The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

85 – EP5. Memories of the Wind

After making a temporary contract, he began to wander here and there. It seemed like he was investigating something, but he didn’t delve deeply into the content.

Instead, he left clear traces of his actions, as if he deliberately wanted to show that he was doing such things.

And then, Ainz approached a maid who had been talking to the captain of the royal guard for several days, almost certain of what he was about to say.

“Excuse me, could you spare a moment to talk with me?”

“Yes?”

Seeing her surprised expression, Ainz smiled.

“It’s nothing special, but I’ve been a bit curious about the recent movements of the royal guard. I was wondering if you knew anything about it.”

As Ainz spoke, the maid’s expression became extremely flustered.

“Oh, it was just a personal conversation.”

“Hmm…”

Of course, it was a lie. What personal conversation could a mere maid have with the captain of the royal guard? She knew it, and Ainz knew it too.

Nevertheless, Ainz didn’t bother to point out the fact.

Instead, he smiled and said, “I see. Well, then, I’ll be on my way.”

He then turned and left without looking back.

“What? A hero?”

“Yes. I tried to pry information out of him, but he didn’t seem to trust me.”

The captain of the royal guard bit his lip.

“What the hell is this human trying to dig up about us all of a sudden?”

Saying that, the captain turned to his subordinates.

“Hey, has there been any suspicious behavior other than this?”

“Lately, he’s been constantly investigating something. If what Diana said is true, he might be aware of our existence and conducting an investigation.”

At the subordinate’s words, the captain furrowed his brow and said, “Regeral, Lord Ricardo told us not to touch the hero for now, as he’s our benefactor, but…”

The captain began to ponder.

“Wouldn’t it be better to inform Lord Ricardo about this?”

Nodding at the subordinate’s suggestion, the captain replied.

“Perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad, but we can’t predict what might happen if a hero discovers even a small trace of us. It’s better to eliminate them as quickly as possible from our side.”

One of the subordinates replied, “Hmm, then it could potentially lead to a major incident, right? Perhaps it’s best to inform Lord Ricardo…”

“No, he already has a lot on his plate, and there’s no need to burden him further with such matters. Lord Ricardo is an excellent leader, but he’s quite sensitive. We should handle this ourselves.”

The members of the unit agreed with their commander. It was the moment when the hero became the target.

Since that day, Angel had been on high alert, wary of everything around her. She didn’t know when or how she might be attacked. She could be stabbed while sleeping, ambushed on the street, or even kidnapped. Ultimately, Angel started to surround herself with various protective and alarm spells, just like when she had developed paranoia after being stabbed by a priest in the past.

And then, Angel began to sense the presence of several fey that couldn’t be mistaken for ordinary people all at once.

Angel intensified her senses.

How long had she been waiting? The blade of a dagger came rushing toward her. Angel swiftly deflected it with her holy sword.

“What!?”

Before the bewildered subordinate could draw another weapon, Angel summoned Ann.

“What’s happening… Ah, I see. What should I do?”

As Ann spoke, Angel gripped her sword tightly and said, “Summon Ivercas! As quickly as possible!”

Upon hearing Angel’s command, the startled fey began to rush toward her.

“We need to eliminate the hero before signaling Ivercas!”

Angel exerted herself to deflect their swinging swords as much as she could. However, their swords were quite heavy, and after repeatedly blocking them, her stamina began to wane.

“Hurry!”

Angel urged, and Ann shouted, “Sending the signal!”

A red light flashed on Ann’s palm, and the people, including Ann herself, closed their eyes. Then, when they opened their eyes again, they saw a red-haired spirit, Ivercas.

“Why did you suddenly summon me…?”

Ivercas glanced around, then fell silent.

“…What’s going on?”

A heavy silence filled the air, and the words he reluctantly spoke were the answer.

“It’s the coup faction. Lately, I’ve noticed some suspicious movements, so I investigated. Suddenly, they attacked me.”

Upon hearing Angel’s words, Ivercas looked at them in disbelief.

“T-that…”

At first, he was shocked. But then, he started to become angry.

“Coup d’état? Are they trying to drive out my contractor… Is that what they said?”

Ivercas began to shoot fiery glares with an angry expression.

“Grrr!”

“Jegiral, Ivercas is here! Retreat quickly!”

Ivercas blocked their escape route with the fire.

“These brats!”

“Jegiral…”

After the flames disappeared, the only remaining fairy was one.

Ivercas grabbed the fairy by the collar and said, “What are you all thinking? Why did you try to kill the hero?”

As Ivercas spoke, the fairy remained silent and didn’t utter a word.

“Oh, no! The hero is deceiving you!”

Ivercas sneered at the blatantly obvious lie and continued, “And what happened?”

“Those people suddenly attacked our temporary contractor, I’m not sure why, but it seems the temporary contractor wasn’t honest with us. I saw them investigating something from time to time.”

Upon hearing this, Ivercas became furious.

“…So, these rascals knew they were going to be attacked and still asked me for such a favor?”

In response to Ivercas’ words, Ainzel nodded briefly.

“These rascals… I mean, these individuals, there are still a few more, isn’t that what you’re saying? Do you know more?”

“Well, it appears that some members of the guards were involved, but…”

Ainzel intentionally trailed off. There was no need to inform Ivercas that Ricardo was the mastermind. And who would think that the entire guard was involved in this?

Ivercas began to narrow his eyes with anger.

“So, what did you say?”

“The guards found out that the hero was investigating us, so they had their own meeting and decided to eliminate the hero.”

“Are they kidding? I told them not to touch the hero!”

“Despite some opposition, it eventually led in that direction.”

“These idiots!”

Ricardo threw a teacup. It shattered with a loud noise.

“If something like this happened, they should have reported it to me first, not decided in their own secret meetings!”

“Well… yes. We thought it would be best not to trouble you further, but we decided we had to inform you after all, so I came here like this.”

Ricardo smashed the desk, making a loud thud.

“What nonsense is this? If such a thing had happened, of course… And, are you saying that they tried to attack and kill the hero? It is the Empire that treated us poorly! The hero is the one who stood up against the Titans and saved our kingdom from destruction! Why would they want to kill a benefactor? Even if we ignore such a thing, how can they do something that will inevitably lead to consequences? If the hero dies, it opens up the possibility of the Empire invading, and if that happens, we will have to move our plans forward!”

From Noble mtl dot com

Ricardo clenched his fists, unable to control his anger.

“Ricardo! Ibercas has discovered our existence! The news has already reached the king!”

Upon hearing the news from the fairy who burst into the room, Ricardo furrowed his brow.

“Damn it! There’s nothing we can do about it. We have to start the operation right away!”

“Now? Right away?”

“Yes, right away! The longer we delay, the more our numbers will diminish, and we may not even get a chance to start. If we don’t do it now, there won’t be enough time!”

“But… is that possible? It’s not just our guards in the capital…”

“We have captured several generals under the Commander-in-Chief as well! If we succeed, we can capture my father and seize control of the kingdom. At least we can definitely occupy the capital. Damn it… we’re not fully prepared yet… What are you waiting for? Move quickly!”

Ricardo’s voice echoed, and his subordinates began to move.