Chapter 47. Smiled.

I mustn't resist.

Knowing that fact, I meekly complied with the hands that were taking off my helmet.

As the helmet that partially obstructed my vision was removed, my eyes met with the guards'.

So I—smiled.

‘This had better work.’

It might have sounded like a crazy idea, but it was a choice made with its own reasoning.

The time I had was only a matter of seconds, and since I didn't have any proper items on me, I couldn't alter my face.

Therefore, I recalled the time I first met Pol.

What was the reason Pol hadn't recognized me at once?

It was because my impression was different from what he remembered.

Based on the information I had heard about Luke so far, the guy named Luke was far from having a good personality.

There would have been almost no one who had seen Luke smile.

The difference in impression caused by the difference in expression.

If it was enough to make even Pol, who was a relatively close acquaintance, hesitate, wouldn't it be more than enough to deceive those who were not very related to him?

“Hmm.”

“Let’s see.”

His stern face came closer, almost making my expression freeze, but I forced a smile.

A few seconds that felt like an eternity passed—

“He’s not a wanted face.”

“See. What did I tell you.”

They did not recognize me.

That wasn't the end of it.

He returned the helmet to me with a bewildered expression.

“I apologize. My junior was very rude. You don't look too well, so please take some medicine and get some rest.”

“Ah.... Yes.”

I got away without my identity being revealed, but something felt strange.

He wasn't just apologizing with words; his expression showed he was genuinely sorry.

I don't look well?

The guards turned away without any lingering attachment.

It was a peaceful conclusion that made my nervousness seem pointless, but I couldn't smile.

Even Pol was horrified when he saw my face.

“B-Brother. Your face is….”

“What about my face?”

I reflexively touched my face and was surprised by a stinging pain, quickly pulling my hand away.

A burning sensation followed.

When I carefully touched it again, I could feel that the skin on my face had become bumpy and uneven.

‘Why…?’

One of the few good things about being transmigrated into this body was Luke's appearance.

A typical handsome man with blond hair and blue eyes.

Naturally, his skin was clear too.

I hadn't had a single breakout until now, even without any kind of care.

“Don’t touch it! It’ll be a big problem if it gets infected!”

“It’s fine. Calm down for now.”

Suddenly, my skin had become a mess.

As for the reason—

I looked down at the helmet in my hands.

I had definitely painted it when I left Dejong, but I could see chipped parts here and there.

It was because it was cheap dye, and the material, being a monster's bone, didn't absorb the dye well in the first place.

So where did the chipped-off dye go?

It must have scattered everywhere, and some of it probably fell on my face.

And this was the result.

“...No wonder it was so cheap.”

It must have contained toxic substances.

Historically, I had learned that there were tremendous side effects from using all sorts of toxic substances, including heavy metals, to create colors.

That wasn't someone else's story anymore.

I should have looked into it more before buying.

In hindsight, it had become a sort of disguise,but… I couldn't be relieved because I didn't know how long this symptom would last, or if it would even heal.

I needed to wash off the dye on the helmet and apply a new color as quickly as possible.

‘But if this is the case, wasn’t there no reason for me to rack my brain to hide my identity?’

Including the part where I was on edge, it was all so unfair.

* * *

“I do think your diligence is quite remarkable, but hey. Isn’t it tiring to live like that?”

“Yes.”

“...What does that make me, if you say it like that?”

“Is there a problem?”

At the rigid guard's reply, his superior shook his head from side to side.

There was no getting through to him.

He had no idea why a guy like this was a guard.

For a guard, ‘flexibility’ should be the highest virtue.

If there was one characteristic that distinguished guards from other soldiers, it was that they worked face-to-face with ordinary citizens.

The problem was that guards and civilians lived by different rules.

Conflicts were bound to arise when each side insisted on their own ways.

Therefore, compromising moderately was important.

“……”

“If you have a complaint, say it, you punk.”

“I do not.”

“As if.”

If he was going to lie, he should at least manage his expression.

“He seems familiar, somehow.”

“Hmm.”

At his stubborn attitude, the other guard's lips twisted.

There was no reason for mercenaries who had just arrived in the capital to look familiar.

Thinking that it might be a possibility, he searched his memory again.

Then, as if he had realized something, he let out a sound of admiration.

“Ah. That’s right. He does look a bit like Luke Ivers.”

He wasn't talking about the strange portrait on the wanted poster.

He had met Luke once before by chance, so he knew that the real Luke looked quite different from the one on the poster.

“Luke Ivers! That’s right!”

“But, you’ve never even seen Luke. Isn’t it a bit weird for you to recognize him?”

“You said the wanted poster portrait was strange, didn’t you, sir? So I sought out people who knew Luke’s face and had a portrait of the ‘real Luke Ivers’ privately commissioned.”

“...You, you even did something like that?”

Despite his superior's dumbfounded words, the guard didn't even bat an eye.

“The top-priority fugitive is under suspicion, so I will go and capture him immediately!”

“Wait. I said he looked similar, I didn't say it was him.”

Turning around the body of his subordinate who was about to rush out, the guard lightly clicked his tongue.

“Still, we have to check! Aren't we in a situation where we can't even track him properly?!”

This was none other than Luke Ivers.

A fresh, heinous criminal who had committed the horrific crime of assassinating the emperor not long ago.

Capturing him would be a huge achievement, and even just finding a clue that could help in Luke's capture would be followed by a considerable reward.

