skill.Multiple humans are approaching.
Rising quietly, I watch from the shadows.
Roll jumps to my shoulder. Listening to my instructions she waits quietly.
The members entering the mansion are hooded robes so I cannot see their faces.
Some round sources of light illuminate the mansion along with the people.
Is that light magic?
The people cloaked in hoods look around the room.
Fortunately, they don’t come to where I am hiding.
Those who have finished patrolling gather in the hall.
“This is the home of a n.o.ble family who lost their position. It will be all right.”
A man speaks with a voice that carries the feel of an apprentice and pulls back his hood.
The face is middle-aged. White hairs are growing from the side of his head, the man is clear cut and his eyes are sunk into his cheeks.
He is wearing hide armor that is slightly stained around the neck.
Then everyone follows the man’s lead and remove their cowls. They all look like soldiers wearing steel helmets.
The young soldier opens his mouth.
“Captain, may I invite those people here?”
“Ah, make it so. …Please mind that you are courteous?”
The leader with the chiseled features reminds the subordinate soldier to pay special attention.
Courteous? Are there big shots here, too?
“Yes.”
The young soldier nods and disappears into the darkness outside of the mansion.
After a moment I can see the soldier is guiding a group of people inside. Everyone is wearing a hood like those who entered earlier were.
However, judging from their att.i.tudes and appearances they are clearly different from the helmet wearing soldiers.
They are delivering orders in a distinguished manner.
The soldiers respond to their orders and search the hall for a table and chairs before returning and setting them up.
When a desk is set up, one of the bossy people removes their hood, exposing their face.
The person has blond hair and blue fox eyes. A man with handsome features.
Tall and good looking.
His clothes look expensive, the fridge of his mantle is embroidered with gold thread. (TL: The RAWs say he is wearing a タブレット which translates to tablet, and the closest thing I can think of that makes sense is some kind of mantle.)
A fur cape is wrapped around his shoulders, and a black scarf subst.i.tuting a tie is wrapped around his neck.
Something shiny is also attacked to his chest.
When I look closer at the shining object I can make out a golden hand-shaped broach.
A high-cla.s.s accessary.
After the blond-haired ikemen sits down on the stool his subordinates prepared he taps his finger several times on the table.
And, raising his blue fox-eyes he begins to glare at the captain for before.
“Oi, Jared! Isn’t this different from what you said before?”
The blond-haired ikemen calls the captain Jared. (TL: His names in the raws is Garudo which sounds like Guard. I thought it was kind of funny.)
The middle-aged captain of the mercenaries wearing brown hide-armor seems to be named Jared.
Jared lowers his head in apology.
“Hai. I am sorry. There are circ.u.mstances…this was an order his Excellency’s ‘royalist faction’ to move, I had to act quickly after receiving the communication. From his Excellency… be extremely cautious, once here ‘all of you,’ stand by until you receive an order.”
Hearing this the ikemen is completely enraged.
“What? Do you understand the circ.u.mstances! Expressly, although the court came from Samaria… there is no banquet, we meet in these ruins… Am I not one of Marquises of Samaria? Who does Prime Minister Zamdo think he is?”
Not only is that ikemen a n.o.ble, he’s a marquis?
He is definitely a big shot. That explains why there are so many soldiers.
Thereupon, a suitably showy person takes down their hood and sits on another stool.
Long, swaying pure blonde hair. Judging from that appearance, a woman?
“Shall we hear the circ.u.mstances? You are suspicious.”
“Chardonnay. You say something. We, the secret bureau of the royalist faction, have already understood everything if that is the case…”
“Maa, ne. This is natural. So, is there any reason for us to be here? Prime Minister Zamdo is an insecure good for nothing. The subordinates of such a person…”
Prime Minister Zamdo?
The eyes of the n.o.ble woman called Chardonnay stares at Jared like he is garbage.
“Fu, surely, surely all of these guys can be used including for work so.”
The blond-haired ikemen talks with warped cheeks.
Jared’s complexion worsens as he is he being blamed by the two n.o.bles.
“Hewso, do you really need to torment him so much? You might not think so, but he is a subordinate of Terramay Kingdom’s Prime Minister Zamdo.”
The Marquis’ name seems to be Hewso.
And then, the Prime Minister…
“That’s right. We are certainly in a different country, and then, although the armistice treaty has been signed, originally we are enemy nations.”
“Correct. We are here together because the relationship between the two countries is different now, will we be sharing each other’s fate?”
