I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Betrayals and Revelations

It was the morning after Fran and the others had been broken out of prison. The guardhouse would be in an uproar by now. Close to thirty people had escaped, after all, so they must have been looking for us. Eluding their search parties would be up to Miriam’s ingenuity.

Miriam’s men were calm, so I didn’t think the royal guard had found our hideout yet.

“Sorry for the wait. It’s time for breakfast.”

“Hm.”

Our guide from last night showed up at our door with a wagon. I doubted this enclosed area had a canteen, so we were going to have to eat our food in our rooms. Our breakfast was fish soup and a piece of bread. There was also a sizeable pile of sautéed clams, each decently large. That said, there wasn’t a single vegetable in sight. It couldn’t be helped; fresh vegetables were hard to come by in the kingdom of Seedrun.

The kids loved it, of course. I had expected some of them to be picky with the clams, but they all gobbled it down with smiles on their faces with compliments to the chef. That’s what I loved about orphans, they were tough.

When asked what they usually ate back in Dars, they said they would eat spoiled leftover meat from the adventurer’s guild. They also ate animals they found at the beach, like clams and starfish. When they couldn’t find any, they would resort to eating sea roaches. They tasted terrible, but eating them was a matter of survival.

“Sea roaches…”

F-Fran? May I know what’s on your mind? You are not having sea roaches, all right? I won’t allow it! Not when we still have good food on hand!

Eating in our rooms worked out to Fran’s advantage. Our breakfast wasn’t going to be enough to sate her, and so we topped it off by taking more food out of Pocket Dimension. Everyone in our room was already aware of our stock, and they quite liked the sandwiches and punch. They weren’t going to tell on us as long as we shared.

“Here.”

“Again? Are you sure?”

“Hm.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll take this one!”

“May I have this one?”

“I have some punch, too.”

The sandwiches and punch were exactly like the ones from last night but everyone loved it, all the same.

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“Okay!”

“You got it.”

“I won’t tell.”

“Hm. If you keep quiet, I can give you more.”

“Oooh!”

“In that case, your secret dies with us!”

“Yeah!”

“I swear on it!”

Even the maid was getting as excited as the children she was looking after. She was more than willing to cooperate. I had better remember to feed them all later, though. People get a little crazy when you cheat them out of a meal.

There was nothing for us to do after breakfast time. The main point of being in a hideout was, well, to hide. I couldn’t leave, at least not without leaving Fran behind, and going out in broad daylight would be too dangerous for me. I couldn’t risk being seen. I thought about making a clone and having it investigate, but it would probably stand out and capture the attention of the slum’s residents. I couldn’t take risks even if I wanted to.

Fran was playing a game with the other children. Something that looked like Othello, which I didn’t know existed in this world, as well. There went my plans of introducing Earth games into this world and making a lot of money from it.

This world already had games like chess and shogi, and I didn’t think a similar game with different rules would sell; igo was a viable option if I actually knew the rules to it. This world also had something that was identical to snakes and ladders.

Hmm, I may have underestimated this world.

I had expected the existence of magic to hinder the development of science and therefore delay the development of games, but that clearly wasn’t the case. This world used a cornucopia of spices, and its cooking was quite advanced. Their simple yet delicious cooking was thanks to monster ingredients and the Cooking Skill, I imagined. They didn’t have much in the way of deep fried foods, but that was only because cooking oil was hard to come by.

At first glance, this world looked like Earth back in the Middle Ages, but far more advanced at the same time.

“Urgh.”

“Hehe! I win.”

Fran had lost her game of Othello. She was quite terrible at it, in fact. Not a single black disk was left on the board, and the 8×8 playing field was covered with white disks.

“Rematch.”

“No, it’s my turn next!”

“Mmph.”

Despite her losses, Fran still had fun with the game. She had never experienced playing board games with friends before. I didn’t want to become the kind of parent who butted in when his kid was losing in a board game. I was so good at Othello in my previous life that I was dubbed the Monochrome Monster; said monster’s otherworld debut would have to wait for another day.

The maid joined the kids in playing Othello, anyway. She wasn’t holding back, either, winning most of the matches against the kids. Doubtless she was adjusting her skill level so the kids could still have a fun time playing against her.

Oh well, I guess I could do some skill management in the meantime.

According to the P.A. who took over my body during Unleash Potential, most of my skills had been consolidated and evolved into Advanced Skills. Honestly, I still didn’t understand most of what these skills did. I couldn’t ask the P.A. for details, either, since she had reverted to her usual task of announcing nothing but essential information. I would have to experiment with these Compound Skills by myself. The short session I had in Jean’s backyard after conquering the dungeon of the dead was nowhere near enough.

I should start with something inconspicuous…

Which left me with Omni Radar (a product of detection skills like Presence Sense and Danger Sense) and Being Sense (a product of sense skills like Mana Sense and Trap Sense). These were the easiest to practice.

These skills were alike, although the detection skills were passive since they were always on, and the sense skills were active skills since I had to activate them manually. Concentrating while using detection skills had its benefits, of course. It widened its effective range and increased its accuracy. No harm in practicing these skills.

Skills I wanted to try out aside from those two were Water Manipulation (a product of Swim and Water Current Manipulation), Wind Manipulation (a product of Air Current Manipulation and Air Hike), and Poison Manipulation (a product of Drain Poison and Generate Poison). So far, I had not managed to use any of these three skills successfully.

I could use them as their pre-compound form, like using Wind Manipulation to reproduce Air Hike or Water Manipulation to reproduce Water Bullets. However, using them required more mana and attention, likely due to them no longer being their own individual skill. Honestly, I felt that they were weaker in this current form, as well.

But that couldn’t be the end of the story. According to the skill’s name, I should be able to manipulate water and wind more liberally than before. There was a world of applications to explore, but I lacked the imagination to find these new applications and was therefore stuck grasping at straws.

Now, I was thinking of trying out a new form of Water Manipulation. I wondered if I could vibrate water particles. It would make for one hell of an attack if I could. Golems and undead aside, the bodies of monsters—and humans—consisted mostly of water.

What if I could send vibrations to that body of water from afar? Would the vibrations result in a concussion? That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw Water Manipulation.

The idea was far from original, of course; I read about it in a manga in my past life. Still, the ability to create shock waves within another creature’s body was an attack that would be impossible to defend against. My crude imagination thought of a vibrating massage stick lodged throughout the target’s body. It would be hard to fight in that situation.

I turned my attention to the pitcher of water that was left in a corner of the room.

Vibrate… Vibrate…

I used the skill and pictured the intended result in my head. I was rewarded with ripples of water. Close, but far too weak to be a success. I wanted something finer, something that would be able to make the pitcher of water itself resonate and whistle.

Finer… Stronger…

I concentrated again. The water rippled stronger this time, which was why I considered it an even bigger failure. It looked like I was just stirring the water with my hand.

This is hard…

It wasn’t a trick I could learn in a day. The splashing pitcher of water was beginning to draw the kids’ attention, too.

“Did you guys hear something?”

“I think so, yeah.”

“It came from the direction of the water pitcher…”

“It’s probably only a rat, children.”

Thank you, maid lady. That was it for Water Manipulation practice, I guess.

I switched gears and started experimenting with Wind Manipulation.

I should probably focus on perfecting my current repertoire of skills than trying to learn a new skill right off the bat.

I was still at the stage of learning the basics. Skipping ahead to the advanced tech was only going to be a detriment.

I started with something simple. I focused on the air in front of me and started compressing it. The kids weren’t able to see it, of course, but since I had Omnidirectional Radar, I was able to see the effects of my Wind Manipulation. I had formed a small ball of compressed air.

Now that I had a ball of compressed air, I tried reversing the operation and slowly decompressed it. Releasing it all at once would cause a conspicuous pop which would draw the children’s attention.

I expanded the ball of air, alternating between gentle compressions and decompressions. I was starting to get the hang of this wind manipulation business now. My mana consumption decreased despite creating more pressurized air than before. My skill level remained the same, but I had just gotten more efficient at using it.

Nice. Let’s try out Omni Radar this time.

Omni Radar was a difficult skill to use. Understandable, considering its greater application compared to ordinary detection skills. It could detect anything and everything; even I thought it was a little much.

I doubted I could use it at its full potential at all times, though. The skill detected everything, resulting in a deluge of indecipherable data. No human could possibly process all that data at once, myself included. I remembered the trouble it gave me when it would pick up all of the noise in the vicinity back at the slaver hideout. Blocking out all unnecessary data was crucial while using this skill. I wasn’t sure if it came with using the skill or if I was just using it wrong. What was certain was the fact that I couldn’t use the skill very well. The best I could do was parse through the array of data and pick out the bits of information that I wanted.

Time to get to work!

My earlier session with Wind Manipulation had given me the ability to perceive air currents. I could see the flow of air in the room through a combination of air current and vibration perception. Doing so would grant me sight even in pitch black darkness, which made for a perfect countermeasure against any ambush.

I turned off my vision and concentrated. I would start by trying to pick up on the children’s movements. My sightless vision wouldn’t amount to much if I couldn’t sense my immediate vicinity.

