Chapter 50
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Operation Rescue Knox Cornell Ludpersher
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The hurled stone struck the statue of the girl right on the head.
*CRRAAASH—!*
With a tremendous roar, the statue crumbled.
The plan was a perfect success. I even saw a few monsters passing nearby get crushed. Killing two birds with one stone!
Though not all of them, a significant number of the monsters surrounding Happy House began to run toward the town.
“Now we have to go get Mr. Ludpersher.”
If I hadn't seen him at all, it would be one thing, but knowing Knox was alive and well, I couldn't just leave him.
“We should, but I’m not sure if it’s possible to enter that monster den and find Ludpersher.”
“I know. And of all things, we made all the monsters gather in the town…”
The number of monsters roaming the town was even greater than before. The ones that had been loitering near Happy House had all been drawn down to the town by the noise.
Ethan clicked his tongue and roughly swept his hair back.
“Tsk. I was trying to avoid a direct confrontation.”
“If I’d known it would turn out like this, it would’ve been better to just charge straight through from here. You realize the difficulty of entering the town has gone up, right?”
With a completely unperturbed expression, Ethan nonchalantly nodded and got to his feet. I asked him again.
“Should we come up with a plan to get into the police station and rescue the doctor? Even if we have to force our way through, we should at least have a basic plan.”
I asked because I figured Ethan would have been thinking about something like that while I was toppling the statue.
Sure enough, Ethan calmly pulled out a map of the town and unfolded it without a hint of panic.
“Are you aware of the clock tower in the southern part of the town?”
Just as Ethan said, a little ways down from the central plaza, there was a drawing of a clock tower in the south. It was close to the police station, too.
“If it’s Ludpersher, he’ll head for the clock tower first. Let’s go that way.”
“Why? We could get isolated like we were in the plaza.”
“It’s a habit of his. When he’s cornered, he assesses the situation from a high place and makes a plan.”
Ethan spoke as if he knew Knox very well.
In a way, it was natural. He and Knox were classmates at the Royal Academy. Even if they had a bad relationship, they’d still spent a fair amount of time together.
“We’ll rescue Ludpersher at the clock tower, then enter the police station, contact the capital, and return here.”
Ethan said, folding the map.
“What if Mr. Ludpersher isn’t at the clock tower?”
“Then there’s nothing we can do. We can’t go rummaging through that monster den trying to find him.”
Ethan replied, his expression colder than I’d expected.
There wasn’t a single thing wrong with what Ethan said. But still, we had to save Knox…
Knox is a doctor. That means in this ruined world, he’s just as essential as Ethan.
After a moment of hesitation, I finally nodded. Of course, if it came down to it, I was also considering going to rescue Knox on my own.
“Alright. Before that, let’s decide on some signals, shall we? Something only we can understand.”
“The monsters won’t understand any signal we use, so what’s the point?”
“No, it’s not a signal for the monsters. It’s so we can communicate with each other. Are you going to shout in the middle of all those monsters? ‘Sir Ethan! We have a problem here! Could you come over for a moment?!’ Something like that?”
As I mimed shouting, Ethan quickly grabbed my hand and sighed.
“Stay still. Are you trying to draw attention?”
“Exactly. The monsters are sensitive to sound. Let’s decide on some simple hand signals. It’s making me anxious, that’s all.”
When I insisted again, Ethan narrowed his eyes and stared at me. Then, he finally nodded as if to say, *go on, then*.
As if I’d been waiting for this, I set the signal. I extended my index and middle fingers, aimed them at Ethan, and then flicked them upward as if firing a gun.
“This is the signal to attack.”
Next, I extended my right arm wide and drew a semicircle to the left, like waving a flag to one side.
“This means return to the mansion.”
Ethan nodded as if it wasn’t difficult.
“Simple enough.”
I immediately followed up by crossing my hands in front of my chest to form an X and looked at Ethan.
“And this means there’s a problem.”
Ethan mimicked the gesture, then gave me a look that said, *Satisfied?*
“Are we done now?”
He offered me his hand. I took it, getting to my feet, and nodded.
“Shall we go?”
Ethan and I climbed down from the roof, each grabbed an empty bag, and stood before the main gate of Happy House. Ethan gestured with his head.
“Let’s go.”