Magica Technica ～Sword Demon Rakshasa’s VRMMO Battle Record～

Chapter 33

033: Suspicions Towards the Count's Family

Translated by Dawn

033: Suspicions Towards the Count’s Family

Using the rope borrowed from Elsa, I tied up the men and placed them in the center of the room for surveillance.

Well, I used a rare technique of capturing ropes in our school, so unless someone was very skilled at escaping from ropes, they wouldn’t be able to break free easily.

By the way, this technique intentionally left some room for escape, as breaking free required dislocating a few ankle joints.

In other words, it aimed to let them escape while inflicting some damage on their bodies and then followed them to their hidden base and captured them all at once—a rather rational approach.

“Why did you gather them in the center like that?”

“To keep an eye on them. These guys are important witnesses. Depending on their actions, we can’t afford to let them out of our sight for various reasons.”

From their reactions, it was unlikely that the Count’s son would make any moves to rescue them.

However, we couldn’t predict what the Count himself would do.

Would he attempt a rescue, or would he take more drastic measures? Either way, leaving the current situation unresolved would be a blow to the Count’s family, so it was highly likely they’d take some action.

It was a hassle, but we had to protect these guys until we hand them over to the Knights.

Rin was already on her way to the Knights.

In the worst-case scenario, if she got attacked on the way and returned to life, the revival point was the monument in this town.

As outsiders, we were likely the first to appear in this capital. In other words, these guys probably didn’t have much information about outsiders yet.

Given the current situation, their communication with the Knights probably wouldn’t be completely cut off.

For now, assuming that part was not a problem…

“Is it okay to monitor them like this… What about the gate?”

“It’s fine. We’ve added more people to watch, and dispersing the remaining few would be a bad move. Instead, we’ve already used a gentler method.”

Currently, all the remaining members were gathered in this room.

It was the same living room as last time, but this time the tables had been moved to the side to avoid being obstructive.

We closed the windows and pulled the curtains to prevent anyone from seeing inside.

This was the same in the other rooms as well. The most frightening thing in this situation would be an unexpected surprise attack, so I wanted to avoid giving the enemy the initiative as much as possible.

There were a few ways to obtain information from the outside, but not being able to rely on visual information might work somewhat in our favor.

Now, based on my expectations, there should be some kind of movement soon…

[Onii-san, they’re here. Three of them, lightly equipped, look like thieves.]

“――! Well done, you made it back to the room before they intruded.”

[Got it!]

Upon hearing Kuu’s voice through the chat, I nodded and lifted the Tachi I had already drawn.

The room was indoors, but it was quite spacious. It wouldn’t be difficult to wield the Tachi.

Ignoring the trembling private soldiers who were witnessing this, I called out to Elsa.

“Keep Lirina’s eyes closed. I can’t afford to hold back this time.”

“…Understood.”

No matter the enemy’s strength, in a situation where there were so many people to protect, I couldn’t afford to hold back.

While I could potentially overpower them in a one-on-one fight, I must avoid giving them a chance to counterattack.

Therefore, this time, I’d kill them. There was no room for unnecessary restraint. With a resolute determination, I observed the surroundings from the rooftop, where Kuu was keeping watch.

“I’m back!”

“Good job. The next mission is to guard Lirina and the others. Watch out for stray bullets.”

“Roger that!”

“Kuu-chan? Do you forget that I’m the leader?”

While smiling at Kuu, who was truly an honest child, I narrowed my eyes and focus my senses.

I utilized my well-trained and sharpened five senses to absorb a wider range of information.

This was also one of the principles of the Kudou Jintsuu school. However, it was not a technique to defeat enemies but rather a method to control one’s own body.

Thanks to this technique, I could accurately sense the approach of the three people getting closer to us.

It had been a while since I expanded my senses to this extent, but it was good to know it worked well even in a game world.

“They’re entering through the back door. They probably understand that we’re on guard since we closed the curtains.”

“…Um, how do you know that?”

“I sense their presence.”

With a concise reply to Kirara Kurage’s question, I investigated the movements of the detected presence.

The intruder, who picked the lock on the back door, was now slowly moving inside the mansion.

Their footsteps suggested they hadn’t noticed our position yet.

While we could have initiated an attack from our side, it was too late to change our strategy now.

It was better to just confront them directly.

(They are skilled. They’re no match for those private soldiers… If that’s the case, are they under Count’s command?)

It was highly unlikely they belong to a different faction. If they had such assets, they should have used them from the beginning.

The reason they hadn’t done so was probably because Count’s son didn’t have the authority to command them.

Rescue or silence? If it was the latter, things could get complicated, but it depended on their actions.

Their presence was getting closer to this room… and then it stopped. It seemed they have noticed our presence as well.

“They’re coming soon.”

“…Right, got it.”

After informing Kirara Kurage and the others, I moved silently toward the direction of the presence.

It seemed they would enter quite obviously through the door.

Well, there was no other entrance from inside the mansion, so it was only natural.

With Tachi in Kasumi’s stance, I heard the sound of the lock being opened.

Silently, I stepped forward.

The next moment, the door was forcefully kicked open, and the tip of my extended blade pierced through the forehead of the man who was in front of the door.

“G-Guh…?”

“First, one down.”

Kicking away the dead man’s body and pulling out my Tachi, I leaped backward. I’d prefer to fight in the hallway, but my Tachi lack of agility made it a bit difficult.

As I readjusted my stance with my Tachi, the other two intruders jumped into the room.

