I Secretly Healed the Illness of the Twin Princesses While Wearing a Mask, and Now the Entire Kingdom Is in an Uproar ~Please Stop Trying to Expose the Street Healer~ - Chapter 24

A few days had passed since the exchange students came from the Hero Academy.

The first day had some trouble, but their presence didn’t really change daily life at the school.

I skipped some classes here and there, devoured books in the forbidden library, had lunch at the cafeteria, and wandered the royal city at night, offering street healing.

It was an ordinary, uneventful life.

But compared to the completely white hospital room in my previous life, everything here seemed to shine. Humans are strange.

“Hey, hey, Garu.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Do you have any funny stories?”

“Stop throwing impossible questions at me… well, I guess I have one.”

Oh, he does.

“They’re students from the Hero Academy, and each one seems to have a few quirks.”

“Well, there was even Lio, who picked a fight with the princess on the first day.”

“By the way, is it true that Princess Christina beat all the exchange students, made them kneel naked, and humiliated them? I had to cover my eyes and ears halfway through because senpai was being noisy.”

“That’s way exaggerated. But it’s true she instantly defeated one of the exchange students.”

“Whoa.”

Garu nodded while chewing on a meat-wrapped curry rice ball. He always ate so neatly.

Anyway, back to the topic.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Someone is selling suspicious potions, someone wandering around the school working out…”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“But the most dangerous one is a student who’s gathering the children of lower nobles to form a faction.”

Ah, I’ve heard about that one.

Apparently, this person is super charismatic and ruthless, always cornering rivals with every trick in the book. Christina had her head in her hands over it.

It makes sense. A foreigner forming a faction in a magic academy that mirrors the kingdom’s noble society is a bit of a problem.

I don’t know their true intentions, but let’s hope it doesn’t get out of hand.

“Ah, and I heard the exchange student Veltica is amazing too.”

“Veltica?”

“Yeah. That’s beautiful, well-behaved and friendly, basically no reason to dislike her.”

“Then why do you look so annoyed, Garu?”

“…You notice?”

“Yeah.”

Garu paused mid-bite of his meat-wrapped curry rice ball and shrugged.

“She just seems too perfect. People like that are always up to something behind the scenes.”

“You shouldn’t assume things like that.”

“Ah, you’re no fun to bait.”

But as expected of Garu. He’s pretty sharp.

He saw through Veltica’s secret; she was a middle-school syndrome type who hides her true self.

Was it just instinct?

…No, Garu wasn’t exactly a wild Siberian Husky, after all.

“Is there anything else?”

“Hm. That’s right. Lately, there have been night attackers in the royal city.”

“Night attackers?”

“Yeah. People walking at night are getting suddenly attacked. But they only target adventurers, soldiers, and knights; normal people seem safe… Between us, the rumor is that these attacks started right after the exchange students arrived. So some say the culprit is one of them.”

“That sounds scary.”

Now that I think about it, wandering the royal city at night recently, I’ve seen people get slashed across the back and barely hanging on.

Well, I healed everyone, so no one died.

Still, if there are night attackers, maybe I should patrol the city more carefully tonight.

◆　◇　◆

Night.

The sun had long since set, and the people of the royal city were all asleep as they were finished with work and drinking.

I was looking down at the city from the observation deck.

“All right, tonight I’ll go full Faceless mode.”

Lately, I’ve been playing the mysterious healer all the time. It was nice to switch things up.

A few days ago, the king announced across the kingdom, “Whoever uncovers Faceless’s true identity will receive a reward of 300 Manni.”

Apparently, Christina and Victoria had begged him to do it.

The deal was that if someone discovered Faceless identity and won their heart, marriage might be permitted.

Thanks to that, I felt like a rare child of a hammer.

Right now, the Xylica Kingdom was in the middle of a full-blown Faceless hunting craze.

So I had been keeping a low profile as Faceless, but acting as a mysterious healer all the time was honestly getting boring.

“All right, let’s find some lost little lambs tonight.”

I said the line for effect, then jumped off the observation deck and landed on the ground.

I clicked my shoes against the pavement as I wandered through the royal city.

“Hey, you there.”

“Hm?”

“You’re strong. Leave your head behind!!”

“…Hmm.”

I turned toward the voice and saw a man holding swords in both hands.

He looked familiar. Who was he?

I was sure I had met him somewhere before, but I just couldn’t remember.

“…You are?”

“You don’t know me!? Fine, fine, then I’ll introduce myself!! My name is Gamran!! The Sword Saint!!”

