Chapter 6 – Missus, He Really Is A Strange Man

The questions from the twins did not end, even when the sun came down.
After all, they had two mouths. Even if one grew thirsty from too much talking, the other would start talking while the other went to go drink some water.
It was just as Tor started sighing with fatigue and exasperation, that help came from an unexpected place.
Someone had started banging on the door, and then a familiar voice rang.

“Euphie, Mailey, I heard that you brought in a strange man! Open this door!”

It was the head of the Ubaz company, Haran.
Tor looked at the twins and then pointed at himself. To this silent question, the two pointed at him and nodded.

“What should I do?”
“Ignore him. And if he tries to force himself inside, you can knock him off of his feet.”
“Understood.”
“…Hey, are you listening to me!?”

Haran was becoming more heated on the other side of the door.
Tor started to hum to the beat of the pounding fists. Finding this very amusing, the twins pulled out a stringed instrument and flute and began to play as well.
Once the music filled the room, Haran realized that they were playing to the sounds of his banging. He then kicked the door in a violent burst of anger.

“…They are mocking me!”
“Master, don’t do this. It’s late, and the neighbors will hear.”

Tor heard someone calling Haran ‘master,’ and perked up his ears to the conversation on the other side.
They seemed to be persuading Haran, and after a moment, they moved away from the door.

“Was the person who stopped Haran someone important from Magic Centipede?”

Tor asked the twins. The two, who were now playing the Polovetsian Dance, nodded to him at the same time.
The one with the stringed instrument opened her mouth.

“It’s the clan leader of Magic Centipede, a B-rank Adventurer called Wenz.”
“But he didn’t seem to be wearing any magitec arms or legs?”
“…You can tell when you haven’t even seen him?”

The twins looked at Tor with puzzled expressions.
Tor pointed at his ear.

“I can tell by the sounds of their feet. Magitec feet make hard sounds, while people with Magitec arms lean to one side.”
“Very impressive. We could not tell at all.”

Tor lied smoothly, but the twins were too impressed to notice. And so they continued to play as they answered his question.

“Magic Centipede are a clan of about twenty, and they all have magitec arms or legs.”
“However, about four of them, including Wenz, are completely whole.”
“The clan was formed several months before the death of our parents, and Haran’s takeover of the company.”
“The condition of joining the clan is that you are an Adventurer who has lost a limb from either the elbow or knee.”
“Wenz has explained that the reason was to create a place for ‘people who have lost their limbs but know of no other way to live but to fight.’”

It sounded very admirable.
The occupation of Adventurer came with constant injury. Sometimes you fought far away from town, and by the time you returned, you had no choice but to amputate a limb.
However, there wasn’t a shred of respect in the expressions of the twins as they talked about Magic Centipede.
Tor felt the same.
If that was the real reason, why would they be made to wear such shoddy magitec prosthesis?

“This morning, I was attacked by one of them. And he was wearing a badly made magitec arm.”

Apparently, the twins had already been told this information, and so they were not surprised.

“Yes, the low ranking members of Magic Centipede wear those crude devices.”
“There are some who say that they just wear cheap and replaceable ones for everyday use, but they still wear the same ones when they leave town.”

So the twins had noticed it as well.
Tor had been watching them as a guard for the whole day, and they had rarely left the room.
They must have then been studying Magic Centipede from quite early on.
In just one day, Tor learned that they were no ordinary young ladies. While it was true that they had a privileged upbringing, they had a sharpness that went beyond that. They had gained all kinds of knowledge and thought logically, searched for necessary information, and acted in order to accomplish their goals.
They had a clear will and aim. They weren’t just going to run away from Haran, but they were cultivating the tools to fight him.
And Tor was one of those tools.
If they had then determined that getting rough was no longer avoidable, then this matter might be much more serious than Tor had imagined.
Both caution and curiosity were accelerating Tor’s thoughts.
The twins in front of him continued to play, as if to show off the wide breadth of their education.
The sun had come down, and the room was dark. The pale light of the moon that shone from the window made their golden hair shine as they spun their tune. It was like a painting.
Tor watched them until they were finished, and then opened his mouth.

“…Hey. I want to ask you something. Are you two not running away because you’re investigating Haran and Magic Centipede?”

The twins smiled thinly and stood up without answering.

“Mister Tor, let’s go for a late night walk.”

They said while extending their hands to him. They looked like mischievous fairies.

“Haran’s men will probably intercept you the moment that you leave.”

They would have noticed that the music had stopped. Tor would have waited were he in their place. After all, the twins had skipped lunch and had not eaten dinner. The possibility of them coming down to the dining hall was high.
But the twins looked at him with a grin and then turned to the window.

“Surely a B-rank Adventurer would have no trouble jumping out of a window?”
“I could do it while carrying you both.”
“Then it’s settled. Right now, the members of Magic Centipede are likely crowding the dining hall in order to deal with this new B-rank guard.”

So the twins had purposely skipped their meal in order to direct Haran’s attention to the dining hall.
Yes, they were not cute at all.
They opened the window and smiled at each other. Then they put their palms together in a mockingly dainty pose, and turned towards Tor.

“You know, this will be our first date.”
“I’ll expect you to be a wonderful escort.”
“That’s not part of my job.”

Tor chuckled. He then strengthened his body and picked the twins up in his arms before jumping out of the window.

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On The 10th Year The Transferee Who Gave Up Returning Finally Becomes The Protagonist