NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66: Independent Action
「Haaa… so nervous…」
After the hero king left, I staggered back before plopping back in my chair.
「What are you talking about, disaster-class undead-san?」
「I’m just an ordinary civilian, you know…」
I mean, the highest-ranked person I met when I was still alive was just a city lord of a small city after all.
And I was with so many other adventurers too. That was why meeting a king personally like that was the first time for me. [TL : What about the empress?]
If the female Holy Knight wasn't with me, I might have already fled.
And then, the ship's ticket arranged by the hero king had finally arrived.
After reading the letter which came along with the tickets, he had arranged a special room for the two of us. It was a completely different area which prevented any kind of mishap such as accidentally passing by the general passengers.
「It seems that while your real identity was kept a secret from the sailor, they know that we're special guests. That's why there's no need to be afraid of face check even if you hide your face with your hood.」
Moreover, the king was considerate enough to add a map which told the location of the port city, where our ship would be waiting. We would still have to make it in time though.
「…? Well I already know the position of the port city even without this map, but…」
The female Holy Knight voiced her doubt.
===
The night of that day…
I snuck out of the inn after I made sure that all guests were already asleep,
Naturally I didn't tell the female Holy Knight about this.
She would only realize that I had already left my room by the morning.
「Well it should be okay since I left a message for her in my room.」
I planned to go to the port city by myself.
Fortunately, the hero king had also sent a map, so I should be able to go there by myself.
I mean, she’d probably get involved in unnecessary trouble if she came with me.
―I was a disaster-class monster after all. Anyone who managed to subjugate me would gain gold and glory. Thus, the young, hot-blooded adventurers would surely try to subjugate me.
Honestly, I still had no idea why the hero king told me of this news right before he left the day before yesterday.
But he might be just trying to tell me about the danger if the female Holy Knight was moving along with me.
I mean, it wasn't that I was trying to escape this time, I would meet her again in the port city anyway.
…Anyhow, I mustn't be seen boarding the ship along with her.
Thus, I left the inn with a map in my hand.
◇◇◇
===A Certain Over Imaginative Silver Rank Mage of Adventurer Party===
My name is Belleaile.
It might sound like I was bragging if I said it myself, but I'm quite a splendid mage.
I managed to become a gold-rank adventurer in my twenties, so you could say that reaching platinum-rank wasn't a pipedream.
And I was currently spending hectic days as an adventurer along with my comrades in this place, Romana Kingdom.
Blessed with party members who were talented, ambitious, and always aiming for greater heights―you could say that it was a fulfilling life.
I realized that I was the one who was growing the most after I started adventuring with them.
「Tch, he ain't appearing today too, huh.」
The one who clicked his tongue while scanning at the headline of the newspaper in his hand was one of the members of the party, Ilran.
Despite his tall and slender frame, he was a skilled swordsman who could swing a greatsword as tall as himself.
His most noticeable trait was his spiky hair.
In addition, he was also the leader of this party.
Honestly, he wasn't that smart, but… well, it was my job to compensate for that as the brain of this party.
By the way, he was also just like me, someone who reached gold-rank at a young age.
「It's a disaster-class monster, you know. In short, he's a walking disaster, right? Why did the information about him suddenly stop appearing out of nowhere.」
「Moreover, even though he's an undead, his appearance is similar to that of a normal human. Maybe he's really skilled in hiding his presence, too.」
Ilran was talking about the great disaster-class undead who shook the world recently, the No Life King.
And yet, the news about him suddenly came to a complete stop a few days ago.
The latest news about his appearance was when he appeared in the capital of Tana Kingdom, the neighboring country of the Romana Kingdom.
But after that point, there was no news about his appearance anymore outside of nonsense speculations.
「So he really is in the Tana Kingdom, huh. Let's go to there immediately.」
「If we make a conclusion from the available information so far, No Life King is moving around constantly. As for guessing his current whereabouts, let's just forget about that. We've no choice but to wait for new information.」
Ilran insisted that the No Life King was still in the Tana Kingdom.
He really wanted our party to be the one who subjugated the disaster-class undead.
「Hey, are you sure that we really can subjugate hi~m? I mean, even that 〝Hundred Whip〟 Estina and 〝Full-Charge〟 Barud are no match for him.」
The one who butted into our conversation was Mitt, the thief of our party.
Mitt had a cute and adorable appearance… But make no mistake, Mitt was a guy. Well appearance aside, his ability was top-notch.
He was head-hunted so many times by other parties; that was just how skilled he was.
Naturally, he was also a gold-rank adventurer.
「That's why our rank will shoot up straight into platinum if we manage to subjugate him. Moreover, we will receive a big reward that will be enough for us to live like nobles for our entire lives.」
Ilran flicked his nose as he rejected Mitt's opinion.
His reckless remark was that of a greenhorn who had no idea about the ways of the world.
…In fact, the person himself didn't take his remark too seriously either.
But I was different from Ilran.
I agreed with him since we had the chance to defeat the No Life King.
「If he really is a great disaster-class monster, those platinum-rank adventurers have no chance of surviving. And yet, is there any news about those two receiving fatal wounds or dying? No, right. On the contrary, every place which is visited by the No Life King seems to be safe and sound. There are almost no victims at all. Don't you think it's quite strange, Mitt? 」
「Yeah, that's strange.」
「That's why I'm sure that the No Life King has some sort of secret. And as long as we discover his secret―」
Even we would be able to subjugate the No Life King.
…Was what I believed.