Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ruby
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: You're Going to Find Me?
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"This way."
Diaz whispered quietly.
I nodded and followed closely behind her.
Honestly, I was a little surprised.
Diaz had looked at the blueprints for barely an hour, yet she was navigating the interior as if it were her own home.
She wasn't even just breaking through in the shortest distance, but was finding and penetrating the points where the troop deployment would be most vulnerable.
Just from looking at the blueprints.
'She said she'd never robbed a prison before, but hasn't she robbed everything except prisons?'
Just as suspicion was creeping up on me.
We had already entered the passage leading to the underground prison.
The guards watching the prison remained at their posts despite the commotion outside.
"It seems we need to deal with them simultaneously."
"I'll take the left. You take the right."
"Yes."
We exchanged signals with our eyes.
I picked up a suitable stone from the ground and threw it.
Crack!
"Huh? What's that?"
Diaz swiftly flew in and struck the remaining guard's crown with a thwack.
Thud.
It was truly amazing agility.
While I was admiring her, Diaz had already tied up the guards with rope she had brought beforehand.
"All done."
"Uh, mm. Let's go in."
A fairly spacious detention facility spread out before us.
From here, we had no choice but to walk around directly and search for Baron Romhadi one by one.
Diaz and I decided to split up as planned to look for Baron Romhadi.
"I'll search from that side."
"Then I'll start from this side."
"Yes."
So we began searching our respective assigned areas.
There wasn't much commotion inside.
Because it was so dark, the imprisoned people seemed to see us as just guards.
Thanks to that, I was searching slowly when...
"Hey. Want to look at me?"
A woman's sultry voice called to me.
I stopped for a moment and turned my head.
I also felt like I had seen a familiar face for a moment.
And when I examined the interior.
I doubted my own eyes.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Thief class.
A close-range physical attack type class based on agile movement.
Critical damage was its strength and low health was its weakness.
An assassin-type character with relatively high control difficulty.
Well, if it existed in reality, it would be flashy and unpredictable, so one would have to be on guard...
But in the game, it was just such a common profession.
Didn't we often see this concept in other games too?
It was the same in Paogat.
However, what if I actually faced that playable thief class right before my eyes?
'...Crazy.'
I thought most people would probably have a similar reaction to mine.
Of course, I had thought about it.
Whether there might be playable classes.
That's why I had looked for paladins too.
But now that I was actually meeting one, I had various strange feelings.
I was both happy and...
I stood in front of her.
We were facing each other with iron bars in between.
She shrugged her shoulders.
"I did call you over. But it's a bit embarrassing when you stare at me like that, isn't it?"
I threw out a question.
"What's your name?"
"You're a face I've never seen before, aren't you? Are you really a guard? Your outfit is strangely different too. You seem to be lost as well."
"I asked what your name was."
"Want me to show you the way?"
A face that smiled slyly.
But I mustn't be fooled by that appearance.
If I approached carelessly... I'd be bitten by her poisonous fangs.
Someone I must never let my guard down around, even when facing her directly.
That was exactly what a thief was.
Completely unshaken by her provocation, I asked again.
"Name."
"Pretty persistent, aren't you? Looking closely, you're somewhat my type too... Fine. I'll tell you specially. My name."
She beckoned me with her finger.
"I'm really going to tell you, you know?"
I hadn't responded to her words so far, but this time I answered by taking a step closer.
"My name is... Revarsen."
It was truly surprising.
Her hand movement that flew toward the dagger at my side, taking advantage of the moment she spoke her name.
Of course, the fact that the location happened to be my left waist was her downfall.
I might not know about other things, but my left arm could follow her hand movements.
Snap!
I grabbed her wrist and raised an eyebrow.
'I knew this would happen.'
Because I had been somewhat tense, I was able to respond immediately.
Still, it was impressive.
'I almost missed it...'
Unaware of my thoughts, Revarsen looked surprised.
She probably never expected her arm to be caught.
"Huh? What are you?"
"Who knows."
"Interesting. I've become curious about you as a person. Enough to want to sit down and hear your story slowly sometime."
"......"
"I'll come find you next time when I have time."
"You're going to find me?"
"Of course. There's nothing I can't find. Whether it's treasure that's been hidden away or a person."
"How are you going to find me from inside there?"
That's when it happened.
I felt the foul smell of a demon briefly approaching nearby.
I prepared to draw my sword and turned my gaze toward the entrance.
Fortunately, however, that smell didn't come any closer and gradually moved away.
It seemed it wasn't heading in this direction.
Creak.
'Hm?'
When I turned my head back at the metallic sound.
Revarsen was already standing far away.
I looked at the bundle of keys that had been hanging beside my dagger.
'It's gone...'
It was so absurd I almost let out a hollow laugh.
Revarsen winked by blinking one eye slightly.
