Episode 162. I came to save you (Phuhu!) (1)
A mysterious prisoner suddenly called me a brat and shouted at me loudly. The moment I saw his face, memories buried deep in my mind began to surface.
It’s already been a year since I’ve lived in this world. The first incident I’ve experienced during that time was the lycanthropy incident surrounding Jenny’s Silver Age.
Even though it could be called a kind of first stage, it comes to mind whenever I have the chance. That’s because if I hadn’t shown my wit back then, I would have really died.
Of course, there were many times when I almost died, but the pain of the lightning I received at that time was transmitted to each cell. How much more so, that the skill called ‘Howling Thunder’ was forcibly applied to my entire body from a mere lightning strike.
That’s why I couldn’t forget the mastermind behind that incident. He was the guy who put me in my first crisis, so when I hear his name, I immediately remember who he is.
“Radon Crowler! Well met, you traitorous son of a bitch! Today is your memorial day!”
The guy I met again was impatient because he couldn’t eat me. He could only growl because the chains that bound his body were tied to a tree, but his resentment was stronger than I thought.
『Hahaha! This guy smells really bad. Do you know him?』
Muto spoke as if he was seeing the guy for the first time. I thought of the guy and approached him.
“I will kill you today, Radon Crowler!”
“You are definitely… t…”
“Hahaha! You should never forget what you did to me!”
The guy was expecting me to remember him, even though he despised me. I called out the guy’s name, which I had difficulty recalling.
“Trophy Viking! Right?”
“….”
Isn’t it? Why are you suddenly becoming serious?
Then the guy crumpled his expression like a piece of paper and shouted.
“Travel biord! Travel biord!!”
“Tropicana?”
“Yaaaah!!”
[Erosion rate reduction: -20%]
[+2000 Credits]
* * * * *
Actually, I knew. He was a monumental character who was the mastermind of the first chapter, so I tried not to forget him if possible.
And I made a point of saying the wrong name. It was because I wanted to see him get angry, because he was basically a villain and had a personality that was like trash.
“Yeah, it’s been a while. How have you been?”
“Does this look good to you? Ugh!”
There happened to be a flat rock of a suitable height nearby. I saw Travel growling at me with a look of resentment as I sat leisurely there.
At first glance, it seemed like he had no remorse for what he had done. I wonder if that’s why I wanted to call him by his proper name.
“123… Is that your prisoner number?”
“Ha! That’s right, you son of a bitch. This is the stigma attached to you.”
And the cadets who participated in the mission also stood in a circle centered around where I was sitting.
Trisha and Refrain looked like zoo monkeys, while Bayman looked at the archives, still uninterested in the flow of things.
“….”
And Mary just stared at the guy with a blank expression. She probably wasn’t too happy about it, since he was the one who put Jenny in danger.
“123? Phew! Aren’t the guards just sloppy with their numbers?”
“Hahaha! Even the lock number on the drawer in my room isn’t that simple.”
“These kids!!”
At the laughter of Trisha and Refrain, Travel started to run wild again like an animal. They also knew well what Travel had done. They had almost been put in danger because of those wolves, so they had no intention of looking kindly on him.
“Then, should I call it password 123 from now on?”
“No, let’s just keep it short and concise and call it ‘password’!”
“That’s great. You heard me? From now on, you are the ‘password’.”
I worked together with my seniors to forcibly change the guy’s name. Travel burst into laughter, as if he had lost his mind due to his illness.
“Radon Crowler. Your family must be rotting in the gutter by now!”
“what?”
Then, all of a sudden, he starts talking nonsense. However, the more I listened, the more I realized that it wasn’t a story that was difficult to understand.
“Your home must have been in dire straits before I was taken away. That’s why I reached out to you.”
He had tried to lure me into buying a house for my family. Of course I rejected him, but thanks to him, my family had to live in a shack.
“How do you feel? As a result of betraying me, your family must have died on the streets.”
Travel, who had been feverish, suddenly started laughing creepily. He had the face of a person who had no hope of recovery.
“It’s all because you abandoned me. In short, you’re a traitor who abandoned your family! Hahahahaha!!”
“….”
“Surely your younger sibling, as well as your parents, must have resented you until the day they died. They said, ‘We shouldn’t have given birth to a brat like you!’ Heh heh heh heh!”
He was truly an amazing guy. I would say that being able to scratch people’s insides like this is a talent.
Even the two seniors who had been teasing the boy next to him were speechless, and Mary and Bayonne, who had been blankly staring, opened their eyes wide.
Even though it seemed like he was just leaving because he was a convict who had ruined his life, the fact that he was making remarks that were clearly intended to be harsh did not change.
