TERNLF Vol. 1 Chapter 3 Part 5

Full title: The Exiled Reincarnated Noble Lives Freely

Note: If you found any typos/mistakes, pls write them in the comment. Thanks.

Translator: Canon

____________________________________________

“If it’s just this much—【Duplicate】!”

The powerful word she spoke froze my hand mid-reach.

At once, I focused my vision to see the flow of mana.

“…This is…”

The flow of mana I saw was familiar.

“The mana is gathering in one place… it’s the same as with Nikka…”

Yes, there was no mistake.

When Nikka had tried to regenerate Edra’s arm with 【Resurrection】 magic, the flow of mana had been just like this.

Normally, when magic activated, mana left the body and immediately converted into the spell’s power, vanishing as mana.

But with Nikka’s 【Resurrection 】—and now with the 【Duplicate】 Grassa invoked—the magic had clearly activated, yet the mana didn’t disperse. Instead, it swirled together in a vortex, condensing into one point.

“Kh…!”

“Grassa!”

Hearing her strained voice, Nikka let out a cry.

“I’m fine… just a little longer.”

Sweat now beaded on Grassa’s face, her teeth clenched as she endured.

It seemed 【Duplicate】 demanded an enormous amount of mana.

Even I could see that much.

It was the same as what had happened to Nikka.

“Watch out!”

Moments later, Grassa’s body wavered as though her strength had given out.

Nikka rushed to her side and caught her before she could collapse.

“Thanks… but it’s done now.”

“Done?”

“Toa, take it.”

With trembling hands, she held out the very “secret ledger” she had snatched away.

Not one, but two.

“No way—are these…”

Holding the pair of ledgers, I stared in disbelief.

With a faint, satisfied smile, Grassa whispered, “This way… I’ve repaid you a little… right?” and then lost consciousness.

—

“This is incredible.”

After laying Grassa on the bed, I set the two ledgers side by side on the desk.

Even looking closely, I couldn’t tell which was the original.

“Better check inside…”

I stacked them and opened each in turn, flipping through the pages.

“…Unbelievable.”

From start to finish, the two were indistinguishable.

That was how flawless her replication was.

The peeling corners of the cover, stains of spilled ink, torn-out pages where Lakkra must have scribbled mistakes, even the discoloration of age; every detail had been reproduced exactly.

Maybe under meticulous scrutiny, some difference could be found, but there was no time for that, and I only needed to be sure the necessary parts were accurate.

Yet the perfection was so striking that I found myself comparing every little detail.

Chastising myself for wasting time, I stored both books away and rose to my feet.

“Nikka. I’m heading out now. Can I count on you to watch over Grassa?”

“Of course. The others should be back soon as well.”

She nodded firmly.

“One more thing—about the magic Grassa used. Keep it secret from Edra and the others.”

As I gazed at the two replicated ledgers, a realization dawned.

The real reason Lakkra had wanted Grassa so badly was likely this power:【Duplicate】.

She could produce replicas indistinguishable from the real thing.

Any merchant could see the worth of such an ability.

I remembered her words before casting: “I’ve made up my mind.”

Perhaps she had avoided using the spell in public precisely because she knew it was dangerous.

Lakkra must have discovered her ability by chance through his dealings with her family, and that was why he went to such reckless lengths to obtain her.

Zaigo’s earlier claim that “she could be killed if necessary” had clearly been a lie.

What Lakkra truly desired was Grassa herself.

He just hadn’t accounted for me, the unforeseen variable, who would push him into a corner.

“…Ah, looks like Edra and the others are back.”

From beyond the door came the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs.

“Amazing! You can tell just from the sound of the stairs, Toa?”

Nikka’s shining eyes brimmed with admiration, and I instinctively turned away to escape that dazzling gaze.

“Anyway, I’m heading out.”

“Wait, at least tell me where you’re going. Edra and the others will worry.”

“…Fair enough.”

With my hand on the door’s knob, I answered.

“I’m going to the Kashit family—my old home.”

—

After leaving Edra and the others in charge, I cast several body-enhancement spells on myself and made my way toward the noble district.

Running along the main road would draw too much attention, so I advanced like a ninja, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

When I finally arrived at my destination, I steadied my breath and looked ahead.

