Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 126

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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“But… isn’t this luggage a bit much?”
“Oh, this. It’s all, um, clothes and peaches.”
“….”
“I, I didn’t know what k-kind of clothes you’d like.”
“That’s excessive.”
“Yeah….”
“And peaches aren’t in season—how did you even get them?”
“Th-there’s a way!”
Right, I probably shouldn’t ask about that method. I want to enjoy my school days tomorrow too, basking in the morning sun without complications.
Thanks to Kanna, I ended up doing a casual fashion show on the street, and with the simple knife she’d brought, I peeled and ate the peaches. They weren’t in season, so the flavor was duller than usual, but a peach was still a peach. It was delicious.
“Isn’t dark clothing supposed to be better for covert operations?”
“It’s, it’s fine. There won’t be any eyes watching anyway.”
“Haha.”
Right—if no one is watching, then even a riot becomes a covert operation, becomes an assassination. I quietly selected clothes I liked, changed in the cafe restroom, and came back out. When the cafe owner complained about eating outside food inside, I swiped the House Neftis welfare card under the guise of a corkage fee, and he fell silent.
“B-but, just freezing the water pipes seems a b-bit sloppy, doesn’t it?”
“That’s Sunbird’s job. There must be other alternatives besides what we’re doing.”
Freezing the water pipes was probably just one of several contingencies. There would be other measures in place to protect Princess Sera from Cecilia. With so many different plans, keeping secrets from certain people, keeping them ignorant of each other—no wonder the stomach troubles never end.
“Ah, you m-must be working hard.”
“Yeah. That’s why I need more medicine.”
I hope nothing happens where I ruin my kidneys trying to protect my stomach. While we were on the subject of Sunbird, I spent the time until sunset discussing human organs and anatomy with Kanna.
Kanna, who’d left a bundle of clothes in a coin locker, had her hands free now, but her gait seemed slightly heavier than before. She must have stuffed her clothes full of daggers, just like when we went to the amusement park last time.

