Legend

"... Huh?

That was the word that came out of Ray's mouth when he saw inside the room, and neither did Elaine and Arla speak to him, not just Ray, but he felt the same way.

I made sense so far, so naturally, there was a mastermind in the room about this... specifically, I thought there was a boss or someone in the organization.

But if you actually open the door, what was there was a deserted room.

More than that, it would also be natural for such a reaction to emerge.

"In the meantime, shouldn't we go inside and find out?

To Elaine's words heard from behind, Ray nods and enters the room wondering if that's the case.

I look around the room again, but there's still no one there.

But even Ray found out that all the furniture in the room was a very expensive substitute.

That's why I never take a pull compared to the furniture in the Duke of Keller's mansion.

No, depending on the Ninglow, there was a substitute that the furniture in this room would be more expensive.

Well, maybe that's just from Ray's point of view, which is actually different.

"As far as this goes...... no, Ray"

It was Elaine looking around the room as well as Ray, but the air in the room moves... I notice a slight but windy one from somewhere.

Ray, who had a rare look at the furniture, also finds the wind flowing from nowhere with that word of Elaine.

"Where did this come from?

"This way, Master Elaine, Lord Ray."

Arla, who was looking for someone else than both of them, speaks out so in front of the hanging wall of a painting with a huge mountain.

There was a slight gap in the wall that Ara found, and the wind moving the air in the room was what was flowing from it.

When Ray and Elaine get closer to you, we can feel that air flow more clearly.

"Do you think this... is deliberate?

"I rushed away and didn't close the wall tightly when I did. It's not like that's possible..."

That said, Elaine turns her gaze inside the room again.

"All furniture, good hobbies. I don't think anyone who collects this kind of furniture would imitate that. Besides, he leads one of the largest criminal organizations in Anesis. I don't think such a person would get away with it."

"Nothing. Good taste and personal ability... in this case, courage? I don't think that's proportionate. Either way, you know how hostile this is to escape, right? So, as a sanction, isn't this good? Later, paperwork or something."

Looking around, it was only natural that Ray's gaze was pointed first at the desk.

If there was some kind of paperwork on the Black Wolf, it was probably because there was an expectation that it would be a desk.

"What do we do?

It's Elaine, not Ray, who's compartmentalizing this one.

More than that, it was natural to ask Elaine what Ray should do.

"Hmm.... Ara, can you ask for this place? Me and Ray are headed over that wall, the hidden passage."

"Okay. Well, I'll see if I can find any paperwork here."

Elaine chose to divide her power into two parts.

That, if it were meant to be, would mean a dispersion of power.

But it's not that much of a problem in this case.

Ningro, to an unknown place where there might be enemies, sends two of the greatest forces: Ray and Elaine, and Arla, who is clearly inferior to those two by force, searches here for paperwork.

This could be said to be the right material.

Ara didn't argue with Elaine's words, either, just to see it.

I know you would have liked to act with Elaine otherwise, Arla, but I don't do stupid imitations like denying the best choice with my own unsolicited emotions, etc.

... When I first met Ray, I saw Elaine and Ray staring at each other and attacked Ray instantly... it was clearly growing compared to then.

Perhaps this is also because we are in a position to lead the Knights of Elaine's escort.

"Um, please. … Now, how do we proceed through what appears to be this hidden passage…"

"Do you want to go ahead and forcibly destroy it?

"What if that turns into some kind of trap switch? Whatever you do, it's a last resort."

To Ray's suggestion, Elaine shows a slight twitch.

It's not surprising that we're setting traps such as destroying this house itself the moment we break the door, than we are imitating ourselves to this point.

In the first place, a bunch of the traps set on this mansion, that's how I set it up... no, I'm setting it up one after the other, and the way it's done remains unclear.

Probably a magic item or something, but I'm not sure about that either.

Beyond that, it was natural to act with caution.

"Then what are we going to do? How long have you been looking for a way to open this hidden door..."

I don't think so.

Right at the end of the gaze Ray tried to say, the painted door moves sideways to expose the hidden passage.

……

Ray sees Elaine silently.

Because I thought Elaine might have done something and opened the door.

But Elaine, with Ray's gaze on her, also looks at the door that suddenly opened in front of her with a surprising look on her face.

When that happens, only one person remains a candidate for the person who created this sight…

"Uh..."

Ray and Arla, with Elaine's gaze pointing a little late, had gotten their hands on one of the drawers in the concierge and had solidified.

Seeing that, it was clear what caused this to happen.

"Well done."

The first person to speak out in such silence was Elaine.

By praising Ara for doing well, Ara relieves herself when she hears it.

(Maybe the guy waiting for us up ahead opened this hidden door intentionally... no, shouldn't I tell him around? If you proceed through the hidden passage, it's obvious)

It was Ray who thinks that way while watching how Elaine and Arla are doing, but in the current situation he decides that it doesn't make sense to say that, and he never opens his mouth.

In the first place, I had the thought that Elaine would have noticed too if it was something I could come up with.

