Chapter 28
Alright, then what should we do now?
I glanced at the figures from the religious order following me cluelessly and fell into thought.
'The simplest method would be to take out the prototype and beat them all up... but this is a 5-minute solution, and it would make it difficult to prepare for future dangers.'
I should save it until the very last moment when it's truly dangerous.
[No, I'm not disposable, it just takes a long time to recharge, so just use it! Haven't you heard that saving too much doesn't help?]
'You still don't understand me.'
[I don't understand you? Interesting?]
'Once, I cleared an old RPG and opened the inventory.'
[Don't tell me it's the cliché ending where you have leftover elixirs or something?]
'The 999 Elixir X's I had carefully collected were still there.'
[No, with 999 of them, just use some!]
See?
This guy still doesn't get me.
'No, this is proof that my intelligence and skills are so outstanding that I can clear the game without wasting elixirs!'
[But if you had used the elixirs, wouldn't you have cleared the game more easily and quickly?]
This guy. Sharp in the wrong places.
Yes, I do feel that I'm overly cautious.
But the worst situations always happen when you least expect them!
That's why I brought the riff-raff from the religious order to a secluded open area.
'Then what should I use to deal with these guys? A metal pipe?'
[You can't even beat a cat, how would that work?]
'What, man?! I took down several terrorists during the train terror attack!'
[That was because it was a surprise attack. And as far as I remember, it was definitely a single-digit number, right?]
Ignoring the annoying AI's words today, I continued my train of thought.
'I want to save the prototype, so then it's the UGS box...? No, since they're criminals, for absolute safety, the upgraded version...'
But then.
"Huh? Raniel?!"
Something unexpected happened.
[The worst situations always happen when you least expect them! That's what you just said, Master!]
'You, shut up!'
I guess words have power.
"Raniiieeeell!!"
Of all places, Linia was at the open area I had chosen.
She was practicing swordsmanship, which she usually doesn't do.
And thanks to her good eyesight, she spotted me immediately and moved.
With a voice loud enough to blow away train whistles, she called out my name with all her might.
"Ra, niel? Don't tell me you're Raniel Leventhesia?!"
"Damn it! You tricked us so smoothly!!"
I held my throbbing forehead.
Then, in an instant, I looked at Linia who had arrived beside me.
and let out a sigh.
"You're really not helpful in life."
"What? Why are you picking a fight as soon as you see me?"
"First of all, don't create situations where fights can happen. And I recommend you work on your awareness."
"I have good awareness! In Leventhesia, I was called 'Rinia the Aware'!"
Awareness, my foot. She’s probably only quick at shoveling snow. Even the neighborhood gorilla would have better awareness.
"Linia, I brought bread and something to drink."
Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, Eli appeared, carrying a bag of bread.
[What a rare sight, seeing a gorilla making a princess run errands for bread?]
'Our gorilla doesn’t have the intelligence to make others run errands!'
But that’s not the real issue here.
"Dammit! Then what the hell is going on? The insider was supposed to be—"
"How should I know? How would I know that?!"
"You’re the one in charge, and if you don’t know, what are we supposed to do?!"
Watching them bicker, I stepped forward, nodding as if I understood.
"Wait a minute. There seems to be some misunderstanding here. I’m not Raniel."
"What?"
"I’m not Raniel Leventhesia. That was just this gorilla misspeaking."
"What, what?! Gorilla? Why am I a gorilla?!"
For a moment, the members of the Doomsday Cult alternated their gaze between Rinia and me.
I thought they might actually believe this obvious lie, but—
"You think we’d believe that now?!"
"Now that you mention it, that silver-haired kid next to you! He looks a lot like El Grante!"
"The princess? The princess is here?"
As the lackeys chimed in one by one, the man who seemed to be the leader drew his sword with a *shing*.
"Since it’s come to this, we’ll start the operation immediately! Kidnap those two girls! And kill the rest!"
A sudden declaration of kidnapping and murdering civilians? Truly an unforgivable villain.
I can forgive a lot, but pointing a sword at me is absolutely unforgivable.
Holding back my anger, I calmly stepped back.
The moonwalk I used to practice in my past life seems to work particularly well today.
With a quick moonwalk, I positioned myself behind Linia.
"What are you doing?"
Linia looked at me as if I were ridiculous.
"Go, Linia! Fight, Linia!"
"What?!"
"If it comes to it, throw yourself in to protect me, your employer!"
"You always say not to bring up status, and now you’re pulling rank?"
"Status or not, if I die, who’s going to pay your salary?"
"That’s true."
Convinced by my words, Linia raised her wooden sword and took a stance.
"But why a wooden sword? What happened to the sword I gave you?"
"I can’t go around carrying a real sword in the middle of the night like a lunatic!"
Fair enough. This neighborhood is oddly sensible about that kind of thing.
The problem is that there’s a lunatic with a real sword right in front of me.
