Chapter 327 The Trace of the Outworlder Part ②
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”An ihomono?1“
The phrase met an ihomono practically leaped off the page, making me stop in the middle of my translation. Curious, I quickly read ahead.
(Her name is Frau. She claims to come from a world completely different from my own. At first, I thought she was just another con artist preying on vulnerable ihomonos. But the moment she removed the cloth wrapped around her forehead, all my doubts vanished. Right in the center of her brow was a perfectly round eyeball that never blinked and had no eyelid.
It reminded me of an anime character I had seen as a child, but seeing something like that in real life sent a chill down my spine. She clearly knew how unsettling she looked and waited nervously for my reaction, her face full of fear and anxiety. I have been in this world for about three weeks now, and I have never seen a race with features like hers. Still, this is a world where magic exists. It would not be strange if there were races I simply had not encountered yet. I think I will travel with her for a while and see what happens.)
”A three-eyed race? I have never heard of anything like that,” I said, turning to the side. “What about you, Niya-san?2“
”You ask me as though I should know, but you stopped translating halfway through and read in complete silence,” Niya-san replied with her posture perfectly straight. “I would greatly appreciate your discretion, as we currently have no way of knowing what the text says.”
”Ah! Right, sorry! Well, it looks like there was a woman claiming to be an ihomono who had an eyeball on her forehead. Have you ever heard of a race like that?”
”A race with an eye on their forehead?” Niya-san mused, her voice calm and refined. “I have heard of monsters with such features, but I must admit, a person possessing one is entirely outside my experience.”
”Yeah, I figured… A three-eyed ihomono, huh?”
My thoughts drifted back to what the Divine Spirit Tree had told me in the elven village. Ihomonos were people summoned into this world against their will by gods seeking knowledge or power from other realms. If this three-eyed woman was also an ihomono, then she must have possessed some kind of valuable skill or knowledge.
(Wait… if that is true, then Masa… I mean, Masayoshi-san… was an ihomono too. That means he had something the gods wanted. And if that is true, then…)
”Neil-sama?3 Is something the matter?”
”…Sorry. I got lost in thought. Let us get back to work.”
Shoving the horrible realization into the back of my mind, I forced myself to continue translating.
(Day twenty-one since the teleportation. We arrived at the royal capital and immediately applied for a transit pass. The application went through without any issues, but they said it would take several days to issue. Frau did not want to attract attention, so she stayed behind to watch our room at the inn while I handled the paperwork alone. With nothing to do until the pass was ready, I decided to explore the capital. While walking around, I overheard a troubling rumor. The authorities appear to be searching for a three-eyed ihomono. Based on the description, it can only be Frau.)
”It seems this ihomono named Frau possessed something the kingdom considered valuable,” Niya-san observed in her usual composed manner wa.
”Valuable enough to actively hunt her down,” Momoka-san added, her voice bursting with energy. “Nah bro, that is actually low-key insane. She must have had some crazy-high-tier knowledge or a totally cracked ability.”
(I returned to the inn and pressed Frau for answers. Though hesitant and stumbling over her words, she finally told me the truth. The eye on her forehead possesses a special power. It can read the hearts of anyone she looks at and hypnotize those who make direct eye contact with it.
Once the authorities learned about her ability, they tried to force her into their service. Rather than become a tool, she hypnotized them and escaped. When I first heard they were hunting her, I worried she might have committed a crime, which would have put me in a difficult position given my past as a detective. Learning the truth brought an overwhelming sense of relief.)
”As a detective,” huh…
Knowing Masayoshi-san would one day become the infamous Crime King made those words hit harder than they should have. A cold dread settled over me, and I dreaded what I might find next, but I could not stop now.
Contrary to my fears, the diary described several peaceful days during which Masayoshi-san and Frau steadily grew closer. It seemed Frau was also planning to leave the kingdom and head for the Republic.
