Volume 3, Chapter 0.3
Volume 3, Chapter 0.3
Translator: Kureha
Editor: Weasalopes
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While Hiroshi and others were making comments about their dinner…
「… I screwed up …」
Rainy, who had arrived at Darl a week earlier, was now being chased by a group of suspicious looking people. She was snooping around a couple of noble families as Layotte had ordered. Then, she got caught by the most suspicious family out of all. Rainy’s group has planted many traps to avoid suspicion. However, as they lacked background information of the country, she was ambushed the moment she stepped into the quieter streets in the town.
「Where did she go?」
「I saw her run in that direction」
「Got it, let’s split up.」
「Roger.」
The suspicious men have chased Rainy as fast and as quietly as she did. If they were dressed in all black, it would have been easier to spot them in the crowd. Unfortunately, that was not the case. However, Rainy too was wearing an outfit which would allow her to blend in easily. She just needed to take off the top layer.
As she confirmed that the two men had split up, she intentionally started to run back the way she came. She knew that if she ran around recklessly in an unfamiliar place, she would only end up getting caught by the two men. So, it was safer to use as many familiar paths as she could. In the worst-case scenario, she could use the bonus transportation stone and evacuate to safe house 1 or 2.
She continued to run for another half an hour. The area was full of multi-storey buildings. She continued to run through the quiet and ghostly-empty streets. Yet she wasn’t just running around mindlessly. She was planning her escape route. Thinking about how to overcome each obstacle and traps. Suddenly…
「Looks like a sneaky little rat has caught onto some dirty business. But I must praise your skills.」
In front of Rainy stood a man who seemed to be the sturdiest amongst the group. Yet she was confident that she could take him down; if he was the only opponent she had to face. But her stamina was low from running around all night. Yet the man in front of her didn’t even a single drop of sweat on his forehead. Considering there were other people chasing her, Rainy wasn’t in the best situation.
「I really do admire your skills. Yet, I cannot allow you to return to your friends alive. I don’t know what you peeps were looking for. But you’re going to regret attracting our attention.」
「…」
Licking their lips in front of their prey was something an armature does. Such a comment crossed Rainy’s mind. However, she knew that wouldn’t be enough to boil the man’s temper. At that moment, she was waiting for the perfect time to activate the transportation stone which the tiger person gave it to her. But she was also thinking of an alternative escape route. In this case, the opponent has made the first hit so she wouldn’t have an issue going completely berserk. However, if she causes any notable incident, the family which they were looking into will realise that somebody was definitely snooping around them. Also, it could give away the approximate combat skill which she has.
Either way, to avoid head-on combat, she needed to seal the battle skill for absolute victory. Using the knowledge which was drilled into her muscles as a killing doll, she put her back against the wall. This was the only way she could let her opponent’s guard down.
「A cheap trick like that won’t work on me. I know that you have a good enough skill to be an operative of some organisation. Even if you kill me here, others will find you, and kill you the moment they get a glimpse of your face.」
「…」
As Rainy heard the man brag about the most obvious points, she started to think that perhaps, he is an idiot. While the man talked on, Rainy was coming up with a plan to deceive her opponent, taking in the fact that she has an immature appearance. Also, as long as she has taken down the man in front of her, she could definitely take down the others. Even if one on one ends up being one on four. She started to think that the situation which she was in wasn’t as bad as she originally thought. Especially after seeing that the biggest power force within the opponent’s group was this man in front of her.
「You’re not giving up, are you? It’s not good to be stubborn.」
After a long, useless, chatter, it seems that the guy has finally decided to attack Rainy. The moment the man took a step, she applied some pressure to the crack in the wall. Then, she applied a chantless magic to the dent in the ground which looked nothing more than a footprint. Suddenly, the wall behind her lost its balance. This wasn’t the only thing she has prepared. While she was moving around, she set up numerous traps in the area; enough to give herself some cover to make a run for it.
As some fragments of the walls started to collapse down, the dust made it hard for the man to see his surroundings. The man lost his balance and the shards of the buildings gave him cuts. The moment Rainy stopped applying power to the wall, the rest came crumbling down. As the man tried to make a run for his life, he stepped on another trap which Rainy had prepared.
Without knowing what had happened to him, the man met his fate of being crushed down by a wall. Although Rainy sets up complicated traps, it wasn’t funny how none of them seems to work on Hiroshi and others.
「Licking your lips in front of your prey is something an armature does.」
Rainy left behind such a cruel comment, thinking how ignorant the man was. Then, she headed in the direction where the man’s companions would be. When she came across the two other men, she activated a couple more traps to gain some distance from them. Then, she noticed something was odd.
「Who would have thought that a cute little kitten like you would be making such a mess in quieter parts of the town. No wonder it sounded so lively out here.」
A man standing on the roof wearing a gothic-themed masquerade outfit that looked like a visual kei band’s costume, a cape, rapier and a feathered hat spoke. For a male, he had a clear and high pitched voice but it definitely left an impression on people. If Rainy only heard his voice, it would have been hard to determine if the person was a male or female.
Assuming from his appearance, the man seemed to be in his mid-twenties. He had the skin tone and facial structure of a person born in Darl. However, he had blonde hair, which was an unusual trait in this country. People would most likely describe him as good looking.
「Alvan!」
Rainy froze on the spot, shocked by the fact that somebody was talking to her. The two men who were about to attack Rainy looked up and screamed at the sight of the man on the roof.
「Alvan?」
Hearing the men’s screams, Rainy tilted her head in confusion. The adorable and childish gesture apparently had Alvan’s attention. Unfortunately for him, she only has her mind on Hiroshi. No matter how other people approached her, she did not plan on changing her mind. If her relationship with Hiroshi developed, she most likely would ignore Hiroshi’s feelings as well. Rainy Moon was on the next level of hopeless-romantic.
In fact, the most she thought about Alvan was that this man who apparently never left his emo phase is very popular around here. As an information gatherer, it was concerning to think that she did not think any more of Alvan.
「Now, you pathetic men can leave us alone. For the kitten, I would love to hear everything that you have been up to tonight.」
「Really, it’s nothing significant.」
Rainy gave a disappointingly true answer to Alavan’s question which sounded perverted. In reality, she has done nothing but to come up with some basic conclusions based on the rumours which she has gathered. The most she has done is going around town questioning more details about the rumours. She wasn’t doing anything that looked out of place. The only reason why those shady men have caught onto her was that she got a little careless. Even then, she could have fixed the problem by putting on some simple disguise and pretending to do some shopping. However, she was a little too ambitious on reaching out as much as she could.
「It’s just that there was something suspicious about those men over there. But now that I have an undoubtable proof, I’ll just finish them off.」
While Rainy was saying such a thing, Alvan cut off the two men closest to Rainy then took down the other four men. More so…
「Huh, as expected, such a swift escape.」
By the time Alvan had cut down the six men, Rainy was already gone.
「Oh well, there are still sub-leaders left. I better go and deal with them now.」
Alvan swiftly took down the other men who showed up later in a manner which Makoto would have appreciated. Now, the information shared from here on is top secret. However, on the following day, a story about one of the noble families being part of bandit’s business has reached the queen along with a criminal behaviour report. The report contained enough proof to expose the entire household. Afterwards, an announcement was made for anyone in that family to be beheaded.