“Chardonnay, you are saying something like that…”
“Ara… are you surprised? Have I not invested considerable sums of money in this?”
Jared interrupts the middle-aged n.o.ble there.
“I apologize. Hewso-sama and Chardonnay-sama. The matter of this conversation…”
Hearing this the blond middle-aged ikemen, Hewso, opens his mouth and looks at him with eyes filled with fox eyes filled with unresolved anger.
“What is it?”
“Hai… His Excellency was concerned that information concerning Princess Narskeri-sama was leaked from the loyalist faction. He is concerned.”
Jared’s voice is somewhat tense.
“Prime Minister Zamdo is still worried about that matter? There hasn’t been any blundering of the details out of impatience? Even if the secret bureau has a leak the truth about the kidnapping will never come out because of all the gold…” (TL: I’m not confident in that last sentence.)
Wait, what? Princess? Kidnapping? Secret Bureau? Royalist Faction?
Did a lot of these words suddenly come out?
“The surrounding masked group… kidnappers, a.s.sa.s.sins, aren’t these back room dealings your business? Isn’t ‘Nebulous’ called the 【Shadow’s Right Hand】? No doubt they are all excellent people.”
Chardonnay says so and turns her eyes to Hewso.
She makes a bewitching smile while she plays with her blond hair.
The way this woman talks, for some reason I find it discomforting.
While unpleasant, the woman called Chardonnay is a beautiful woman.
Beautiful long blond hair and porcelain skin.
She has a well-defined nose cool blue eyes, a beauty that feels like high cla.s.s furniture.
The clothes she is wearing serve to emphasize on her beauty.
From the opening of the coat the collar of her black dress has pink flower embroidery, the low-cut neck line is decorated with flowers to hide her exposed chest.
Surely the clothes she is wearing is not below a precious stone. Her legs’ figure is exposed by the pants is wearing.
From her clothes give the impression of a bell rose.
She has the impression of an overbearing woman.
“That’s right. After Chardonnay, isn’t the person standing behind the same kind?”
“Ara, isn’t something like this natural. Do you think I would come to the ruins of this mansion with nothing but small fry soldiers?”
“Certainly.”
Jared then opens his mouth.
“Hewso-sama. Chardonnay-sama. Soon there should be contact from his Highness Zamdo… we will hear the details about the preparations for the surprise apology at tomorrow’s banquet. (TL: Surprise is in English.)
When the n.o.ble woman Chardonnay hears that she makes a satisfied smile.
“…Naturally. As expected. But, Prime Minister Zamdo is bad too. This is the princess of your country?”
Kidnapping a princess?
I should run away… (TL: This be some bad juju.)
I activate and retreat one step, two steps.And then-
‘-Someone is there!”
Even though I am using hidden body I was discovered
The person who spoke appears out of the darkness from behind Hewso.
They are wearing a black coat and a white mask. White mask-san turns their blood l.u.s.t in my direction.
“Oi oi, is there an outsider? No one should be here?”
Blond-haired Hewso-kun is furious. He glares at Jared with a flushed face.
“Hai. Naturally…is it true?”
“Yeah. Zeefu reacted.”
“Ara, ma. This conversation… does that mean the plan has been leaked?”
White mask seems to be called Zeefu, and the mask is turned in my direction.
“Come out from that corner.”
Acha, I was seen through.
Does the white mask named Zeefu have a skill similar to pheromone touch and presence detection?
No, because I was not noticed right away it must be a different kind of perception
There are multiple magic essence reactions from presence detection around me.
Is this midnight snack part open to everyone?
However, this situation does not really seem appropriate for a joke.
I am at an overwhelming disadvantage in numbers.
I need to be prepared to escape, although I was planning on leaving…I reveal myself.
Hewso looks at my suddenly exposed figure with his slitted fox eye.
“Where are you from. Are you actually from the royalist faction?”
He asks me calmly.
“Eto, I’m just a vagabond.”
I do not intend to try and deceive them.
“How long have you been there?”
“From the beginning.”
“Since this is just garbage there’s no reason to keep it alive? Hewso?”
The n.o.ble woman, Chardonnay.
Her pale-complexioned beautiful face, a cool feeling spreads from my stomach as she takes a cold att.i.tude.
She just called me garbage.
She called me garbage while looking down on me.
…Sickening.
“Understood. Zeefu, Apo, Yui. Kill him.”
“Ha.”
“Understood.”
“Immediately.”
Two shadows appear from the darkness and reply.
The two newcomers are dressed like Zeefu with black overcoats and white masks.