(Day twenty-eight since the teleportation. The transit pass was finally issued. We were delayed longer than I expected, but we can finally leave the kingdom behind. The main concern now is making sure Frau is not discovered. Over the past few days, I have listened carefully for rumors about the three-eyed ihomono in the capital. Strangely, the only details anyone seems to know are that she is female and has three eyes. No one knows her age, hair color, or hairstyle. The information is strangely limited, but it works in our favor. Her third eye is hidden beneath a cloth bandage, and I bought her a hooded cloak just to be safe. It should not be easy to identify her.)
”How strange.”
Hearing Niya-san’s quiet comment, I looked up from the text.
”Strange? You mean the lack of information about Frau’s appearance?”
Niya-san shook her head, her expression unusually tense.
”That is certainly odd, but what concerns me more is how they ended up traveling together. According to this diary, Masayoshi had only recently been betrayed and was deeply distrustful of others. I cannot see why he would trust her so quickly. If there were a compelling reason, surely he would have recorded it.”
”Hmm, I do not know about that. It is a diary, right? People write those for themselves, not for an audience. It makes sense that he would leave things out. Maybe he just skipped over it, or maybe they bonded because they were both ihomonos stuck in the same situation.”
”I certainly hope that is all it is,” Niya-san replied softly, maintaining her usual dignified distance. “Forgive me for interrupting. Please continue the translation.”
Though clearly troubled, she kept her concerns to herself and urged me to continue.
Despite Niya-san’s suspicions, the diary showed that Masayoshi-san’s relationship with Frau only continued to deepen.
(It’s a road I have traveled before, but having a companion changes everything. I suppose I was far lonelier than I wanted to admit. Traveling with another person means higher expenses, yet the idea of going back to traveling alone no longer crosses my mind.)
(Frau heard about a festival being held in a nearby town. It is not on our route, and taking a detour would cost us both time and money. We should be heading straight for the border and the Republic. Still, things have felt so tense lately that perhaps making room for a little happiness is exactly what we need.)
(…Who am I kidding? That is just an excuse. The truth is that I could not stand seeing the disappointment on Frau’s face when I told her we could not stop.)
(An otherworldly festival is quite the experience. I expected something closer to a traditional Japanese festival, so the differences caught me completely off guard. Even so, a celebration is a celebration. Any awkwardness Frau and I felt disappeared almost immediately. Before long, we were linking arms with the locals, laughing, and enjoying ourselves from the bottom of our hearts. I originally treated the detour as little more than a chance to relax, but the experience reminded me how important simple joy can be. I owe Frau my thanks.)
(Before going to sleep, Frau and I stayed up talking about our home worlds. She became especially interested when the conversation turned to food. My complaints about the local cuisine probably made my descriptions sound more passionate than intended, but good food truly is a universal language, no matter what world you come from.)
(If the Republic really is a gathering place for displaced ihomonos, perhaps I will meet someone from my own world. If that happens, I might finally be able to treat Frau to the authentic cooking of my hometown.)
(It is a strange thing, but Frau constantly reminds me of Masato and Akemi. She is too mature to compare to my son and far too young to resemble my wife. Yet despite her adult appearance, her carefree laughter is exactly like Masato’s. And whenever I try to hide my worries behind a brave face, she sees right through me and offers comfort just as Akemi always did.)
(Projecting the image of my son and wife onto a young woman more than ten years younger than me feels incredibly disrespectful. Am I accidentally committing some form of sexual harassment here?)
(Perhaps it is because I have finally found some peace of mind, or perhaps it is because we keep sharing stories about our old worlds, but memories from before the teleportation have been returning more often lately. I wonder what happened after I disappeared. Am I listed as a missing person, or has my existence been erased entirely? The latter would probably spare my family more pain… but wishing they would remember me is a selfish desire I cannot let go of da.)
(Apparently, keen observation is not Frau’s only talent. I thought I was doing an excellent job maintaining a stoic expression, but she suddenly asked whether I was doing all right. It is pathetic, especially with the border crossing tomorrow na.)