At first, I only heard the clicks of Othello discs being placed on a board. I then focused on the airflow around me. With it, I was able to map out a rough layout of the room. I knew there were people inside, although I couldn’t tell their exact details like their faces, size, and what they were doing at the time. At least I could tell when they were moving…

Being Sense would be much more appropriate in this use case. There was no need to read the room’s airflow with it.

I’m going to have to put more hours into this before it becomes useful.

I continued practicing my skills for a time, until I sensed a change in my surroundings. Fran and the others were still enjoying Othello even after lunch when a guard came in our room to ask for her.

“Is the Black Cat Fran here?”

“Hm.”

“The princesses are calling for you.”

“All right.”

She got up and smiled at the worried-looking kids.

“I’m off.”

“H-hey, you better come back in one piece, you got that?”

“Be careful out there, Fran.”

“Um, good luck.”

“Thanks.”

The guide knew the kids were feeling uneasy. She didn’t want to make them cry or fuss and was more than willing to wait for them to say their goodbyes.

The kids were playing Othello to calm their anxieties. Knowing this, Fran had played along to humor them. There was the possibility that Fran had fun playing it herself, but I was guessing at this point. I had never seen Fran be that kind to anyone other than myself until now. The kids were now her friends, people worth protecting. I always thought she could do with more socializing, so this was a step in the right direction. I hoped she would interact with more people and take an interest in them.

“Let’s go.” Fran nodded towards our guide from last night, and she responded with a bitter smile before leading the way.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Right this way.”

She led us to Sellimea’s chamber from last night.

“Ah, you’re here.”

“Very good.”

Sellimea and Miriam were waiting for us inside. The female fighter we saw after our prison break, Carla, was also present. No one else was in the room.

“Just me?”

“Yes. You are the strongest among the Phyllian crew. Briefing you on our plans first would make our lives easier.”

I see. There were other soldiers, of course, but none who were crazy strong. Rengill’s crew members were used to heavy lifting, but they weren’t exactly trained for combat.

“We’ve made contact with our man on the inside.”

Miriam began the briefing; she was the woman in charge of such matters, it seemed. Sellimea was quiet and listened to her sister. She wasn’t avoiding responsibility, but she knew Miriam was best suited for the job.

“We’ve found a new conspirator willing to help us.”

“Conspirator?”

“Yes. It’s the prince’s bodyguard.”

“Salut?”

“That’s the one.”

Salut was a reliable conspirator if there ever was one. He was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, and he had his heart set on protecting the royal twins.

“The royal twins are currently being entertained in one of the royal villas.”

“Entertained? Not captured?”

“Yes. They are still captives, but they haven’t been thrown into a dungeon and retain their freedom of movement to a degree.”

I guess it’s because they’re still royalty. But that wasn’t the whole story.

“It would appear that they are worried about the rumors circling the Phyllian royal family.”

“Rumors?”

“You don’t know? The Phyllian royals are under the protection of their Divine Sword, and a curse might befall those who dare harm them.”

A curse… Really?

The whole thing sounded like mere superstition to me, but the room was silent. Fran, Sellimea, Miriam, and Carla looked serious. They really believed in this curse. After all, this was a world of Magic and Skills, a world where its denizens firmly believed in the existence of gods. I had never met one before, but I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out they did exist. The Divine Swords were weapons wrapped in mystery, their power seemingly coming from the gods themselves. It wasn’t too much of a stretch that a curse would befall on the enemies of its owners.

A piece of information about the Phyllian Divine Sword had been making the rounds.

“What are you talking about?” Fran asked.

“Do you know what the Divine Sword of Phyllius can do?”

“No.”

“I see. The kingdom of Phyllius is in possession of the Divine Sword of the Demon Lord, Diablos. It is a weapon capable of controlling demons.”

“Demons? Like actual demons?”

“I’m not sure what demons you are talking about…”

“Like the ones you find in Dungeons.”

“Yes, those demons.”

Really? It could control literal demons? That would make it dangerously strong. Even that Daemon we fought back in Alessa’s Goblin Dungeon was a B-Rank Threat. Although the one we fought had all sorts of restrictions on it which made it closer to a C- or D-Rank Threat.

Still, if it could command an entire army of demons, that would make Phyllius demonically strong.

Why is it still a small country?

Even Fran thought it was odd for Phyllius remaining as small as it was.

They probably can’t use it indefinitely.

I see.

There had to be some restrictions on its usage, like a set number of uses, or the time it could be used. If Phyllius could summon hundreds of demons for long periods of time, they could take over the continent in no time at all.

As a defensive countermeasure, however, it would do just fine.

“These beings called demons are wrapped in mystery to begin with.”

“There are researchers who study them, but even they haven’t made much progress.”

Demons only spawned in Dungeons. As long as you weren’t willing to enter one, your chances of a demonic encounter was slim to none. Research was slow, to say the least.

“We don’t know the details, but rumor has it that demons would come for and curse those who would attack the Phyllian royals.”

“My brother is appropriately fearful of the possibility.”

That was why he didn’t dare put them in chains or treat them like actual prisoners. He didn’t know what to make of the validity of the rumors, demons being the mysterious beings that they were.

“I suppose that is why he’s keeping them at the royal villas instead of the royal palace. My brother must not want to chance a demonic encounter.”

“I think he’s already doing them harm by lying to them and selling them out to Raydoss.”

“We also thought of that at first…but I think we’ll be fine on that front if only by a fraction.”

“It all depends on whether he is swayed by Raydoss’s compensation.”

This whole talk about “harm” was fuzzy to begin with. I thought lying to the royal twins already qualified as “harm,” but I guess it was all right as long as they weren’t physically hurt. To take the argument further, would harm also befall those who gave the order to harm the Phyllian royals? There were many ways to interpret the rumor, but the fact of the curse remained.

“In any case, we have that rumor and my fool brother’s paranoia to thank for the Phyllians being placed in the villas and granted some freedom of movement.”

“Although I’m sure he would continue lying to them until the moment he hands them over to Raydoss.”

“We’ve been able to establish contact with Sir Salut because of it.”

They had made plans for Salut to be our inside man during the time of our escape. Although the prince and princess were carefully monitored, he would be able to take them and lead them down the unlocked hidden paths to freedom.

“We’ll carry out our operation tonight. We shall infiltrate the royal villa with the aid of Sir Salut and rescue the royal twins. You’re coming along. Stealth will be the main focus of our mission, but I can think of no better fighter to have by my side in case things go wrong.”

“You got it.”

“We’re counting on you.”

It was the dead of night before we knew it.

Fran and the others had infiltrated the noble housing complex which was located next to the royal palace. They were currently in the courtyard of one of the mansions in the far eastern corner.

The mansion used to belong to some lower class nobility who were once Suarez’s political opponents. Its owners long since expelled, it was now deserted. There were many estates that shared this mansion’s fate in and about the complex.

The deserted mansions weren’t well secured, and so Miriam took it upon herself to use one of them as our base of operations tonight.

“The five of us will make up the infiltration party. The rest of you will secure an escape path for us.”

We began our final debriefing in the mansion’s courtyard. Miriam led our rescue party which consisted of Fran, Carla, and Byke—the latter two being Miriam’s subordinates. There was also a Phyllian soldier who was one of Salut’s charges.

The Phyllian called Yorth wasn’t a great fighter, but it couldn’t be helped. As much as Fult and Satya believed that Fran would save them, the same couldn’t be said about the rest of the Phyllians. They asked that we bring a Phyllian along with us for peace of mind.

Truth be told, I would’ve taken the royal twins’ attendant over Yorth. The royal maid was born to a lesser house of Phyllian nobility, but she was nobility nonetheless. She would be much more persuasive in a negotiation compared to an ordinary soldier. But I suppose she would get in the way of a sneaking mission, so we didn’t take her with us.

We also had Sellimea’s personal guards on our team. They used to be part of her imperial guard but deserted when Sellimea left. We also had double agents in the royal palace posing as Sellimea’s traitors and spies posing as ordinary fishermen. Sellimea had more influence than I thought.

“We will infiltrate the villas upon the diversion squad’s signal. Sir Salut will have opened one of the backdoors for us, and we will use that to escape with the Phyllian royal twins.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Understood.”

“Hm.”

“I-I’ll do my best.”

Yorth did not look dependable, and it would be up to the rest of us to help him make it out of this mission alive. I would secretly give him an extra boost if he needed it, too.

“We shall then use the hidden routes located under the mansions to bring them back to Sellimea’s safe house.”

With the mention of the safe house, Miriam concluded the briefing. Even then, the briefing she just gave was nothing more than one final rundown. A rundown which Fran hadn’t needed to attend since she already knew the ins and outs of the plan…

But Miriam’s aim was to ease poor Yorth’s nerves. He was visibly less tense compared to before the final briefing. Miriam might seem callous, but she kept a close eye on all her men. She was Sellimea’s right hand man, after all, and I imagined that she had picked up the habit of close observation from all her dealings with military men.

“Let’s have a look at the map again. We won’t get a chance to open it on the field so pay attention.” Miriam laid out the simplified map of the royal palace along with the map of the island of Seedrun on the table.

The island of Seedrun looked like a gourd which lay on its side. Most of its land was concentrated in its fat eastern part, which contained the royal palace, military facilities, and the noble housing area.

The constricted northern and southern parts of the islands were made into ports, and also the general residential area for ordinary citizens.

