CH 153
Although I was prepared to be ostentatious, the proof of my abilities to His Excellency Brown ended easily and without any problems.
Well, yes. That was only natural. No matter how many guards they gathered or how tightly they locked the thick metal door, once I used the [Mirage Shift] all I had to do was walk up to it, so there was no way I could fail. There were some magic barriers, but they were not even a thin layer of resistance in the face of the Demon King’s power of banishment skills.
Once I reached his Excellency, it would be easy to convey the information. After getting the agreed-upon wording from His Excellency Brown, who was rather seriously surprised by my sudden appearance behind him in the underground secret room with only one front entrance, After hearing the agreed-upon phrase from him, I wrote it down on a piece of paper and pretended to put it in my waist bag.. but I actually put it in the [Stranger Box].
Then all that was left was to wait. Once every five minutes, Tia, who was examining the contents in the [Single Bank] took out the piece of paper when she noticed its existence and read its contents, which were then transmitted to Argo-shi, who was outside via Amelia.
When Argo-shi appeared in the basement, his surprise reached its peak. Even after the intrusion was allowed, He must have installed a variety of sabotage measures to prevent me from communicating the information, but all of them failed …., and He learned that the information was transmitted to him as it was without even a trace of any sabotage ….
――”I see, I understand that you are excellent. However, I have no understanding of how excellent you are. At the very least, I am grateful that you are not a spy from another country.”
Such a compliment?I will never forget the stiff smile on the face of His Excellency Brown. I think I have shown a little too much competence, which may lead to restrictions or surveillance of my future activities. …. I’ll just accept that as a necessary expense. If we don’t get through this, there will be no “future” at all.
So, after completing the necessary procedures, the last thing I had to do. That was, of course, to persuade …..Tia.
“Hey, are you sure you want to go alone?”
“Yes.”
It was the night before my departure to the “Black Forest ” the next day. For some reason, Tia was relaxing in my room, and when she asked me why, I replied with a wry smile for the nth time.
“I mean, I’ve explained it to you a million times, right? I can handle it if I’m alone, but I can’t handle it if I’m not alone.”
“I know! I know, but…but it doesn’t mean that Ed will be absolutely okay, right?”
“I can’t say for sure, but even …. Tia knows about my banishing skills, don’t you? A demonic beast is no match for me, even if I am alone.”
I told Tia, who stared straight at me with her jade eyes wide open, with a wry smile.
In fact, it really doesn’t matter if it’s only demonic beasts. It was virtually impossible to defeat them all, but if I use [Invincible], no matter how many hordes attack me, I won’t even get a scratch, and I can easily escape by running through them with [Hermes Dash]. And if the worst comes to the worst, I can disappear completely with [Mirage Shift] so I don’t think there’s any better way to ensure my safety.
“But you can’t use your banishment skill unless you’re awake. What if you don’t get to the Demon King in a day?”
“Well…For that. Alright then, I’ll find a good spot to sneakily take a nap or something. I’m not a newbie either, I know a thing or two about camping.”
“If so, …. what if the Demon King catches you by surprise? If the he touches you, you won’t be able to use your banishment skill, right?”
“……….”
I was at a loss for words, having been hit on a sore point. Yes, that was the biggest concern in this forced investigation.
No one, including myself, knows the details of what the Demon King of this world look like or what kind of powers they possess. If the [Akashic Compass] shows only a black haze, all I know is that he has the power to replicate or revive demonic beasts, and everything else is unknown.
Therefore, at the very least, I could not let the Demon King attack me. In order to do so, however, I must discover the unidentified Demon King first, investigate him without being noticed if possible, and escape back.
“I’ll ….. handle that part well.”
“Alone?”
“……, yeah, alone.”
If there are two of us, we can cover for each other in case of failure. But with one person, it’s over. I understand what Tia was trying to say, and I can understand her feelings. If the situation were reversed, I wouldn’t be able to easily agree to send Tia off to her death alone either.
“If that’s the case, then tell me just one thing. Is the reason why Ed is going to investigate the Demon King alone because it has the highest success rate? Or is it… for my sake?”
“………. because it has the highest success rate.”
“You’re not lying, are you?”
“I’m not lying.”
I answered Tia’s question like a parrot. Yes, even thinking about it with a cool head, this would have the highest success rate. I mean, if Tia and I had a way to break through the hordes of demonic beasts, we would have done so from the beginning to defeat the Demon King in the first place.
So, this is correct. It should be… correct. Just because something is correct doesn’t mean it’s the right answer, but unfortunately, the future that foresaw this didn’t exist in the first round.
“……………………”
“……………………”
We stared at each other in silence. If you don’t know the right answer, it’s whose will was stronger. I too looked straight into her eyes, and the seriousness of my own face reflected in her eyes reaffirmed my own feelings,…., and the first to move was Tia.
