I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m thinking maybe the reason you sided with Kaeld is because you wanted something in return.”

“……”

“For someone as skilled as you, if it’s a wish you couldn’t achieve on your own, it must be something quite out of reach. Like something you can’t even approach without borrowing a Hero’s name, maybe?”

Cold sweat ran down his face.

He studied my face closely and then spoke in a low voice.

“I can read a lot from facial expressions and eyes. Based on that, I get the feeling you already know what my wish is, and you’re just circling around it. That’s how it seems to me.”

“Think what you like.”

“The only person I’ve ever told that wish to is Kaeld. Are you monitoring everyone in our party or something?”

“You’ve seen for yourself that Kaeld has bizarre abilities that defy human understanding. That’s what being a Hero is like. Don’t try to understand—just accept it.”

“Heh. So what you’re saying is, you’re a Hero too?”

“Yeah. Unlike Kaeld, I’m not a fake. I’m the real deal.”

“Puhaha!”

He let out a forced laugh, as if trying to shake off his fear and doubt.

I ignored him and went on.

“Anyway, if I become the Hero and defeat the Demon King, I could grant your wish. Wouldn’t it be better to join hands with me than cling to hopeless Kaeld?”

“……”

“…Not that I expect you to decide right here and now. I’m not telling you to abandon Kaeld immediately and come to me. Just fulfill those two requests I made earlier.”

I could practically see Offense’s brain working.

At this point in time, he hadn’t been in Kaeld’s party for long. Unlike in the previous timeline, his trust in Kaeld probably wasn’t very strong yet.

Maybe that’s why my “heroic” words were able to shake his heart a little.

I dug deeper into that gap.

“Well, this current situation could be a good test. If I manage to rescue Ariena from your hands, wouldn’t that prove I’m capable? I would be stealing away someone protected by the ‘Bright Death,’ after all.”

“……”

He stayed silent.

But from his expression, I caught a faint sign of agreement.

Offense might be overwhelming when it comes to reading people through their expressions and eyes, but it’s not like I’m completely incapable of doing the same.

“…Just so you know, this time I’m going to use every bit of my skill to hide Ariena.”

“You’d better. That way, I’ll have a proper stage to show off my own abilities.”

“Fine. I won’t kill her. And I’ll… delay reporting this to Kaeld for now.”

“Appreciate it.”

At my calm response, Offense bit his lip.

Then he said:

“Let me make one thing clear. The assassinations known to the public are less than ten percent of my total. I deliberately left traces only for those that needed to be known.”

“How impressive.”

“In other words, the other ninety percent? Not even corpses were found. Got that? I’ll be hiding Ariena using the same methods I used to hide those bodies.”

“……”

“If you still manage to find her… I’ll acknowledge it. That you’re superior to Kaeld.”

A satisfying answer.

We wrapped up our pleasant little conversation and returned to the inn.

Neril asked:

“So what are we supposed to do now?”

“We need to find Ariena.”

“Yeah, no kidding. But do you really think Offense is going to leave any openings that easily?”

“Don’t worry. I have got a secret weapon.”

“So many secret weapons, huh.”

Neril’s tone was laced with mischief.

This time, Xenia asked:

“Then let me ask properly—what are we supposed to do?”

“There will be a stage prepared for the two of you soon enough. Until then… why not take a stroll to deepen your bond as teammates?”

Neril and Xenia blinked in unison.

“Oh, alright. Let’s go, Mide.”

“No. You and Xenia go together.”

“Where should we go? I passed by the central fountain earlier and it looked pretty nice.”

“Stop trying to escape reality.”

Neril’s eyebrows shot up.

“Seriously? You’re really making me wander around with this brat?”

“Neril, thank you.”

“What for.”

“For saying exactly what I wanted to.”

I waved my hands to calm the two down.

“Anyway, I’m going to hole up in my room for a while now. I need to prepare for the operation. Don’t call me until I come out.”

“……”

“Then I hope you two have a good time. When I see you again, I expect you to be close enough to be doing clapping games together.”

