Chapter 36

Hikaru left the Adventurers' Guild and headed to a certain place.

While walking, he thought about various things.

(…The "Four Stars of the East" searching for Ravia, huh. That's certainly unexpected.)

Unken's office. He had been listening to the conversation through the door.

He had already confirmed Soluz's Soul Board.

【Soul Board】 Soluz = Rande

Age 19, Rank 41

2

【Vitality】

【Natural Recovery】 6

【Stamina】 5

【Immunity】

【Magic Resistance】 1

【Toxin Immunity】 2

【Strength】

【Strength Level】 3

【Weapon Proficiency】

【Sword】 5

【Shield】 4

【Armor】 3

【Agility】

【Burst Power】 4

【Balance】 3

【Mental Power】

【Mental Strength】 4

【Faith】

【Holy】 5

【Charisma】 3

【Appeal】 3

He thought she was strong.

Of course, she wasn't as strong as the Knight Commander Lawrence, who had the nickname "Sword Saint." Her fighting style was also different from Lawrence's. While Lawrence relied on beast-like intuition and strength to take down opponents with a single blow, Soluz was probably a speed type.

(Well, if we faced each other head-on, I wouldn't stand a chance anyway.)

In a one-on-one fight, Hikaru would lose, but he had the confidence that he wouldn't lose in a fight where anything goes.

Lawrence had "intuition," but Soluz didn't. Her detection ability was at the level of an average person.

(…A party, huh.)

The "Four Stars of the East" was a party of four women.

If that was the case, it was reasonable to assume that there was a member with excellent detection skills.

Serica, who seemed to be a transmigrant, had monster-like stats. One of the remaining two members must be able to detect things.

Lawrence was strong on his own, but the "Four Stars of the East" needed to be evaluated as a team of four.

While thinking about this, Hikaru arrived at the underground sewer area—he had come to meet Kerbeck of the Thieves' Guild.

The air was still damp, and he faintly detected a sweet scent, as if a bat had brought some fruit.

In a corner of the underground sewer area, in the residential zone, Kerbeck was in the back room.

"Hey, Kerbeck."

"Whoa!?"

Kerbeck, who had been bent over his desk flipping through documents, jumped back and cried out.

He was a man with a distinctive red, flame-like tattoo running from his forehead to his right cheek, neck, and body.

"Y-You… I told you before. Come from the front next time."

"No, I didn't meet anyone."

"Still… whatever. What do you want? You and that guy earlier, you're both disrespectful brats."

"Earlier guy?"

"Yeah, there was a woman with fluffy hair. A bit older than you. Didn't you pass her?"

"……"

He hadn't passed her.

…Or so he thought.

Kerbeck's words implied that the woman had been there just a moment ago. A woman a bit older than Hikaru.

(…The "Four Stars of the East"?)

He hadn't expected them to come here first.

And— they had passed each other. Probably in the underground sewer.

The sweet scent he had faintly detected was likely the lingering fragrance of that person.

(Did they notice me? No, there's no way they could have noticed me in that darkness…)

While thinking this, Hikaru scanned the room, wondering if anyone was hiding.

He felt the presence of someone who had used "Stealth" for the first time. It was— an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

It could be said that he was both lucky and unlucky.

If Hikaru had arrived a little earlier, he could have overheard Kerbeck and the woman. Conversely, if he had arrived much earlier, the woman might have overheard Hikaru and Kerbeck.

(…Should I extend "Life Detection" and "Magic Detection"? I don't have enough points for that…)

Hikaru had thought he could win in a one-on-one fight against Soluz. However, he realized that if there was someone who could use "Stealth," he wouldn't be able to win. It would be a draw. Neither side could detect the other.

"What are you looking around for?"

Kerbeck asked, looking puzzled.

"Did that person tell you their name?"

"Yeah, she said she was Sara from the 'Four Stars of the East.'"

"Did she talk about me?"

"…Hmph. I wouldn't reveal a paying customer, even if they were a brat."

Hikaru had been a "customer" of Kerbeck.

The plan to help Ravia escape. He had asked Kerbeck to stage a distraction to draw the attention of the adventurers in the escort carriage. Hikaru hadn't allocated points to "Group Block" at the time and wasn't sure how effective it would be, so this was a safe approach.

"Well, you tried to treat us as information brokers, so I just gave you a little show and took some money. Now get lost."

