Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: I've Never Tried It Before
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“Huff… huff…”
Dark alley.
Two men were running quietly, relying on the pale moonlight.
One man ran ahead, scanning the surroundings.
The man following behind clutched a large bag in his arms like it was precious, barely keeping up.
“B-Bro… what do we do now…?”
“……”
The situation wasn't good.
These men were drug dealers.
Members of a criminal gang the guards were combing the city for like rats.
“At this rate, it's only a matter of time before we're caught.”
“What? Can't we just lay low with our heads down until things calm down?”
“There are more guards than I expected. Mages will probably start moving soon.”
“No way…”
Mages who wielded superhuman abilities.
The street gang members didn't know much about magic.
But it was already well-known that they could easily uncover even bodies buried without a trace.
“…If you'd just ditched that bag you're holding, we could've escaped this place ages ago.”
“You're kidding, right? Do you know how much this stuff is worth?!”
There was one reason the men weren't abandoning everything and fleeing despite the dire circumstances.
They'd poured their entire fortunes into distributing drugs and even staked slave contracts to raise funds.
Luckily, there were plenty of customers who wanted the goods, so they'd made a decent profit…
“It was Rapal bro who told us to trust him and keep reinvesting to grow the money!”
“…Shut up.”
They'd blown every coin they earned right back into buying more drugs, leaving them penniless now.
Ditch it all and run empty-handed?
They'd have to hide for the rest of their lives, or end up as slaves.
Rapal knew what happened to slaves who were used up and discarded in back alleys. He couldn't just run away easily.
If he could recover even a fraction of his investment, no matter how small…
“Hold up!”
“Kek!”
Rapal thrust out his arm roughly and stopped in his tracks.
The man who'd taken a hit to the throat teared up as he looked ahead.
“Ugh…”
“…A noble?”
A noble dressed like he had money was sitting in the alley with his head bowed low.
Making strange noises like some ghoul.
A noble in a back alley in a situation like this?
“Damn it! Bro, we gotta run right now…!”
“…No, wait.”
“Huh?”
“Looks like he's one of our customers.”
At Rapal's words, they took another look at the noble.
He was definitely a bit off.
Even with their footsteps echoing, the noble seemed oblivious to them, just drooling steadily.
“Hmm, classic symptoms of someone who's been popping a few bags too many…”
“Yeah.”
“But what if a servant shows up nearby? You planning to get nabbed like this? Right?”
He seemed like a customer, sure.
But wasn't this way too suspicious?
They could just avoid touching him and take another route to escape…
“Pouch…”
“Pouch?”
Following Rapal's gaze, they spotted a pouch hanging from the noble's belt.
A thick pouch stuffed full of coins.
A noble carrying that openly around? Must be from a wealthy family.
But so what?
“Go closer and make the pitch.”
“Huh? Sell him the drugs?”
“If he's a customer, sell. If not, run.”
Walk right into a trap?
As he started to protest in outrage,
Rapal grabbed the man's shoulder and whispered quietly.
“We're both dead meat anyway at this point. That could be our last shot.”
Last shot.
The words lingered in the man's mind.
The urgent situation.
Not a single coin in hand.
The bag stuffed with unsellable drugs.
The fatigue piled up from hiding all day.
It was the kind of insane judgment he wouldn't make normally.
But the desire for an easy out overrode his reason easily.
“…Hoo.”
The man let out a deep sigh,
glanced around cautiously,
and approached the noble carefully.
“Um…”
“……”
“A-Are you okay…?”
“Ah… ahh…”
The noble's face was younger than expected.
No, young enough to be called a kid.
He hadn't noticed slumped over like that, but no matter how you sliced it, he didn't look like an adult.
This kid's doing drugs too…?
He knew nobles would do anything for pleasure.
But this felt a bit wrong…
“Ahh…”
“…Um, do you maybe need some… drugs?”
“Dru…gs?”
