I Kidnapped the Hero Party – Chapter 20

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Hare was about to take a test for the first time in her life.

It was a very basic writing test.

Jun-woo announced the start of the test that Hare had waited for and studied hard for over the past week.

“Alright, from now you have 30 minutes to solve 15 problems. If you get them all correct, as I promised before, I’ll answer all your questions.”

“Y-Yes! Mister! I’m confident!”

Hare clenched her fist and shouted confidently.

She was overflowing with confidence, nearly bursting, because she had studied without proper sleep at night.

The moment Jun-woo handed the paper to Hare, who was eagerly anticipating the questions.

“Okay, begin!”

Hare started solving the problems with the utmost concentration of her life.

Her red eyes glared at the problems as if bloodshot.

Watching this, Jun-woo thought to himself.

‘…A perfect score is probably impossible.’

The difficulty of the test questions was high, and for someone who didn’t even know how to write letters to grasp words and understand their meanings in just a week?

It was completely impossible by Jun-woo’s common sense.

However,

“Mister! I-I’ve finished everything!”

“What? It’s only been 3 minutes?”

“Yes…! I’ve solved them all…! Please grade it quickly!”

Hare stomped her feet, urging him to hurry.

What on earth was going on…

There’s no way she could have solved everything in that time…

Jun-woo checked the test paper with half doubt.

If the picture was a lion, she had written the word ‘lion’.

For “I □ that object”, she had filled in the blank with ‘want’.

To the naked eye, there wasn’t a single wrong answer.

A perfect score.

It was clearly a perfect score.

“…Hare. How did you study to achieve this?”

“I wanted to… know more about you, Mister… so I studied hard… Hehe.”

“I see, you did well. Hare…”

She studied because she wanted to know more about me.

Although the intention behind her studying wasn’t wholesome, the result was good.

Jun-woo patted Hare’s head with a dazed feeling.

Hare smiled as if she had the whole world.

“I-I like it… Pat me more..”

“…”

It was like the feeling of a parent whose child got 100 points on a test, but wasn’t happy about it.

Jun-woo was praising her, but he had sensed something strange.

Hare looked up at him and said.

“Oh. Mister.. There’s still time left, right?”

“About 25 minutes left.”

“Th-Then what about the test questions?”

“I’ve even prepared next month’s in advance-”

“Gi-Give them to me right now! I can solve them all! Time is passing! Hurry!”

Hare sat back at the desk, banging on it.

Although the difficulty was much higher than what he had given today, Jun-woo decided to hand them over for now.

“Try solving as much as you can.”

“Yes, I understand!”

As if Jun-woo’s worries were nothing but dust, Hare wrote answers on the test paper without hesitation.

Her small hands moved diligently, seemingly without even a hint of struggle.

‘How much did she study…?’

Looking closely, dark circles had settled under Hare’s eyes.

Blood was even dripping from Hare’s nose as she solved the problems.

‘It’s time to show my efforts…!’

During this week, Hare had worked hard and memorized all the letters in the basic word dictionary.

Her reason was none other than the simple promise that he would “answer her questions”.

After solving all the problems, Hare reached out her hand to Jun-woo and shouted.

“Give me the next test!”

“I’ve finished this one, next…!”

“Ju-Just one more!”

I want to know about Mister.

With that single-minded determination, Hare achieved a record of perfect scores on a total of 6 tests.

After the 30 minutes had passed, Hare smiled and said,

“I’ll be able to know lots about Mister now! Hehe! I-I worked hard for you, Mister!”

So…

Please praise me.

Praise me a lot.

Praise only me.

Hare’s red eyes watched Jun-woo like a CCTV camera, as if not to miss him.

Faced with this sight, Jun-woo finally realized.

‘This is a mistake. What she said before about being greedy, it wasn’t about knowledge.’

Jealousy, possession, greed.

Hare was becoming obsessed with me, her kidnapper.

For the thief who would eventually have to leave me, these were emotions she absolutely shouldn’t have.

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In the office of the Sicilia family.

Lennon Sicilia sat in a leather chair, reading the letter that had arrived from the kidnapper.

“This is absurd. To dare to threaten our Sicilia family. What did the post office employee say?”

“…They said a masked man wearing a hood delivered the letter.”

“For a kidnapper to use his head… What a pathetic fellow.”

The kidnapper’s letter was stained with blood.

Pay the ransom for Saten Sicilia.

If you send a small amount, I’ll kill your daughter.

After requesting an examination, the blood was confirmed to be Saten’s, and Lennon pondered.

“…Saten. How has the reputation of our Black Raven Knighthood been affected since that child was kidnapped?”

“Since she was kidnapped during an event hosted by the knighthood, our stock has fallen by over 30%, and escort requests are all going to the Sylvester Knighthood.”

“…That useless girl. She’s been nothing but trouble since the day she was born.”

Bang!!

Lennon was furious.

He slammed the desk and his body trembled.

The knight delivering the information flinched at this action.

“…How far has the search progressed?”

