Move the Hideout

Happy hours have a way of flying past.

Bask in a stretch of peaceful days, and the problem you had managed to forget shows its face again before you know it. It had been that way in the world before this one, and this world was no different. I took the designated commission Ruby had just held out to me and asked, quietly:

"…What did you just say?"

"I missed you, Captain."

"Not that."

"Then I'll just hold your hand?"

"Ruby."

Only after I pressed her name like a reprimand did light return to those grinning eyes.

"The Hero marched back this morning, they say?"

Yes. That. No wonder the System's been raising a racket ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠since dawn.

From today, it seemed, Babylonia's main story was about to get underway. I had expected as much, but hearing it outright still left a bitter weight in my chest. Some things can't be helped.

Even so, what was I supposed to do? If I wanted to live, I had to pull it off.

I leaned toward Ruby—who had, after all that wandering, finally produced the right answer—and added:

"The Hero party's current position?"

"According to the Alliance officer in charge of the gate, they should reach the Empire around midnight."

"That late? It's nine in the morning."

"Even the Hero's party will need a little time. They aren't coming back from just anywhere. They're returning from demon territory, out beyond the Empire."

Well, true enough. The Blue Magic Tower and its gates were commonplace only inside the Empire. Other nations counted themselves well supplied if they possessed five, and in the lands of the demons—who were on outright hostile terms with humankind—there was no chance such a thing existed at all.

The story of the Hero party's return, as I knew it, had them traveling on foot as far as the County of Gardner, lingering there through the funeral, and only then coming back to the Empire. That stretch runs three days, starting tomorrow. On the evening of the day they returned, the first incident would break—the Ruby versus Gardner affair…

…Maybe, somehow, I can still rest through today.

I was in the middle of weighing what I ought to spend that rest on, so that even dropping dead on the spot would leave me with no regrets, when Ruby finished steeping the tea, set it before me with a spread of brightly colored sweets, and spoke.

"That aside, Captain. I think it's about time we moved the hideout."

"…So it really has come to that."

I had been keeping it in mind anyway, while carrying out this latest Assassinate Hestia (Not Really) Operation. The cover identity my members and I were using was captain of the D-rank mercenary band Black Wolf—and the organization to which the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Black Wolf who had shown himself not long ago belonged was called Black Wolf as well.

With that name sitting squarely on the Mercenary Alliance's registry, suspicion was inevitable. That was why I had meant, if I could, to reveal the name Black Wolf relatively late—

Since we were going to be suspected either way, I had planned to simply come clean and vanish.

"Has the Alliance moved?"

"Not yet. But they say the Alliance Head is summoning every one of the Ten Greats."

"To hit us?"

"No. It looks as though they mean to verify the cover identity. The Black Wolf Mercenary Band."

"…They're convening all of the Ten Greats just to check on a single D-rank mercenary band?"

The sort of news that makes a man want to run, and I found myself asking it again before I could stop. Ruby, for some reason, answered with her shoulders lifted, proud as anything.

"Well. We are Black Wolf."

…Please. Leave me out of it.

Either way, we learned of it early. Better to settle things before we collide. I had started preparing the moment I knew we were under suspicion, so everything was already in place except the cover identity and the new hideout.

"And the cover identity? The new hideout?"

Even those—word had come that they were finished days ago, and I had only asked in order to confirm. That was the moment it came.

Bang, bang…!

A small noise, like someone knocking, carried through from beyond the barrier ward.

"Right on time."

Ruby checked beyond the door through a small artifact, smiled, and rose.

Tap, tap, tap.

She crossed the room at a light step, then turned her head before opening the door and added:

"You were the one who ordered it, Captain. The cover identity and the hideout ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠both—secure them to the best of my ability."

"…And?"

"You may look forward to it."

The red eyes, curving thin with her smile, were beautiful and faintly chilling at once.

…Creak. Click.

She opened the door, took up an envelope, drew out a single identity plaque of solid wood—its magical treatment already complete—and held it out. I accepted it and got to my feet.

My true name was Nahan. My other names were Black Wolf and Yellow Dragon. And now, piled on top of those, a cover identity called Ian.

Is this how an actor who takes on too many roles feels? One more character to perform, and yet, strangely, something in me stirred with excitement.

It was nothing but exhausting. The memory rose unbidden, and a short breath of laughter escaped me. Ruby's eyes went perfectly round.

"D-did you just smile…?"

"Yeah. Good work, Ruby."

Careful, lest the moment be read the wrong way, I moved slowly and set a hand atop her head.

A soft stroke.

"…!!"

Ruby, who had tipped her face up and met my eyes while I was still like that, lifted both hands and caught mine.

"…I thought I was going to be scolded."

"As if."

Why would I scold you? You handle every tiresome, difficult, complicated thing there is. You are very precious to me.

"…Then. If you truly don't mind… I have just one, one request…"

"Why the stalling?"

"I-it's, Captain…"

"It's fine. Say it."

Perhaps that feeling reached her after all. Ruby looked up at me with glistening eyes and asked:

"Wh-when you're in the cover identity… m-may I call you big brother…?"

Sorry? Big brother?

"I-it's just—the setting is that Brother Ian is actually a distant relative of mine. He ran from the family as a child, escaped the calamity, and became a priest…"

At a question so flustering I had never once imagined it, I checked the identity plaque again.

Ian Red. Ruby Red.

…So that's the setting.

