I Will Save You – Part 02

“Well?”

“I-I can’t tell you anything.”

“Here’s the menu. Anything you want to order?”

“There are just some things that you can and cannot say. I would be violating my duty of confidentiality.”

“What, you think I’m going to misuse the information?”

“I’m sorry…” She placed the fork and knife on the table.

“No, I should be the one apologizing. That wasn’t fair. You’re answering my questions out of goodwill. I don’t want you getting in trouble because of it.”

All right, now what? Hikaru leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. If I can’t get anything more out of her, I just have to sneak into the mansion…

“Why do you want to know?” Freya suddenly asked. “This is indeed big news, but people normally don’t care about a Count being killed.” She stared fixedly at Hikaru. “You’re the son of some wealthy man who ran away from home on a whim and decided to become an adventurer so he could survive. Am I right?”

“Sounds about right. I don’t have any other means to sustain myself except being an adventurer.”

“Does your family have connections with Count Morgstadt?”

“No. None at all.”

“Then why do you care so much?”

I screwed up, Hikaru thought. Morgstadt’s death was much more confidential than he imagined.

“My friend… went through a lot.”

“Your friend?”

“Yeah. You could say he was oppressed by Count Morgstadt. That’s why I’m curious.”

“I see…” Freya believed him. “It’s going to be public anyway, so I guess I can tell you this much. Three days from now, a certain someone will be transported to the royal capital.”

“A certain someone.”

“That’s all I can say on the matter.”

A certain someone… the culprit. It’s that girl, all right. Three days from now… The fact that the Adventurers’ Guild knows about that means…

“Don’t tell me… adventurers will be guarding the transport? Why—”

Freya’s attention was on the food, as if to say, “I’m not telling you anything else.”

There were knights in the Count’s manor, who are much higher-ranked than the common soldier. So why would they hire adventurers to be the convoy? There’s gotta be more to this…

In the meantime, the Twin Tornado Juice arrived. The container was shaped like a round melon and made of metal, with two straws sticking out of it. Two straws.

“Here you go,” Freya said.

“…Hmm?”

“Come on.”

“Wait, what? There’s two straws on this thing.”

“Yes. It’s called ‘twin’ for a reason.”

“No, no, no, no, no.”

It’s a couples’ drink! Stuff that soppy lovebirds drink!

Freya’s cheeks turned red from embarrassment.

“I told you I’ve been wanting to try it, but I didn’t have anyone to drink it with!”

“You’ve got all those men after you. You had plenty to choose from!”

“A-Adventurers are scary.”

She did mention that before. Hikaru finally understood. She sees me as someone completely harmless.

“All right. Let’s have a drink, then. We’ll take turns.”

“Um, apparently we’re supposed to drink it at the same time.”

“There’s no way that’s—”

Hikaru checked the note on the menu.

“…”

Seriously? Do we have to act like a cheesy couple?

“I understand if you don’t want to,” Freya mumbled with teary eyes.

“I don’t mind,” Hikaru quickly replied.

“But—”

“I just didn’t want to cause you trouble. You know, what if people think we’re a couple?”

“I-It’s not like we’re gonna bother anyone.”

Freya looked away, cheeks flushed, fidgeting.

“Let’s drink it, then. Like I said, a man doesn’t go back on his words.”

“O-Okay.”

They moved their faces closer.

This is much closer than I thought!

Their hairs were almost touching.

“One, two…”

They sipped at the same time. Fresh, citrusy juice entered their mouths along with a sweet aroma. It was slightly carbonated.

“Tastes nice,” Hikaru remarked.

“You’re right! It’s so good!”

Freya’s radiant smile paralyzed Hikaru.

How could the adventurers call her Fake Smile Freya when she could put on such an immaculate smile?

Hikaru himself was using her to gather information. Now I feel bad.

He wondered if there was anything he could do to make it up to her.

“More, Hikaru.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Are you mocking me?! I’m older than you, you know.”

“That reminds me, how old are you?”

“You don’t ask a lady her age.”

“Oh, come on…”

And so they finished the rest of the juice.


Later that night, around midnight, Hikaru appeared in Count Morgstadt’s residence, wearing a black outfit. He left his cloak behind, as he didn’t want it getting caught in something.

On his face was something he’d never worn before. A mask.

Hikaru had been considering covering his face with something so that he wouldn’t get recognized when going out at night. While walking through the market in Pond, he found this mask. It was designed to hide the area around the eyes and the bridge of the nose, while completely covering only the right side of the face. There were engravings around the edges, but otherwise it was a simple silver mask. It was being sold at an engraver’s stall, who said he had been commissioned to create it by a wealthy merchant.

“He said he had a daughter with a burn from her forehead to her right cheek. She would be using it regularly, so he wanted it to be light, and with a trace amount of mana so that it would stick onto her face. And I obliged. I had to ask an Artificer to help with the mana part, though. Then suddenly the merchant went bankrupt or something, and he couldn’t buy it anymore. How about it, young man? I’ll give you a discount.”

It cost 500 gilans. He tried putting it on, and indeed, it stuck to his face. He liked the simple design as well. Polishing it with a cloth revealed a beautiful silver luster.

“All righty, then. I guess I just have to go through the front again.”

Hikaru’s objective was to gather information, but if possible, he also wanted to save the girl. She was innocent to begin with, and she helped him escape after assassinating Count Morgstadt.

“I have no idea why she helped me, but I don’t like the idea of her being accused of a crime that I committed.”

Before this, Hikaru had snuck into the station in town to eavesdrop, but came up empty. Most of the guards’ conversations revolved around booze, gambling, women, and gripes about their superiors.

But he did gain something. The girl wasn’t in the Public Safety Investigation Agency’s custody—an organization similar to Japan’s police. She wasn’t in the station either.