With that, I went upstairs.

Behind me, Neril and Xenia were whispering.

“Phew. What do you make of what he just said?”

“Yeah.”

“How is ‘yeah’ even a proper response to that question?”

“Yeah.”

“Is ‘yeah’ the only word you know?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re an idiot, aren’t you?”

“No.”

Wow. They’re already getting along.

Click.

As I closed the door behind me, Trail jumped in.

[Hold it. I think I have seen this pattern before. I’m telling you now—I refuse, even if you beat me to death.]

‘Calm down. Take a deep breath first.’

[Inhale… exhale… inhale… exhale…]

‘Alright, let’s get started.’

[I said no!]

It wasn’t even spoken aloud, but my eardrums rang like he had shouted in them.

I rubbed one of my ears.

‘Relax. I’m not trying to look through dozens or hundreds of secrets like last time. I just want to check the ones between Ariena and Offense.’

[Huh? Do those two even have a shared secret? Ariena was kidnapped by the assassin guild, not by Offense, right?]

‘Well, yeah. But whatever. Just check it first, will you? I’m not asking to look through a whole crowd like with Grey or the Martial King.’

[Grumble… fine. I guess that much is alright.]

Click.

Soon, the screen appeared.

<Current level of the Eye of Omniscience: 2. Secrets of up to C-grade are viewable.>

<Chosen criteria: “Secrets between Offense Dake and Ariena de Main.”>

‘As expected, nothing yet.’

[Yeah. Nothing.]

‘It’ll show up soon enough.’

[…Hey.]

‘Think about it. Offense said he’s going to hide Ariena using some method. That moment, a secret will be born between them, right?’

[…]

‘I need to figure out what method he’s using to hide her so I can prepare a countermeasure.’

Huh.

The screen started shaking a little.

‘You could’ve said you were using the bathroom or something.’

[It’s trembling from shock and horror.]

‘The screen is trembling? That’s how it shows emotion now?’

[So what you’re saying is…]

‘Yup.’

I grinned.

‘I’ll be making viewing attempts continuously, 24 hours a day from now on. Keep the screen up at all times.’

[You’re breaking our agreement!]

‘I only said I wouldn’t look at multiple people’s secrets.’

[Sir. Let’s reconsider. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to check only when you sense something suspicious?]

‘Still switching to honorifics when things go bad, I see. I’ve only got a week, you know. I need to start the operation the moment I find out the secret.’

Trail wailed.

[Uaaaaaaaah.]

A secret finally formed between Offense and Ariena 33 hours into the round-the-clock monitoring.

<Current level of the Eye of Omniscience: 2. Secrets of up to C-grade are viewable.>

<Chosen criteria: “Secrets between Offense Dake and Ariena de Main.”>

Oh?

A secret just about hiding Ariena perfectly rated all the way up to C-grade?

Offense must really be betting everything on this.

[Ahhh. The world is full of beauty.]

‘Come back.’

[Yes. Life truly is beautiful.]

…This won’t do.

Maybe I should take a look around on my own first.

On screen, Ariena was still lying face-down on the bed, her arms and legs bound.

Creak—the door opened, and someone stepped inside.

It was Offense.

Not Offense wearing Deirt’s face, but the real Offense.

‘Still such an ordinary face.’

[Feels like I’d forget it the moment I turn around.]

‘Oh, you’re back.’

[I came to my senses after puking a few times.]

I glanced at the time in the top-right corner of the screen.

Roughly ten minutes earlier.

Onscreen, Offense opened his mouth.

“I’ll remove your gag. Please don’t scream suddenly.”

He slowly removed Ariena’s gag.

As expected, Ariena was quite a clever woman. Content originally comes from Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

Instead of lashing out or struggling, she calmed her breathing and spoke.

“Who are you?”

“……”

“You were sent by my father, weren’t you? He finally decided to just kill me, didn’t he?”

Offense let out a soft sigh.

“Regrettable to meet under such circumstances. I can’t help but pity your situation.”

