Chapter 124
Chapter 124
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Face Thief?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Another Tale]
[This is another story.]
Your busy footsteps came to a halt.
How delightful.
All the people you were looking for were gathered right here.
Belen, the hero candidate chosen by the hero's fifth holy sword. An ambitious young man.
He believed without a doubt that he was the protagonist of this world.
And why not? He had gone from an ordinary country bumpkin to being chosen by a holy sword and gaining an incredible patron named Duvillan.
The noble etiquette that once felt awkward and uncomfortable now fit him like a glove.
In fact, he now found his old self, who knew nothing of formality, to be utterly crude.
His overflowing confidence was his greatest weapon.
Some dismissed it as mere arrogance or bravado.
How unfair.
To belittle a young man's leap to surpass his humble origins.
Of course, Belen paid them no mind!
His overflowing confidence was his greatest weapon, after all!
He thoroughly ignored those who doubted him. Nay, he mocked them!
He pressed on without stopping.
And so, he arrived here.
Belen.
He flashes you a smile brimming with confidence.
Then his expression slowly changes, and next, Mangnus, vice-captain of the Duvillan Knight Order's Special Unit, greets you warmly.
A seasoned warrior to whom the term "master" fits perfectly.
The wrinkles and scars earned on the front lines are not marks of shame but badges of pride and experience.
He taught you that realm and mana are not everything in swordsmanship.
What if the place where you crossed swords with him had been a battlefield rather than a sparring ground?
I understand. It's an unpleasant thought, isn't it?
In that sense, it's regrettable.
Because he's here right now.
Who's next?
Oh dear. You feel a tremor in your body.
Your worst fears have come true.
Tua Ye Duvillan, captain of the Duvillan Special Unit and the proud lady of Duvillan. She's here in this place too.
The Special Unit captain greets you with a radiant smile.
She's famed as a "saint" who reached the 7th Circle at a young age, but even more so for her stoic personality that never reveals personal feelings to others.
To see her radiant smile!
Are you lucky? Or unlucky?
One thing is certain: you know she's not the type to make such an expression.
No matter how joyful or happy the situation.
And so, you finish your greeting with the Special Unit captain.
You sense that the finale is approaching.
Was the Special Unit captain the last? Or—
Ah, right. You can't leave her out.
As you vaguely suspected, she was the root of all this.
Brienne.
The wandering swordswoman gazes at you with her characteristic roguish demeanor, full of meaning.
"I owe you a great debt."
She suddenly expresses her gratitude to you.
You thought you had already tasted the worst feeling. How wrong you were.
Brienne. No. The Face Thief covers her face with her palm.
When she removes her hand, there appears a figure all too familiar.
It's you.
Now you understand why the Face Thief thanked you.
The reason the Special Unit members lost their faces so helplessly is the same.
"If not for you, I couldn't have stolen their faces so easily. For that, I offer my thanks."
At the Face Thief's words, you fall into deep contemplation.
Where did it all go wrong?
The Face Thief impersonated you to sow discord among the Special Unit members.
You cleared up the misunderstanding and earned their trust.
At that time, you couldn't have imagined it.
That it would lead everyone to this worst possible situation.
As the saying goes, adversity forges strong bonds. The trust between you and the Special Unit deepened after resolving the misunderstanding.
The Face Thief gladly exploited that.
Approaching them while impersonating you and catching them off guard was astonishingly simple.
Yes.
It's sincere gratitude from the depths of the Face Thief's heart toward you.
If you hadn't worked to mend relations with the Special Unit, could they have survived?
Perhaps.
But then, you wouldn't be facing them like this now.
A small consolation is granted to you.
The Face Thief shows no intention of fleeing from you.
Faces alike, thoughts alike, it seems.
The battle begins.
Now that the Special Unit's misconception—not misconception—had completely cleared his name, Rishir was lost in thought.
'Should I reveal it now? That actually, I know how to use a sword—'
The Face Thief, an off-spec existence, was targeting them.
To prevent its infiltration and cope with sudden situations, sharing information was absolutely essential.
'But if I reveal this, won't the situation get complicated again?'
In the situation where the Special Unit had concluded 'It used swordsmanship, so it can't be Rishir!', to say 'Uh? I can use swordsmanship too?'
It would be like rubbing salt in the wound.
"Rishir. We'll withdraw for now. The Face Thief targeted Mangnus, so it's clear it's after our Special Unit."
At that moment, Special Unit Captain Tua spoke. Surprised by the content, Rishir asked back.
"Pardon? I thought it was targeting the Special Unit? It was the one fleeing—"
"If it had truly tried to erase its tracks, it would have taken us much longer to pursue it. But it deliberately left traces to lure our chase. It probably anticipated our Special Unit's pursuit when it attacked the hero candidate. Its plan starts with the hero candidate and ends with our Special Unit."
"It can just flee once we deploy additional forces... In other words, it's thrown down the gauntlet to the Special Unit. And we're responding to that challenge with this game of cat and mouse called a pursuit."
"Exactly."
Tua continued, looking at Mangnus.
"Mangnus. It stole your sword, right?"
"Yes. It happened during the fight."
"Stealing a master's sword mid-battle. No matter how you think about it, it's a disgustingly unreasonable ability."
Tua shook her head and muttered as if spitting it out before continuing.
"It seems its mimicry ability exceeds our expectations."
"Captain Tua. It stole my sword in that short time. So copying my appearance in that moment would have been trivial."
"Right. As everyone knows, this incident with Mangnus was our Special Unit's first contact with it. It succeeded in stealing Mangnus's face, but that's all. According to known info, its mimicry is near-perfect, but not quite. It's nearly impossible to fool those close to the victim."
Therefore.