The western area was rocky and hard. This was where the lower classes lived, all of them bunched together in terrible living conditions. The slums, in particular, were highly susceptible to high tide, and many houses were left behind because of it.

As a side note, the escape route Fran used to get out of the guardhouse ran from the southeastern part of the island all the way to the residential areas.

The royal palace was built on the east coast which was prime real estate. It also came with its private port, usable only by the royal family, underlining Seedrun’s maritime heritage. The royal palace was where the king carried out his duties of governing Seedrun while the royal villas were used to entertain guests, something of a resort. The royal villas lay to the north of the royal palace.

Fran would first head to the royal villas where the security was lightest, as the villas were fortified with two walls. Once they got past those, they could easily infiltrate the villa’s interior.

As Miriam was wrapping up, the sound of bells rang through the air. This was the military’s call for support. Our diversion had begun their operation.

“Here we go.”

Our diversion was straightforward enough. Miriam’s operatives were to attack the naval base and cause enough of a stir to force the military to send in backup from the palaces. There was no need for the operatives to capture the naval base since their main goal was distraction, as long as we managed to fool the navy into thinking we wanted to conquer their base. Still, if we dawdled and missed the timing of our escape, the distraction squad might end up completely eliminated, so it was quite the risky operation.

I didn’t think we needed a distraction as long as we could remain hidden, but…

“We must prevent the Phyllian royals from falling into the hands of Raydoss at all costs.”

Once Miriam put it that way, Fran had no more objections. All we could do was pray for the safety of our diversion team.

“Let’s move to the rendezvous point.”

And so we began our operation.

I didn’t feel too many life signatures coming from the royal villas, although the double walls were higher than I expected. Scaling them would be a challenge which I didn’t think Yorth was up to.

Miriam then took something out of her pouch.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a grappling hook. We’ll use this to climb up.”

It was an analog way of doing it to be sure. The walls were equipped with a barrier which triggered upon detecting magic in its vicinity, so this was the safest way of doing it.

We would have to do something about the lookout before we can hook the rope up there, though. Fortunately, there was only one lookout patrolling the wall. Knock him out, and we could continue our infiltration.

“I’ll do it.”

“Thanks.”

Miriam casually thanked Fran for her volunteering. This act of nonchalant relegation highlighted Miriam’s royal lineage. She was more than ready to give the assignment to the right man, or beastgirl, for the sake of the mission, age requirements be damned.

Here we go, Teacher.

Ready when you are.

Simple skills didn’t seem to trigger the wall’s alarms. Fran flung me upwards and I put some extra Telekinesis into my flight. I cut through the darkness of night and headed towards the patrolman. I then delivered a knockout blow to his head, rendering him unconscious. The only thing the poor guy was guilty of was following his orders of dull patrol work; there was no reason to kill him. However, if he became a threat to Fran’s safety I would be more than ready to cut him open.

Miriam then threw her grappling hook and fastened it to protrusion in the wall. Granted, I gave her a bit of Telekinesis assistance.

“I’ll take point.”

“Be careful.”

“Thanks. Be on the lookout for any patrols.”

“Ma’am.”

Miriam grabbed the rope and started scaling the wall. Her movements were so smooth that she made the operation look harmless. It was clear to all of us that she didn’t need any help. Fran wasn’t much different; she climbed the wall so fast it made Miriam widen her eyes in surprise.

And so we came to Yorth, who didn’t seem like he would be able to pull himself up against the wall, but Fran took care of the problem. She tied him up with the bit of rope and pulled him up. This gained another surprised stare from Miriam. She had expected Fran to be skilled with the sword as a product of speed and skill, not brute force. And here she was, towing a full grown adult up by herself.

“You really are strong…” Miriam muttered, high praise coming from her.

“Eek…” Yorth, an acrophobic, was pale the entire duration of the trip. He did a great job of keeping his voice down, though. He let out a tiny squeak towards the end, but I cut him some slack and let it pass.

In the meantime, Miriam tied down the guard I had knocked out. No problems so far, but we had to be quick before his replacement came in.

We let down the rope from the grappling hook and climbed down to the other side of the wall. Then, we climbed the second wall. Yorth looked like he was having second thoughts about the operation, but we gave him no time to really reconsider. As much as we wanted to let him have a moment to steel his resolve, now was our only chance. The second wall was absent of patrols, likely thanks to our diversion squad. If we let this chance go, we might have to deal with more guards down the road.

We had to be quick.

“Let’s go.”

“Hm.”

Fran pulled Yorth up as the latter was making inaudible squeaking noises. No patrols showed up during her tow of him, and we all scaled the second wall without a hitch.

We were now in a corner of the courtyard of the royal villas, still some distance away from the main building where Fult and Satya were kept. The courtyards were quite spacious seeing that it was originally designed as a waiting area for guests of honor.

“Over here.”

Miriam led our way. We passed a huge garden which had bushes and tall trees that made for decent hiding spots. The closest Japanese parallel I could think of was our Imperial Palace in Tokyo: a building complex surrounded by nature.

“Not a single soldier so far…”

Miriam was right. Security was exceedingly thin tonight with about less than ten guards making the rounds. The operation was going surprisingly well.

“They must’ve sent them all to deal with our diversion team,” she mused.

“Yes. It doesn’t look like there’s much security left.”

“Let’s hurry up and get this over with.”

“You’re right.”

Even as I used my skills, I didn’t detect many life signatures coming from within the royal villa. They really loosened security here.

“Come on. We’ll sneak in through the backdoor.”

“Hm.”

We made our move, careful not to unknowingly rustle the surrounding foliage. We were going to have to be more cautious from here on. There was a soldier making the rounds on the other side of this wall. Fran and crew quietly and carefully headed to the backdoor while suppressing their aura to remain undetected.

“It should be over there…”

As its name suggested, the backdoor was a small door located behind the royal villa. It was originally used as an entrance for palace servants. Miriam quietly walked towards it and pulled on the door handle; the door was unlocked, just as planned. Salut had carried out his mission.

Miriam signaled us to come in once she made sure the coast was clear. A familiar figure was waiting for us when we entered the villa.

“Lady Miriam, I presume.”

Dark Knight Salut.

“Sir Salut?”

“At your service. You’ve done well to make it this far, Yorth.”

“Not at all, sir!”

“Come. I shall lead the way.”

“Please.”

We would now meet up with the prince and princess and break them out of the royal villa. We would then use the underground passage to escape to the slums, hopefully losing any pursuers in the process. Miriam seemed relieved now that she had rendezvoused with our Phyllian contact and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hopefully the rest of our operation will proceed just as smoothly…”

“We’ve made it this far, so I think we’ll be all right.”

“I think so, too.”

Carla and Byke both agreed as they walked down the villa hallway, but…

Fran!

“Hm!”

Fran stopped, drew her sword, and readied herself. She stopped concealing her presence and was now in full battle mode. If there were any guards who had the ability to sense her presence, it was a matter of time before they swarmed us.

“F-Fran, what are you doing?!”

“Do you want to lay this whole operation to waste?!”

Miriam and the others yelled at her while still remaining quiet—which was no small feat—but Fran remained firm, sword in hand, poised to attack.

“What is it, Fran?”

Salut stopped to see what the commotion was about. But Fran had no time to respond to his question.

Teacher, there’s someone here!

I know. They must be professionals from the way they can conceal their presence.

The aura came from behind a door in the middle of the hallway. That was enough to alert us. They weren’t just holding their breaths, they were using skills to cut off their aura. If we weren’t around, they would’ve gotten the jump on Miriam and the others. Our ambushers were waiting for us.

“There might be someone here,” Fran declared in a soft voice.

“What are you talking about, Fran?”

“I don’t see anyone…”

“Come on now, this is no time for jokes.”

Carla and Byke were skeptical of Fran’s findings, but Miriam nodded grimly.

“No, Fran is stronger than we are. She’s also a beastman with finer senses than us. It would be of no surprise if Fran was the only one who could sense them.”

“But to say they’ve been waiting for us… Impossible.”

“Yeah, what she said.”

If the enemy had been lying in wait for us that meant they had completely seen through our plans; we might have a traitor in our midst.

I scanned our crew’s reaction. Miriam and her allies seemed genuinely surprised. There might still be a traitor among us, but Carla and Byke had asked to be put on this assignment by their own volition. But then again, leading right into the trap they had laid out for us beforehand would be the easiest way to do us in. They weren’t off the hook yet.

What we knew for sure was that it was dangerous for us to carry on.

Fran intimidated our attackers, forcing them out of their hiding spots.

“…Show yourselves.”

“Aah. I knew you’d notice.”

The door in the middle of the hallway responded by opening itself. Out came a familiar looking man in black clothing along with his charge of soldiers. The man in black looked so intimidating that just looking at him was enough to send chills down your spine and make you run a cold sweat. He was the last person we wanted to see. He stood there with an air of sharpness forged only by years of adventuring. A seasoned veteran who had seen plenty to last a lifetime.

“B-Black Fang Valuza! What is he doing here?!”

Miriam seemed to know the man as well. I guess fame was difficult to escape when you’re that strong.

“You know him?”

“Of course. He is the captain of Seedrun’s elite fighting force, the Dragon Fangs.”

He was much more of a big deal than we thought.

