Chapter 44
Chapter 44
Slave Contract (3)
I walked around the Combat Division building. Unlike my loose, swaggering gait, my eyes searching for something were meticulous.
The presence of the guy I was looking for was extremely faint. He did not have outstanding looks, nor did he possess overwhelming skill.
Since he had no distinctive features that stood out, he was much harder to find. There were plenty of guys here who gave off quite intense presences, which made it even more difficult to spot him.
“I’m already getting tired.”
The reason I was going through all this trouble was because his ability was rare. In the game, despite Davide’s infamy, he was one of the two who still became his companions.
“Soloven won’t work, I suppose.”
“For what?”
“I was thinking of pulling her into the Order.”
“Sorry, but that would be difficult. She already believes in another god.”
“That’s the problem with nobles. They believe in all sorts of strange things.”
“You were once a noble as well.”
“Ah, well, it’s not like the Duhein Family didn’t have something like that too…….”
Wait, who am I even talking to?
Startled, I quickly turned my head. What filled my view was violet hair tied in a ponytail. Soloven stood there with an indifferent expression.
“You startled me.”
“If you cannot sense the presence of someone at my level, then there must be a problem with your training.”
I furrowed my brow at the factual remark she always delivered. I didn’t have time to argue with her right now. I waved my hand dismissively and walked off, but I felt her following behind me.
“Are you looking for Bereninche? I distinctly remember telling you to memorize her class schedule.”
“I memorized that. This is about something else.”
“Hmm. Looking for someone again?”
“Why would I tell you— …no, forget it. You don’t have class right now, do you? Then help me out a bit.”
“I have no reason to—”
“I’ll cause a scene. And you’ll be the one who knew and did nothing to stop it.”
“……You truly never change.”
I heard Soloven let out a dumbfounded sigh. I shrugged. After our spar, we had become somewhat less distant, but Soloven’s reactions were still the same.
Being aloof was simply her personality, and she had witnessed Davide’s dark history up close. It would be difficult for her perception to change over something like this.
Of course, since I wasn’t Davide, I promptly dragged her along. Soloven let out a deep sigh but followed me nonetheless.
“Who are you looking for?”
“A first-year who ranks exactly in the middle.”
“?”
“A guy whose grades are precisely at the halfway mark.”
Come to think of it, he wasn’t someone completely unrelated to Soloven either. At the very least, if he joined the Order, he would end up seeing Soloven almost as much as he saw me.
“Ah, would you dislike someone like that?”
“Hmm?”
“He has no motivation. He lives with a ‘things will somehow work out~’ kind of mindset. If it’s not something he’s interested in, he won’t even spare it a glance.”
“……I can’t say I’m particularly fond of that type.”
쯧쯧. I clicked my tongue at her immediate reply. This was exactly why people like her were so rigid. Still, Soloven diligently followed behind me.
“Is there anything that could serve as a distinguishing feature?”
“The typical outfit of an alchemist. And he uses a slingshot?”
“An alchemist uses a slingshot?”
She responded, but she seemed unable to quite picture it. There wasn’t much more I could add in explanation.
We ended up peeking into several classrooms like that. After briefly asking for permission, Soloven brought back the full schedule for all first-year classes.
“A slingshot is certainly an unusual weapon. He must be interested in archery.”
“That’s right.”
“If it’s archery, then it would be related to hunting. There aren’t any hunting classes in session right now.”
“Seems so.”
Soloven nodded.
In the game, Bereninche did not speak much.
No one approached her to talk, and she herself did not approach anyone either. Like a drifting wave, she simply did what she had to do.
It seemed that such behavior was familiar to Soloven as well.
“If it’s Duhein, she would be taking all classes related to hunting. Why not ask your younger sister?”
“Rejected. Just talking to her costs an offering.”
“Is that so. More importantly, an alchemist who fires a slingshot is certainly unusual, but is there a particular reason you must find him?”
In the game, Worden was called the ‘Episode Crusher.’ The only early-stage character who possessed a ‘Relic.’
The slingshot he always carried around, despite being an alchemist, was that very Relic. Called [Polarity], this slingshot was a simple item that turned the first projectile into a fire attribute and the second projectile into an ice attribute.