Before me stood the tall wall separating the commoners’ district from the noble district.

I walked up close to it, took a deep breath, and forced myself to calm down.

It wasn’t that I needed mental preparation to scale such a height.

Rather, I had resolved never to set foot inside this wall again.

That was why, now that I was standing here, I found myself hesitating.

“But I’m not breaking the ‘promise’ I made with Glaas.”

The promise I made with Glaas was: So long as he didn’t lay a hand on me, I wouldn’t lay a hand on the Kashit family either.

In other words, entering the noble district did not constitute breaking that promise.

Although in hindsight, the wording of “not laying a hand” was far too vague.

Still, that vagueness was what allowed me to execute my current plan, so I decided to look at it positively.

“Well then, time is short—let’s go.”

Timing my movement with a gap in the patrols above and below, I vaulted clean over the wall and infiltrated the noble district.

No one had anticipated that a man would simply leap over without the aid of tools or ropes.

The guards were lax.

In fact, the ease of slipping inside left me more uneasy than reassured.

“Guess I should count it as good fortune.”

As ever, the noble district was sparsely populated, even with patrol soldiers present.

But being seen would still cause an uproar, so I carefully continued forward, moving across the rooftops just as before.

However, I couldn’t rely on that method forever.

The deeper one went into the noble quarter, the higher the standing of the aristocrats who owned the mansions there.

And along with that prestige came expansive estates.

Which meant the gaps between buildings grew wider and wider, until rooftop travel became impossible.

“Looks like I’ll have to walk from here.”

After confirming that no one was around, I changed into servant’s clothing I’d drawn from my storage.

Holding a basket filled with some innocuous yet respectable-looking items in one hand, I set off down the road.

This way, even if a guard spotted me, I wouldn’t be immediately challenged or have reinforcements called on me.

Still, I couldn’t afford the wasted time of an encounter, so I advanced cautiously, probing for presences around me as I headed for my goal.

The detour cost me more time than planned, but in the end I reached the Kashit estate without drawing suspicion.

“Hm? A carriage. Looks like someone’s about to leave.”

As I observed the grounds for an opening to slip inside, I noticed a carriage waiting at the front of the manor.

It seemed Glaas was preparing to depart.

“What the… what’s with that outfit…?”

Moments later, Glaas emerged from the front doors, overdressed in ostentatious attire.

“And where exactly is he going to dress like that?”

I nearly burst out laughing at his exaggerated finery.

“Well, fine. I’d intended to confront him inside the manor, but sneaking into his carriage will be quicker.”

Having made my decision, I began moving to slip into Glaas’s carriage.

—

“Long time no see.”

“Y—You! What are you doing here?”

When I called out, Glaas’s eyes flew wide and he barked in surprise.

There weren’t many guards escorting the carriage as it set off. Aside from the driver, two mercenaries employed by the Kashit household sat beside him on the box, keeping watch; hardly an airtight detail for someone like me.

I moved ahead to intercept the carriage, then cast 【Silence】 so the cabin itself fell mute from their blind spot.

I closed on the vehicle in an instant, flung the door open, and leapt inside.

Where Glaas froze in shock, his steward reacted quickly. The man drew his dagger and shouted to the guards at the driver’s seat.

“Pointless.”

Because I’d silenced the cabin in advance, the shouts never reached the driver or the mercenaries. I closed the distance in a heartbeat, struck the steward in the gut, and robbed him of consciousness.

I bound him thoroughly with a rope I’d pulled from storage, rendered him inert, and rolled him to the far edge of the spacious cabin.

“You were supposed to stay away from me!” Glaas said, his voice trembling. I sat down directly opposite him.

“Of course. I’m not going to lay a hand on you or the Kashit family.”

“Is this what you call not laying a hand?”

Glaas jabbed a finger at the steward, who was now swaddled like a roll, and shouted—a fair point.

Still, I’d already decided only moments ago that this level of interference didn’t count as “laying a hand,” so I ignored it.

“Calm down. I didn’t come to kill you or to hurt you.”

I pulled the ledger from storage and tossed it into Glaas’s lap. He yelped at the unexpected object, then, seeing it wasn’t a weapon, turned an inquiring look on me.

