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Chapter 44: Lone Infiltration
Chapter 44: Lone Infiltration
I walked through the morning scenery of the town, and my destination, obviously, is Saeki’s home. I’m sacrificing my precious day off for this investigation, so I really wish this could show some good results.
The reason why I decided to go at it alone is because I thought of the time when we had to fight back then. If Angelica were to be taken hostage again, a winnable fight might not be as winnable anymore. Angelica really wanted to come along, but I can’t let her do that.
Confirming the route through my phone, I continued walking. I’m pretty close to it now, I just need to turn left at that dental clinic.
After moving another dozen meter down the road, a two-storied private house came to sight. It doesn’t look fancy as if it belongs to a rich person, but it doesn’t look shabby either. It gave the impression of a humble home of a lower-middle class family who probably took out some loans.
The nameplate says that it’s the Saekis’ home. This is it.
I cast a concealment spell on myself and stood in front of the front door. Normal people wouldn’t be able to see me now, and if someone can see me, that means that person is a selected Hero. Of course I’d be found out immediately if they were to point a phone camera at me, but I doubt anyone would go around randomly pointing a camera at 7 AM in the morning, so I think I should be okay even if I do something bold.
That said, I shouldn’t just ring them through intercom, so I should try to enter through the garden instead.
Jumping over the fence, I landed on their flower bed. Their garden is well maintained, so I guess Saeki’s parents took up gardening as a hobby.
Should I jump to the roof and check the second floor from there? Usually the children’s room is up on the second floor. Saeki doesn’t go to school, so chances are he’s still sleeping in his room. If he were a returnee like I was though, he should be up early as a consequence of living in the medieval world, so there’s also the possibility of him being in the living room.
As I was troubled thinking what to do, I heard the front door being opened.
Is it his intuition? Or does his family just decide to go out?
I raised my guard just in case. Depending on what happens, it might turn into combat.
“I’ll be off~”
Yet it seems like my fear was needless. The source of that voice was a young girl. I’ll bet that’s Kana, Saeki Yuuta’s little sister, a girl in her teenage years, the same generation as Angelica and Rio. Clad in her uniform blazer, she lifts her shoulders, feeling cold from the weather.
Her looks are average, and knowing that they’re relatives, I guess Saeki himself would look pretty average as well.
She left at a good timing. Now that their front door is open, I should excuse myself in.
Fully using my invisibility, I snuck into the Saekis’ home. Shimmying beside Kana, I entered through their front door. As for my shoes…I took mine off just in case. I still can’t be sure if he’s the perpetrator of the whole case, so I was still hesitant of sullying their house with my dirty shoes.
As I arranged my shoes, a middle-aged woman passed through. She must be the mother of the house. This being the early morning of weekdays, the woman with old-lady-styled hair runs around busily. I’ll bet she’s nearing her fifties.
Careful not to bump into her, I passed next to the lady and went up to the second floor.
As I reached the upper floor, I immediately spot two doors opposite of each other, one room belonging to Saeki and the other, his little sister.
I approached the door of the former and put my hand on the doorknob. It would be a huge hassle if it were locked, but fortunately it opened easily. Maybe they have a policy of not putting locks on the children’s room.
I slowly opened the door, but…
“…This isn’t his room.”
I was immediately convinced that this isn’t his room. Why? Because the room is flooded by pink trinkets and plushies they probably won from crane games fills the bed. I’m sure this is the little sister’s room. 𝘧𝒓e𝑒𝑤e𝙗𝚗o𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝐜𝐨ｍ
I closed the door and approached the opposite room. I quietly put my hand on the doorknob and realized that this room isn’t locked either.
Unsure what might come springing out, I only opened the door slightly and carefully peeked through the crack. Thankfully, I wasn’t greeted by Saeki standing ready with his sword or anything, so I heaved a sigh of relief.
There was no one in the room.
Feeling disappointed from the anticlimactic development, I opened the door further.
