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Chapter 121: Investigation Start

 

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Translator: “Pink Tea” Editor: ”Weasalopes”

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Still surrounded by a tense atmosphere I attentively listen to the King’s words. Quite reluctantly to be honest.

If I resist here, I will expose Emma and others to danger, and even more importantly, being raised by a puny lowest noble I was under the curse that made me shrink in front of people of high position.

Father, for this I blame you.

Now, as expected, the king’s demands were simple. He wanted to punish Fangs of Counterattack that kept causing unrest in the city and even attacked the castle at times.

Of course, that means subjugating their leader S as well.

As King Gyro casually told me, S is the most troublesome for he has charisma and ingenuity, so he should be assassinated.

「They are using as assassins kids that didn’t even turn ten. So there is no need for us to be reluctant about doing the same.」

He is totally unreasonable, this person. I’m really glad that he isn’t our king.

「That being said, there is a huge risk for me. Can I, an outsider, do anything about the enemy so powerful that he cannot be disposed of by his own country?」

「Ugh……」

As one would expect, this irritated me a little, so I replied with some acidity. But since I’m dealing with a king, I won’t go too far.

We managed to settle on it that I won’t accept an assassination, but I will assist with capture. After receiving information on the organization we left the castle.

Looks like Emma was extremely happy with me opposing that king since she kept squeezing my arm all the time.

Completely without caring about her breasts pressing against my arm. Thanks to that I got a bit of LP. Thank you!

At the town’s gate, I decided to part with everyone. All four of the girls offered to help, but I refused.

It was about time for everyone to return after all.

「Make sure to run away if things get dangerous…… I will punch you will my full strength if you won’t come back!」

Emma, looking like she is about to cry was quite cute.

Seeing off the carriage that everyone boarded, I went to collect information in the town.

After all the king’s information wasn’t that useful. Well, it also meant that S is that proficient in covering his tracks.

There wasn’t a single person that didn’t know about Fangs of Counterattack.

But nothing but scary stuff came up, like famous adventurer getting utterly defeated by S or soldiers being completely unable to deal with them. Eehm, I kinda might have to fight him, you know……

I’d like some more optimistic information.

That aside, the number of supporters for Fangs of Counterattack was surprisingly high. An old man with whom I spoke a moment ago was also one of them.

「Indeed, Fangs of Counterattack might be radical. But their objective is to kill the king and annihilate royalty. Which is, you know…」

Many refused to say anything beyond that. They can’t say it in public, but I guess they do wish for the king to die.

It caught my interest, so I decided to also gather rumors on royalty’s infamy. As result…… I learned the facts that made me feel sick.

It seems that the royalty and nobility of those lands frequently abuse their power and authority. Especially revolting was so called game known as noble battle.

That alone made me infuriated after learning a bit of detail. They use commoners troubled for money as some kind of pieces in their game. For nobles, it’s a game, but for commoners, it’s a battle with their life on the line.

…Maybe I should just go home? My legs carried me to the gates by themselves.

「…Is what I thought, but I’ll do my best to find S! I’ll certainly capture him.」

Why I suddenly became so motivated? It’s simple, someone was stealthily following me. Must be the king’s underlings. They are near a signboard of a curio shop.

I asked【Great Sage】 if S is in this town, or a person acting under such alias.

【One 256 meters south-southeast, one 439 meters north-north-east.】

I’m glad that the name was that rare we managed to narrow it to only two people.

Next one. This time I ask about distinctive traits in their appearance.

Both of them were young men, one of them had brown hair and slender build. A large mole on his neck. Another one was tall and had short grey hair. It seems that he also has a cut around his elbow on the right arm.

Questions end here. I have resistance to headache from the skill, but it’s not a complete one. If I keep pushing my luck and barraging with questions, the headache will surely make me cry.

If Emma was with me I could’ve eased it with a kiss though.

First, I will try the nearest one. Measuring the distance with steps I arrive at a park.

「Brown hair, slender, a mole on the neck.」

I mutter as I walk. A passerby gave me a look of pity. I’m completely normal! While I was asserting so in my mind, I found a person that matched the description.

A person smoked a cigar, lying on a bench. Slowly, I approach. I can learn his identity by using【Appraisal】when I get closer. Won’t work if he has concealment-type skill though. ……Yet.

「Hey, you brat.」

「……Huh? Wha-what?」

Oh, snap! The moment I was about to confirm his abilities our eyes met and he called out to me. To be honest, his low and keen voice startled me a bit.

「You, you are not from this area, aren’t ya?」

「Yes. I actually just arrived for sightseeing.」

「That’s interesting.」

With those words, he stood up and covered my eyes with his hand. No way, does he already know everything? I reached for a sword on my waist in panicー

「Don’t be rash. I just want to hear about other countries.」

His hand moved away from my eyes. His fingers held a small mosquito. Squashing it, he then donned a broad smile. Is he perhaps not a bad person?