(From everything I have heard, the Empire is a nest of deception where everyone, from the highest noble to the humblest citizen, survives by tricking someone else. If I cross the border in my current state, I will be swindled immediately and drag Frau down with me. I need to get a grip yo.)
”Is the Empire really seen as a nation of con artists by outsiders?” I asked, glancing up from the diary.
”Well, considering that the Imperial Nobles who govern the nation behave in exactly that manner, it is hardly surprising,” Niya-san replied with an elegant sigh wa. “Merchants who deal with those nobles naturally become cynical in order to survive, and the commoners who buy from those merchants adopt the same mindset. It is an unfortunate truth that our people are far more suspicious than those of other nations.”
”Honestly, we got scammed, like, twenty-four-seven when we first spawned here, so his diary is totally facts,” Momoka-san said, shaking her head. “But look at those two. They are giving major bestie energy. I am telling you, Niya, your suspicious vibes were totally an L.”
”…Yes. It would be wonderful if my concerns turn out to be completely unfounded.”
Even then, Niya-san could not quite hide the anxiety in her voice. Momoka-san and I simply assumed she was being overly cautious. Thinking nothing more of it, I reached out and turned the page.
The instant we did, we froze.
”Huh…?”
The new page looked nothing like the entries that had come before it.
The first thing I noticed was a massive black ink stain. It stretched across both pages of the open notebook, though the right side was far worse. The mark on the left was probably just an imprint left behind when the notebook had been closed before the ink on the right page had fully dried.
Then there was how short the entry was. Up until now, every page had been packed with text from top to bottom, with at most two blank lines left at the end. But on this two-page spread, the writing on both sides did not even fill half of one page. Even the handwriting was shaky, far more uneven than it had been when the border guards swindled him out of his money.
(‘How could this happen? I trusted you. Was this your plan from the very beginning? I cannot even clear my head. My thoughts are a mess. What am I supposed to do?’)
”Ah—”
A breath caught in my throat. The raw despair in those words struck me hard enough to steal my breath, and without thinking, I shifted my gaze to the right-hand page.
(‘I have lost everything. Every item that looked worth a dime, the gold coins I kept hidden away, my transit pass… it is all gone. Where do I go from here? Frau, what were you really trying to accomplish?’)
The entry on the right felt different, as though he had let some time pass before putting pen to paper again. The situation was no less disastrous, but I could tell he had at least managed to regain some control over himself.
”Neil-sama, what does it say?” Momoka-san asked. “Nah bro, that is actually insane.”
”It does not give many specifics, so I am filling in the blanks here,” I answered carefully. “But it looks like Frau-san tricked him. She stole his money, along with the trousers and leather shoes he had been saving for an emergency.”
”What?!” Momoka-san gasped, completely blindsided.
”So it turned out exactly as I feared,” Niya-san remarked, her expression hardening into a grim, knowing look. “I understand.”
”Niya-san, why were you so suspicious of her in the first place?” I asked.
”As I mentioned before, the fact that he allowed a complete stranger to travel with him so easily, right after being deceived by others, felt unnatural,” she explained with calm poise. “Furthermore, the journal noted that the girl possessed the ability to hypnotize anyone who made direct eye contact with her. It occurred to me that she might have used this hypnosis to force the journal’s owner into letting her accompany him. But what truly struck me as strange was that he never once questioned why they were heading toward the border together when he had not even obtained a transit pass for her.”
”Oh!”
Now that she mentioned it, it made perfect sense. When Masayoshi-san had returned to the royal capital to secure a transit pass, he had only obtained one for himself. Frau-san was a target of interest for the kingdom, so she could not possibly have received one. There was no way Masayoshi-san, as her traveling companion, would have failed to notice that. Of course, I did not expect him to record every detail in a limited memo pad, and he might have left some things out on purpose. But based on everything we had read so far, Masayoshi-san consistently recorded his thoughts and doubts. If he had suspected anything about her lack of a pass, he almost certainly would have written it down.
