I Planned a Su*cide Mission and Got Kicked Out of the Party

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Simultaneously starting the summoning of dozens of small fortresses. Thanks to Walter’s foresight in preparing for such a situation, the construction of the Empire’s fortifications within the Demon King’s Territory was proceeding smoothly.

The Gargoyle Queen, having received some urgent command from the Demon King, wasn’t recklessly throwing herself into battle as usual. The two armies, standing several kilometers apart, engaged in fierce intelligence warfare but refrained from direct confrontation for the time being.

Comparing hastily drawn maps and the locations of the fortresses, Walter adjusted his glasses as his lover, the Crown Princess, approached him.

“Walter, H, Hellhound.”

Rose read Walter’s full name written on the map. Walter turned to Rose and tilted his head.

“Why are you suddenly calling me by my full name?”

“I just read your signature, you know? And it’s not even your real full name. The ‘H’ has a distinct meaning after all. It’s just that you hardly ever say it out loud.”

“I think there’s no reason to bring that up. Generally, it’s customary not to reveal a middle name starting with H. Even I haven’t fully grasped the clear meaning of that name.”

“Then do you think he’ll figure it out?”

“Well, I wonder. It’s fine if he takes his time. He doesn’t know how to find ease once he’s focused on something.”

“That point is very similar to you, Walter.”

“Is it? By the way, it seems my Watson is calling for me over there. Hey, Bernard, why are you there? Is something up?”

Walter waved and slowly walked towards the loud blonde-haired hunter who was shouting out. Watching Walter’s back, Rose smiled brightly.

“Well then, good luck, Walter, Holmes, Hellhound.”

Around the same time, in Baron Harriet’s Territory.

As Walter feared, upon receiving the order to conduct a reckless search within the castle, Jeongjae didn’t take a single break and was practically turning over the castle looking for something akin to underground passages.

He banged on walls in search of empty spaces, creating holes, and continuously knocked around, checking for traces of hidden passages with detection magic.

After several consecutive days of this, it was Jeenis who eventually dropped out before Jeongjae. Jeenis complained as Jeongjae was pounding on the ceiling of the office.

“You’ve already been banging on that since yesterday. You’re going to break the ceiling at this rate. How about we go down to the first floor again? If what Violet said is true, then there would be a passage on the first floor.”

“But we already started searching from there. No, in this case, there’s a possibility that they hid the passage on the second floor to break that fixed notion.”

“Even if you have nothing to do as a lord, if you roam around the castle all day, people will look at you strangely. I turned the kitchen upside down two days ago, and I got scolded by the chef.”

“You came with me to apologize, didn’t you? In movies, the kitchen is always a popular spot for hidden passages. We should come back later and search again.”

“Stop saying nonsense and get down from the desk.”

At Jeenis’s words, Jeongjae finally stopped banging on the ceiling and jumped down from the desk. Jeenis sighed and opened the office door.

“Let’s check the armory while we’re at it. It seems suspicious to me. That Simon Harriet, the hero, apparently put considerable effort into stocking weapons in this territory. If there were any manipulations, it would surely be in the armory, right?”

“And that’s why on the first day, we were almost stuck in that armory inspecting everything. What was the result again?”

“I think we removed about 30 spider webs.”

“Right. I didn’t expect so many spiders to be living in the armory. It was like a big family.”

Indeed, Jeongjae had inadvertently completed a thorough cleaning of the neglected armory. Jeenis even gave up searching halfway through and brought a cloth to wipe away the dust on the walls.

However, now that they had searched everywhere in the castle, Jeongjae stubbornly continued rummaging inside, as if possessed by something, even when it would have made sense to wrap things up and move on given the rumors floating around.

For Jeenis, she didn’t particularly dislike Jeongjae’s stubborn nature, but it worried her a bit. As she exited the office, Jeenis said,

“Did you get kicked out for doing this regularly? If it were me, I’d probably send you to a quiet country village to live a little more leisurely.”

“Is that what… oh, I guess that isn’t entirely wrong.”

Jeongjae, who was about to refute Jeenis’s remarks, awkwardly nodded. The obsession that had consumed him when he had exited the ‘Castle of Embers’ and created Manhattan and its byproducts was no less intense than now. Of course, even as he acknowledged Jeenis’s words, he couldn’t explain the details to her.

“However, Jeenis, even if I went to the countryside, I wouldn’t be able to relax. The surroundings wouldn’t leave me alone. I don’t know when I’ll be busy again; I have to prepare things while there’s time.”

“Whatever, I got it. Then let’s check out the armory again. I have a feeling that if there’s something, it’s right there. It’s not in the blazing furnace or the ceiling of our office!”

During the search, Jeongjae even thought, ‘Perhaps there are words that only appear by jumping into a burning furnace’, and went so far as to wrap himself in a robe and leap into the flames.

Jeongjae might have been greatly influenced by ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ but Jeenis had no way of knowing that and was horrified nonetheless.

Well, even if she knew the reason, she would have been just as shocked.

Anyway, since it seemed that Jeenis was beginning to tire of the situation, Jeongjae decided to go along with her suggestion and returned to the armory of Harriet Castle with her.

Jeongjae was lost in thought. In fact, his intuition told him that if something was there, it would be in this space. However, having searched with great effort and found nothing, he was left wondering what to do next.