“What is this?”

“For you, right now, it’s likely a treasure map.”

“A treasure…”

Puzzled, he opened the ledger and read. Over the next few minutes, his expression and color shifted wildly; anger, confusion, terror, despair. Having seen the same pages, I could feel the cascade of realization sweep over him. When he finished, he exhaled deeply and spoke with exhausted composure.

“Is what’s written here true?”

“I can’t swear to it beyond doubt. But I believe it to be almost certainly accurate.”

“I see… I understand now what you want me to do.”

Impressively, he’d grasped my implication without me needing to spell it out. Glaas had always been quicker than me.

“But this alone isn’t decisive. You know that as well, don’t you?”

“…”

He thumped the ledger against his thigh and fixed me with a noble, resolute stare I hadn’t seen earlier.

“I’m going to gather that decisive proof. You—meaning you, brother—show this to the faction senator the Kashit family belongs to, and urge him to convene an emergency session as soon as possible.”

“You have no right to call me ‘brother.’ We are strangers now.”

Glaas turned away, and I offered a wry, “Fair enough.”

“Can you actually collect the evidence?” he asked.

“If it hasn’t been destroyed, I can get most of it. But I think they’ll notice the ledger is missing soon.”

Once they realize the ledger is gone, Lakkra’s clients will try to destroy any evidence in their possession. Among those items will likely be people sold into slavery. I need to rescue them all before that happens.

“How long do we have?”

“Until sundown at best. I’ll visit the noble households on the list, gather the evidence, and secure any slaves. I’ll need a carriage to move quickly if possible.”

I asked Glaas to arrange a wagon while we hammered out a few more details.

“…Understood. I was supposed to meet with Miss Britney today, but it can wait.”

His voice carried a trace of disappointment. Britney was from a slightly higher-ranked noble family than Kashit, the one Glaas had pined for since childhood. Apparently he’d been doing well while I suffered at the frontier fortress. I felt a twinge of jealousy but there was no time for that now.

“I’ll lift the silence.”

Understanding what he intended, I dispelled the 【Silence】 spell. Suddenly the outside world came back in. I heard Glaas call at the driver, “Change of destination!” as I vaulted from the carriage and set my plan in motion.

—

After parting ways with Glaas, I began visiting the estates of the nobles listed in the secret ledger.

That said, there was no way to cover them all in the limited time I had.

So I decided to strike first at the most prominent nobles who had purchased slaves.

The highest-ranking among them was Duke Bafel, a member of the Senate.

Strictly speaking, his name was not written in the ledger as a direct client.

Instead, it appeared as a note in the margin of another noble’s transaction.

Most likely, that noble had dealt with Lakkra on Bafel’s behalf.

Lakkra must have noticed and written it down as a memorandum.

That was why I chose his estate as my first destination, but…

“Too late, huh.”

At Bafel’s mansion, I found three slaves.

One was treated as little more than a menial servant, and the other two were victims of Bafel’s depraved tastes.

From one of them, I learned that there had once been two more slaves in the house.

But those two had already died, either murdered or from illness.

Hearing that, I cursed my own powerlessness.

The ledger listed three slaves delivered via that particular count, so for a moment I had foolishly believed I had rescued them all.

Realizing otherwise dealt a heavy blow to my spirit.

That raised another question: where had the other two come from?

Had they been transferred from other clients? Or did Lakkra have suppliers beyond what the ledger recorded?

Either way, that was a problem for later.

For now, I had to focus on what I could do.

“There’s a carriage waiting outside.”

I led the survivors to a spot some distance from the mansion, where a carriage arranged by Glaas awaited us.

For camouflage, I had them all dressed in servant garb, but we still needed to avoid attention.

After seating them inside, I cast healing magic on each of them once more, then climbed to the driver’s bench.

“Proceed to the next house as planned.”

The driver—whom Glaas had assured me was trustworthy—continued to follow my orders diligently.

We repeated the same process several times: infiltrating a noble estate, rescuing the captives, dropping them off at the Kashit estate, and moving on.

By the end, I had managed to save twelve people; two-thirds of the victims recorded in the secret ledger.

But that also meant one-third could not be saved.

