Voicing a minor complaint,
“Sorry, but as your bodyguard, Sensei’s safety is my top priority.”
Though saying she was sorry, Cklares seemed satisfied with Norman’s dissatisfaction.
“So then Sensei, why don’t you fully utilize your army medic skills and deduce their identities, personalities, motives, and even what they had for breakfast this morning just from examining the bodies?”
“That’s not really an army medic’s skill. Lonzder could probably deduce their entire dietary habits from today’s breakfast, but…”
Shrugging nonchalantly, he looked down at the hastily arranged corpses again.
An autopsy wasn’t his aim.
It doesn’t matter because CKlares, sitting on the cargo, is the culprit.
“…Hmm.”
He nodded once.
“Although I can still tell some things.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“These guys were likely just some hired thugs or something.”
In their coat pockets were labor vouchers.
The kind you get after finishing a job, which can then be exchanged for cash at labor exchanges. Though small, their addresses were printed on them. There were also loose coins, cheap liquor bottles, betting slips and the like.
“They have really rough hands, so probably construction site labor or factory work. Just some small-time punks you could recruit off the streets.”
“I see.”
She tilted her head slightly.
“From construction work to train hijacking. The unemployed really do have a wide range, don’t they? Quite educational.”
“…There’s nothing wrong with being unemployed.”
“Don’t worry, Sensei. I don’t look down on the unemployed.”
“…Anyway, the fact that small fries are involved means there’s an employer. Maybe they were supposed to retrieve the cargo? Though they’re lightly armed for that role. Were they each just going to grab what they could individually…?”
“But if these thugs came out of a luxury train, it would look pretty out of place, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I agree. The station – just what were they planning to do? —Huh?”
“Sensei?”
Norman seemed to realize something and took out a pocket watch, along with the express train’s schedule for confirmation, and clicked his tongue.
He then pulled out a small book from his coat – his expression unusually stern for him.
“What’s that book?”
“A geography book.”
“I see. That coat of yours really does contain everything, as always. —So what is it?”
“This train isn’t headed for the capital.”
“—Pardon?”
Her pale green and light pink irises narrowed ever so slightly.
“That shaking from before. It caused us to switch from the intended route to an unused line.”
He showed Cklares the geography book.
It was opened to the area they were supposed to be in now.
Taking a pen from his chest pocket, he drew a line on the map.
It curved slightly but was essentially straight.
“This is the intended rail line from the train’s pamphlet. And…we likely switched to the abandoned line around here.”
“Unused meaning?”
“Seems there’s an abandoned coal mine up ahead. Instead of a train hijacking, this is what it was for. Diverting from the main route to an abandoned station makes unloading the cargo easy. They can take the whole thing. That’s why these corpses weren’t prepared to transport anything individually.”
“That’s bold. If the train doesn’t come, it’ll cause an uproar.”
“Even so, it’s enough to recover the valuable cargo.”
He closes the geography book and exhales heavily.
“…Tch, it’s more serious than I thought.”
“More like Unlaws hijacking train?”
“Something like half and half. That too is outrageous, but they’ve prepared more thoroughly than I imagined…”
Not good, Norman feels a sense of impatience.
“…Phew”
He adjusts his hat and gathers his thoughts.
A train hijacking. The murdered town leaders. The snake-like Unlaws. The small-time thugs. Considering the situation, there’s a high chance the main culprit or someone similar is in the engine room. If they’re small-timers, there may be others in the other cars too.
“…If the station’s route was switched, we don’t have to worry about being surrounded by police in the capital. But there’s a chance we’ll be surrounded by ambushers waiting at that station.”
“Then it shouldn’t be a problem, right? I’m here.”
“…Well, I can’t deny that.”
If it was just an ordinary human crime, that might have been fine.
But this is an Unlaws incident.
It’s his job to deal with it, so leaving it alone would hurt Norman’s own evaluation.