“They are the strongest Seedrun has to offer.”

That’s right, “they.” Valuza wasn’t alone, and had brought his men along with him, all of them excellent fighters in their own right. They weren’t so strong that they would give Fran and Valuza trouble but were more than a threat to an ordinary soldier.

There were six of them.

I thought the lack of security was odd, but they more than made up for it in quality.

“You’re kidding…”

“Those are Dragon Fangs standing behind him!”

Carla and Byke paled as they gazed upon Valuza, despair was clearly written on their faces. They were only decent fighters, and Valuza’s men would be a difficult challenge for them.

Salut broke into loud cursing when he saw Valuza and his men.

“Damn it! That bastard Sellid! He betrayed us all!”

“What are you saying, Sir Salut?!”

“I saw the bastard conversing with him!”

Salut gritted his teeth while pointing his finger at Valuza, his face anguished.

“I thought he was just blasting one of his idle complaints at anyone in the vicinity but…”

“That damned chamberlain! I thought he was annoying, but I didn’t think he’d actually betray us,” gasped Yorth, the Phyllian soldier, looking just as hurt as Salut. Their already low opinions of Sellid bottomed out upon the realization he had betrayed them.

“Hah. So you noticed. That’s right, that man Sellid gave us all the information we needed.” Valuza grinned.

Upon hearing those words, Miriam and the others immediately prepared themselves to withdraw. We wouldn’t be able to escape with the prince and princess now that our plan was completely leaked.

Fran, we’re getting out of here!

But!

Fran hesitated, feeling Fult and Satya’s presence from within the villa. She didn’t want to give up when she was so close. We couldn’t afford to stay here, however. Reinforcements from the outside were already closing in on the villa.

“You’re not getting away that easy.”

Valuza and his Black Fangs did the most logical thing and attacked us. Valuza took on Fran while two of his men faced down Miriam. Carla, Byke, Yorth, and Salut all had to take on one each.

This guy knows Fran’s the strongest one here!

“Ugh…”

“You really are as strong as I thought.”

“You too.”

“Heheh.”

The sound of clashing swords rang throughout the hallway. Fran’s Sword Mastery level was higher than Valuza’s, but he was still putting up one hell of a fight. Their difference in skill level made up by his combat experience and preemptive attack.

“Gyaa!”

“Yorth!”

Yorth had fallen. It was inevitable considering the Black Fang operative he faced.

Teacher!

No! He’s already dead! You need to focus on Valuza!

Though Fran had barely known the man, he was still part of the team, and her swordhand wavered because of her fallen friend. Valuza wasted no time in exploiting the opening.

“I’m sorry, Yorth.”

In contrast to Fran, Salut, his immediate superior, was unnaturally cold as he muttered Yorth’s eulogy.

Fran, focus!

“Ungh…!”

Fran re-established her footing, but the loss had left her shaken. With Yorth dead, the Black Fang who killed him was now free to move to another target. Salut was doing well in fending off his Black Fang, but the difference in skill wasn’t so stark that he was able to dispose of him immediately.

Skilled fighter that Miriam was, she was barely handling the two Black Fangs she was facing, but Carla and Byke were barely scraping by. If Yorth’s killer started attacking either of them, they would die instantly. Carla and Byke knew the predicament they were in, and with knightly resolve they shouted, “Lady Miriam, you must get out of here!”

“We’ll buy you time to escape, ma’am!”

“I am not leaving by myself! And we must still rescue the Phyllians…”

“It is not possible for all of us to escape! You must save yourself!”

This was bad. The more time passed, the more we would be put at a disadvantage. We needed to do something, fast, but it was hard. We were more than willing to use our big skills and magic, but the enclosed hallway made it difficult. Miriam and the others were fighting beside us, and they might get caught up in the skills themselves.

Fult and Satya were also still in the royal villa. Any skill that had the potential of harming them was out of the question since it would defeat the whole purpose of the rescue operation. There was also the matter of the rumor. Fran might be counted as an ally, but what if she hurt them by accident? That curse or whatever it was might fall upon us.

“Damn it! Carla, Byke, retreat! Fran, you go help Salut!”

“Not so fast!”

“Urgh!”

As we tried making our escape, Miriam was surrounded by three Black Fangs. It would seem that all hope was lost.

But Fran and I weren’t dumbly exchanging blows with Valuza, either. We were slowly moving, counting down to an opportune time to make our escape.

Now!

“Jet!”

“Groooar!”

“What the—Gah!”

Fran set herself up so her allies wouldn’t be in the line of fire while making sure all of our enemies were. She repositioned herself while deflecting Valuza’s sword strikes. Seizing the opportunity, Jet attacked Valuza from within the shadows.

As seasoned as Valuza was, I don’t think he had ever experienced having his ankle bitten by something in the shadows. Jet was still in his speedier, smaller form, but a monster bite was still a monster bite. You could hear the sound of Valuza’s greaves being crushed along with his ankle.

We were still up against a veteran swordsman, though. We’d be underestimating Valuza if we thought he’d be slowed down by a mere monster bite. I activated Telekinesis, focusing its powers on the space in front of us, to push our enemies away. They all fell down, and Fran, not letting this opening go to waste, knocked Valuza’s sword out of his hand.

“Haa!”

She aimed for his neck on the downswing, but—

“Too slow!”

She was no match for his reflexes—even when he now only had one leg to stand on. He dodged her slash by a hair’s breadth. My blade, which was originally going to lop off his entire head, only produced a thin cut on his neck.

That was enough for me.

“Guh… This is…”

I had activated Venom Fang. Poison crept through Valuza’s system, decreasing his life points. It wasn’t going to kill him since he had Poison Resistance and Dull Pain, but the heaviness brought on by the poison was enough to slow him down.

Wind Blower!

“Wind Arrow!”

“Grroaaar!”

Then we launched a barrage of spells. Wind Blower had no attack value by itself, but it let out a strong gust of wind which blew away everything caught up in it; nigh impossible to avoid in a tight space such as this. With Valuza and his men’s footing lost from Wind Blower, Fran and Jet proceeded to fire Wind Arrow and Shadow Magic at them for good measure.

Even if it didn’t kill them, it would be enough to buy us time.

“Now!”

“Y-yeah! We’re getting out of here!”

“Damn it. I’m sorry, Yorth. Rest in peace.”

Salut threw one last mournful look at Yorth’s body, shook off his grief, and made his escape.

In the distance, a disheveled Valuza grinned nihilistically. “Let’s kill each other next time.”

“One win, one loss. I’ll win the next one for sure.”

“Heh.”

Fran turned and ran after her companions.

Upon leaving the villa, we saw a lot of soldiers marching in our direction. They would have us surrounded if we dawdled for even a second. I guess we could use one of our flashier moves now that we were out of the villa.

Flame Servant!

“Flame Servant!”

“This is…!”

“Amazing. A flame sprite?”

The spell elicited inevitable shocked gasps from our companions. It was hard not to look in awe at two three-meter-tall giants, their bodies wrapped in flames. The flame sprite could carry out our orders, too.

Don’t cause any damage to the royal villa, but attack those soldiers and mess up their formation.

The flame servants moved according to my will. Although the spell was a spectacle to behold, it wasn’t actually that strong. For starters, the flame sprite’s stats weren’t all that high. Putting all my mana just yielded a flame sprite that was only as strong as an average orc, its flaming body mostly for show. It could shoot bursts of flame but at the cost of consuming its own body, which decreased its staying power in a long fight. It did have high defense values to make up for its less than stellar attack power, though. The fact that its body was composed of flames also made physical attacks ineffective against it. The Flame Servant was at its core a defensive spell used by mages to cover the rear line of a squad.

The flaming giant still looked intimidating, though, enough to make our pursuers flee in terror. And it worked great on the Seedrun military, most of them turning pale upon looking at the Flame Servant—not bad for a defensive spell. There was no way for them to tell how strong the flame sprites were by looking at them, so we should be fine as long as they remained ignorant. The soldiers couldn’t afford to let Valuza and the Phyllian royals die either, of course, and the sight of a flaming sprite next to the royal villa must have made them hot around the collar.

“Now’s our chance.”

“Y-you’re right. This way.”

“Damn, you’re good at this, little lady.”

“She is as skilled with magic as she is with the sword. I expected nothing less from a D-Rank adventurer.”

The rave reviews Fran received as we made our escape did not make her feel better.

“We still couldn’t save Fult and Satya…”

She regretted leaving her friends behind when she had gotten so close.

“Don’t look so down. It’s not like we’ve completely failed,” Salut said.

“That’s right. We haven’t given up, either. All we have to do is rescue them before they get handed over to Raydoss,” Miriam added.

“Yes. I will save Their Highnesses if I have to give up my life for it.”

Miriam and Salut’s consolation seemed to have revived Fran’s resolve.

“Yeah. We’ll save them.”

Damn right we will. I have a plan cooked up. I’ll tell you about it later.

Okay! I can’t wait.

No problem.

Our top priority was to get as far away from the villa as possible. Fran and the others hurried to the front gate, taking care of any patrol guard that got in their way. We were originally going to quietly leave the way we came in, by scaling the double walls, but we abandoned all pretense of stealth now that our plan was completely exposed.

