Ascendance of a Scummy Hero V1 (3 of 5)

Chapter 4: Gambler

Translator: Skythewood

Editor: Hiiro

I bought some dices in a store, then practice rolling dice with Holly in the inn.

Holly said it was simple, but I was still worried.

Since no one but me could see Holly, the chances of getting found out was close to zero. Even if they realize something was wrong, they wouldn’t be able to understand how it was done.

After all, they couldn’t exclaim agitatedly that an invisible helper was manipulating the dice.

Even if they did, Holly was still invisible and intangible to them.

No matter how they searched, they wouldn’t be able to find her.

However, they might think I was cheating if the way I threw the dice looked weird.

Even if they couldn’t prove that I cheated, the betting parlor might bar me from entering if they thought someone was manipulating the dice.

In short, anyone caught cheating in this nearly lawless place where gambling was flourishing would be slaughtered.

「……」

I silently spun the dice on the table, and Holly swiftly caught the dice and landed it on six.

It looked unnatural at the start, but after Holly got the hang of it, she could flip it to any number she wanted.

〈How’s that, Crow? If I’m that fast, it won’t look unnatural, right?〉

「Hmm… yes, if they can’t see you…」

〈Then it’s fine. Other than an exception like you, no one but the Hero could see me.〉

「I’m not too worried about that though…」

I stared at the dice on the table with my arms crossed.

Anyway, we could only do our best.

We just need to get enough money to buy a slave, then we could leave the betting parlor immediately.

「……」

I was too naive.

Holly and I entered a random betting parlor and bet on dice.

Holly was in charge of manipulating the roll to let me win.

The cheating went more smoothly than I expected.

Aside from me, no one could see Holly. Since she could pass through objects and move them, it was very effective.

I won big at dice and earned the funds I needed successfully.

I was planning to leave at this stage, but the staff and gamblers all gathered around me, drawn in by my consecutive wins.

── And it was too late.

I missed my chance to leave, and had to take on the challenge of skilled gamblers one after another.

（Oh no! It will be troublesome if I keep winning! Holly! Pick a good time and let me lose! I already have enough money!）

I signalled to Holly with my eyes.

But Holly kept flipping the dice I rolled to a six.

〈It’s going better than I imagined, how boring.〉

（Hey! I said I’m winning too much! This is definitely too suspicious!）

I couldn’t say it out loud, so I tried to use my facial expression and gestures to convey the danger I was facing, but Holly just flip my opponent’s dice to one.

〈Crow, you won’t ever run out of money, huh.〉

（I’m winning too much! The other party is also cheating, so it’s weird that I’m still winning!）

I was really tense, but Holly ignored me and kept manipulating the dice, and my stack of chips grew to an incredible amount.

The infamous gamblers stared at me as I rolled the dice, trying to discern how I was cheating.

After my opponent rolled his dice, I picked it up──

「… Ughh!」

I couldn’t help groaning.

This parlor prohibit guests from bringing their own dice, and the dice were all prepared by the establishment.

The dice here was prepared by the parlor too.

However, the dice given to me wasn’t normal.

The edge of the dice was obviously rounded.

I knew this was a trick to increase the probability of rolling a certain number.

I wasn’t familiar with cheating, so I couldn’t tell what numbers would come up easily just from touching the dice. But it should show 1 to 3 more often, and harder to roll 4 to 6.

They gave me a loaded dice after I won consecutively.

This meant they gave a loaded dice to my opponent that made it easier to roll a large number.

（It will be bad if I won with this dice! Holly! Don’t just keep flipping sixes because it’s annoying, flip some other numbers too! And it’s about time to let me lose!）

I rolled the dice as I plead, and Holly flipped it to a six.

〈Fufufu, I’m perfect in everything I do.〉

（Uwah! This girl is hopeless! She doesn't even know what is going on!）

And my opponent rolled a one as expected.

At this moment, the atmosphere changed.

They were all clearly showing killing intent towards me.

That was a given, since I obviously cheated, although they didn’t know how.

I kept telling them:

「I should be going now…」

But whenever I got up, the staff would push me back down into my seat, and ask me to continue.

This was bad.

If I keep on winning, then the accumulated sum would be large enough to affect the operation of this gambling parlor.

When that happens, this group might give up on discerning how I cheat, and just kill me on the spot.

Those were the kind of people who make a living through gambling.

（Damn it! I should have discussed this in greater detail with Holly! I want to go home!）

I rolled the dice with tears in my eyes, and achieved overwhelming victory again.

All this while, the other party gave me obviously loaded dices, but with the goddess of victory named Holly manipulating the outcome with her invisible hands, I couldn’t lose.

