NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7
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“Well, Eve. As much as I yelled, there’s just no way for you and me to find Check Writer faster than Leon.”
After hearing about Leon’s terrible plan, Rian couldn’t hold back his boiling anger and shouted, but once he cooled off a bit, he realized that he and Eve couldn’t go up against Leon.
“Leon might be a pile of insecurities taking his anger out on me, but he does have the skills to cover all his shortcomings.”
Rian said this with a sullen expression.
“Rian, you’re really dumb, aren’t you?”
“W-What?!”
Seeing his pathetic face, Eve shot back coldly.
“Think about what you just said. A heap of insecurities who takes his anger out on those he thinks are weaker, yet has undeniable skills.”
“Why… Wait, no way!”
“Exactly.”
[Luka, you’ve always been above me. And I didn’t like that! Your damn condescending gaze looking down on me every day!]
The Betrayer Hero’s tank, Defense.
[Hey, Marcus. To be honest? Our party has become an S-Rank party, hasn’t it? Don’t you think you’re a bit useless? We have to go into S-Rank dungeons every day?]
The swordmaster of Support Disbandment, Ricardo.
“Two villains being schooled by the protagonist.”
“Is that how it was?!”
“You and I, to be honest, don’t really have a strong influence. Riss, who is called the strongest in terms of raw power, and Leon, who is called the strongest in swordsmanship, has had strong influence since before we were born.”
“Yeah…”
“But it’s fine. I have a way to find Check Writer. Baron, as Zech mentioned… a sort of ‘cheat’, you could say.”
“Ooo..? What’s that!”
“It’s nothing special. I placed a tracking spell on Zech.”
“…? Isn’t that something you put on slaves or criminals?”
“Heh heh.”
“No, stop laughing. It’s illegal to do that to civilians according to imperial law—”
“Rian, Zech has said this before.”
“Something…?”
Rian took a step back from Eve, sweating coldly.
Even though they were related, honestly, he was a bit scared.
‘Especially those eyes…’
Even though they had the same parents, unlike Rian, who had blue eyes resembling the emperor’s, Eve had pink eyes that resembled their mother, the empress, which was quite creepy.
“As long as you don’t get caught, it’s legal.”
“…Hah.”
Rian held his forehead, deep in thought.
‘If Riss doesn’t become the emperor, the empire will fall.’
Trash of a First Prince.
Incompetent Second Prince.
A terrifying Second Princess like a dragon in front of her prey.
Only the First Princess could be the lifeline of the empire.
‘Then we need to find Check Writer faster than Leon.’
If Leon finds Check Writer first, his support rating might rise above Riss’s.
‘That can’t happen.’
Rian had even more reasons to find Check Writer before Leon.
“Then let’s see… since it’s too risky for just the two of us, we need to gather some people.”
“Hmm… Is there anyone we can trust?”
“Of course! There’s no one I trust more than this person.”
Eve took out a communication crystal from her pocket with a confident smile.
She infused magic into the crystal and tapped it a few times before a deep male voice came through.
-Greetings, esteemed Second Princess, Eve Nias.
“Long time no see, Zeke. We’re in a hurry, but could you accompany me and Second Prince Rian to find someone?”
-Anything for the Second Princess.
“Ah, that’s a relief. I’ll send you the location, so could you head there first? We’ll catch up quickly.”
-Understood.
After Eve ended the communication, Rian couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked her.
“Zeke… I’ve heard that name somewhere. Could you tell me who it is?”
“Heh, it’s nothing special. Zeke is…”
Zech’s brother.
***
“…This ceiling looks unfamiliar.”
….
“Why does this ceiling seem so strange?”
I quickly sat up and looked around.
“Oh, damn.”
And then I realized I was trapped in a cage.
“Oh, wake up already?”
As I spat out curses, a woman who looked like the leader stared at me with a fierce smile.
“Wow, you’re pretty tough, huh? Hypnosis magic, huh? I heard that was something only ancient demon races used. They say nowadays only high-level mages can pull it off.”
“…What do you plan to do with me?”