We did the complete opposite of our plan now, charging out the front gates instead of quietly leaving from the back. Normally, the front gates would be tightly secured, but we might catch them off guard by our unexpected frontal escape.

Salut initially opposed this plan but ultimately deferred to Miriam, who knew more about the villa’s security. He still couldn’t shake off his worried expression, though.

“There! All we have to do is make it past that, and we’ll be back in the city!”

“Hm… Someone’s there.”

“Is that…Gladio?!”

“Who?”

“A piece of garbage!”

Miriam was concise, but we didn’t know what she was talking about.

Fran tilted her head, prompting Carla to elaborate.

“The cousin of Lady Sellimea and Lady Miriam. The son of General Julius who serves under King Suarez. He currently serves as the General’s aide.”

Miriam grew more murderous with each word of Carla’s explanation. Her initial rage was soon replaced with a bubbling fury. She was trying to suppress her anger, but I can’t say she was doing a good job of it.

“Enemy?”

“Yes! The biggest enemy!” growled Miriam as she reached for her sword. She must really have a bone to pick with him.

Gladio himself was not a spectacular fighter, but he was surrounded by a group of armed soldiers who were well trained. He must have noticed us, too, because he shouted to his men, “There she is! Miriam, the rebel! Apprehend this fool who would disobey our king!”

“Hah! Big talk for an idiot lackey of my fool brother!”

They were prepared to go at it, but Miriam was definitely the more furious between the two of them. She had drawn her sword and was now charging headlong at Gladio and his crew, clearly unable to hold back her anger at seeing her mortal foe. Miriam was already cutting down enemy soldiers without Carla getting a chance to calm her down.

Compared to her, Gladio was calm and collected. The expression he wore was still as resentful, but he was at least cool enough to give out orders.

“There will be a great reward for whoever manages to capture the rebels! Look alive, men! Hunt them down!”

With his loud voice, he motivated his men with promises of fortune. It also reached its intended effect of attracting all other guards who were within earshot. His provocation would render Miriam unable to ignore Gladio. She would keep fighting until she was eventually outnumbered and surrounded.

We need to calm Miriam down somehow.

Hm.

As if on cue, more soldiers came from the outside of the villa.

“Lord Gladio, let us assist you.”

“Aah, Sir Galloudie. Bring me the head of Miriam. You are free to do as you please with the rest.”

“I understand.”

The man called Galloudie must’ve been important if Seedrunian royalty addressed him as “Sir”. Who was he?

A quick Identify revealed that he wasn’t much of a fighter; decent but only slightly stronger than the average soldier. His titles and skills on the other hand… They stank. His Class was Fraud. His skills were Threaten, Lie, Assassinate, Counterfeit, Swindle, and Identify Jammer, skills no honest man would ever need. His titles were no slouch, either: Sadist; Joyful Killer; Illegal Slaver. The man was pitch black, an indefensible scumbag among scumbags.

He brought along with him his own crew of scumbags: Assassins, Mass Murderers, and Illegal Slavers. Most of his crew were Kidnappers and Illegal Slavers, more than half of them belonging to the Blue Cat Tribe.

To Fran, a member of the Black Cat tribe who fell victim to the Blue Cats’ deception, he was her mortal enemy. We might have found our link to the illegal slavers. Although, now was not the time to be thinking about that. The enemy soldiers had nearly overwhelmed Miriam, and we couldn’t afford to lose her here.

“Miriam!”

“Haaaa! Gladioooo!”

Fran suppressed her anger towards the Blue Cats and shouted to warn Miriam. But it didn’t work. Miriam’s rage had gone to her head, and she could think of nothing but destroying Gladio. He was now walking towards her, sword in hand, as she was nearly subdued after being surrounded by more than ten men.

We had to cool Miriam’s head somehow and get out of here.

What can we do…?!

Rushing into the fray to her aid wouldn’t necessarily calm her down…

I got it.

Do you have a plan?

Fran nodded, brimming with confidence. I should let her handle the situation.

All right, I’m counting on you.

Hm.

Uh, Fran?

The spell Fran started casting was a spell that I used all the time. It proved its usefulness in the goblin raid when it blocked off nearby attackers from continuing their advance. I didn’t understand her logic of using it here, though. I sure wouldn’t use it.

“Fire Wall!”

“Whoa!”

“Gyaa!”

A wall of flame appeared between Miriam and the soldiers, separating them. The flames had burned some of the soldiers, which was good, but the flames also set Miriam’s cloak on fire!

They stopped fighting, all right, and there was a good deal of distance between them now, too, but I thought the Fire Wall might have been a bit excessive.

“Aqua Create. Mid Heal.”

Fran calmly doused the flames and healed any burn wounds that Miriam might have suffered.

“Wh-what was that for, Fran?!”

“Th-that was unnecessary!”

Carla raised her voice along with Miriam, now dripping wet. Fran calmly looked at Miriam and asked her.

“Did that cool your head?”

Miriam pursed her lips at Fran’s question, subtly acknowledging the fact that she had lost her cool. Fran had purposely used a dangerous spell to chill her temper. That the spell in question was Fire Wall only made it more ironic.

Or maybe Fran was picking on Miriam since she was doing her best not to fly into a rage at the slavers while the Seedrunian princess went off cutting down soldiers.

“We have to focus on escaping.”

“You’re right. I apologize.”

“L-Like we’ll let you! After them!”

Galloudie’s men had circumvented the Fire Wall and were getting ready to make their attack. The flaming wall managed to slow them down for a bit, but now they were on the move again. They weren’t any threat to Miriam now that her senses had returned to her, though.

We made our escape, Fran laying multiple wall spells to obstruct our pursuers’ chase. In the end, we were able to escape the royal villa without a single straggler coming after us.

Jet had assisted us while remaining in the shadows by pelting our enemies with Shadow Magic. The ensuing bolts of shadow startled our enemies, causing them to suspect that we’d had snipers posted to cover our escape. Quite a number of them ran away after that. That was a top notch assist.

“What now?”

“Escaping through the city will be dangerous. We’ll use one of our escape tunnels in the noble district.”

“Is it safe?”

Wouldn’t that reveal the location of our safe house?

Miriam had it covered, though.

“Don’t worry. The tunnels here only go as far as the port.”

The escape tunnel we were using tonight was completely separate from the one we had used for our initial escape. The tunnel itself was located in a mansion that once belonged to a supporter of Sellimea. They had been chased out, leaving the property abandoned, but the escape tunnel remained. There was also a high possibility that king Suarez didn’t know about the tunnel.

“That’s the one!”

Fortunately, there were no guards in the vicinity of the mansion. We climbed over the wall, landed in the courtyard, broke through the backdoor, and infiltrated the mansion. The place was derelict after a few years of abandonment. There had been intruders, coming and going as they pleased, some of them even tracking mud with their shoes. Granted, we weren’t ones to talk at the moment.

Miriam walked deeper into the mansion without hesitation before stopping in front of the fireplace. She didn’t waste any time looking for the hidden tunnel.

“It should be under this tile.”

Miriam used her sword to pry open one of the tiles in the hearth. It popped open, revealing a staircase which led down to the underground tunnels.

“Do you remember where all the tunnels are?”

“Of course. I learned them all precisely for moments like these.”

Really? That’s amazing. I know I wouldn’t be able to do that.

Miriam didn’t falter when faced with the fork in the road back when she broke Fran out, either. She might be smarter than I made her out to be. I thought she was one of those strong but stupid types. Sorry about that, Miriam.

“I’ll take point. Carla, you take the rear.”

Miriam gave Carla her orders. It felt like it was a few moments ago that Miriam was screaming bloody murder, but now she was back to her reserved self.

As we traversed the underground path, Fran asked her something that had been on her mind.

“Who was that Galloudie person?”

“Him? He is the messenger from Raydoss.”

“He’s the one?”

I didn’t expect him to be the messenger we had been discussing. What was Raydoss thinking, making a guy like him an official? Then again, Raydoss wasn’t exactly known for being upright, either, what with its tradition of invading neighboring companies and clandestine plotting. What an awful country to deal with.

Also, Galloudie had the Fraud title along with the Fake Identity skill. We couldn’t know what his real goal was from one encounter.

“He was the one who originally urged my fool brother on to make a mess of our country. If negotiations with Seedrun goes well, he will be installed here as an ambassador. The mere thought of it irks me.”

Well, that was bad. If a guy like him had control over Seedrun, he could supply an endless amount of slaves to Raydoss from Granzell.

Teacher.

Yeah, you don’t have to remind me.

That one’s mine.

If Miriam had an eternal grudge with her brother then Fran’s nemeses were illegal slavers. Galloudie seemed to have deep ties with the slaving ring, too. She wouldn’t be able to let him live for long.

I don’t mind you targeting him. Just don’t forget your priorities.

I know. Saving Fult and Satya is still more important.

Good.

I have to save my friends.

That’s right.

That was the only thing she needed to remember. It eased my worries that she put her friends ahead of her vengeance.

“We must stop our country from falling into the clutches of Raydoss,” Miriam said.

“Hm. We have to save Fult and Satya, too,” Fran replied, as if to remind herself.

“I trust we can count on you as well, Sir Salut.”

“Of course.”

Miriam had not lost heart, and she was now determined to make our next operation succeed. I’d been cooking up some plots of my own, too. We were going to trap them this time.

