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Chapter 3-4. The Hiding Person
“What does that mean?”
I ask Uchikage and Asure why they are very cautious.
I know that recovery skills are amazing, but … I couldn’t understand why and it made me curious too.
“May I call Baltic-nii-sama?”
“Well, I think it’s okay … May I ask why? Is what I said something like a piece of dangerous information? Wait a minute. 【Haze Manipulation】”
I activate 【Haze Manipulation】 to see if anyone is nearby.
I expand the skill from the room, outside the doors, corridors, and outside the windows to look for any suspicious presence.
Fortunately, there seems to be no other person beside people in the room.
I tried to expand it to a place a little further away, but it turned out that there was no person who seemed to have escaped immediately after hearing what I said.
“Hmm. It’s okay. I didn’t detect anyone except the people in this room.”
“Ouren-dono … Do you have the detection skill?”
“It’s a little inconvenient because it can only be recognized by the silhouette.”
“If so, we can resume our conversation … but let’s call Baltic-nii-sama first.”
“No, hold your tail up. I just said that there were no other people beside the people in this room.”
“…?”
“【Infinite Water Manipulation】”
I use 【Infinite Water Manipulation】 to generate water and pour plenty of MP.
With this, the water pressure became considerably high.
I shot it towards the wall.
PSHAAA! The water stopped there, but I heard a different voice.
“BLUB BLUB BLUB!”
“!?”
Since the water pressure is increasing, the water firmly caught the intruder and brought it here.
I dropped the water from their upper body to their abdomen and let them breathe, but I restrained their arms and legs with water so they couldn’t move.
The person captured by【Infinite Water Manipulation】 was wearing a black robe, a hood with a hole around the eyes area, and their face is still covered.
I thought that he had a great skill when I thought that he had been erasing his presence all the time, but I was able to restrain him for the time being, so let’s see who it is.
I was really glad that I activated 【Haze Manipulation】first.
“*Gasp….. *Gasp…..”
“Hmm?”
He tried to breathe, but for some reason he breathed like he was out of air.
I wondered if I used too much power on him, but let’s not worry about it.
The man in this robe seemed familiar to me.
“This guy … isn’t he the robe man who protected Satella?”
“Oh! Isn’t it Baradim!”
Asure pointed his finger and shouted.
The other party is also looking down with a dejected posture.
“Eh? Are you acquainted with Asure?”
“Yeah … the Azbal’s shadow force … the man who was the swordsman guard of Alena and Satella’s father. Why are you in my room … and moreover, the one who protected Satella …”
“When I went to help Satella, I found him and Rudd having a secret meeting. I found Satella there … He didn’t look like on Rudd’s side, so I’d like to hear from him once. And there he is “
A man called Baradim looked at my face.
I still can’t see his eyes thanks to his hood, but what I can see is that he’s smiling.
However, it was not a fearless smile but a reassuring smile.
“Ah, now I remember … are you an unknown presence at that time?”
“And you are the one who wrote that letter?”
“That’s right. I detected a strange presence, but it wasn’t a bad presence … I couldn’t stand Rudd’s way of using Azbal’s daughter … That’s why I entrusted her to you.”
“I thought I also could trust you as well …”
“I wish I had escaped from Rudd’s sight at that time. But,  when I was worried, I followed your presence and came to look for Satella. Also, I check what kind of person that helped Satella.”
It seems he was just worried about Satella.
Asure seems to know about this and I think it’s okay to release the restraint.
I perished the water and released him.
Baladim stood up on the spot, rubbing his restrained wrist.
“I didn’t intend to meet Satella’s benefactor in this way … I’m Baradim. Baradim Emsia.”
With that said, Baradim reaches out to me.
There was no reason to refuse him, so I held his hand back and greeted him.
“My name is Ouren. Thanks to you, it was easy to help Satella. Thank you.”
“…………”
“…? What’s wrong? Hey”
Baradim kept his mouth open and didn’t move.
I waved my hand in front of him, but it seemed like he didn’t notice it.
When I let go of his hand and backed off a little, it seemed that his consciousness had finally returned, and he was surprised that he stepped back a few steps.
However, Baradim was looking back at his hand that has been used for shaking my hands, he tried to moving it
If I look closely, it seems to be trembling.
“What’s wrong with you Baradim?”
“… Y-you’re pretty strong …”
“What. You can measure my power like that? So you can understand someones’ power by standing in front of them.”
“” No, I don’t think so. “”
My question was retorted back by Asure and Uchikage at the same time.
“… Am I wrong?”
I thought it was the perfect timing to ask so I pulled back a little.
Apparently, Baradim has the skill to know someones’ ability by touching the target.
I don’t know how much he can measure, but it seems by Baradim’s valuation about my strength,  he should run away if we meet in battle.