”If we assume she placed him under hypnosis, many of the pieces fall into place,” Niya-san continued, leaning forward. “Yet even with that assumption, several details remain inconsistent. If her goal from the very beginning was to steal his transit pass and valuables, why did she not take them the moment he received the pass? If she could hypnotize him at will, she could have robbed him at any time. One could argue she was playing the obedient companion for protection, knowing how dangerous it is for a woman to travel alone, and waited until they were near the border to strike. But if that were the case, her decision to take detours along the way makes no sense. Her actions contradict one another, and I cannot read her true purpose. It is almost as if… she possesses a second personality.”
The confusion Niya-san was trying to untangle was likely the same riddle that had tormented Masayoshi-san. His pain was laid bare in that single, agonizing line: (‘Frau, what were you really trying to accomplish?’)
(…I have no idea what Frau-san was thinking,) I murmured, (but what worries me more is what Masayoshi-san did next. Looking at this spread, there is no way he was in a stable state of mind.)
”Do you think he snapped his pen in a fit of rage, and that caused the ink stain?” Momoka-san asked, tracing the edge of the dark blotch with her finger. “Like, is it low-key giving anger issues, or something…?”
”I do not know,” I replied. “It does not really look like that kind of splatter to me.”
”Wait a moment,” Niya-san said, studying the paper closely. “This ink… did it not bleed through from the other side?”
”The other side?”
Prompted by her observation, I flipped the page. Once again, I noticed a sharp contrast from the earlier entries, but this time, the reason clicked into place at once.
”Did his pen change? Is this… a quill?”
The steady, even lines of the ballpoint pen he had used until now were gone. Starting from this page, the text was written in the clear strokes of a familiar quill pen. It seemed the glaring ink stain was not proof of violent rage after all. He had simply made a mess during his first attempt at using a quill. It was incredibly misleading.
”If he changed pens, does that mean his old one ran out of ink?” Momoka-san asked, shifting her weight. “Wait, that is actually mid if it just died on him.”
”No. Looking at the previous page, the ink was not fading or scratching out at all, so I doubt it,” I reasoned. “Maybe translating the next part will give us an answer.”
’Third Tuesday of the Water Star Week4, Year 2081. It has been a very long time since I last wrote in this memo pad. In my original world, a full year would have passed by now. But in this world, where a year lasts four hundred and forty-five days, I suppose I have not quite reached the one-year mark yet. That means it has been less than a year since I settled down in this village near the Theocracy border. When I look at it mathematically, it has not been as long as it feels. So much has happened since that day that time itself seems to have stretched out, making the gap feel far longer than it actually is.’
”Wow, the story jumped forward a lot more than I expected,” Momoka-san remarked. “Like, that is a whole time skip, no cap.”
”It appears well over three hundred days have passed since the girl betrayed him,” Niya-san noted calmly. “Furthermore, he seems to have settled permanently in a village somewhere.”
”I wonder if he ever managed to escape the kingdom,” Momoka-san said.
”Probably not,” I replied, shaking my head. “In most cases, documents like a transit pass are not reissued if there is a risk they were stolen for illegal use, so he likely could not leave. Besides, according to the rumors we heard, the Crime King’s main base was located inside the kingdom.”
”It looks like the account is about to grow quite long again,” Niya-san observed gently. “Perhaps you should pause here and rest? I will handle the logistics.”
(…No. Please let me go on just a little longer.)
It was true that we had already translated a lot. Given the number of pages left, we could easily stop here and still finish the notebook within our original two-day schedule. Even so, my need to know what happened next burned too strongly, pushing me to keep translating.