We’re going to have to do some prep work, though.

Preparation was an essential part of any operation. We should start with whatever we can immediately do. This place would be our crux, actually.

Now, hear me out, Fran—

“Uncle Julius. Is everything proceeding as planned?”

“Yes. I doubt those fools have noticed.”

“Excellent! There would’ve been no point in letting them escape otherwise! Oh, if I could only see the look on Miriam’s face when she heard of the betrayal. Unfortunate!”

“Indeed, my lord.”

“And what of Sellid? We’ve no further use for him, have we? Shall we cut off his head and feed him to the fish?”

“Yes, my lord. We plan on disposing of him within the day.”

“Hehehe. Pitiful man. His betrayal of his masters will now be rewarded with death. This would spell the end of them, too.”

“We are close to finding where Sellimea is hiding.”

“It would seem that your son is taking different measures, however.”

“All for the sake of perfecting the plan, my lord. You must understand.”

“Really? I thought he hated Miriam enough to kill her on sight. Tonight would’ve been his best chance.”

“Your Highness, you know he would never knowingly oppose you.”

“That’s ‘Your Majesty’, to you. You might be my father’s brother but remember that you serve under me now.”

“My apologies, Your Majesty.”

“Hmph. Consider it your final warning.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“So where are they now?”

“The underground tunnel they used in the manor leads west. If they keep going further…”

“They’re hiding out in the slums.”

“There is no other place for them to hide.”

“I thought we did a thorough search of the slums. We didn’t find anything back then.”

“Apologies, Your Majesty. We did not break the slumlings enough.”

“Mobilize the military. Search every house and smoke Sellimea out. If she dies, I shall be able to establish a contract with Warnate. Then, I shall have all the Sea Dragons under my control.”

“I’ve sent Dwight to the slums, Your Majesty.”

“I see. That was quick.”

“Hahaha. I can only carry out your orders before you give them because I am Your Majesty’s most loyal subject.”

“Hmph. Say what you want. But the slums… My sister has fallen on hard times, indeed. I would’ve chosen death over living with dirty slumfolk. She has no respect for the dignity of her royal bloodline.”

“Indeed, she doesn’t.”

“How many people live in the slums now?”

“I believe…a little over three thousand.”

“Three thousand rats who can’t even pay their taxes. Much better to sell them off as slaves. Have you sent out the slave hunters?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We’ve captured a hundred slaves per Lord Galloudie’s request. They will be shipped off to Raydoss along with the Phyllian royalty.”

“Muahaha! I’m sure those useless fools are proud for finally being of some use to their king in their final moments.”

“Indeed, Your Majesty.”

“Still, we must strive to capture the foreigners that were a part of the Phyllian royalty’s crew. Raydoss seems to be collecting all sorts of people.”

“They appear to be in hiding with Sellimea. I’m sure we’ll capture them along with her.”

Two hours later.

The streets were in a heightened state of alert with the number of soldiers that now patrolled it. Still, trying to spot five people among the masses proved impossible for them, and we slipped past undetected and returned to the slums.

“Right this way, Sir Salut.”

“Thank you. Is Princess Sellimea present? I would like to have an audience with her if possible.”

“I apologize, but she is not here right now. She moves from time to time to avoid detection.”

“I see. When shall I be able to meet her then?”

“Tomorrow. I’m afraid you must stay in these cramped halls until then…”

“That is all right. I merely wanted to thank her for aiding us in saving the prince and princess is all.”

“How proper of you.”

As Miriam showed Salut his quarters, Carla accompanied us back to the children’s room. Everyone greeted us with a smile as soon as we opened the door.

“Fran, you’re okay!”

“We heard some crazy stuff happened in town.”

“We were so worried!”

“Thanks, but I’m all right.”

“Good. By the way, where are Fult and Satya? I thought they’d be with you.”

“Sorry.”

Fran could only apologize. She promised she would save them and had returned empty-handed. She must’ve felt ashamed of not fulfilling her promise.

Fran’s apology was enough to make the children understand the mission’s failure, and their mood visibly darkened. Their spirits didn’t remain low for long, however, and they smiled again to encourage Fran. They were good kids and even better friends.

Now that Fran had been reunited with her friends, she proceeded to hand them out sandwiches and juice. They were quite hungry by how fast they gobbled down their food. The maid was the only one left whose face was still darkened.

“So…are Prince Fult and Princess Satya all right?”

“They should be fine for now.”

“I see…”

She was worried over the failed rescue operation of her masters. Yorth had failed to return as well.

“It’s okay. Miriam hasn’t given up, and neither have I.”

“Really?”

“Hm.”

Fran gave the worried maid a sandwich. She forced a plate of it into her hands before she could react.

“Fran…”

“You need to take care of Fult and Satya when they come back. Can’t do that on an empty stomach.”

“I… I suppose you’re right.”

“Hm.”

“Thank you.” The maid smiled awkwardly at Fran and bowed her head.

“I’m going to go hand these out to everyone else, too.”

Fran?

You don’t mind, do you?

No. And you’re right. We can’t expect anyone to fight on an empty stomach. And our biggest fight’s coming right up.

Hm.

And so Fran visited the other rooms and gave them all food out of her own Pocket Dimension. Stews, sandwiches, rice balls, and even her favorite curry. She would usually guard her stock of golden curry, but today she took out an entire pot of it to distribute to the others.

Are you sure you want to give them curry, too, Fran? If you give it out to this many people, it’s going to actually affect our stock.

It’s fine, Fran replied, looking longingly at the pot of curry. She had reservations about giving away part of her hoard, but she didn’t stop. They can fight harder if they have good food in their bellies.

So, curry?

Hm. To Fran, curry was the finest the culinary world had to offer. Your cooking’s delicious, Teacher. I can do anything once I’ve had your cooking.

That’s an exaggeration, don’t you think? You’re putting a lot of pressure on me here.

Your food’s the only reason I can fight so hard. I’m sure everyone will feel its effects, too.

Fran continued setting the table after giving me the highest of praise. The secret base was shorthanded because most of its men had been allocated to assisting the diversionary forces. Thus, they didn’t have enough time to allocate to preparing a satisfying dinner. Fran had been served some salted ham and cheese sandwiched between a piece of stale bread, and dried fish. The rest of our forces weren’t as fortunate, only being served plain, salty soup. They were still starving.

Everyone ate Fran’s offerings with beaming smiles on their faces, thanking her the entire time. Miriam returned as well, having just shown Salut to his quarters. I expected her to scold Fran for handing out food without her permission, but she thanked her instead.

“I thank you for assisting us in our time of great need.”

“Yes. Now, we can fight.”

“We owe you a big one, little lady.”

Having been on rations for so long, they were grateful to Fran who had gone through the trouble of exposing her skills and was now offering them food out of her own stock.

“Thank you, Fran.”

Sellimea, who had returned with Miriam, smiled as she ate Fran’s curry. She had refused special treatment and insisted on eating the same amount and quality as her men; she must’ve been hungry, too. She cleaned up her plate politely and elegantly, at quite a rapid rate, too.

“This really is delicious, though.”

“Hm. Curry’s the best.”

“So this mysterious dish is called a ‘curry’. I’ve never even had it in my days at the palace.”

I guess the princess liked my cooking. I must’ve been one hell of a chef. Not that I would amount to much without my Cooking skill.

“Hm. This is my teacher’s greatest dish.”

“My goodness, your teacher came up with this all on his own?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Teacher is the world’s greatest teacher. He can do anything.”

I was glad that I had won Fran’s great respect, but it made me slightly worry about what kind of Super Sword she thought I was. I didn’t think I could live up to all her expectations. Although, I would do everything in my power to grant her wishes, of course, so long as she didn’t make like Princess Kaguya and ask for the robe of a fire-rat and a jewel from a dragon.

Then again, they might just exist in this world. I was reasonably sure that we could look for fire-rats and dragons. A jewel which grew on the branch of a tree and a bird that laid pearls didn’t sound like too much of a stretch.

Could Princess Kaguya have been an otherworlder? One that was transported to Earth from another world, that is. Would that make the legend more of a historical fact?

Something on your mind, Teacher?

Huh? It’s nothing. I was just running some hypotheticals.

You’re thinking up a plan to save Fult and Satya?

I-I guess you could say that?

Oooh. Give me the details.

All right, sure.

Fran was going to have to relay my plan to Sellimea and Miriam so I needed to tell her sooner or later. I explained to her my battle plan.

First you take Salut—

I see. You’re a genius, Teacher.

Ain’t nothin’ really—

A few minutes later, Fran understood the strategy.

Well?

Yeah. I think that’ll work.

Right? You’re gonna have to explain it to Sellimea and Miriam. I’m counting on you.

You got it.

Fran ran our plan to Sellimea, and to my surprise, she accepted it. Miriam had explained the gist of it to her on their way here, so she had already been half-convinced about it.

Sellimea and Miriam looked determined, eager to carry out their given roles.

One hour later, Fran was in a meeting with a couple of men who were serving in the secret base. They were Miriam’s subordinates who had also pledged their loyalty to Sellimea. One of them was even the former leader of the imperial guard, and each of them used to hold a high office in their own regard.