However, she wasn’t the goddess anymore, but the god of death.

（Uwahh. This side is loaded on one side, so it was unbalanced… Let it roll one, Holly…）

I rolled the new dice with tears in my eyes.

Holly flipped all the results to six so far.

However──

「Ohh!」

I couldn’t help but smile.

The dice that rolled to six immediately tumbled over to show another number.

Because the dice was unstable when six was on top, it would always tumble over to another number.

Great, I could finally lose.

As I was feeling relieved, Holly pressed onto the dice with her finger and forcefully fixed the result at six.

（Phew… That was close. The movement of this dice is strange.）

（Heeeyyyyy! Don’t create a physically impossible phenomenon! What the hell are you doing!?）

As I looked at Holly in despair, she smiled at me gleefully with a thumbs up.

At this moment, a staff member slapped away the dice silently with his hand.

The dice fell onto the ground loudly.

「Hieee!」

I screamed.

The gambling parlor owner finally snapped.

As I was thinking that I was going to be killed────

「Sorry, we can’t have a fair match this way, let’s shift over to the other table.」

A parlor staff said, and I was grabbed from both sides and forcefully brought to another table.

My request to go home had been ignored all this while.

The new match venue had a metal table, and the dice given to me was made of metal too.

（Ahh! T-This…! They are using magnet dice to cheat!）

By using magnetic dice on a metal table, the house could manipulate what numbers come up.

They stopped caring about appearances and wanted to defeat me by any means.

By the way, if I could keep the necessary money, I didn’t mind returning the balance of the money I won.

「To make this a fair match, I will be rolling the dice for both sides. Will that be acceptable?」

The parlor staff said as he glared at me with a scary face.

I wanted to retort 「what’s so fair about that?」, but there was no point in resisting now.

I nodded quietly.

「Alright then, let’s start with the youth’s dice…」

The parlor staff rolled the metal dice.

The dice didn’t roll at all, and landed on a one.

Holly wanted to flip it to a six──

〈……Crow! This dice won’t move!〉

She was grabbing the metal dice with a pained expression.

（Good! They are using strong magnets that Holly couldn’t lift! I can lose now!）

I showed a vexed face, but inside, I made a victory gesture.

「……」

But this was strange.

The wielder of the Holy Sword Excalibur wasn’t close by, so Holly wasn’t at full power, but she should be as strong as an average person.

If they used strong magnets that even Holly couldn’t move, how would they retrieve the dice?

〈Ahh!〉

As I was wondering about that, Holly leaned into the metal table, and shouted:

〈Crow! There’s a guy holding a steel plate hidden under the table!〉

Holly answered my doubts.

They will only stick the magnet there when they roll the dice, and remove the magnet when they retrieve the dice.

〈Ummmu! How despicable of them to cheat like that!〉

Holly was stamping her feet beside me.

I think the way we were cheating was more despicable though.

But with this, our winning streak was over, and the mood would change for the better.

I just need to leave before all my money was gone..

As I watched my opponent rolled his dice in relief──

「Ehh!」

Holly intercepted the metal dice before it touched the table, and forcefully land it on one and pressed it down on the table.

She then pressed it down with a pained expression against the dice flipping over.

Everyone stared at the unbelievable sight of the dice.

（Eeehhhhh!? S-Stop! Don’t work so hard to let me win!）

Holly ignored my feelings.

〈Don’t worry, Crow. Since I saw through their trick, I won’t let you lose!〉

I was grateful that she felt that way, but she was just causing trouble for me.

The gambling parlor was cheating with a metal table and magnetic dice, but since Holly saw through the trick, it became a landslide victory for me.

They didn’t even let me pick up the dice, and lost tons of money as they rolled the dice for themselves.

Crates of gold started stacking up around me, and the pressure on me was so great that I might faint at any moment.

This couldn’t be settled with a 「let’s stop here for today」.

If the parlor operator let me win, they would go bankrupt.

By right, gambling shouldn’t involve anyone aside from the two parties involved.

However, there were fake gamblers mixing in with the patrons to game the system towards the house.

The gamblers who got the dice loaded to their advantage were ringers.

While the parlor took all the money from the loser, and a cut of the profits from the winner.

In gambling, the house always wins.

And a cheater whose tricks weren’t seen through would──

「Dear customer… You seem to be looking down on us…」

Receive punishment in private.

I could only smile awkwardly as scary looking men surrounded me.

After that, my head was covered in a sack, I got tied up, and they brought me somewhere.

Since my head was covered, I didn’t know where I was taken, and as for Holly──

〈Huh? Crow, is this a game? Are we going to another place to gamble on something else?〉

She was taking it so easy.