Evaluations are important.
He has to earn points, evaluations—he has a reason he must earn them.
Only his sister knows that reason.
“…Alright, Cklares.”
“What is it?”
“Could you do me a favor and not kill any suspects that seem like the main culprit?”
“I’d rather not.”
The fairy chuckled dryly
as she carelessly poked a corpse with her staff, looking amused.
“Like I said before, I’m Norman-sensei’s bodyguard, so your safety is my top priority. That means I’m firmly resolved to kill anything that could endanger you.”
Speaking such dreadful things with an adorable smile. Her response was as expected, but what to do?
“But you’re right. You have your own circumstances, sensei.”
She taps her chin with a slender finger.
“Shall we make a bet, Norman-sensei?”
Twirling her staff elegantly with her fingers, she gracefully lifts her skirt in a curtsy.
“As I said, I want to kill anything that could be dangerous, whether human or Unlaws, because there’s no reason greater than ensuring your safety.”
But,
“I’ll try to understand your situation too, sensei. So if the motive of the likely culprit in the engine room is trivial, I’ll kill them. But if there’s a good enough reason for them to do this, I’ll spare them. How’s that?”
“Is that supposed to be a bet? What are the criteria for ‘trivial’ in this case?”
“We’ll discuss that together.”
“…It feels like I’ll just have to try and convince you not to take the culprit’s role.”
“Kukuku—no.”
The fairy laughed again, shaking her head dramatically with exaggerated gestures.
Doing so amidst the corpses was totally incongruous, inappropriate and flippant.
This guardian wishes to guard what she wants to guard.
But she doesn’t simply guard the treasures she’s meant to protect.
She’s a monster that warps her surroundings, others.
“The culprit’s role belongs to someone else. I’m the monster whose role is to utterly annihilate the fools engaged in wicked schemes.”
Well then.
“I will kill and kill for Norman-sensei’s sake. And I’ll do so with the utmost seriousness. So, sensei, try your utmost to stop me, with equal seriousness?”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
“──── I knew you’d come.”
The engine room they arrived at was more spacious than expected.
The vibrations of the train and sounds of wind were louder than before, the floor constantly shaking.
At the back were the engine room for feeding fuel and the operator’s seat, while the space of a few meters in front had just enough width for two people to squeeze in side-by-side.
The important part was the man sitting sideways in the operator’s seat, right in front of them.
Even sitting, he was a small man. His appearance could hardly be called neat, or bluntly put, he was downright unsightly.
His attire was so-so, neither particularly elegant nor dirty.
Just an ordinary-looking laborer.
The pipe clenched in his teeth was his only distinguishing feature. But that was just a superficial symbol.
At a glance, Norman understood.
An Unlaws.
He had the rough aura unique to those who’ve made violence a daily norm.
His dark eyes looked resigned to everything, but deep within flickered a dull light.
He didn’t seem surprised by Norman and Cklares’s appearance.
Rather, he looked as if he had expected it—
a blasé nod of this being how it would turn out.
“…Oh?”
“…Cklares?”
The fairy, still clinging to Norman’s arm, showed a rare hint of surprise.
Unusual for her.
“…Ah, which of you is the mastermind behind this train hijacking? What’s your aim?”
“Knocker-Cromwell. Yes. To kill you two, or perhaps recruit you.”
“—Pardon?”
“Hm—”
For a few seconds, Norman and even Cklares froze.
That he was the hijacking mastermind was expected.
But his aim being to kill or recruit Norman and Cklares?
Not robbing the cargo or assassinating a VIP?
“Let’s talk, Hamish. We have time, this train isn’t headed for the capital.”
“…You must have switched the route midway?”
“As expected. Let me explain clearly, Norman-Hamish. I was once in the same position as that fairy there.”
“—I see.”
Norman nodded, understanding with that one statement.
“So you were an Unlaws of [Cartesius].”
“That’s right.”
●
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