’It seems the crops harvested last season are not selling nearly as well as we hoped. We had an unprecedented bumper crop, leaving us with far more than the village can consume on its own. Unfortunately, the same thing happened everywhere else, completely flooding the kingdom’s market. Our only real option is to sell to other countries, but exporting to the Theocracy, the closest nation to us, is not realistic. Though things have cooled down recently, the Theocracy and the kingdom remain locked in a cold war, so fighting could break out again at any moment. To make matters worse, the Theocracy bans all imports from the kingdom, claiming our crops have been altered by the hands of the “ihomono.”5 I cannot begin to understand why they hate the ihomono so deeply.’
’Otto brought me a rather shady proposal today. Theocracy law strictly bans any goods related to the ihomono, but human nature dictates that the moment something is forbidden, people want it even more. Apparently, plenty of wealthy factions within the Theocracy are willing to pay absurd prices for black-market goods. A few people from the neighboring village tried to smuggle crops across the border recently, but they were caught. Their methods were so crude that it is a miracle they were not caught sooner. Then again, since this world’s civilization is stuck in the Middle Ages, I suppose that lack of skill is inevitable. But as I thought about their failure, a terrifying idea crossed my mind. If I use the knowledge of criminal methods I built up during my career as a detective, smuggling would be simple. I already crossed that line when I sold my ballpoint pen. There is no returning to the man I was when I wore the badge. Now is the time to repay the villagers who saved my life.’
”Ah, I see. He sold his ballpoint pen,” Momoka-san said as realization dawned on her. “That is why the journal broke off so suddenly back then. But what does he mean when he says he ‘crossed that line’ just by selling a pen? Like, is it that deep?”
”It means the author committed a crime,” Niya-san stated flatly. “In all probability, it was fraud. Unlike a quill, a ballpoint pen requires no inkwell and no mastery of pressure. It is a tool that writes smoothly for a very long time. He likely presented it as a magical artifact and swindled someone out of a fortune. I understand the mechanics of these situations.”
”Even if it was an emergency, and even if he needed it to survive, I doubt that makes Masayoshi-san feel any better,” I added softly.
He had been a detective. His sense of justice must have been far stronger than the average person’s. For a man like that to be forced into crime just to survive, the weight of that regret was something I could not even begin to measure.
’It was almost sickeningly easy. The mountain of surplus crops vanished overnight, replaced by a massive flood of gold. Seeing how simple it is, I can finally understand why people lose the will to earn an honest living and turn to crime instead. Yet even as I try to justify it, disgust keeps rising inside me. It seems that no matter how far I fall, I cannot fully tear away the detective I used to be. Or perhaps, in some pathetic corner of my soul, I still believe I am one. If that is true, what a sick joke.’
”It appears he has fully immersed himself in smuggling now,” Niya-san observed. “Yet because he cannot fully throw away his sense of justice, he remains trapped in a miserable compromise.”
(…In the end, Masayoshi-san could never truly let go of the detective he once was. Not even at the very end,) I said.
My eyes drifted to the police badge resting on the edge of the desk. Though it showed clear signs of age, it was in remarkable condition for something more than a century old. The same was true of the memo pad. Both items had clearly been preserved with deep care.
’The village has grown wealthy beyond recognition, completely changed from what it used to be. Only Otto and the few people who actively help me know the truth behind our sudden fortune. The rest of the villagers remain unaware, believing we are simply traveling long distances as merchant traders. Because of that innocence, every time they offer me their pure, heartfelt thanks, I feel crushed under the weight of both achievement and guilt. Otto tries to comfort me, saying that everything we do is for the sake of the community. But no matter who benefits from our actions, it does not change the truth. We are criminals.’
’Word of our smuggling route seems to have leaked somewhere, and more groups have started copying our exact methods lately. It will soon be time to abandon this route and switch to a different strategy. As a former detective, admitting this disgusts me, but fortunately, I understand the workings of criminal enterprise far better than the criminals themselves do. I will make sure we never leave a trail, and I will absolutely never let my actions bring ruin to the people of this village.’
’The people using our old methods were caught by the Theocracy. When a trick gets out, it does not only spread among the people exploiting it. The people being exploited learn about it, too. The moment a method becomes known, the risk of using it rises sharply. Apparently, they pinned our past smuggling operations on the group that was caught.
