Ch.21Pretending to Patrol #9

“I’ll answer anything, anything! Just please spare my life…!”

“Very well, as long as you answer quietly.”

I nodded as I made eye contact with the trembling man. I truly did intend to let him live.

“Where are we? It felt like we were traveling by ship for quite a while.”

“The c-count’s… ugh! It’s an island a bit away from the count’s territory. It looks like an uninhabited island from the outside, so people think of it as a resting place, but we actually use it as a docking area.”

So that’s why it took some time until the ship’s movement stopped—we had moved to an uninhabited island.

Of course, it probably couldn’t be called truly uninhabited anymore since these people had settled here.

I sensed someone slowly approaching from behind as I asked my next question. It was surely Helena, so there was no need to be on guard.

“How many people are outside?”

“A-about twenty. We were resting on the ship while keeping watch.”

“Any Sword Experts or high-circle mages?”

“H-how could we have people like that?! If we did, we’d have swallowed up the count’s territory and be running a much bigger operation by now.”

The man waved his hands frantically, showing his bewilderment.

I nodded in acknowledgment—he had a point.

As he said, if they had someone that skilled, they would likely be conducting business more boldly.

Though they still wouldn’t do it openly, of course.

“So, are you an independent organization? Or are you allied with someone, or perhaps a subordinate group to someone else?”

The next question came from behind me.

It was Helena, who had dealt with the five men at once as we had agreed.

I glanced back to check her condition and saw no injuries. Her calm, composed gaze remained unchanged.

“N-nothing like that.”

“Are there others doing similar work in this count’s territory?”

“No. We’re… the only ones. At least as far as we know.”

Fortunately, things were progressing quite smoothly.

Of course, I couldn’t say for certain that there weren’t other groups operating in secret, but it was certainly welcome news that there weren’t more scum like these around.

“How are the rest of your men positioned?”

“They’re just scattered around, but still gathered within a certain distance.”

“What about shift changes? And why haven’t you moved the hostages elsewhere?”

“Ugh! First, there are no specific shift times. We take turns among those inside… As for the hostages, we often keep them on the ship since they’ll need to be moved anyway. If we capture a lot of people, we sometimes take them out and manage them separately, but…”

“So with just two people, there was no need for that. I see. I understand. One last question—my sword?”

“The weapons you two were carrying… the boss took them.”

Helena closed her mouth, as if she had nothing more to ask.

I could understand their reasoning—when they had many slaves or hostages, they would move them to the uninhabited island to prevent escape, but with fewer people, there was no need.

It would be difficult for an ordinary person to overcome eight strong men, especially when they were working in groups.

As I followed Helena out of the room, I spoke to the man who was groaning in pain.

“Stay right here if you want to live.”

“Y-yes! I’ll stay put! Thank you! Thank you!”

The man kept thanking me for sparing his life.

It was natural for him to feel grateful, having nearly died.

“Is there a possibility that man was lying?”

“I doubt it. He didn’t seem capable of calmly lying in a life-or-death situation, and if he were that kind of person, he would have tried something before being helplessly subdued. Even if it were an act, sacrificing both ankles would be too wasteful.”

I answered with confidence as Helena and I climbed the stairs together.

People tend to reveal their true selves in urgent situations, especially when their lives are at stake—there’s no room to fabricate thoughts.

And as I said, if he were someone hiding his skills or able to think calmly in an emergency, he wouldn’t have reacted that way.

Whatever he might be hiding didn’t seem worth sacrificing both ankles for.

Decisively, Helena’s indifferent reaction to the man led me to conclude he was just an ordinary person with nothing special about him.

I seemed to have become overly suspicious since this was my first time dealing with such a situation.

“What should we do? Kill them all?”

“Since they’ve been kidnapping and trafficking people, it would be fine to wipe them all out… but let’s keep the boss alive.”

I felt somewhat uneasy as those cold-blooded words left my mouth.

I wasn’t some madman who enjoyed killing, but once I’d decided to do it, there was no room for hesitation.

I had already bloodied my hands anyway.

“It’s dark.”

Come to think of it, the sun had set and the moon had risen.

It was so natural for it to be night that I had forgotten about it, but the setting sun meant that quite some time had passed.

“Indeed. I didn’t realize it was already night.”

“Jion. I told you to speak comfortably when it’s just the two of us, yet again…”

“Ah, sorry. That’s right. Formal speech has become such a habit.”

We lowered our voices and chatted casually as we looked for a way down.

There would surely be a makeshift bridge for easy boarding and disembarking from the docked ship.

After a brief search around the ship, we found a thick plank connecting the ship to the land. It must serve as a bridge.

“I don’t see anyone on the other side. We can go straight down.”

After confirming there was no one there, Helena calmly walked across the plank to the dock.

Though the night made us less visible than during the day, she was still remarkably bold.

Perhaps she had assessed the opponents’ abilities and was confident they posed no threat.

“We could attack head-on, but an ambush would be easier. It’s a shame there were no weapons on the ship.”

Helena sighed, referring to the men who had attacked with bare hands.

If they had weapons, things would have been easier, but she seemed somewhat resentful of the reality that they didn’t.

