Chapter 11
Thanks for reading~
It has become late at night, and I use metal tempering magic to escape from this underground prison the moment the lookout guard stops focusing.
It has been one month since I was trapped inside the underground prison and two weeks since I regained my sanity. In that time, I had used 【Imitation Heal】and【Looting Heal】many times on different warriors, resulting in me gaining levels and abilities. By using it, I had even gained knowledge and techniques that weren't in their status as well.
On top of that, I had used【Transformation Heal】on myself, optimizing my talent value distribution to a sufficient status.
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Race: Human
Name: Keare
Cla.s.s: Healing Magician, Hero
Level: 34
Status:
MP: 99/99
Physical Attack: 81
Physical Defense: 54
Magical Attack: 63
Magical Resistance: 47
Speed: 79
Level Limit: ∞
Talent Values:
MP: 80
Physical Attack: 130
Physical Defense: 83
Magical Attack: 100
Magical Resistance: 72
Speed: 126
Total Value: 591
Abilities:
Skills:
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This is my current status. My values were optimized to have a vanguard orientated distribution, with high-speed and high-power, while also holding normal physical and magical defense that is higher than the average number.
I have optimized my values so that I will be able to fight multiple enemies by myself because although I'll try to avoid fighting as much as I can, when I will fight, it will definitely be one-to-many. Even though letting it not turn into a fight is the best option, it is still important to prepare for the worst.
Now then, as I don't have much time, I'll get rid of the guard who is currently on the lookout.
Right now, the guard is facing his back to me, and although I unlocked the door without making any noise, I'm sure the guard will notice in a few minutes time.
Therefore… I make a soundless high-speed movement. Even though it isn't established inside my body as an ability, out of the people I used【Imitation Heal】on, there was someone who excelled at scouting, and I'm currently using those techniques to not make noise.
Without any uselessness in my actions, I creep up to his back with smooth movements that remind you of a cat. Humans are even able to do this much by using their techniques, and not having to rely on abilities. I then touch the soldier with my hand and…
"【Deterioration Heal】" (Keare)
The instant death attack that disregards physical and magical defense, 【Deterioration Heal】. By changing their body into a broken shape, I destroy their body. A power that is only permitted to be used by me.
Without being able to do anything, the guard who was on lookout becomes a corpse. He wasn't even able to raise a scream and because it'll make a noise if he collapses onto the ground, I catch him in a way that doesn't make sound and gently rest him onto the ground.
"It sucks that I can't use【Looting Heal】on a dead body though." (Keare)
I complain to myself because【Looting Heal】which lets me steal EXP and magical power, can only target living things. To be safe, I do want to make them instantly die, but if I do that, I won't be able to replenish my magical power. This is quite troubling.
【Deterioration Heal】has bad MP consumption efficiency, as it uses nearly 20 MP for one use. This means that I'm only able to use it 4 times, which means that I have to think about whether to use it or not. Wait no, I've though of a good method to deal with that, so I guess I'll try it out later.
After getting rid of the guard who was on lookout, I decided to hurriedly set out for the office that the guards on lookout use. There is always two people on lookout, as it's a two person system where one of them patrol the floor I'm in, and the other is always inside the office.
(TL Note: Uhh if you read the last sentence of the last chapter, it says "Leaving the cage, I use all my power and start sprinting."… so… the author forgot it seems lol.)
Once they realize that the guard who was patrolling hasn't come back, they'll probably call other people and check this floor in a group. So that no one knows I've escaped, I have to dispose of the other guard.
I took a sword from the guard I had just killed, as if I didn't have one, it would be such a waste of the sword saint’s abilities. The moment I had grasped the sword, the sword saint's abilities validated and I noticed the power that rose inside of me. Now then, I've got no time, so I'll need to do it efficiently.
I stealthily enter the office with the scout's techniques and see that the soldier inside in doing paperwork. Thanks to that, his caution to the outside has become distracted, so from my perspective, all I can see is a sitting duck. Just like before, I sneak around to his back from his blind spot and…
"【Deterioration Heal】" (Keare)
I use【Deterioration Heal】for the second time and the soldier collapses onto the ground. However, the soldier is still alive.