It created tremendous synergy with Worden’s alchemy. Worden would hook flasks filled with reagents onto the slingshot and fire them, turning them into lava fields, poison clouds, and ice storms.
He would melt early-game monsters with absurd elemental damage-over-time effects, and no matter what weakness the opponent had, he would always secure elemental advantage.
“It’s quite powerful. More than it looks.”
“I see. If you say so, then it must be.”
In the later parts of the episode, there were many Fiendbeasts with extremely high elemental resistance, so he could not show his strength as much, but resources as reliable and useful as him were rare.
Above all, he was an alchemist. And one well-versed in potions at that. Since stamina recovery potions were set to be rare, Worden’s value rose even higher.
“Ah, come to think of it, your suspension was revoked.”
“Yeah. It was.”
“Congratulations.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
I accepted her calm congratulations. She had a personality that was upright and principled, oriented toward greater causes rather than personal feelings. But because she was stiff and blunt, it was difficult to grow close to her.
To begin with, I didn’t particularly like this kind of rigid personality anyway.
“What’s the occasion? You’re even offering congratulations……”
I couldn’t finish my sentence. A fairly strong impact struck my shoulder. It would have been a disgrace to fall over like that with a name like Adaptive Body.
Frowning, I looked for which lunatic it was. Despite his flashy appearance, the man’s face looked sly and slippery.
The guy, shorter than me, wore a triumphant expression.
“Oh dear. How unfortunate. Your presence was so faint I didn’t even realize someone was there.”
What the hell is this bastard?
He suddenly picked a fight. Rather than anger, I felt dumbfounded. No matter how much I scrutinized his face, I couldn’t remember him. That meant he wasn’t anyone important in the game.
I glanced at Soloven. She merely watched with calm eyes. It didn’t seem like she had any intention of intervening.
“What’s this. Some insect bastard?”
“W-What!?”
So I responded according to my personality. I didn’t have upright integrity like Soloven. To begin with, I wouldn’t be doing something like this if I did.
And it wasn’t as if I possessed cold calculation to wait for an opportunity either. He was just a fairly common, insignificant guy.
To someone like me, whose goal was to eliminate the one behind the scenes, he was so insignificant it was nauseating. I spoke exactly as I saw it. To me, he was nothing more or less than a bug.
The guy, suddenly subjected to verbal abuse, looked bewildered.
“Ha! Just like your skills, you don’t even have the slightest respect for your senior?”
“What, you’re a senior? Respect is for those with skill. If I went around respecting every bug, how would I survive in this world?”
“You bastard! Bug! Bug!”
Before he could start raging wildly, I made the first move. I slung an arm around the relatively smaller guy’s shoulders.
Before he could start thrashing at the sudden contact, I quietly muttered,
“Hey. Bug. Are you from some great clan or something?”
“……What?”
“I’m asking what gives you the nerve to act up like that. What are you relying on to yap at me like that?”
My voice fell low and cold. The guy, who had been shouting “Let go of me!” and flailing, flinched.
I continued speaking as I patted his shoulder. I didn’t have the protection of a powerful family backing me. But that didn’t mean a family’s protection was the only thing that could protect someone.
“Which family?”
“…….”
“What? Why aren’t you answering? I won’t do much. Just send a few assassins, dig up your personal information, maybe arrange a kidnapping. Why? Say something. Let’s hear just how impressive you are. Hmm? Don’t have a family, so what could someone like me possibly do? Hey, hey. What can’t money buy these days? Right? Those mercenary bastards would even let you ride on their shoulders if you stuff some coins in their hands. Right?”
There was no answer.
My interest cooled. I had hoped he at least had some backbone, but he didn’t even have that.
Of course, I had no intention of actually doing any of the things I said. If I really wanted to, I could. But spending that kind of money on a worthless guy like him would be a waste.
“Hey. You’re a man, aren’t you? Show some backbone. Huh? Usually in situations like this, isn’t it a cliché to shout, ‘How dare you! You insult me! I demand a duel!’?”
“…….”
