IPBT 10

Chapter 10

As Peter said, it’s not raining that heavily.

It didn’t seem like the kind of weather that required flood preparations. It was just enough to make me even less inclined than usual to go to work.

And yet, I’d come out to work—or, more precisely, it wasn’t exactly a job, but since I had to do it whether I wanted to or not, I might as well call it one.

I still had more than twenty-four hours left, but I figured, what was the point of resting?

Flash!

Lightning struck in the distance, briefly illuminating the surroundings as brightly as daylight.

I’d been hiding in the forest, which had grown familiar to me by now. I quickly ducked behind a tree and clicked my tongue.

From now on, I’m avoiding rainy days at all costs.

The unpredictable lightning was one problem, but rain also rendered my Invisibility Pass practically useless.

If raindrops outlined a human-shaped silhouette, even I would probably take a swing with my sword just to be safe.

On top of that, there’d be splashing sounds with every step, and water on the wet ground would scatter in the shape of my footprints. Just thinking about it made me break out in a cold sweat.

Carpet trauma….

Still, if I had to name one good thing about the rain, it was that there were fewer guards around.

I tossed a stone to distract them, then—

BANG!

“What was that noise?”

“Did something break?”

I slipped between the bars of the main gate and sprinted toward the main building.

I decided that minimizing the time I spent getting rained on was a better way to reduce the risk of getting caught than walking slowly to keep my footsteps quiet.

Once I reached the main building, I immediately called for the Mascot.

Hey. You can come out now.

—I was scaaared!

You’ve got to be kidding me. Now you’re scared of lightning, too?

—What do you mean, kidding?! Lightning is scary!

Then why did you call me a coward on the first day?

—F-Forget that! Hurry up and take off your raincoat!

It was so pathetic, the way it desperately tried to change the subject, that I didn’t bother arguing. I put my raincoat and wet shoes into my inventory.

Since I’d bought both from the item shop, I didn’t even have to physically take them off. They were automatically stored away, which was convenient.

Huh? I’m not wet at all.

I’d cursed up a storm while buying the raincoat because it had cost five whole coins, but apparently it worked better than I’d expected. My entire body was perfectly dry, without a single drop of water on me.

—See? Wasn’t it a good idea to listen to me?

I would’ve bought it even without your advice.

I stretched for a moment, then stepped into the corridor where the quest took place.

[Quest: Chapter 1–1 — Ainsworth Mansion, Main Building, First-Floor Corridor]

[GAME START]

[RUN!]

After quickly collecting ten coins, I stared at the spot where the red coin had appeared the other day.

Not giving me one today?

—If we gave you one every time, you’d get spoiled!

Do people usually say that sort of thing to the person they’re spoiling?

Disappointed, I placed my hand on the doorknob of the Day One hiding spot and waited for the door to light up.

Before the hiding spot indicator appeared, I heard light footsteps.

Clop, clop, clop.

There seemed to be two people, but they weren’t deliberately trying to walk quietly. They simply seemed to be light on their feet.

When the time came, I entered the room and settled into a corner.

Even with my raincoat, I had no intention of hanging outside the window in this weather.

—You know you won’t get a failure notification just because you don’t hang outside, right?

There was a reason I could afford to say something so carefree. The voices of the women outside were trembling with fear.

Thanks to that, I was able to maintain a perfectly normal heart rate while eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Since the knights and servants are gone, we have to do this sort of thing ourselves.”

“They said everyone went with the Grand Duke to the place where the wildfire happened before. Apparently, places like that are more prone to landslides.”

“But does patrolling even do any good? There was an intruder a few days ago, wasn’t there? If we get caught, we’ll be killed on the spot…”

“……Why would you say something like that? Didn’t you hear what the knights said? They told us no intruders would come on a rainy day.”

The one who’d deliberately tried to sound brave continued.

“And there are two of us, so it’s—”

“Even two people is scary!”

“…Let’s ask them to assign three people to tomorrow’s patrol.”

Bang! Thud. Bang! Thud.

“Eeeek…!”

Frightened whimpers and the sound of doors being opened and slammed shut at lightning speed drew closer.

—Hehehe. They must be cowards! Let’s scare them! Rawr!

Are you insane?

Soon, they went through the same routine in the room where I was hiding, and the sound of the two maids running away followed.

Good grief.

I’d caught a glimpse of their faces when the door opened just now, and they looked so young. I guess they were taking turns patrolling according to seniority.

The adults ought to be setting a good example, honestly….

Anyway, the Grand Duke was gone, and so were the knights. This was my chance.

Am I actually going to complete the quest this time?

It was now the afternoon of the fourth day since I’d started breaking in.

I wandered around the mansion in peace, looking for backup hiding spots in advance.

If I’d known the landlord wasn’t coming back, I should’ve started exploring the day before yesterday. I wasted so much time hiding in that room for nothing.