"Fumu, this way is much more convenient after all.【Looting Heal】" (Keare)
This time, I was able to properly steal the EXP and magical power as I had come up with a plan before using【Deterioration Heal】. Instead of completely killing him, I stopped it at just destroying the spinal cord which basically put him in a vegetative state. If it's like this, then I will properly be able to use【Looting Heal】, and it's safe as well.
While I was at it, I also used【Recovery Heal】to get his memories, and confirmed the guard system that they used.
Since my magical power had returned as well, I start my preparations. I take off the clothes that the guard is wearing, and change into them.
"Now then, how much time will I be able to save I wonder." (Keare)
While changing, I start racking my brain. Until the next guard comes to this office, my escape probably won't be revealed, but according to the guard's memories, it will be another hour until the next group of two comes. And as expected once it is time to swap over, my escape will definitely be exposed.
However, if I have that much time, it gives me plenty of time to achieve my objective. While wearing the guard's clothes, I calmly escape out of the current floor that I'm in of the underground prison.
After exiting the underground prison, I then head towards the knights lodging house.
Although it's not a place I need to go if I want to run, if I wear the clothes of a knight, it'll definitely be easier to run past the castle. After all, I have the knowledge and memories of the soldier that I have disguised as, which means there will be no faults in my act.
However, it is not enough with that; I still haven't gotten my revenge against Flare. And to do that, I'll need to use a human that can meet directly with her. That is exactly why I'm taking a detour.
The place I'm heading towards is not just an ordinary knights lodging house. It is the lodging house of Flare imperial guards that only a.s.semble if a n.o.ble tells them to. Because it is her imperial guards, it is convenient because they can meet with her face to face. In my plan, I will make use of the imperial guards
While using the sword saint's abandonment to perceive enemies and the scout's techniques to kill my presence, I walk towards the castle cautiously.
Just because I'm pretending to be a soldier, it's still bad if I stand out. I should try to not get found out as much as possible. I don't want an idiotic situation where I get my ident.i.ty revealed after being blamed for leaving my stationed area.
Leaving the castle, I started heading towards the knights lodging room that was in a separate building, until I began to hear awfully loud noises from inside the castle. It seems that I had spent too much time since I had erased my presence.
"Seems my breakout was finally exposed." (Keare)
I could tell that from sensing a presence that couldn't be called a trivial matter. I should probably a.s.sume that by now, all the knights have been roused out of bed, and given orders to search the inside of the castle and blockade the town gates with a watchman keeping a lookout. On top of that, I should also a.s.sume that they've found the guards that were on lookout.
The people in the castle are most likely thinking something like this. 'Even though he is a hero, his level hasn't even pa.s.sed 10 and he's a drug addict, so even an ordinary knight will have an easy time to beat him'.
And they don't even understand how much of an advantage that misunderstanding gives me. Although it was a bit faster than I had expected, this uproar is still part of my plan. Come on, start uproaring.
While in a soldier's disguise, the moment I took a step into the high-cla.s.s knight's lodging room, I shouted loudly.
"I have come to bring a message to the knights! A prisoner from the underground prison has escaped! Please be on your guard!" (Keare)
I was able to easily enter the knights lodging room under the pretense of coming to give them a message. Because I had a soldier's identification paper and there was this uproar happening, my message was considered as credible.
The person at the reception desk started to thrum the waking up bell to rouse the knights awake. I then explained that there was something I definitely had to tell the captain of the imperial guards, so I confidently entered the room.
The knights also have a social position, so there is a frank difference in treatment between commoners and knights that work for n.o.bles.
The lodging room that I had entered truly lived up to the name of knights that were picked for Flare's imperial knights, and had the kind of stuff that high-cla.s.s lineaged people would use. I could tell that there was a lot of money used for it. Even among those, there was one which is a conspicuously better room than all of them, and I head towards it, but the door had a lock on it.
However, that kind of thing is something that is the same as not being there for me who has the metal tempering skill. I slowly open the door.