Since he did have a mole on his neck, I use 【Appraisal】while thanking him.

Name: Jauce Trobia
Age: 24
Race: Human
Level: 69
Occupation: Explorer
Skills: One-Handed Swordsmanship A, Stone Bullet, Tackle Enhancement

Oh my, he is strong…… My level is far higher, but having Swordsmanship A is amazing.

His occupation column has only an explorer in it, I wonder if he is not S? In the first place, would S activities even reflect on the occupation field? His name a false one, so it might not come up.

「I thought about going on exploration soon, so I’d like to hear about your country.」

「I’d like to talk as well, but I’m a bit busy at the moment.」

「Then come back when you are done with that.」

Promising so, I head for another S candidate. Actually, going by the aura, this one doesn’t seem like S. It seemed like he really only wanted to talk, and he had no wariness at all.

Not making any conclusions I make my way to the second one.

Moving north-north-east from the original location I arrived at a plaza. Lots of street performers entertaining people with tricks or special skills.

A wide stone stairway was nearby, with people of all ages sitting on it, resting. Such carefree space was to my liking. Just how nice it could’ve been if I came here for sightseeing with everyone.

Now, do we have any grey-haired man here? As I was looking around restlessly, one of the street performers beckoned me. His whole face was covered in a white powder with nose alone being red in color.

He had several juggling balls in his hands, but he gave all of them to me. He also spoke in a strange accent.

「Pophew! Little master, throw them.」

「I’m not a master, and just so you know, I’m already sixteen!」

「And even such confident lad will soon be surprised!」

I absolutely won’t, thinking so, I tossed him the balls, one after another. In turn, he caught them. But strangely, his hands remained empty.

The balls disappeared. Surrounding spectators were delighted with that trick. I narrowed my eyes and checked his abilities.

As I expected, 【Subdimensional Storage C】 was there. Creating an opening on his palm, he stealthily stored them there.

That is a great technique. But can he stop looking at me with such a self-satisfied look? As he pulled out the balls again the spectators once again showed their enjoyment.

「I can do the same. Try to throw them to me.」

「Hmm? It’s not that simple.」

「It’s fine.」

Showing some suspicious, he then threw them at me all at once. Won’t you normally throw one by one! For a moment I was about to give up, thinking that it might be impossible, but I managed to somehow put them into the storage. Well, in my case it was obvious to the observers though.

Then announced to the confused performer.

「This skill seems to be quite rare, right? I never thought about using it the way you did. I shall use this as a reference.」

Even a strong skill might not show its full potential because of a user. While a user’s approach or ideas might allow for a breakthrough, they also can limit one to only mediocre effects.

It’s important to stay diligent without indulging in a vain prideー AH, it was not the time for this stuff?!

In a hurry, I resume my search of the gray-haired man. Eventually, another performer and a man caught my attention.

They were fighting. By the way, the man had ashen hair, so I couldn’t afford to miss that.

Judging by the contents of their abusive shouts, the stout performer was doing some fire breathing tricks, but messed up and fired hopped onto the man’s clothes.

Though the fire was immediately extinguished, the man still had his complaints. To which the performer snapped and tried to put the blame on the man. Yup, the fault here lies overwhelmingly on the performer.

If you screwed up, you should apologize. This is basic stuff, but some can’t do that even after becoming adults. Or rather, it might be hard precisely because they are adults?

With pride and position and all that stuff. In the future, if I get to a high position, I will make an effort not to turn like that.

And while I was absentmindedly staring at them an actual fight started.

「Kyaaa.」

As the man drew a sword, women and children scrambled for cover. It turned into a standoff between the two. The first one to make a move was the performer.

Taking a gulp of alcohol he then spat a fireball big enough to engulf a grown person. I was taken aback seeing an attack brimming with an intention to kill.

Though his opponent is a swordsman that’s still an overkill. And after the flames dissipated no one actually was there. Eh?

「Eh……?」

My thoughts overlapped with the performer’s surprised voice. The next moment his face turned pale. A sword was thrust at his back.

Just when did he get behind the performer?

「You either die or get the hell beaten out of you. Choose.」

「What if I say that I prefer neither?」

「Then do your best in the other world.」

「Stop! You can hit me once, so please don’t kill me.」

After making such a choice, the performer had the hell beaten out of him. It didn’t stop at one hit. I counted up till twelve punches and then closed my eyes. That swollen face was too painful to look at.

Since the swordsman seemed to be done here, I tried to quietly follow him…… But then stopped. Another person began quietly moving in the crowd.

Seeing that man’s face I open my eyes wide in surprise. Of course, I’d be startled, after all, he also had gray hair.

What a confusing town this is……

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