"Okay, Ara. Me and Ray are going to check this hidden passage. Ara asks you to continue searching for materials here."

"Okay.... I don't think there's any more to worry about than Lord Elaine and Lord Ray, but be careful."

Nodding at Ara's words, Elaine and Ray proceed inside the hidden passage.

It was just built inside the room, and its hidden passage is finally the size of just one person going on, and it would be hard to make a difference if someone came from the other side.

Most of all, if someone were to come from across this hidden aisle as things stand, it would almost certainly be the enemy.

More than that, you don't have to worry about being different.

Ning Ro, it would be impossible to wave a death size first than it is this narrow passage, and it would be possible to poke a spear of dusk, but it would not be possible to act like paying.

For Ray, who specializes in handling long objects, it was a more troublesome place than a bad enemy.

"It's dim, but you have a good light,"

"Uhm. Apparently, it's embedded with thin light magic items"

Light magic items cost a lot.

But if you are the one who leads the organization behind the most influential in the Anesis of the second city of the Kingdom of Mileana, it will be easy to collect magic items of that degree of price.

Not to mention that hidden passageways like this are mostly used in emergencies... I'm pretty sure the lights are still necessary even to a dim extent in order not to mean that the passageways are dark and difficult to navigate at such times.

(Most of all, the only time I need a light is when I go through this hidden passage, and I leave the light on like this even after I go through it... is it an invitation? It's not like I turned on the lights all the time when I wasn't using them.)

Probably an invitation.

So convinced, Ray speaks to Elaine behind him as he continues down the hidden aisle.

"Elaine, I think this is an invitation... what do you think?

"Um, I'm pretty sure I invited you, too. But I have some questions about why you lured us all out of your way."

Two people with aliases: Deep Red and General Princess.

Luring that out on purpose doesn't make sense if you end up fighting and losing.

"Lure us out to the end of this aisle, and in the meantime, I run away from this house, or something?

"Is that... No, can it be? The face will crumble, but if you think it's possible to return from it if you're alive, then there's a point to what Ray says. But there's no way you can leave a blatantly suspicious hidden passage so far, even if you're likely to be lured."

"I guess."

Ray also understands Elaine's words.

Just because you're likely being lured away, leaving this hidden passage to the obvious can be a hassle later.

There is a possibility that you will receive accusations as to why you did not search for a hidden passage that is obviously suspicious to this point, or that unwanted damage may result from not searching for a hidden passage here.

"When that happens, do we just have to keep going like this?... If I could, I'd be the boss of the target organization ahead of me... so to speak, you didn't hear the name. Can I ask around?

"Oh. The name of the one we are currently attacking is Celestan. A man in his mid-thirties."

"... that's a little surprising. You're the boss of one of the most powerful organizations in Anesis, aren't you? Aren't you a little young to be in your thirties for that?

Ray said he was young, but that Ray's appearance age was in his mid-teens.

If I tell you, Celestan will be a man over twice the age of Ray now.

Most importantly, given Ray's official age, he won't be able to do more than double....... though I'm pretty sure it's still close to double.

"Right. But the fact that we were putting the organization together at that age meant that it was that competent. I'm pretty sure he added a black wolf to his abilities."

The Black Wolf is only a freelance assassin, but being able to connect with that Black Wolf means Celestan can also request an assassination from the Black Wolf.

If that were the case, there would not have been an option for Celestial not to use a powerful weapon called the Black Wolf to develop the organization's forces.

"But that black wolf isn't there anymore"

Ray's expression has a color that only seems sad for a moment.

But it also disappeared quickly, and now I focus my consciousness first on what lies ahead of this hidden passage... heh, I notice.

"This hidden passage, isn't it going down? That, too, is pretty crooked... but did you have the breadth up to here?

It's been at least five minutes since we've already started going down the hidden aisle.

Given the size of the house where the Rays came in, that wasn't the size to keep walking for five minutes.

Nonetheless, for some reason, we continue to walk this way now, but there is no way that the concealed passage will ever end.

That was, obviously, an anomaly… Still, for Ray and Elaine, who saw so many of those irrational traps, this degree is easily imaginable.

"Perhaps this is also some kind of magic item or something. I didn't expect Anesis to have such a magic item"

Elaine shrugged in a slightly but bittersweet way because it was called a magic item in a trap, a magic item that was interfering in this space, none of which was an readily available substitute.

(Well, getting to this point... I don't feel like it could be a magic item)

Ray was slightly uncomfortable with the fact that a single human being has two magic items, a magic item in a trap and a magic item that crosses a space, because it cannot be explained for the moment.

If it's such a high-performance magic item, it's not surprising that just having it spreads rumors.

In order not to do so, that means that I didn't use it at all even if I got it.

Thinking of it that way, a light was created at the end of the concealed passage as if it had been foreseen.

"Apparently, it's an exit."

"Uhm."

Elaine nodded at Ray's words, the two of them out of the hidden passage... and at that moment, as if the situation had been a lie before, there was a strong blood odor.