I thought his skill was very rude, and I thought it wasn’t as good as the voice of heaven, so I can just not mind it.
Well, I heard about his skill from Baradim tho.
Baradim wanted to fight to protect Azbal’s territory, but at that time it seems that Rudd had ordered him to return to the castle once.
It seems that Azbal was attacked at that time.
Azbal is a lord who is very much loved by the people, and although it was a small territory, it seems that he has been able to have connections with several big merchant and cultivate their territory
However, there must be a reason other than slave hunting to attack a such small territory like Azbal’s territory.
However, it seems that he doesn’t have any information about it yet.
There isn’t any trace of the soldiers attacking Azbal’s territory in the first place.
However, it is certain that slave traders are involved in this case.
But, it is impossible to march with only the troops that can be lead by the slave traders.
When he asked the slave dealer who had already captured, he said that he was able to extract the information about their reinforcement.
However, it seems that they do not know where the reinforcements came from.
This could also be a dark organization somewhere, but they wouldn’t attack in the bright light, or even a single and small territory.
This area of matter cannot be understood without collecting information first.
The same is valid for Zenki-village.
We don’t know where the soldiers are from.
I thought it was strange when they attacked with a thousand troops, honestly I don’t quite understand.
What does that mean?
He knew that Rudd was the main culprit and thought that his intestines would boil over, but he seemed to be trying to find out information until he found Alena and Satella.
It seems that only Satella was able to be secured.
And now he went to the castle to find the person who secured Satella …
“You were toyed with by them really badly …”
“I’m really useless to Azbal-sama … I’m really sorry …!”
Baradim clenched his fist and squeezed his anger at himself, who blamed his own incompetence .
I put my hand on Baradim’s shoulder to comfort him.
I wish I could use some nifty words, but I’m not good at that kind of stuff.
I was wondering if he would participate in Alena’s rescue operation but … I wasn’t the one who decided it.
I looked at Asure and asked what to do with this guy.
“Asure”
“Understood … Baradim. I would really like you to go to help Alena … but I have something I want you to do.”
“…”
“Baradim. You’ve been acting with Rudd for a while, no? Then you know about the slave traders. There should be a lot of slave traders in this Garrot Kingdom that haven’t been caught yet. All of them. I want you to catch them. The slave trader doesn’t spill anything and neither Rudd- my brother nor my father said anything …. It’s a job that you can do because you know it from the shadow. Can you do it? “
Baradim loosens his clenched fist and begins to think.
Baradim would like to go to rescue Alena.
However, what was asked by Asure was a request related to the country.
Now, Baradim is forced to either pierce the personal will or work for the country.
If he chose to captured all the slave traders for the sake of the country, he will never be able to rescue Alena.
But if he chose to rescue Alena, the slave trader would have their leeway.
It’s better to pick the capture mission, but it’s Baradim’s choice in the end.
Baradim was worried for a while, but took the hood and knelt down.
Baradim had a beard with a sturdy face. He had a black headband on his forehead and was fluttering for a while with no wind behind him.
“I shouldn’t be deviated by my own personal matters. Asure-sama, please use me to your heart’s content.”
“Alright! If that’s your choice! Then … please prepare the carriage for their mission tomorrow!”
“Sir, yes sir!”
With that said, Baradim jumped out of the window and went into the darkness of the night.
But I got stuck in that conversation.
“Asure?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“How in the name of my scale are you just preparing the carriage now? what if the preparations for tomorrow aren’t finished yet?”
Asure shuddered in panic and turned away.
It looks like he’s thinking of an excuse, but he can’t let go of my watch.
“Explain yourself”
“I’m a little bit confused you see … I’m sorry.”
“… what if Baradim heard that then he got angry?”
“Hahaha …”
Asure was excused with a dry laugh. The both of us sat in the chair again with the expression that we should let it pass. Well, if the carriage can be prepared by tomorrow morning, there is no problem and I want to get back to the main subject.
“Well, can you tell me about recovery skills?”
“Before that, I should call Baltic-nii-sama first.”
Asure went out of the room without waiting for our reply. I thought it would be a big deal to talk to, so I picked another Kokura fruit that I had eaten earlier and started to eat it. Yummy
“Hmm … there is no one around.”
“You’re right … I’m able to pick up only the sound even if I don’t have the skill.
“Hmm”
Certainly it is not strange to have that kind of ability. However, if you are too focused on one thing, you may not be able to tell most of your side of the story. Even if it’s okay because we’re inside the castle, I don’t think he is gonna do it when he is outside … I don’t know what kind of important things are in his side of stories?
There’s nothing I can do until Asure and Baltic come back here besides eating the Kokra fruit and chatting with Uchikage.