"Thanks. Thanks to you, I got outside."
She disappeared into the darkness.
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"Lord Rohan. I found the target."
"Huh? Ah, mm."
Diaz discovered the open door beside me.
"Did something... happen?"
To that, I just shook my head.
"It's nothing. More importantly, where is he?"
"Ah, yes. This way."
I followed Diaz.
And inside the iron bars we faced.
"Wh-who are you people?"
There was Baron Romhadi with a confused expression.
I looked at him and spoke quietly.
"I'm an inquisitor from the Siforeo Archdiocese."
"...! Is, is that really true?"
"That's right. Yesterday, I met someone called Carcus. He was a servant of demons."
"I thought as much..."
As expected, my prediction was correct.
Baron Romhadi seemed to know something more.
"It seemed like there was someone else behind him. I need more information."
"Actually... I was also conducting a background investigation when I was caught. So I failed to track completely. However, there is one thing I found out."
His answer was unexpected.
"Lord Moden is already dead!"
"...Lord Moden is... dead?"
"That's right! Yet Carcus went in and out of city hall almost once a week. There must be someone inside! Someone impersonating Lord Moden!"
It meant someone had killed Lord Moden and was imitating him.
"Don't you know who it is?"
"Not that far..."
Baron Romhadi shook his head.
Actually, this alone was a big harvest.
Finding where in this city the demon was hiding was also a problem.
But the scope had been drastically narrowed.
If I just thoroughly searched the city hall building.
'I can find them.'
However, the problem wasn't over yet.
'Carcus seemed to have a hidden trump card.'
Those words about destroying this entire city if anyone touched him.
It didn't seem like simple bluffing.
"That Carcus fellow. Even knowing I was a paladin, he wasn't intimidated at all. Rather, he pushed forward as if saying 'try it if you want to try.' It was definitely not bravado. Do you happen to know what he's hiding?"
"Carcus. That guy is the biggest problem. According to what I found out... he made a contract with a demon to turn his own body into a lump of poison."
"A lump of... poison?"
"That's right. They say that when he dies, his corpse will explode, and the poison filling his body will be enough to massacre the entire city."
"......"
If that was true, it was a bit troublesome.
Killing him would be easy, but... I might die too in the process.
"Is there no solution by any chance?"
"That's also still..."
"Hmm."
Baron Romhadi couldn't answer.
He clearly didn't seem to know anything.
But I knew the future.
And if what I knew was correct, Baron Romhadi had overcome that crisis well.
He was definitely standing tall again as the mayor of this Rezeta three years later.
If my prediction was right... Baron Romhadi had found that method himself.
'Somewhere...'
But thinking about it, something was strange.
What if I hadn't come to rescue him?
Baron Romhadi would obviously have continued to be imprisoned in this underground prison.
'But where did he find out what?'
No.
"Somewhere" didn't seem to make sense.
The only place he could be was here.
With the townspeople's skills, it would have been difficult to break through all the guards here and get in.
Even I had come in easily because Diaz had done well, but if I had been alone, it would have been difficult.
Breaking through this detention facility was never easy.
'Then he found out something here.'
As I eliminated the wrong answers one by one, the answer seemed to become visible.
I drew my sword and swung it lightly.
Scrape.
Then the iron bars were smoothly cut.
Baron Romhadi's eyes widened at the sight.
"Huh, huhhh!"
However, I didn't have the leisure to react to his reaction.
Through the hole I had made, I stepped into the prison.
All around was only pitch-black darkness.
Nothing was there...
Swoosh.
'No. It's not that there's nothing.'
I closed my eyes and concentrated my senses more.
The third eye made my five senses dramatically sensitive.
With my eyes closed on top of that, my senses were completely focused on hearing.
Minute sounds tickled my ears.
I separated what I needed from what I didn't among them.
High concentration consumed my mind.
Finally.
Flash!
I opened my eyes and looked at one corner.
Diaz, who had kept her mouth shut knowing I was concentrating, carefully asked.
"Lord Rohan. What's the matter?"
I walked toward where my gaze was fixed.
Toward the corner of the prison.
And.
Whoosh...
I discovered a subtle breeze coming from there.
"Found it."
The corners of my mouth rose slightly.
Only then did Diaz, who sensed something strange, quickly approach my side.
"Su-surely not..."
She quickly crouched down and exposed the stones on the floor.
When she applied some force, the stones shifted.
Soon after.
Rumble.
A path appeared.
'This was it!'
The future Baron Romhadi must have discovered exactly this.
When Diaz and I lifted the stone, Baron Romhadi also joined in to help move the stones.
With all three of us working together, the gap widened in an instant.
And before long, we had created a gap large enough for people to pass through.
"Let's go."
I threw myself into it.
I began to walk the path that Baron Romhadi would have found, but now I was taking the first step ahead of him.