Return of the Fallen Volume 1 Chapter 57

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Author: Blue_Rat


ch57

With his new look, Kazuki appeared to be a slightly older and a bit chubby fella. With his body covered from head to toe in red sauce, he would use this as a simple distraction.

Leaving the cafeteria, Kazuki headed for the side entrance that led outside. On his way, he passed a group of soldiers.

“Oy look there!”

A soldier pointed at Kazuki and the other’s eyes followed. As soon as the soldiers saw was headed in their direction, they burst out with laughter and the jokes came flying.

“Bwahahahaha, he’s an old tomato an old tomato I say, hahaha.”
Another pointed and joined in.
“Hahaha, no he’s a warrior who’s had a thousand deathmatches with a bunch of berries, he’s a red berry bandit, hahaha.”
“Hahaha, or a bear that couldn’t help himself and got into the pantry, hahaha.”

Soldiers, servants, mages and many more people all had similar reactions. Laughter and pointed fingers with a few people even grabbing their sides in pain. Every time people saw him, they would either burst out with laughter or look away in embarrassment for him. And when this happened, Kazuki would have the same reaction. He would pretend to be saddened and look down, whilst speeding away.

With this simple display, it only took Kazuki a few minutes before he was already outside the castle and into the city. Finding a nearby clothing shop, Kazuki went inside and bought a few simple garments including a hood. Wiping his face he left the worn clothes in the changing room and headed out.

The shopkeeper was slightly surprised to see an old man enter a changing room and leave as a young man. The shopkeeper wanted to say something but with a flick from Kazuki, a loud clank was heard as a golden Zeni landed on the counter in front of the shopkeeper.

Although he had wiped himself down he was still feeling a bit icky and entered a nearby inn. Getting a room for a day, Kazuki cleaned himself up properly before sending a messenger to the Dancing Gazelle. After that, he went to a local bar where he would meet them and headed to a private room on the second floor. Nursing a drink, Kazuki thought about what he needed to do next.

(I’ll collect whatever goods Lamia or Nunully have gathered for me so far, then I’ll buy a few supplies and head to a new city. Once there, hopefully, I can get the rest of the ingredients I need so I can finally reforge my damn Mage Core. My future is first and foremost tied to that, nothing else matters right now.)

As Kazuki was slowly enjoying his drink, a knock at the door alerted him.

“Who is it?”

“Sir, I was the messenger you sent. I’ve received a reply from the Dancing Gazelle.”

The voice was that of a young boy.

“Enter.”

A young child maybe 12 or 13 entered the private room. The young boy was someone Kazuki had found at the inn. For a few coppers, the boy would deliver a message.

The young boy cautiously entered the room and handed a small piece of paper with only a few words upon it.

Kazuki read it in his head.

( “Sorry, I could not meet you at the bar. We have already learned of Rust’s actions and so the whole city is a bit chaotic. Any business that is to be done will have to be done outside the city as security is searching high and low for Rust’s whereabouts. As for the goods you requested, not all have been acquired. So far we have gathered a single copper beast fang and the black meteor. The rest of the goods should be here within the next day or so. To collect these items, please meet me 5 miles past the south gate at the first crossroads. I’ll be there just before the sun sets.” )

Kazuki thought about the items mentioned in the message and smiled inwardly.

(Hehe, beast fang and black meteor. They really are cautious. Well, if I was selling illegal items, I would call the goods something different as well. Copper beast fang means a tier 1 beast core and the black meteor should mean the Stazar Void Rock. After I get those two items, I’ll still need two more beast cores as well as 13 Nexar Crystals.)

Kazuki nodded to himself before he destroyed the note. Handing over a bit extra to the young messenger, Kazuki added.

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that you never saw me, got it?”

The messenger eyed the coins in his hands before smiling.

“Understood, I’ve never seen you, goodbye.”

Kazuki looked out the window and looked at the position of the sun in the sky.

(Hmm, in an hour or so, the sun will set. Guess I should go on and head out just in case.)

Kazuki drained the rest of his drink and wiped his mouth before throwing his hood on and heading out.


Kazuki arrived at the south gate, leading outside the city. Just as he came upon the gate a few guards blocked his path and drew their blades.

“Stop! Lower your hood and reveal yourself. Any false moves and you will be placed under arrest, got it?”

Kazuki wasn’t too worried. The chances of the guards recognizing him as one of the heroes were virtually zero and if they did recognize him, the chance of them knowing that the heroes were confined to their rooms should not be information above their heads.

Kazuki confidently lowered his hood and smiled.

“Is something wrong?”

One of the guards saw Kazuki’s appearance and seemed to have recognized him.

“Hey, aren’t you…”

Kazuki’s felt his heart tense up for a moment.

(They shouldn’t recognize me at all. Does he actually know.)