All of them were tall, well built, and had frighteningly hard faces. They all looked intimidating just standing there. Then again, I guess that could be one of the requirements to make it in the imperial guard. In any case, they looked reliable.

“Understood. We will carry out this plan no matter what.”

“Even if it costs us our lives. The prospect of a frontal assault on the royal villa does make me shiver with excitement.”

“It sets my blood on fire, that’s for sure! I’ve always wanted to try attacking Suarez head-on.”

The meeting played out like a scene in an old movie about knights. It startled me that these terrifying men would be so loyal to Sellimea. Miriam declared our earlier operation a failure after the casualties incurred during the distraction at the harbor. One of the men present had bandages wrapped around him, his injuries still fresh. I had expected some of them to voice their complaints.

But these men looked at Miriam without a shadow of doubt in their eyes. Their intense gaze would seem more like a glare to an uninitiated observer, but their eyes signaled trust in their leader.

“I’m sorry. I would like to tell you the rest of the plan, but…”

“That’s all right, Lady Miriam. The fewer people there are who know the full plan, the less likely it is to leak.”

“We have no intentions of leaking the plan, but it’s better to be thorough about these things.”

“We’re at your service, be it as decoy or diversion.”

“Heheheh. We can dispatch right now if you want. We’re always ready for a revolt.”

“Young lady, we leave Lady Miriam in your hands.”

“And we’ll take care of the front lines,” the men said, puffing their chests. They didn’t doubt Fran’s words either despite her young age and looking like a weak little girl. They were strong themselves, of course, so they must have figured out Fran was no ordinary girl. Their belief was only amplified by Miriam’s own trust in Fran’s strength.

“I’m sorry. And thank you.”

Miriam looked over the room with eyes that were overwhelmed with emotion. Her men’s words had moved her.

“We’ll need your help to make this operation a success.”

Miriam’s men bowed towards her, when—

Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Hey! Open up!”

Someone was banging on the door of the secret base. I had sensed people approaching earlier, but I didn’t expect them to hone in on our particular room. The banging continued.

“There’s a possibility that there are criminals using this place as a hideout!”

“Open this door if you’ve got nothing to hide!”

Suarez’s hands had finally reached the slums. The information was probably leaked by the traitor we had. All they needed to know was that we were hiding somewhere out in the slums. An exact address wasn’t necessary.

“Lady Miriam, you must go to the safe room at once.”

“Will you be all right?”

“We’ll be fine. We’ve lived in these slums for years. We’re used to this kind of stuff.”

“This way, hurry.”

“Sorry about this.”

Fran went to an underground room, led by Miriam’s men. The room was simple as it was carved out of hard rock. Considering how tight its dimensions were, it was more akin to a makeshift storage area under the floorboards. The rooms ceilings were reinforced with wooden planks, but I worried whether they would hold up. We could clearly see whatever was going on up there, and I wondered if they could see down here, too. Fortunately, night had fallen, and we were safely hidden under cover of darkness.

The large burly men, formerly of the imperial guard, really were used to sudden raids by Suarez’s men. Once they had made sure Miriam and Fran were safely hidden away, they quietly opened the door, leading the man who was in the process of giving the door another solid bang to almost trip from his own momentum. The timing was so perfect that he must’ve planned it.

“D-don’t just open the door like that!”

“Sorry ’bout that.”

“We heard some criminals were hiding out here. We’ll show ourselves in.”

“Criminals? We haven’t seen any criminals.”

“That’s for us to decide. Out of the way!”

The two soldiers pushed the man out of the way and strutted into the safe house. They acted more like thugs looking for stuff to rob than policemen in search of fugitives. They examined a candlestick that was left on the table, and I overheard one of them say, “Looks cheap. Leave it.” Miriam’s men must’ve overheard them, too, but they remained quiet and showed them the rest of the room.

Miriam’s men immediately changed their attitudes once the pleasantries were over, though. They surrounded the two soldiers and began pressuring them. They folded their arms over their chests to show them their bulging biceps.

Anyone could tell by the way the two soldiers were putting on airs that they were nothing special. Weak, in fact. Compared to them, we had five well-built, well-trained men on our side, all of them glaring the two street thugs in soldier clothes down.

That was enough to scare the two soldiers. They must’ve been terrified over what would happen should the five men decide to get aggressive, and while they tried acting strong, they weren’t convincing with how pale they had become. Soon, they left the room.

“Hahaha, did you see the look on their faces?!”

“And they expect us to hand over our Ladies like that?”

“The quality of recruits has gone down lately. I can’t believe that scared them away.”

Well, I don’t know about that. These old guys looked like full-blown outlaws, each of them capable of leading their own legion of military rebels. Compared to them, those two guards looked like thugs who had freshly graduated from high school. There was no contest. I honestly felt sorry for our intruders and had almost warned them to run away.

“Hm, I wonder if the other hiding spots are doing okay,” Miriam muttered.

Sellimea should be fine considering her quarters could only be reached via a passage of underground tunnels. The same could not be said of our other companions who were hiding out in a shack located deeper in the slums. There was a possibility the soldiers had found them by now.

We had a bad feeling about it. Fran hurried Miriam along and broke into a light sprint to the other safe house. We were almost spotted by some patrolling soldiers because of it.

Fran’s instincts were unfortunately correct.

We immediately concealed ourselves in the shadows and observed the situation. Soldiers were banging on each door, yelling at whoever inside to come out. I really hoped they would ignore them, but…

My prayers were left unanswered, and someone opened one of the doors.

Tomorrow was the day we were finally going to rescue the prince. They must’ve wanted to get the racket over with and let the soldiers in. I hoped that the soldiers would be satisfied after their random inspection…

We would be in trouble if we raised their suspicions somehow, although I do think it was unavoidable. There were over thirty foreigners crammed into this tiny shack, you see. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together and figure that we must be connected to the mass prison break from the other day.

Should I kill them?

Not here. Everyone can see you. The other soldiers would spot you instantly.

The soldiers came out again as I thought about our next step.

Well, that was fast and uneventful.

That proved to be wishful thinking, however.

“NO! Let go of me!”

“Shut up! Come over here!”

One of the soldiers had gotten hold of the little girl. She was crying as he dragged her by the arm, struggling every step of the way.

“Stop! Stop it!”

“I told you to shut up, you little bitch!”

“Gya!”

Fran’s intent to kill burst out of her the moment the soldier struck her friend. This was worse than the time she was mocked for her Black Cat lineage. Her murderous rage was palpable, enough to send shivers down the spines of the guards posted outside of the safe house. They looked around, wondering what ghost must’ve passed them by. They brushed it off as mere fancy and returned their attention to the safe house.

“Hey! Don’t be rough with the merchandise!”

“Heheheh. Come on, no need to be so strict. There are still a lot of people inside. What’s a broken slave or two?”

“That’s right. You’re all getting the death penalty for escaping prison anyway. Might as well make yourselves useful.”

The girl started wailing after hearing the guard’s words, prompting him to hit her again. He struck her other cheek this time making her cower in fear.

“Heheheh. You know what, I always wanted to make a punching bag out of kids.”

“Gyahaha! You’re a nutjob, you know that?!”

“Ya hear that, Punching Bag? You’re my punching bag now! Good for you!”

“Then I’ll take the woman that’s inside.”

“Go for it, go for it!”

That was an awful conversation. I wish Fran didn’t have to hear that. It was too late now, though. Her body was shaking with anger. As hard as I found that conversation to listen to, the effect it had on Fran was staggering. Her emotions overwhelmed her, and she gripped my hilt so hard her hand started shaking.

Fran?

Fran didn’t answer.

Fran!

But she was too far gone with anger to listen to me now. All I got for a response was the gnashing of her teeth. She leapt out of the shadows, ignoring all the other soldiers who had surrounded the little girl to watch her cry. The only ones Fran could see now were the crying girl and the bad man who hit her. She dashed close to him and uttered with a chilling voice.

“Die.”

“Aah—”

“Urgk?”

Fran slashed me twice, a merciless, all out strike. She ended the lives of two adult men in a mere flash. One of them was sliced clean in half, from top to bottom. The other’s skull was cut horizontally across the bridge of his nose.

Fran sheathed me, the men’s corpses falling gently on the ground. I doubt they felt the pain of their death because of how fast it all went by.

“You’re okay, now.”

“Huh?”

Fran held the girl close and jumped away. Doing so allowed her to gain some distance from the men’s corpses before they hit the ground and splattered their guts everywhere. She didn’t want the girl to see any of that.

Fran talked to the girl in a soothing voice while she healed her, all traces of the cold-blooded killer gone from her face.

“Are you okay?”

“Fran?”

“Yeah. Sorry I’m late.”

Fran hugged her gently. The girl started crying again, big drops of tears streaming down her cheeks. They weren’t tears of fear, however, but tears of relief.

“Fran…! Waaah!”

“It’s okay.”

“I was scared! So scared!”

“I know.”

“It hurt so bad!”

“Mhmm.”

The boys who were hiding in the safe house came out, probably because they heard their friend wailing into Fran’s chest. The maid followed suit, along with the other adults.

This might be bad.

Our crew weren’t the only ones who had taken notice of the girl’s crying.

“Wh-what’s this?!”

“Who did this?!”