“Well, looking at how you’ve taken down our guys, you seem strong, but then again, you just fell with one good hit, so maybe not so much…”
“!! Y-Yeah! How did you resist my hypnosis?!”
All the other thieves had fallen into my hypnosis when I ambushed them and lost consciousness.
“Oh, that? When you told the girl next to you to close her eyes, I did the same.”
“Ah.”
Oh damn. In fantasy, can’t we just pretend we didn’t hear that kind of stuff?
“And by the way, I didn’t hit you on the back of the head.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I heard a thud, so I opened my eyes, and the girl next to you had this dazed look, you know?”
“….”
“Oh, if you check behind you, you’ll see that girl sleeping under the blanket.”
I turned around and saw a bulging blanket that looked like someone was inside.
‘No way, it can’t be her.’
She told me to close my eyes, but she didn’t forget and opened them halfway, did she?
I hope not.
“Ahem.”
In situations like this, if I just play it cool, I might escape.
Let’s lighten the mood a bit.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I gave a slight teary-eyed expression and shouted at the female bandit.
“You plan to do something naughty to me, don’t you?! Just like in those dirty novels!”
“Hmm? How did you know?”
“…Huh?”
What kind of response is that?
This isn’t good.
“Actually, you see, this is our first time stealing.”
“Y-Yeah…”
“But we got lucky to capture a really pretty girl and someone not so bad looking, huh?”
“Well, yes…”
“Our bandit group is all guys except for me, but sadly, they all look downright hideous and are about as charming as an orc without guts. So, no one else is touching that girl.”
“Uh, that’s a relief…?”
“But not for me.”
“W-Wait a minute.”
This seems bad.
“Do you know how torturous it was to live with those ugly bastards? It felt like I was stuck with a bunch of spineless orcs!”
Her eyes gleamed with desire.
“So I’m going to have you.”
“…Honestly, I’m not that good looking either, you know?”
“That’s true, but if you just cut that messy purple hair and get a little exercise, it’d be fine.”
“!!”
She noticed my fringe!
I tried not to stand out by going with the typical otome game protagonist hairstyle!
“But we won’t do anything today, so you can rest easy.”
“Do you think someone in this situation can rest easy..?”
“So what can you do?”
She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a familiar object.
“!! My coin!”
My coin from when I was under hypnosis..!
The female bandit played with my coin, flicking it while tilting her head.
“Why did you bother making a hole in a gold coin? If you need it for hypnosis, couldn’t you use a silver or copper coin instead?”
“It’s supposed to be a gold-colored coin!”
“Really? Tsk. What can you do? I’ll just melt it and sell it.”
“Nooooo!”
She can’t melt my coin from the academy days!
This damn black-haired tanned female bandit..!
“My coin must not be melted!”
“Then should I take your virginity instead??”
“Thinking about it, it’s just a gold coin, I guess I was too complacent. Hahaha.”
“Ha, that’s funny.”
The female bandit stuffed my coin into her pocket and brought a chair from somewhere to sit with her legs crossed.
“Well, since we’ve met like this, shall we introduce ourselves?”
“…Is ‘introduction’ really a thing in this situation?”
“Change ‘introduction’ to ‘lover’ for me?”
“I am Zech Hypno. Just an inconsequential younger son of a baron.”
“Haha, that’s the way! I’m Diana. I’ve formed this bandit group with my buddies from the now-defunct ‘Leaf’ village, and I’m their leader.”
“Ha ha, well, I see.”
“Right. But Zech… Zech Hypno… I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere.”
!! If I reveal my identity here, she might freak out and let me go!
I think my writing is crap, but people in this world seem to love it like crazy.
…To the point of locking me in the royal castle.
“Haha! This is unfortunate! Actually, I—”
“If you’re someone high up, should I eliminate you to destroy the evidence?”
“I’m just an inconsequential younger son of a baron! Yep! Zech is just a common name!”
“Is that so? Well, we have a ‘Jack’ in our bandit group, a name similar to yours…”
Ah, really.
Will I be okay..?
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