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, how did you!?" (Guard Captain) (TL Note: He says it in a way that is really rude/offensive, so I put it as b.a.s.t.a.r.d because I couldn't think of a way to express it.)
I entered when a big man was changing into his armour; I remember what this giant did to me really vividly. This man, is the captain of Flare's imperial knights.
He is the man that I first met after waking up in the underground prison. I had already decided that I would use this man to meet with Flare which I had decided only because he had the most useful position.
I am a very tenacious man who also protects all of his promises.
"20 hits. I have come to return the 20 hits that you gave to me." (Keare)
I smile sweetly towards him. To this man that still hasn't realized anything after all this time, I reach out my hand.
~30 minutes later inside a room in the royal castle~
"You have taken much too long to gather. Can you still call yourself this country's strongest elite knights, my imperial knights!?" (Flare)
"""I am very sorry.""" (Imperial Knights)
Flare's imperial knights had received two messages, which the first one was to be woken up, and the second one was that they were called over by Flare.
Without even caring that it was late at night, the imperial knights formed a line without any disturbance.
"Good grief, how on earth was that dog able to escape in that state." (Flare)
Flare was biting her thumbnail and her boastful peach-coloured hair had unusual split ends. She had somewhat felt fear from the hero of healing which is why the moment she had gotten the message that the hero of healing had escaped, she was unable to calm down. Unable to stay still or stand, she mobilized all her soldiers to thoroughly look everywhere, and even called for her imperial knights.
She already know his status and so she obviously doesn't need to be afraid of it. But even then, she's scared. There is no motive or anything behind it, and it was her sixth sense which she had polished for a long time, telling her of an impending crisis.
"Princess Flare, with all due respect, I have a message for you" (Guard Captain)
With a proud look, the imperial guard captain looked to Flare and opened his mouth.
"In this situation, if it is an insignificant thing, I will get angry you know?" (Flare)
Those words did not just have the meaning of saying she will get angry, it had the meaning that she will give out a punishment under her jurisdiction to him.
"There is a reason to why we were late for your summons." (Guard Captain)
"Are you going to give out an excuse here?" (Flare)
Flare puts on a s.a.d.i.s.tic face because inside of her, the imperial guard captain was about to be marked as useless.
"No, it is not that kind of thing. It's something that princess Flare will surely be overcome with happiness about." (Guard Captain)
"Go on, say it then." (Flare)
A smile that looks like it is mixed with cruelty floats on Flare's face.
"Two messengers had entered our lodging room, and although the second one had a face that we recognized, the first messenger had taken actions to hide his face. Because we thought that it was suspicious, when we tried to see his face, it happened to be the hero of healing himself. We were late coming here because we had to capture him. Honestly, what an idiotic man. To think that he would sneakily enter this country's strongest of knights, princess Flare's imperial knights lodging room." (Guard Captain)
Once he said that, one of the imperial knights pushed out a robed man. With hit marks all over his body, throat smashed, seemingly being unable to talk, a strange whistling noise came out from his nose repeatedly.
"I am quite surprised. I'm really surprised. I wonder what was in his mind when he thought to enter the knights lodging room." (Flare)
Although his face was beaten up really badly, Flare could still tell that it was Keare's face as it still retained some of his features.
"He probably had planned to escape by slipping into the crowd of soldiers, but when he realized that they were on guard, he gave up and decided to hide in an empty lodging room. Truly a man with no wisdom." (Guard Captain)
"Fufu, did he honestly think that such an ill-prepared strategy would work I wonder. Seriously, he is such a dumb trash isn't he." (Flare)
Flare smiles in a good mood since her anxiousness had disappeared after hearing that and became relieved.
"Princess Flare, I have gotten the information of why he tried to escape out of him after I seized him and in there, there was something that I just could not overlook. Even though these people are my subordinates, I'm not sure if I should tell them, so could you clear everyone out for now?" (Guard Captain)
"Is it something involved with heroes?" (Flare)
"Yes, I had trembled the first time I heard it and would certainly like it to go enter princess Flare's ears as well." (Guard Captain)
Flare puts on a thinking posture, and then smiles happily.
