My Illusion Is Survival - Chapter 39
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 39
“If you help me, I’ll reward you greatly! Not just personally, but my family will also express their gratitude to you! So…!”
Help me!
At this spirited declaration, I turned my head toward where the sound came from.
Though I couldn’t see well since I was inside the carriage.
At that moment, Dekan responded.
“Is that so?”
His voice sounded quite amused, as if he found the situation entertaining.
“Wait, could this possibly be something like… kidnapping?”
“You’re not believing what he said, are you?”
“Well? Wouldn’t he be more trustworthy than those disgusting men swarming around together?”
Dekan’s giggling attitude showed no hesitation whatsoever.
“…Your speech lacks refinement. You’re neither nobility nor a knight, I see.”
“Look at my face. Do I look refined to you?”
“Then the mage who created that ‘shortcut’ you mentioned must be one of those riding in the carriage.”
“Judging by how quickly you dropped the honorifics, you must indeed be nobility.”
Meanwhile, Dekan was scratching away, saying the other looked utterly unpromising and probably wasn’t a knight.
I could tell without looking.
The man was trembling.
“Drag out everyone inside as well.”
“Understood!”
Whether he was actually provoked, the man’s voice ordering us to be dragged out was hoarse.
Anyway, it seemed like a full-scale fight was about to begin.
‘Can Dekan handle all those people by himself?’
As I worried about Dekan who had stepped forward alone, sure enough, I soon heard him calling for help.
“When are you coming! There are too many for me to handle alone!”
I wondered why he seemed unusually confident – apparently he was just acting tough, trusting in Linoa Marigold and Azel.
At that moment, Linoa Marigold spoke.
“Judging by their swordsmanship, they’re Imperial knights.”
“People from the Imperial Court, you mean?”
“Even if they disguise their identity, they can’t hide the fundamentals of their swordsmanship. Their movements have many techniques – they’re not from the Royal Guard, but seem to be from the Protection Corps that specializes in dirty work.”
What amazing ability, to discern their identity from just a glimpse of their movements.
“That’s incredible, Linoa Marigold.”
“It’s just a trivial skill.”
But this heartwarming conversation didn’t last long.
“Argh! When are you coming!”
Dekan made a fuss and called for Linoa Marigold once again.
“Wah! I’m dying! Kyaah!! Argh! Miss Linoa Marigold, I’m going to die!”
Thanks to that, Linoa Marigold’s expression soured in real time. She suddenly looked like she didn’t want to go out.
“…I’ll be back.”
“Take care.”
However, regardless of her motivation, Linoa Marigold’s abilities were outstanding.
“Wh-what is that woman!”
Right after Linoa Marigold went out, the flow outside changed.
Crack!
“Ugh, uaaahhh!”
Thud, crack! Squelch! Crunch!
“…?”
Amid sounds that made me wonder if that was really sword fighting, people’s voices disappeared one by one.
About 10 minutes passed like that.
No more sounds could be heard.
‘Is it over?’
Curious, I slightly poked my head out the window and immediately met eyes with a round face.
It was that young boy from earlier, mouth agape with a stupid expression.
“Hello?”
Startled!
When did his spirited declaration of identity disappear – now his face was full of fear, looking quite young.
“Hm?”
“It’s dangerous, so don’t stick your head out too far.”
Just when I felt something was strange, Azel stopped my actions.
And naturally, there was a reason for this.
Whoosh-! Thud!
A person flew past the side of the carriage.
“It wasn’t over yet.”
“It seems like it’ll be over soon though.”
I suddenly became curious about the expression of the young boy who had been looking this way.
*
“Pl-please spare me- no, th-thank you for sparing me.”
Truly, overwhelming power makes people polite.
As evidence, the young boy who had been somewhat rude was now speaking respectfully to us.
The same went for the adult.
“Are you alright?”
Nod nod nod!
“You seem to be trembling quite severely – are you cold perhaps?”
Shake shake shake!
“Pl-please spare me!”
Even the haughty nobleman had regained his manners.
Unfortunately, his jaw seemed broken, so his pronunciation was quite slurred.