I heard they are almost certain to face the death penalty. I could not brush it off as “only crops.” Just because we smuggled agricultural goods does not mean the same methods could not be used for anything else. I am certain the loopholes we used have already been used to move weapons and illegal drugs. And the new methods we are using now? Eventually, someone will adapt them for guns and narcotics, too. Knowing all that, yet still claiming I do it “for the villagers,” makes me the lowest kind of criminal.’
Lately, he seemed to think about Masato often. Five years had already passed since he came to this world, yet his memories from before the teleportation had not faded at all. You would think that after five whole years, a man would lose at least one piece of the past, but his memories from before that day remained as clear as ever.
He could perfectly recall the conversation he had with Akemi over evening drinks the night before it happened, right down to the side dishes they had eaten. Was that stubborn clarity born from his guilt, a constant reminder never to forget the detective he used to be?
A memory from twenty years ago came back to him in a dream. Masato had been standing in the living room, reading aloud an essay he had written for his elementary school presentation. It was about how his dad was a detective, a champion of justice. Masayoshi-san had found it painfully embarrassing, but Masato had read it with his chest puffed out, so full of pride.
(I’m sorry, Masato. Your father isn’t the champion of justice you were so proud of anymore. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so—)
”……”
”Neil-sama?” Momoka-san asked, her voice suddenly small. “Is something wrong?”
Heavy drops splashed onto the hand still clutching my pen. They were my own tears. When Momoka-san saw them, she called my name in alarm, while Niya-san stepped forward to stop me, her voice carrying the rigid deference of a Victorian servant as she recognized how unstable I had become.
”Neil-sama, let us call a halt to this evening’s labors,” Niya-san urged softly. “The night has grown exceedingly late, and any further strain shall undoubtedly prove detrimental to your duties on the morrow.”
”I know. I know that,” I replied, my voice shaking as I wiped my eyes. “But please… let me continue.”
At first, I had only taken on this task to save Betty. But as I worked through the text and came to understand the man known as Masayoshi Sudo, a completely different feeling had taken root inside me.
”It infuriates me,” I hissed, my tears falling onto the page as the ink bled into the paper. “It makes me sick that a man who was so thoroughly consumed and tortured by his own guilt is remembered by the public as the ‘Crime King.’ I will not allow them to claim he acted with malice and greed when he was forced to act against his own heart!”
Masayoshi Sudo was not the worst criminal in history, no matter what the world claimed. I wanted to prove that. Driven by that burning resolve, I forced my pen back to the parchment and continued the translation.
===
Author’s Note:
Can you believe it? At first, I actually thought about combining this with the previous chapter into a single update… Talk about poor foresight; I’m just a total idiot.
The anime reference6 mentioned in the text is “三つ●がとおる”7, yeah, he has an eyeball right on his forehead like that.
—
Summary:
Reading further into the translated record of the Crime King’s history, Neil discovers his initial encounter with a bizarre three-eyed woman named Frau. Despite Masayoshi’s deep mistrust stemming from recent betrayals, he quickly accommodates her as a companion due to her emotional support and escape from the state apparatus. Niya-san senses a narrative inconsistency in his quick emotional intimacy, pointing toward an underlying shift before a sudden cliffhanger halts the reading process entirely.
Moving through the journal entries, the translation team uncovers Seiji’s sudden downfall after being completely stripped of his possessions by Frau. Stranded inside the kingdom’s borders due to his lost transit pass, he gradually integrates into a border village facing extreme crop surpluses. Utilizing his investigative knowledge of criminal methods, Seiji initiates a highly successful smuggling enterprise into the neighboring Theocracy, leaving his psychological struggle between his internal sense of justice and his actions completely unresolved.