“Think logically. Do you think a special-grade fugitive like Luke Ivers would approach the guard headquarters and loiter around?”

“This is ‘that’ Luke Ivers. A great sinner who committed the regicide that a person with common sense would not even dare to imagine! It’s not like there’s no possibility at all-”

“Ah, right. He’s the guy who stabbed His Majesty the Emperor, so it wouldn't be strange no matter what he does. But still, wouldn't he make an effort not to get caught? Besides, he wouldn't come wearing a snake head that's hard to find anywhere.”

Even if he had come to the guard headquarters to pull some kind of trick, there was no reason for him to adopt such a conspicuous appearance.

It might have been a different story if he was trying to show off that he was still alive and well.

Of course, if that were the case, he would have proudly revealed his identity from the start and walked around.

“Still-”

“How many times have I said it. He looked similar, but he's different. Luke Ivers was much more handsome. He wasn't such a dazed-looking man.”

His skin was clear, too.

The superior guard, pausing for a moment, recalled his meeting with Luke.

“Above all. I can't imagine that man smiling servilely.”

Before he had even become the Sword Saint's disciple.

Luke Ivers had once confronted the Guard Captain of the Imperial Capital.

In the end, he caught the Sword Saint's eye with that incident and became his disciple, and the matter was vaguely glossed over, but it was an act for which a summary judgment wouldn't have been strange.

He remembered the sight of Luke, who had been dignified even in a situation where he could have died after being caught by the guards.

Would such a man force a smile to overcome a crisis?

Even if one could change their face, it was impossible to change one's fundamental personality.

‘If it were Luke Ivers’ skill, he could have taken care of us and escaped.’

Wasn't it Luke Ivers who had calmly escaped from the Imperial Palace even after killing the emperor?

The only person who could capture Luke, the Sword Saint, was locked up in prison, so if Luke put his mind to it, escaping would be a piece of cake.

“Stop with the nonsense, and let's go get something to eat.”

“...Understood.”

The guard looked back several times as if he had lingering regrets, but in the end, he turned and walked away.

* * *

We visited a healer introduced by Leon to treat my skin, and then immediately found lodging.

After arriving at the inn, I immediately lay down and spread medicine on my face.

“Ugh. It stings.”

Healing magic was not a panacea.

It could easily heal most external injuries, but they said it wasn't their specialty for poisoning or various other illnesses.

Of course, high-level healers could apparently cure everything, but they supposedly demanded a huge sum of money each time they used healing magic.

Feeling like an American without health insurance, I had no choice but to be satisfied with receiving medicine that was said to calm the inflammation.

‘The medicine works well.’

The pain subsided immediately.

Well, if it had been a poison so potent that medicine wouldn't work, it would have been sold as an expensive poison rather than a cheap dye.

That's the kind of people merchants were.

“Uwah. Uwaaah. Are you really okay?”

It was Pol, who was next to me, who was in more pain than I was.

He didn't shudder that much even when cutting people with a sword, or even when he himself was stabbed.

“Just stay still. I think it’s starting to hurt more because of you.”

As you could tell from the fact that I didn't notice it until I touched my face, it wasn't intensely painful.

It was closer to being itchy than painful, I'd say.

Now that I had washed off the dye and even applied medicine, there was nothing to do but wait for it to subside.

And, there was a matter more important than this silly skin problem.

“She’s quieted down a bit now.”

The pouch in which I had trapped the Arachne Queen.

The Queen had thrashed about wildly right after being captured, but now she was quiet.

Seeing as she couldn't even pierce through a single layer of leather, it was clear that she had become incredibly weak.

‘She had been quiet for a while, but then she suddenly broke out of the crystal.’

It wasn't right after she left my hand; the crystal broke at the exact moment we reached the guard headquarters.

The place she popped out was too coincidental to be seen as a mere coincidence.

Fortunately, there was a way to check right now.

I carefully opened the pouch.

“Kishaaat!!”

The Queen tried to pop out quickly, as if she had been quiet all this time to gain momentum.

I quickly narrowed the mouth of the pouch.

Her upper body, which had changed into a human form, was slender and could get out, but her lower body was caught and couldn't.

“Huh? Huhh?”

The creature seemed to not have adapted to her changed body structure yet, showing a hint of bewilderment.

In that gap, I put the snare I had prepared in advance and tied up the Queen's upper body.

The rope was the thickness of a finger, but it was far too thick for the tiny Queen.

I hadn't even wrapped it around a few times, but it was enough to turn the Queen's body into something like a cocoon.

“Eeeeek!”

With her lower body in the pouch and her upper body tied up in the rope, the Queen, having lost her freedom, trembled with rage.

Phew, she was fierce.

I was scared to death.

“Pol. Bring the rat.”

“Yes.”

Pol took out the rat he had caught on the way to the inn and put in a pouch.

As befitting a city, rats were overflowing everywhere, so catching them was not difficult at all.

I took the rat and put it in the Queen's mouth.

The Queen bit the rat reflexively, and the poor rat squealed.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

The Queen, having spat out the rat, glared at me with blazing eyes.

I caught the rat that had been bitten and then released by the Queen and put it back in the pouch.

“I’m checking if you have poison, of course.”

I was suffering now because I hadn't checked for toxic substances.

For a monster that could bite people, and a spider type at that, wouldn't it be strange not to check?

If she had poison, it would die, and I would be able to get a rough idea of what kind of poison it was.

“Now, then. Shall we start our conversation.”

Since it would take time to get the results.

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