“H-here?”
As I stepped into the underground passage Sunbird had shown me, Kanna’s footsteps became even more cautious. I could sense her presence because I was aware she was beside me, but if a stranger passed by us, they wouldn’t even notice Kanna was there—her existence had faded to near invisibility.
“But… do you really not need to wear a mask or something?”
I reminded myself three times that Kanna wasn’t the pride of the Assassination Family before asking the question, and Kanna laughed brightly in response, as if my joke was amusing.
“Ah, n-not an amateur, but. These days, um, we don’t do that sort of thing.”
I see. Thank you for the professional insight. No matter how hard I tried to play ignorant, she wouldn’t give me the chance, so I let out a word of admiration, and Kanna squeaked out another protest that she wasn’t an assassin.
You’ve reduced your footsteps and presence to professional assassin levels, yet you squeak like that—what’s the plan here?
“Who goes there!”
Because of that, we were discovered before I could even breach the target wall. Judging by how they immediately drew their sword and rushed at us, they seemed to have business similar to ours.
“You again.”
The voice was familiar. I deflected the incoming blade with a guided ice barrier and confirmed the attacker’s position—it was the Bachelor I’d encountered twice before.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could make out the Bachelor’s appearance as well. They wore the dark clothes I’d been mentioning constantly, along with a black mask.
“…Amateur!”
“Last time you called me Bachelor, now it’s Amateur?”
So you’ve been holding onto that remark all this time.
“Hmph.”
Kanna, your inability to suppress laughter really doesn’t seem like an assassin. Since Kanna seemed to dislike being called assassin-like, I complimented her on how un-assassin-like this behavior was, but Kanna’s expression turned subtle and she didn’t seem pleased at all. I’d have to avoid that compliment in the future.
“Strange. The Royal Family shouldn’t even know about this passage.”
“Sunbird said the same thing.”
“….”
“Isn’t this a passage only the Royal Family doesn’t know about?”
“That can’t be. It’s a section where the direction was mistaken during early construction, so no one should know about it.”
“Sunbird said the same thing.”
“….”
“You’re quite talkative today.”
“It’s my day off.”
That explains the carefree hairstyle. The times I’d seen them before, they were either in uniform or mission gear, keeping their hair neatly tied in a ponytail, but today they’d loosely gathered it up and pinned it with a hairpin.
“Your style today is lovely. Everything else is covered in black, but with your hair up like that, your long, pale nape is showing—it’s quite alluring.”
“Shut up!”
“E-Evan. We’re not that close, and, um, such words are, well.”
Strange. All my compliments today seem to be misfiring. I reflected briefly on this and asked the Bachelor about their business. If we’d met here, our purposes could be the same.
“Ridiculous. Even if it’s my personal action, there’s no reason to tell you.”
“We came to sabotage Princess Sera’s Founding Ceremony.”
“….”
“….”
“Listen carefully.”
See, I told you our purposes were the same. I explained my plan to infiltrate through this passage, tap tap on the stone, splash splash, and just slightly freeze the water pipes, and the Bachelor listened attentively while nodding, then gave me a suspicious look.
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“You can follow and supervise if you like. And from now on, I’ll point out the flaws in your plan.”
“What.”
“First of all, whatever method you were planning to use, there’s no way to leave less evidence than freezing it. According to Sunbird, they inspect and check the security right up until the event starts, so if the device is broken or something’s wrong, they’ll just move the event to another location and continue.”
“Hmm….”
“Second, judging by how hastily this was put together, it looks like your own decision rather than Cecilia’s orders. If you go through with something she didn’t tell you to do and get caught, you’re going to be in serious trouble.”
“Ugh….”
Even with the mask on, I could see the Bachelor’s expression shifting through a range of emotions. If he’s still hesitating, maybe I should share the character analysis of Cecilia Crowell that I’d developed over the years running the fan cafe for “Twilight’s Repentance”.
“Have you ever wondered why Cecilia just sits back and does nothing when Sera pushes her buttons like this?”
“It must be because Your Highness doesn’t concern herself with such trivial matters.”
“What do you know about Cecilia!”
This guy’s supposed to be close to Cecilia, yet he understands nothing about Crown Princess Cecilia Crowell. Cecilia has a difficult personality to read, but she has a soft spot for her own blood. That’s why she’s watching to see how far Father will struggle if she pushes forward aggressively—she could claim the throne whenever she wanted. As for Seian, there’s no question about her attachment to him, and she genuinely adores Sera too. It doesn’t show at all, but she truly cares deeply about her. She’s curious to see how far Sera will crawl, so she’s staying quiet and not protesting this Founding Ceremony event either.”
Her affection for Seian goes without saying, and Sera—she genuinely finds her endearing too. It doesn’t look like it at all, but internally she cares immensely. She’s probably silent about this Founding Ceremony event because she’s curious to see how far Sera will go.
“What you were trying to do out of loyalty would only ruin the show that Cecilia set up to enjoy!”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does.”
“You’re quite confident.”
“A third party can always see things most objectively.”
“….”
The Bachelor’s shoulders relaxed slightly. He seemed pleased that I was treating him as someone involved with Cecilia. Honestly, I’ve always found Cecilia’s associates harder to understand than Cecilia herself. How could they trust and follow someone like her so completely?
“Like I said, our goals are the same. If you can’t trust me, feel free to keep watch.”
“I’ll be observing.”
As long as he doesn’t interfere, we’re fine. Once I finished directing traffic, Kanna tapped along the stone wall to find a hollow section. After carefully marking the entrance with chalk, I unleashed a torrent of tiny ice needles with my guided freezing, and the stone wall collapsed according to Kanna’s drawing, creating an entrance.
“If we make a clean opening like this, we just have to set it back in place when we leave, and the cleanup crew can finish their work quickly too.”
“….”
“You came alone, so you probably would’ve just smashed through however you could and left without thinking.”
“Was that really necessary to point out?”
“I’m explaining how badly Cecilia would’ve punished you if you’d done this job.”
“….”
Yeah, even with ten mouths you’d have nothing to say. Your devotion to Cecilia is admirable, but people need to live with some planning.

The development has changed very slightly. You have been awarded 1,000 experience points.

Wait, did I just enlighten Cecilia’s loyal subordinate? What if this bastard develops some underhanded scheme later and becomes a thorn in our side?
“Hey, Bachelor.”
“….”
“Could you forget what I just said?”
“No.”
It seemed like Bachelor had just laughed. Even with the mask on, that bastard was definitely smiling. I let out a regretful sigh and arrived at the destination Kanna had guided us to.
“H-here, in the middle, w-water pipe.”
“Understood.”
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t talk to me. I need to concentrate.”
I’m about to perform a leg technique of sorts now. I’ll freeze the water beyond the water pipe and induce ice fragments.
“Guided Freezing.”
I carefully recited the skill name, and soon I heard the sound of ice chunks clumping together inside the water pipe. As I repeated the process until the pipe was completely blocked, a thin layer of frost had formed on the pipe’s surface.
“Now the water flow heading to the fountain is completely blocked.”
“Y-you worked hard, Evan!”
“It really doesn’t show on the surface.”
“Don’t learn from this.”
“I’m learning a lot.”
Damn it. How did I end up giving a dirty scheming lecture to Cecilia’s subordinate? But since I had to complete my assigned task, we moved to the Water Tank. If I embedded a few chunks of ice here, even if they conducted a pre-inspection, there was a high probability they’d remove only these and feel reassured.
“I see. Show an obvious trap first, so they don’t notice the next one.”
“Don’t learn from this!”
“I’m learning a lot.”
Damn it!
Why is this bastard so unprejudiced and willing to learn even from a child? It’s infuriating. How can someone with such magnanimity be loyal to Cecilia?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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