"Raniel Leventhesia! If you’re a man, face me properly and fight!!"
The lunatic with the real sword pointed at me.
"No."
Of course, I refused.
"Do you have no pride?!"
"Does pride pay the bills?"
"You’re a man with no honor or dignity!!"
This conversation feels oddly familiar.
"Are you, by any chance, a martial artist?"
"Can’t you tell by looking at this sword? Of course, I’m a martial artist!"
So he is a martial artist. No wonder he sounds just like my husband.
Though, at least my husband isn’t a terrorist.
"A martial artist becoming a terrorist? Isn’t that the epitome of having no honor or dignity?"
"Don’t speak carelessly when you know nothing!"
"Then tell me what I need to know. Explain it to me."
At my words, the man who had once been a martial artist—now a lunatic with a real sword in the middle of the night—clamped his mouth shut.
Whoosh!
Instead, he swung his sword.
"Gah!"
I panicked seeing the sword flying straight at me, but—
"Don’t you dare touch my employer!"
Clang!
Luckily, Linia blocked it.
"She’s not ordinary! Rush her all at once!"
As his sword was blocked, the panicked lunatic who resembled Villager A gave the order.
"Charge!"
Most of the cult members rushed at Linia at once, and as soon as I saw that, I leaped back to put some distance between us.
Phew, I’m glad they didn’t come after me.
"Ugh!! Hyaaah!!"
Linia let out a mix of a groan and a battle cry, though it sounded more like a weird noise as she blocked the swords. Is she really blocking all of them?
And the enemies are all armed with cold weapons.
"As expected of the second-ranked graduate from the martial arts academy."
"Save me, Raniel!!"
"Fighting!"
I clenched my fist toward Rinia and moved even further away.
I may be the eldest son of a martial family, so I have an eye for these things, but compared to Linia’s exaggerated reactions, she looks pretty relaxed.
"Ugh! Huff! Hoooh!!"
…She’s relaxed.
For now, I’ll leave the relaxed Rinia alone. I think I saw Eli earlier.
"Mmph! Mmph!!"
I locked eyes with Eli, who was tied up, gagged, and being carried like a sack by one of the cult members who looked like Villager C.
How long has it been since this guy ran into them, and he’s already neatly packaged?
"We’ve secured El Grante! We’re pulling out first!"
"Mmph! Hmmph!!"
Then the kidnapper who looked like Villager C made a run for it with Eli.
I couldn’t just let them go, so I quickly followed.
"Hey! Where are you going?! Raniel!!"
From behind, Linia noticed like a ghost and shouted, but judging by how she’s keeping track of my movements even in that situation, she seems to have more than enough leeway—she’s practically thriving. So, it’s fine to leave her be.
And shortly after.
"Huff, huff, huff…"
'What the hell is a kidnapper doing being so fast?!'
[Isn’t it time to admit that your stamina is far below average and just use me?]
'You’re still not fully repaired! If there’s even the slightest error, both Eli and that lunatic cultist could be in big trouble, you know?!'
There’s been a history of sensor inaccuracies causing errors before. What if I use the booster and accidentally send Eli flying with a body slam?
'I don’t even want to imagine that.'
Anyway, I’ll save the prototype for when they show an opening or as an absolute last resort.
"Huff, huff, huff…"
[You really should just use me…]
That’s when it happened.
-Rustle.
"Gah! What the?! Damn it!!"
Something suddenly jumped out in front of me, startling me, but it was just the black-haired guy.
"Raniel?"
Why is this guy picking grass again?!
"Didn’t I pay you your share?"
"My tablet bill is overdue…"
"Ugh, you idiot! Why do you even buy stuff?"
The black-haired guy awkwardly chewed on the grass while scratching the back of his head.
"Anyway, where are you rushing off to?"
"Ah!"
I was momentarily distracted by the black-haired guy’s sudden appearance.
This isn’t the time for this!
"Over there! The kidnapper!"
"Kidnapper?"
At my words, the black-haired guy turned his head.
"The princess?"
He spotted Eli struggling in the kidnapper’s grasp.
"Chase them!"
"Got it!"
At my command, the black-haired guy dashed off.
But his speed was something else—about half of Linia’s, but still incredibly fast.
The black-haired guy quickly closed the gap to the kidnapper.
He was in the perfect position to deliver a devastating blow to the back of the head!
The black-haired guy seemed to realize this too and immediately took a running start.
'Go! Smash the back of his head!!'
As if hearing my internal cheer, the black-haired guy used his running start to launch himself into a flying kick aimed straight at the kidnapper.
"Hyaaaaah!!"
Letting out an insane battle cry in the process.
"What, what is this?!"
Naturally, hearing the battle cry, the kidnapper dodged the flying kick by leaping aside.
Ugh! Does this guy go into anaphylactic shock if he doesn’t yell?!
Still, the black-haired guy’s ambush did manage to stop the kidnapper’s movement.