“That means she’s still in the Count’s place.”

The front gate was locked, but not the side entrance. A guard stationed at the entrance didn’t notice Hikaru at all as he slipped past him.

The last time he was here, it was raining. Tonight, the pale—a lot paler than on Earth—light of the moon was shining on the mansion.

The front door, which he used last time to enter, was locked.

“Of course it’s locked. Someone was just assassinated recently. Security will be a lot tighter. But my Stealth’s level has gotten up as well.”

Hikaru’s Stealth was currently being buffed by his guild card’s Blessing, something he didn’t have before.

He circled the building. The windows were barred, but he could remove them if he really needed to by just smashing the glass inside. However, he would prefer not to leave any traces of his presence.

“What’s that?”

Hikaru caught sight of a back door. It was ajar. The streak of light coming from inside revealed a man and woman standing beside it.

“Are you leaving already?”

“Once my mission is over, I will have to return to the capital.”

“I’ll miss you.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to send you letters.”

The man’s face was unfamiliar to Hikaru, but the uniform and the sword hanging from his waist identified him as a knight. And the woman was a maid.

Right. The knights in this place were hired by the Count against their will. That explains their lack of motivation. But still you shouldn’t hit on the maids.

Hikaru slowly walked past them and slipped inside through the back door. As soon as he opened it, the sudden brightness from within caused the knight and maid to jump and flee into the darkness. They probably thought someone was coming from inside.

Hikaru was there, but they acted like they didn’t see him.

This Stealth God Blessing is too good.

Inside he spotted a storage room with a kitchen beside it. There was only a dim lamp on; no one was around. Hikaru steadily pressed on. He didn’t need to worry about minor stuff with his Stealth active. His first stop was Count Morgstadt’s room on the second floor.

The door was locked shut.

No good. I could make easy progress if I had Skills like Unlock or Disarm Trap. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any of those on any Soul Board.

He didn’t have any points to spend anyway.

He pressed his ears against the wall, but heard nothing. His Detection didn’t pick up anything either.

He checked the next room. It was empty. He moved to the next one, where he detected human presence inside with his Skill.

A woman.

The door was unlocked, so he opened it slowly. The moment he entered the room, Hikaru caught the smell of perfume. A glamorous woman with a distinct set of facial features was sleeping soundly on a gorgeous, canopied bed.

The Count’s wife… nah, she’s too young. A mistress, or a second wife.

Rings and necklaces lay scattered on the dresser. Hikaru picked up a ring. It had a gemstone on it the size of Hikaru’s thumb, though it was too dark to ascertain its color.

I can easily steal this, but it’ll probably get traced back if I sell it.

When Hikaru decided to make money, he considered stealing from wicked people like Nezumi Kozou. But there were three reasons as to why he couldn’t:

1. He couldn’t unlock vaults.
2. He couldn’t sell precious jewelry as it could be traced back to him.
3. Even if he could steal money, large amounts of coins would be too heavy for him to carry.

Small amounts he could just earn from the Adventurers’ Guild, and he wouldn’t have to risk himself by stealing.

He asked Freya after they finished their Twin Tornado Juice about Item Boxes or Dimension Storages—classics in reincarnation stories—which could help him carry lots of coins, but her answer was:

“I think those are natural treasures from some other country.”

They were not things one could just buy anywhere. If stuff like that were available to the public, there would have been a huge revolution in the circulation of goods, similar to the IT Revolution on Earth. This world would’ve developed into an advanced society that he’d only seen and read in science fiction.

But from what he’d observed, merchants transported goods by wagons and hired people to load and unload heavier packages.

Hikaru had not seen anything comparable to the soul card system, a super technology that was created by someone who possessed the Blessing of the Wisdom God.

In short, stealing was not an option.

Hikaru returned the ring and stepped back out onto the corridor. After checking the other rooms, there was only one that was unusual.

Books…

By the wall stood a bookshelf filled with books. Most of them were adventure stories, but there were also books about history, religion, engineering, among others. Judging from the size of the bed and the fanciness of the interior design, Hikaru surmised that it belonged to a teenager.

Maybe it’s that girl’s room.

He opened the closet and found familiar nightclothes.

I knew it… Whoa!

Below were silk undergarments. He quickly slammed the closet shut.

Oh, crap!

He trotted to the bed and hid behind it.

“Is someone here?”

Instantly the door opened. Light darted around the room, barely touching Hikaru’s toes. By installing a directional feature on the mana-powered magic lamp, it worked like a flashlight.

“Oh, a book just fell,” he muttered to himself and left.

It’s the knight. The one who was against the murder charges on the girl.

Hikaru left the girl’s room.

Become a VIP
Question icon
Become a VIP and enjoy the benefits of being able to read chapters in advance of the current release schedule.

  • Read +1 extra chapters (inc. Ad-FREE experience)
    $5 / month
  • Read +2 extra chapters (inc. Ad-FREE experience)
    $10 / month
  • Read +4 extra chapters (inc. Ad-FREE experience)
    $20 / month

RELEASE RATE

Rule Breaker (Light Novel)

Speed up schedule by 10 hours

5150 / 55000

Current schedule: Every 70 hours

SPEED UP SCHEDULE
Question icon
Use Krystals to speed up the schedule of this novel. When the bar is completely filled, the schedule will be updated manually by an admin and the chapters will release at a rate 10 hours faster. E.g. 70 Publish Hours will be reduced to 60 Published Hours. Any excess Krystals donated will be credited to the next speed-up schedule if available or refunded to your account

Novel Schedule

Rule Breaker (Light Novel)

Schedule will be reduced when the goal is reached

Balance: 0

Comment (0)

Get More Krystals