, a fight with the strongest, and his Stealth was effective on him .
「Thanks for waiting, Mr . Adventurer . I take it I sign here?」
As soon as Hikaru received the signature for his delivery, they headed back to the guild to process his promotion . He had just completed the prescribed number of quests for it .
「Congratulations . You are now rank F . 」
It was a different receptionist from the other day who congratulated Hikaru .
【Adventurers Guild Card】
【Name】Hikaru
【Registration】Pond Adventurers Guild, Kingdom of Ponsonia
【Rank】F
【Job Class】－－－
Hikaru left the job class blank . He would only be bombarded with questions if he set it to Civilian . Setting it to Stealth God was just absurd too .
「I can get promoted to rank E even if the only jobs I take are gathering materials, right?」
「That’s correct . But it’ll take some time . Unless you can defeat tougher monsters, gathering materials won’t be easy . 」
「Is that so?」
「You look confident . Please come to me if you get rare materials!」
Do they get something from purchasing materials? Like a bonus? The guild was so deserted that the receptionist could waste her time talking . The adventurers were probably recruited for the war .
「As you can see, I’m an adventurer from Pond . 」
「There’s no drawback in changing your base of operations . You can transfer here in the royal capital . There’s no monsters in the immediate vicinity, but there’s lots of bodyguard missions . Since you’re rank F, you can take a few of those . Plus the reward is good . Above all, there’s plenty of ways to spend money here in the capital!」
「I feel indebted to that place . 」
「I see . That’s a shame . People seem to be flocking to Pond . What’s so good about that town anyway? Oh, I’m not making fun of the place, by the way . 」
「People? You mean adventurers like me?」
「Yes . Rank B adventurers affiliated with the royal capital branch are headed there . 」
「Oh…」
Hikaru was intrigued after hearing about their ranks .
「Can you tell me what kind of people they are?」
「Sure . It’s actually a party of four women with a hundred percent job success rate!」
The receptionist told him their name .
Four Stars of the East .
「…Hmm…」
It didn’t take long for Hikaru to realize that those women were the ones who were supposed to escort Lavia to the capital .