I quickly pulled out a bat from the dimensional storage.
With that, I swung the bat at the back of the kidnapper’s head, who was distracted by the black-haired guy.
Thwack!
"Gah!!"
A crisp sound of impact rang out.
Rip!
The kidnapper’s clothes tore, and items scattered everywhere.
Due to the difference in physical specs between Linia and me, he didn’t go flying as satisfyingly as when Linia hits someone.
"Mmph, hmmph!!"
Ah, because Eli’s head was in a perfect position, Eli ended up seeing something they shouldn’t have.
Well, this much is a small sacrifice.
More importantly, we caught the kidnapper, so it’s time for some looting!
"Mmph! Mmph!!"
First, I quickly picked up the items scattered around.
This guy doesn’t have much money either. The Doomsday Cult or whatever seems to be a poor organization.
"Mmph, mmph!"
After picking up everything that had fallen, I stuffed it all into the dimensional storage.
It was a rewarding looting session.
"Wouldn’t it have been better to free the princess first before looting?"
Whether the black-haired guy had freed Eli or not, Eli was rubbing their wrists, which had rope marks, while frowning.
"Division of labor."
Of course, I knew the black-haired guy would free Eli, so I focused on looting.
I’m not some kind of psychopath.
But why is Eli so calm after almost being kidnapped?
"You’re oddly calm?"
"Kidnapping threats are part of my daily life."
Eli muttered with hollow eyes, staring at the ground.
The life of a princess is truly tough.
I’m glad I was born as a rural noble’s child.
But if there are kidnapping threats, there’s usually something that follows, right?
"What about torture?"
"I’ve been close to it, but fortunately, my grandfather saved me before it got to that."
At Eli’s words, I recalled the old man I saw at the high-class secret tavern, performing with Eli’s father.
He looked like an ordinary old man, but from what I saw, he seemed like a mage.
"That old man? He seemed like a mage at first glance."
"He’s one of the five 9th Circle Grand Mages in the Empire."
Hmm, I don’t know how impressive a 9th Circle is here, but it sounds pretty impressive.
Anyway, he’s someone unrelated to me, so I don’t need to worry about him.
After erasing the memory of that unrelated person from my mind, I pulled out a stun wrench from the dimensional storage and lightly tapped the kidnapper’s head.
Zap.
With the sound of electricity sparking, the kidnapper’s body twitched slightly.
"What are you doing?"
"Confirming the kill."
For vicious criminals like this, confirming the kill is essential.
But why are you looking at me like I’m trash?
For now, I ignored it and tightly tied the unconscious kidnapper to a nearby tree.
"Isn’t Linia fighting alone?! Let’s hurry and go help her!!"
Eli shouted urgently while I was thinking about our next move.
Even though we left Linia alone, I don’t think us going back will help much.
Still, out of loyalty, we all headed back to where Linia was.
When we arrived—
"Raniiieeeell!!"
Rinia, covered in blood, was screaming my name while punching the cult members with her fists.
All around were corpses…
[They’re still breathing. For now.]
All around, the cult members were sprawled out, and in Rinia’s hand was the leader of the group—the guy who had evolved from Villager A to a lunatic with a real sword in the middle of the night—now covered in blood.
That blood… it definitely doesn’t look like Linia’s.
I locked eyes with Rinia, and my body froze on the spot.
Like a herbivore facing a carnivore.
"Raniel!! You! Isn’t this going too far?!"
Linia, who had closed the distance at an invisible speed, grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up.
"How could you just leave me behind and go off on your own?!"
"It’s a misunderstanding."
"This is too much! It’s really too much!"
"I’m dizzy. Let go."
"Waaah!!"
Why am I the one screaming when I’m the one being physically assaulted?
Anyway, if this keeps up, I’ll get a hangover without even drinking.
"I’ll give you a bonus."
"Hmph!! Do you think I’ll forgive you for something like that?!"
Rinia shook my collar even more violently at my words.
"I’ll double it."
"Really?!"
Fortunately, when I doubled the offer, the hand gripping my collar loosened.
The dizziness from being shaken made me collapse awkwardly to the ground, but I quickly adjusted my posture and sat cross-legged.
"Hooray! Double bonus! I had so many things to pay for anyway!!"
It’s a good thing there’s no credit card in this world.
Otherwise, Linia would’ve been buried in debt long ago.
"Spend it wisely."
"Of course! I’ll buy some novels, maybe a tablet, some clothes, some shoes…"
Well, even without a credit card, she’s probably headed for bankruptcy.
Anyway, the attempted kidnapping has been resolved.
“…….”
I glanced around at the cult members scattered on the ground.
It’s a bit frustrating that Rinia caused unnecessary expenses, but.
More importantly, there’s something more pressing in front of me.
"Kukukuku. Now, then, shall we sort out the slaves… no, the graduate student candidates?"
It’s time for a sweet harvest.