Since they headed toward the private soldiers instead of eliminating me, it was evident that their aim was an assassination.

They might have a way to kill four people in an instant, but I couldn’t let them get close.

Reacting quickly to my approach, one of them threw a knife at me. The blade seemed to be coated with poison. I appreciate their high-level response, but stopping their movement at this point was unacceptable.

“――’Parry’!”

With a dagger in hand, the intruder activated a skill. It was probably a poor choice indoors where evasive skills had limited effect.

However, against me, it was a bad move.

Slash Technique――Strong Style, Bamboo Splitting.

The swinging blade was pressed against the dagger that I used for defense.

Trying to deflect it was futile. Once the vertical motion of the circular movement was locked in, there was no escape from this pressure.

“Oooh!”

“Gaaah!?”

I overpowered the dagger from above and the blade reached the assassin’s body.

Slashed in a diagonal motion, he lost balance, and as the blade returned, I beheaded him.

Confirming that he was undoubtedly dead, I shifted my gaze to the other intruder.

He was being held off by Kirara Kurage and Kuu. Azami stood before Lirina and the others, prepared to cast magic at any moment.

The situation seemed stable, but the intruders were assassins. I should expect the unexpected.

Step Technique――Fierce Quake.

With a loud noise at my feet, I charged toward the assassin.

Distracted by the sound, he slightly stiffened and shifted his focus toward me.

If my disciples were facing him, he would have been taken down in that instant.

However, it was too much to expect that level from amateur girls and children. I continued my assault, thrusting the tip of my blade toward him.

Slash Technique――Strong Style, Piercing Fang.

Putting my weight on the blade’s tip, my thrust penetrated through the man’s armor as if it were paper, piercing his body.

In an instant, the opponent who was far away was now close, pierced by my blade. He must be in shock.

Knowing that there was a wooden wall behind him, I continued my thrust, pinning him to the wall, and then took my hand off Tachi then released my Kodachi.

There were no other signs of enemies nearby; this must be all of them.

With my Kodachi pointed at him, ready to sever his throat at any strange movement, I asked with a menacing aura.

“You’re from the Count family, aren’t you? Why did you move? To silence them?”

“…”

Despite sweating profusely from the pain of being impaled, the man remained silent.

He must have considerable mental strength, likely a result of specialized training.

However, dealing with this kind of person was troublesome. After all, I didn’t prepare any tools for torture.

With a sigh, I placed my left hand on his chest and raise my voice.

“This is Count Feib’s instruction, isn’t it?”

“…”

No response. But this was an expected question, after all. Considering that Count Feib could only use people of such caliber, it was safe to assume that only the head of the family or someone close to them could mobilize trained assassins.

This question was a bluff to create an opening, to make him showed signs of vulnerability in his mind.

The real question lay in what came next.

“Does Count have a connection with demons?”

“――!?”

The man’s chest twitched in surprise and tension, showing reactions in the diaphragm and muscles of his limbs.

This question was beyond imagination, more like a wild hypothesis, but I couldn’t overlook this response.

The fact that even a low-ranking errand boy like him attempted to kill to silence someone suggests that Count had some very sensitive information.

I had been pondering earlier about why Count’s son knew about Schraid’s death, and this possibility was one of the scenarios I considered.

“If that’s the truth, then it’s a betrayal against the country――no, against humanity.”

“――…”

Upon hearing my words, the assassin slightly moved his chin.

In response to that movement, I let out a faint sigh and stepped back from where I was standing.

Although I had considered the possibility of hidden needles and such, it seemed this wasn’t the case.

Right after I backed away, the man twitched slightly, and then his body went limp, immobilized.

Despite the piercing Tachi supporting his body, he should be experiencing excruciating pain, but he showed no reaction.

Seeing this, I sighed and withdrew the still-embedded blade.

As a precaution, I checked his pulse, but the result was as expected. He must have ingested poison.

“…Troublesome. I never expected they’d have assassins trained to this extent.”

“K-Kuon-san… That person, he…?”

“Yeah, he committed suicide. Not many can do this without hesitation, you know.”

With a sigh, I pushed the man’s body into my inventory.

Elsa still had her hands covering Lirina’s eyes. But we couldn’t leave the body lying around like this.

After cleaning up the bodies of the remaining two assassins, I confirmed that there were no more problems and speak up.

“Elsa, it’s fine now.”

“If possible, I’d like you to clean up the blood as well…”

“I can’t do everything.”

Elsa shrugged lightly in response to my reply and removed her hands from Lirina’s eyes.

Lirina finally regained her vision, blinking a few times to adjust to the brightness, and gasped at the sight of the blood-stained living room.

Though it was unavoidable, it must have been quite shocking for her.

“T-This…!”

“Sorry, maybe I should’ve been more careful not to let blood splatter too much.”

“N-No, it’s fine. You protected us, so I won’t make such demands.”

Thanks to the absence of the bodies, Lirina was somewhat composed.

Well, she was a woman, so perhaps she was accustomed to seeing blood to some extent.

“Now then, we managed to handle it somehow, but… what do we do next?”

“Basically, we wait. Well…”

In response to Kirara Kurage’s question, I shrugged my shoulders and reply.

I moved to the window and opened the curtain slightly to peer outside.

It seemed that no one was looking in this direction, probably because they were more focused on the group that had arrived at the gate.

The Knights had also arrived, so it looked like we wouldn’t have a boring wait.