I couldn’t let them realize Holly’s existence, so I didn’t answer.

With Holly’s current power, she couldn’t knock out the men carrying me and break me out.

The worst that could happen would be getting thrown into the river or buried in the mountains, but I couldn’t muster the strength to resist.

For the useless me, it was impossible for me to contribute to the subjugation of the Demon King just by putting my mind to it.

Having given up on resisting, I was carried away.

After some time, my ropes were cut, and the sack was removed.

I checked around me.

The Holy Sword wrapped in a cloth on my back was taken too.

Fortunately, the man who took the Holy Sword was nearby, so Holly was close to me too.

「……」

I was taken to a dark alley.

The men around me all looked really shady.

A pudgy middle aged man that looked really arrogant stood before me.

「Kid, you made quite a killing in my parlor.」

That gave away the fact that this middle aged man was the boss of this parlor.

「I received a report that some guy was obviously cheating, but they can’t tell how.」

「……」

I listened quietly to him.

If they were planning to kill me, they would have done that already.

Since they were saying that to me, it means they want to make some kind of deal with me.

「Normally, those who dare to cheat in my parlor will go to hell on the very same day. However, things are different if the cheating methods can’t be uncovered. If they aren’t caught, they can’t really be called cheaters.」

「……」

「Kid, if you tell me how you cheated, I will let you walk with the money you won today.」

So that was what he was after.

He seemed to think I was cheating with some incredible technique.

Once he learned how to cheat like that, he could use it in his parlor and manipulate the results as he wished.

However, that was impossible.

I only managed to cheat today because Holly was here.

Holly’s goal was to meet up with the Hero, and had no reason to stay in one place to help anyone cheat.

So I couldn’t teach them how to cheat.

「… I didn’t cheat.」

When I said that, a man grabbed me from behind and put his knife on my neck.

「Don’t talk smack, brat! If you don’t want to die, then spill it out!」

「Well, I guess the goddess of fortune is smiling on me?」

Immediately, I was kicked from behind, and stomped on when I squat down.

I could only curl into a ball as the four or five men kicked me.

I managed to catch a glimpse of Holly looking at me as if I was walking garbage while they were beating me off.

That was to be expected.

The only people this woman had spoken with were geniuses who were born once every couple of centuries.

Someone like me who was in a crisis because of a few grunts was just a bug in her eyes.

After getting kicked around for a while──

「Kid, changed your mind yet?」

After the owner said that, the group around me stopped their violence.

But only for now.

If I still refuse to tell them how I cheated, they would kill me.

「Nothing changed… I just feel troubled by how lucky I am today.」

「What?」

「It looks strange in my eyes too… Be it dice that had the edge rounded, loaded dice, dice with magnets, I won against all that. Towards the end, I didn’t even get to touch the dice. How can I cheat like that? I can only say the goddess of luck is by my side.」

「……」

The group was a little taken aback since their cheating ways had been seen through.

I raised the corners of my lips when I saw this──

「Or are you saying… That I have a ringer? That’s impossible, right?」

I mumbled suggestively.

「Huh? Was it you lot!?」

The boss then glared with suspicious eyes at his underlings who kept losing to me.

And of course, his underlings didn’t do anything and tried to assert their innocence. However, I cut them off.

「Why don’t you send an underling outside of this group to gamble with me?」

「Huh?」

「This way, you can be sure whether you have a ringer helping me win all this while. If not, do you even need the underlings that lose a business ending amount of money with you?」

「That damn brat!」

One of the underlings whose loyalty was being questioned tried to kick me──

「Shut up!」

But the boss’ roar made him stop.

「Hey kid, what are you trying to say?」

「If there is a ringer here who is helping me win, even if you kill me, the same thing will happen again, right? However, if I am just too lucky, then everyone is innocent.」

「So?」

「If you decide on a game you think up on the spot, then there is no way I can prepare for it in advance. So if I win, that means I have been winning because of my luck, not because I cheated.」

「……」

「If I win, then give me 50 gold coins, you can keep the rest of the money.」

Actually, I didn’t need 50 gold coins to buy a slave, but it was suspicious to say I only need one gold coin.

「If I lose, you can do anything you want with me. How about it? You have nothing to lose either way, right?」

That wasn’t true though.

They wouldn’t lose anything if they just kill me right here.

However, the parlor staff would lose the chance to prove their innocence.

If the boss suspect their loyalty and ability in running the parlor, they would lose their job. So they couldn’t kill me.

Also──

「I already concede so much, and you are still chicken? In Labengild, the city of legal gambling?」

「I’m game, let’s do this!」

These gambling addicts could never ignore this taunt.

