「Ah! 『Golden Armored Rondo』!!」
「Oi! Don’t remember a person by his armor.」
「You had been wearing your armor and your face was hidden all the while at that time, right?」
「I’m a famous person so it can’t be helped.」
「Seiji-sama, Rondo-sama is the heir of『Warstar family』who governs the Nippo town.」
「Nippo town… where the fighting compet.i.tion was held? You partic.i.p.ated in the town’s compet.i.tion which your family governs?」
「Such a thing doesn’t matter, didn’t you come here to report the food theft?」
「That reminds me, that’s right.」
I told Rondo about the food theft.
「Unh, it’s hard to suddenly believe that.」
「N? Is it common for the people from the Slums to commit a crime?」
「The crime’s modus operandi was too brilliant. Almost all of the troops of us aristocrats gathered in Shiju town were robbed of almost all the food simultaneously. That was despite our strict security.」
Well, true, such a large-scale and systematic crime was difficult to do with only the people from the Slums.
「It’s not that I doubt you but do you have any evidence?」
「Okay, I’ll show you evidence.」
I showed the video recordings of the【Tracking beacon】attached to the bag of wheat flour to Rondo.
「What’s this magic?」
「Please keep this a secret.」
「O-, Ou.」
I closed the video after the perpetrators reverted back to orc form―
「An orc!? People turned into orcs!」
「It’s the opposite, the orc disguised themselves as people.」
「W-, What!?」
When I explained its connection with【Magic stone of Human transformation】, Rondo frowned―
「I understand that the orcs are plotting something. But the problem is how was the information about the security leaked to the orcs? This crime was evidently poked at the gap of the security.」
「What about the people who knew the information about the security?」
「The information about the security were discussed amongst the gathered aristocrats. If it was leaked then someone eavesdropped on the discussion.」
「Or, the partic.i.p.ants spilled the information.」
「What!? Are you saying that there’s a traitor amongst the aristocrats?」
「Rondo, do you think there is none?」
「……There might be……」
「Amongst the aristocrats’ troops, is there any unit whose food wasn’t stolen?」
「No, all the campaigning aristocrats’ troops have had their food stolen.」
N? Something feels wrong. What is it, I wonder?
「Putting the perpetrators aside. I know where the food is hidden, shall we take the food back for the time being?」
「Shinju town is govern by『Azos Family』, even if we go and take it back, we need to get permission from the Azos family.」
An aristocrat is an aristocrat, quite troublesome.
***
We were taken to the Azos Family’s mansion by Rondo.
But, this mansion smelled something like……
Thanks to Rondo, we get through inside smoothly. We were able to meet the current head of the family.
The Azos Family head was a fat old man with sharp eyes.
「It seems the rumor about you getting a hold of the information about the food theft is true, but are those the perpetrators?」
「No, this person is the eye-witness. And this lady is Princess Elena Delaidos.」
「Princess!? Please forgive my rudeness.」
Somehow, there was something strange about this old man’s gaze at Elena.
For the sake of Elena’s security, I removed Aya’s tracking beacon and put it on this old man.
I explained the eye-witness report about the food theft and showed the video recordings of the beacon―
「Why can’t you give the permission to search the Slums! Isn’t it projected clearly that the perpetrators hid the food in the Slums’ warehouse.」
「It’s not guaranteed that the video recording magic is true, right?」
「What Seiji-sama said was the truth. I vouch for it.」
「It’s like this, Elena-sama. Even though Elena-sama is royalty, you have no formal authority. All the authority with regards to this town’s politics was granted to me. Your wish to interfere is futile.」
「You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you’re being rude towards Elena-sama.」
「That’s rude.」
Rondo and Azos started to confront each other.
In the end, we didn’t manage to obtain permission to search the slums. We went back to Rondo’s tent.
「Perchance, Azos was the one who spilled the information?」
Probably, it surely is.
「But, the other campaigning aristocrats and my troops couldn’t move without permission.」
「Shall I take it back?」
「What!? But, the enemy is a horde of orcs?」
「Did you forget who won the championship at the fighting compet.i.tion?」
「I see…… but, can you get it back while avoiding as much commotion as possible?」
「Yeah…… it would probably be alright at night.」
「I see, you can easily sneak in at night, huh. Alright, I’ll entrust this matter to you. Since I’ll make necessary arrangements with other aristocrats, I’ll leave it to you!」
「Leave it to me.」
We left Rondo’s tent and booked a room at the inn.
「Seiji-sama, are you really going alone?」
「Yes, because I’ll only get the food back secretly without fighting this time.」
「I understand, please be careful.」
Because there was still a little time before evening, I retrieved the completed equipment at the weapon shop in Suga town.
・Necklace of Lightning +4 (Mithril)
・Recovery staff +3 (Thousand years old Sakura)
・Necklace of recovery +3 (Mithril)
・Hair ornaments of Wind +1
・Wind rod +1
・Hair ornaments of Water +1
・Water rod +1
・Hair ornaments of Ice +1
・Ice rod +1
・Darkness rod +1
It has become a considerably luxurious collection.
Then, after waiting for the sun to set and the sky to darken, I went to the slums.
Although it would be effortless if I used【Teleportation】,
when I checked the warehouse’s surveillance video, I saw several orcs guarding it. There would be a possibility of being found out when I teleport.
Inevitably, I had to use【Night shade】and went towards the slums on foot.
But, this slum had an intense smell of a rotten fish. Its entrance was full of orcs.
Well, I didn’t get exposed so far.
Although I’m using【Night shade】, I was worried if I really won’t get exposed. I moved sneakily as much as possible for me to not get caught. Finally, I arrived in front of the warehouse.
But, the sizes of the lined up barracks-like buildings around this warehouse clearly looked out of place.
On the contrary, the slums were possibly built around this warehouse.
I checked the warehouse’s surroundings but there wasn’t something I can sneak into.
Since it can’t be helped, I waited for the guard to be changed and snuck in in that interval.
About 3 orcs stood guard inside the warehouse but I caught them off guard.
I put the 3 orcs to sleep using【Sleep】and beheaded them, and put them away in the inventory.
I tinkered with the door of the warehouse in order for it to not be easily opened. I had the tracking beacon transferred to the warehouse’s door from the bag of flour.
After that, I slowly stored all the food inside the warehouse to the inventory and returned using【Teleportation】.
When I returned to the inn, Elena was still awake while rubbing her sleepy eyes.
「Seiji-sama, welcome back. Are you alright?」
「You’re still awake, Elena? It’s fine if you have gone to sleep first.」
「I won’t go to sleep with such reasoning.」
「Since it’s already late, we’ll deliver the food back tomorrow, let’s now go to sleep.」
「Yes.」
Elena and I slept soundly on the double bed.
Huh? Somehow, aren’t I becoming unusually too familiar with Elena by sleeping together?
Well ,whatever……
Translator notes and reference:
If I’m not mistaken, the t.i.tle stands for Metal Gear Solid, an action-adventure stealth video game where the player needs to infiltrate some enemy base undetected by hiding or making use of objects like, in a sense, what Seiji did in this chapter. Know more about the game here.↩