Leave a comment

If I started flashily and attracted the enemy’s attention, it should make Elliot safer. Judging so, I headed towards the mansion from the front and approached the gatekeeper.

Though these break-in tactics were more suited to Lyell or Gadius who specialized in direct fights.

The gatekeeper found it puzzling that a beauty—that is, me, whether I liked it or not—approached him suddenly, but he did not pull out his sword. I was using my illusionary form now and it also hid my weapon.

In fact, I didn’t even have more than a single dagger and a thread with me, given that I was supposed to be on a date today.

Seeing me calmly pass by in front of him, the gatekeeper whistled once, but following it, his expression changed.

Taking advantage of the fact that he had his guard completely down, I coiled my piano wire around his neck in one swing and strangled him. He writhed and scratched at his neck without managing to mutter a word.

I utilized the railings and used all my strength to pull the thread and topple him down. Being pulled in by a thread from one-meter height broke his posture, making him lean forward. I then swept his legs and dropped him to the ground.

Following that, I rushed to his side, pulled my dagger and pierced it into his medulla. That made him jolt like a fish fresh out to the water, his limbs convulsing violently. Finally, his movements came to an end, telling me that he was finally dead.

“What a complete failure. At least be more vigilant.”

The moment I approached him, he should’ve upped his guard. Even disregarding that, there should’ve been a way for him to notify the people on the inside before I coiled a thread around his neck. He had a sword on him, so the least he could’ve done was to strike the railings with it to notify them.

“He seemed to be employed here, but wasn’t he a bit too low-level? No..”

It would be premature to assume the enemy’s strength with him alone. At the very least, they were strong enough to defeat Priscilla. If so, I couldn’t slacken here.

I decided to head straight for the door… But Maxwell stopped me.

“Hold it, Reid. Aren’t you a little too unarmed right now?”
“Still. I left my katana back home and the Mythril gauntlets are in your mansion.”
“I will send them to you, so hold on for a bit.”

Saying that, Maxwell spoke a small chant. And the next moment, my favorite gauntlets appeared in my hand.

“Ohh, what did you do?”
“It is a magic called Apport. It is not an especially high-leveled one, either. A little above mid-level. By the time you graduate from the academy, you should be able to use it too.”
“Is it part of the Interference system…?”
“It meddles with the location information of objects. It is easier compared to Teleport.”

He said it as if nothing, but wasn’t it actually like, super hard? Good grief, this is why all Six Heroes are so…

Despite my grumbling, I immediately equipped my gauntlets. As the familiar coldness of Mythril covered my arms, I felt as if I had returned to the old days.

I let one thread out through the shooting hole installed at its wrist, checked its condition and prepared it.

“It hasn’t been maintained in a while, though…”
“I did some maintenance on the exterior. But the interior is beyond me.”
“Well, of course. Even I can’t do that. After all, it’s an item of an excellent blacksmith, you know?”

These gauntlets that had ten Mythril threads that spanned over a hundred meters were quite delicate works, given the effort it needed to create. Even I, who favored them, was reluctant to tinker with them due to their delicacy, as such the maintainability was sacrificed.

“I have to go get it repaired one of these days, huh…”
“You mean that blacksmith whose identity you kept a secret even from us?”
“Yeah. Given my background, I couldn’t speak about them openly.”

In my previous life, I acted under my own sense of justice and assassinated whoever fit the criteria regardless of how influential they were. But that brought me many enemies, so I could not openly reveal the names of my allies.

It was the same after we defeated the Evil Dragon, and I haven’t told their names even to my comrades. Though with that blacksmith, there was also an agreement to not get him involved in trouble.

At any rate, Elliot’s matter came first. Leaving the guard’s corpse as is, I stepped into the mansion. I left it there since that way it would kick up more panic. Since I was under an illusion, it was no problem even if a third party saw me.

That Goddess sure has given me a convenient item.

Bumping my fists, I headed toward the door. And then, instead of knocking, I kicked it open with all my strength.

Since my leg was strengthened with a Mythril thread, the lock and hinges were unable to resist the force of the kick and flew off. Then the door collapsed inward with a loud noise.

The inside was an unexpectedly wide atrium hall with three passages. The stairs drew a gentle slope, leading to the second floor, where there seemed to be yet another passage.

I strained my ears until the noise settled down, trying to count as many enemies as I could. The familiar on my shoulder also flew up to the chandelier’s height and watched out for the second floor. As expected of Maxwell’s familiar, it was quite smart.

The noise from the broken door raised voices of confusion. I could hear them coming from three sources. From the passage up ahead. From the western part of the second floor. And…

“Basement?”

It was a clanking, metallic sound. I didn’t know whether someone was donning equipment or it was something else entirely, but the sound was definitely coming from the basement.

As such, the most suspicious one was clearly the basement… But I didn’t know how to get in there.

“Well, let’s just ask someone on the way.”

The pigeon gave a sharp cry of warning. At the same time, the enemy also arrived from the front passage.