Even a man from the mercenary unit who couldn’t stand to see that sight approached her.
Phew!-
The man, who was of a sturdy build, punched Travel’s face. He looked to be in his fifties, but he had thick arms, and he silenced Travel with one blow.
“Stop wasting time with useless conversation. What can you hope to gain from dealing with people who can’t even communicate?”
“Excuse me… who are you?”
Trisha looked flustered as she asked about his grand appearance. He seemed to be a high-ranking figure among the mercenary guild, and her prediction was right.
“By the way, I guess the introduction is late. I am Tariel Arbela, the leader of the ‘Saint Bow’ guild. I will be the one to lead you in capturing these guys in the future.”
“Saint Bow… I heard it’s a guild led by one of the four priests… By any chance…!”
Refrain was greatly embarrassed when he heard the name of the guild. But soon he trailed off in admiration.
It was the first time I heard of this guild. It was a group that had never been mentioned in the main story, so I couldn’t help but not know about it.
So I needed to check for myself if what this man was saying was true.
————–
Race: Human
Occupation: Paladin
Auror Class: 8 stars
Horsepower: 160/160
Disposition: Realist/Cynical
Feelings towards user: None
————–
When I looked through the eyes of the demon, I could see that it wasn’t a lie. With that level of magic power for an 8-star class, it was higher than that of the department head.
What was even more surprising was his occupation. If he was a paladin with that level of skill, it meant that he must have held a relatively high position in the religious order.
It seems that he was truly one of the four most powerful priests of the past sect. It is curious why someone so powerful would take on such a mission.
“You all seem curious as to why I’m here. Right?”
Tariel suddenly turned his head towards me. The thought that his mind had been read so accurately almost gave me goosebumps.
“The reason is simple. It means that there exists a monster that is so annoying that someone with as much power as me needs to step forward.”
Tariel added, “Why would I come forward without doing so?” If you approach it with an ambiguous mind, it could be interpreted as telling you to turn back immediately. That’s why we didn’t bother asking why.
“If you had seen the prisoner list, you would have already known. But you still applied for this mission.”
That is the reason why we replaced the incompetent cadets among the applicants. If a mediocre cadet is hired, his or her life could be in danger, so we cannot accept it so easily.
Among the prisoners, it’s not always the pickpockets or violent criminals who are caught. This is because there are many who commit crimes using their own honed magic and other abilities.
Beings who are capable but not swayed by emotions. Only those who are solidly trained can deal with such monsters.
“Certainly, seeing that the Alighieri side sent you off with peace of mind means that you too possess great talent. But do you think you can fight against the being that was once your teacher?”
No one questioned or questioned what Tariel had said, because they already knew everything when they saw the list.
Nevertheless, they applied for the mission. Some may have applied out of a sense of duty to the club, but others applied primarily for the purpose of meeting him.
“I will respect your choice. But if you are thinking of talking to that person… you should give up.”
Tariel said those last words while looking at Mary. He is a person who is quick-witted enough to read my thoughts just now. Therefore, he seems to have quickly figured out Mary’s intentions.
It was proof that Mary’s purpose for coming here was no different from mine.
* * * * *
The task now was to find out where the prisoners had escaped to.
However, since the opponents were also full of magic masters, no traces could be found. That was why I had been wandering around here without being able to recover my principal.
We found the prisoner handcuffs they had left behind, but there were only fingerprints on them. No other traces were found.
We were able to arrest some of them for good measure, but when we interrogated them, we only got back random answers.
In the first place, what good would it do to talk about it since it wouldn’t make my brother lose weight? But I couldn’t threaten to kill him either.
“I told you not to kill me?”
“It’s an order from the royal family. They’ve made it very clear that our goal is to capture people alive.”
Even if it was an accident, if we kill them directly, not only will the compensation be invalid, but there will also be negative consequences for those who participated in this incident.
“They’re strangely obsessed with capturing people. I don’t know since when they became so innocent.”
After all, it is impossible to kill one person, scare them, and then make them confess. Tariel has been dumbfounded by this fact since he received the request.
In fact, the Imperial Knights had been dispatched to monitor it. You could tell that it was completely planned.
“But His Majesty the Emperor is a saint who saved this empire. Even if he is a bad sinner, wouldn’t he be able to at least think that his life is precious?”
“Hahaha! I really hope so.”
Tariel laughed out loud at Trisha’s comment, taking it as a funny joke. Then he said with a heavy expression.
“Yeah, I hope nothing happens.”
The Emperor is certainly a man worthy of being called a saint. But lately, it has been impossible to know what he is thinking.
So I had to hope that nothing bad would happen.
