Chapter 105: Hero (4)

Tmp.

The scar-faced man leaped from the ground with a swift kick. In an instant, he soared through the air, his sword flashing like lightning.

Crap! Pablo’s face contorted in dismay.

There was no time for explanations or excuses. Honestly, none were needed anyway…

But regardless of how anyone saw it, he’d be blamed for breaking down the door right now.

Louis’s confident voice echoed in Pablo’s mind:

Well, Louis had certainly taken care of things all right—by leaving him holding the bag for everything that went wrong.

Darn it all!

Still, there was no use wallowing in self-pity when swords were flying at him left and right. Pablo swung his mace toward one such blade hurtling toward him.

Klang.

The sword and hammer clashed, erupting with a deafening boom.

“Ugh!”

A hammer was a heavier weapon than a sword. Slower than a blade but boasting an overwhelming destructive power. The man who had charged swiftly recoiled as he gritted his teeth from the impact. His eyes now reflected caution as he regarded Pablo, having realized in their first exchange that Pablo wasn’t someone to be underestimated.

Meanwhile, Pablo tightened his grip on the hammer.

Ptoo! Pablo forcefully spat on the ground.

“Alright then, let’s see what you’re made of!”

In that initial clash, Pablo too came to a realization: his opponent matched him in skill.

As Pablo firmly planted his feet, a brown energy began surging around him. In response, the scarred man also drew upon his own strength.

Whoosh…

A red aura rippled around the scarred man’s body, accompanied by a surge of heat. Pablo’s eyes gleamed at the sight.

Fire attribute!

Fire and Earth. Neither had an inherent advantage over the other in terms of elemental affinity.

Let’s give it a go!

The two high-tier energies collided, sending shockwaves through the air.

Zzzzt.

A momentary lull followed as they locked in stalemate.

Boom!

Pablo seized his chance and lunged forward, resuming their clash.

Meanwhile, Louis observed the thrilling battle from behind with the twins.

“If it looks like Pablo is about to die,” he instructed them, “help him out.”

“Buzz buzz!”

“And if it seems like Pablo will win?”

“Just let things take care of themselves then.”

Buzz!

The twins watched Pablo’s valiant struggle with rapt interest.

Louis snorted at this sight.

Right, fights between noobs are always more entertaining.

He slipped some candy into their hands while they were preoccupied watching the match. It was his way of telling them not to mess around but stay here and watch this instead.

As he did so, Louis glanced briefly over his shoulder.

Seeing how captivated they were by Pablo’s battle, it seemed there was no need for further conversation.

I’ll leave this one to Pablo.

If he could just take care of that big guy leading the pack, then tonight’s midnight raid would wrap up nicely.

Then now…

The corners of Louis’s mouth curled up.

Should I reap today’s rewards?

This was the moment he had been longing for. Whether they were raiders or not didn’t matter; this was most important to him at least.

He glanced at Page before whispering to Fin.

“…Where is it? The secret space?”

“It’s over there!” Fin pointed toward one side of the bridge.

Louis cautiously crawled across the bridge where the fight continued.

Bam! Bam!

Pablo and the leader of the intruders failed to notice due to their intense battle.

Boom! Boom!

Louis cautiously moved forward after leaving behind fierce fighting.

“Is this it?”

“Yes!”

Louis came to collect today’s rewards but raised his eyebrows at seeing the captain’s cabin door open.

“It’s open.”

”…I see. But why is it open?”

The door should have been tightly locked. At least, according to Fin, who had always found the captain’s quarters sealed when she checked.

Realizing this caused confusion on Louis’ face.

Could it be?!

Were the intruders here for loot?!

He urgently opened the door. Soon, a strong smell of blood made him grimace.

Inside the captain’s cabin lay several bodies.

”…They’ve brought these here.”

All the corpses appeared to be crew members.

I don’t see any signs that they searched for something.

In that case, they could simply be bodies tossed here. Fin pointed at what appeared to be the highest-ranking officer among them.

“Huh? So he’s the captain!”

It was a middle-aged man with a blindfold on and a hole straight through his chest. Louis glanced at him briefly before losing interest. Instead, his eyes lit up as he searched for hidden spaces.

“I wonder where the secret storeroom is?” He explored the room eagerly, like searching for buried treasure.

“That would be…” Just as Fin was about to reveal the location, Louis raised his hand and cut her off.

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“I’ll find it myself. Isn’t this kind of thing fun?” Louis’s eyes sparkled.

I’ve always wanted to try something like this!

Solving puzzles by finding hidden clues to escape rooms or resolve issues—it was exactly the sort of challenge Louis had been craving.

Just thinking about it made his hands itch with excitement.

“Let’s see now. In situations like this, usually…” Louis paced back and forth, his face brimming with enthusiasm.

No picture frames here.

Don’t movies and comics always have a hidden safe behind a picture frame? But there wasn’t even a small frame in the captain’s bedroom.

“Then…”

He proceeded to move each candlestick and long object one by one. However, he found nothing special anywhere. He also diligently tapped on the room’s walls but detected no abnormalities.

Having examined most of the area, Louis’s gaze focused on one particular spot.

“If that’s not it… then…?”

His eyes landed on a large bed placed over a brown carpet. With high expectations, Louis pushed aside the bed.

As Louis swiftly swept away the carpet, a metal door resembling a manhole cover was revealed beneath it.

“Bingo!”

Louis raised his hands triumphantly in delight.

The standard entrance to secret places is indeed under the bed!

Alongside hidden safes behind picture frames, beds were classic hiding spots for such secrets.

Overjoyed, Louis began tapping on the newly discovered metal door.

Tunk-tunk.

A deep resonance echoed with each tap, indicating its substantial thickness. However, there appeared to be no handle or latch visible.

“It seems to have some sort of specialized locking mechanism…”

Even at first glance, this was clearly not an ordinary iron door.

Louis cautiously channeled mana into the door.

“I don’t think it’s enchanted.”

If it were an enchanted object, he should be able to sense its magical circuit, but there was nothing of the sort. It seemed more likely that this was a special item crafted purely from metalwork.

The dwarves probably made this.

He had been about to smash it open when he spotted a circular indentation in the center of the door.

“Hmm… Is this it?”

There was no doorknob or keyhole in sight. In that case, this round recess must be where the entry key goes.

I just need to find this!

Louis sprang up and rushed over to search through the desk drawers on one side.

About the size of a walnut. Shape-wise, probably spherical.

But try as he might, he couldn’t find anything that fit the bill.

A thought suddenly struck Louis:

The captain never left his quarters to guard this secret location every day. He wouldn’t casually leave the key to such an important place lying around.

If it were him…

I’d carry it with me at all times!

With that realization, Louis dashed towards the captain’s body.

He began rummaging through the captain’s clothes, but soon frustration set in.

”…It’s not here either?”

He had thoroughly searched the entire body, yet found nothing.

“What is going on? Why can’t I find it?”

Such an important item should have been carried on their person at all times!

Agh, maybe they just smashed it?

With no answer forthcoming, Louis’s first instinct was to resort to brute force.

As he grappled with his dilemma, Fin fluttered over.

“Shall I enlighten you? Heh-heh.”

Her tone, implying that she would speak whenever prompted, irked Louis. Pouting, he silently waved her off—his gesture meant for her to remain quiet.

“Huh?” Fin blinked innocently, tilting her head.

“A spherical object about the size of a walnut. Something one must always carry, never to be lost.”

Realization dawned on Louis as his gaze locked onto the captain’s face—or more precisely, the black blindfold covering it.

Could it be…?

Louis reached out towards the captain’s visage.

As Louis removed the blindfold, his eyes immediately fell upon a wound on the captain’s eyelid. He flipped it over in hopes that his theory was correct. As he did so, a silver sheen emerged beneath the eyelid.

Louis smiled at this revelation.

It must be true!

With a grin spreading across his face, Louis extracted a metallic sphere from the captain’s eye socket.

“Ugh, how dirty!” Louis wiped the slimy sphere against the captain’s clothes before returning to the barred gate.

Tink.

Without hesitation, he inserted the sphere into its designated slot. The vibrating metal orb then automatically rotated halfway around.

Click.

Creak-creeeeak.

Soon after, accompanied by sounds akin to interlocking gears and winding springs, the iron door began moving slowly open with a soft whoosh. Simultaneously, Louis couldn’t help but curl up the corners of his mouth as well.

“It worked! A wise dragon should always rely on their wits first! Yes! Brute force isn’t everything!”

“I knew it was you, Louis!”

“Heh-heh, this is nothing for me.” Fin’s praise made Louis puff up like a peacock as he licked his lips at the sight of the open entranceway.

Even if we had infiltrated according to Page’s plan, I doubt we could’ve opened that door so easily.

Who would’ve expected the captain to hold the key in one eye? If they’d followed their original strategy, things might’ve gotten complicated. It seemed the sudden attack by these mysterious enemies turned out to be quite fortunate for Louis after all.

“Well then, shall we?” With excitement written across his face, Louis took a step toward the entrance.

Clunk-clunk…

Louis descended the iron stairs, counting each step: One, two, three… How far down did he go? When the scene before him finally came into view, Louis’s jaw dropped wide open.

“Wow…”

At first, Louis thought of ancient artifacts like earthenware with intricate patterns when he heard about this place being filled with treasures from bygone eras.

But that wasn’t it at all.

“Shimmer here, sparkle there! All over, they’re twinkling everywhere!”

The so-called “ancient relics” were actually made entirely of precious silver and gold.

This changes everything!

Page had mentioned around a hundred items, but her information was off.

“W-wow, look at these…”

It was easily more than fifty square meters wide, completely packed with glinting objects—hundreds upon hundreds of them.

And in one corner stood neatly stacked boxes. Louis picked up one of them curiously.

“Ohhh…” The corners of his mouth quivered with delight as he realized what lay inside. “They’re elixirs… And top-grade ones too!”

Surprisingly, each box contained high-quality medicinal herbs. As someone who constantly sought out such remedies, Louis could tell their caliber instantly.

“C-could those be…all of them?”

Louis gazed at the stacked boxes with a contented smile.

Even if I share these with my twins, we should have enough to last for another year.

Though not the rarest of elixirs, this was more than sufficient for Louis right now—it felt like hitting the jackpot!

What an unexpected windfall! Could there be any greater stroke of luck than this?

He raised his thumb towards where Lord Samuel had once stood—though he knew he’d never see him again—and shouted:

“Cheers!”

With that bold toast, Louis opened his pocket dimension and began sweeping up everything from the secret storage space.

“Hoo boy… If Page had insisted on taking half as per our contract, I would’ve been left in tears.”

If only they had split it evenly according to their agreement with Page? He’d likely be wailing miserably over such a loss.

“Mini Toto, let’s eat.”

Louis scooped up a handful of gold coins from the pile on one side and stuffed them into his rabbit wallet. The previously empty wallet instantly bulged with its newfound contents. Louis couldn’t help but admire how adorable it looked.

“Eh-heya diya! Back to work!” With his rabbit wallet securely fastened, Louis mustered some energy and began sweeping more loot into his pocket dimension. Soon, all the sparkling treasures and medicinal herbs that had once filled the warehouse vanished without a trace.

“All done!” Louis chuckled happily, dusting off his hands before bounding up the stairs without hesitation.

“Hoo-hoo~.” He hummed cheerfully as he leaped up the steps two at a time. Was it just his imagination, or did his figure, leaving behind the now-empty warehouse, truly resemble his plump little rabbit wallet?