The instant I understood what she meant, the plaque in my hand shed a red light.

A warm energy settled over my whole body, and the hair visible inside the helm turned red. My eyes cooled as if I had put in drops, so the irises must have changed to red as well.

"Haa…!!"

"…What is this?"

"Red suits you so well, too…!!"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks. Thank you."

Ruby's gaze was a little much to bear, but it was a more perfect means of disguise. And with a tie to Ruby Red, branch manager of the Mercenary Alliance, the guarantee would be solid. Moving about under the cover identity would be that much easier.

Black Wolf, as expected. To think she had calculated even that when she built the identity.

"…Hehe. I'm bound to the Captain by blood. Something the other members couldn't manage, and I did it first…"

Black Wolf, as expected…

…and the lunatics in it.

Whether the look growing hollower by the second was calculation or selfish desire, I couldn't tell. The result, either way, was an excellent cover identity. Rewarding work well done was the proper quality of one who stood above, so after a brief hesitation I nodded toward Ruby.

"When we're in the cover identities, you may treat me comfortably."

"…Huh?"

"The form of address, the attitude. I mean I'll follow the setting you made."

"R-really, Captain?!"

I nodded once more, and Ruby came toward me with both arms flung wide—then stopped short of arriving and bowed hastily at the waist.

"Th-thank you!!"

How very well-mannered. Set aside the way she loses her mind every time a fight breaks out, and she really is a good kid.

The preparations to move the hideout were finished either way, so I turned toward the door.

"We're moving the hideout."

"Yes, Captain! Shall we move right now?"

It being still daytime nagged at me a little, but we had to finish the relocation before the Hero's party returned to the capital, and Hestia had to be moved as well.

"Night is better for hiding things. Day ought to be better for hiding people."

"…! As expected of you, Captain. You knew today is the day the merchants return, and you're saying we should hide among them and move together…!"

"Uh. Mm. Well. All of it, right here in the palm of my hand."

Right. So that's how it is. Friday is market day.

"An abandoned building in a corner of the capital, you said?"

"Yes, Captain! It used to be a place where Aria's faithful gathered to hold worship."

A church, then, or something like a cathedral.

"They ran an orphanage there as well, but everyone was killed or went missing at the hands of some trash called the Black Fang, or whatever it was."

"Fearless bastards."

The Goddess Aria was this world's one and only god, so even villains did not treat her lightly. But that was precisely why it was the ideal place for us to hide. I did wonder what would happen if an enraged goddess laid down punishment—but the one who had thrown the first punch, by way of this possession, was the goddess.

"Anyway, good work, Ruby. I'll go on ahead. Tell them to clear out the old hideout and be there by nineteen hundred hours, on the dot."

"Yes, Captain! Clothes and basic necessities are already stocked, so just find them and use them!"

"Right."

Dependable, this Ruby.

"The deadline to accept or refuse the designated commission is tomorrow as well, so please just tell me whenever it's convenient!"

Ah. Right. The designated commission. It came back to me that I had been so wrapped up in moving the hideout that I hadn't even checked the request, but—

"I'll give you an answer by tomorrow."

"Yes, Captain!"

I'd look it over when I got back.

A rest, all by myself, in a house with no one in it?

Not a chance I could hold myself back.

And somehow my steps were growing light—

"L-Lord Yellow Dragon has come out!!"

"Today, for sure, an autograph!!!!"

"P-please restrain yourself, Brother Namgung!!"

—about to grow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠light, and then they grew heavy. So in a suitable place I changed clothes, disguised myself with the power of the identity plaque, and headed back to my sweet home.

Such was the business of one clear morning.

A few hours later. Noon.

Nahan, having only just finished straightening the hideout, was checking the cover identity of Ian Red once more by way of the free priest's vestments and the identity plaque.

Bang!

Without warning the door flew open, and someone came in.

"…Who might you be?"

"……."

Sky-blue hair that swayed as she moved. A face beautiful even with no expression on it. A nape laid bare where the hair had been bound up tight. A face he was seeing for the first time, and yet, somehow, familiar. Nahan was still hesitating when the woman asked, in a voice without rise or fall:

"The orphanage?"

"I'm afraid I couldn't say. As you can see, I only took the place over and moved in today myself."

"…I see."

Silence again.

Who is she? Something about her is definitely familiar.

Nahan was frowning when the woman, who had been thinking with a hand at her chin, spoke once more.

"I am told the Goddess Aria is a light without equal, and that she guides the dead up into heaven."

Just as she said, the Goddess Aria was the one and only god, presiding over both life and death. He nodded as though in agreement, and the woman went down on one knee before him.

"Not long ago, a comrade's younger sister left this world at the hands of great evils."

Huh? Wait a moment.

"You, too, appear to be a free priest. Would you offer a prayer for that child?"

Don't tell me this is—

Having guessed something, Nahan calmly steadied himself and asked her:

"Eldest child of the Goddess. Would you be so kind as to say that once more?"

The Goddess's eldest children. Only three in all the world were addressed so. Reyna Babylonia, Emperor of the Empire. The Saintess, with whom he had brushed past and formed a brief tie during the Viscount Gapelt affair not long ago. And the remaining one—

The Radiant Hero.

"Hestia Gardner. I ask a prayer for that upright child. Afterward, I would ask a confession as well."

Asha Mirabell.

The greatest confession of all had just landed on him.