I still had more than twenty hours of invisibility left, so I decided there was no need to be stingy with my pass.

Since I used invisibility for about twenty to forty minutes a day, it would take at least thirty-six days to use up all twenty-four hours.

I’d already earned thirty coins from this quest, so I leisurely explored the mansion while remaining invisible.

This must be the training grounds.

—And the building right next to it must be the knights’ quarters! Let’s go take a look!

Training grounds, knights’ quarters… High risk.

I recorded the information on the system’s floor plan.

Originally, I hadn’t been able to edit the floor plan, but today the system had started selling an editing pass.

It was a real rip-off, but it cost only one coin, so I bought it without complaint.

It looks like a completely different place in daylight.

—WHY AREN’T YOU GOING OVER THERE?!

At night, all I’d noticed was how enormous the place was. Now, the first thing that stood out was the color.

The stone paths and the mansion were all gray, giving the place an imposing yet cold atmosphere. The only real color came from the green of the gardens.

Why aren’t there any flowers?

The fact that the grounds contained only the facilities they needed, without any unnecessary embellishments, and that all the buildings looked similar apart from their size, revealed the landlord’s practical nature.

Since the family had probably been using this mansion for generations, perhaps that taste had been passed down through the ages.

When I’d made it about halfway around the grounds, the rain began to intensify.

—Ah! Rain!

The Mascot, which had put on a raincoat to match mine, slipped underneath it.

You’re not even going to get wet. Why are you making such a fuss?

This seemed like a good time to take a break.

I went to a nearby building and sat on the steps beneath its roof.

Why are there so few people in this mansion?

—Because it’s raining! They’re not going to wander around in this weather! Let’s hurry back to the room, too!

Maybe they sent out enough people to make that happen.

Still, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down, so I kept myself invisible while rummaging through my bag.

I’m exhausted….

Even in this body, I felt my energy running low. I was thirsty, hungry, and sleepy….

Ah. I’m out of water.

I put my canteen to my lips to satisfy one of my basic bodily needs, but only a few drops came out before it ran dry.

—That’s what you get for not buying a bigger one!

There’s no room in my bag.

You’d think I could just put the canteen in my inventory, since I’d bought it from the system shop, but apparently I couldn’t.

When I asked the Mascot, it explained that the canteens they sold were empty, so a canteen filled with water wasn’t eligible.

What, are you going to tell me the ones you sold were sterile, but the moment I touched one, it got contaminated with bacteria? Then what about the raincoat that got wet and the shoes that got covered in dirt?

—Those things are different~!

How are they different?

Still, I didn’t regret buying the canteen.

[Stainless Water Bottle (200 ml) — 2 Coins]

[Maintains the freshness and temperature of any beverage stored inside, keeping it just as it was when first poured.]

Despite its suspiciously knockoff-sounding name, it had a mysterious ability.

I’d been drinking the same water for three days, and it hadn’t developed even the slightest stale smell.

—But now you don’t have any water left~!

I’d been rationing it as best I could, but I’d brought bread so dry it was practically a foodstuff made of desiccated bricks. As a result, I’d run out of water sooner than expected.

Guess I’ll have to get some more.

I looked at the free water falling from the sky.

Would that be a bad idea?

The Mascot made such a fuss about how the canteen had no purification function that I had no choice but to head to the kitchen.

It was a spacious area, neatly divided into workstations, with all the cooking utensils arranged in precise order. It looked just like the kitchen of a hotel restaurant.

—Have you ever been to a hotel restaurant?

Do you think I have?

The others must have stepped away for a moment, because there were only three people in the kitchen.

I carefully weaved around them so I wouldn’t get in their way, then made my way to the faucet.

People here seemed to drink tap water without treating it, so I’d been drinking it, too.

My palate wasn’t exactly refined, so I didn’t particularly care what I drank anyway.

I’d even seriously considered drinking rainwater.

—Ew!

Drip. Drip. Drip.

I carefully adjusted the faucet so that water fell one drop at a time, then awkwardly held my canteen underneath it.

Hey. Does this Invisibility Pass really make any sense?

I understood that the clothes I wore and the objects I held were included in the invisibility effect.

But why did the parts of something I leaned against become invisible, too?

By that logic, shouldn’t the ground stuck to the soles of my feet turn invisible as well? And why was the staircase perfectly visible when I sat on it earlier?

—That’s different from this!

How is it different?

—It just is!

I gave up on getting an actual answer and watched the kitchen staff standing in front of the oven.

On the trays they pulled out were rows of neatly arranged loaves of bread.

The bread had been brushed with egg wash and baked until its surface gleamed. A rich, savory aroma wafted from it.

It was real bread—the kind that couldn’t even be compared to the bricks in my bag…!