Life sparked in the noble's eyes.
“Drugs… give me drugs! Money!”
“Whoa…!”
He sprang up in an instant and yanked at the man's arm, so he frantically scanned around.
No signs of anyone approaching.
Seemed like it wasn't a guard trap after all.
“J-Just give me the money, and I'll hand 'em over right—”
“Money? Money!”
The man reached into the pouch at his belt.
Clink!
He grabbed a fistful of coins and thrust them out.
Silver coins overflowing between his fingers, spilling to the ground.
“Here!”
“Ah.”
The man, eager to bolt, pulled a packet from the bag and tossed it over wrapped in paper.
The noble tore into the paper wildly,
and then
“……”
went still, slamming his head to the ground.
Seizing the chance, he scooped up all the fallen coins and retreated to Rapal.
“I-It worked…! He really was a customer!”
“Yeah.”
“Now we can finally ditch this damn street!”
Either way, they'd secured some money.
Enough to cover their losses and scrape by in some other town for a while.
As Rapal and the man started to sneak away,
“W-Wait!”
The noble behind them called out.
His voice clearer now that he'd snapped out of it.
Rapal gripped the dagger handle in his bosom carefully and turned.
“Got any more drugs…? This won't even last two days…”
The noble clutched the paper packet tight, legs trembling as he stood.
“Damn, now I get why he's in such bad shape.”
“Bro… what do we do?”
Leave now, and he might rat them out to the guards.
He'd get arrested too, sure.
But the guards would learn about Rapal and his crew.
Of course, they could just bail now.
They'd already been paid, no need to play along.
But thinking of that thick noble pouch,
and the pile of silver coins that had spilled out…
“Hmph.”
Greed gleamed in Rapal's eyes.
“…Follow us. I'll take you where there's more drugs.”
“…Bro?!”
“Quiet.”
Rapal answered the man in a low voice.
“If we snag that pouch somehow, I can jump straight to mid-level in the gang.”
“Then why not just rip it off him?”
“Idiot, you see that magic tool on his arm?”
“Magic tool…?”
The man squinted for a closer look.
A black bracelet on the noble's wrist caught his eye.
Must've been too dark to notice before.
“That's an alarm magic tool. Threaten his life or break it, and it blares loud enough to wake the dead.”
“Ugh…”
“But if he doesn't feel threatened, it's fine. I'll distract him—you steal the pouch when you get an opening.”
Snatch it before reaching the hideout,
or sell him the pile of junk drugs there and make a deal.
Either way, Rapal would get that pouch.
With their brief huddle done,
“Let's go.”
They headed for the hideout where the drugs were stashed.
This is actually working.
I followed the men through the back alleys, inwardly amazed.
My all-out acting seemed to have paid off.
I'd even prepared to show a 120-degree blunt-angle bridge without using my arms, just in case they didn't buy it.
Too bad it'd have to wait.
…Eirin's keeping up okay, right?
Before leaving the carriage, I'd asked Eirin for three things.
One, change into an eye-catching maid outfit.
Two, tail me secretly and swoop in dramatically to save me if things got dangerous or I signaled.
Eirin had tilted her head at the "dramatically" part,
but
-Understood.
agreed readily.
She'd dug out some frilly clothes and made me wear them, then wrapped a black band around my wrist like a bracelet.
-What's this?
-Every noble carries an alarm magic tool for safety.
-Oh, like one of those?
-No, a hair tie. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a real one on short notice.
-……
When she started unbuttoning her maid outfit right there to "change," I'd freaked out and bolted outside.
But she was probably tailing me stealthily. She seemed pretty skilled.
“Ugh…”
“…Tch.”
And so, as I walked the back alleys,
I was playing a little defense mini-game to protect the pouch from the guy behind me.
Left hook attempt? I'd twist my body slightly to block.
Going for the right? I'd fake a stumble and hug the wall.
If it got too risky,
“Um…”
“…Yes?”
