Legend

Chapter 149

Legend Chapter 149

The cabin near the slums . It was the outskirts of the area and wasn’t exactly in the slums . Still, due to its location, very few people would come by . It was also night time, when fewer people were about . During this time, Rei’s group found the cabin and quickly went towards it .

「……It certainly looks worn out . If anything, it looks like it would collapse at any moment . 」

Brazos muttered as he looked at the appearance of the cabin . Freon nodded silently in agreement .

「Well, I implemented various measures so that people wouldn’t come close . 」

Murt replied as such and reached for the door to the cabin . Top right corner, bottom right, bottom left and top left . After pushing the door in that order, a clicking sound was heard .

「I see, a door with a special mechanism . 」

Rei muttered in admiration . Like this, it wouldn’t be possible for people who didn’t know it to open the door .

Murt opened the door with a proud smile .

Although it was a door that could be opened easily if the correct procedures were followed, it was quite high quality……in addition, it had been made by a thief with no relations to Azoth Firm . Even if you tried to open the door without following the procedure, it wouldn’t open . Without any other means, the only way would be to destroy the door……however, not many people would make that decisions after seeing the condition of the cabin . There would be no point in forcing open the door and collapsing the cabin at the same time . In the first place, the cabin wasn’t something people would usually turn their attention towards .

「Ah……sorry Set, but I’ll have to ask you to wait outside . 」

Comparing the door entrance with Set, Murt said that apologetically .

「Guru~」

However, it was normal that Set wouldn’t be able to enter buildings . Having no particular objections, Set gave a small cry and lay down in the shadow of the cabin .

「Set, I’ll leave it to you to keep guard . 」

Saying that to Set, everyone entered the cabin .

(Maybe because he got helped out at Pamidor’s workshop, Murt’s attitude towards Set has softened quite a bit . )

Rei thought to himself with a small smile .

「……So, where is the important Galahat?」

The first person to speak after entering the cabin was Brazos .

The figure of Galahat, whom they had been told was in the cabin, was nowhere to be found .

「Please wait a moment . 」

Murt looked around the inside of the cabin and moved aside a barrel containing trash in a corner of the room without panicking . He then reached out to the floor under where the barrel was to do something . The next moment, a part of the floor moved sideways with a clacking sound and stairs to a basement appeared at the location previously hidden by the floor panel .

「What to say . Should I call this expected or unexpected . 」

When the stairs appeared, Brazos spoke in amazement . Next to him, Freon nodded . Only Rei looked at the mechanism that hid the stairs to the basement in interest .

「Anyhow, it’s a hideout . I think you understand why it goes this far? It’s just to make sure . 」

「……All this just to make sure, it must have cost quite a sum of money to build here . 」

Of course, there was a possibility that it was made by just the two people who knew about this place, Murt and Galahat, but that would have taken too much time . Still, if they had asked someone who specialised in this area, since it was such a device, it should have costed quite a bit . That was what Brazos thought as he spoke, but Murt shook his head .

「No, the one who helped me make this mechanism was Galahat-san, so it was finished with minimal expense . Even the minimal expense could just be paid to Galahat-san . 」

Murt said that proudly before realising that this wasn’t the time to discuss it . He stepped onto the stairs to the basement .

「Then I’ll go in . Galahat-san should be in the room ahead . 」

Saying that with a nod, he went down the stairs .

As expected, it was impossible to have a light as they went down the stairs . Or rather, because it was a short distance down, there was no place to put one . After going down the stairs, the floor above closed back and the surroundings became covered in darkness .

「Hey, will this be okay?」

Because of the surroundings, Freon became uneasy as she asked Murt . Murt nodded to indicate there were no problems……the next moment, he realised that no one could tell that he had nodded because of the darkness and so he spoke up .

「No problems . It’s a mechanism that automatically closes the floor when there’s no weight placed around the stairs . When we leave the basement, there’s a switch on the floor near the closed panel that can open it if you press it . 」

「……I guess that’s true . Isn’t it hard to be trapped inside such a dark place?」

「Kukuku~ . Afraid of the dark, Freon has surprisingly feminine aspects . 」

「Shut up drunkard . In the first place, I’m a woman . 」

「No, I don’t think I’m drunk right now . 」

While exchanging retorts, they all got to the bottom of the stairs in less than a minute . There was only a single door in front of them .

Of course, it wasn’t a unique door like in the Margrave’s residence, but a very ordinary door that you could find anywhere .

「Here . 」

Murt just said a single word before knocking on the door .

「Galahat-san, are you there? It’s Murt . 」

「……Did you bring anyone along?」

He probably guessed that there were other people besides Murt . A voice asked inquisitively from the other side of the door .

This was a hideout only Galahat and Murt knew, so there must be a situation that would require him to bring people other than themselves to this place . At Galahat’s question, Murt answered after taking a short, deep breath .

「Pardon me, because of our shortage in fighting strength……I asked for help without asking for permission . 」

「……I see . In the end, older brother still has the stronger force . 」

When Galahat heard that, he murmured with a sigh . The sound of a lock opened by a sound echoed before the door was opened . Although the figure that appeared had stiff movements, Galahat was still able to stand on his own two feet .