The other soldiers, close to ten in total, had found their friends’ bodies. Some of them started throwing up on the spot. I can’t blame them, the scene was quite grotesque.

“Y-you did this!”

“Hey, they’re the ones we’re looking for!”

“It’s the prisoners!”

It didn’t take long for us to be exposed. There were a lot more soldiers around us now. Among them, there was one figure who clearly was no ordinary soldier. He wore gold armor, with equally gaudy gold robes. A short, flabby man who looked more orc than human. I didn’t think we’d meet him again here. This man was the main reason we got roped into the chaos of Seedrun in the first place. The pig of an admiral who wanted to make a slave out of Fran, Dwight.

“Lord Dwight!”

“What’s all the ruckus about? Have you found Miriam and Sellimea?”

“S-Sir, some of our men have fallen and—”

“Be quiet, you. Do you think I care about dead people who couldn’t make themselves useful and find the target? I’m glad those bastards are dead.”

I agreed on calling soldiers who would dare lay their hands on a little girl “bastards,” but wasn’t that a little much considering they were his own men? The soldiers seemed to agree with me too as they glared daggers at their superior. If only looks could kill. Dwight didn’t stop with his harsh comments, however.

“This is why you army men are useless.”

“I-I’m sorry, sir.”

“These slumfolk are far more valuable. At least I can sell them off as slaves!”

“Uhm…”

“Hmph. No matter. It infuriated me when I heard the foreign slaves I went through the hard work of securing escaped prison, but now you are here in front of me. I’ll sell you off to Galloudie this time. He’s going to pay a pretty penny for you, too. If I use that money and the fact that I was the one who captured the Phyllian royalty, the day where I become the general isn’t far off!”

He had his mind set on using money to buy the General’s seat.

“You’re with Sellimea and Miriam, aren’t you? You know they plan on saving the Phyllian royalty who left you behind.”

“No one believes you. Fult and Satya would never leave their people behind.”

“Hmph! Such blind faith. That’s where you’re wrong. They sold you out to save themselves!”

“No? You’re clearly lying.”

“You refuse to understand, little girl. What proof do you have?”

“Why do I have to believe a talking pig?”

“P-pig…!” Dwight’s face reddened with anger. I guess he was sensitive about his weight among other things.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?! It’s too late for apologies! I’ll make an exception for you. I’ll spare you the life of a slave and kill you right here!”

“I’m not apologizing to you. I’m apologizing to the pig.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t fair of me to compare a pig to the likes of you. You’re closer to a pseudo-orc than anything else.”

Fran was getting witty, a clear sign of her anger. Dwight just declared his plans of making slaves out of us, so it was only expected.

“I didn’t know pseudo-orcs could speak human. You must be a mutant.”

“Silence! That’s right, it was all a lie! I wanted to see you all tremble at the prospect of becoming slaves for a few cheap laughs, but none of that matters to me now! I’ll just torture you into despair myself! You lot, grab them! Bring them to me!”

The soldiers looked troubled, knowing full well there was no way of apprehending all of us, especially Fran. Dwight didn’t seem to care, though. He glared at his soldiers and continued barking orders at them.

“You better have them tied up by the time I come back with Sellimea’s head. Understand?!”

“B-but, sir, we can’t… Not when there’re so few of us—”

“Then go call for backup, you useless fools!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

“So have you found where Sellimea is hiding?”

“N-no, sir. We are still searching the area—”

“Enough. You have made your incompetence very clear. How long do you think it would take if you used the human wave to search the area? Do they teach you nothing? Think!”

“Then what should we do, sir?”

“This. Slumfolk! I know you can hear me. Bring out Sellimea before I set fire to your houses!” Dwight shouted, his terrifying voice amplified with Wind Magic. No doubt the entire slums could hear his threats.

“S-Sir, what are you saying?! We can’t do that!”

Despite their enthusiasm of capturing locals to sell them off as slaves, the soldiers apparently drew the line with arson. Personally, I thought both deserving of the death penalty, but at least they still had standards.

“And what are you saying? Do you have reservations about burning down this dump? I am not a complete monster! Bring me Sellimea and I won’t burn down your homes! I’ll even throw in some reward money for you! 1,000,000G alive, 500,000G for her head!”

No matter how well hidden Sellimea was, the slumfolks could still sell her out. There had to be at least a few people who knew where the princess was. These slum people must have been hurting for money, too. Bribing them was a great way of winning them over.

I felt an unrest among the people of the slums as Dwight finished his announcement. We were surrounded then, mostly by onlookers who were just hanging around the vicinity. There were close to a hundred of them in total, and I could tell they all watched the spectacle with bated breath.

This is bad…

What should we do, Teacher?

We have to break through.

We didn’t want to expose the underground tunnels by using them so that way was out. Our only option left was to break through the crowd of slumfolk.

It shouldn’t be a problem if you’re the only one here, Fran…

But we were going to have to protect our allies on our way out, increasing the level of difficulty. What was supposed to be Normal difficulty immediately shot up to Hell.

“What, are you just going to stand there and watch! Fine, give me information on Sellimea’s whereabouts! I’ll buy it for a high price!”

Dwight shouted again. And then—

“Oh, would you shut up!” someone shouted back, and Dwight was pelted with stones. Soon, the barrage of rocks came from all directions.

“Wh-what are you doing?! Don’t you know who I am?! I am Dwight, Admiral of the Seedrunian Navy!”

“Tell it to someone who cares!”

“S-stop that! You’re supposed to give me Sellimea! Why are you stoning me?! Do you want to die?!”

Even as he was being stoned by the masses, Dwight kept up his arrogance. It was odd that he still expected them to follow his orders after mocking and threatening them so much. I guess the slumfolks had cooperated in the past despite of it, but their patience had run dry with the pig admiral.

“Burn down our house and home will you? Well, here’s how we feel about that!”

“Do you really think the Princess would hide out in a place like this?!”

“This is what you get for running your mouth! A pig like you calling us pigs? How dare you!”

“Even if she were hiding out here, we’d never hand her over to you!”

“That’s right! We owe the princess our lives ten times over!”

“Get outta here!”

Soon, rubbish and sticks were added to the arsenal of throwing stones.

“D-damn it! You, little girl! Come o—Gurk!”

Dwight must’ve wanted to use Fran as a hostage. She casually killed him as he tried to grab her. A tiresome fellow, he deserved it. I stored away his corpse for now to get rid of the evidence. We could just toss it out somewhere later.

“Get outta here, little lady! While you still can!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t you worry about us. We’re on your side.”

“Good luck out there.”

“Take care of Lady Sellimea for us!”

“And Miri, too!”

The slumfolk had been on Sellimea’s side all along. Thank God we didn’t start panicking and cut all of them down.

“You lot, over here!”

“Hm?”

“Come on!”

A little old lady was calling out to Fran.

“What is it?”

“Use this to clean yourself up.”

The old lady gave her a wet rag as she pointed to the girl that was on Fran’s back. Fran took the rag and used it to wipe the girl’s face.

“I got a fresh one for you so don’t worry, it’s clean.”

“Thanks.”

“Ain’t nothin’. Anything to repay what Sellimea’s done for us. You should get going. We’ll take care of the king’s dogs.”

“Will you be okay? You’re up against soldiers…”

“Hahaha! We won’t lose to the fool king’s sycophantic army. Don’t worry.”

“Okay. I’ll give you back this rag after cleaning it.”

“You really don’t have to.”

“No. I’ll be back. And I expect to see you again.”

“Hahaha! I suppose I could still use that old rag. I’ll be seeing you again, little lady.”

The slumfolk sent Fran off with smiles on their faces and big thumbs up. Fran bowed her head, and took the kids back to the safe house.

She closed the door before giving her surroundings one final glance. There was close to two hundred slum dwellers now, and she could hear the sound of yelling somewhere off in the distance. It sounded like the sound of people fighting, most of it the pained cries of Seedrun’s soldiers. The slum dwellers were ganging up on them quite well.

“Are you all right?”

It was Miriam and Carla. They had come to check the situation after hearing Dwight’s declaration.

“Yeah, we’re fine now.”

“I see. Did something happen?”

Fran explained the situation to them. The kids helped her whenever she lacked the diction to describe a certain scene.

“I see. So you killed some soldiers,” Miriam said, weighing the situation. Even if she had killed some soldiers to save her friend, the fact remained that Fran killed some Seedrunian soldiers. The incident was going to draw Suarez’s attention to this place, and another envoy of soldiers wasn’t out of the question.

Fran looked down, knowing that she had gone too far this time. “I’m sorry.”

“Hm? No, no need to apologize. You did nothing wrong, and I’m not particularly upset.”

“But…”

“It’s all right. I’m sure my sister wouldn’t blame you, either.”

“I agree.”

“We fight in order to protect the little things that are important to us.”

“Thanks.”

“I was just thinking about how the people of the slums might just rush the royal palace at this rate.”

I see. There was a possibility our small riot would turn into a full-scale revolt because of all the harbored resentment. That would work perfectly in our favor.

“Let’s speed things up a bit. Our initial plan was to take the palace by ourselves, but now—” Miriam grinned. “We have the support of all the citizens living in the slums. I can see my fool brother panicking now.”

Miriam and I were thinking of the same thing.

“Hm.”

“Commence operation.”