BOOM—!!
“W-What’s going on?!”
“Is it an enemy ambush?!”
The Dark Order members inside the hideout rushed toward the source of the noise.
The hideout’s entrance had been completely smashed apart, and a tall silhouette stood within the black smoke.
“Who are you?!”
“...That person is...”
While the guard failed to continue, the silhouette pushed through the smoke and revealed himself.
“L-Lord Hess!”
“It’s Lord Hess!”
Some of the members at the newly established hideout were seeing Hess for the first time. But even they could not fail to recognize that rumored appearance.
While the members lowered their heads, Hess looked around the hideout.
‘They made it far more complicated than I expected. Finding my way around won’t be easy.’
The entrance was small, but the hideout within had been built on a rather grand scale.
There were several corridors and rooms, along with dozens of organization members living there.
Meanwhile, the members began whispering among themselves.
“What could he not like?”
“Is he going to kill us all...?”
“Sniff... Please kill me without pain.”
After looking around enough, Hess opened his mouth.
“Head of Security.”
“...Pardon?”
“Head of Security, step forward.”
At Hess’s command, a short man with light-green hair sprang forward from the back.
He tripped over his own feet in his haste, but at the same time, he demonstrated an astonishing breakfall and lay flat before Hess.
“I-I’m the Head of Security!”
He looked rather young to be the Head of Security. Was he skilled?
Hess pointed at the shattered wooden door.
“Is that security?”
“Pardon...?”
Hess spread the hand he had used to point at the wooden door.
BOOM—!
“Argh!”
When he struck the door with the same magic once more, it no longer even resembled a door.
In truth, Hess’s subordinates were not the only ones startled by that spell.
‘Whew, that scared me. I don’t have good control over my strength yet.’
Hess looked down at the Head of Security and continued.
“I asked whether that pitiful door was security.”
“W-Well, there is a passphrase...”
“I asked about the door.”
“I-I’m sorry!”
He raised his voice so that all the organization members could hear.
“This is a spell I have used since I was six years old. You dare claim to protect Lord Hess with a door that breaks even to a child’s spell?”
At those words, several members thought to themselves,
‘That is only because it was Lord Hess using it at six! No ordinary child could ever use magic at that age!’
‘To begin with, Lord Hess does not even need our protection!’
But they only thought it and said nothing.
“Hey, Head of Security.”
“Y-Yes!”
“What is the darkest thing in the world?”
“Pardon...? Ah, light! It’s light!”
I see. The passphrase was light.
The Dark Order acted in the darkness.
For the Dark Order, night was day, and day was night. It was a play on words using the guild’s philosophy.
“Do you not see a problem with that?”
“A p-problem?”
“The passphrase is too easy. Someone could guess it and get it right. Who came up with something so obvious?”
“I-I did... Sniff.”
The Head of Security began to tear up.
“We are changing the passphrase. The question is, ‘When your eyes are blurry,’ and the answer is, ‘Vitamin A.’”
“Vita... What is that?”
“Just memorize it. A passphrase should be at least this difficult. Spread the word to everyone.”
“Yes!”
Soon, the members scattered in all directions with sighs of relief.
“Wow... I survived.”
“We got through this without losing a single arm or leg!”
“I thought he was going to do that thing I’d only heard about. I thought he’d rip out the Head of Security’s upper and lower jaws and make slippers out of them.”
“Seriously. He looked incredibly angry. He’s more considerate than I heard.”
They then began spreading the new passphrase to the members who had been working elsewhere.
“When your eyes are blurry!”
“Vitamin A!”
“When your eyes are blurry...”
But one person remained in front of Hess instead of leaving.
‘Who is this?’
It was the guard who had asked Hess for the passphrase.
“Why are you still standing there?”
“I was taught that it is the rule to state the passphrase before entering.”
At those words, another man hurried over from behind and tried to stop the guard.
“Hey, are you crazy? Lord Hess, I am sorry! This guy is new, so he does not understand yet! You lunatic, lower your head already!”
Look at this guy... He had some nerves. Could that gaze really belong to a newcomer?
