Episode 233. New Mission (2)
When we heard that Harkel was coming, we had to immediately hide.
It was reassuring that no one would find out about Mary’s hiding magic, but at that moment, Ruska became very wary.
She saw. Soon a middle-aged man would appear in this room and show the village chief some pictures.
As soon as Ruska saw it, she got a headache, and I could tell she had seen the future.
And then I discovered the shocking truth: my face was in that photo.
‘It wasn’t for nothing that he was called a fraud.’
That middle-aged man was none other than Harkel. But I wondered why he was bringing my photo.
My detection skills whispered that it was definitely not meant for good.
I felt anxious about how the village chief would react if he saw that photo.
So we knocked out the village chief first.
Jenny, Ruska, and Mary used stealth magic to hide with him while he was asleep, and I transformed into him using the village chief’s hair that I had plucked out in advance.
Since everyone knew about their own abilities, there was no reaction of ‘How is that possible?’
It was by responding so quickly that I ended up facing Harkel instead.
“Name, Radon Crowler.”
“…!”
“If you see this boy and catch him, I will give you a handsome reward.”
It was a chilling moment.
I was so surprised that my expression almost changed, but I barely held it back by using my ‘acting’ skill.
I couldn’t help but be surprised that they treated me like a wanted person.
Even if he is a rotten person, he is a person of high noble status.
“hmm….”
“Have you ever seen it?”
“No. It’s the first time I’ve seen this boy.”
[Erosion rate decrease: -3%]
[+300 Credits]
“But what on earth is this boy that you’re promising a hefty reward if you catch him?”
“Ah… I don’t know the details, but my partner was making a fuss about catching this boy.”
The word “partner” raised a few more questions.
Because I was curious about who he was and I couldn’t figure out why he was trying to catch me.
And when on earth was this picture taken? Judging from the fact that he’s in his school uniform, was it taken from his academic records?
“But isn’t that the uniform this boy is wearing? He’s a cadet from Alighieri. If he’s a cadet protected by such a great institution, there’s no way we can catch him.”
“I won’t specifically ask you to come and capture him. Even if we, the Biold family, use our power, he is not something that can be easily captured.”
“This boy?”
I was such a great guy?
Why?
“According to our sources, this boy is under the protection of the Chainsilver family, who are the most powerful people in the empire. Furthermore, the Holy City is also keeping an eye on him, so they can’t just touch him.”
“Then, something like kidnapping….”
“Of course it’s impossible. And the same goes for his family.”
For a moment, I thought my heart had grown cold.
I felt a great sense of relief knowing that my entire family would not be arrested.
But knowing that, how are you going to catch it?
“Then, isn’t the probability of catching it even slimmer? Even if we throw the hook, it won’t reach the clouds.”
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? You don’t have to hold it with your hand.”
“Then how….”
Harkel snickered and said to me, who was full of doubts.
“It’s the season for Alighieri’s cadets to go on external missions. I’m sure the village chief will be short-handed and send me small requests. It’s unlikely, but… if this cadet comes here, please be sure to contact me.”
I swallowed dryly at the explanation that came out of Harkel’s mouth.
As the guy said, I came here on a mission.
“If you succeed, the entire reward will go to the village chief.”
“If that’s the reward….”
“Not to mention the huge case fee….”
Harkel leaned his face closer to mine with a delighted expression on his face.
“I believe that in the future, this village will also receive enormous benefits.”
My body was shaking from the immense tension.
If it weren’t for my acting skills, I would have been suspicious as to why I was so scared.
If I hadn’t swapped with the village chief, the mission would have been aborted and I would have been taken away by Harkel.
The purpose of this mission is none other than to provide relief to this town, which is expected to see increased taxes and workload.
Because somewhere in the forest, there is a mine hidden that is more valuable than what you usually get, and just finding it would be a daunting task.
But I could tell that the person who had forced me to do that difficult task was none other than Harkel Bayold.
That means….
“If you just report it to me, I will grant any request you make, village chief.”
The village chief didn’t need to ask us for a mission.
If you just hand me over to him, all the village problems will be solved.
“Hahaha, that would be great. But I wonder who that business partner is.”
“Why?”
“Well… I guess it might be easier to find the boy if I knew.”
Harkel put his hand on his chin as if it was a difficult question and pondered it.
After several dozen seconds of thinking, he opened his mouth.
“I can’t tell you the details, but I’ll just tell you that I’m an elf.”
“Elf…?”
“If you think about it, he might have had some connection to this village at one time.”
The moment I heard that, one person came to mind.
Grisha Highend. It’s definitely him.
“But if the kidnapping is successful, what are you going to do about the aftermath? As you just said, didn’t you say there are many places that can protect this boy?”
Now, I have two princesses, including Chain Silver, who is about to ascend to the throne of the Emperor, by my side.
If he knew that, even the duke Harkel wouldn’t be able to easily get his hands on it.
When asked what prompted him to do this, he answered with a laugh.
“You don’t have to worry about that. It has already been decided who will become the emperor.”
* * * * *
Suddenly-
As if he had finished his business, Harkel left the village chief’s room.
And I watched him leave the village in his carriage and saw him off.
It seemed like it was no ordinary thing for him to have dragged his precious body all the way here for such a trivial favor.
It was unbelievable that they had to kidnap me. The more I thought about it, the more unbelievable it became.
After Harkel completely disappeared, his friends who had been hiding in the room revealed themselves.
After manipulating the memories of the sleeping village chief, we had to find a place to stay and discuss what we had just heard.
“Is that the escape the townspeople are longing for?”
Ruska looked out the window at the forest across the street.
There was a forest path with several soldiers of the Bayold family wandering about, and beyond that, a building that looked like a ruin.
