WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Academy's Turn-Based Swordsman ◈
Chapter 121: Good Job, Our Stalker
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Rainport.
A port city in the western Empire, where it rained for more than half the year.
If Getel supplied information and Ashfall supplied manpower, Rainport was the hub that supplied equipment.
In the original story, the cult used this place to mix materials for future Monsterization experiments into cargo shipments, then divert them to the Nevil branch.
So simply destroying this place would prevent a considerable number of future problems.
“It’s raining.”
Luna said, looking out the window.
Just as she said, the closer the train got to the city, the more the sky filled with dark clouds.
A few hours later, when the train arrived in Rainport, rain was pouring down in sheets.
“Ugh... It’s damp. This place always has such unpleasant weather.”
“You’ve been to Rainport before?”
“Well, I stopped by briefly as part of my training.”
Everyone on the streets walked with their heads lowered beneath umbrellas or raincoats.
Unable to see their faces, the city had an especially gloomy atmosphere.
“Should we find lodging first? It’ll be difficult to move right away in rain like this.”
“No. Let’s go now.”
“Now? Through this rain?”
“We’re going because it’s raining.”
The lights of the harbor glimmered faintly through the rain.
“There couldn’t be better weather for moving goods without anyone noticing.”
This time, we could not simply force our way through as we had in Getel.
The biggest difference between Rainport and Getel was that Rainport’s branch looked like nothing more than a legitimate logistics company on the surface.
The warehouse housing the branch was filled with cultists concealing their identities alongside ordinary workers who knew nothing.
If we charged in recklessly like we had at Getel, innocent workers could be taken hostage or killed.
That was why the Rainport branch strategy in the original game began as a stealth mission.
Aren Bright would spot a suspicious man loitering near the harbor, tail him, and discover a secret passage deep inside the logistics warehouse.
But that suspicious man only appeared later, when Aren properly began raiding the branch.
At this point in time, I could not expect him to appear.
In the end, we would have to find some suitably suspicious person and infiltrate the place without any real lead.
By the time I finished considering it, we had reached the logistics warehouse.
[No. 4 Logistics Warehouse]
This was the warehouse that housed the branch in the original story.
But finding the exact location of the entrance was only possible by following the suspicious man.
“I’m not confident about sneaking in...”
Adeline whined.
It could not be helped. Adeline’s appearance stood out even in the pouring rain.
No matter how thoroughly she covered herself, the moment someone saw the sunlight-colored blond hair and eyes peeking out, they would immediately think, Ah! The Empire’s Greatest Sword!
Of course, I was not particularly confident either.
Like most action RPGs, Academy of the End had a stealth section born from the developers’ hipster sensibilities.
And sections like that were generally notorious for making players curse their heads off.
It was especially bad in Academy of the End.
The enemies had absurdly broad fields of vision, getting caught meant mission failure and restarting at the inn, and above all, it took forever.
You could not even skip it. Players called it a purely unpleasant section.
Reality was not much different.
‘If anything, it’s worse.’
There were no alert gauges above enemies’ heads, and no minimap showing their vision.
I had to rely solely on my senses, experience, and the strategy guide in my head.
‘The report that the Getel branch was raided must already have gone through. They’ll be at maximum alert.’
Even that was too optimistic now.
Then Luna quietly raised her hand.
“Um... Halibal.”
“Yeah?”
“If it’s all right with you, could I try moving on my own...? I think I could help with the infiltration.”
‘Hm.’
The original Luna was a clumsy character in a different way from Alicia.
Alicia showed her clumsiness through bad judgment, unfair setbacks, and the miserable results that followed.
Original Luna was the type to show it through physical comedy.
She would be walking perfectly fine, trip over her own feet on flat ground, and let out an “Eek!”
That was the Luna Grace I knew.
This was a matter of disposition rather than personality, so it should not have had much to do with her personality changing.
If a girl like that suddenly volunteered to infiltrate alone... should I stop her or not?
“Why not let her try? It might suit her more than you expect.”
“What exactly might suit her?”
“Being an assassin... perhaps?”
Students were not supposed to have a talent for assassination.
“But if she makes a mistake, not only Luna, but other people could be in danger.”
“Isn’t that true for us too? Wouldn’t it be better for one person to get through than for all three of us to swarm in together?”
‘That is true, but...’
For some reason, Adeline’s gaze was strange.
She looked like she knew something about Luna.
‘...Why do they keep talking about things only they know?’
I, the only one with experience of the original story, somehow felt like I had become the party member who understood the situation the least.
Luna continued staring at me and added,
“Halibal. Please believe in me.”
Hah. Fine.
What else could I do when she asked me to trust her that earnestly?
It was not as though we had any other good options.
At most, we could charge in and smash everything up. We could always do that later.
“Okay. But if anything feels even a little dangerous, signal us immediately. We’ll come help you right away.”
“Yes. I’ll be counting on you.”
Luna smiled softly and pulled the hood of her raincoat low over her face.
Then she stepped into the rain.
If she slipped on the wet ground and fell, it would be game over... Huh?
I rubbed my eyes and looked ahead again.
‘Where did she go?’
Luna had vanished completely from sight.
“Hey.”
Adeline tapped my shoulder and pointed toward a spot hidden beneath the deep shadow cast by cargo containers.
Luna was there.
Somehow, she had even changed out of her raincoat and into a black outfit I had no idea where she had gotten.
I prided myself on having sharpened my senses through training.
Yet Luna had escaped those senses for a moment and moved into the shadows in an instant.
‘What the hell was that?’
Give me back the clumsy mage Luna I knew.
With stealth ability like that, I was certain I would never notice even if she snuck into my room while I slept, and a chill ran down my spine.
“Wow. That’s real talent. You can’t teach someone to melt into the shadows that naturally.”
Come to think of it, she had spent the entire semester avoiding me.
The fact that I could never find even a glimpse of her no matter how hard I searched apparently had not been simple bad luck.
If she was determined to avoid me like that, there was no way I could find her.
‘...Terrifying woman.’
After observing the area for a while, Luna silently slipped in behind one of the workers organizing cargo.
Perhaps because of her small build, the worker did not seem to notice Luna right behind him.
“Oh... So she can tell that too?”
“Pardon?”
“That worker. Unlike the others, his breathing is remarkably steady, isn’t it?”
Now that she mentioned it... No, how would I know?
Only a superhuman like Adeline could hear someone breathing through the rain from this distance.
I had not reached that level yet.
Still, as she said, absorbing demonic energy strengthened physical abilities.
It dulled pain and made one forget fatigue, so even while hauling cargo through the rain, their breathing stayed steady.
That man was undoubtedly the key to leading us to the branch.
The worker glanced around before disappearing between cargo containers stacked in a secluded corner of the harbor.
Luna followed him, and we followed Luna.
A short while later.
The worker stopped before a warehouse that appeared to be a dead end.
He took a mechanical device marked with the cult’s emblem from his pocket and held it to the warehouse lock.
‘As expected, we found it.’
The warehouse door opened with a deafening roar, and Luna’s silhouette shifted slightly in the light spilling from within.
“Who’s there?!”
The worker’s senses, enhanced by demonic energy, did not miss that opening.
‘Tch.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Still, this was enough.
Luna had done more than her share simply by leading us here.
Now it was our turn to act...
Thud!
“?”
But instead of panicking, Luna knocked aside the worker’s arm and instantly slipped into his guard.
At the same time that she covered his mouth with one small hand, she struck the back of his neck precisely with the edge of the other.
Thump.
Hit by a suddenly cast physical spell, the worker collapsed to the floor without even a scream.
Luna dragged the fallen worker inside the warehouse.
After doing something inside to keep the door from closing, she signaled to us.
‘That really is an assassin.’
“Wow... She’s really good. With skills like that, the Imperial Intelligence Bureau would recruit her immediately.”
I was dumbfounded.
I could understand her personality changing, but no one had changed careers before.
As we quietly approached the warehouse, Luna peeked her head out from behind the door.
Then she smiled brightly and whispered,
“It’s safe here. We won’t sense anyone until we go a little farther in.”
“G-good work.”
Seriously, that was terrifying.
Hiding my complicated feelings, I lightly patted Luna’s head and went inside.
The warehouse was far larger than it had looked from outside.
Dozens of workers bustled between cargo containers stacked almost to the ceiling.
Half of them were likely cultists hiding their identities.
As we moved farther in while staying within the shadows, I opened one wooden crate beneath my hand.
It was packed with glass bottles filled with red liquid.
[Monsterization Accelerator - Diluted]
[An ominous liquid made by refining demonic energy and Shards.]
‘As expected.’
It was the drug used by the Nevil branch in the original story to experiment on students.
They received diluted concentrate from headquarters here, then refined it in Nevil’s secret laboratory.
“The stench of demonic energy is overwhelming.”
“It’s made by refining monster blood. If this is injected into a person...”
“They become monsters.”
“Yes. And...”
Still holding a bottle, I added,
“Even if it is stored in glass bottles, ordinary workers do not have Abyss Cores to purify demonic energy. Naturally, the workers moving the concentrate cannot be unaffected either.”
There was a high chance that the ordinary workers here were already half-corrupted by demonic energy.
They needed purification as soon as possible.
“Monsters might be better. At least they don’t crawl out of dungeons.”
“That is why we need to handle this properly.”
I closed the bottle and signaled Luna again.
Luna nodded and began taking the lead like a ghost once more.
Her movements were without wasted motion.
Whenever she turned a corner, she checked the blind spots. She moved during the brief moments when the patrolling guards’ eyes were elsewhere.
‘Did Viktor teach her?’
The Grace Family was not only a renowned magical family. It was also the family that handled the Empire’s darkness.
It was the sort of family where I could accept something like a secret Grace Family stealth technique suddenly appearing.
‘Tch.’
I could think about that later.
A moment later, Luna stopped and held up her palm.
Three ahead.
That was the number of guards standing watch over the only passage through.
No matter how skilled her stealth was, she could not simply pass them.
Adeline placed a hand on her sword hilt and gestured.
‘Should we break through?’
I shook my head.
It was not time yet. If we caused a commotion here, the workers could be endangered.
But before I could give an order, Luna moved first.
She raised the hand holding her staff, and three purple flames bloomed in the air.
‘Purple Flame?’
Was she planning to attack? That would make noise.
But instead of flying forward, the flames burrowed beneath the guards’ feet.
Then.
Fwoosh.
“...?!”
“...!”
With voiceless cries, all three guards clutched their throats and dropped to their knees.
Purple flames had coiled around their airways, blocking them from within.
The instant Luna clenched her fist.
Crackle.
The guards crumbled into black ash.
It took only about three seconds for their bodies to vanish, leaving behind only clothes and weapons.
It was an assassination so clean that it was chilling.
“...Wow.”
Adeline clicked her tongue in sincere amazement.
“What is she, anyway? It feels like she’s better at killing people than I am.”
I wanted to ask that myself. Why ask me?
“...I was just wondering the same thing.”
Luna had burned three people to death in the blink of an eye, yet she still beckoned to us with a calm face.
One thing was certain.
She was far more dangerous than I had thought.
And fortunately, her flames were pointed at our enemies rather than me for now.
‘Good job, our stalker.’
After Luna repeated similar actions several times, no more suspicious workers with steady breathing remained in the warehouse.
After Adeline and I cross-checked, we concluded that the workers left here were all ordinary civilians with no connection to the cult.
At this point, we probably would not need to worry about hostages.
Soon, we reached the deepest part of the warehouse, before an administrator’s office with light spilling through its door.
A low voice came from inside.
“Take special care with this shipment. Nevil is pressing us hard.”
“Don’t worry, sir. Not even a single rat will get near it.”
‘Rats, huh.’
I looked between Adeline and Luna.
The Empire’s Greatest Sword, an assassin on the level of a human weapon.
And me.
Wait. Was I looking a little pathetic here?
Anyway, that was more than a vicious enough group for a few rats.
I drew my sword and pressed myself against the wall beside the door.
The ironclad rule of stealth action was that once you reached the target undetected, it was time to smash everything up.
Even if we killed them all after reaching the target undetected, it would still count as an assassination.
There would be no witnesses left.
Footnotes:
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