Redo of a Romanceless Author’s Life Devoid of Love; Another Chance at Youth

Chapter 467. An Exciting Night with Two Girls Outside the City: The Alleged Haunted Castle. (10/10) 

Wisteria’s arms moved from my right arm to around my back as she buried her face deeper into my chest.

“Was… big brother… worried about me?”

“Of course.”

“Really? You’re not… just saying that?”

“I really mean it.”

“Big brother... is a big bad devil though. How do I know he’s not lying and just telling me what I want to hear the most?”

“You don’t believe me? Your big brother can feel hurt too, you know.”

“Wha- uh, no, I uh believe big brother… it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“Some proof… would be... nice I guess.”

“Oh? And what sort of proof would be sufficient to prove I’m telling the truth?”

“I dunno.”

“Then how am I supposed to know?”

“But big brother knows everything.”

“More like I hardly know anything.”

“Would big brother cry if I died?”

When I imagined seeing her collapsed, lifeless, on the ground bleeding out, I felt a hole in my heart.

“Yeah, I’d cry a river.” Unless it happened, I couldn’t say for certain whether I really would, but I felt like I might. Not only would I lose this little sister, I’d also lose my valuable editor/proofreader if she died.

“Really?”

“Yeah. So be more careful from now on and promise you won’t be so reckless.”

“Okay. If big brother says he’ll cry for me if I die I’ll take that as proof.”

“Can you stop raising death flags?”

“Mmm.”

“Let’s go.”

“Can we just stay like this for a little bit longer?”

“We really shouldn’t.”

“Yeah…”

Despite us both agreeing on that, we still remained in that position for a few more minutes.

When the erratic fluctuations in the color of her soul ceased it felt like she’d calmed so I asked as I let her go, “Are you okay now?”

“Uh… Yeah. Sorry... I let you see me in such an embarrassing state. I couldn’t keep my emotions in check, I’ve failed as an assassin.”

“Yeah, what a failure. I’ll be sure to tell Rosa all about it.”

“Wha- don’t! This is a secret. A secret between just the two of us. You got that, big brother?” Wisteria positioned the side of her index finger in front of her lips making a reproachful hush gesture.

“I don’t remember signing a nondisclosure agreement.” I shrugged flippantly.

“If you tell Rosa… I won’t be a good little sister. I’ll be a bad big sister instead.”

“I understand, I won’t speak a word of this to anyone. Your secret is safe with me.” Her threat was more than effective against me. I really didn’t know how to deal with her when her big sister switch was flipped.

“Wha~ I change my mind, tell Rosa. I want to be a bad big sister now~”

“No way. I won’t be able to survive that.”

The flirtatious tone I was used to hearing from Wisteria was back, it seemed she’d returned to her usual self.

When I turned the flashlight off, Wisteria was quick to grab hold of my free right hand.

“You still scared?”

“I’m not, I just thought we might get separated in the dark if we don’t hold hands like we did before.”

She naturally didn’t know I could see everything. Including her slightly flushed cheeks as she turned her head away to the side.

“If you say so.”

When we started walking, Wisteria quietly posed a sudden question likely to get her mind off of the dark, “Hey, do you really think the two we heard just now double backed to the castle?”

“No idea. Why do you ask?”

“Well, what if they didn’t double back to the castle?”

“Where would they have gone if they didn’t?”

“I dunno, maybe there’s a secret passageway or something. That might explain how I lost track of my target too.”

“But if there was a secret passage surely we would have heard something when it opened up, right?”

“I didn’t really hear anything unusual when I lost track of my target though. Maybe it’s just super quiet.”

I stopped in my tracks and Wisteria bumped into the back of my shoulder.

“What’re you stopping for all of a sudden?”

“I never considered opening up a secret passage would be quiet. If there are rotating gears and moving mechanical parts, I’d assume it’d be quite loud.”

“But what if there were no mechanical parts and someone just moved something out of the way and put it back themselves? It could be pretty quiet.”

“That’s… certainly true.”

I started scrutinizing the walls inside the passage more carefully. From the moment I entered I’d noticed the large number of cracks in the walls… but what if… mixed into these cracks was a hollowed-out area behind them?