Tua emphasized her next words.
"If the Face Thief sneaks in among us, it won't be wearing one of our faces. It'll be wearing the face of an outsider who can approach us closely."
Drey.
Meishi.
Palag.
Those were the first names from Tua's lips.
"Palag Gon is currently away on personal business. According to Drey, he won't return to the mansion for at least three days. So, excluding Palag Gon, the remaining two—...no."
Tua's gaze, mid-sentence, turned to me.
"We'll keep a close eye on the remaining three."
"Three... You don't mean I'm included too?"
"Don't you have ties with Drey? You're one of the very few allowed direct contact with us in this mansion."
"... "
Tua's words carried complete trust and faith.
In this situation where a single misjudgment could lead to the worst outcome.
Rishir newly realized the weight of his connection to a great noble like Drey.
"If the Face Thief impersonates you to approach us, it'd be hard for us to handle. In the worst case—"
Tua looked at Rishir with a serious face and said.
"We might end up turning against the real you because we can't tell real from fake."
"You mean... the Face Thief could impersonate the real Rishir and turn you against me? To truly steal the identity of Rishir?"
"Yes."
"Then... I should set up some action to prove I'm the real one to you all. How about a password?"
Tua shook her head.
"It's a former assassin guild master. A master of infiltration and special ops. A password likely won't work on it. It might even use the password to confuse us further."
"...Could it mimic magic with that ability too? If not, I could use magic every time I meet you—"
"Much more limited than swordsmanship, but yes. It's certainly possible."
"What? There's abilities like that!?"
Rishir shouted in exasperation.
-...
-...
He ignored the gazes from his inner world.
"Then what do we do? How do I prove I'm real when we meet?"
Rishir's face crumpled.
The Special Unit members' faces, including Tua's, crumpled.
It was then, as they racked their brains for a rational solution.
-Tua.
Drey's voice came from outside the door.
-I'm with Meishi. Coming in.
Even the Face Thief couldn't impersonate two people at once.
The Special Unit lowered their guard and let Drey in.
"Heard from Meishi. The Face Thief stole Rishir's face? What happened?"
Drey first checked Rishir's complexion, then asked Tua for details.
Tua immediately shared the progress with Drey.
"A way for Rishir to prove he's the real Rishir?"
Drey, who had been listening and nearly bursting into laughter midway.
After hearing everything, he finally let out a chuckle.
As if wondering why they were agonizing over something so simple.
"...Drey, looks like you've got a clever idea."
"You bet. Rishir?"
Drey.
With a meaningful smile, he began talking with Rishir.
"...Drey, you bastard, even in this situation—"
Tua, listening from the side, expressed displeasure.
Thinking Drey was spouting nonsense right now.
"... "
However, Tua's expression gradually filled with bewilderment.
Their attitudes were too serious for it to be mere joking.
"-...So, Rishir. Think you can do it that way? Won't it strain your body?"
The conversation wrapped up.
Drey asked Rishir's opinion.
"... "
The Special Unit members, including Tua, stared at Rishir with grave faces.
Wondering if 'possible' would come from those lips.
"Yes, I think it's possible."
"W-Wait...! "
In the end, the Special Unit vice-captain lost her composure.
She rarely showed pure fluster as she grilled Rishir and Drey.
Pointing out their unrealistic plan.
"Why is this unrealistic? Rishir?"
"Yes."
But then came Rishir and Drey's demonstration(?).
"... "
"... "
"... "
The Special Unit was speechless at the scene unfolding before them.
"Alright then. Now, time to plan how to lure that bastard out?"
As Drey broached the topic, Rishir raised his hand.
"Oh, Rishir. Got a good idea?"
"The Face Thief keeps tangling with the Special Unit to steal Special Unit Captain Tua's face—er, swordsmanship. Right?"
"... "
Tua nodded in agreement, though she hadn't fully regained her composure from the recent scene.
"Then how about this? We create a situation where it has no choice but to appear before us as 'Rishir'. If we maintain that, the opportunity will surely come."
Rishir explained the plan he devised to them.
"No... "
Tua muttered unwittingly.
Rishir's plan was too dangerous and reckless.
It was like setting the table for the Face Thief to steal Tua's face.
"What's wrong with that? If it impersonates Rishir anyway, we'll spot it right away."
"No—"
"No what? Didn't you just see? Can it really impersonate Rishir while doing that?"
"No... "
Still, Tua couldn't ultimately reject their opinion.
"Good, then we're going with this? No objections?"
The flimsy, bizarre plan relying entirely on 'Rishir' from start to finish was approved.
Something that would never be allowed under standard Special Unit protocol.
"No... "
Tua was doubtful.
Would a plan like this actually work?
"...Before sword training, summon a spirit...? Lady Tua. What do you mean all of a sudden— As you well know, Lady Tua, I'm not a spirit user. Handling sword and magic simultaneously doesn't mean I can handle spirits too."
It worked perfectly.
"...Become 7th Circle? Uh, if I may be so bold, is this some riddle?"
It had been five days since the baseless strategy meeting.
Now.
Before Tua stood the 'Rishir' caught in the plan.
Not long after.
Another Rishir arrived, making two in total.
A brief conversation ensued in that state.
Soon, 'Rishir' shouted in fury.
"I saw it with my own two eyes!!! You definitely ate the food I made!!! You must be poisoned by my toxin!!! How are you still here—"
"And what about that spirit!!! Spirit arts weren't in the magic you use!!!"
"M-My mana suddenly surged...!?"
"... "
Tua, watching the scene from the side, rubbed her furrowed brow with a tired look.
Why was that?
At this moment, Tua felt more pity for the Face Thief than joy at the plan's success in achieving its goal.