"It is fine, but even if we clear out the people, it is still unsecure here. After all, things regarding heroes are top secret, so come to my room. The rest of you can return, and just tossing that trash in the underground prison is fine. I will come later to discipline him so that he won't do it a second time as well." (Flare)
The hero of healing which had become something similar to tattered rags, had tried to open his mouth and say something, but it was sensed by the other knights who then viciously beat him down.
"I don't mind if you hit that thing, but please make sure not to kill it because he can still be used. Go ahead and punish him as much as you want but with some degree of holding back." (Flare)
The knights skillfully avoided fatal wounds, and repeatedly continued a.s.saulting him. It seems that the hero of healing had somewhat been able to not die thanks to Flare. Once the storm of violence had ended, they roughly carried him towards the underground prison.
"Well then, imperial guard captain, please follow me. My room is the most soundproof room in the whole castle, so secret talks are the perfect thing for it." (Flare)
Flare who was in a good mood brings along a maid that isn't suited for escorting, and returns to her room while bringing in the guard captain.
Flare's room was filled with an a.s.sortment of furnis.h.i.+ng that was the best possible quality you could think of. Despite all that, it had all been polished and refined without any dirtiness and you can tell that it was a good taste that was naturally picked up by being part of the royalty.
"Imperial guard captain, you are allowed to enter my room, and isn't there no reward better than that?" (Flare)
"Yes, it is happiness that I am grateful for." (Guard Captain)
The imperial guard captain respectfully shows his grat.i.tude.
"Well then, please talk. I am quite curious about what that trash said." (Flare)
"About that…" (Guard Captain)
The imperial guard captain happily smiles and is not something that you would show towards your master that you serve. It was an extremely wicked smile and in that instant, he pulled out his sword and cut off the necks of both attendants.
The elegance and speed of it was just like the sword saint.
Even though they are Flare's attendants that train themselves to protect her, it would be too harsh on them to tell them to react to that speed.
The imperial guard captain that just slaughtered the two attendants raised the corners of his lips and has his eyes s.h.i.+ne brightly. With the hand that wasn't holding a sword, he holds it up in the air and strikes the direction that Flare is in.
Flare then gets blown away into the wall, gets kicked, and crumbles down. The imperial guard captain then rides of Flare as if horse riding, and tightly grips onto her face.
"【Looting Heal】" (Guard Captain) (TL Note: Well.. we all know who it is by now, but I can't reveal it until he reveals himself right?)
All the magic power inside Flare gets extracted from her and she completely falls into a panicked state. My face hurts, the man in front of me is scary, I don't know what's what anymore.
"Flare, even if you are the hero of magic, without magic power, you are the same as any weak girl. It's fine if you resist you know." (Guard Captain)
"Imperial guard captain, exactly what is your purpose?" (Flare)
"Imperial guard captain? Ah you're talking about me right." (Guard Captain)
The imperial guard captain has a vacant look, and then starts loudly laughing.
"Oh, so you hadn't even realized yet.【Transformation Heal】" (Guard Captain)
The imperial guard captain uses magic and his body becomes smaller first. And then his face quickly changed into a face that she was surprised at.
"You're most hated, cute doggy, Keare-kun has come to play. Because I was lonely, I escaped out of a prison to meet my master! Just kidding. Ahahahahahaha." (Keare) (TL Note: He uses katakana for the second sentence to kind of show that it is childish, and even uses a childish version of 'I'.)
The person who Flare had scorned, called a dog and given miserable rags, it was the real thing, Keare. Yes, Keare had used【Transformation Heal】on himself to change his appearance and the person from before who had rags put on him with a broken throat was the true imperial guard captain.
Flare finally understands the current situation after coming here. Her attendants are dead, and she is together with the man who has the biggest resentment towards her in the most soundproof room in the castle. On top of that, she has her magical power taken from her, so she can't even use one elementary level magic.
Flare's face distorts into fear, and Keare's smiles becomes even more wicked. Right now at this moment, a tragedy was about to occur.