“Newbie, what is your name?”
“Aike.”
Oh, I am meeting this guy here.
“Will this lunatic not lower his head? Lord Hess, I am truly sorry!”
Aike’s head was forcibly pressed down.
‘This guy... He was at the same hideout as Hess in Part One?’
He was a man who appeared in the latter half of the novel. By then, he had already become one of the Dark Order’s most notable strategists.
‘He suggests strategies to Saya and makes Lloyd suffer setbacks time and again.’
But that guy’s tongue was the problem. He spoke frankly to Hess and ultimately had his head cut off by Saya.
Of course, Aike had not been wrong, but that did not matter to Saya.
“Aike, come to my room in one hour.”
“...Understood.”
If I was going to raise Lloyd, I would have to leave the guild often. I needed to use every capable person available.
After Aike was dragged away, Hess turned his head again and saw the man who was still plastered flat against the ground.
“Head of Security.”
“Y-Yes!”
“I have doubts about your competence.”
“I-I will work harder! Sob.”
The man began weeping while lying flat on the ground.
“Working hard is not enough. I need someone who is already skilled. This is the hideout where I will be staying.”
“Leave it to me!”
“Are you confident?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Then I will test your skill soon.”
“A... Understood!”
The Head of Security’s glasses were soaked with tears when he rose to his feet.
After he returned to his post, several members began cleaning up the destroyed entrance.
“Lord Hess, leave this to us and go rest comfortably! Your room is in the location we informed you of beforehand!”
Why had they told me every last thing beforehand?
The layout was too broad and complicated for me to have any idea where my room was.
‘I can’t go around opening every door. And there’s no guarantee I’d know which one was mine even if I did.’
When he looked around, he noticed a wooden box filled with old armor.
“What is that?”
“Ah, it is too old, so we gathered it to throw it away.”
I see.
“Really? Then place it in front of my room.”
“Pardon?”
“What? Must I report every last detail of how I intend to use it? Surely you know the location of my room.”
“N-No! I do! I will put it there immediately!”
The man began struggling to carry the boxes away.
I pretended to slowly look around and followed behind him.
Before long, I found the wooden boxes placed in front of a door.
‘This is it.’
The door was slightly larger than the others, but it was not drastically different.
The problem was the object hanging from its handle.
“...Is that a Magic Lock?”
He remembered seeing one in the novel. A lock that could only be opened by entering a password with magic.
It seemed Hess had made Saya set the locking mechanism in advance.
‘The password was obviously given to Hess beforehand. Or Hess himself might have decided on it.’
Smashing this door too would be excessive.
He was not even sure what was inside, and if he lost control of his strength and damaged something important in the room, that would be a disaster.
“Head of Security!”
When Hess shouted, the Head of Security’s voice came from far away.
“Yes! The Head of Security is coming!”
The man came running toward Hess, panting heavily.
“You called for me!”
“You have not forgotten that I said I would test your skills earlier, have you?”
“Of course not!”
“Open it.”
“...Pardon?”
When Hess pointed at the magic lock, the man made a troubled expression.
“I do not know the password for this lock...”
“Right. I did not mean for you to open it with the password. Try forcibly dismantling it.”
It appeared in the novel. It was possible to open a magic lock even without knowing the password.
Just as a specialist could pick an ordinary lock, there was a special Magic Lock Dismantling Technique that could open a magic lock.
‘I’m sure Hess can use that magic. But no matter how much I try to remember it, it won’t come to mind.’
He had obtained Hess’s body, but it seemed he could not yet use complex magic.
There had been a unique sensation when he created the light that illuminated the door and when he used magic to destroy the entrance.
‘Because I needed them, those spells came to mind as though my body remembered them.’
But the Magic Lock Dismantling Technique did not come to mind.
To recall higher-level magic, he might need to find some sort of clue.
“Ah... Understood.”
The Head of Security spread both hands on either side of the lock.
Before long, threadlike lights extending from his fingers burrowed into the magic lock.
‘I should observe closely. Then I might remember it.’
