NBAA Vol. 4 Chapter 1 Part 3
The moment he left the building, he immediately communicated with Airis. He wanted to know the whereabouts of the spies.
『Airiiiiiiiiiiis!!』
『What!? Don’t surprise me like that!! Shouting so loud!!』
『I wanted to share my passion for you.』
『Save that energy for when you’re confessing your feelings of love. You want to know where the spies are, right?』
『Solid Snake here, looking for information.』
『You really like your Metal Gear jokes. Okay, let me give you the lowdown.』
The two of them joked back and forth before Airis gave him the information.
『This time, we are looking for three people. Unlike the Goblin incident, this won’t take much time, so you should hurry up and get moving. There’s a bounty on their heads, so you should get a cash reward as well.』
『A bounty… I hope no Straw Hats are there.』
『 There’s no rubber fellows here! Just a bunch of rascals!』
Reito heard Airis’s joke and finished communicating. He shared the information with his friends.
“Everyone, we are going to search for some people with quite the bounty on them. I want your help.”
“Bounty!? We’re going after money at this point in time!?”
Dain wasn’t aware that the bounty was on imperial spies. The other crew members were surprised as well.
As Reito only knew the information from Airis, he wasn’t able to explain any further. He tried to explain as much as he could without it seeming suspicious.
Gonzo tilted his head, “I understand but given the situation, shouldn’t we be here?”
“If we were to ignore the people with a bounty on their head, the whole town would be in trouble.”
“Do you know where they are?” Erina asked. Reito nodded.
“I know. Actually, I ran into one just the other day.”
“Wh, what!? When?” Dain was concerned.
Gonzo asked Reito again, “Okay, I understand. But what kind of enemy are we up against?”
Reito asked Airis the name via communication and told Gonzo, “We’re looking for three fellows named Balgal, Magari, and Pherkad.”
Dain’s eyes opened wide.
“What!? Those are all high-bounty murderous demons. You’re saying we need to apprehend them?”
Just as Dain had said, the three spies who had sneaked into Adventure City were quite the big catches. They were vile murder demons.
Although none of them were as strong as Gain, there was no doubt each of them had considerable strength in their own right.
Reito felt ill at ease as he told another lie, “When I first saw them, I immediately thought it would mean trouble if a fight were to break out. So, I tracked them stealthily and ascertained their whereabouts.”
“In that case, why are you telling us? We are up against some serious criminals. Usually you would report this kind of thing to the guild,” Dain was worked up, but Reito just shook his head.
“No, to be honest, I don’t want to report this to the guild. I saw the three of them with another character who looked like an adventurer. I’m not sure what guild they belonged to, but I bet they are selling them information.”
“I see… So, there’s a mole. If we were to let the guild know, word might spread back to that mole. Nice work, bro!!” Erina praised Reito with sparkling eyes.
“You’re so smart!” Kotomin complimented him.
“Purupuru.”
Dain was still unsure and put forth an argument, “B, but!! I don’t think this is an opponent we can handle on our own. Shouldn’t we covertly inform Bal or Maria or Gigan or someone?”
“Bal and the others are busy with the Rotten Dragon. I don’t want to burden them any further.”
“I know, but… Do you really think we can beat them? The three of them put together have murdered hundreds of people. They’re no chumps.”
As far as their prospects of winning went, Reito was confident they would succeed. Airis guaranteed as much.
He tried to put Dain at ease, “We’ll be fine. We’ve got the giant warrior Gonzo and the elf sniper Erina on our side. We’ve got a mermaid with exceptional powers of perception, a white wolf, and a couple of slimes. Not to mention Dain, who will become a great dark magician in the future.”
“Oh!”
“Hehe… I’m blushing, bruh” Erina said.
“It’ll be no problem,” Gonzo joined.
“Pururun Pururun”
“When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound so bad… All right!! I’ll help you!!”
Dain and the others were motivated by Reito’s speech.
Reito gave his thanks and told them the strategy he thought up with Airis.
“Okay, listen closely.”