It seemed the "Four Stars of the East" had come here to look for an information source. Given that the viscount's daughter had disappeared, they probably considered the possibility that she had sought help from the underworld to secure a means of transportation.

Hikaru felt a chill, thinking they had hit a good point, but they didn't seem to know about the staged distraction to stop the escort carriage.

"…Just to be sure, is the actor I hired okay?"

"Yeah, he's a peddler. By now, he's probably in a port town on the other side of two mountains, restocking. He won't be back in Pound until next spring. There's no way they'll track him down."

"Okay."

"What? Were you worried about my efficiency?"

"…Yeah."

"Tch. You're a brat with no respect. Get lost."

"I'm a customer today."

"Huh?"

Hikaru took out a gold coin from a leather bag.

"I want to know everything you know about the 'Four Stars of the East.'"

That evening, Hikaru returned to the hotel. He didn't see Jill, but it couldn't be helped. If he showed his face at the Adventurers' Guild now, one of the "Four Stars of the East" might be there.

He had seen "Serica Tanoue" and "Soluz Rande" in person— he had only confirmed Soluz from a distance as she left the Adventurers' Guild.

The other members were "Sara" and "Shufi Bloomfield."

Kerbeck had given him a detailed description of their appearances, but— he had been charged 10,000 Gil— and there was a possibility of mistaking them based on descriptions alone. Moreover, Sara might be using "Stealth."

Hikaru decided to allocate points to "Magic Detection."

Why not "Life Detection"? He recalled the cloak used by Princess Kujastria. He could only detect her with "Magic Detection."

After leaving the underground sewer area, he also visited a dwarf's armor shop. When he asked if they could make armor with "Stealth" properties, they said that with high-quality materials, they could block smell, heat, and the presence of living beings— essentially "Life Block" and "Perception Block." On the other hand, the concept of "Magic Block" was almost unknown.

So, he thought Sara might be skilled in "Life Block" and "Perception Block." Of course, this was just a guess. But points were limited. Which should he prioritize? He thought "Magic Detection" would be better.

Ravia had blown up a goblin village, raising her rank by 2, and then defeated several monsters, raising it by 1 more.

Hikaru allocated those 2 points to "Magic Detection." At that point, a derived skill, "Detection Expansion," appeared.

【Intuition】

【Detection】

【Life Detection】 1

【Magic Detection】 3

【Detection Expansion】 0

【Detection Expansion】… Expands the range of detection. Maximum 3.

After some hesitation— he allocated the last point to "Expansion."

Even Unken's "Magic Block" was only 2. It was unlikely that Sara's was 3 or higher.

It wasn't immediately clear if this choice was correct, but the effect of "Expansion" was significant.

With "Magic Detection" 3, he could confirm a range of about 30 meters.

With "Detection Expansion" 1, it expanded to nearly 100 meters.

It was convenient to see people on the other side of walls as a soft blue flame-like presence, similar to the "wallhack" cheat in FPS games, which allows you to see enemies through walls.

However, to detect "Stealth," he needed to overlay it with his actual field of vision. If he saw a blue flame where there was no one, it meant the person was using "Stealth." It was a bit troublesome.

If he used the Soul Board, he would need to get within 5 meters.

(I wanted to increase my combat ability and stamina… but I'll do it one step at a time.)

The "Vitality" and "Magic" boards were only unlocked. Hikaru also wanted to use magic.

However, he wanted to make "Stealth" his specialty and also function as an anti-"Stealth" measure.

Now, he needed to eliminate the danger.

"Welcome back."

Ravia, who had been looking at a plant encyclopedia, noticed Hikaru's return.

"Ah… I have some bad news."

"When you say that, don't you usually ask, 'Do you want the good news or the bad news first?'"

"American drama, huh."

"?? American…?"

"Ah, sorry, never mind. The bad news is—"

Hikaru told her that the "Four Stars of the East" had come and were probably chasing Ravia. He didn't mention Kerbeck or their skills.

"…So, are we leaving this town?"

"No, I think doing that now would be counterproductive. It would be like saying, 'Suspect us.' We know the 'Four Stars of the East' are here, and we came back. We need to do what we need to do."

"Do what we need to do."

Hikaru smiled.

"We'll become Rank E by tomorrow. Then we'll leave this town with pride."

Individually,

Lawrence > Rank B

But in a party battle,

Lawrence < Rank B Party

The unfortunate thing for Lawrence is that there's no one in the knight order who can match him.