As per their boss’ wishes, the match was knife throwing.

The lid of a barrel was used as a target board, and the one who threw a knife closer to the bullseye was the winner.

I relaxed after hearing the contents of the match.

As Holly was the one helping, I would have no chance of winning a game that couldn’t make use of an 「invisible hand」.

And if it was throwing knives, in a sense, Holly’s help would be more prominent compared to a game of dice.

She just needs to deflect my opponent’s thrown knife from the target.

It will then be my win.

〈Hey Crow, in this situation, I just need to stop your opponent’s knife from landing on the board, right?〉

I quietly nodded in response to Holly, careful not to let anyone realize it.

〈But I’m surprised at how scummy you are even though you are so weak. You are sowing discord between them with your scheme.〉

「……?」

〈The group that kicked you are terrified, since the suspicion on them will deepen if you lose.〉

「……」

I didn’t care about all that.

「The rules are simple, the knife that lands closest to the bullseye wins. Kid, your opponent is my lieutenant, an expert in throwing knives, and will never betray me. If you want to prove that you didn’t cheat, you will need to defeat him.」

The boss was boasting about how strong my opponent was, but I felt sorry for that guy instead.

After all, his knife would miss the mark because Holly was cheating.

The game started quickly.

My opponent seemed to be an expert knife thrower.

The knife flew straight for the bullseye, as if it was drawn in by it.

And then… it was knocked away by Holly and fell onto the ground.

Everyone’s faces turned blank after seeing that scene.

They all trusted that man’s skill.

The one who threw the knife, the boss and all the underlings stood stiffly there with their jaws slacked.

「Phew……」

It was my turn.

I took the knife given to me, and threw it at the target board.

The knife just need to hit the board, and it will be my win.

With the help of my invisible partner Holly, I won against the knife throwing expert… not.

「Ahh.」

The knife I threw missed the board.

I didn’t need to hit the bullseye.

Since my opponent missed the board, I just need to hit anywhere on the board to win.

But I missed.

「!」

I grabbed my head in despair.

I had not forgotten that I was bad at everything.

I was only proficient at horse riding. As for the training in the Military Academy, I was terrible with the sword, spear, bow and all weapons.

There was no way I could hit the target board so far away.

〈…Crow … You really can’t do anything right… What’s wrong with you?〉

I was stupefied myself.

To fail so horribly during a crucial moment like this.

「… I didn’t think about what to do if both players miss the board. I guess we will go another round.」

When the boss overseeing the game said that, I sighed as I imagined how ugly the match would be.

It was an awful match.

Because of Holly’s interference, my opponent couldn’t hit the board, while I keep missing because of my terrible skill. We couldn’t end the match after countless rounds.

The group around us started yelling at my opponent.

That was only natural.

He was skilled enough to be chosen for this match, but he couldn’t even hit the board after numerous tries.

They thought he was playing around.

I was grimacing since all the knives I threw missed the board, so they didn’t think we were colluding.

（Ahhhh! Enough! Let me do it! I should have done this from the start!）

The annoyed Holly took the knife from my hand, ran up to the board and stabbed it. That was how I won the game.

「……」

〈……〉

The parlor staff released me, and returned the Holy Sword to me. Holly and I walked silently in the city with the 50 gold coins that we received.

I was exhausted.

My last throw── was Holly taking the knife and stabbing it into the target board, which looked very unnatural to bystanders.

To people who couldn’t see Holly, the knife left my hand, floated in the air, and flew over to the board.

And that was what convinced them that I won at the gambling table because I was lucky.

「Anyway, we got the money, so we just need to buy the girl?」

〈Yes.〉

「You can finally go to the Hero’s side, that’s great. You can defeat the Demon King now.」

〈That’s right.〉

However, Holly was listless in her reply.

How strange.

It was true that my behaviour was scummy, but she seemed unhappy even though we almost accomplished out goal.

Before and after we arrive at this city, Holly was always chatting with me happily.

And then… when we reached the house where the Hero girl was in.

Something unexpected happened.

In a sense, this was more surprising than realizing that the Hero was a ten years old girl.

The slave girl we were planning to buy…

When the Demon King revives five years later, the Hero who would defeat him──

Was bought by someone else.

Chapter 5: Abductor

After returning to the inn, I discussed a back up plan with Holly.

We never imagined that someone would buy that girl ahead of us.

〈Crow, what’s going on? Did someone else realize that girl is the Hero?〉

「That’s impossible. You are the only one who knows who is the Hero, right?」

〈I think so…〉

「It’s the same for the other Saintly Sword wielders, they are just normal people before they touch the sword. You and me should be the only ones who know that girl is the Hero.」

〈Why did the other party buy that girl then? If they wanted a labourer, a malnourished ten years old child is useless.〉

「……」

Actually, she had immeasurable potential.