But the Head of Security’s hand movements were extremely fast and complicated.
Hess’s visual acuity was superhuman, but even so, he could not fully grasp every detail of the hand movements.
‘Hmm... It’s much more complicated than I expected.’
Click. Click.
Sounds gradually began coming from within the lock, while sweat poured from the Head of Security like rain.
“Sniff...”
Why was this guy crying again?
“Can’t you do it?”
“No. I can. Sniff....”
Come on, you can do it. Please open it.
Rattle. Rattle.
The lock held on, seeming as though it would open at any moment without actually opening.
“Sniff... My technique is sufficient, but...”
“But?”
“I do not have enough Mana to open a Grade 3 Magic Lock...”
The man began trembling and shedding tears.
“If you have enough Mana, you can open it.”
“That is correct... Hic....”
Good. I would solve it for him.
Hess gently placed a hand on the man’s back.
“Gah! P-Please spare me!”
“Stay still. I will not kill you.”
This should work. He focused and emitted power through his hand.
...Yes, that was it. This feeling.
Hess’s hand began to grow hot. At the same time, the Head of Security felt mana fill his chest.
“Th-This is!”
“You should have enough Mana now. Show me what you can do.”
“Ah-ha! Yes!”
After wiping away his tears with both hands, the man concentrated once more and cast Magic Lock Dismantling Technique.
His hands moved flamboyantly, and the magical threads extending from them wove rhythmically through the lock.
‘Come on, you can do it!’
Click. Click-click.
“Here!”
Click! Snap.
The magic lock was forcibly dismantled and fell away.
“I-I got it! I opened it!”
“So you do have skill.”
You bastard, well done!
Holding the broken lock, the Head of Security continued speaking through tears.
“I will repair it and bring it back! Sob.”
He burst into tears again.
“You do not need to bring it back. How many people are beneath you on the security team?”
“There are three more!”
“While you still have Mana left, teach them how to open Magic Locks with that. I will come watch how well you teach them.”
If I watched him teach, I might be able to recall the technique as well.
“Understood!”
The man adjusted his glasses and started running.
“Ah, wait.”
“Y-Yes?!”
“Head of Security, what is your name?”
“Da Vinci!”
“I will remember it.”
Da Vinci froze in place.
‘H-He’ll remember me?’
Da Vinci saw a radiant halo behind Hess’s back.
“What are you doing? Go already.”
“Ah, understood! I will devote my life to teaching them!”
He ran away, scattering tears through the air.
Regardless, Hess opened the door and cautiously peered inside.
The room was filled with boxes containing all sorts of things, as though no one had unpacked after moving in.
‘Whew, it took this much effort just to enter my room once. I came here to rest, but I only wore myself out.’
Those boxes over there seemed to be full of books. Maybe there would be something like a swordsmanship manual.
Lloyd had talent. As long as he had the right materials, teaching him would not be difficult. Probably.
Hess threw himself onto the bed and reflected on everything that had happened that day.
***
Having completed her mission, Saya returned to see the smashed hideout entrance and swiftly drew her dagger.
She thought it was an enemy attack, but she calmed down for the moment upon seeing the peaceful-looking interior of the hideout.
Saya looked at the members cleaning up the broken debris nearby and spoke.
“What happened here?”
“You have returned! Well... Lord Hess destroyed the door because he did not like it.”
“What does that mean?”
“Uh... Exactly what I said. Lord Hess told us to replace the door with a sturdier one.”
Saya’s thoughts became complicated in an instant.
‘Lord Hess...? Did something happen?’
Saya recalled once more Hess’s decision not to change the meeting place, unlike usual.
***
Hess lay on the bed and organized his thoughts.
‘There was a bit of a crisis, but I handled it well. I did have no choice but to act unlike Hess a few times, though.’
It did not matter if others found him strange, but he could not look strange to Saya.
Saya had watched Hess for a long time. She must have felt that he was different from usual.
Of course, Saya trusted Hess absolutely. Still, there was no harm in being thorough.
Then he would need to put her suspicions to rest.
‘That’s easy enough.’