“A-According to Sylvester Knight Commander Irina, they couldn’t find any trace of the masked man. They think he might be a mage.”

“…The allocated budget is.”

“We have a margin of up to 10 million peri left.”

10 million peri.

Was that child’s value 10 million peri?

Lennon marked out the 1000 written on the paper with an X.

Then he rewrote the number, correcting it.

“5 million peri. That amount should be enough for the kidnapper to readily release Saten.”

“Is-Isn’t that too little-”

“Then, are you saying that child Saten has a value of more than 5 million peri?”

Lennon’s pitch-black eyes glared at the knight.

Saten’s very existence was a sore spot for Lennon.

There was a rule in the family and knighthood that she should never be praised, only disparaged.

Only the occasional visiting magic teachers would praise her.

It was clear that the master of the Sicilia family had made a wrong choice, but the knight had no choice but to nod.

“…No. Although Saten’s magical talent is exceptional, she doesn’t have that much value. I’ll entrust 5 million peri to the post office.”

“Good, do as I say, then nothing will go wrong.”

Lennon, whose judgment was clouded by hatredcouldn’t understand his mistake until then.

“Wh-What is this…”

‘This is the answer to the 5 million peri,’ it said.

Not until he saw Saten’s finger enclosed with the letter…

Saten’s thin, slender hand, cut off and arrived with fresh blood.

“Th-This is…”

It was no different from his wife’s hand that Lennon had last held.

Lennon, who had always despised Saten, worried about her for the first time that day.

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Hmm.

“So my value to the family is 5 million peri. I don’t like it. Please send this to the family.”

Saying this, Saten handed a ‘fake hand’ to Jun-woo.

Jun-woo asked how she had made it.

“It’s simple. Using my blood, I just constructed the body parts. This fake hand is no different from my actual body.”

Blood magic.

A magic that used blood as a medium instead of mana, it was more powerful than other types of magic and consisted mostly of vicious spells.

“Then, that blood is…”

“It’s my blood. Oh, don’t worry, I’ve stopped the bleeding.”

There were traces of self-harm on Saten’s wrist.

Jun-woo silently wrapped a bandage around Saten’s wound.

And now, Jun-woo had delivered that letter and hand to the post office.

Using someone else to avoid being detected.

“You delivered it properly, right?”

“Y-Yes…! Th-The money…”

“Here, take it.”

Clink-

100,000 peri.

Jun-woo had moved meticulously, using a street beggar by giving him money.

If the residence where the Hero’s party was staying was discovered, the damage would be unimaginably severe.

‘If those mentally unstable children suddenly fall into the world…’

It would be a disaster.

They would get lost, wander, and fall into bad paths.

And they might lose their lives to Grimoire, who were searching for them.

That was why Jun-woo moved so cautiously.

“More than that, she’s not satisfied even with 5 million peri. I wonder how much Saten is thinking of.”

How much would it take for her to be satisfied and stop her actions.

Jun-woo was really curious about what Saten’s standard was.

He needed to know that properly to be able to stop Saten’s self-harm.

That meaning was also implied.

‘…I’ve delivered the letter. Hmm, should I go shopping before heading home?’

He had to prepare meals for four people.

Money and food were running out quickly.

Still, it was fortunate that 5 million peri had arrived from Saten’s family.

That money would be put to good use.

“Is this what it feels like to be a kidnapper…?”

Money falls from the sky even if you do nothing.

Let’s use that money to buy ingredients for tonight’s dinner.

Just as Jun-woo made up his mind, a loud cacophony of voices could be heard from a park in the distance.

It sounded like they were promoting something.

“Everyone!! You must believe in the Goddess!! The Goddess who will lead us to salvation!! Only by believing in the Goddess can you be happy in the afterlife!!”

…What’s that?

A group from a religious order was conducting missionary work to citizens.

Jun-woo’s interest was piqued, and he approached the source of the sound.

There, a young girl was speaking passionately, with holy knights guarding her from behind.

“We have sinned!! The Goddess will forgive those sins!! And lead us to infinite happiness!! If you want happiness!! Come to the church and receive ‘holy water’!!”

A girl was praising the Goddess while holding a speaker in her hand.

A girl with short white hair wearing the attire used by the religious order.

Her brilliant golden eyes met Jun-woo’s.

Jun-woo looked directly into those golden eyes and thought to himself:

‘…Isn’t that the Saintess?’

No matter how he looked at it, that girl seemed like the Saintess.

There seemed to be a halo shining behind her, and her appearance preaching to the citizens looked benevolent.

Decisively, judging by the stern atmosphere of the sturdy holy knights, he could only conclude that she was the Saintess.

The probability that she wasn’t the Saintess was…

Even Minerva said it was 0%.

Jun-woo looked at the Saintess and thought to himself:

‘I’ve found it, the final puzzle piece of the Hero’s party.’

The girl who looked like a Saintess.

Without any twist, she really was the Saintess.

It was the moment when the last companion of the Hero’s party was detected by the kidnapper’s radar.

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