(Heh~, has he really recovered from his injury in the past few days? I don’t know if it was a potion or healing magic, but the medical technology in this world isn’t low . )

Rei thought to himself in admiration . However, Galahat unexpectedly stiffened when he saw Rei looking at him .

「R-Rei!?」

「Ah . Didn’t you hear what Murt said earlier? Finding helpers . That’s me . ……To be accurate, us . 」

Rei shifted his body to reveal Brazos and Freon .

However, Galahat had no time for them . Rei was in front of him . Yes, the person who had declared that there would be no next time for Bolton . If he was here then……

「Murt-!」

Galahat reproofed Murt on reflex .

That was not unexpected . In the first place, Galahat had decided and resolved himself to defy his older brother, who he had obediently followed all this time . All to protect Bolton from the person in front of him . Despite being told that there wouldn’t be a second time, after feeling the fear of death that day, Bolton had tried to get back at Rei . His older brother’s life would be hard to save . In order to protect his older brother from the person before him, he had to pull his brother down from his seat of power . Judging so, he decided to revolt against his older brother, who he loved . Even so, the person who was the cause of all this was here . From Galahat’s perspective, Murt’s actions were nothing less than a betrayal .

If his body had fully recovered, he might have drawn the sword at his waist . But in order not to worsen his injuries because of his rage, he didn’t make any actions that could be seen a hostile before Rei . ……And, a single hope . A variety of emotions mixed together as Galahat stopped himself .

Several seconds passed . Galahat asked quietly .

「Rei, did you come here after realising what my older brother is doing? If you came here knowing that……will you kill my older brother as you declared before?」

「……Well, about that . The previous case has already been reported to the Margrave Rowlocks, the lord of Gimuru . 」

「-!?」

At those simple words, Galahat held his breath . Next to Rei, Murt also had a shocked expression .

「As the lord of the city, it seems that the Azoth Firm controlled by Bolton has become troublesome . It’s tacit understanding, but I’ve been given permission to kill him . 」

「Daska, is it . 」

He couldn’t believe it……no, he didn’t want to believe it . He wanted to be told it was a lie . Galahat looked towards Brazos and Freon with such eyes, but his face turned to one of despair when he saw both of them shake their heads in silent acknowledgement .

At this point, Rei spoke up .

「Well, if the the president of Azoth Firm is replaced and doesn’t do what it has been doing so far, Margrave Rowlocks will be fine with that . 」

「Really!?」

Galahat felt hope at Rei’s words as he looked towards him, until he heard Rei’s next words .

「As the lord of the city, that’s fine for him . However, though I threatened you about what would happen if there was a next time, this happens not even after several days . What are you going to to about that?」

「……That, that is……I will try to stop him next time . 」

「I’ve heard that before . At that time, I believed your words and what did Bolton do? After finishing a request and coming back to the city today, when I went to a blacksmith’s workshop, I was told that weapons shops have been told not to do business with me . 」

Without letting Galahat interject, Rei kept speaking . As it was a fact, there was nothing that Galahat could even retort .

Instead, it was Murt that spoke out . He stepped forward to protect Galahat as he spoke .

「Wait . Regarding the matter of the weapons shops, Bolton decided that after Galahat-san fell unconscious from your attack . There’s no way Galahat-san would be able to stop that no matter what . 」

「What about it? I allowed Bolton to live with the condition that there would be no second time . Galahat accepted those conditions . In that case, isn’t this Galahat’s responsibility? Even though he was unconscious, events still continue on……do you think that would convince me?」

「Th-That is!」

Although Murt intended to continue to reply, Galahat grasped his shoulder to stop him .

「No, no . It’s as Rei said . Though I promised not to meddle with him anymore, I didn’t keep it . It’s my fault . 」

「Galahat-san……」

Murt didn’t care what would happen to Bolton, in fact, he felt rather good about it . However, considering the shock that Galahat received knowing what would happen to his brother, Murt couldn’t agree with Rei .

Seeing the two of them like this, Rei gave a sigh before speaking .

「……All right . I promise not to take his life . I’ll agree to that . 」

「You won’t kill him?」

「Ah . I won’t kill him . 」

Rei nodded at Galahat, who asked to confirm . 『I won’t take his life . 』was saying in other words that he wouldn’t kill Bolton . That is why Galahat asked to confirm .

「Are you sure?」

「That’s right . This is the biggest concession I can give . If you can’t follow through even this time, I will go take revenge on Bolton without your cooperation . Naturally, various issues will happen compared to if I cooperated with you . However, I already have tacit understanding about that with Margrave Rowlocks . I will be able to avoid the worst situation of having a bounty placed on me . 」

(Although……instead, he will probably make some demands of me . )

Rei thought to himself .

In fact, if that did happen, Daska would happily use various methods……to keep Rei in the city of Gimuru . In addition, he would try to keep Rei as unaware about it as possible . As an individual, Rei possessed great value as a fighting force .

「…………」

Hearing Rei’s words, Galahat thought silently for a minute . He finally spoke up after deciding on it .

「I understand . I will accept your demands . 」

Galahat replied with a bitter expression .