Because there were so many cracks throughout the tunnels, it was the perfect camouflage. A secret passage could be hidden anywhere and the cracks hid it perfectly.

“Wisteria, using your knuckle, lightly knock on the right wall, I’ll do the same for the left wall while we walk. Listen carefully for any differences in the sound the wall makes when you knock on it.”

“Sure.”

We continued straight down the passage while we checked for any hollowed-out spaces behind the walls. A minute later, when I knocked on the wall, my heart leaped. I knocked on it again to confirm I hadn’t misheard. The pitch was definitely higher. I moved a bit further down and continued knocking on it until the pitch dropped lower.

When I looked at Wisteria, our eyes met, and we mutually understood what it meant.

“Big brother, we solved the mystery behind their disappearing act, but we should get out of here now.”

“Normally I’d agree with you… but… I need evidence.”

“Evidence of what?”

“Evidence of what I suspect the big secret this doctor is hiding.”

“Why do you need evidence? If you want to bust this doctor for whatever shady business he’s dealing in you can just inform the police of this location and they can raid it.”

“It’s too far-fetched. They likely wouldn’t take it seriously unless there’s hard evidence to back up such an outlandish claim. They’d probably think it’s a prank and someone’s trying to send them on a wild goose chase. It wouldn’t be the same as calling in for a bomb threat in which they respond to seriously no matter what.”

“I guess. But you could claim there’s a bomb being manufactured down here.”

“I could… but if it’s all the way out here, how many officers would they even respond with? They might send one or two units to inspect the place but those officers may do a half-assed job, not taking it as seriously when they arrive if you consider the location. Police get all sorts of crazy tips that end up being complete nonsense after all. There’s no one around to get hurt here even if a bomb went off. If it was a highly-populated area it’d be a completely different story.”

“Then... we’re really going to take a peek?”

“Yeah. Just a small look. If I can record some evidence on camera, that will be good enough.”

“Okay… but if things go south, you have to promise me something.”

“What?”

“I’ll keep them busy while you run away.”

Those words woke me up. I realized I was at a critical diverging juncture. One that could very well result in Wisteria’s death. I wasn’t operating alone here. It wasn’t just my life that would be lost if I screwed up. If it was just my life, I wouldn’t be nearly as concerned, but gambling with Wisteria’s life wasn’t a risk I was willing to take after coming all the way here to find her.

This side task wasn’t part of my original objective in coming down here. The risk of opening Pandora’s box behind this wall was just too high. There was no way of knowing what the layout looked like behind this wall. Just opening it could make them aware of our presence. Perhaps there were even sensors and proper security systems beyond this point. The fact that we hadn’t run into any security systems up to this point even increased the chances of that being the case.

That was a close one. If Wisteria hadn’t dumped that bucket of cold water on me, both of us likely would have stepped into a trap. It might have been a blessing in disguise that Wisteria had lost sight of her target when she did. I would have never found her if she’d followed her target inside there alone. And if she had entered, she almost certainly would have been captured.

“Wisteria, never mind. You’re right, let’s get out of here.”

Right now we still had the advantage. They didn’t know we were on to them. So long as they weren’t aware of that, they wouldn’t pack up shop and move to a new location. Yes, the correct option here was a tactical retreat. Rushing blindly into the unknown with little information would only lead to defeat. Once we escaped we could collect more information and return at a later date more prepared.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, you’re more important than getting some evidence.”

“Wha- uh, I’m an assassin though…”

“So what? You’re also my little sister.”

I didn’t give her another chance to respond and pulled her forward in a rush to get out of here. After walking for five minutes with my left hand on the wall we managed to find an exit. Thankfully it was the one I originally came in through.

As soon as we were outside the instant I turned on my two-way radio, Rosa’s anxious voice came through, “Ran, is that you, are you okay!”

“Heheh, Ran? Is that this snooping brat’s name?”

“Don’t mess around! I can tell it’s you!”

“Sorry, it was just a joke. Were you that worried?”

“You’ve been dark for over an hour already. Of course I’ve been worried, you jerk!”

“Sorry. Are the two of you safe?”

“Yeah, we had a close call with those two in the castle, but we luckily weren’t noticed.”

“Are you still inside?”

