Chapter 73 – Hide-and-Seek (3)

A brief silence flowed.

The young count and the butler both quietly watched the situation unfolding outside the window.

Henry Camilton.

The trainee from the academy who arrived out of nowhere was walking the training ground with a relaxed stride.

What about Mutai?

He was awkwardly following behind Henry, as if he himself had become the guest.

“He is searching, indeed.”

“In fact, I thought so too.”

“If you had such thoughts, I told you to lay them out without hesitation. That way, I can reference them too, can’t I?”

The count grumbled, and the butler bowed his head as if apologetic.

Waving his hand as if it were a joke, the count crossed his legs and rested his chin in his hand.

He watched Henry with lowered eyes.

“It should take a few days. What is the reason he is acting like that all of a sudden?”

“Well.”

“Without hesitation.”

“Did he not think of the academy’s training ground?”

“A possible thought.”

Count Levi also had a time when he was once a trainee at the academy.

The academy’s training ground is different from here.

Generally, all sides were wide open, and there were not many places to hide.

“But that he did not withdraw the proposal even after seeing this means……”

“Because he is lacking.”

“Plausible. That must be why he rushed all the way here alone. Full of nothing but clumsy bravado. Hilarious.”

Moreover, Henry was not even searching hard.

He was merely lingering here and there in the training ground, as if taking a walk.

“Go see Mutai.”

“What shall I check?”

“Roughly how things are going.”

“Understood.”

The butler left the count’s office. He would bring back slightly more accurate information, and then the count thought he would be able to obtain conviction.

That is, conviction regarding the speculation that Henry Camilton was a typical idiot.

It was just then.

“……Oh?”

The count uncrossed his legs. He stared outside the window with his wide-open eyes, which had only been blank.

“He found one?”

It was a moment ago that Henry entered some building.

He was alone when entering, but there were two when coming out.

The officer, looking flustered, was seen scratching his head and approaching Mutai.

“Was it good luck?”

The count muttered in a dazed voice.

It was because Henry’s movements were too natural.

Since he was just walking as if taking a stroll, and had a relaxed gaze as if looking at a fascinating scenery.

But after a brief moment of time passed.

“……He found another?”

At the appearance of the second officer, the count ran his hand through his hair.

“No way. Did the officers not hide properly?”

Soliloquies continued.

It was a development that simply could not be understood by common sense.

If the officers had ‘hidden’, finding two people in such a short time was impossible.

Even if Count Levi himself stepped forward.

And once more.

When Henry found the third officer, Count Levi lay back in conviction.

“He is not searching. There must have been some other rule.”

It makes no sense at all.

By what means on earth could he find those hiding there?

Chuckling, the count decided to wait for the butler.

Because apart from being surprised, he was curious about what they were doing right now.

“Master.”

“Ah, you have finally returned. So, what are those fellows doing right now?”

Spin!

The count spun the chair around to sit.

His facial expression was full of curiosity.

But the moment he saw the butler’s expression, the count had a gut feeling that something was flowing differently from expectations.

“They say the officers hid, and Henry Camilton must find those officers. The time limit is thirty minutes.”

“……Must find them? Clues? Like they have to make a sound at regular intervals……”

“There was none.”

“That makes no sense?”

“But Captain Mutai said so.”

“Why would he tell a lie?”

“…….”

“Right, there is no way he would. Really? But he already found three people just now?”

“He just found another one.”

Swish.

The count’s chair turned again.

It was just as the butler said.

Outside the window, on the training ground, the appearance of Henry Camilton, who found an additional officer, was visible.

Silence flowed again. However, it was a different kind of silence from when he first faced Henry’s appearance.

“……What do you think?”

“It seems there was a hidden card.”

“In ‘finding’ something?”

“He reportedly said so to Captain Mutai. That the forest is the bandits’ base, and he wished to obtain conviction on whether he can find the hiding bandits there……”

“He must have obtained conviction. Because so have I. You said the bet is for thirty minutes?”

“Yes.”

“The method is not important. What is important is the fact that there is something to him, and once we watch…… he found another. Four left now?”

“Correct.”

The count was wearing a pleased expression before he knew it.

“It won’t be too late to think after the bet ends. What are you doing? Grab a chair.”

