Vol 2: Chapter 3
My body moved unconsciously.
I jumped down from the roof and landed in a back alley without making noise. I made full use of 【Eyesight Enhancement】,【Night Vision】,【Hearing Enhancement】, and 【Smell Enhancement】, and found no other presence but the assassins.
I wasn’t sure if the nobleman was a villain or not, but I just felt that I had to do something.
「The first one will be for Viscount Nougu who was destroyed by you.」
The assassin readied a crossbow; it is easy to carry and has a high accuracy.
When the arrow was shot, it pierced the nobleman’s left palm. His face distorted in pain, but the nobleman still showed no emotion.
「…Hmm. So the blood flowing through the “Cold-Blooded Lord” is the also red, huh…」
I was already 10 meters behind them when the next arrow was nocked.
The nobleman should have obviously noticed me coming up behind them, but he didn’t even look at me, let alone change his expression.
…Amazing.
The problem was how to defeat those 5. If I made a slight mistake, a professional assassin would kill the nobleman first before running away or intercepting me. If that happens, it would be pointless for me to have come down.
You don’t necessarily need to cast a big magic attack to neutralize people. With the assassins and the nobleman being so close together, the nobleman will also get caught if I use a big magic attack.
I held up my hand towards the assassins. Ping-pong ball sized black stones appeared at my fingertips one by one.
(One, two, three…)
It’s a magic called Stone Bullet, which is the basics of 【Earth Magic】, but that simply forms one stone.
And the original colour of the stone is gray. Mine was black because I imitated the assassins.
(Four, five…)
It is impossible to form stones on all five fingers and maintain them at the same time with ordinary magic control. Even veteran mages are said to have a limit of three.
Surprised look appeared on the nobleman’s face for the first time.
(So that’s how he looks when surprised. I thought he was emotionless, but I’m glad that that’s not the case…)
However, the assassins will surely notice if his expression changes.
「Hmm…? No way! Are the reinforcements her—」
I immediately shot the 5 stone bullets. They hit the back of the assassins’ heads and knocked them unconscious.
Actually, I wanted to mix it with 【Fire Magic】 and shoot “Finger Flare Bomb”. Even the people around me when I was in Japan didn’t know about it, much less the people of this world. “The Great Adventure of Dai” is the best! [1. TL Note: “Adventure of Dai” and “Finger Flare Bomb” is a reference to Dragon Quest.]
The nobleman was stunned by the fact that I neutralized the assassins within moments.
…Hmm, this man is incredibly handsome looking from near.
On the other hand, I was wearing training clothes with patches – torn during training – and a towel hanging around my neck.
If you ignore the blackness of my eyes, my blue-gray hair is common in this world, thus I was not inconspicuous. On a side note, I got this blue-gray hair by making the dye taught by Mimino-san with my own ingredients.
「Who are you?」
…Ah, even the voice sounds handsome. A man blessed by God.
「I’m just a cleaner passing by. By the way, your friends are unable to move due to paralysis poison, so it is unlikely that they will die. As for the assailants, they will probably not wake up for about an hour, but I’ll bind their arms just in case.」
According to 【World Ruler】, there were no problems with the knights or the driver. The knights weren’t members of the Knights Order where my cleaner services are frequently employed. They were most likely knights directly employed by the nobleman.
I skillfully removed the assassin’s mask and tied their arms with it.
「Then, I shall take my leave here.」
Rewards nor thanks were unnecessary. I was eager to leave the place.
Although it was midnight, residents around the area would soon notice, and if I get caught up in an investigation, my cleaning schedules would get delayed.
That.. is just my bullshit excuse.
(Truth is… this man is scary.)
He was calm even when he was about to be killed. And he was staring intently at me.
I felt uncomfortable in his presence.
「Who are you?」
The exact same question as before.
「I’m just a cleaner passing by. Well then.」
It felt like he would repeat the same question forever if I didn’t say something, so I told him that much and quickly left. I ran quite fast, so he couldn’t have followed me–.
Therefore, the rescue scene was not so dramatic.
The problem came after that.
A few days later, in the afternoon, I was called by the dormitory supervisor of the Holy King’s 18th Knights Order.
「Oh, cleaning boy, I’m sorry for calling you.」the dormitory supervisor said. He had a short mustache, and was a little overweight, but looked like a nice person overall.
「His Excellency Earl Sillys wants to request you for “cleaning”.」
A noble wants me for cleaning?
「I guess the heroic name of “Legendary Cleaner” has become popular among the noble society too. Hahahaha…」
「Is that even possible?」
「Sure is. Most of the knights here are relatives of nobles. If they talked about you when they got home, it’s entirely possible.」
「Hmm, I suppose.」
In short, I had been careless.
After that, I changed into my cleaner attire and was taken to a huge mansion which looked like an art gallery, and the nobleman I rescued a few days ago was waiting for me there.
The balcony built with large glass panes was transparent. I wonder how much it cost to get a glass that is so uniform and free of bubbles and impurities? Sitting at a white table and a chair of brilliant red cushion, graciously drinking tea and looking over documents, the Earl was almost like a painting. Two knights stood at attention behind him and three knights were behind me. One of the knights behind the Count was with him during the night of the attack.
Unlike the Holy King’s Knights Order, knights independently employed by a noble have a different appearance. The Knights Order use bright blue colour which is the symbol of the Holy King. Whereas, these knights wore a scarlet mantle and white, metal armor. They didn’t wear it that night, but are wearing it now… Does that mean they’re more alert since that attack?
Since machine manufacturing does not exist, all equipment is one-of-a-kind handmade items in this world. If he can prepare this many of them, then this nobleman must be filthy rich.
The equipment of the Knights Order costs more money, but those are made with taxes.
The Earl’s thin lips parted when he noticed me.
「Thank you for saving my life the other day.」
「…What do you mean?」
From my point of view, there was every reason to be wary of this man who found me with only the small amount of information he had that night.
「I came here because of a cleaning request. From what I can see, the mansion is squeaky clean and the trees in the garden have been pruned nicely. The knights’ armors are also shiny clean, so there doesn’t seem much I can do here.」
「I want to request you to be my daughter’s escort.」
Well, that came out of nowhere.
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