After all, she was a unique existence that had the power to kill the Demon King, which threatens the extinction of mankind.

However, we were the only ones who knew about her value.

So I get what Holly was saying.

In that case, there was only one reason someone bought that girl.

「A lolicon.」

〈What?〉

「A lolicon. A damn pervert with a fetish for young girls bought her.」

〈Huh!〉

「I can’t think of any reason for buying a weak girl with a negligible labor power.」

〈Are such perverted actions rampant in this world?〉

「I guess. There are a lot of perverts spending money to buy young girls.」

〈… Objectively speaking, you are planning to buy that girl too.〉

「My goal is completely different! I’m doing this to fight against the danger threatening humanity!」

〈But you are doing the same thing… This is unexpected. I’m starting to feel that saving the world is meaningless.〉

「Now isn’t the time to say that, Holly, we have to quickly think of a way to save that child.」

〈Save her? We just need to buy her, 50 gold coins will be enough, correct?〉

「Money isn’t the problem, and a slave cost less than 1 gold coin…」

〈Huh? Then why did you ask for 50 gold coins?〉

「Because asking for just 1 gold coin will sound suspicious. We also need the funds to travel back.」

〈If a slave cost less than 1 gold coin, then 50 gold coins will more than satisfy the other party, right? I can find out where she is right away. The Hero’s presence is nearby, she should still be inside this city.〉

We avoided a situation where she got moved to another city.

In other words, someone in this city bought that Hero girl?

「Then find her right now. And I also need you to check the layout of the building where that girl is.」

〈Huh? Why do I have to do that?〉

「It will be great if they are willing to sell. But depending on the situation, things might not go so smoothly.」

〈But why?〉

「That damn lolicon might really like that girl.」

〈Uwah…〉

「According to the old man who hit that girl, he sold the girl today. Which means, she was bought when we were gambling, so they probably haven’t laid their hands on her yet. If possible, I want to rescue her by today.」

〈Oh? You are saying that you want to abduct her?〉

「Depends on the circumstances.」

〈You were against it when I suggest we abduct her.〉

「Well… If possible, I don’t want to abduct anyone, but we don’t have a choice here. I need to prepare a lot of things, so you go find that girl.」

〈Oh… Fine, whatever.〉

After splitting up with Holly, I left the inn alone, and just to be safe, I bought everything I could think of that would be useful to abduct someone.

In any case, things had taken a strange turn.

The Demon King had appeared several times now, and the Hero would always show up to subjugate him.

Objectively speaking, this was a cliche.

The same story was repeating itself constantly.

So why was the meeting between the Hero and the Holy Sword going so badly?

And now, the Holy Sword was so close to the Hero now.

After this, the Hero just needed to touch the Holy Sword, make it shine, get the acknowledgement of the people nearby that the Hero was found, and the journey would end.

With the revival of the Demon King imminent, it wasn’t clear if the Hero would ever obtain the Holy Sword.

「……」

Did I do something unnecessary?

For me, stealing the Holy Sword managed by the royal family, and setting off on a journey to give it to the Hero was very risky.

And I put in a lot of effort after resolving myself.

However, maybe the Hero would somehow meet up with the Holy Sword even if I didn’t do anything, and the Demon King would get subjugated.

History had proven that.

I wanted to do something to guard against the Demon King’s revival in five years, but messed things up instead── could that be so?

The survival of humanity depends on the battle between the Hero and the Demon King.

I wasn’t capable enough to have anything to do with that battle in the first place.

In a story, I would just be villager A. It was clear what would happen if a mob character got involved with the main cast of the story.

At best, I would be given the trivial role of showing them directions.

Did I meddle too much, and delayed the meeting between the Hero and the Holy Sword instead?

「… Sigh.」

After handing the Holy Sword to the Hero, I should stay away from Holly.

I bought the goods, I returned to the inn to meet up with Holly.

She seemed to have located the Hero.

But when I heard the location, my mind turned blank.

「… She is in the largest manor in this city…?」

〈Yes, and security is very tight…〉

「So it’s the Goyatantel manor…」

Goyatantel.

The landlord that ruled over Labengild.

The one with the highest authority in this region.

「Huh… Wait, so Goyatantel is a damn lolicon?」

〈Who knows. I saw the Hero, but nothing happened to her.〉

「… Was she sent to take a bath?」

〈Huh? How did you know? A few maids brought that girl to the bath and cleaned her body.〉

「Are you serious…?」

I held my hand in exasperation.

