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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 2 Chapter 6.2

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“Translator: Goma/Editor: TheNix”

「I see, there is a monetary reward. 」

「Did you not know? 」

「Yes. 」

    I honestly nodded. Actually, this method of hers is the same as Shunjū Ikkaku huh. All the more I did not want to go near her.

『Then you should understand, right? That would be more beneficial for you too. I will talk about it with the boss for you. 』

    Tetsu said this. I could not help but smile. 

「No, I don’t need the money. Just claim the credit as yours, Tetsu. 」

『I don’t understand you. 』

「It would benefit you more, you know. 」

「…… 」

    He had just stupidly told me that there was a monetary reward for it. He could have simply struck the deal, and claim the credit as his. Yet, he passed on it. He was thinking of me. People like him must be recognized. If not, there won’t be any hope in this world.

「Well, honestly I don’t want to go near Batako san. 」

『Why? 』

「I am genuinely scared of her. 」

    When I honestly said so, Tetsu laughed.

『You are quite frank, huh? 』

「Aren’t you not scared of her? 」

『Although I am scared of her, I respect her more. 』

    There you go, those kinds of things make her even scarier.

「Well, that’s that. So can you do it for me? 」

    He fell silent for a while. Then……

『Alright then. It’s a deal. 』

「Thanks man. 」

    I was relieved that somehow it worked out.

    I returned to the inn, secretly went back to my room, and rested for a while.

    A few hours later, I secretly went out of the sleeping inn again and stood at the outskirts of the hot springs town which was the meet-up place.

    Immediately, I heard a motorcycle roaring in the silent midnight.

「Did I make you wait? 」

「No no. 」

    I passed two cans of drinks to Tetsu. I had not seen him in a few days.

    One was an adult black coffee; another was a sweet fizzy drink.

    I had imagined him choosing the adult black coffee. But he did not hesitate to take the fizzy drink.

    Because of his unexpected choice I had to drink the adult black coffee like last time.

    Ugh, it’s so bitter.

    While crunching my face, I took the stuff and looked inside. A high-quality light-weight penlight, an all-rounder picking set made by a famous company in those industries (although it is the older version, it is sufficient), work Tabi boots [1. TL Note: A style of traditional Japanese footwear invented in the early 20th century, made for construction work.] made by the same brand, a set of weights to measure mass, a ruler that measures up to one millimeter, and so on and so forth. Prima facie, no one would know what these tools are used for.

「But what are you going to use these things for? 」

    While I put them into my bag, Tetsu asked me.

「Oh, I am thinking of stealing something from a haunted estate. 」

    When I smiled, Tetsu glared at me suspiciously.

「Who are you? 」

「I am an outcast member of a bandit family. 」

    I posed while making such a cool introduction.

「I see. Then I must be the legendary hero. 」

    Tetsu did not seem to trust me.

    I thanked him, while Tetsu’s motorcycle roared.

「Thanks for coming so late at night. 」

「Really. There won’t be a next time alright. 」

    Even though he said that, I had a feeling that if I asked him again he would probably come.

「Oh yeah, please pass this to Yun. 」

    Saying this, passed a can of orange juice with pulp in it.

    Tetsu silently took it and shook it with all his might. Then he opened the pull-tab, and finished the juice in one go. Then he threw it away in a trash can nearby.

「Do you have to do so much? 」

「Bye, Jūgo Yama. Keep your promise, alright? 」

「Sure. 」

    Then Tetsu went away on his bike.

    After seeing him off I said,「Alright then, time to go. 」and headed towards the estate.

   

    I was trying to clear a ((Ruin)) alone, even though I had barely managed to clear the previous ((Ruin)) with the help of Tensai and president Yuiga.

    At first glance, my plan this time seemed quite hopeless, but as long as the conditions were right I was confident that I could do it.

    My conclusion from what president Yuiga had said and my previous experience is this: The ((Ruins)) broadly have two types of traps.

    One type is where you have to overcome the trap before obtaining the treasure. The other type is where you have to overcome the trap after obtaining the treasure.

    This time, it would have been difficult for me to obtain the treasure if the trap had been the former type. If the trap was like a quiz or some glass floor panels that randomly fall, I would have just obediently given up at that point. I honestly am very bad at those kinds of traps that require intelligence, and I don’t think I would be able to solve them on my own.

    However, this time, things were different, since the traps were genuine traps. Due to my family background, I had been specially trained to steal things since a young age. I was rather good at these kinds of traps.

    President Yuiga had said perhaps the ((Ruin)) this time is not a small-scale one room thing like last time, but the whole building. So I guessed that there must be several different traps this time.

    I had found out that this was true in the preliminary investigation. I was now confident that I could clear the ((Ruin)).

    I went to the estate again, and started trying to find the chest.

    I had used my knowledge, experience, and wit to avoid the traps as much as possible. And I opened all the doors in the estate carefully. I had investigated the whole of the first floor, and went to the second floor.

    Then, I finally found the room where the treasure chest was.

    The problem was the possible trap that would activate after I get the Nanana Collection from the treasure chest.

    I had no idea what kind of trap it was.

    Yet I still had a solution.

    Well, it was not that difficult.

    I know that there is a trap.

 

    But I don’t need to activate the trap.

 

    Of course saying this is easy, but actually doing it was very hard. For a normal person it would definitely be impossible.

    However, I am not normal. I had been specially trained to steal things.

    Thus, it was time. I took my time to enter the room. I made sure the door did not close and remained cautious of any traps in the room. I carefully approached the treasure chest, and carefully searched it over and over again. The outside, the lid, the inside of the chest, and especially the bottom of the treasure chest where the Nanana Collection is placed on.

    I figured out how the switch activation trap works, and started replacing the Nanana Collection with the cat plush toy (from the crane game). I had used the tools Tetsu had delivered, and carefully progressed. I focused on making sure there was not a single error and took my time to do so. As a result, I succeeded in changing the Nanana Collection with the cat plush toy without activating the trap.

    After this I retreated swiftly, while making sure I did not leave a trace. I successfully got out of the estate. By the time I was out, the sky was already bright.

「……I am so tired. 」

    I had used all my mental energy for such meticulous work, and I was completely tired. After this, I headed towards the bakery in the hot spring town as my phone’s alarm told me to do.

    On the way there, I did not forget to throw away everything other than the penlight and the picking set (because both items were very expensive).

 

    This was what I did that night.

    I had talked for quite a long time non-stop, but you must be wondering: why did I betray the others?

    The reason is simple. Ms. Yukihime was there.

    The moment we arrived at the inn, Ms. Yukihime appeared. I could only think that her objective was the Nanana Collection. I made sure that I would obtain the Nanana Collection, in case the specialist Ms. Yukihime disrupted us Adventure Club members from obtaining the Nanana Collection.

    I shall state clearly: I had been wary of Ms. Yukihime, and I did not intend to betray the Adventure Club.

    My goal is simply to search for who killed Nanana, and to search for a Nanana Collection that would be useful in my quest to find them. If this Nanana Collection was not useful, I was not that interested in it.

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