~
Thirty minutes later, Reito and the others were standing out front of a building in the western part of Adventure City. According to Airis, this was the hideout of the infamous Balgal who had murdered over 30 people. Not to mention, he had a few underlings with him.
Reito had Erina stationed on the roof of a building nearby. If their target tried to run from the building, she would snipe them from there. In the event she couldn’t snipe him down, Kotomin and Ullr were lying in wait in the back alley of the building across the street.
Reito, Gonzo, and Dain were clad in hooded cloaks that covered them from head to toe. They were planning to sneak into the house disguised as members of the empire.
Before walking inside, Gonzo and Dain asked some questions.”
“Reito… You sure this’ll go well?”
“Am I the right person for this?” Dain was nervous.
“No worries. If I’m in the house for more than three minutes, barge in and save me.”
“Uhh, uhh, watch yourself in there!”
Gonzo and Dain nodded. Reito used his alchemy skills, “Matter Transmutation” and “High Speed Shape Change.” He changed the large rock he was holding in his right hand into a black metallic plate with a crossing sword and spear engraved into it. This was the mark of a member of the empire.
Reito cautiously approached the entrance and knocked three times. After a certain period of time, he knocked for the fourth time.
An answer came from the other side of the door.
“What’s the password?”
“Hail the Empire!”
Reito recited the password Airis taught him.
“You may enter!” The key was unlocked and the door creaked open. A man with a prosthetic hand was peeking at them.
He looked at Reito and crew with suspicion.
“Who the hell are you? What happened to the usual messenger?”
Reito heard this question was a trap from Airis. He answered coolly, “The usual messenger? What are you talking about? You always use a different messenger everytime.”
“Ah, that’s right… My apologies, step on in,” the man said, holding his palm out to Reito. Reito assumed the man wanted him to show his metal plate.
He was in a bit of a cold sweat as he held out the transmuted pass.
Reito’s “Matter Transmutation” and “High Speed Shape Change” were not all-powerful. The objects transmuted by the ability could only last 10 seconds away from Reito.
If the man took more than 10 seconds to verify the item, it would be proven to be a fake.
“Looks good,” the man said after haphazardly checking the plate.
Reito felt better and asked the man, “Is Balgal here?”
“That’s Mr. Balgal to you. Watch your mouth. He’s part of the top brass.”
“That’s right… You two wait here.”
“…”
Reito arrogantly ordered Gonzo and Dain to wait, to which they nodded silently. That should have established that they were his underlings.
Things were going to plan. Gonzo and Dain would be fixed at the door.
Entering inside the secret hideout, the man asked, “What’s your business here today? There’s still time until the execution day.”
“Let me talk to Balgal first. Call in all your guards too. I’ll explain after that.
“MISTER. MISTER Balgal. Don’t get cocky. I’ll warn you once, but I’m Balgal’s right hand man. Watch your mouth.
Before the man could finish talking, Reito covered his mouth. No one else saw him, so he moved into action.
“Nice Work Today.”
“Gmph!?”
Reito kicked the underside of his knee and collapsed him onto the ground. He put his left hand on his neck and used “Electric Shock” on him.
“Stay numb.”
“Nguuu!?”
The man was knocked out by the high-voltage electricity.
Reito took off his hood and moved the man to the corner of the room. He put the man up against the wall, and used all the assassin’s skills he had.
A man wearing an eyepatch noticed something strange and came along.
“Hey, what was that noise just now!?”
“Ah, hi” Reito used his “Leap” skill to jump toward the man before kicking his knee. His legs were quite agile after extensively training them in the past by jumping from tree to tree in the forest. He wouldn’t need any auxiliary magic to knock out a level 30 human with just a kick.
The eyepatch man wasn’t particularly strong and was knocked over with one kick.
“What’s going on in there!?”
The loud noise attracted the attention of a few underlings in the hallway.
Reito used full-body reinforcement and scanned the room to see if there was anybody who looked like Balgal in the group. He turned toward them and swung with all their might.