I walked down to the dock and headed toward the forest path, scanning the surroundings.

Having Helena with me was reassuring, but I wasn’t so relaxed as to let my guard down completely.

“True. Weapons would be nice, but we’ll have to make do with just the dirk.”

“Right. If we find weapons, we’ll use them, and if the enemy has them, we’ll take them immediately.”

After establishing some simple action guidelines, Helena and I began approaching from different directions, as if to encircle the enemy.

The wooded area was suitable for hiding, and though the grass occasionally rustled under our feet, it wasn’t enough to be concerned about. As long as we weren’t too noisy, it should be fine.

—Hahaha! We’ve captured that noble merchant guild’s executive, so we’ll be able to pocket quite a sum! What a great catch!

The crackling sound of a bonfire. And the boisterous voices of men gathered around it reached our ears.

Hiding behind a tree and observing them, it was quite a spectacle.

They were drinking and making merry, thoroughly intoxicated.

In that state, they probably wouldn’t notice even if someone ran through the grass. Helena, separated on the opposite side, seemed to share the same thought as she shook her head.

“Look at this sword! It’s high quality, truly high quality!”

“Kekeke! Both the dagger and this—carrying such expensive things when they can’t even use them properly…!”

Meanwhile, one man raised Helena’s sword high, rejoicing.

Though plain-looking, it was made of high-quality material with strong durability. The fact that he could recognize this suggested he had some discerning eye.

Only his light tone and attitude diminished that impression… but that was a separate matter.

“A house… perhaps?”

Anyway, seeing them gathered in groups made an immediate surprise attack difficult.

Waiting for them to pass out drunk would be easiest, but that process seemed too tedious and might create openings.

So I decided to move toward a hut that was somewhat separated from the group.

The front entrance would be difficult to approach due to the bonfire’s light, but the back was shrouded in the shadows of the forest and the darkness of night, making it easier to approach.

The hut didn’t have a single window, suggesting it might be used as a simple storage.

I would have expected at least wooden windows, but the absence of any was disappointing.

“Tsk… can’t be helped.”

So I infused aura into my dirk and began cutting a line in the hut’s door.

I planned to cut through the wall and enter through the gap.

It felt like sawing.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I focused on cutting through the wall. The small blade of the dirk was making this take quite some time.

Stab and pull. Stab and pull.

It was a mind-numbingly tedious repetition, but fortunately, I achieved results before collapsing from drowsiness.

I had succeeded in creating a square hole large enough for a small child to enter standing up.

“Haah…”

I sighed and tapped the bottom of the square-cut wall. This was to prevent it from falling inward and making a thud.

As a result, the wall piece fell heavily against my leg, and I carefully placed it on the ground before crawling inside.

Something blocked my way as I tried to push forward, but realizing it was a box, I changed my approach.

I tried to prevent noise by supporting the box with my body as I pushed it away. It was quite difficult.

The interior I had struggled to enter was quite desolate.

Though it should have been hard to see inside due to the darkness, my eyes had adjusted enough to make out the general shapes of objects.

“Why are there so many boxes?”

I felt suffocated by the array of boxes lining the walls.

I had entered while supporting a tower of boxes, but I never expected most of the hut to be filled with them.

“Phew.”

I sighed deeply as I carefully examined the boxes.

Most were empty inside when I searched them, perhaps prepared to be used when needed.

Because of this, I was about to conclude it was just an ordinary box storage.

However, my thoughts changed the moment I picked up one box that was at the bottom of a corner.

While other boxes had some weight to them, this one was much heavier.

“What’s this?”

Though it was hard to see in the dark, it appeared to be an empty box like the others.

Yet it weighed more than twice as much as the others, which was highly suspicious. There had to be a reason for its weight.

So I placed this box on top of another and carefully felt it all over to find the reason.

I examined the exterior and pressed firmly on the inside bottom of the box.

“Huh?”

During this, I felt my finger sink into a part of the box’s bottom.

Since it was the underside that one wouldn’t normally touch, it took me a while to find it.

Anyway, thinking to press it firmly, I inserted my finger as far as possible, and heard a sound like air escaping from inside the box.

Wondering what was happening, I straightened my back and looked inside. Unlike before, I could see that the bottom of the box had lifted.

“My goodness.”

The structure had leather attached to the bottom, with thick leather laid underneath for stability.

No wonder I hadn’t felt anything unusual when pressing on the bottom.

I lifted the leather lining under the raised bottom and tossed it on the floor, and simultaneously saw numerous objects that seemed to shine even in the darkness.

“Is this all money?”

They were what people commonly called gold and various jewels.

This box was a kind of safe designed to secretly hide them.

Moreover, the quantity was so great that one could live in luxury starting right now.

Of course, that’s by one person’s standard… if several people were to use this money, it would likely run out quickly.

I wanted to take it all, but this wasn’t the time to be coveting money.

Even if it were, I had no intention of keeping it, though it was clearly going to be very helpful. Perfect for throwing.

I had considered cutting this wooden box to make improvised throwing weapons, but with this gold discovery, there was no need for such effort.

Because of this, I happily scooped up the gold coins and placed them on the leather I had discarded on the floor.