“No. We’re already at the front gate. Dawn’s inside the pickup truck ready to start it and drive off at my signal while I’ve been posted up on top of the wall on the lookout for you.”

“I see.”

“Did you find Wisteria?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Is she… safe?”

“Yeah, she’s with me right now.”

“Phew. That’s a relief.”

“We’re heading to the gate now.”

“Okay. I’ll be waiting for you.”

...

We made our way to the gate we’d parked up beside. To scale the wall Rosa reached out from on top of it and pulled us up. As soon as we dropped down onto the back of Dawn’s pickup truck and Rosa gave the signal she took off. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any further close calls on the way back. Now that we’d all rendezvoused, our night adventure at this old rundown castle had finally come to a close.

“It’s been a while, Master. It’s great you made it out of their safe.” The second Rosa had the chance, she pounced on Wisteria and greeted her with a big hug in the back of Dawn’s pickup truck.

“Mmm, it really has been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, four to five months. I’ve practiced and improved my technique a lot since we last saw each other, Master. I’m confident I can face you head-on without the need for any cheap tricks like in our last contest.”

“Is that really the first thing you’re going to talk about when you see her?” I couldn’t refrain from butting in.

“Of course it is~” Rosa nodded shamelessly.

“Wisteria, did you rent a car and park it somewhere nearby? We can drop you off by it so you don’t need to walk.”

“Uh… heheh… do I look like I’ve got a lot of money to spare to rent a car?”

“Huh? Wait… then how’d you follow your target all the way out here?”

“Well… the thing is, I planted a tracker on his car and hitchhiked a ride. I was dropped off nearby and walked from there to the castle where I luckily regained eyes on the target again. Since I already went through the hassle to follow him all the way out here, I figured I might as well try to complete the mission while I was here. If I didn’t, all the time and effort I put in to get here and save some money would have been wasted. The flight wasn’t cheap and the reward isn’t even enough for me to break even. I’m actually losing money on this assignment. Ugh. Anyway… a lot of things happened.”

“Master, you could have just asked me. I would have been more than happy to cover it so you wouldn’t lose out.”

“How can I ask my disciple for money? What sort of master would I be if I accepted your money?”

If you didn’t know what sort of practice Rosa learned from Wisteria, you might even be touched by their master-disciple relationship. But knowing what it was, I couldn’t help but want to die.

“Master, if you don’t want to accept money then the least we can do is give you a ride back to where you’re staying.”

“Huh? Uh… where I’m staying… that is…”

“Is something wrong, Master?”

“No. I’ve been staying in the city, it’s pretty far and late though. I wouldn’t want to bother you two on your vacation.”

“Don’t worry about it, we don’t mind. Ran can give you a ride on his motorcycle.”

“Wisteria, where have you been staying in the city exactly?” Considering her money situation it was only natural that I asked.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, it does.”

“A… hotel.”

“Liar. If you were concerned about money, you could have rented a car and slept inside that instead. That would have been much more cost-effective and even cheaper. You’re definitely not staying at a hotel. Where are you really staying, Wisteria? Don’t lie.”

“Ugh. I’ve been... sleeping inside public restroom stalls.”

If I’d known about this when I met her at the hospital I wouldn’t have let her run off on her own back then.

“Master… you’ve had it hard, haven't you? Why don’t you stay with us at Dawn’s farm?”

“Uh… that’s a bit… difficult.” 

“Why? Because she’s your client’s daughter?” Rosa whispered teasingly.

“Yeah...”

“Considering the reward for this assignment is so small, it’s the least your client can offer as compensation, don’t you think?” I made that suggestion.

“Is it really fine though?”

“What? Is there something wrong with your client providing accommodations for you?”

“No… uh… butting in on your vacation like this.”

“We already said it’s not a problem, so don’t sweat it, Master.”

“Then… okay.” It felt a bit strange to see Wisteria looking so shy. Her head was lowered a bit and her cheeks were slightly red.

With that last matter settled, the day was truly over. We made it back to the farm around 4:00 AM before Dawn’s father woke up. We’d really been out for quite an adventure and I was exhausted.

Let alone making it to a bed, the moment I sat down on the couch in the living room, I passed out.