Two new people. The two white masked individuals, without making a sound come to a stop next to Zeefu.
Three people in total. And then, captain Jared whistles.
With that signal, the helmeted soldiers pull out their swords, and become a wall to protect the n.o.bles.
Several of the soldiers are slowly approaching me.
I check with magic observing eye.
The helmeted soldiers are out of the question. There is also no sign of moji.
The problem is the three white masks dressed in black. All of them are concentrating mana in their hands and feet.
All three must be moji users.
However, their proficiency is clearly lacking.
The transfer of mana in their body is too slow.
N, there is one person who is awfully smooth.
To be frank, since I don’t want to fight…should I try talking?
“Wait just a second. Arbitrarily killing me like that, I’m unrelated. After this, regardless of what happens…”
“You know more than you need to.”
Hewso says so while looking at me with cold eyes.
After giving me that chilling look, he signals Zeefu and Apo to kill me with a look.
Chi, it cannot be helped.
It looks like there is going to be a fight, holding the black spear I make eye contact with Rollo.
In that instant, Rollo transform into her larger body and throws herself at two soldiers.
At the same time, the white mask that discovered me earlier steps forward.
Zeefu kicks the ground with fighting moji enhanced legs and comes at me.
-Quick movement.
Holding a long sword in their right hand.
Aiming for my chest, the black mask called Apo runs at me too.
Similarly, they seem to be using a sword.
The black mask is aiming for my neck.
In those few seconds, I respond. (TL: I would like some help translating this phrase “俺はゼロコンマ何秒で” this is the second time it has come up and I’m not sure how to translate it to English. If anyone has any idea, please leave a comment.)
I move the black spear in a figure eight and dodge the two slashing swords.
Both of the longswords miss.
I attack while their guard is down.
I point the tip of my black spear at the white mask first.
Zeefu can’t react to my counter attack with the spear.
They can only slightly shift my body.
Naturally, that is not enough to prevent my attack.
My spear counterthrusts like a drill deep into the pit the white masked Zeefu’s stomach, the sound of metal being torn. Blood gushes out from the cut in the cloak.
Zeefu groans “Gwo” and retreats back in agony.
Immediately, the black mask named Apo attacks again.
I remember Shisho’s words “When the spear is sealed an opening appears.”
Green eyes behind the black mask are visible shifting for a moment. Apo swings down their long sword and tip slashes across my right shoulder.
I move to give up-
I move in a circle with “tiptoe half-turn” and retreat half a step.
And lifting my elbow I lift the back half of the spear.
The long sword meets the b.u.t.t end from above at an angle.
Then, with a *clang, * the sound of breaking metal.
The broken end of the sword flies of in the direction of the n.o.bles, and pierces a soldier forming the wall.
-Hii, he screams faintly.
Fu, success. Alright, I broke the long sword.
This looks easy, but it was hard.
I had to make the b.u.t.t end of the black spear collide with the middle of the sword along the edge with perfect timing. This is a technique Shisho taught me, “Sword Break.”
I immediately counterattack.
Disturbed by the destruction of their beloved sword, Apo cannot match my speed.
Circling in from a right angle, I come in with a battle cry.
It attacks straight as knife.
I enhance my legs with fighting moji and kick Apo in the pit of their stomach. The kick sinks into Apo’s stomach- a dull creaking is audible.
“Gwe.”
The black mask, Apo, cries out in pain and begins to lean forward like they are going to fall.
I pull the cloak wearing black mask falling toward me and hurl them to the ground in a back throw.
But I do not end it with that.
Looking down at the black masked Apo-
Right before Apo’s skull smacks the ground I swing up the metal rod of the black spear and kick.
The thrust out black spear cracks into Apo’s face.
The metal rod smashes their skull together with the black mask.
Apo’s grey matter splashes out.
After all, this is “Lightning Drop.”
This is one of the abstract techniques, however I don’t remember most of their names. As for the fight with Shisho, most of them were used for actual fighting.Oh, Rollo has finished biting the necks of the small fry soldier, the fight seems to be over.
But, there is another one…the guy with the black mask.
I can see mana gathering in their feet.
This one is the shortest, and their atmosphere seems strong than the other two.
Seeing how their other white masked companion was easily taken care of, being cautious and moving slowly, they pull two unique swords from their sheaths.
The sword blades are crossed in front of the mask.
A faintly shining white character emerges the sword blades.
Those words, they look like protection magic.
The two of them have mana.
Cool.