I had always known I wasn’t a god and could never save everyone, yet I could not suppress the regret that if I had acted sooner, perhaps more lives would have been spared.

Alongside the rescues, I also confiscated as many contraband items and illegal narcotics as I could, then returned to the Kashit estate to begin sorting the evidence.

When Glaas came back from Duke Macduff’s mansion—the head of his faction in the Senate—we discussed what was to come.

“As you wished, the Senate will be convened.”

“I gathered as much evidence as possible. The rest is up to you, Glaas, isn’t it?”

“Yes. From here on, matters of noble politics are beyond you.”

“You’re the one who never let me study it,” I muttered, before forcing a wry smile. “Not that I would have beaten you at noble etiquette or politics anyway.”

“You always did better in academics, but very well. Let’s move on.”

“In that case, select from the confiscated goods whatever you think is necessary.”

I handed him the freshly written inventory of seized items.

“You may not like this, but…”

Holding the list, Glaas spoke with deliberate caution.

“I will choose those slaves and goods that appear most evidently ‘heinous’ at a glance.”

“…And the rest, as planned?”

“Yes. My faction and I will take full responsibility for handling the remainder.”

The phrase “handling the remainder” carried an unpleasant ring to it.

But in truth, it meant not only the disposal of dangerous evidence but also the care and reintegration of the freed slaves into society; tasks Glaas and his allies would oversee.

Even so—

“About those who suffered grievous injuries, would you leave them to me?”

“And why is that?”

The ones I had rescued had all been trafficked through illicit channels.

If nobles of their standing simply wanted household help, they could easily have hired servants through official means.

For them to go through underground routes meant there were darker reasons.

And nobles who acquired slaves this way rarely treated them with decency.

Though a few were handled relatively well, most endured brutal, degrading conditions.

Among them were victims who, like Edra, had lost parts of their bodies.

“I know a way to heal them.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes. But I can’t go into detail.”

Even with a former ally like Glaas, I couldn’t casually reveal Nikka’s secret.

“…If you say so, then I’ll believe it. I do wonder, though—just what did you go through at that frontier fortress?”

“Do you really want to know?”

When I asked him in all seriousness, Glaas’ expression turned unreadable—and he quietly shook his head.

“No, let’s leave it at that.”

“Wise choice. Then regarding the victims, we can settle it that way, yes?”

“Yeah. Let’s do as you suggest.”

After that, Glaas and I exchanged opinions while reviewing the ‘Inventory of Seized Items’.

It almost felt like the days of our youth, when he and I were brothers without any grievances between us.

In the end, the evidence would be sorted by the group set to denounce the conspirators at the upcoming Senate assembly—Duke Macduff among them. Still, we needed to filter and classify the materials at this stage.

If we failed to lay this groundwork properly, we would never corner the true mastermind.

We tested each other’s wisdom and experience, laying the final, decisive pieces upon the board.

“―The rest is up to you.”

Once I had selected every piece, I rose from my seat.

From here on, matters would turn political.

Glaas and his faction would wield the evidence and the secret ledger I had prepared to relentlessly corner the nobles aligned with Lakkra during the assembly.

At the same time, an operation was set to begin exposing Lakkra and the underground merchants tied to him.

Of course, there must be shadows I knew nothing of, and it was not as if Glaas’ faction was completely blameless.

After all, Glaas himself once carried the stain of attempting to have me assassinated.

But I had no intention of pretending to be some champion of justice, nor did I delude myself into believing that even with great power, I could protect everyone.

The ones I could shield or strike down were only those within my reach.

That distinction could never be forgotten.

It was a lesson hammered into me countless times by those who had trained me at the border fortress.

Even they, despite their strength, had precious ones they could not protect, and things they could not preserve.

That is why I must simply do what I can, within my own reach, and give my utmost.

“I’ll come again the day after tomorrow.”

“Very well. By then, I’ll have brought matters to a conclusion.”

The man who had nearly wet himself under my threat was nowhere to be seen now.

“I’m counting on you―brother.”

Murmuring that last phrase in a voice too faint to be heard, I gave a casual wave to Glaas—his face brimming with confidence as he prepared for battle in his own domain—and departed the estate.

Next→