“……”

“To answer your question, there’s no intention to kill you. You’ll just need to disappear from the world for a week.”

“I already am disappeared, if you ask me.”

“Hmm. Somewhere even deeper than here. A place where neither Mide nor anyone else in the world can reach you.”

Ariena didn’t seem to understand what he meant.

No—she did understand!

“Mide? You mean Sir Mide Mohan, the Sword master of No Killing?”

“Oh? I didn’t expect even a noble lady like yourself to know the name.”

“I heard the stories from Quelk and Lior. What he has done is being called the return of a hero…”

“……”

“So he’s coming here now, isn’t he? To destroy my father’s vile schemes, to stop the war. And to save me.”

Uh… Well.

That’s technically true, but… why does it make my chest ache like this?

[So you do have a conscience left. I’m tearing up over here.]

I ignored the voice and kept watching the screen.

Offense shrugged and said,

“He’s got a few hidden motives too, but if you’re just looking at the surface, you’re right.”

“Sir Mide even defeated the Martial King, the Empire’s tenth strongest. You’d best stop what you’re doing and let me go while you still can.”

“Sigh…”

“Or how about this? Whoever you are—if you let me go now, I’ll give you half the gold and jewels from the territory’s treasury.”

Even Offense couldn’t help but look surprised at that.

His eyes widened as he replied.

“You speak as though you have the right to make that offer. But aren’t you already married off?”

“You really think I can return to the Kitur estate after all this? Even if we manage to prevent war, my husband’s family and mine are already enemies. Luckily or unluckily, I haven’t had a child yet.”

“……Hmph. Even so, offering half the treasury is a wild exaggeration. Count Tobira wouldn’t allow it.”

“He doesn’t need to. I allow it.”

Anyone else hearing that might have laughed.

But neither Offense nor I did.

Because we realized what Ariena’s words meant.

“Are you saying…”

“Yes. I’m going to overthrow my father and become the lord of this land.”

“You’re planning a rebellion?”

“I am. Because he’s committed an unforgivable sin.”

“Well… I can understand being upset about your current situation. It’s only natural to resent your father.”

“That’s not the only reason.”

Grit.

Ariena ground her teeth.

“My nanny was with me when the assassins kidnapped me.”

“Your nanny?”

“Settlia. Settlia Rice! She raised me from when I was a baby. She died trying to protect me.”

Tears welled up in Ariena’s eyes.

As she quickly wiped them away, Offense said something unexpected.

“Ah, the old woman, you mean.”

“…!”

“She’s alive.”

Ariena flinched in shock and blurted out:

“She’s alive? But there’s no way they’d leave a witness alive.”

“I heard it directly from a guild member posing as a coachman here. He said it was the guild master’s order.”

“What?”

“After all, the lord might suddenly turn his back on the guild. They needed a bit of insurance.”

“Ah… So they kept her alive as a witness who knows of my father’s schemes.”

“Very sharp.”

For the first time, a flicker of life returned to Ariena’s face.

Practically clinging to him, she cried out to Offense.

“Let me see her!”

“Now, now. That’s enough. The conversation ends here. Just stay hidden in the shadows for one week.”

“What?”

“If all goes well in a week, I’ll let you meet her.”

That’s when it happened.

The darkness in the room suddenly seemed to deepen.

Especially under the bed where Ariena lay.

“Huh? Wh-what?”

Slide…

Ariena and everything in the room was sucked into that shadow.

Like someone falling into a swamp, she flailed—but she couldn’t escape the shadow.

‘What the hell is that?’

Was that Offense’s trump card?

But he never used it, not even once, before I returned.

Not even in the final battle against that Demon King.

“Please, please! Don’t kill me!”

“I told you, this isn’t to kill you. Is my face really that untrustworthy?”

Your face is more than untrustworthy.

It’s just… entirely forgettable.

Swoosh.

And just like that, Ariena vanished without a trace from the world.

Click.

The footage cut off right there.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep