“But if we sneak out at night, won’t people come looking for us?”

“I’ll be fine. I like wandering around the castle, so they don’t even look for me anymore.”

Had they given up on her altogether?

The lord’s castle had an ordinary secret passage. There were no skeletons along the way, and no hidden treasure vault. We passed entrances to other rooms, but left them alone and headed straight for the exit. The long passage led beyond the inner castle to a building a short distance from the main castle.

At the dead end, Adria pushed hard on a section of wall.

RUMBLE.

The wall ahead sank, and an altar descended from the ceiling. It was an altar for worshipping a god, like the one I’d seen in the temple. Once it reached the floor, the space it had occupied overhead became a passage leading up. We climbed through it and emerged outside.

‘A temple...’

Moonlight through the windows dimly lit the dust-covered interior.

Oh, right. Bianca had told me yesterday that the temple had been empty for a year. The reason was... Had she said the priest in charge got drunk and walked backward along the castle wall, so people were forbidden to enter?

Wait a second.

“We’re not supposed to come in here! You said it makes men impotent!”

Horrified, I shouted at Adria. She turned to me in puzzlement, looked me up and down, and tilted her head.

“You’re still young, so you’ll be fine.”

How would she know whether I’d be fine? Nine years old is old enough to be a man!

The air inside the temple suddenly felt heavy. Cold sweat ran down my back. This wasn’t something I could brush off. Impotent? This was serious enough that I might have to kill myself right now.

“Hah. What a strange thing for a little kid to worry about.”

Adria laughed at how tense I looked. “It’s a curse caused by mana contamination, so it doesn’t affect people who’ve awakened—the nobility. Only commoners get it.”

“Really?”

Her answer was a relief, but I had to ask again.

“I told you, you’ll be fine.”

She’d better be right. If she wasn’t, I wouldn’t help her in my next life. I still felt deeply uneasy, but in the end I had no choice but to trust her.

When we left the silent temple, the city at night came into view. It was dark and quiet. A few houses had lights on, but the streets were dark and almost deserted. Having pictured the nighttime streets of my previous life, I couldn’t help being a little surprised.

Then again, I couldn’t judge this world by my previous life. It had mana and inherited abilities, but they couldn’t light up an entire city. Of course the streets wouldn’t be lively after dark.

“It’s too dark here. Let’s hurry. I heard there are lots of people on Mercenary Street even at night.”

She led the way down the dark street. We retraced the route we’d taken during the day, and before long we reached Mercenary Street. Just as Adria had said, it was noisy.

“Stop right there!”

“Damn it! Do I look like I’m running away? I’m just going to the toilet!”

“Bleurgh! Shit, what did you put in that drink?”

“You got it all over me! Want to die?”

One mercenary fled while another chased him. A man vomited liquor onto the street, and another mercenary smacked him for splashing it on him. It was still early evening, but the street was full of drunks and mercenaries.

“Wow! What a mess!” Adria looked around in amazement.

Mercenaries’ lodgings, inns, shops, taverns, even a smithy clustered around the mercenary office. Though the sun had set, the shops and inns along this street were brightly lit. It wasn’t a blaze of lights like the nightlife districts of my previous life, but it reminded me of them.

“Ah, I’m drunk.”

As Adria walked along, delightedly taking in the sights, a drunken mercenary staggered past her. I saw his hand brush against her clothes. A pickpocket, apparently.

But I said nothing to Adria. The instant his hand withdrew, hers moved so fast it left an afterimage. Unlike his hand, I couldn’t see exactly where hers had gone, but I could guess. No ordinary pickpocket, however nimble-fingered, could escape the notice of a noble with an awakened acceleration ability.

‘At least she didn’t shout or cut his arm off.’

That would certainly have drawn a crowd. Seeing that Adria hadn’t caused a scene eased my worries. But I’d relaxed too soon.

“Agh, my money pouch is gone! My pouch!”

The startled cry came from the mercenary as he staggered away. He frantically searched himself, then turned back. He no longer looked drunk; his face was full of shock.

That wasn’t the look of someone who’d merely lost what he’d stolen. Had she taken back whatever he’d lifted and stolen the pickpocket’s own belongings too?

Adria tilted her head with an innocent look, but the pickpocket wasn’t fooled.

“You! You little bitch!”

As he came toward us shouting, I gripped the sword hidden inside my clothes. It wouldn’t matter as long as I didn’t kill him, right? Even if it made a bit of a scene, I had to deal with him quickly.

While I waited for him to reach us, someone stepped in front of me.

SWISH!

“If your theft failed, just run. Don’t pick a fight with a couple of kids over it.”

The person blocking my path was a small-framed mercenary with a cloak pulled over his head. He hooked his sheathed sword around the approaching mercenary’s leg and sent him sprawling, then lectured the fallen pickpocket in a husky voice. People gathered at the sudden spectacle.

“You bastard!”

The pickpocket shouted furiously and got to his feet. The cloaked mercenary swung his sword again.

