Volume 4 Chapter 22: Cain’s True Identity

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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Letia gestured to the four people drawing closer to Cain, and guided them all to a private room.

The private room had a table surrounded by about ten chairs, and Cain and Letia sat down next to each other, while Lagett’s party of four sat opposite them, facing them.

“––So, how is Cain S-Rank…?”

Lagett asked, making an incredulous face.

Letia sighed, then began speaking.

“This is one part of multiple top secret things about Cain, but regarding his true power, he is indeed S-Rank. He has made achievements befitting of it, and has been recognized by the royal capital.”

“…But how––”

“Lagett, I know you might not believe it, but this is something the guild has already decided. Cain-kun’s killing intent from earlier felt a little different than that of a human’s.”

“Then why was such an S-Rank ‘monster’ on an escort mission…?”

Ninalee interrupted the unconvinced Lagett.

While she too found it unbelievable, she knew Cain couldn’t have faked his way to S-Rank.

Frowning a little at getting the ‘Monster!’ treatment, Cain began explaining.

“I’d like to apologise for keeping quiet about my rank. Sorry. But I have a lot going on as well, so I hope you can understand.”

Lagett seemed to calm down when Cain bowed his head honestly.

“I get that you have your own circumstances, but… in order to confirm, please –– have a mock battle with me, no, with us.”

Lagett’s party of four had experienced quite a lot as adventurers until now. Against all odds, they had risen to D-Rank, and they were quite proud of that.

They wouldn’t be convinced that the young boy in front of them, who was years younger than them, was S-Rank without actually getting to fight him for real.

“––Understood. Use the training ground then. If you have a mock fight, you’ll be able to see how strong he is for real. And the power difference too…”

All of the members of Lagett’s party nodded at Letia’s proposal.

They all went over to the training ground, guided by Letia.

While the training ground had been destroyed previously, it had now been repaired, and was back to how it had been.

“––Cain-sama… I think you know this, but please don’t destroy the place…”

“I won’t!!”

Cain immediately went into denial at Letia’s warning.

Back then, it had turned into that disastrous scene because Cain was irritated by the guild’s and the adventurers’ attitudes.

But now, Cain didn’t want to cause trouble to the guild managed by Rikisetsu and Letia.

“–– Also, lethal attacks are forbidden. Cain-sama is also forbidden from using magic that could destroy the place.”

“–––– D-destroy the place…?”

Ninalee muttered with an anxious face.

Hearing that, Letia began to explain.

“Previously, and this was before I came here, some adventurers tried messing with Cain-sama, and when they had a mock battle here…”

Letia didn’t finish the sentence. The other four also knew that it had been a ‘Welcoming’ by the senior adventurers at the time.

They had never received one themselves, but they had heard stories. ––However, they had never heard of the whole facility being destroyed before.

The four of them gulped.

“Oh, it’s fine if you four come at me simultaneously. I’ll win way too fast if you come at me alone.”

Cain said with a casual smile, propping up his wooden sword on his shoulder.

“Then, begin!”

“–– You’re quite relaxed. We might be D-Rank, but you’re underestimating us, letting us all fight you at the same time. Everyone, get ready!”

As Letia gave the signal to begin, the other three entered formation as instructed by Lagett.

Lagett was standing at the front, with Kros, the archer, and Ninalee, holding a staff and starting to chant magic slightly behind him. Mine was the party’s healer, so she was standing at the very back, also holding a staff.

“Alright, you lot. Let’s show Cain our strength––”

Simultaneously with those words, Cain disappeared from in front of them.

“Eh…”

At that moment, Mine and Ninalee both collapsed.

““Wha-!?””

Lagett and Kros turned around, staring stunned at the slowly collapsing two.

–– Then, Kros also collapsed in the same manner.

The only one remaining, Lagett made an astonished face as Cain appeared back where he had been standing earlier.

“––There’s this much of a difference… S-Ranks really are…”

Lagett lost his consciousness with those words.

“That’s what it’s like… now I think you understand Cain-sama’s true strength.”

Letia muttered while looking down at the four collapsed people.

