Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 14: Fame (2).

“It’s all ruined because of you! Take responsibility!”

I looked at the woman shouting with disbelief. I mean, how was I supposed to know if it was an investigation or an actual kidnapping in that alley?

“Uh, I’m sorry?”

“Is ‘sorry’ all you have to say?! Is it?! Then why do we have security and laws?!”

“No, I’ll find a way to fix it somehow.”

“Fix it? Fix it?! Do you know how many days I struggled to get kidnapped by these guys? But if you smash them like this, how do you think they’ll react?!”

After venting for a while, she finally caught her breath, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“…Well, yeah. What fault could you have? You were just trying to help me, right?”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.”

“I’m sorry. We’ve been chasing these guys for months, and I thought we finally caught them after staying up all night for days… But losing them right in front of me ended up like this.”

“No, I understand.”

She pulled out a rope from her bosom and tied up all the criminals who had collapsed, then tapped the shining stone.

“Ah, this is Crow, Crow. Requesting response from headquarters.”

[All clear.]

“B-2 situation. Requesting support troops at current location.”

[Confirmed.]

Watching her shove the stone back into her pocket, I looked at her with sparkling eyes.

“That…”

“Huh? Ah, is it your first time seeing something like this?”

“A walkie-talkie, right?”

“Walkie-talkie? What’s that? This is called a communication mana stone.”

“Crazy…”

I knew this was a world with magic. But a walkie-talkie in a world without guns or cannons?

‘Is this world more advanced than I thought?’

If you had a walkie-talkie, clearing dungeons would become ridiculously easy. You could leave support troops in the rear and call them from inside the dungeon.

Moreover, mapping could be done by drawing outside as dictated from within.

Even if the advance team wouldn’t return, the following team could support them incredibly quickly.

“Hey, where can you buy that?”

“You can’t. It’s a national strategic material. If you’re caught stealing it, your entire family will be wiped out.”

“Oh… that’s unfortunate. I was going to use it in the dungeon.”

“In the dungeon? Impossible. Such tools can’t penetrate the dungeon’s magical power.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. If that were possible, the country would have sent the army, occupied the dungeon, and monopolized the mana stones or used them as strategic resources…”

“Captain Arhas!”

Just then, the guards she had requested appeared. She made a remark as she watched the guards who had hurriedly arrived.

“You’re late, you bastards.”

“We apologize. Are these the ones?”

“Yes. Take them away. It would be nice to get some information out of them.”

The guards escorted the criminals I had subdued, and she lit a cigarette with an annoyed expression.

“You can leave now. If something like this happens again, I recommend you get involved. Honestly, cases like mine are rare, and usually, it’s a real crime scene…”

“Wait a minute.”

I didn’t want to lose my connection with her. She was a local, and locals usually knew a lot of information we didn’t.

So far, I had ignored and been ignored by them because there was no way to get close to those closed-off people. But if such an opportunity had arisen, it was a different story.

“What now? Are you trying to ask for a reward?”

“Not really… Are these guys famous?”

“Famous, indeed. They’re a part of the criminal organization Blackjack. You have no idea how hard it is to catch these bastards…”

“So, they’re famous, right?”

I pictured a man likely lounging in bed—a famous man, someone with an information cheat who could uncover anything as long as he knew the name…

“You’re going to find them? You might be good with a sword, but this isn’t something that can be solved just by swinging a blade…”

I took her with me to the lodging. I found Deokgu, who was lounging in his room, and brought her to face him.

“Hmm, is this the man known for his information?”

“Yes. If you know the name and it’s famous, there’s nothing he can’t find.”

“Skeptical, but… well, there’s nothing to lose.”

“…Hey, Dojin. What’s going on here?”

He tilted his head, looking back and forth between me and her, who suddenly barged into his room.

Seeing him acting annoyingly, I gave him a swift kick to the shin, telling him not to do such things.

“Ouch! What the heck?”

“Stop messing around, this is…”

“Ilone. Ilone Arhas. Currently the head of the city’s guards.”

“Oh? We’ve got quite a big shot visiting us…”

“Wow, Deokgu. How can you be so disgusting?”

“Ugh! Hey, in situations like this, you’re supposed to play along too, aren’t you?”

“Why should I?”

While chatting with Deokgu for a while, I noticed Ilone looking at us with eyes questioning whether we could be trusted, and I cleared my throat with a cough.

“So this person is, well… looking for a criminal organization called Blackjack. Since she doesn’t know where it is, she came to you, the informant.”

“Hehe, finally, it’s my turn to step in…”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing? From the nonsense you’ve been spouting, it seems like there’s something wrong with your mind…”

“Ah, yes. I’ll provide the information quickly. Just a moment…”

Deokgu closed his eyes and began to delve into thought. To be precise, he connected to the wiki in his mind.

His ability, self-proclaimed as the World Akashic Record, was the power to read the records left by people of this world.

So, the more people knew about something, the more vivid the record remained, and if few people knew, sometimes there was no information at all.

Moreover, since the records were of facts rather than truths, lies that people sincerely believed could also be recorded as facts.

If you didn’t know the name, you couldn’t even search, and there was a chance it was wrong. It was an ambiguous cheat ability.

It was also a cheat ability to sit and look into the world at the same time.

“Hmm, information on Blackjack… Assistant! Bring me some paper from my room!”

“Why am I your assistant? Besides, your room is here…”

“Ah, I misspoke. Bring me paper from your room.”

I sighed and headed to my room, listening to Deokgu, who was dedicated to his roleplaying.

However, there was no way there would be paper in my room, so I just took the stationery that was on the table.

Deokgu frowned slightly at the sight of the blank stationery, then picked up the quill pen from the corner of the room.