THWACK!

I heard the crack of a blow to the head, and the pickpocket fell face-first onto the ground again. This time he stayed down, apparently unconscious.

“Are you two all right...? Huh?”

Before the cloaked mercenary could turn around, I grabbed Adria’s arm and hurried into the crowd.

I was grateful he’d taken care of the pickpocket for us, but we couldn’t attract any more attention. He looked capable enough to handle any trouble that followed. Adria seemed displeased, but perhaps she knew she’d caused the commotion, because she came along without resisting. Once we were clear of the crowd, I let go of her arm.

“Sorry. I didn’t think he’d notice so quickly.”

I held out my hand.

“Hm? What for?”

“I’ll overlook it if we split it in half.”

“What?”

“I won’t tell anyone else.”

It had already happened. I wasn’t the one who’d stolen anything, so I had nothing to worry about. I’d spent a lot of money winning Juan over and was running short. Judging by the pickpocket’s shocked expression, the pouch Adria had stolen was probably quite heavy.

Adria stared at me, her mouth hanging open. What was she so surprised about?

“How can a little kid be so greedy for money already?”

Did she think kids had nothing to spend money on? What was with the discrimination against children?

“I feel bad for slipping away without a word after that person helped us. Why don’t we go back and give it to him?”

“Even after seeing that crowd?”

Adria pouted at my answer, but in the end she split the stolen money with me. People’s expressions really didn’t lie. The tidy little profit put me in a good mood.

‘But who was that mercenary?’

I’d only glimpsed him, but the mercenary who helped us was far too skilled to be ordinary. Despite his small build, one look at the way he swung his sword told me that much.

‘He hid his face with a cloak, and it was obvious he was forcing his voice to sound different. That’s more than a little suspicious.’

For someone so suspicious, though, he’d gone remarkably far out of his way to help strangers. And I still couldn’t get the sight of his sheathed sword out of my head. It had looked like an unremarkable sword in an ordinary scabbard... So why?

“Oh! That’s the place, isn’t it?”

While I was lost in thought, Adria spotted the inn where Martin was staying.

<The Silver Hero Inn>

“Wow. That name really doesn’t suit it.”

She shook her head at the shabby inn. The hero who’d borne that nickname had been as beautiful as the name suggested, and famous for being fastidious. There was no way the name suited a shabby, dirty mercenary inn.

Inside, the first-floor dining room was full of mercenaries eating and drinking.

“Ah! There he is!”

Fortunately, Martin was there this time. He sat alone in a corner, drinking with the weight of the world on his face.

“Martin!”

Adria ran toward him, beaming. At the sound of his name, Martin looked up and saw her approaching. His expression changed several times: anger, regret, sorrow, pity. At last, he smiled at her.

‘A forced smile?’

He hid his feelings well, but I’d spent so long imitating that same expression that I recognized what lay beneath it at once.

“How did you get out here?”

“I snuck out to see you, Martin.”

Martin looked at me. Since she hadn’t said a single untrue word, all I could do was nod.

“You shouldn’t have done that! Everyone will be worried!”

“I told them not to look for me after dinner. No one will know until morning.”

As for me, nobody came looking for me before breakfast even if I didn’t say anything.

“Please don’t send me back. I’ve missed you so much.”

Someone who didn’t know them might have taken that the wrong way, but neither Adria nor Martin showed any sign of meaning it that way. Martin’s expression, though, had grown even more complicated.

In the end, he threw up his hands. “Then I’ll walk you back in a little while.”

“Okay! Okay!”

She seemed delighted with his answer.

Things seemed to have worked out, so I spoke up. “I’m going to have a look around.”

“Okay,” Adria said at once.

“Will you be all right on your own?” Martin asked, concerned.

I tapped the sword hidden inside my clothes.

“Right. With your skills, you’ll be fine.” He nodded, apparently remembering what I could do.

“Is Alex really that good?”

“Ah, we sparred several times on the way here...”

The half siblings, reunited after so long, launched into an animated conversation about me. Both wore bright smiles, but one of them was hiding feelings entirely at odds with what showed on his face.

‘She won’t be in danger right away.’

Martin wouldn’t do anything to Adria in front of me and alert the marquis’s household.

I left them talking and stepped out of the inn. After checking my surroundings, I slipped into the alley behind it. Mercenary Street was noisy, but the light and noise vanished just a short way from the main road.

Keeping to the darkness, I took out the sword and cloak I’d hidden beneath my clothes. I fastened the sword at my waist and put on the cloak. With my body and face concealed, I looked like I belonged on Mercenary Street. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hide my build, but there were female mercenaries and dwarves among the crowd. At least I could conceal the fact that I was a boy visiting the marquis’s household.

“Shall we?”

For the first time since I was born, I was going somewhere alone where no one would recognize me. My heart raced with a freedom I’d never felt before. I calmed myself and moved through the darkness.

My destination was the Red Bear Mercenary Company’s lodgings. It was time to pay a visit to the people who had killed me.