“How much farther…?”
“…Almost there.”
One bit of chit-chat bought me 30 seconds of invincibility.
A few minutes of that,
and
“Here.”
We stopped in front of a large crate in the corner of the alley.
The man shoved it aside with practiced ease, revealing an entrance to underground stairs.
No wonder the guards couldn't catch them no matter how hard they searched.
Right, hidden underground passage. Cliché, but effective.
“The drugs are inside. Just hand the money over to me.”
This psycho?
I almost broke character and cursed him out on the spot.
Not even showing the goods first, just taking the money and screwing me over?
“Hey, bring the drugs first, then you get paid!”
“Ah, that takes all the fun out of it.”
“What?”
The man suddenly drew a dagger and threatened me.
Did he have some ace up his sleeve?
“One wrong move, and your buddy's life ain't guaranteed.”
“Buddy…?”
“Hey!”
I turned toward the shout,
and men who looked like his crew poured out from the alley,
revealing
“……”
“……”
Eirin, bound with rope.
Okay, Eirin. Not the assassin type, huh?
I'd thought she nodded so readily because she was confident.
Our eyes met awkwardly.
“Drag him in.”
And into the hideout we went.
Descending dark stairs, light leaked from within.
The interior felt like an abandoned tavern decked out with wooden furniture.
Roughly twenty men at least, sprawled around drinking.
“Ho, look at that. Fat pouch.”
They'd already swiped it.
Just a few coppers and dirt inside—no big loss.
Where was I supposed to get a pouch full of silver anyway?
It was all from Eirin's salary pouch.
My hand might've trembled a bit handing over the silvers, but probably just my imagination…
Doesn't look like I'm wrong?
Yes, seems that way.
That look passed between Eirin and me.
“Huh?”
Eirin casually slipped her ropes and grabbed the guy next to her by the throat, hoisting him up.
“Wh-What?!”
“Shit!”
“Who the hell brought a knight?!”
“Grab her!”
She swung him around, subduing the criminals.
Ho-ho, bold.
Eirin dodged a sword swung at her with practiced ease and asked cautiously.
“Have you… tried it before, by any chance?”
“Huh?”
“The drugs, I mean.”
“……No back-alley orphan's got cash for that.”
“Hm, your acting was surprisingly vivid for someone who hasn't.”
My movements were just mimicking the junkie they'd grabbed on the street earlier.
With a few details cribbed from news clips and videos of addicts I'd seen back home.
“So, what's the next plan?”
“You take 'em all down.”
“…Me?”
Eirin's yellow eyes blinked.
What? Was Eirin not actually a skilled knight?
“Don't knights normally aura up, swing their sword once, and mop up small fry like this in seconds?”
“I could… but.”
Eirin pointed upward with her finger.
“If it's fine having the criminals, Young Master, and the evidence drugs all buried under the building.”
“……”
Right, underground.
No aura, then. Ever.
“What if you subdue them without collapsing it?”
“Won't take long, but if they grab you hostage, we're done.”
“Don't worry about me.”
“Five minutes.”
Not bad.
I nodded, meaning do it.
“…You sure?”
“I've got a way to hold out.”
“Understood. I'll wrap it up quick.”
With that, Eirin charged at the men.
“Shit, grab those bastards!”
The leader-looking guy barked, and they rushed in.
About fifteen went for Eirin,
five stuck to me.
Hmm, overestimating me a bit.
I was confident I could handle three in under a minute.
“No choice.”
Time to use the method I'd mentioned to Eirin.
I eyed the closing men,
and picked up an object nearby.
Glass bottle shaped like a flask.
Handle on the side.
Red light inside.
“Wha…!”
“Wait!”
“Calm down!”
Ah, scared, huh.
Makes sense. Even I'm scared, honestly.
The vicious weapon in my hand.
It was
“Shit, stay back! Touch me and you're all dead!”
a lantern.