“I understand. Then Okay!”
“Hmm? What’s that?”
“A promise! Here, Ed, why don’t you take out your pinky and twirl it around my finger?”
“? Like this?”
I was puzzled when Tia suddenly held out her right hand with only her pinky finger raised, and I placed my own pinky on top of hers. Then, Tia’s pinky folded, and they were joined together more tightly than I had expected.
“Promise! Ed must come back to me in one piece! You too, Ed!”
“Y-yeah.., I’ll come back to you, Tia. I promise.”
At Tia’s prompting, the moment I said that, I felt a snap and a jolt on my pinky finger. I was so surprised that I involuntarily let go of her finger and noticed that there was a translucent red thread connecting my pinky finger and Tia’s pinky finger.
“Oi Tia, what’s this!?”
“Fufufun! This is an ability called [Promise Link] that allows me to see the promises I’ve made to the other person. If you break it….”
“W-What’s going to happen?”
I gulped and asked, and Tia smiled happily at me.
“Fufu, a secret! But don’t break your promise because you’re going to get hurt very badly, okay?”
“Huh? Well, I don’t really have any intention of breaking it so it’s fine… but it’s still bothering me…”
“Oh, just so you know, it’s absolutely not okay to break it just because you want to know what will happen! If you do something like that, I’ll never forgive you for the rest of your life, okay?!”
“O-Okay, I’ll be careful.”
Apparently, it’s no good to try something out of curiosity. Well, I don’t intend to break the promise I made earlier, because it would effectively mean that I would be dead.
“Well, I’d better get back to my room. Good night, Ed.”
“Yeah, good night, Tia.”
Tia left the room with a refreshed look on her face as if she had done what she had to do. Holding my right hand above, I could see the thread slowly moving….Did it vanish? No, Did it come out?
“… Can you consciously make it appear and disappear?”
It seems that it is not a physically tangible existence, and probably only visible to me and Tia, but… yeah, it’s probably better to keep it invisible by default. If it’s visible, I might inadvertently try to be sneaky and get caught.
“…Let’s sleep”
It’s as if… or rather, it feels like I have a string attached to me, but strangely, I don’t feel any negativity about it. I flexed and stretched my pinky a couple of times, then closed my eyes tightly and drifted off to sleep, trying to get my strength up for tomorrow.
9/10
(T/N: Apparently My college starts tomorrow, expect similar delays as before)
Well, yes. That was only natural. No matter how many guards they gathered or how tightly they locked the thick metal door, once I used the [Mirage Shift] all I had to do was walk up to it, so there was no way I could fail. There were some magic barriers, but they were not even a thin layer of resistance in the face of the Demon King’s power of banishment skills.
Once I reached his Excellency, it would be easy to convey the information. After getting the agreed-upon wording from His Excellency Brown, who was rather seriously surprised by my sudden appearance behind him in the underground secret room with only one front entrance, After hearing the agreed-upon phrase from him, I wrote it down on a piece of paper and pretended to put it in my waist bag.. but I actually put it in the [Stranger Box].
Then all that was left was to wait. Once every five minutes, Tia, who was examining the contents in the [Single Bank] took out the piece of paper when she noticed its existence and read its contents, which were then transmitted to Argo-shi, who was outside via Amelia.
When Argo-shi appeared in the basement, his surprise reached its peak. Even after the intrusion was allowed, He must have installed a variety of sabotage measures to prevent me from communicating the information, but all of them failed …., and He learned that the information was transmitted to him as it was without even a trace of any sabotage ….
――”I see, I understand that you are excellent. However, I have no understanding of how excellent you are. At the very least, I am grateful that you are not a spy from another country.”
Such a compliment?I will never forget the stiff smile on the face of His Excellency Brown. I think I have shown a little too much competence, which may lead to restrictions or surveillance of my future activities. …. I’ll just accept that as a necessary expense. If we don’t get through this, there will be no “future” at all.
So, after completing the necessary procedures, the last thing I had to do. That was, of course, to persuade …..Tia.
“Hey, are you sure you want to go alone?”
“Yes.”
It was the night before my departure to the “Black Forest ” the next day. For some reason, Tia was relaxing in my room, and when she asked me why, I replied with a wry smile for the nth time.
“I mean, I’ve explained it to you a million times, right? I can handle it if I’m alone, but I can’t handle it if I’m not alone.”
“I know! I know, but…but it doesn’t mean that Ed will be absolutely okay, right?”
“I can’t say for sure, but even …. Tia knows about my banishing skills, don’t you? A demonic beast is no match for me, even if I am alone.”
I told Tia, who stared straight at me with her jade eyes wide open, with a wry smile.