I brought my mouth close to his ear and spoke quietly. I laced my words with as much mockery as possible to provoke him, but there was no particular reaction.
Did he think I’d be dejected after being expelled? Or did he truly believe someone at his level could actually do something to me?
“My body was feeling a bit stiff anyway, so how about a round—”
“Stop it. You must not kill someone.”
“……Why are you suddenly like this?”
As I gradually steered the conversation toward a duel, Soloven, who had remained silent until now, stepped in to stop me. With a disappointed look, I released my arm from around his shoulders.
Now that I thought about it, I looked like some quiet thug shaking someone down for money. Image, image. I sang about it enough, yet when my real personality came out, it turned into this. If Winter heard about this, I’d probably get scolded quite a bit.
“Oh dear, Senior. Your uniform is wrinkled.”
Even so, the jeering didn’t stop. I brushed off the frozen guy’s shoulder, grinning mockingly.
“Next time, if you’re not going to properly pick a fight, please step aside when you walk past. You know? When someone’s presence is weak, it’s hard to notice them.”
“Stop it.”
“Ah~ Alright. Then we’ll be on our way, Senior?”
We moved off, mocking him until the very end. The guy didn’t so much as twitch until we were completely gone.
“No backbone at all. What a letdown.”
“……Your personality is still awful.”
“He started it.”
“I’m saying your response was excessive. If you live like that, you’ll only accumulate enemies.”
“Thanks for the advice, but even if guys like that come at me in droves, it doesn’t matter.”
“It’s good to be confident in your skills, but try to see the forest. Reputation has a significant impact on one’s life.”
Soloven pointed out my rotten personality and gave me rather profound advice.
I appreciated the pointed counsel. I nodded and accepted it, but well. I wasn’t sure how much effect it would have.
“Huh?”
As we were walking, I sensed a subtle presence. I quickly turned my head and spotted a head that somehow looked familiar.
Not far from where we had just been stood the guy I was looking for. Brown hair, and a belt favored by alchemists strapped around his waist.
“Found him.”
“Hmm? Ah. The first-year you were looking for?”
“Yeah, over there.”
The moment I pointed, his head snapped in my direction. Round eyes met mine. They were the same eyes I had encountered after finishing Coco’s raid.
The guy with the desaturated brown hair widened his eyes briefly, then broke into a delighted smile and immediately turned around.
“Are you referring to the one who just ran away?”
“……Yeah. That’s him, but this is a bit surprising.”
He bolted without hesitation. Watching him run in the opposite direction from where we stood left me momentarily dumbfounded.
“Did you make another strange expression?”
“What do you mean strange expression? Our eyes just met.”
“He has good instincts.”
“Was that an insult?”
Responding to Soloven, I started running as well. That bastard took one look at my face and ran?
You could think he simply had something urgent to attend to, but if that were the case, there’d be no reason for him to head in the opposite direction from us.
A fierce grin spread across my face. That guy. He was the type who enjoyed thrills.
“His instincts are certainly sharp.”
His trait was [Adrenaline]. It was a fairly useful trait that increased agility by 30% when he sensed danger.
He had found a way to activate it constantly, and the method was bizarre: deliberately exposing himself to danger.
A severe hedonist, he was a lunatic who would charge toward dangerous situations just to enjoy the thrill. It seemed that upon seeing me, [Adrenaline] had activated.
He ran on purpose to enjoy the thrill. To provoke me and turn it into a chase.
“Hunting, huh. This is exciting.”
“I’ll say it again. You must not kill him.”
I fiercely pursued him. It wasn’t that I was particularly versed in hunting, but movements engraved into my body sprang out instinctively.
Soloven kept up without difficulty and didn’t forget to nag me. She seemed worried I might actually be trying to hunt him down for real.
Of course, this could be considered a hunt as well. Now that it had come to this, my stubbornness was stirred. Originally, I had planned to simply talk, and if he refused, let it go.
But for no reason at all, my mood had soured, and I wanted to torment him.
This won’t do. I’ll catch him and work him like a slave.
Ours was, in its own way, a grand organization aiming to capture the one behind the scenes. Dangerous situations were everywhere. He would surely love it.