In addition, those swords look something like a trench knife and a scull crushed for attacking with fists. (TL: You can see them on the cover art.)
Part of the sword blade extends away from the main blade and is designed in a circular pattern.
While looking at the unique swords, after swinging the black spear to remove the blood, I a.s.sume my posture with my spear directed at the eyes.
The white mask moves first.
This guy takes advantage of their small stature and leaning comes running fast with their swords swept out horizontally to the sides.
I quickly keep the back spear pointed at their eyes- I block their attack.
The black tanza spear collides with the unique swords.
With a high-pitched *kiwi* the swords are repelled, and I respond with a stab with the black spear at the same time.
But, it is easily avoided-
The guy leans their head slightly and dodges my black spear.
Without change they move their body forward and extend out their left hand, and the silver sword stabs at my neck.
-c.r.a.p, I was careless.
One stab, two stabs, aimed at my body, at move to the left and right, avoiding the slashing swords.
As if white mask never missed they swing at my torso with the sword in their right hand, slashing down again-
This fellow is really strong.
With the continuous fight of the white mask it becomes a defensive fight for me.
Dodge. Avoid. Shift. Continue dodging attacks.
Ma, this is on purpose. This sword is beautiful.
I do not need to use my trump.
I watch it slowly and carefully, and when there is an opening in the sword I counterattack.
As the sword slashes at my black spear I easily rotate it. I wait for the attack with the two swords where the guy over swings slightly.
In one strike to the eyes, without receiving the black spear, they barely dodge it. The movement pays out though as the white mask slips to the left a bit.
Swinging with the two sword, aiming with that timing.
-Here it comes!
I am aware of my grip on the black spear like holding a willow branch.
Gently, I receive the sword slash- and repel it. In an instant, the sword that collided with the metal bar is knocked away.
Without using taking the opening in that moment, I kick down to the right of my opponent and hit my enemy’s foot.“Eh-”
The white mask falls off. Once again, I take once of the guy about to fall and thrown them backwards.
Like this, the n.o.bles who were watching pleasantly suddenly stare wide-eyed.
Hewso looks at me in surprises and mutters.
“T-the three strongest of Nebulous, our 【Shadow’s Right Hand】 defeated so easily-”
“…I’m surprised. I want him as my subordinate-”
Is her, Chardonnay?
The n.o.ble woman says such a thing and blushes with a far off look in her eyes…
“Hewso-sama! Chardonnay-sama! Let us retreat now. I-”
The tattooed captain Jared, is it because of me? But, this guy must think it won’t be much different after seeing the soldiers killed by the black cat Rollo…
“Jared. It is impossible for you.”
Hewso talks. Seeing his subordinate defeated so easily, he seems to understand my ability.
“Th…This responsibility, is mine!”
“Jared, I said…did you, no, did Prime Minister Zamdo arrange this?”
Hewso glares at Jared.
Jared hurriedly shakes his head left and right and looks at Hewso.
“It’ different, completely different! I know nothing about it. It’s true. However, this fellow, they may be a talent who has been nurtures by the secret bureau and royalist faction…”
“Jared- you are an incompetent good-for-nothing. Yet, thanks to that I can tell that you are not an enemy…”
A white haired old man draped in a white mantle with a large sword strapped to his back appears. The old soldier with the big sword bows slightly to Chardonnay, and approaches her.
“Ojou, no, you Highness…”
The old man whispers to Chardonnay and talks in a low voice.
“So. Un. Ahuh. I understand. Right away, let’s retreat…Hewso. I am disappointed we couldn’t have our talk here; it will have to wait for another time…well then. Keeki, Same. Let us return.”
A beast woman quickly appears to follow Chardonnay, and lining up next to the old soldier, touches one knee to the ground.
“Ha.” “I obey.”
The beast woman and the old solder both lower their heads to Chardonnay and respond.
“Chardonnay!”
Are you breaking you promise with Hewso! Yelling as if to say that.
Besides, are there subordinates that seem to be strong. But they seem to have run away.
Good. As for me, I will escape.
“Then, I’ll escape to, so be relieved. I have to intentions to reveal anything. There was no meaning to my being here, best regards. Let’s go Rollo. Well, bye.”
Speaking in an easy-going tone, I bow goodbye.
Hewso and Jared glare at me, but the smartest thing to do in a tight situation is to beat a retreat.
“Hey, you!”
Strengthening my legs with fighting moji I quickly come to Rollo’s side and pick her up, and run away to where the popob.u.mu is waiting.