TSWJ 5

Chapter 5

  A Remarkable Talent

The day after Rashak had driven Rena away, I found myself deep in thought.

…But seriously, how am I supposed to make a living now?

Even if Rashak paid off my debt after I spent a week acting as bait, I would still have to worry about my immediate living expenses and what came afterward.

After closing my shop, I had no source of income.

I couldn’t keep living off my savings forever, could I?

Of course, I could earn money by working, but I didn’t have a job. And even if I tried preparing to enter the workforce again, I had no idea where to start.

A merchant company… Well, I did have experience.

That sexual harasser will definitely interfere. He managed to get himself hired at another major merchant company, so he’ll find some way to sabotage me.

But getting a job at a magic potion shop…

There are rumors everywhere about me making strange magic potions. Who would hire me?

And so, I spent several days visiting employment agencies, only to be rejected everywhere I went.

It was almost as though someone had deliberately arranged it.

Even the three-year bad luck cycle couldn’t possibly be this bad. …Wait, does this world even have a three-year bad luck cycle?

I was trudging out of yet another agency after practically forcing the employee to take my résumé when—

…What’s this?

The moment I turned the corner, I felt someone watching me.

It wasn’t my imagination. Ever since my school days, I’d been incredibly good at sensing this kind of attention.

…Because I was terrified that teachers might suddenly call on me to give a presentation.

What? Why are you looking at me like that?

I’m not the only person who’s afraid of that, am I?

Anyway.

Someone’s… following me.

The instincts of a professional coward began screaming at full volume.

I remembered what Rashak had told me.

“They won’t kill you right away. They’ll probably capture you first and ask where you’re from, why you saved Rashak Barsen, and all sorts of other questions.”

So… had they really come?

The spies—those very people everyone called rats?

What about Rashak’s men?

I discreetly shifted my gaze and spotted several of Rashak’s subordinates in the alley across the street.

I recognized their faces from the abandoned building a few days ago. I’d also sensed their presence while going about my business, so finding them wasn’t difficult.

I tried to act naturally and play my role as bait.

My plan was to hold out until Rashak’s men attacked the spies.

But…

How exactly am I supposed to be bait?

I mean, Rashak had told me to go about my life as usual. But what did as usual mean in a situation like this?

What made matters even worse was that Rashak’s subordinates had started signaling to me.

That was… an instruction to lure them somewhere? What?

They wanted me to lead them in?

Me?

I desperately tried to steady my trembling hands and kept walking.

I was scared out of my mind. But I had to pay off my debt.

Stay calm. Be composed. Just walk as you normally would.

I was naturally a fast walker, so this pace was perfectly normal for me.

Although, for some reason, the scenery around me seemed to be flying past at an alarming speed.

This should be enough…

“Grab her! She’s running away!”

I wasn’t running away! I was just walking!

A sudden chorus of footsteps thundered behind me.

Startled by the noise, I started running, too.

Fortunately, there was one thing I could be grateful for: I was pretty good at running.

You could practically call it an essential skill for a professional coward.

“It’s a dead end! Catch her!”

And fortunately, I was also good at climbing walls.

I grabbed the protruding bricks, using them as footholds as I scrambled upward. The footsteps pursuing me eventually came to a halt below.

“She’s supposed to be an ordinary woman!”

“Two of you, go around! The other three, keep chasing her!”

Some people might wonder how a professional coward could climb walls to such heights.

But I hadn’t been given a choice.

Back when I was a trainee knight…

I used to run away from monsters so often that I earned the nickname “She Was Just Here a Moment Ago.”

Once, an instructor cornered me and a low-level monster inside the courtyard of an abandoned building.

His intention was to suppress my instinct to flee by putting me somewhere surrounded on all sides.

…Instead, right in front of every instructor watching, I awakened a brand-new talent: wall climbing.

I mean, think about it.

Getting mauled by a six-eyed wolf drooling all over the place versus overcoming my fear of heights.

Isn’t the latter obviously the better option?

“Damn it, that Barsen bastard! He even trains people to do this kind of thing!”

By the time I reached the rooftop and finished reminiscing about my past, the pursuers were still hot on my heels.

“She’s on the roof! She’s on the roof!”

“Catch her no matter what! Haaah…! Get… Haaah…!”

They were using the same footholds I’d climbed, but their progress was painfully slow.

I was beginning to panic, wondering what I should do next, when I spotted Rashak’s men down below once again.

They signaled for me to lure the pursuers onto the rooftop.

So… the plan was probably to get the pursuers up here, then have them follow me back down the stairs, where Rashak’s men would be waiting to ambush them.

Wasn’t that asking a little too much of me?

Hang in there, Hiel. You have to pay off your debt.

After thinking it over for a moment, I cautiously approached the edge of the rooftop and spoke to the pursuers.

“Um, hello….”

They stared at me in bewilderment. Apparently, they hadn’t expected me to speak to them.