“Was there really a need to go this far…”

“Yes, they need to comprehend the overwhelming difference. After all –– you are an S-Rank, recognized by the country itself.”

Cain picked up the unconscious four and laid them down in a row.

“Alright, this should be good… and now––”

“Ugh…”

Lagett woke up not long after. Looking from the other three lying on the ground to Cain, a sigh escaped his lips.

“…So that’s the true power of an S-Rank… You’re amazing, Cain… I couldn’t even see you move…”

“That’s the power of the town’s strongest adventurer for you.”

Letia said, before Cain could answer.

Cain held out his hand to Lagett and helped him up.

“I tried to go easy on you, but… if anything feels off, please tell me. I can use healing magic too.”

“…You can use healing magic on top of that much strength…”

“Well… I’ve had my fair share of battles…”

“Ow…” “Ugh…” “…What”

While Cain was talking with Lagett, who had woken up first, the other three also opened their eyes.

Not understanding what had happened, the three were slightly confused when they woke up.

“…Why was I asleep…? Don’t tell me…”

“Oh, he took all of our consciousnesses in an instant. Mine too…”

“Oh… what an utter defeat…”

The four of them had slightly disappointed faces at having been completely and utterly defeated, but then they seemed relieved.

Perhaps because they had experienced an S-Rank adventurer’s true strength first-hand.

“With this, I hope you now understand how strong an S-Rank actually is. You four should also continue your hard work and aim even further. You might not be able to become like Cain-sama, but you can definitely try for A-Rank.”

The four nodded at Letia’s explanation.

Then, Ninalee raised her hand and asked a question.

“Letia-san… I’ve been thinking, and… why do you call Cain-kun ‘Cain-sama’?”

“Ummm… about that…”

“……”

Letia looked at Cain with a distressed expression.

Cain looked away as if he hadn’t heard the question.

However, the other four couldn’t be surprised any more than this after finding out the shocking truth that Cain was actually S-Rank …or at least, that’s what they thought.

“Cain, there’s no way we’ll be any more surprised than this, so it’s fine. We’ve already heard the shocking fact that you’re S-Rank.”

Cain gave up with a sigh and nodded lightly at Letia.

Guessing what he wanted from that, Letia opened her mouth heavily.

“I’ll tell you because Cain-sama has given his permission, but please never tell anyone else. Depending on the case…”

Letia pulled her finger from one side of her neck to the other, making the other four gulp.

“…Cain-sama is –––– Count Cain von Silford Drintor, Margrave Silford’s son, and –– this town’s lord.”

““““……””””

The four froze at an even more shocking truth than being S-Rank.

Seeing that, Cain smiled bitterly, but the four did the opposite.

The four of them looked at Cain with stiff, robot-like movements.

“Well… that’s about it. Please feel free to call me Cain when I’m an adventurer though, ‘kay?”

Said Cain casually, lightly scratching his cheek, but the four’s faces became tense.

While they were young for adventurers, they knew how nobility worked.

And ‘Count’ meant a higher-ranking noble, the most prominent nobles in the whole kingdom.

Moreover, while he was the son of a margrave, he had his own title of count. There was no way he wasn’t outstanding.

Furthermore, his strength was S-Rank.

All that information jumbled the four’s brains.

Then, the final answers that came out were––––

“Cain… -sama, I’m sorry…”

“Cain-kun is…”

“No way, Cain is…”

“I wonder if I can be his mistress…”

Cain was shocked by the words that came from Mine, who hadn’t really talked up until then.

Of course, Cain exhaled sharply at that.

“Cain-sama already has fiancées, so he’s not accepting anything of the sort. If it were that easy, then… even I…”

“Hey, Letia-san! What are you saying!”

Cain accidentally blurted out a retort to Letia.

Sure, Letia was beautiful, but to Cain, she was the reliable big sister from the guild.

He didn’t see her like that.

“Ah, what did I do… please excuse that.”

Surprised by her own words, Letia’s cheeks were dyed red.

“Pfft… that was funny…”

Voices of laughter rose from the people present at Cain and Letia’s words, echoing away.

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