***

“How did you know?”

“I will have to say it is a feeling. Though it is my ability, even I cannot grasp it exactly.”

“A feeling……”

“You can go to Captain Mutai.”

Henry sent one officer, who stood frozen with a dumbfounded face, toward Mutai.

With this, the eighth person.

Among the ten officers in total, the remaining number was now only two.

“Seven minutes have passed. I found eight, and two are left. At this rate, it can be finished within ten minutes. There is more movement than expected.”

Though called ordinary people, they were no less than officers of the guard.

They possessed considerable patience, and were also accustomed to enduring discomfort.

Thanks to that, Henry had to find them while relying on very subtle movements of mana.

“If it were when I first obtained this ability, I would not have found them. Because their movements are few, and the flow of mana returns to normal in an instant. It can be thought of as similar to fish in a lakeside.”

The ripples created by the movement of fish.

Only by catching that fleeting moment without missing it could he find the officers.

The first three were actually not difficult.

Since there were as many as ten, movements could be discovered everywhere.

Every time the people decreased, the difficulty rose, and the remaining two now were the trickiest ones even among the officers.

“I guess probably.”

Henry spoke, looking around with narrowed eyes.

“The remaining two must be holding even their breath. It is a difference in mindset apart from skill. At first, they probably thought it was not something to be this tense about, and perhaps regarded it as a light joke.”

Even Mutai, the captain of the guard, did so.

Since he regarded Henry’s proposal as absurd.

Naturally, the officers thought similarly.

“But right now, even if they are hidden, would they not hear the sounds outside? Eight people had their locations exposed in that short time. They must feel a sense of crisis now.”

Not even a bit of movement is permitted.

It would be impossible if it were all day, but the bet was a mere thirty minutes.

Once the officers’ mindset changed, it was no different from the difficulty of the bet rising several-fold.

“However.”

Henry moved his feet again.

“Thanks to the efforts of these gentlemen, it seems my skill in reading mana has also increased little by little. It is that place. On the roof—if not for these eyes, I wouldn’t have found him easily.”

[Oh shit lol already nine people lol]

[It’s so boring I want to die……]

[Look at his expression lolol]

As soon as he climbed the ladder.

Henry made eye contact with the flinching officer.

“You can return to Captain Mutai and wait. I will have an opportunity to tell you the method I used to find you later.”

“……Understood.”

The officer who laid flat on the roof nodded awkwardly.

Henry climbed down the ladder first, and the officer who followed down trudged away.

“Only one person left now. Regrettable, but I must give up the ten-minute mission.”

Nine minutes had already passed.

The remaining time was one minute.

The last officer must have heard the conversation just now too, and was surely crouching in tight tension.

“It is better to climb up again. I should take a bit of leisure.”

Henry climbed the ladder.

He planned to scan the entire training ground from the roof.

Although the movement of ‘mana’ could be seen without being blocked by obstacles anyway, it was to secure a slightly wider field of view.

But the next moment.

“I understand why that officer just now had such surprised eyes. It was not because he had his location exposed.”

From the roof, Henry could see a ‘movement’.

It was a very faint movement.

That is, merely a level of behavior shown out of being surprised without realizing it.

“To think there were two people in the same place.”

[The area beneath the lamp was too dark lolol]

[lol how nervous must he be right now lol]

[Going down and then returning again lolol]

That location was right next to the officer he found a moment ago.

Behind the piled-up boxes.

When he approached it, Henry was able to find the last officer crouching while covering his mouth with both hands.

“Ah.”

“You are the last. You can return to Captain Mutai.”

“……Did I make a sound?”

“You did not.”

“Then how……”

“You were hidden sufficiently well. It would have been difficult to find you by normal methods.”

“……It’s an artifact, right?”

“It is not. Go back for now.”

The last officer stared at Henry, then nodded his head a few times soon.

It was a process of convincing himself.

Since Henry said he hid sufficiently well, and he himself thought he did not leave any room to be found.

“It is finished. Judging by the reaction, it seems I planted a suitable impression as planned. Let’s see. The time took exactly nine minutes and fifty-five seconds, right? Then……”

Henry looked toward the chat window with meaningful eyes.

The next moment.

Starting with Mute.