Jeongjae’s detection magic was the most powerful in the world. It could shatter even the strongest cloaking magic set by the Demon King’s Army. It was nonsensical that someone could place a cloaking barrier that Jeongjae couldn’t even sense.

Truly, unless there was something exceptionally unique.

Unique devices. If he assumed that there was a unique device, he needed to consider what kind of mechanisms a hero could use to conceal something. Spells a hero might use, traps a hero might use, magic a hero might use…

Magic a hero might use?

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

Jeongjae suddenly clapped his hands and jumped up from his seat. Jeenis, who had been rearranging the armor scattered in the armory, dropped the breastplate she was holding in shock.

“W-what, what is it, Professor?”

“Divine power, divine power, it’s divine power, Jeenis, lend me your cross. No, just show me over here for a moment.”

“It’s not difficult to lend it to you, but…”

Jeenis passed her silver cross to Jeongjae, looking puzzled. Taking the necklace from Jeenis, Jeongjae placed a hand over the cross and extracted the mana in the form of white light.

Jeongjae manipulated the mana corresponding to ‘Divine Power’ to form two large observation magic circles. Jeenis gasped in admiration as she watched Jeongjae’s skill.

“I’ve handled that light before, but I never thought of using it for applied magic…”

“Better not attempt mana arrows beyond the fourth level. Messing with someone else’s mana, especially this powerful mana, could result in losing a hand. Thankfully, I’m naturally skilled in this area.”

Naturally skilled… or rather, it had suddenly appeared. Jeongjae concluded that there was no difference between the two notions.

As he frantically examined the surroundings with the observation magic filled with divine power, Jeongjae’s steps came to a halt at one corner. There was a subtle reaction. Something, an empty space, traces of an ancient seal could be felt.

With a pounding heart, Jeongjae brought the magic circle closer to the wall.

Jeenis noticed something unusual and hurriedly ran toward Jeongjae. At the moment the Grand Mage pushed the divine power against the seal with all his might, the vibrations of the mana resonated, and white letters appeared clearly on the wall.

‘Welcome, my friend.’

“What does that… what does that mean?”

Recognizing that the letters appearing on the wall were written in English, Jeenis asked. Jeongjae quietly gazed at the letters illuminated on the wall and replied.

“It’s saying something like ‘Welcome, my friend.’ Friend… friend, yes. Friend. Originally, these letters were hidden for Count Harker. That cross is the key. Jeenis, do you have any extra crosses besides the one you and your father possess?”

“There shouldn’t be… it’s originally something only the lord and his heir have…”

“The original purpose wasn’t even that. This was a possession shared by Harker and Harriet. It was used as a key to open this passage, imbued with the power present only in the hero’s sword. Now that there’s no hero, your father will leave the extra cross to you—”

As Jeongjae excitedly poured out his assumptions, a rumbling sound filled the armory, and part of the wall began to rotate like a revolving door.

It was a very classic and romantic device that came to mind when one thought of a ‘hidden secret passage.’

The width of the section of the wall that had turned 180 degrees was about that of a normal door. What was peculiar was the huge portrait attached to it, almost as if it were saying, ‘This is the part that turned.’

Upon seeing the painting, Jeenis tilted her head.

“It seems familiar somehow… like I’ve seen this face somewhere.”

Jeongjae felt a tightening in his throat and lost his words. The man depicted in the painting was draped in something like an indoor robe, lounging on a sofa with a bored expression.

He didn’t look very young, but neither did he appear particularly old. With an elongated face, a nose that jutted sharply, and striking gray eyes that seemed impossible to gauge, he was quite the character.

His gray eyes bore a striking resemblance to Walter’s. Anyone looking at this painting could easily guess that the hero was related to him.

However, what left Jeongjae breathless was not merely that the painting resembled the hero. The small initials written at the bottom right of the painting, ‘S.H.’

Could that mean ‘Simon Harriet’? Or does it denote an entirely different name?

Or, perhaps… could it be that from the very beginning, Simon Harriet was merely a pseudonym for someone else entirely?

Is that even a possibility? A fictional world within a fictional world, classical literature within a fantastical realm.

Jeongjae’s head spun in circles as unfocused theories ricocheted in all directions. Yet he had already encountered Dracula. He had even fought against him.

At this point, even if a new surprise happened, it couldn’t be deemed ‘impossible.’ It might seem natural that such events occur. The identity of the previous hero, who had supposedly come to this world, could very well be someone known worldwide in his home world.

So, was the initials of that banner just a product of whimsy or mischief? Like this man who once left the queen’s initials on a boarding house wall using gunfire out of boredom, was it simply that the name of the banner was settled on because he thought of Queen Victoria at the time?

Even so, it wouldn’t be strange. As far as Jeongjae knew, this man was sufficiently eccentric and possessed a genius-level intellect.

“I think if we just push this portrait, it will open. It seems we can go inside… Shall we go in first? I don’t think there will be any strange traps waiting for us…”

Jeenis cautiously suggested. Jeongjae, as if waking from a dream, suddenly lifted his head, blinking.

“Oh, right. We should. Alright, Jeenis. Let’s go in.”

Jeongjae placed his hand on the chest of the portrait. Before opening the door, the Grand Mage from Earth looked directly into the hero’s gray eyes and murmured.

“Then, excuse me.”

Jeongjae applied force to his hand. With a feeling of the wall shifting, the portrait swung aside wide open.

“Sherlock Holmes.”