Chapter 47
I was going to look back on it, but the incident of saving Count Victor de Suilies's life wasn't all that dramatic. It's the sort of memory I recall with nothing more than a casual, "Oh, right."
More importantly, Zelly-san, the cat beastman, turned out to be surprisingly helpful! That was a good thing. Yes.
I slipped out of the capital of the Ahhenbach Ducal Domain and headed for the Light-Sky Knight Kingdom with Zelly-san's help. There was indeed only one checkpoint, but there was also a suspicious back route used by people in the underworld, and Zelly-san used that sort of cheat-like trick to cross the national border.
Incidentally, this cost a little money. Zelly-san didn't even have that "little" on hand, so apparently Zelly-san got by in the capital while earning small change.
The Light-Sky Knight Kingdom was ruled by a Knight King, and its military was so powerful that adventurers had almost no opportunities to make their mark, so I passed through without stopping.
Beyond it lay the Curvaane Holy Kingdom.
Here, humans and beastmen alike lived without distinction. It was extremely lively, while crimes committed by drifters were also common. In many ways, I felt it was a country with a big heart.
And then,
"The Holy King's glory shines throughout the land."
Or things like that,
"The Holy King governs all things in peace."
And so on. The glorification of the Holy King was intense.
In the holy capital of Curvany, I planned to register as an adventurer for the time being and hone the Talent 【World Ruler】—but...
"You want to become an adventurer and watch other adventurers fight? No way, no way, no way, no way... Nobody's going to reveal their hand. Besides, you're so small-framed, young master, that nobody's going to want you in their party. Why don't I earn money as an adventurer while you get a nice, steady job somewhere?"
With Zelly-san putting it that way, I had to grit my teeth and nod, saying, "That's true..." She had a point, so I took Zelly-san's advice.
Even after coming this far, Zelly-san apparently intended to stick with me. Well, I didn't really mind. Apart from being overly familiar and occasionally annoying, Zelly-san wasn't a bad person.
As for me, I landed the prestigious job of "cleaner for the 18th Unit of the Holy King's Knights." As for what I cleaned, the renowned Holy King's Knights trained brutally hard. When the knights returned to the dormitory, they slept like logs, and on their occasional days off, they had money and made a huge racket in the city.
The rooms were filthy as hell.
And the laundry had piled up to an absurd degree.
I combined 【Water Magic】, 【Fire Magic】, and 【Wind Magic】 to make the knights' rooms sparkle. The same went for their laundry. In the holy capital's unusual climate, rain was scarce, but once it began, it wouldn't stop for a week. Since I could dry things indoors, everyone was delighted.
The knights gave me generous tips when their rooms were spotless, and if I had time, I could watch their training too. The Talents I could learn kept piling up, piling up...
Oh, meeting the count happened a little later.
Anyway, at the age of ten, I somehow acquired the mysterious epithet "Legendary Cleaner." The knights valued me, the women who worked in the dining hall kitchen valued me because I could provide hot water, and the dwarves who frequented the smithy that repaired the knights' weapons valued me because I had cleaned it up.
The holy capital was huge, so on my days off I went sightseeing or went out to eat delicious food.
Somehow, I felt like I was enjoying life in the holy capital a little too much. I couldn't make any friends because there was no one my age nearby, though.
My reputation spread to the other knight units, and I went from unit to unit, cleaning like mad. Before I knew it, I was earning wages comparable to a knight's, which was strange. Still, the money was only a by-product. What made me happy was that I could legally practice magic, allowing my proficiency to build within me. My magic power also kept increasing—but apparently, I was merely gradually learning to use the 【Magic Power Increase】 Talent that I had learned by watching Krista=La=Krista.
I secretly continued training as well. Talents couldn't be mastered without using them repeatedly. So I came up with the idea of "removing 【World Ruler】 and using my Talents."
When I removed 【World Ruler】, all the Talents I'd learned became unusable, but the memories remained in my head. So I pulled those memories back out and moved my body accordingly, raising my proficiency. Strangely, when I put 【World Ruler】 back on, it felt as though my understanding of the Talents had deepened.
Thanks to this, I became able to fight even when my Talents were nullified.
And so, three years passed as I saved money from my life as a cleaner, while Zelly-san—who had been saying, "I'll earn money as an adventurer! Nahahaha!"—got hopelessly hooked on gambling, wound up buried in debt, and left my savings gone when I paid it off for Zelly-san.
I figured it was about time I started acting on my own.
I wanted to see my "sister," Lark, again, even though I had no idea what Lark was doing now.
And if possible, I wanted to meet Lulusha, the granddaughter of Old Man Hinga, who had taught me so many things.
To do that, I needed to gather information while making the rounds of the major cities.
Just as I was thinking all this, late one night in early spring, a carriage accompanied by several mounted guards was traveling through the holy capital. I was practicing 【Sprinting Technique】 and 【Jumping Technique】 by leaping from roof to roof when the carriage suddenly burst into flame with a roar.
The coachman hastily reined in the horses and rescued the noble-looking passenger inside—who turned out to be Count Suilies—but that was as far as things got.
A flying arrow pierced the coachman. He fell, and the knights surrounding the carriage also fell one after another.
(That's clever. The arrows are painted black, making them harder to dodge.)
While admiring the attackers' ingenuity, I wondered what I should do.
(Should I save that noble? But I don't even know what kind of person they are... They might be a complete villain.)
It would turn out later that Count Suilies was less a "complete villain" than a "rotten bastard," but that was beside the point. I watched the situation unfold.
The count alone remained with the burning carriage behind him, while five assassins formed a semicircle around him. The black-clad assassins wore masks that revealed only their eyes, and they were saying something to the count.
"Prepare yourself... The client... told us to make you suffer as much as possible..."
When I strained my ears with 【Enhanced Hearing】, I heard those ominous words.
That noble was definitely about to be killed. But the nobleman remained calm and showed no sign of fear.
I fixed my gaze on the nobleman.
His soft blond hair was beautiful even on that dark night, and his red eyes, tinged with sorrow, were so beautiful that even I, a man, was startled by them.
He looked to be in his late twenties.
(Ah, this man... He doesn't care about dying at all.)
At that moment, I thought of Raikira-san, who, with a dragon looming before him, killed the Heavenly Silver-ranked adventurer who was his archenemy, only to be torn apart and killed by that dragon.