Chapter 14.1 (1/2)

Published

at 7th of November 2019 06:46:08 AM

Chapter 14.1

Translator: Kell

Editor: Weasalopes

Transport Preparations

Jill’s hands froze as she was cutting the pie with a knife .

「…Where’d you hear that?」

「Some people were talking about it . 」

「No, no, no, that’s impossible! Like I said before, Morgstad’s murder is highly cla.s.sified information!」

「Apparently the culprit is a young girl . 」

「………」

This time Jill was speechless, her mouth agape .

「…Well?」

「I can’t say . 」

「Here’s the menu . What do you want to eat?」

「There are just some things that you can and cannot say . I can’t say any more as it would be a violation of confidentiality . 」

「What, you think I’m going to misuse the information?」

「I’m sorry…」

「…No, I should be the one apologizing . That wasn’t fair . You’re answering my questions out of goodwill . It would be awful if you were punished because of it . 」

All right, now what? Hikaru thought as he leaned back on his chair .

(If she’s not going to tell me any more, I just have to sneak into the mansion…)

「Why do you want to know? This is indeed big news, but you wouldn’t normally care about a Count being killed, right?」

「Because…」

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「Hikaru-kun . I’m guessing you’re a son of a wealthy family who ran away from home on a whim and decided to become an adventurer so he could survive . Am I right?」

「…I suppose . Yeah, something like that . I don’t have any other means to survive . 」

That, and he didn’t really have a home to return to .

「Does your family have connections with Count Morgstad?」

「No . None at all . 」

「Then why do you care so much?」

I screwed up, Hikaru thought deep inside . Morgstad’s death was much more confidential than he imagined .

「My friend… went through a lot . 」

「…Your friend?」

「Yeah . You could say he was oppressed by Count Morgstad . So I want to know whether he’s alive or not . 」

「………」

Jill stared at Hikaru, studying him . He thought about staring back, then stopped .  If I remember correctly, a person who lies does either of two things: First, they don’t look at the one they’re lying to – they can’t . Second is they try too hard to convince the other person that they’re not lying by staring back intently .

Hikaru looked her in the eyes for just a moment and gave a small nod . He then downed some water .

「 …I don’t feel any malice in your words . 」

Oh, right . Jill did mention being sensitive to the emotions that people hide .  There was probably no need for him to pretend .

「It’s going to be public anyway so I guess I can tell you this… Three days from now, a certain someone will be transported to the royal capital . That’s all I can say about the matter . 」Jill said, exasperation in her voice .

A certain someone… the culprit . It’s that girl, all right . Three days from now… The fact that the Adventurers Guild know about that means…

「Don’t tell me… adventurers will be the convoy ? Why—」

Jill’s kept her attention on the food as if to say “I’m not telling you anything else” . She deftly cut the pie in bite-sized pieces and stuffed herself — each movement extremely smooth and precise like some professional craftsman .

There were knights in the Count’s mansion who are much higher-ranked than the common soldier . So why would they hire adventurers to be the convoy? There’s gotta be more to this…

In the meantime, the Twin Tornado Juice arrived, its container shaped like a round melon and made of metal, with two straws sticking out of it . Two straws .

「Here you go . 」

「…Hmm?」

「Come on . 」

「Wait, what? There’s two straws on this thing!」

「Yes . It’s called “twin” for a reason . 」

「No, no, no, no, no . 」