I only heard the rumors, but when a noble gets a new mistress, he would send them to take a bath first to clean up.

Only a small number of aristocrats bathe every day, most people just take showers.

So when the nobles get a new mistress, they would wash their bodies thoroughly.

In other words, the Hero girl was probably going to be assaulted by a lolicon.

「……」

This sort of thing happens often in this world, and wasn’t something a normal person like me could interfere with.

I had no reason to play the part of a hero of justice and save the girl.

However, the situation was getting dangerous.

That girl was the Hero, the one who would subjugate the Demon King in the future.

What would happen if a lolicon in a position of power was to use her to vent his sexual urges?

Would she be eager to deal with the crisis of humanity’s extinction?

I don’t think she would.

When a human directly witness the darkness of society and the twistedness of the class base establishment, there was no way they would risk their lives to fight for the survival of humanity.

A Hero must be able to ignore the ugliness of human nature.

I wasn’t very sure since I had never met any Heroes before, but that should be true.

「… Holly, have you investigated the layout of that manor?」

〈Just the gist.〉

「Can you draw the layout for me?」

〈Huh?〉

「I will take that child away from the manor today.」

That night, Holly and I sneaked out of the inn, and headed for Goyatantel’s manor.

To be honest, it was impossible for us to infiltrate the landlord’s manor and abduct the girl.

Or rather, I didn’t think I could pull it off.

However, if things got out of hand, I could just hand the Holy Sword on my back to the girl, and that would turn things around.

When the Hero touches the Holy Sword, it would shine with a blinding light.

Everyone in this world knew this legend.

In other words, I could prove the legitimacy of my actions by letting that girl hold the Holy Sword.

「……」

On the other hand, if the Holy Sword didn’t glow, it would be all over.

For me, I could brush it all off as 「Holly’s misunderstanding」. But for others who couldn’t see Holly, I was just a crazy man who was hearing things, stole the Holy Sword and got arrested after trespassing the manor of a landlord.

I was almost trembling when I thought about it calmly.

After I met Holly, I had been forced to take a lot of risks.

However, failure was not an option.

It didn’t matter how, but the Hero had to get the Holy Sword, or humanity wouldn’t have a future.

Everyone including me would get killed by the Demon King.

In that case, since I knew what was happening, I had to act.

I walked on the streets with fear in my heart.

My night vision wasn’t bad.

I felt more comfortable moving at night.

Maybe my eyes were the reason why I could see Holly, who could only be perceived by the Hero.

〈Crow, it’s over there.〉

Holly made me look at the manor before me.

It couldn’t compare to the royal castle near the Royal Military Academy, but it was still a fortress in its own right.

The city was already surrounded by tall walls, but this manor was also encircled by high walls too. It probably served as a secondary line of defence during times of war.

There was only one entrance leading into the manor, which was obviously guarded.

With that in mind, I tried to infiltrate from the wall that was on the opposite end of the entrance.

「Holly.」

I handed the rope ladder to Holly beside me.

It was something I bought ahead of time.

Holly floated into the air with the rope ladder in hand, and hung it at the top of the wall.

It was long enough.

I climbed up the wall with the rope ladder.

It was late at night, so no one noticed even though I was scaling the wall with ropes.

「……」

〈Crow, what’s wrong?〉

I stopped halfway up, and Holly who was floating said from behind me.

〈Crow?〉

「I’m getting scared…」

〈Huh?〉

「It’s high and dark, so scary…」

〈What! What are you saying at a time like this?〉

「N-Nothing… The wall is taller than I imagined, so I’m tired from climbing up. Can I go down first?」

〈You wish, imbecile! Hurry on up!〉

「N-No, I’m really scared…」

It was shameful, but very frightening too.

As I scaled higher up the wall, I used unnecessary strength because I was afraid of falling down.

My body was spasming a little from the fatigue.

〈Why are you trembling! Hurry up and climb, you bum!〉

「Wait…」

〈If it was the Hero, he would have cleared the wall with just a leap!〉

「I-I’m not a Hero……」

〈I know! You worthless idiot! You worked me so hard, so don’t think you can just run off with your tails between your legs!〉

To be frank, I was the one helping this woman.

Aside from me, no one could hear her speaking in the middle of the night.

However──

〈Come on, Crow, just a little more.〉

She wasn’t saying something that gentle──

〈Moron, hurry up and climb! I will kill you!〉

She was admonishing me like so.

I somehow managed to climb the walls with tears in my eyes.

「Huff… Huff… Huff… Huh?」

I realized something.

Since I climbed up the wall, I had to get down from the other side.