In fact, it really doesn’t matter if it’s only demonic beasts. It was virtually impossible to defeat them all, but if I use [Invincible], no matter how many hordes attack me, I won’t even get a scratch, and I can easily escape by running through them with [Hermes Dash]. And if the worst comes to the worst, I can disappear completely with [Mirage Shift] so I don’t think there’s any better way to ensure my safety.
“But you can’t use your banishment skill unless you’re awake. What if you don’t get to the Demon King in a day?”
“Well…For that. Alright then, I’ll find a good spot to sneakily take a nap or something. I’m not a newbie either, I know a thing or two about camping.”
“If so, …. what if the Demon King catches you by surprise? If the he touches you, you won’t be able to use your banishment skill, right?”
“……….”
I was at a loss for words, having been hit on a sore point. Yes, that was the biggest concern in this forced investigation.
No one, including myself, knows the details of what the Demon King of this world look like or what kind of powers they possess. If the [Akashic Compass] shows only a black haze, all I know is that he has the power to replicate or revive demonic beasts, and everything else is unknown.
Therefore, at the very least, I could not let the Demon King attack me. In order to do so, however, I must discover the unidentified Demon King first, investigate him without being noticed if possible, and escape back.
“I’ll ….. handle that part well.”
“Alone?”
“……, yeah, alone.”
If there are two of us, we can cover for each other in case of failure. But with one person, it’s over. I understand what Tia was trying to say, and I can understand her feelings. If the situation were reversed, I wouldn’t be able to easily agree to send Tia off to her death alone either.
“If that’s the case, then tell me just one thing. Is the reason why Ed is going to investigate the Demon King alone because it has the highest success rate? Or is it… for my sake?”
“………. because it has the highest success rate.”
“You’re not lying, are you?”
“I’m not lying.”
I answered Tia’s question like a parrot. Yes, even thinking about it with a cool head, this would have the highest success rate. I mean, if Tia and I had a way to break through the hordes of demonic beasts, we would have done so from the beginning to defeat the Demon King in the first place.
So, this is correct. It should be… correct. Just because something is correct doesn’t mean it’s the right answer, but unfortunately, the future that foresaw this didn’t exist in the first round.
“……………………”
“……………………”
We stared at each other in silence. If you don’t know the right answer, it’s whose will was stronger. I too looked straight into her eyes, and the seriousness of my own face reflected in her eyes reaffirmed my own feelings,…., and the first to move was Tia.
“I understand. Then Okay!”
“Hmm? What’s that?”
“A promise! Here, Ed, why don’t you take out your pinky and twirl it around my finger?”
“? Like this?”
I was puzzled when Tia suddenly held out her right hand with only her pinky finger raised, and I placed my own pinky on top of hers. Then, Tia’s pinky folded, and they were joined together more tightly than I had expected.
“Promise! Ed must come back to me in one piece! You too, Ed!”
“Y-yeah.., I’ll come back to you, Tia. I promise.”
At Tia’s prompting, the moment I said that, I felt a snap and a jolt on my pinky finger. I was so surprised that I involuntarily let go of her finger and noticed that there was a translucent red thread connecting my pinky finger and Tia’s pinky finger.
“Oi Tia, what’s this!?”
“Fufufun! This is an ability called [Promise Link] that allows me to see the promises I’ve made to the other person. If you break it….”
“W-What’s going to happen?”
I gulped and asked, and Tia smiled happily at me.
“Fufu, a secret! But don’t break your promise because you’re going to get hurt very badly, okay?”
“Huh? Well, I don’t really have any intention of breaking it so it’s fine… but it’s still bothering me…”
“Oh, just so you know, it’s absolutely not okay to break it just because you want to know what will happen! If you do something like that, I’ll never forgive you for the rest of your life, okay?!”
“O-Okay, I’ll be careful.”
Apparently, it’s no good to try something out of curiosity. Well, I don’t intend to break the promise I made earlier, because it would effectively mean that I would be dead.
“Well, I’d better get back to my room. Good night, Ed.”
“Yeah, good night, Tia.”
Tia left the room with a refreshed look on her face as if she had done what she had to do. Holding my right hand above, I could see the thread slowly moving….Did it vanish? No, Did it come out?
“… Can you consciously make it appear and disappear?”
It seems that it is not a physically tangible existence, and probably only visible to me and Tia, but… yeah, it’s probably better to keep it invisible by default. If it’s visible, I might inadvertently try to be sneaky and get caught.
“…Let’s sleep”
It’s as if… or rather, it feels like I have a string attached to me, but strangely, I don’t feel any negativity about it. I flexed and stretched my pinky a couple of times, then closed my eyes tightly and drifted off to sleep, trying to get my strength up for tomorrow.
9/10
(T/N: Apparently My college starts tomorrow, expect similar delays as before)
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