Chapter 462 Keep the Promise
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
(Shinji’s POV)
”Is Hiroya done too…”
”Yeah… look, that.”
In response to my question, the young Hiroya pointed backward with his thumb.
There, a woman from Giacomo’s crew was sitting down with her back against the ground.
”Don’t kill women. Good mindset, Hiroya.”
Bone was looking down at her and laughing.
”And Bone’s here too, and you still haven’t finished things…”
”Don’t get the wrong idea… I’m not here to help or anything.”
Hiroya spat at Bone, but Bone brushed it off lightly.
”R-Rebecca Raider! Set up the barrier quickly! We’re getting out of here!”
While I was distracted by the exchange between Hiroya and Bone, Giacomo quickly rushed over to the woman Hiroya had been dealing with.
”Hurry up!”
Giacomo grabbed the woman by the neck from behind, and in an instant, their surroundings were engulfed in a black sphere… and vanished.
”Did we let her go…”
”What are you doing, old man?”
”Isn’t it because Hiroya was letting that woman go?”
I shot back at Hiroya, who was blaming me, and sheathed my swords.
Well, I could still track the threads to the mastermind.
”That woman… she’ll be back.”
Hiroya smiled while watching the spot where Giacomo and the woman had vanished.
”What…? Do you have some kind of assurance?”
As Bone touched the floor where the two had disappeared, he asked Hiroya.
”Hmm… it doesn’t seem like magic or anything.”
”Because she promised.”
While examining the traces of their disappearance, Bone murmured softly, and Hiroya answered with a smile.
”Promise…?”
Gargantua, who had witnessed the battle with Giacomo, took a step forward to chase after him as she walked towards the second floor, but I involuntarily turned back and asked Hiroya.
”Return Sasha, Romy, and Della… and apologize to the injured Shinobu.”
”You’re too soft… such a promise──”
Bone is right, it is indeed ‘soft’.
But…
(So typical of Hiroya)
As I thought this, the black orb appeared again, and the woman who was called Rebecca returned.
”See?”
The triumphant face of youthful Hiroya, so similar to the Hiroya I knew well, brought me a sense of relief despite knowing it.
”I’m sorry… I couldn’t defy his orders.”
”Where have you been? Also, can that barrier do ‘teleportation’?”
The woman glanced at Bone, who wore a surprised expression, then turned to Hiroya and bowed her head.
”I will guide you to the location of the kidnapped women. However──I can’t promise to apologize to a woman called Shinobu.”
”What do you mean?”
Hiroya looked down at the woman who was apologizing and asked.
”It’s the ‘slave mark’. If I stray this far from Giacomo, I won’t last long.”
The woman uncovered the cloth wrapped around her neck, revealing the unmistakable slave mark.
”Do you… want to uphold that promise?”
Bone asked the woman with a serious expression.
If it’s in his hands, a curse like the slave mark can be taken care of quickly…
”…I lost, and it’s a promise made with this person. ──Wait! What are you doing?!”
”Stay still…”
Bone approached the woman and held his hand over her neck.
”…’Disenchantment’…”
* * *
(Hiroya’s POV)
Just as Rebecca’s neck began to shimmer faintly, the ‘slave mark’ that had been there moments before vanished without a trace.
”Bone… you have such a skill…”
”There are piles of ancient texts related to that in the royal castle’s library. I read them all through my youth and mastered it.”
Lowering the hand he had raised, Bone returned a smile to me while rolling his shoulder in a gesture of relaxation.
”Anyway, your ‘slave mark’ is gone. You don’t have to obey that guy anymore, and you won’t die.”
”R-Really…?”
With a look of disbelief, Rebecca stroked her neck.
”Thanks for that… ──I delivered Giacomo to Marquis Bausnerun. My ‘barrier’ can teleport as long as it’s a ‘place I can remember well.’ ──But more importantly… of the women we kidnapped, 2 are on the second floor…”
Just as Rebecca said that, a voice came from the stairs leading to the second floor.
”I found the head of the merchant guild, Sasha, and Lady Della!”
Looking up, Rain was coming down the stairs, holding Sasha and Della’s hands.
Rena was following behind.
* * *
”Sir Shinji…!”
”Mr. Hiroya!”
Della quietly hugged my dad, and Sasha jumped into my chest.
”Sorry to keep you waiting… Are you okay?”
”Yes… Thanks to Ms. Della’s delicious talk, nothing happened to them… and she bought us some time.”
Saying that, Sasha buried her face in my chest, looking completely relieved.
”I caught him in another room… Is he one of them?”
Next, Gargantua came down the stairs, dragging a man by the arm.
”Let go! You strong woman!”
”Oh my… Is that not Baron Wal? You seem to be in the wrong place!”
”W-Wait… Troublemaker Bone!?”
The man called ‘Baron Wal’ looked up, astonished, at Bone.
”I’m the captain of the ‘Black Sheep.’ It’s no surprise to find me in Raetia, my base, you know?”
”And… could it be──!?”
Baron Wal turned his head and saw Rain, gasping in shock.
”Oh no… you noticed, huh?”
”Raincrist…Prince Preonhart…”
Though Baron Wal had already been released from Gargantua’s grip, he stood still as if frozen.
”I don’t want to be seen hanging out with Shinji too much, so I’ll take my leave now. ── But I’ll take him with me… is that okay?”
”Well, it’s a clue to trace his connection with Marquis Bausnerun… but, I don’t mind.”
In response to Rain’s cold smile, Dad paused for a moment before replying.
”I’ll look into that later. ── And… I’ll let everyone here know that ‘Baron Wal was never here.’ ── Got it?”
After Rain emphasized that to us, he waved his hand and dragged the man out of the mansion.
* * *
”What will happen to that old man?”
”He’s about to ‘disappear’… he probably won’t show up again.”
Bone answered my question immediately.
I recalled the cold smile Rain had shown earlier and shivered slightly.
(I can’t let the mastermind know that ‘Rain was here and met Dad’…)
It feels like there’s some political scent that I shouldn’t get involved in.
I’ll pretend I know nothing about that old man.
”Next is Romy… seems she’s underground.”
Rena pulled my sleeve from behind.
”Rebecca, how do we get down to the underground?”
”I don’t know… only Bolt has been using the underground, so we haven’t been there.”
Rebecca spread her arms and tilted her head.
”Follow me… the commander of this operation, Bolt Sontag, should be down there too.”
Dad, who was holding Della, turned to me and responded, just as Della looked up at him and began to speak in a hurry.
”Yes! Hurry to Ms. Romy! Bolt… he’s planning to give her a ‘crotch tattoo’!”
”That’s right, Mr. Hiroya! She… has already been marked with a ‘slave mark’…”
Ms. Sasha shouted the same and hurriedly distanced herself from me.
Dad and I exchanged glances and dashed towards the entrance to the underground.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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