‘Still, he’s better off than those others.’
He was in better shape than the knights lying unconscious on the ground.
“You won’t be able to eat meat for a while.”
I looked at the swollen face with pitying eyes, but honestly, I wasn’t deeply moved.
There was something more important right now.
“Hmm, anyway.”
Startled!
“You said you’re the heir of Eggmund.”
I turned toward the child who wasn’t even half my height.
‘What should I do about this?’
I pondered for a moment.
Whether to play along with this or not.
But to play along, it was too obvious.
“I don’t think so.”
“It-it’s true! …sir!”
“But His Grace the Grand Duke’s child is a son, isn’t he? Yet no matter how I look at you, you don’t seem like a ‘young master,’ do you?”
“What!”
“You’re a different gender to begin with.”
“H-how did you know!”
Acting, after all, is something that improves through careful observation of people.
As far as I knew, the Grand Duke’s son was only seven years old. But the child before me was far too tall for a seven-year-old boy.
‘Her behavior and way of speaking were also problematic.’
It seemed like she was trying to imitate someone, but conversely, she was ‘trying too hard to imitate,’ making it impossible to be fooled.
“Wha? Isn’t dis Chase Eggmund?”
However, the pursuers before us seemed to have been properly fooled by that little one’s—no, that girl’s—lies, looking clearly flustered.
Of course, that wasn’t my concern.
“Where did the real Young Master Chase Eggmund go, and why are you pretending to be him?”
At my question, the child stepped back with tears welling up.
-Squeeeal!
Then the boar, who had been lying quietly and panting until now, rushed forward as if to protect the child.
“Meteo! Don’t!”
Meteo, huh. That was an overly grandiose name for a pig.
“You fool! You’ll get us all killed at this rate.”
-Squeeeeal!
Having done its best to protect the child, Meteo’s entire body was covered in wounds.
Of course, Meteo’s attack was blocked by Dekan.
‘So that really was a pet boar.’
“I guess children from the North really are close with boars?”
“I’ve never raised one as a pet though.”
It was a moment that gave credibility to Dekan’s words about Northern children playing by hunting boars from a young age.
“A pet! Meteo is family!”
-Squeeeeal!
Meanwhile, I secretly admired the anxious-looking child.
‘Look at this little one.’
The child acted quite calmly even right after being threatened with death.
‘She seems to be gauging which of Azel and me holds higher status, doesn’t she?’
She was instinctively calculating which side to align with to survive.
It was utterly brazen.
‘Not bad.’
Still, she was lucky.
‘My intuition is screaming that I should follow this child.’
Since manipulating just one little kid would be easy work for me.
“I see you were running away with the Young Master, fleeing from those people.”
As expected, the child who had been rolling her eyes frantically looked at me in surprise.
“But when you realized this wouldn’t work, you hid the Young Master and tried to become bait instead?”
“H-how did you know!”
“You probably snuck out without telling the family and got into trouble.”
“Gasp?!”
“Hmm, but the Young Master’s condition isn’t normal either, is it? Is something wrong with him, or has he always been physically weak?”
I didn’t even need to hear the answer to the last part.
Seeing her tremble and gape with her jaw dropped meant I was right.
The child looked utterly shocked.
But honestly speaking, the hints were too easy.
‘In Ropan, Northern Grand Duke, childhood, pretty little kid. With those three keywords, creating a narrative is a piece of cake.’
However, this seemed to be just my own thinking, as everyone else’s reactions were similar to the child’s.
Dekan, with his innocent face and wide eyes, as well as Linoa Marigold, looked at me with admiring gazes.
Only Azel was looking at me with a calm expression, as if assessing me.
But right then.
“Miss!”
The child suddenly prostrated herself before me.
“Hm?”
The child shouted in a booming voice that didn’t match her small frame.
“Wise and beautiful Miss! Please, help us just this once!”
She had finally figured out which way to lean.
“Why should I?”
“…!”
However.
“Why should I do that?”
Whatever her situation was, I had no intention of easily granting the child’s request.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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