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Chapter 180: Advance Survey ②

~Nelfie’s Perspective~

While moving to the vicinity of the arena with the [Stealth] skill so as not to be noticed by the soldiers patrolling in the back alleys and rooftops, I heard a faint sound from a building that I just passed by.

「Hmm? …Isn’t this just a private house?」

At first glance, it didn’t seem to be that different from other buildings aside from one strange thing. It didn’t have any windows besides one starlight window.

It would obviously be inconvenient to live in such a place, and it’s built in such a way that it would be difficult to see inside from the outside.

「There is only one presence inside, huh. Seems worth exploring.」

Muffled by the sound of the rain, I jumped up to the roof and checked inside through the skylight window.

Although the weather was unfortunate, there was enough light to see inside the building, and there was a single shadow moving inside.

「Is that… Michael?」

Michael, who was commentating during the ranking battle, was wandering around the building. Held in his hand was a communication type magic tool.

Considering that I couldn’t hear him talking, it didn’t seem like he was communicating with anyone at the moment.

I can’t decide whether he’s an enemy or an ally.

Judging from his behavior so far, it doesn’t seem like he has a bad impression of [Star Supremacy]. However, his behavior here was clearly suspicious.

(For the time being, it would be better to move on the assumption that he is an enemy. Besides, even if he turns out to be an enemy, I can’t miss this chance.)

I unlocked the window with tree attribute magic, quietly jumped in through the window, grabbed Michael from behind, and thrust a dagger to his back.

「Don’t move……」

「Huh!? T-That voice… Nelfie-san, right!」

This time it was my turn to be surprised by the unexpected response.

I, of course, changed my tone of voice, and used the opponent’s blind spot to approach. I can assure that I didn’t make any embarrassing mistakes. Nevertheless, Michael knew who I was with just one word.

「You’re Nelfie-san, aren’t you!? I have been waiting for you guys!」

He was clearly confident that it was me. Michael knew with certainty that I was the person behind him without even seeing me.

「What do you mean? Moreover, how did you recognize me just by my voice?」

「That’s because of my skills [Relative Pitch] and [Voice Recognition]. Once I hear a voice, I can distinguish it even if the tone is slightly changed.」

I didn’t know that Michael had such a skill… This was my mistake for being completely self-conceited.

However, I don’t feel any hostile intentions from Michael. He held a communication-type magic tool in both hands and didn’t even make the slightest gesture of trying to take out his weapon or trying to escape.

「Fuu… I still have a long way to go.」

Michael turned around when I lowered my weapon.

「Please follow me! We’re running out of time right now! I’ll explain as we move!」

The flow of the conversation left me a little stunned. Seconds ago I had the upper hand, but Michael was in complete control now. But I don’t think that he is an enemy, and there is a possibility that he has some kind of important information.

As I nodded slightly, Michael walked to the end of the room, opened the door to the basement hidden by a piece of furniture, and continued down the ladder.

「This is an underground passage leading to important facilities in the city.」

「How do you know this passageway?」

「Truth is, I belong to the Arto Kingdom’s intelligence unit. Being the tournament organizing committee for the ranking battle is just a cover.」

Judging from the movement of his body, he doesn’t seem to have that much fighting capability, but it’s true that Michael’s skills were suitable for spying, especially for undercover investigations. If I had the same ability, with just a quick thought I can already think of several useful applications.

In addition, by taking on the prominent role of “commentator” even within the tournament organizing committee, did he plant the preconceived notion that “Michael = a commentator” to those around?

And this passage… Judging from the deterioration of the building materials, it was probably built during the construction of Alraine itself. It seems to have played a role as a hidden passage used by spies since ancient times.

However, I have some concerns about that.

「Isn’t there a possibility of someone on Fernando’s side knowing about this passage and also your true identity?」

「That might be true for this passage, but only a very few people know my true identity. However, if someone finds me here, that too will be revealed…」

「Hmm. Then, can I regard anyone else who uses this passage other than us as an enemy?」

「Yes. Or rather, do you believe me?」

「Well, you are the kingdom’s intelligence agent, aren’t you? In addition, considering that you have rare skills and that you can sneak into the Ranking Battle’s organizing committee, you were probably assigned to the intelligence unit under the direct control of the king. That is my guess.」

「…You are indeed correct.」

「That means that you are in a hostile relationship with the Fernando faction that caused the rebellion this time. In that case, we could probably consider you an ally.」

「Haha… as expected. To add another thing, I was also the one who leaked the information to the Ruzark faction in Recuria and Plainevelt. So, I heard from Barbaru-san that Black Thunder was headed to the capital.」

「I see. Is that why you said you have been waiting?」

「Indeed.」

I can safely assume that Michael is indeed an ally. Even if he did belong to Fernando’s faction, passing information to us is nothing but a disadvantage.

More importantly, I continued the conversation while following him as instructed, but where is this passage leading to?

「Michael, where is this headed? I was on my way to the arena, though.」

「The destination is the same arena. Or rather, since Nelfie-san has also arrived at the same answer, it seems that something is indeed happening in the arena.」

We proceeded through the dark corridor while continuing the conversation.

The bad feeling in my chest grew little by little…