However, there wasn’t any rope ladders on the other side.

「Huh? Oh no! I forgot about getting down!」

〈Can’t you just jump?〉

「No way!」

The wall was over 10 metres tall.

Jumping from this height would either break my legs or kill me.

〈Jump!〉

「I can’t!」

〈Quickly! The Hero is waiting for you!〉

「I said I can’t! This isn’t a matter of will power, my body can’t physically take it! I can’t save the Hero if my legs are broken.」

〈Tch! What a useless man…〉

Holly cursed as she rolled up and retrieved the rope ladder I used to climb up, then hung it on the other side.

〈Okay, climb down with this.〉

「Ugghh…」

I climbed down with tears in my eyes, just like how I was when I climbed up.

By the way, during this time──

〈What a dim witted fellow! Hurry up and go down!〉

I was encouraged by Holly all the way.

I should cut off ties with this woman after handing the Holy Sword to the Hero.

「Do you know where that girl is?」

〈Yes, I already checked during the day.〉

「Then go over first.」

〈Huh? It will be troubling for me if you don’t come with me. It’s impossible for the current me to carry a girl with me.〉

「Then you have to open the locked windows and doors from the inside. You can do that easily since you can pass through walls, right? Also check for any guards inside the manor.」

〈… You really like ordering people around…〉

Holly grumbled as she went inside the manor alone.

In the meantime, I hid in the shadows between the manor and the wall, waiting for her to come back.

Holly would deal with the problems preventing my infiltration, and check how tight the security inside was.

She had to do all that, or I wouldn’t be able to infiltrate this aristocrat’s manor, since I couldn’t even win a fight against an average civilian.

「……」

My legs were shaking from fear as I waited for Holly to come back.

I realized at this moment that I was just your average human being.

As Holly said, the Hero and others with special abilities could handle this situation easily.

They would charge in from the front, defeat the guards, and abduct the girl splendidly.

While I was thinking all that, Holly came back.

〈… I secured your infiltration route… but there is a problem.〉

「Huh?」

〈The Hero is moving in the manor right now, probably heading for the landlord’s chambers.〉

「What!」

Was I too late, or right on time?

「Is that landlord’s chambers heavily guarded?」

〈I can bring you down a route that avoids the guards’ detection, but there are two sentries in front of his chambers.〉

「Two of them… Aside from those sentries, you can bring me there without getting detected?」

〈Yes, probably.〉

「Then let’s find a way to deal with those two, lead the way.」

〈Okay…〉

Holly seemed impressed for some reason.

I infiltrated the manor in the dark successfully.

After entering from the window that Holly opened, I walked carefully to keep as quiet as I could.

Since these were peaceful times, the security of the landlord’s manor was relatively relaxed.

After all, there weren’t many people who could scale the walls and open the locks from inside, so it was fine for the security inside the manor to be less uptight.

〈Crow… The landlord’s chambers is right around the corner ahead. The two sentries are there too.〉

If we continued on, the invisible Holly would be fine, but a normal human like me would get spotted.

Next would be the crucial part.

I searched the backpack I removed from my shoulders to look for the item I bought in town.

And took out a normal pair of leather shoes.

〈Crow? What are you doing?〉

I said quietly:

「Holly, wear this and run down the other side of the corridor.」

〈Huh?〉

「Like I said, don’t float in the air, walk on the ground to make the sound of footsteps to draw the guards away. If they heard footsteps, they would think there is an intruder and give chase, right?」

〈Whaaaaatt!? You want me to be the bait?〉

Holly yelled loudly, but fortunately, no one but me could hear her voice.

I ignored Holly and put the shoes onto her feet.

Other people would only see the spooky scene of shoes moving by themselves, but in the darkness, they might think someone infiltrated the manor.

「Alright, hurry up and lure those soldiers somewhere else. I will use the chance to enter the chambers.」

〈… You scum…〉

「You just need to throw away the shoes after some time, then return to me.」

〈You don’t have to tell me, of course I will come back! I can’t move too far away from the Holy Sword on your back!〉

Holly walked angrily around the corner after putting on the shoes.

A while later──

「Hmm? Is that footsteps?」

「Is someone there!?」

I heard them yell.

The two sentries pursued Holly who was making loud footsteps, just as planned.

The coast was now clear.

「……」

I just need to enter the chambers, and take the girl inside with me.

The problem was the landlord── Goyatantel was also inside.

I was already here, so I had to deal with it on my own.

After steeling myself, I opened the door to the chambers.

The room was illuminated by lamps and was bright.

There was a pudgy middle-aged man inside, who was about to strip the clothes of a girl standing beside the bed.