The guard though suddenly gulped hard and turned away.

“Never mind, you can pass.”

The other guards stood around wondering what just happened but didn’t care that much and went back to work. Kazuki, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief.

(I thought he knew me but it seems he was mistaken. If I actually got caught there, that would have been a stupid coincidence. I should have kept my disguise from earlier. I didn’t even consider that someone at the gate could know me and have my entire plan be aborted prematurely. I’ll have to think about that next time I’m planning something. To just assume that someone at the gate doesn’t know my face simply because he works at the gate. If he even passed me one time in the palace and knew who I was, that would have been enough for him to call me out at the gate. Damn, I should be a bit more cautious from now on.)


Five miles past Tresta’s south gate, Kazuki had made it to the crossroads just as the sun began to set.

Kazuki was touched by the gods of luck earlier and he had managed his way out of the city. Once outside, he once again put on his hood and made a roundabout trip to the crossroads, just in case. He had learned a small lesson at the gate, which was, a little more caution could mean the difference between a black hand and a red one.

As Kazuki stood at the crossroads, the world began to grow dark. Kazuki stood silently and waited. The cold day had now become an even colder night. As the moon took the sun’s place, a bit of soft light bathed the world below. Kazuki looked up at the bright stars far far away and wondered.

(I wonder when your dog will come and find me.)

As this still and quiet night settled upon Kazuki, his mind calmed and his thoughts began to drift to his past. The more he thought about it though, the more a coldness filled his mind and a burning rage inflamed his heart.

A fog rolled in surrounding the empty roads and clouding up one’s vision.

A small hand reached from within the fog almost grabbing Kazuki by the shoulder but Kazuki’s instincts kicked in and he threw a punch at the perpetrator.

Just as he was about to strike though, a soft voice called out.

“Ryuta, it’s me.”

Kazuki pulled his fist back at the last moment and stopped just before a bronze mask.

“Nunully.”

The fog cleared just around the two of them as Nunully nodded cautiously. She had caught a glimpse of fury within Kazuki’s eyes just before he punched out and it had scared her. She continued to look into his eyes but when Kazuki realized it was her, all that fury and anger seemed to vanish and his eyes once more took on his usual playfulness.

Kazuki rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Haha, sorry about that. This fog rolled in and I felt something behind me and I just attacked. Hehe, good thing it was you.”

Nunully smiled beneath her mask.

“You really need to not have a habit like that. What if you actually hit me?”

“Haha, I don’t know maybe I’ll let you hit me 10 times in revenge.”

“Hmm, what good is ten times. If it’s revenge then you should allow me one hundred, no a thousand hits, yes, that should settle accounts.”

“Oh, was that your attempt at a joke. Not bad, but it needs a little work, don’t you think?”

Nunully raised a small fist and shook it at Kazuki.

“Who said I was joking.”

Kazuki and Nunully then shared a small laugh before they got down to business.

“I was still in search of the rest of your items but this is what I have so far.”

Nunully handed over a small storage ring to Kazuki and he opened it and peeked inside.

“A tier 1 beast core and a Stazar Void Rock. Nice and what about the other items?”

“Hmm, with security being the way it is now, it may take another few days but everything should still be gathered before the deadline and if it takes longer, then you will get a portion of your funds back, that I guarantee.”

Kazuki shook his head.

“That won’t be necessary. Instead, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”

Kazuki then went on to explain the circumstances with the King, Garn and Rust and how he himself was planning on not sticking around. He wondered if Nunully could hold onto the goods for him and when he set himself up somewhere he would write a letter to them and they could deliver the items to him then. Nunully thought for a moment before she gave a nod.

“We should be able to hold onto the items for a while but as for delivering them to you at a later date, hmmm, that will require teleporting the items to you and that can be quite pricy. Possibly a few thousand Zeni.”

Kazuki’s eyes nearly fell out of his sockets.

“What, why so expensive, can’t you just deliver them by land or air, why teleport them?”

Nunully shook her head.

“To deliver illegal goods by land or air, were one of my members to be caught, they would be killed on the spot. So when delivering things long distance we only use teleportation. As for the price, to teleport a great distance we need to hire outside since we don’t have anyone with any good spatial magic within the organization. Hiring them is the main expense. In the end, it’s the price of business.”

“THE PRICE OF BUSINESS YOU SAY, AND WHAT MIGHT THAT BE I WONDER!?”

A booming voice exploded from up above causing Kazuki and Nunully to go into high alert. A torrent of wind forced the fog away in an instant and Kazuki and Nunully were completely surrounded by a large force of soldiers.

Looking up at where the voice came from, Kazuki was shocked to see a short old man hovering in the air. At the sight of this, two words fell from Kazuki’s mouth.

“Information officer.”


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