To be honest, I didn’t particularly have anything to say, either. I just figured I should do something.

Still, I’d started a conversation, so I had to continue.

Hmm. What should I say?

“You’re not supposed to do it like that….”

Their shoulders all flinched at once.

The pursuer with the mustache glared at me as though he wanted to kill me.

“I’m serious… You’re going to slip any second now….”

“Are you mocking us?!”

“Well, your legs seem to be trembling… And you, sir, it would be easier if you placed your foot right next to that spot instead. Yes, yes, there. You too, sir.”

The two men moved their legs according to my instructions.

But no matter how much they shifted their feet, they couldn’t reach the spot.

Neither of them could.

I let out a sigh of genuine sympathy.

“Oh dear… You have such short legs.”

And that was how I awakened a new talent in all three pursuers.

In other words, they began scrambling up to the rooftop where I was standing like madmen.

And once they reached the top, they resumed chasing me with even more murderous expressions than before.

Just like that, I successfully lured the pursuers toward the staircase where Rashak’s men were lying in ambush.

“…And that’s… what happened.”

After finishing my explanation, I cautiously glanced at Rashak.

He’d seemed a little less frightening the last time we met, but seeing him today reminded me just how terrifying he could be.

I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Mr. Fidel when he said, “You should report directly to the Boss,” at the entrance.

He could’ve just told him that I’d caught them.

Why did he have to drag me all the way here?

I was anxiously pondering this when—

“Pfft—”

A sudden burst of suppressed laughter came from across the table.

Rashak spoke with a trace of amusement still lingering on his face.

“So, you caught them by climbing walls and running?”

“Y-yes… That’s right.”

“And you even approached the pursuers yourself and mocked them?”

“It just… happened that way.”

“Well done. You have an impressive talent.”

I looked at him in surprise.

After all, the image I had of Rashak was nothing short of bleak and merciless.

In the original story, no matter what the heroine said, he always responded with sarcasm. Watching him had practically made me feel suffocated.

“Since you caught three of them, we should be able to find out who’s behind this. The rat inside my organization will expose himself soon enough, too.”

“…You think so?”

“Then I suppose it’s time for me to fulfill my promise.”

Rashak stood up and walked toward the corner of the bookshelf.

It looked exactly like the sort of place where someone would hide a safe, so I turned away entirely.

A moment later, however, a black briefcase that looked as though it belonged in a mafia movie appeared on the table.

I hurriedly opened the locks and checked the banknotes inside.

One hundred thousand… Two hundred thousand…

There was no mistake.

One hundred million Rupen. Every last bit of it was there.

“Thank you, Boss—”

Before I could finish speaking, Rashak abruptly snatched the briefcase away from me.

I stared at him in stunned disbelief.

Then he asked,

“Why didn’t you ask Count Brent to pay off your debt?”

“……”

“That old man could easily afford an amount like this. You two are close, aren’t you?”

I’d never actually said that to him myself, but it was true, more or less.

Even so…

“How could I shamelessly ask him for help after breaking up with Allen?”

“You weren’t the cause of the breakup. I don’t think the word shamelessly is appropriate here.”

“…That’s true, I suppose.”

“You’re quick to admit things. I like that.”

What was this?

Why did I feel as though I were being evaluated in a job interview?

“But you need to learn to be a little more brazen.”

“…I don’t understand what you mean.”

“We’re continuing the interview we couldn’t finish last time.”

And just like that, it really had become an interview.

…Wait a minute. If that was the case—

“We’ve lost quite a few people lately while trying to identify the spy. We’re short-handed.”

“W-we should hurry and hold the next round of tests, then.”

“There’s no need for that. There’s already a promising candidate right in front of me.”

“Boss, as you can see… I’m an utterly ordinary person…”

“An ordinary person wouldn’t knock out an assassin with a single punch.”

“I’m also terribly timid…”

“Then you can work on that.”

“The person who said that is genuinely far more terrifying than you can imagine. And I failed every single one of the tests…”

“You’ve never worked under me before.”

He smiled as he spoke.

“Don’t worry. I’ve never been one to give up on something once I’ve set my mind to it.”

It was a smile that could only be described as sinister.

It would have been perfect accompanied by a line like, “You dare to run off with my money? You’d better prepare yourself.”

Perhaps it was thanks to that smile that I managed to summon the greatest shamelessness of my entire life.

In other words, I took the money and ran.

The moment I left the national bank after paying off my entire debt, I found Rashak waiting for me.

“How did you know I’d be here?!”

“Once you had the money, it was obvious where you’d go.”

Even in broad daylight, right in the middle of the main street, his face was frightening enough to make people think twice about approaching him.

He didn’t have a single subordinate with him, yet that inexplicable sense of pressure still radiated from him today.

“You’re really fast at running.”

He curled the corner of his mouth into a grin.

“The more I see you, the more I want you.”