“Above all, if we don’t catch those guys quickly, it’ll be dangerous. That mountain itself is the territory of the ancient spirits.”
We were now off the railroad tracks and into a thicket of trees.
Beyond the end was a ridge that appeared to be below a cliff, and above that rose a great mountain range.
Looking at the trees swaying in the wind, it seemed as if the terrain itself was alive.
“The realm of the spirits?”
“Yes, they must have gone into those mountains. There is no other way out of the Empire’s borders. But as I said, that is where the ancient spirits reside. Once you set foot there, you can never escape.”
This is the realm of Shaikar, a spirit of the highest rank. Originally, they were on friendly terms with humans, but their relationship grew distant after the Demon War 30 years ago.
Even the most highly skilled spirit mage cannot guarantee survival, not even Tariel himself.
“No matter how bad they were, they wouldn’t have entered that area without a care. They must have escaped because they wanted to live. There’s no way they would do something that would risk their lives.”
If we could only figure out the direction in which it ran, we could easily catch it. Then, we could also avoid that area as much as possible.
“Therefore, I cannot guarantee your lives either. So…”
“I know those people.”
The first one to interrupt Tariel was Bayman. The group was surprised that Bayman, who had kept his mouth shut until now, was the first to speak.
“What does that mean?”
“I told you all I know is where that is.”
The person Bayman was pointing to was Travel. He was tied to a tree and seemed to be muttering profanity, but it was not audible.
At those words, the group was startled and hung on to Bayman.
“Is that true?”
“You and the mercenaries captured those prisoners in the forest. So how long after the incident did you capture them?”
Today is the third day since the incident occurred. Saint Arrow arrived on the second day and captured the prisoners he found in the mountains.
However, they did not capture all of them. This was because the mercenaries intentionally let a small number of people go during the suppression process.
The reason was location tracking. The spirit master belonging to the mercenary unit secretly imprinted the spirit formula on the guys’ bodies. If they ran away from that enemy, they would be able to find their base.
“But that place is near Shaikar’s territory, so the spirit power is weak and the location is unknown?”
“But since the magic itself is still there, we can clearly tell that the guys are hiding somewhere in the mountains.”
I wonder if they are hiding in such dangerous areas on purpose to avoid being tracked. But if there is no guarantee of safety, it would be better to get caught again.
Besides, there were ways to avoid pursuit, such as running away along the railroad or splitting up and going their separate ways. It was just strange that they chose such a risky method.
“There must have been some assurance that they would be safe in that area. And those people didn’t believe that assurance and were caught wandering around outside.”
If they said they knew, they would have to be guided to that dangerous place. The prisoners might not have liked that, so they might not have opened their mouths when interrogated.
I guess he’s thinking that it’s better to be re-imprisoned like this.
“So does that mean they escaped into Shaikhar’s territory?”
“It’s suspicious that you went into the forest in the first place.”
From Tariel’s perspective, it sounded like he had simply gone in to commit suicide. Thirty years ago, he had seen Shaikhar’s power with his own eyes.
After all, the guy was a spirit who had been friends with the saintess of the previous generation.
“Even if we knew that, the problem would be getting them to open their mouths. If we go deep into the forest without knowing anything, we might fall into a trap and lose our lives.”
“So you’re saying I can just seduce one of those guys?”
This time, I spoke confidently. Tariel’s eyes widened as if asking, “Who are you?”, but my proud expression did not cool down.
* * * * *
That night, the decision was made to camp out for the day and set off tomorrow.
The prisoners were forced to sleep while chained. Travel, who fell asleep leaning against a tree, felt a sense of futility.
My father, who wanted to avoid being deposed, ended up selling himself out, and no matter how much he swore at me to vent his anger, I still felt uneasy.
How did it come to this? Was this all that my father, who was called the hero of the Demon World War, had become?
I don’t know how or when you can easily throw your son away when you teach him like that.
It was when my eyes closed as hope began to fade.
“Hey, Travel. Yummy password!”
“uh?”
Suddenly, someone woke him up and he stood up with a start. He immediately closed his eyes again, realizing that it was Radon Crawler.
“I have no interest in talking to the likes of you.”
“Come on, listen to me.”
“go away.”
“Are you going to blow your chance at release?”
“Shut up and get out… what?”
Travell woke up with his eyes wide open.
I frowned, wondering if he was trying to tease me again, but my fears quickly eased when Radon showed me what he had been hiding in his arms.
“that…!”
“Do you know what this is?”
Because it was a badge that indicated that one was a member of the Bayold family.
As expected, my father didn’t abandon me! That was the journey that turned the circuit of hope.
“I came to save you.”
Radon said with a strange smile.
Surviving as an Academy Fraudster
