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Kagerou then made a sudden gesture, extending his right hand towards me and his left hand towards Asmina, perhaps to steer the conversation away from the dangerous topic or maybe to signal that we needed to focus if we wanted to make progress.

“…What’re you doing?”

Does he want his arteries to be cut? Err, let’s switch the parasol in my hand with ‘Gilles de Rais’……

“Young Lady, are you perhaps thinking about something dangerous?”
“No, you’re just imagining things”
“Very well. Now, will you please hold my hand? We’re going to sneak in, so I’m going to use ‹Stealth›.”

With that, Kagerou turned completely transparent and soon reappeared in the same spot.

When it comes to ‹Stealth›, it’s essentially an advanced version of the skill ‹Hide›. Unlike ‹Hide›, which prevents movement, ‹Stealth› allows the user to move about freely, though it will be dispelled if the user is attacked.

Kagerou had naturally maxed out his ‹Stealth› skill, but witnessing him use it in front of me was still striking. He completely vanished from my sight, and I couldn’t detect his presence, body heat, or even the sound of his breathing. It seemed like we wouldn’t have any trouble infiltrating the palace with this skill.

“It’s impressive, but from what I can see, it just seems like a technique for peeping,” Asmina commented with a frown.

“You’re not wrong. He’s definitely a degenerate peeping tom,” I quickly chimed in, agreeing with Asmina’s assessment

“I feel like I’ve been a punching bag for a while now,” Kagerou remarked, his smile appearing somewhat forced as he struggled to brush off our constant criticisms.

“So if we hold your hand, we’ll also become invisible?” I asked.

“Exactly,” Kagerou replied.

In the game, the ‹Stealth› effect could be shared among five party members. However, in the real world, it seems like the premise has been modified to allow sharing the effect by holding hands.

“So can you ladies just grasp my hand now?”

Asmina and I exchanged hesitant glances at Kagerou’s repeated urging.

“…… Should we really hold this person’s hand, Lady Hiyuki?” Asmina asked, unsure.

“…… But if we don’t, we’ll have to go through the swarm of ‘G’,” I pointed out.

“…… It’s a tough choice,” Asmina mused.

After a moment’s hesitation, we both agreed to take Kagerou’s hand.

“Huh!? You’re seriously comparing holding my hand to being surrounded by cockroaches?” Kagerou exclaimed, clearly shocked.

Anyway, after a brief discussion with Asmina, we reluctantly agreed to hold hands with Kagerou, deciding that “both options are equally unpleasant, but he’s still slightly better than going through the sewer.”

To an observer, it might appear that Kagerou was cheerfully holding flowers in both hands. However, Asmina and I were making disgusted faces, as if we were about to vomit.

“We’re leaving now,” Kagerou declared.

As soon as he spoke, my body turned transparent as a signal to use the ‹Stealth› skill. It was difficult to assess on my own, but I noticed that my hands and other visible body parts had vanished from sight.

“Lady Hiyuki, can you confirm if I’ve really disappeared?” Asmina’s voice sounded from nowhere, tinged with concern.

“Relax, you’ve disappeared completely. But it’ll be inconvenient if we can’t see each other,” I reassured Asmina, who was still concerned about the effectiveness of the skill.

“Right, we need to be careful since we won’t be able to see each other. Plus, if one of us lets go, the technique will be canceled, and I won’t be able to reapply it unless I make everyone visible again, which is a risky move. Others won’t be able to hear your voice, but the sound from your touch will still be transmitted, so try not to touch anything unnecessary,” Kagerou warned us about the limitations of the technique.

Hmm, it has more restrictions than I thought. The fact that we can’t see each other and are unaware of who might make a mistake makes it a risky situation.

However……

“Since we can’t see each other, that means you also can’t see us, right Kagerou?” I asked.

“Yes, so please don’t let go of my hand,” he replied, bowing his head over my palm.

“Ah, I see… Then, take this!” I suddenly pushed my hand into Kagerou’s stomach.

“Gaaah!!!” I heard Kagerou groan in pain and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“So you were right, you can’t see us either,” I said with a grin.

I fixed my gaze on the spot where Kagerou should have been. He was coughing vigorously, with half-closed eyes, most likely because his saliva had gotten stuck in his trachea.

“Huh? Did something happen……!?” Asmina’s voice, who was still invisible, sounded perplexed, but I ignored it as a minor issue.

“Cough, cough… Yo, Young Lady. You’re now a girl so please have some modesty. It’s not appropriate to follow up with sudden underhanded moves…”

“Don’t worry, it was just an experiment. I have a hard time believing everything you say. What if it’s a lie?” I replied, hoping that it would keep him from crossing any boundaries.

“Good grief… Indeed, from my perspective, you both appear to be in a semi-transparent state, but I can’t see anything in detail, so please refrain from doing anything unnecessary.”

“Fine, we understand. Let’s get going now.”

“Agreed. I want to get rid of this hand as soon as possible,” added Asmina.

Kagerou sighed and moved forward as we urged him on. However, as if he remembered something while walking, he said, “Still, I’m surprised such a tiny piece of cloth can hide your behind.”

I roughly estimated Kagerou’s location and swung my fist in response to his comment. “Ack!?” I felt the feedback of hitting his chin. Unfortunately, my use of ‹Stealth› was also canceled due to the friendly fire, but at least it helped me feel a bit better.