「Who are you!」

A pudgy middle-aged man said in a deep voice.

I see, so this was the landlord Goyatantel.

Normally, I should knock out this man, but unfortunately, I lacked the skills to do so.

I could only cheat and bullshit my way through this, just like that time I did with gambling.

「Please be quiet, Lord Goyatantel.」

I heart was pounding wildly, and I might vomit at any moment. But I hid that side of me and tried to act as casual as I could.

「Who are you!? Where are the sentries!」

「I already dealt with all your minions.」

「What?」

Goyatantel was very shaken by my lie.

I dealt with all the guards in the manor── this lie that could be exposed in one instant was convincing enough to fool him.

The security wasn’t tight, but to others, someone who could infiltrate the manor of the local landlord all the way here was a terrifying existence.

Even though the owner of the manor was shouting, none of the guards came to him.

I only gave Goyatantel the impression that I made it all the way here, and he believed my lie.

If he continued to make a scene, the other guards in the manor might notice, or the two sentries lured away by Holly might come back.

Anyway, I had to act like I was calm and composed.

「Please calm down, I have no intention of harming you.」

「W-What is your goal? Money?」

Believing the lie that I took out all the guards in the manor by myself, Goyatantel was very guarded.

「I’m just here to pick up that girl.」

「What did you say?」

「If you shut up and give me that girl, I will promise that you won’t get hurt.」

I extended my hand towards Goyatantel with a smile.

「B-But why? A slave girl like her you can find anywhere…」

「You don’t need to know…」

I narrowed my eyes with a smile, and glared at Goyatantel.

「There are many things in this world you are better off not knowing. If you ask unnecessary questions, disaster will fall on you and your clan.」

Goyatantel turned as white as a sheet.

「Alright then, will you quietly hand over the slave girl you can find anywhere, or learn the truth by losing everything you have? Choose.」

I reach my hand out with a smile again.

「… I-I understand. Take her…」

Goyatantel gave up the girl easily.

（I’m saved, yeeessshhh!）

I struck a victory pose in my mind, and walked to the girl.

I grabbed the girl’s shoulders, look her in the eyes and said quietly:

「I will explain later, trust me for now and come with me.」

「……」

The girl’s expression was still blank, and she didn’t react at all.

Since she didn’t seem against it, I took her hand and led her out of the bedroom.

It was just a matter of time before Goyatantel found out I was lying.

After all, all the guards in the manor were fine.

I took the girl’s hand and jog along the corridor.

And then──

〈Oh, looks like things are fine on your end, Crow.〉

Holly passed through the walls and came to us.

The sudden appearance of Holly made the girl’s shoulders jerked in surprise.

So she could see and hear Holly too.

Then she must be the real Hero.

「We just need to leave the manor. But it would be difficult for this child to climb the rope ladder, right?」

〈You are the one who don’t want to climb. That girl can jump over the wall easily if she holds the Holy Sword.〉

「Then I will be left behind.」

〈I’m fine with that though…〉

She was serious.

Since she had met the Hero, I was unnecessary to Holly.

She might hand the Holy Sword to the girl nonchalantly, and leave without me.

〈… Never mind, it will be dangerous for her to use the Holy Sword right away, so I will accompany you a while more. How are you going to get out of here?〉

「… Use this.」

I was relieved that Holly was willing to help me, and took out a bottle from my backpack.

〈What’s this?〉

「It’s oil. You can set it alight with fire from a lamp somewhere.」

〈Huh?〉

「If the manor is on fire, the guards at the entrance would rush over to check, correct? We can then escape from the front entrance.」

〈What? You want to commit arson!〉

「No matter how many people escape from the scene, no one will suspect anything.」

〈No no no! That’s not the problem!〉

「Don’t worry, this manor is built with stone, so it will be a small fire. We will hide near the entrance, while Holly set a room on fire. You can decide where you want to set the fire. We will meet up at the inn.」

I said as I handed the bottle of oil to Holly.

And Holly took the bottle──

〈You are really…〉

She stared at me dumbfoundedly.

「Then I will hide with this child. We need to escape from the front door, so make a bigger scene if possible.」

〈……〉

Holly shifted her gaze from me to the girl.

It was only natural that she would mind.

I was holding the hand of the current Hero right now.

Like the Heroes of the past, she was Holly’s new partner, and shouldered the fate of subjugating the Demon King who would soon be revived.

〈……〉

But for some reason, Holly wasn’t looking at the girl with kindness at all, or felt happy to meet her.

She seemed somewhat unhappy.

「Holly? What’s wrong?」

〈Nothing…〉

After saying that, Holly left with the bottle of oil.

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