The reason why they tried to select cadets with as little presence as possible seemed to be because of those soldiers.
“You can tell just by looking at it that it smells like a relic from that building.”
With her senses heightened, Ruska’s vision allowed her to see objects far away.
And he joined us in sitting in a circle and said:
“What should we do now? Radon, your face is likely known to the soldiers.”
“Then should I hide the radon?”
Fortunately, with Mary’s help, the village chief’s memories were manipulated.
The village chief’s current memory was of being threatened by Harkel, and so the villagers were showing signs of anger.
The photo of my face that Harkel had given to the village chief was given to Muto as food. This removed all traces.
The good news here is that Harkel didn’t bother to gather the townspeople and explain to them that they should capture me.
Perhaps he believed that the village chief would spread the word to the residents.
“So… you’re saying that Duke Harkel has an elven partner… and that partner wants to get rid of Radon?”
“If you believe and follow that partner’s words, it’s clear that you don’t have a normal relationship of trust. But I don’t understand why you’re after Radon.”
As Jenny said… I think the same.
Grisha I can’t understand why that human is interested in me.
“Are you trying to capture him and use him as a son-in-law?”
“Speak sense!”
“Ouch!”
I fed honey chestnuts to Mary who was talking nonsense.
He’s already lost his family, including his daughter, so he’d rather have a son-in-law who’d freeze to death.
“Anyway, that Harkel is a man who will do anything to become emperor.”
“Do you know anything about him?”
“It’s only natural that I should know. I’ve been keeping a close eye on them as a member of the Chainsilver family.”
The Chainsilver family has been the object of envy of many nobles since ancient times.
It is said that the Chainsilver family, when Gerard was young, was on the verge of extinction, unlike now, despite the unknown cause.
Chain Silver was naturally the target of ridicule, but it is said that he grew continuously after meeting a mentor.
It is said that there are still many people who are dissatisfied with Chain Silver, which has become so successful.
Of course, the family that took the lead in that was the Bayold family.
“Our family, which was already so hateful… is now trying to ascend to the throne. I can’t even imagine what kind of feelings those people will have.”
When you reach such a daunting height, it is normal to give up.
But Jenny’s intuition didn’t think that would happen.
“It may sound like a guess, but Harkel hasn’t given up yet. He must have found a way to bring down our father, which is why he’s so passionate about it.”
Jenny noticed the expression on Harkel’s face as he watched from hiding.
I had seen him a few times before, so I could guess that he hadn’t given up yet.
“Are you saying that it is directly connected to ruling this village?”
“And that would include targeting radon.”
“….”
The public’s approval rating is currently tilted toward Chain Silver. Even when combined with the approval ratings of other families, it is barely enough to catch up.
however….
-Because it has already been decided who will become the emperor.
In the end, no matter how much you fly and crawl, you can’t get it down, so what made you say something like that?
And the mere fact that he’s holding hands with that guy Grisha makes things seem ominous.
Maybe they want to become emperors so badly that they release beings that should not be released into the world.
“That means that this village also hides something important to the Bayold family.”
Ruska said, looking out the window at the distant ruins.
What are they planning to do here, and why are there only soldiers loitering around there?
It seemed worth investigating.
“But you, Ruska, are the only one who can get through those soldiers.”
Of these, only Ruska’s face is unknown.
The rest of them just had to investigate here and there at the village chief’s request, but it seemed difficult for Ruska to go in alone.
“Wait a minute! We can disguise ourselves too!”
“what?”
I trembled at Mary’s words that said, “Why don’t we just pretend like we transformed into the village chief a little while ago?”
This is because the duration is not infinite unless it consumes the person itself.
Among those recently eaten is Crown Prince Charis, but he is someone who would be difficult to suddenly appear here.
“No, not that.”
But what Mary was saying was a disguise for another meaning.
What that means is….
“Do you remember your flash of consciousness?”
The moment I heard that, I took a deep breath.
It was a ritual I had done before when I was assigned to a previous prisoner transport mission, and I had a dark history of becoming like a woman as a result of it.
“ah….”
“There was a good way.”
Jenny and Ruska were amazed as soon as they learned of this fact.
And for some reason, he looks at me with kind eyes.
“Come to think of it, do you remember the bet I made with Radon?”
“What did you bet on?”
“What the heck? Have you forgotten the bet we made when you came back from last winter break?”
“ah….”
It was so uncomfortable that memories from that time came back to me.
In the debate about whether Professor Stella had a lover…, I naturally chose ‘no’ and they chose ‘yes’.
The result was my defeat, and sooner or later I came to the conclusion that I had to fulfill their twisted wishes.
Of course, they also gradually forgot and didn’t say anything.
I kept my mouth shut on this occasion, thinking I would take it to the grave.
“Come on, Radon. Come here.”
“I’ll make sure you don’t get sick.”
“Hahaha! Don’t worry, buddy! I can now perform the Flash ritual by myself.”
These are trying to attack me in a group.
I argued that even if disguise was necessary, it was really necessary to go that far… .
“Of course I should. A promise is a promise.”
Ruska instantly grabbed my back and blocked my movements.
I’m going crazy. We’re already a fighting race, but we’ve grown even more than before, so I can’t solve it on my own.
Even though there was a reason for it to be done, I still couldn’t understand it.
“That promise was a long-awaited promise, so why are you bringing it up now?”
I don’t even remember which episode it was.
It’s a headache because the settings suddenly pop up whenever I forget them.
“Hahaha! Just accept it, my friend! This is your fate.”
“You crazy things!”
Their eyes had already turned away.
All I could do was curse in a last desperate attempt.
Finally, I could feel what it was like for the Barbie dolls rolling around in the hands of girls.
Surviving as an Academy Fraudster