Neil continues deciphering the tragic records of the former detective Masayoshi Sudo, experiencing severe emotional collapse from the sheer weight of Sudo’s written despair. Tears spill onto his workbench as his companions Momoka and Ms. Niya notice his breaking mental state and attempt to coax him into resting. Refusing to step away, Neil declares his absolute resolve to clear the name of the man falsely vilified by history as the merciless Crime King.
—
Trivia:
Masayoshi was a detective in his original world before being transported.
The Empire is generalized by neighboring regions as an open nation of mutual fraud.
Frau’s eye can read hearts and induce physical hypnosis through eye contact.
The local government selectively suppressed physical descriptions of Frau beyond her third eye.
Seiji’s world operates on an extended calendar system of 450 days per year.
The ink stain on the journal’s spread was caused by his unfamiliarity with a quill pen rather than a violent outburst.
The current village location sits directly along the cold-war border zone separating the Kingdom and the Theocracy.
The term Crime King originated from Seiji’s logistical operations within the territory of the kingdom.
The original ballpoint pen was sold under fraudulent pretenses as an endless magical writing instrument.
Masayoshi Sudo has been in the alternate world for exactly five years since his teleportation.
The text explicitly establishes that Sudo’s previous operations were pinned entirely on a newly captured smuggling ring.
Sudo’s memories of his original family, Akemi and Masato, remain completely vivid without any typical memory degradation over time.
Neil’s primary initial motive for translating the journals was solely to secure the safety of Betty.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Frau – An outworlder possessing a round, unblinking third eyeball in the center of her forehead covered by a cloth bandage, capable of reading hearts and hypnotizing others.
• Niya-san – The one who command the group. Her abilities include mutual sharing of vision and hearing and telepathic communication.
• Niya – Niya is an elegant, skeptical elf from the elven village and a former soldier who leads the Ihomono group beyond the frontier. Utilizing telepathy and shared senses, she maintains a stern, protective focus on security and training. She carefully monitors Seiji’s records while providing formal oversight for Neil, intervening in his care and harboring deep structural suspicion regarding Frau’s past.
• Masayoshi – Masayoshi Sudo is a former detective from another world who was teleported here five years ago. To protect his villagers, he became entangled in a dangerous smuggling network, an act that led the world to brand him the “Crime King.” Though viewed as a notorious criminal, his actions are driven by a desperate loyalty to those under his care.
• Neil – An analytical young Empire noble and outworlder who hides his identity as an ihomono while serving as a translator. Balancing his life managing a frontier settlement with investigating dark truths, he uses modern knowledge to decode records of Masayoshi Sudo and Seiji. Alongside Lady Niya and Momoka, he navigates complex social divides to uncover the sinister reality of the world’s summoning system.
• Momoka – A young, expressive associate of Ms. Niya and the group’s strongest member, this young woman serves as a translator alongside Neil. She approaches historical texts with a casual, modern perspective and shares a close bond with Neil, often observing him with deep concern. Aware of his status as an ihomono, she has absorbed the MC’s Crimson and is keenly attuned to his hidden emotions.
• Masato – The son of Neil from his past life who read an essay about his father being a detective and a hero of justice twenty years ago.
• Akemi – The wife or partner of Neil from his past life with whom he shared an evening drink the night before his teleportation.
• Masayoshi Sudo – Masayoshi Sudo is a former detective from another world who was teleported here five years ago. To protect his villagers, he became entangled in a dangerous smuggling network, an act that led the world to brand him the “Crime King.” Though viewed as a notorious criminal, his actions are driven by a desperate loyalty to those under his care.
• Betty – A grey-haired Lycus tribe member born without her left arm, she was labeled malformed and raised ignorant of sex education due to her tribe’s eugenics. After going missing for weeks, she was discovered in a noble’s manor by Neil, who originally set out to save her through his translation work. She is the sister-in-law of Foru-tis.
• Sudo – The family name of Masayoshi, indicating his background as a professional investigator.
• Seiji – A former detective from another world whose private thoughts, written across the pages of a memo pad, reveal a gradual descent into systemic smuggling operations.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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