The dark room was decorated by blue curtains and carpet. There was a game console lying between a bunch of shounen magazines scattered about, truly a room befitting a teenage boy.
There’s a 500ml pet bottle lying on the floor, half consumed, but other than that, there’s no other trashes around, but to hell with the trash, that’s not what’s weird here. There’s something else that’s abnormal about this room.
(Looks like he’s pretty angry)
There are holes in Saeki Yuuta’s walls. Judging by the size, I think he punched it with his fist, and there’s more than just dozens of them. These holes are made out of a great deal of anger. 𝗳𝒓𝙚e𝓌e𝚋𝙣𝚘𝐯𝙚𝙡.𝑐૦ｍ
I’ve no clue if he’s really just a shut-in or a summoned hero, but his mental state is a dead giveaway. A person like this is likely to cut someone from behind and split them into two. He could definitely attack a fellow person and it wouldn’t be enough. Being extra careful isn’t enough.
I considered the possibility that Saeki might be hiding somewhere in the room, so I looked around under the bed and in his closet, but I couldn’t find anyone. Saeki Yuuta isn’t in this room.
I exited the room, went back down to the first floor and headed for the living room. There, I found the mother figure hastily fixing her make up in front of a mirror, probably preparing to go to her part time job while the father figure is focused in reading his newspaper.
It seems like the absence of their son is normal for them.
Where could Saeki Yuuta be?
As I looked around the room, the father suddenly spoke as if remembering something;
“Is Yuuta still out on a walk?”
The mother didn’t respond and kept patting powder on her face.
“He used to always stay shut in his room but all of a sudden he decided to go take a stroll daily. What’s up with him?”
“Isn’t it better than staying shut in his room?”
“Like a certain someone?”
“…Just like you. Seriously you’re both two peas in a pod.”
“He looks like me but he’s like you on the inside you know. You’ve been staying at home for damn near 10 years but all of a sudden you started working like you just remembered something. Yuuta is just like you.”
“Well I’m aware that my husband fell out of an upwards track in his career, so obviously I’d go out and work myself.”
“Huuh?”
This is a dangerous atmosphere. Why are they having a marital quarrel this early in the morning? You’re both gonna drag my mood down with you. I felt like these guys shouldn’t show this to someone who’s not your family.
Let’s just quickly investigate this place and go home.
According to the father, Saeki Yuuta is currently out, so it won’t do me any good to stay here.
I quickly head to the entryway, put my shoes on and exited the house after knocking my shoes in place. With their fence behind me, I crossed my arms. Now I just need to wait for the person in question to return home.
I sighed a white mist as the cold wave still sweeps the city. I look up to the sky and strained my ears for no reason.
About five minutes passed, and as I grew bored, I thought of playing something my phone, but as I was about to do that, I heard footsteps coming closer along with the sound of someone out of breath. Seems like the voice came from someone jogging early in the morning.
…the figure of a slender boy running in his tracksuit is coming closer. His unsteady footsteps carried him running to the garden and he ended up almost falling over.
Is this Yuuta?
“Open Status” I checked the crouching boy’s status.
—————————————————————————
Name: Saeki Yuuta
Level: 1
Class: Jobless
HP: 35
MP: 0
Attack: 0
Defense: 50
Agility: 70
Magic Attack: 10
Magic Defense: 70
Skill: None
Notes:A boy who turned into a shut-in after being bullied. He currently resolved himself to rehabilitate by focusing on developing his physical strength.
—————————————————————————
And then, I realized that I was way off the mark
“…what?”
Saeki Yuuta is not a summoned hero. He doesn’t have any skill and his physical attributes are lower than average. He’s just a former shut-in, a harmless ordinary person who’s struggling to change himself. There’s no way he’s proficient at spells that can cut people clean in two and regenerate them.
Saeki is not the culprit of the cloning incident.
That was when I decided that I need to rethink my deduction.
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