“I’ll write the base here…”

“Really?!”

“…Oh my.”

Ilone, who had been quietly observing our conversation, slammed the table and spoke up.

“What?”

“You say you know Blackjack’s base. Is it true?”

“Oh, of course, I know.”

“How? Our guards have spent months just trying to find traces.”

“Uh… corporate secret?”

Deokgu had no intention of explaining that we came from another world and thus gained cheat abilities, so he hid that part.

Ilone looked at him with suspicious eyes, but Deokgu, who had no doubt about his abilities, nonchalantly wrote down the base addresses on the stationery.

“Here, these three are branches, and this is the headquarters. The stationed troops are…”

“Y-you can even know the troops?”

“Oh, you don’t need it?”

“…I do.”

“Then I’ll write it down for you.”

Ilone received the paper with the information and alternated between looking at it and Deokgu, then asked the most important question.

“Uh, how much?”

“Oh, the price.”

Deokgu squinted one eye and extended his index finger.

“Your smile is enough.”

I left the room with Ilone. After exiting, she asked me again.

“Is this information reliable?”

“Well, unless there are multiple criminal organizations using the name Blackjack, the information itself should be reliable.”

“Yeah… Honestly, it’s hard to believe. If this is true, it makes all our past efforts seem pointless…”

“Thanks to it, you met me, didn’t you?”

“Ah, that’s true…”

She took out the communication mana stone from her bosom. Then, she recited the address written on the paper.

“…That’s all. Headquarters.”

[Crow, where did you get this information from?]

“I got it from a secret informant. I will head straight to the base, so request support. Over.”

With those words, she put the mana stone away and started sighing deeply.

“This information… is it real? I’m sleepy right now, so I’m not making a mistake, right?”

“It should be real.”

“Haa, if this is false, I’ll get disciplined and have to write an explanation. Then this time, I might really get fired…”

“You seem to get into a lot of trouble.”

“Just unlucky; look at today. Because of you—no, I failed the undercover operation unluckily.”

“Would you like some help?”

“You’re offering to help?”

“Yes. Well, I can’t do much else, but I do know how to catch bad guys.”

Tap tap. I touched the hilt of the sword hanging at my waist. Didn’t she also acknowledge it? That my sword skills were excellent.

She burst into laughter, then held her stomach after a hearty laugh and said,

“So, you’re betting your life on this too?”

“Yes?”

“Let’s do it this way. If the information is wrong, you’ll go to jail instead?”

“Huh, hey. Just joking.”

“I’m not joking.”

“What?”

“Actually, it was a joke.”

Watching her frequently make heart-stopping comments, we headed towards the headquarters Deokgu had informed us about.

“Freeze! It’s the guards! If you move, you’re a suspect! If you don’t move, you’re still a suspect!”

“Arrest them all!”

The information Deokgu had prepared was true. The Blackjack gang members leisurely enjoying drugs and gambling were completely rounded up by the suddenly arriving guards, and Ilone, who had inquired for the information, reportedly received a promotion offer.

“Ah, this is it! The drink after a big score!”

“Seems like it’s been a while since you’ve had one.”

“Right? This sister here, you know, suffers for months investigating, and suffers for weeks on stakeouts… How can I even drink? You never know when the criminal might show up.”

“…I was the one who gave you the information.”

“Oh, right! Our informant! You asked for a smile! Here you go! Ta-da!”

Drunk, she forced a wide smile by pulling her mouth open with both hands.

But it didn’t last long. After about three seconds, she gulped down her beer as if she craved it madly.

“HAHAHA! Being rescued by you was truly a godsend!”

“Ah, yes.”

“Why so stiff? Just call me sister! Speak comfortably!”

“Should I? Sister?”

“HAHAHA! I like how straightforward you are!”

“…Actually, I caught them all.”

Ignoring Deokgu’s grumbling, we continued drinking.

Today’s drinks were all on her, so I didn’t hesitate to order expensive liquor.

We drank through the night until it was dawn.

“Ugh. I’m drunk, drunk…”

“You should go home, noona.”

“Home, home… where is home…?”

“…Are you drunk?”

Tsk, I clicked my tongue and pondered what to do with her. Deokgu was also passed out, so I had no choice but to move her to my room.

“Sleep here.”

After laying Ilone on the bed, I went back to the bar to carry Deokgu to his room.

Mumbling about plausibility and such, I tossed him into his room and returned to mine.

Clunk, as the door closed, I looked at Ilone lying on the bed. It was big enough for two people to lie comfortably. As long as her sleeping habits weren’t too terrible, there shouldn’t be any problem sleeping.

‘Time to sleep.’

Yesterday and today, a lot of things happened. It was an intensely eventful two days. Thinking that, I pulled the blanket over myself.

“…Hey, are you asleep?”

Beside me, I heard the voice of drunken Ilone. Tired, I pretended not to hear and remained silent.

“Ah, this virgin bastard… You’re not even making a move when such a beautiful sister is sleeping next to you?”

She said that and climbed on top of me. Feeling the weight, I couldn’t pretend to sleep any longer, so I opened my eyes and looked at her.

“…What are you doing?”

“Let me take care of myself, too, okay? It’s been months since I even—”

“Then why not just say that to anyone else? You’re beautiful; plenty of guys would jump at the chance.”

“Hey! Even I have standards! I’m not giving my first time to just anyone!”

“…What did you just say?”

“Jeez… What? Are you sick of me being a virgin at this age?”

The moment I heard the word virgin.

I sprang up.

And so did my little soldier.

I sat up, facing her directly, and stared at her intensely, as if licking her face with my eyes.

“Not at all.”

Rather, it was good.