Ah, I remember now.

This was the dangerous guy who attacked me when I sneaked into the castle to heal the king.

Wait?

A man suddenly demanding heads while wandering the royal city at night, could this be the infamous night attacker?

“Hyahahahaha!! I’ll take your head!!”

The Sword Saint swung his swords at me with a booming laugh.

No doubt about it. He is the night attacker.

“Whoa, sparks!? This feeling… You’re different in voice and vibe, but you’re the same guy from back then!!”

“…You remember me?”

“Of course!! I never forget a target once I set my sights on it!!”

That’s creepy.

“Just to be sure. Are you the night attacker everyone’s talking about?”

“Huh? Night attacker? Wrong, idiot!!”

“…You’re not?”

“I only cut down people stronger than me!! I don’t care about weaker heads!!”

“That still sounds like a night attacker to me.”

This guy really is insane.

Even if he’s not the night attacker, he’s definitely not someone I leave alone.

“Could it be that you’re also hunting the night attacker?”

“That’s right.”

“Hyahahahaha!! What a coincidence!! I wanted to see how strong the famous night attacker really is!! I’m hunting them too!!”

“And what will you do if you find them?”

“I’ll take their heads if they’re strong.”

“And if they’re weak?”

“I will turn them over to the knights.”

So he has some sense of reason, at least when the target is weak.

Then, at that moment.

Thanks to all my magical modifications, my superhuman hearing picked up someone screaming.

The Sword Saint seemed to notice it too.

“That scream just now…”

“Maybe the night attacker has appeared!! Your head can wait!!”

I chased after the Sword Saint and followed him into a back alley. There, a young man who looked like an adventurer lay on the ground, slashed across the back, and was bleeding heavily.

“Whoa!? Did the night attacker get you!? Hey, you!! Tell me which way he went before you die!!”

“Aaaah, help me…”

“Step back, I’ll examine him… Don’t worry, it’s a mortal wound. But your life isn’t in danger.”

“Ugh, a mortal wound, but my life isn’t in danger… What does that mean…?”

“A mortal wound!? Then tell me which way the night attacker went before you die!! I’ll avenge you!!”

I quickly healed the young man’s mortal wound.

“Th-thank you… Though I don’t exactly feel saved… Who are you?”

“I am Gamran, the Sword Saint!!”

“And I am Faceless.”

“The Sword Saint… and… Faceless!? Isn’t there a 300 Manni reward for discovering Faceless identity!?”

“…That’s the one.”

I guess he remembers me a little too well. Not that it matters.

“Hey!! You were attacked by the night attacker, right!?”

“Eh? Y-yeah, probably…”

“Which way did he go!! Tell me!!”

“O-over that corner of the alley…”

Without hesitation, the Sword Saint stepped into the alley the young man pointed to. But there was nothing there, just a large water channel for draining wastewater. It ended in a dead end.

Huh? Did he escape?

“…I see. I’ve got a good idea now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Huh? Hey, hey, you don’t get it?”

Hmm. Acting confused here doesn’t really fit the cool Faceless image.

“No, no, I get it. But what I found surprising is that you figured it out too.”

“Hah!! You really say it. Anyone seeing all this splashed water would know the night attacker jumped into the water channel.”

Eh? Ah, the ground is soaked.

…Maybe this Sword Saint is smarter than he seems, despite all his crazy behavior.

That’s really surprising.

“The night attacker is using the water channels to move. But if we were to watch every channel in the royal city, we wouldn’t have enough people…”

Even so, I somehow felt like I was losing to the Sword Saint.

Better act smart for once.

“Sword Saint, do you have a map?”

“Huh? Yeah, I just happen to have one.”

“Lend it to me.”

For some reason, the Sword Saint really did have a map. I spread it out and marked X’s on it.

“What are you writing?”

“These are the locations where the victims were found over the past few days. Look at it and you’ll see.”

“!? The victims’ locations form a circle!! That means the next attack will happen somewhere inside this circle!!”

I was just copying what I’d seen in crime dramas back in my previous life, but it probably works.

Maybe.

The Sword Saint left to search for the night attacker, and I didn’t really have anything to do, so I decided to return to the dorm.

◇　◇　◇

Afterword

One-Point Story

Author: “When I die, I want to be surrounded by super-bouncy and super-cute girls.”

A: “Oh.”

If you thought, “Garu looks like an informant now,” “The bounty went up,” “Don’t suddenly reveal your desires in the afterword,” please leave your thoughts, bookmarks, ★ ratings, or reviews.